Synthesized Voices

Charles Dodge - Synthesized Voices

Originally posted on July 27, 2006

From the back cover:

The compositions recorded here are a product of work with computers in synthetic speech, song and vocal sounds and were created between 1972 and 1975. The music was realized on two different computer music systems and takes advantage of, and attempts to extend and explore their features. The system employed to realize SPEECH SONGS was created at the Bell Telephone Laboratories for research in synthetic speech and speech communication. Since the system was not designed for musical purposes, its limitations were severe and its musical use a great and (and often rewarding) challenge. The system used for IN CELEBRATION and THE STORY OF OUR LIVES was designed with the expressed purpose of creating synthetic musical voices, and was therefore much better suited to the task at hand. As with any high technology project, there was extensive collaboration in the production of the works. Thanks go to Joseph Olive, who designed the system at Bell Laboratories and taught me to use it, and to Kenneth Stieglitz of Princeton University and Howard Eskin, Richard Garland of Columbia University, who with the late Godfrey Winham and the composer contributed to the system now (1976) operating at the Columbia University Nevis Laboratories. (Charles Dodge)

Tracklisting:

1. In Celebration {8:08}

2. Speech Songs: When I Am With You {1:33}

3. Speech Songs: He Destroyed Her Image {1:57}

4. Speech Songs: A Man Sitting In the Cafeteria {1:21}

5. Speech Songs: The Days are Ahead {1:57}

6. The Story of Our Lives {17:48}

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