The music that lives within the spoken word fascinates me. There is the melody of the phrase, the natural rhythmic cadences and the pleasing harmonics of the individual sounds that form the basis of all music today. Natural selection has determined that verbal communication is pretty darn important to the survival of our species. As such, our ears are most sensitive, and centered around the frequencies dominated by human speech. We're hardwired to enjoy this stuff.

It shouldn't come as a surprise that the first breakthroughs in computer-generated music were a byproduct of telephone research at Bell Labs. At the center of this, was Max Matthews, who, today, is widely-regarded as the father of computer music and digital audio in general.

I had the good fortune of spending much of my final year at Berklee College of Music with Dr. Richard Boulanger, who already enjoyed a long-established relationship with Max Matthews. Through Dr. Boulanger, I had the opportunity to listen to Max talk, ask him questions and see him perform.

Dr. Boulanger continues this close relationship with Max to this day. To celebrate Max's 80th birthday, he organized a 'remix tribute' for Berklee students and alumni.

'One of the Most Interesting Kinds of Sounds' is a remix in the purest sense of the word. The composition is constructed entirely of digital audio culled from Max Matthew's 'Numerology' (1960), 'The Second Law' (1961) and 'Bicycle Built for Two' (1961) as well as Max's spoken lecture at Talcott. No other audio sources (synthesizers, microphones, other samples) were added.

Happy Birthday, Max!

Max Matthews Remixed
Monday April 30, 2007
Recombinant Media Labs
San Francisco California

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One of the Most Interesting Kinds of Sounds (2007) AAC (3.2MB)
One of the Most Interesting Kinds of Sounds (2007) Apple Lossless (15.6MB)