The History and Future of Electronic Instrument Technology
Berklee College of Music and the Office for the Arts at Harvard will jointly present a panel discussion on the history and future of electronic instrument technology featuring Roger Linn, instrument designer/producer and guitarist, Prince Charles Alexander, professor of Music Production and Engineering at Berklee, Russell Graham, keyboardist/producer and Harvard alumnus, and Michael Bierylo, chair of the Electronic and Sound Design Department at Berklee. The discussion will be moderated by Dan Freeman, bassist/producer/music technologist and NYU Clive Davis Institute of Recorded Music faculty member and Harvard alumnus.
Beginning with historical aspects of electronic music technology, this panel of inventors, musicians, composers and engineers will discuss the many future directions of musical instrumentation. The event will also include demonstrations of instruments currently in development and their applications for music making in the coming decades.
Roger Linn is arguably the most influential instrument designer of the past 35 years. His 1980 creation, the LM-1, was the first drum machine to use samples and swing. This drum machine helped define the sound of '80’s pop and it was adopted by Prince, who made it part of his signature sound during the decade. Michael Jackson also used it extensively on Thriller, and icons Madonna, Stevie Wonder, Peter Gabriel, the Cars, and Human League used it as well. Linn currently heads Roger Linn Design, and, in partnership with Dave Smith and Tom Oberheim, has designed the AdrenaLinn, LinnDrum II, and his latest creation, the LinnStrument. In 2011 he received a Grammy award for his immense contributions to the field of recorded music.
Panelist Russell Graham currently works full time with Nile Rodgers as an engineer, keyboardist, guitarist, and vocal arranger. He tours extensively worldwide as a member of Chic. He has worked as a keyboardist, guitarist, vocalist, and/or musical director for a who’s who of R&B artists, including Ashford & Simpson, Patti Austin, Mary J. Blige, Roberta Flack, Alicia Keys and many more. Graham has performed as part of the house band for American Idol, the BET Awards, and the Grammy Awards.
Moderator Dan Freeman (CØm1x) ‘97 is a Brooklyn-based bassist/producer/music technologist. One of the world's leading experts on the integration of live instruments with laptops using Ableton Live, he does live electronic sets that integrate live musicianship with improvised sound creation and visuals. He has performed and presented at venues, festivals, and universities globally. Currently, Freeman has a production studio in Brooklyn where he mixes, remixes electronic music, and writes for film. Freeman is on the faculty of New York University’s Clive Davis Institute of Recorded Music where he designed the MIDI production curriculum. He is also the director of the Brooklyn Digital Conservatory.
Panelist Michael Bierylo is an electronic musician, guitarist, composer, and sound designer. He has performed throughout the U.S. as a member of Birdsongs of the Mesozoic, as well as a solo artist performing with laptop computer and modular synthesizers in the U.S., Berlin, Shanghai, and Krakow. His composition “Koralate" appeared on the Hundred Dollar Guitar Project CD. Recent projects include work on the films Granito, The Reckoning, and Traces of the Trade, all featured at the Sundance Film Festival. He is currently the chair of the Electronic Production and Design Department at Berklee.