This work began as the preparation for a series of lectures on the evolution and influence of audio technology. An interest in the possibilities of distance learning led me to produce a series of illustrated essays to function as virtual lectures when delivered by electronic means. When, some years later, I revisited these lectures with a view to revisions and updating, it was suggested to me that they might form the basis of a thesis and the present document has developed as a result of this suggestion.
Unfortunately the original research upon which my lectures were based was not always carried out with the rigorous record keeping that should accompany academic research. It follows from this that there may be some sources that I am unable properly to acknowledge, this problem being further exacerbated by the excitement of the chase when following Internet links. As a result, I have had to rediscover many of my original sources and in so doing have been forced to conclude that the quality of the information that they contained was, as is so often the case with Internet publications, not always of the highest quality and had often been distorted through the electronic equivalent of Chinese Whispers with each retransmission adding its own layer of distortion. These sources have been discarded - sometimes with regret for there were some excellent stories amongst them.
These problems notwithstanding, I have found some truly superb research published on the Internet and, while it would be quite impractical to mention every single source, I feel that I must give particular mention to the work of Dr Russell Naughton, Dr Steven Schoenherr, David Morton, obsolete.com and many others. In an attempt at fairness, links are included with the bibliography at the end of this paper
In more conventional media, I must give mention to Mark Lewisohn for his excellent book on the Beatles recording sessions (from the research of the late John Barrett), Mark Cunningham for his superb work on studio recording history, David Toop for his culturally insightful books, Ian MacDonald for exceptionally detailed Beatles scholarship, Frank Douglas and Joel Chadabee for their respective works on electronic instruments and many, many more.
While this work is not entirely basied upon primary sources: indeed a substantial proportion can only be described as anecdotal, I do not believe that its usefulness is thereby diminished nor that the validity of conclusions derived therefrom is necessarily hopelessly compromised. We are dealing here with some of the physical engines of popular culture and, most particularly with how they came to be used and with what consequnces. These usages have not necessarily been in the manner intended or anticipated by manufacturers or inventors: as William Gibson observes “The street finds its own uses for such things…..”. If we are to observe and comment upon these unorthodox applications, there is a case to be made for the utilisation of less formal sources since these can often draw informatively from the cultural or technological wellsprings of innovation.
There is much to be discovered in this subject and many disparate threads to be drawn together and conclusions made. A good deal of the available information already seems somewhat ephemeral and in need of preservation and transmission before it fades into myth. If this work does nothing more than contribute to that, it will have served well and I for one will be well pleased.