12 Sound Print as an Identification Tool

Ahmad Faudzi Musib

Sound print as a tool for identification has become a considerable asset to

music industry by enhancing the popularity of musical groups, solo
musicians, or even in the marketing of instruments by developing specific
sounds into an almost iconic status to generations of musicians searching
for an identity of their own. A method of identification begins with
harmony, melody, or even licks in a solo that leads most importantly to a
sound characteristic. The existence of memorable sound prints enables the
audience to identify a repertoire, a performer or a performer borrowing
from another performer. This paper intends to explore how sound prints
play an important role in bringing out a character or identity by examining
various samples, by designing a sound sheet of a patch on a synthesizer,
and by looking at sound schematics and block diagrams of a sound through
a synthesizer.

History
We have to be aware that most of the musicians, composers, songwriters,
producers and others involved in music search for individual and
characteristic expressions. They do so to make their works identifiable and
to mark their own identity. In some cases, a specific identity might lead to
what is known as a “sound print”. Similar to how finger prints differ from
one another, sound prints would share a similar raison d'être. The
characteristic of a sound print can rest upon a specific harmony, patterns of
improvisational melodic lines or licks, or it could also be a sound that
portrays a band or a group of musicians. The sound of a well known band
can become legendary and be remembered over the time of the band’s
existence. There is a difference between a sound effect and a sound print,
but both have an impact on how an audience will remember a piece. In this
paper I will be discussing several issues based on the findings that I have
gathered. I find it very useful to be aware that musicians are careful in
160 Ahmad Faudzi Musib

producing their own sound characteristic. The area that I will particularly
focus on is the characteristic of sound synthesis generated by various voice
architecture synthesizers. This characteristic creates a “finger print” or
signature in creating a distinct sound design for later years of album
productions.

Precondition
A hybrid approach used in combining popular music and “musique
concrete”1 was one of the ways in composing music in the late 1960’s.
Splicing tapes and tape reversal create an interesting effect for the listener.
These effects would normally have a direct relationship to the piece of
music itself. A song titled “Money” by Pink Floyd from the 1973 “Dark side
of the Moon” album has this effect (see audio example 12-01). It was Roger
Waters’ idea to use a tape loop2. The loop comprises a sound of a cash
register throughout the song, a sound of tearing paper, and dropping 50p
pieces3 (Schleifer, 2004: 214). The loop plus the odd time signature of 7/4,
makes “Money” a piece to be remembered. Moreover, another example is
The Beatles in their “Sergeant Pepper Lonely Hearts Club Band” album
titled “A Day in the Life” composed by John Lennon and Paul McCartney
(see audio example 12-02). George Martin wrote in the album synopsis that
after the last crashing piano chords, he had a few seconds of 15 kHz tone
generated just to annoy your dogs, as well as a few seconds of Beatle
chatter, taped, cut into several pieces and paste them back together in
random order. He says “This was done on purpose so that to those who
bought the vinyl and play it on a non-auto return player, would create a

1 “Musique concrete” is music made of raw sounds: thunderstorm, steam engines,

waterfalls, steel foundries. The sounds are not produced by traditional acoustic
musical instruments; they are captured on tape and manipulated to form sound
structures.
2 A tape loop is prerecorded materials on magnetic tapes used to create repetitive,
rhythmic patterns. The tape is cut and spliced end to end creating a loop which can be
played continuously.
3 The song’s opening is just a single sound effect of hard, cold, yet rhythmic sound of
cash register. The dynamic sound effects of the “money loop” still amaze the new
generation listener. By syncopating the sounds of cash register, tearing paper and
dropping 50p pieces, Pink Floyd creates a fantastic rhythm that many daring popular
musician try to mimic, yet never truly succeed.
 Sound Print as an Identification Tool 161

continuous noise until it run out of groove effect”. George Martin, the
producer wrote “Sergeant Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band didn’t start
out as a concept album, but it very soon developed a life of its own. I
remember it warmly, as it offers tremendous challenges and thus highly
rewarding experiences. For me, it was the most innovative, imaginative and
trend-setting record of its time”.4 It is a sound that you would not get out of
any acoustic instrument.
Other sound prints can also be constructed through a device related
approach. To further explain, I might have to bring you back to the year
1966. It was the era of the Beach Boys with one of their many masterpieces
“Good Vibrations” (see audio example 12-03). In order to get the right effect
of the song, the genius Brian Wilson has applied severally layered vocal
parts, strings sections, percussions and an added unique touch, an obscure
and eerie sounding instrument that makes great sounding science fiction
movie sound known as the Theremin5 (Figure 1).
Leon Theremin was the Soviet scientist who invented the instrument that
carries his name, has much popularity among music and movie producers.
The Theremin changes the way we think about musical instruments. Its
association with the “sound from the space” has made the Theremin an
instrument in great demand. This intriguing and memorable sound has
created a role in the history of sounds representing outer space, alien
invasion, and even the sounds of the dead. This justifies an existence of a
memorable characteristic or identity in a composition of “Good Vibrations”.
It’s the eerie Theremin sound that contributed to the memorable sound
effects that made “Good Vibrations” a piece of music to be remembered. In
general, the existence of a characteristic sound has and can be an identity to
a musical group, a musician, and even musical instruments. The above
example is only a “one off” effect that will not appear in any later
recordings.

4 George Martin quotes are taken from the album synopsis of The Beatles (1967). Sgt.
Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. E.M.I. Records CDP 7 46442 2.
5 The Theremin’s pitch was determined by the proximity of the player’s right hand to
the instrument’s vertical antenna; the volume was controlled by moving the left hand
near the horizontal antenna.
162 Ahmad Faudzi Musib

Figure 1: The Theremin. (Photo: Griffiths, Paul 1978); Figure 2: RCA Victor
Theremin AR-1264. (Drawing: Erik Dalzen, 2009)

The other type of identification or sound print is the type of sound created
electronically. This type of sound print has made musical groups,
musicians, and even instruments popular to achieve iconic status to
younger generations of musicians which are searching for their identity.
A sound print is related to both acoustic and electronic sound shaping. An
example of acoustical sound print is Chuck Mangione’s “Feel So Good”,
which offers a special identity. It would sound differently if it were played
by any other instrument except flugelhorn. Another example is John Kaizan
with his Shakuhachi, and the late Miles Davis with his muted trumpet with
wah-wah and vocals in his later years just to name a few. The other major
contribution to form a sound print is the recording studio techniques. With
a variety of audio equipment found in a recording studio, the engineer and
producer are able to create characteristic sounds which may produce sound
prints.
One of the sound prints created and produced via the studio approach is
the gated reverb technique (Figure 3). The gated reverb was applied on Phil
 Sound Print as an Identification Tool 163

Collins drum kit—“Easy Lover” (see audio example 12-04). The process of
creating a gated reverb can be simulated by assigning selected parts, such as
the kick drum, snare and toms to a subgroup in a mixing console. The
group signal is to be sent to the reverb6 unit. The gating7 device with a fast
attack and release that proceeds the output of a reverb unit was in chain to
create a “choppy reverb”. This creates the characteristic sound of Phil
Collins Drum.

Figure 3: Simulation in getting a gated reverb effect on a drum kit

particularly the snare and the toms. (Design: Ahmad Faudzi Musib, 2011)

There were many keyboard players who played electronic devices,

including synthesizer, but the four that I will focus in this paper are the
legendary jazz pianist and synthesizer player Lyle Mays of the Pat Metheny
Group, the legendary keyboard player Greg Hawks from the group called
The Cars, and from the east, Isao Tomita on his fluctuation of pitches in his

6 Reverb is produced upon a persistence sound in a hall or a room space after the
original sound decays.
7 Gate-audio devices enable the recording engineer to remove unwanted sound in their
sound source. This can be done upon setting the threshold point that makes the
selected noise to be retained under the preset threshold.
164 Ahmad Faudzi Musib

design, and Kitaro on his glide notes that has crafted a sound to be
remembered. Even though each of them came from different areas of music,
but they have one thing in common, and that is each has its own sound
print in their pieces. The distinct sound was memorable and common to all
music genres no matter whether it is jazz, new age, electronic ambiences,
fusion, as well as popular music of different sources.

Memorable Synthesize Sounds

The synthesizer is a device that produces electronically generated sound.
The sounds may be manipulated through three basic elements, namely
pitch, timbre and loudness. In reference to a synthesizer, pitch can be
generated and controlled through an oscillator. The signal can then be
modified through a filter that controls the timbre, and the output can be
increased or decreased using an amplifier. Lyle Mays’s synthesizer sound
print derives from his Oberheim 4 voice synthesizer. The sound patch that
appears on most of the cuts in Pat Metheny and Lyle Mays has made this
sound recognisable as a signature sound. Here is an excerpt taken from an
intro of “It’s for You” (see audio example 12-05). To simulate the sound of
Lyle Mays Oberhiem 4 voices, I have created a similar sound on an
Oberheim Xpender synthesizer. I name it a “dual detune oscillator”. Figure
4 is the block diagram simulating Lyle Mays signature sound. The sound
excerpt can be heard on a piece entitled “Old Photograph” (see audio
example 12-06). My simulation of Lyle Mays’s Oberheim was designed to
faithfully recreate its signature timbre. Carefully understanding its sound
characteristic enables me to choose its components. In this set-up, all
partials have to be calculated, as well as the controller values before a block
diagram can be constructed.
 Sound Print as an Identification Tool 165

Figure 4: Block diagram of a dual detune oscillator. (Design: Ahmad Faudzi

Musib, 1989)

Based on what I have gathered, though that the signature sounds has a
similar timbre quality of a dual detune oscillator, it is still not the same. In
comparison, the same sounds were used in Indra Lesmana’s “Adakah” (see
audio example 12-07), while similar sounds were used by the Yellow jackets
in the album “Sightseeing” (see audio example 12-08) (using the Roland
synthesizer, not Oberheim 4 voice synthesizer). This can be traced through
the development of Sound Engine by Roland Corporation which has come
out with a new model of the Roland Synthesizer known as Super JX10. With
the emerging of Roland Super JX10, the memorable sounds of the Lyle
Mays are now available for consumers. Eric Persing and Dan DeSousa, the
sound designers for Roland U.S.A., have commemorated Lyle Mays’s
signature sound into the device. This can be seen in the Super JX10 patch
map sound bank H No. 6 known as “Mays Pad”.
166 Ahmad Faudzi Musib

Figure 4: Roland Super JX10 preset sound list (Roland Super JX10 Manual).

Another example of a sound print is the technique applied to two or more

synchronized oscillators. Oscillator sync function can normally be found on
stand-alone synthesizers. The following (Figure 5) is the block diagram
which shows only the oscillator section. The oscillator 2 is internally
patched to the oscillator 1. This makes oscillator 2 the modulator of
oscillator 1, which, in effect means oscillator 2 is functioning as a master
system. As the master system, it resets other oscillators such as the oscillator
1 and its period of oscillations.

Figure 5: Block diagram of an Oscillator Sync. (Design: Ahmad Faudzi

Musib, 1989)
 Sound Print as an Identification Tool 167

Figure 6: The processes that transform music ideas into audio recording
products. (Ahmad Faudzi Musib, 2011)

This approach was applied in the introduction to “Lets Go” (see audio
example 12-09) by the Cars where the keyboardist Greg Hawkes uses his
Prophet 5 synthesizer with the oscillator sync technique to create his sound
print. Many of his singles are characterised by this sound. Aside from “Lets
Go”, other songs utilising the same sound prints include “Hello Again” and
“Shake it Up” just to name a few. The similarity of the sound characteristic
is based on a tag line or a riff that uses the same sound design. A similar
process is featured in Neneh Cherry’s debut album “Raw Like Sushi” (see
audio example 12-10), where the oscillator sync sounds were frequently
used as a riff to the chorus. In conveying musical ideas in an album
production, particularly musical works that involve some sort of sound
generator or an electronic driven device, one would undergo processes to
168 Ahmad Faudzi Musib

determine that the idea of musical works that he or she had in mind would
be able to be translated in an audio recorded product. The recording process
would be planned and structured to normally undergo several processes
before the master recording is completed. The chart on Figure 6 is an
example of a pre-production process that combines recorded music with
some form of sound synthesis.
Perhaps we are wondering how a wonderful sound that we heard on an
album cannot be found on the device that was used by the performer.
Sometimes we ended up buying synthesizers that do not meet our
expectations. Often people spend lots of money on accessories just to be like
one of their favorite’s artist. Changing or modifying those normal frets to
jumbo frets or even scalloped the frets of your electric guitar will not make
you Ritchie Blackmore or Yngwie Malmsteen, or perhaps using Mini-moog
will make you just as you are and not as Chick Corea. As a teen, I remember
becoming a victim of MTV by forcing my parents to purchase a JUNO 60
just because I wanted to sound like Howard Jones in his music video “Hide
and Seek”; or to be able to hold fast arpeggios from the song “RIO” played
by Nick Rhodes of Duran-Duran. For most consumers this can be
frustrating after making a big investment that in the end it does not sound
as expected. What I am talking about here is the transformation of a musical
idea that is paired with a certain timbre, allowing the music to be
remembered. It is as sweet as the voice of someone you love on the other
line of the telephone, without asking who it was. It is the same phenomenal
aspect that you can read in an email or text message. While reading
subconsciously, you are “hearing” the memorable or familiar voice, of the
sender.

The oscillator system precedes the filter. This is the system that alters the
timbre into bright, bassy or nasal sounds, for example. In creating a tonal
characteristic of each sound, waveforms are selected, as well as choosing the
best subsystems such as the filter (as a timbre modifier), and the envelope
generator (how timbre changes over time), identified by its attack, decay,
sustain, release (or ADSR) characteristics. These approaches should be well
formulated in order to transform one’s sound ideas into a successful
arrangement of music released on an Audio CD. In getting the optimum
result out of the sound design, the synthesizer player should have some sort
of interpretive skills when playing a “generic like timbre”. For example, the
 Sound Print as an Identification Tool 169

aerophones8 that have been classified which primarily produce sound by

vibrating air. The instrument itself does not vibrate, and there are no
vibrating strings or membranes. When a “wind like timbre” sound is
created, it needs a device to fully express the melody line played by the
player.

The Musical Instrument Digital Interface (MIDI) provides a path that

enables the synthesizer player to play a brass or wind like timbre via midi
controller number 2 using a breath controller device. There are two main
types of breath controller. Shown in Figure 7 is the breath controller without
the note control, and in Figure 8 is the WX-5 wind controller with its key
pad. This enables the note to be controlled just like playing a saxophone. It
offers the performer the ability to give a more live-like effect such as
tonguing, lip bends and even a swell note (cresc. to decresc.), giving the
player a more profound control over such sounds rather than simply
playing on black and white keys. It is worth exploring both sound design
and language control command in producing memorable sound that will
last forever.

Figure 7: Breath Controller with its interface; Figure 8: Yamaha WX-5 wind
controller. (Photos: Ahmad Faudzi Musib, 2011)

8 Musical instrument classification devised by Hornbostel and Sachs which is first

published in the Zeitschrift für Ethnologie in 1914.
170 Ahmad Faudzi Musib

The Advantages
The advantage of having well defined sound prints are that musicians and
their work may become memorable. Either as individuals or in groups, they
form a characteristic sound within the type of music they have in mind. The
art and skill of designing sound will be sustained either through studio
processes, or synthesis which incorporates hardware or soft synthesis. Users
whom have the skill of designing sound will normally omit the use of
presets. Having our own sound print that is unique, would stand a chance
of being “noticed” by the sound designer manufacturers to perhaps
commemorate their individual preferences in a form of sound patch of a
device.

Disadvantage
David Battino in his article titled “20 Sounds That Must Die” (October 1995,
Keyboard Magazine) analyses sounds that were used, reused and abused.
These ideas have inspired me to investigate and simulate the details of
those reused sounds. As a listener, this issue is raised due to the existence of
memorable sound prints created by performers as part of their repertoire.
However, sometimes the focus on sound memorability by electronic
manufacturers distracts from the origin of the sound. It is interesting to
listen and compare sound prints, as each sound has its own identity. But
sometimes this identity can be distracted when it comes to analysing artists’
origins. Please listen to an excerpt of “The Musician” (see audio example 12-
11) by Chick Corea and “First Glance” (see audio example 12-12) by Indra
Lesmana.

Suggestion
I think that a musician of electronic music should at least be aware that the
sound characteristic does not rely on electronic gears per say, but on an
inside knowledge of sound design which would certainly benefit both the
musicians and their identity. That applies to the eight largest and most
significant analogue manufacturers—Moog, ARP, Oberheim and Sequential
in the USA, EMS in the UK, and Yamaha, Korg and Roland in Japan
(Jenkins, 2010: 96).
 Sound Print as an Identification Tool 171

The exploration of new possible sound textures is based entirely upon

music synthesis. Among those mentioned were other sound patches which
were memorable over a period of time—from the sound of the fast plucking
banjo of the 1970’s television theme the Beverly Hilbillys to Purple Spin that
simulate John Lord of Deep Purple-like timbre, and smooth jazz guitars
simulating Pat Metheny-like timbres, and which can be seen at the patch list
in Figures 9a and 9b These arrangements of sound prints represent sounds
produced by the real players, but are not the representative of the
real/whole sound and its music in memory.

Figure 9a: Sound list of Roland XP-80 Purple Spin at location 004. (Photo:
Ahmad Faudzi Musib, 2011)

Figure 9b: Sound list of Roland XP-80 Letter from Pat and Hillbilly’s at
location 025 and 026. (Photo: Ahmad Faudzi Musib, 2011)

Conclusion
Knowledge in sound design can help an artist to create an individual, even
memorable sound. One will be able to clearly understand which sound
works and which sound does not. This will also allow one to be creative in
getting a piece of music to be heard in a personal and memorable style.
172 Ahmad Faudzi Musib

References