The Sound of Innovation: Stanford and the Computer Music Revolution

by Andrew J. Nelson

How a team of musicians, engineers, computer scientists, and psychologists developed computer music as an academic field and ushered in the era of digital music. In the 1960s, a team of Stanford musicians, engineers, computer scientists, and psychologists used computing in an entirely novel to produce and manipulate sound and create the sonic basis of new musical compositions. This group of interdisciplinary researchers at the nascent Center for Computer Research in Music and Acoustics (CCRMA, pronounced “karma”) helped to develop computer music as an academic field, invent the technologies that underlie it, and usher in the age of digital music. In The Sound of Innovation , Andrew Nelson chronicles the history of CCRMA, tracing its origins in Stanford's Artificial Intelligence Laboratory through its present-day influence on Silicon Valley and digital music groups worldwide. Nelson emphasizes CCRMA's interdisciplinarity, which stimulates creativity at the intersections of fields; its commitment to open sharing and users; and its pioneering commercial engagement. He shows that Stanford's outsized influence on the emergence of digital music came from the intertwining of these three modes, which brought together diverse supporters with different aims around a field of shared interest. Nelson thus challenges long-standing assumptions about the divisions between art and science, between the humanities and technology, and between academic research and commercial applications, showing how the story of a small group of musicians reveals substantial insights about innovation. Nelson draws on extensive archival research and dozens of interviews with digital music pioneers; the book's website provides access to original historic documents and other material.

248 pages, Hardcover

First published February 27, 2015

Reviews

[Liam · Rating 4 out of 5]

"These three themes -- interdisciplinarity, open innovation, and commercialization -- are threads that wind throughout the CCRMA account, stitching together diverse people, organizations, activities, and motivations against the backdrop of a changing and heterogeneous context." (7)

"On March 19, 1975, Yamaha Corporation finalized its license for FM, with the clause that [John] Chowning would be highly involved in its development. This license would later become one of the most profitable in Stanford history." (54)

"[P]art of the strength of the Yamaha-CCRMA relationship lay in the fact that it recognized intellectual property, royalties, consulting, musical composition, and personal ties simultaneously; it was (and remains) a robust and multifaceted relationship rather than a singular contractual one." (80)

"Stanford's interest, of course, lay in sharing FM as widely as possible (and in realizing the accompanying licensing revenue); Yamaha's interest lay in protecting and growing its own business. Though the two organizations were important collaborators in bringing FM technology to market, their ultimate aims were not entirely aligned." (93)

"[T]here is some evidence that university development efforts [of Sondius XG] were actually harmful to the technology's diffusion." (141)

[Jeremy Sawruk · Rating 4 out of 5]

Focused a little too much on technology transfer and intellectual property issues. I would have preferred if it went into more depth on the technical specifications. (I have several books written by CCRMA faculty and alum that cover that area in depth, so I am well versed in that side of the story).

[Mills College Library]

786.76097 N424 2015