For day #13 of the Vocalo Challenge, here is a song from my favorite artist:
When asked which artists have impacted my own work, I have to read the room before mentioning Thomas Dolby, lest I hear shouting of the word “Science!”. But seriously, I’m proud to call Dolby an influence across the spectrum- from lyrics to instrumentation and production. Yes, he’s most famous for “She Blinded Me With Science”, but he also went on to make several other amazing albums that sound, much to the dismay of Capital Records, nothing like the hit single he’s known for.
What else is cool about Dolby? In the early 90’s, his silicon-valley startup developed a software synthesizer called Beatnik to bring sound to early webpages. Did it work? Yes. Was it successful? Somewhat. But, since the synthesizer’s code was so tiny, the Beatnik player could fit on early cellphones without taking up too much memory. The technology was licensed by Nokia to make polyphonic ring-tones (i.e. ringtones with more than one note playing at a time). The Beatnik synth, aboard several million phones, is now the most-heard synth in the world.
Next up –>
Fri May 8: Song with incredible lyrics
Sat May 9: Song that defined 2019
