#seventh wave

JB: And you studied with him in the 70s at Stanford?

SC: Yes. I went to UC Berkeley from 68 to 70, but that was a traditional master’s degree in Music Composition. I would go to the Artificial Intelligence Lab at Stanford. First, I took a summer course with Max, and John Chowning, who is famous for popularizing the FM approach to synthesis. It was a very fertile moment, historically.

JB: Absolutely. The program at Berkeley exposed you to working with synthesizers?

SC: No. The program at Berkeley, which is University of California Berkeley, not to be confused with Berklee College of Music in Boston, was a traditional Music Composition degree. You know, scoring, orchestras, you know, historically, in the classical tradition. My electronic thing happened outside of my graduate degree. It happened at Stanford, and it happened meeting Don Buchla.

JB: Through the Artificial Intelligence program at Stanford?

SC: No. Buchla actually lived in Berkeley. His next door neighbor was the sculptor, Harold Paris. My boyfriend at the time was a teaching assistant for Harold Paris. I met Harold, and Harold introduced me to Buchla.

JB: That's amazing. Was Buchla teaching at the time, or did you become friends with him and apprentice under him for a while?

SC: Buchla would never teach. He was a very eccentric and maverick inventor — a genius. I call him “the Leonardo da Vinci of electronic instruments.” He was really the first one to make an analog modular music instrument. He did that in 1963. I met him about five, six years later, and after graduate school, I went to work for him.

JB: That's so wonderful. You were able to work with the Buchla 200. Was that the first one that you worked with, with him?

SC: The first one I worked with was the 100. The very first 100 was at a place called the San Francisco Tape Music Center. That was housed — it was not part of, but it was housed at Mills College.

JB: Did it appeal to your constitution completely, as a music maker?

SC: I always thought of myself primarily as a composer. But when I got involved with the Buchla, I did not use any keyboard. Traditional keyboard. It was a whole new world. I don't know how to explain the attraction that I had, but it was overpowering and complete, and I really stopped all my piano playing for about ten years while I played just the Buchla.

I started the Buchla as a compositional instrument, and it allowed me to, as a composer, to completely control the music. Traditionally, a composer is dependent on outside musicians. You know, you have to find the orchestra, you have to get... It's very tricky. But, with the Buchla you could do it all, and it was in Quadraphonic. Always played in Quad, from the very beginning. What's not to love? It's amazing.

JB: It's an absolute joy creating with it, I'm sure. That's how I felt when I discovered looping, vocal looping. I didn't need any outside players of any kind, and it was very intuitive and instant, and I didn't have to compose ahead of time. It just seemed to flow out, and that was a real joyful experience. I've been doing it ever since!

SC: I love that looping. I've never tried it myself, but I think it's wonderful. It's so musical.

JB: It's a wonderful way to make music on your own. I was curious about when you entered Wellesley — what kind of music were you making? What kind of instruments were you playing when you started going to school?

SC: I started playing the piano when I was about six. That was my main instrument. At Wellesley, I was a music major. Very small department. There were only four, five of us. My goal always was to write. I can't explain it, but I always saw myself as a composer. I think the big problem with being a female composer is that we don't have any role models. There certainly have been a lot of women composers, but we just don't know about them.

JB: I know. It's amazing. I discover new ones all the time. I'm like, "Why don't I know about this woman?"

SC: Right. What's going on here? What's going on? I played at Royal Albert Hall this year as part of a program about women pioneers, and they premiered a symphony by Daphne Oram that she wrote in 1943. I cried! It was so beautiful! It just never saw the light of day.

JB: Incredible. You've definitely been an inspiration to me, for sure. Being a solo music maker, especially when it's in an unclassifiable genre, I feel like I get lumped into classical or new age. Just kind of depends on whoever's sitting at the desk that classifies it, you know? It's definitely an interesting group of women making interesting sounds by themselves. I'm curious — you hadn't played the Buchla live in forty years, right? Before two and a half years ago. Were you touring a whole lot during that time?

SC: I was touring. I had released fifteen albums. Everything from pure electronic studio albums to solo piano. Piano and orchestra. Piano with jazz group.  A lot of studio albums that were accomplished with electronics. My progression was – the first album, Seven Waves, was 100% electronic, but it was not the Buchla. The Buchla, I did that for ten years, but it never caught on.

JB: Right. With the public?

SC: Yeah. There was no place. It was hard to play in Quad. The theaters didn't want to set up the four speakers, et cetera. As time went on and my Buchla broke and half of it got stolen, I just moved on to different forms of electronics. Then gradually started to add acoustic instruments, because that was my history. That peaked in 1994 when I did “Dream Suite,” which was orchestra and piano. Then I started an independent record label in 1994.

JB: What's the name of that?

SC: Seventh Wave. It's named after my first album, Seven Waves.

JB: Is it still in operation?

SC: Yes, it is. It hasn't released any of my electronic music. I mean, my new Buchla music. I haven't had time to do that. But I think next year, I'm going to focus on a sub-label called “Atmospheric” that I started years ago, but I never used it. I'm going to keep “Seventh Wave” as my romantic music imprint, and then start “Atmospheric” as the electronic —

JB: The Buchla and synthesizer and beyond label.

SC: Yeah. Live. Really all live.

JB: All live things. Are you releasing other artists’ works, or primarily for your own recordings?

SC: When I first started my label, I was forced to have other artists because this distribution channel didn't allow a one-artist label. I did have a lot of artists on my original “Seventh Wave” label but then all the rules changed, and I was able to be solo indie. But the rules changed again, because the indie distribution network fell apart. Then digital came in. Digital is working fine. I don't know how it's gonna work with the next stage, because the kids want LPs. We're back to shipping and storage.

JB: Absolutely. Wait times for production, and all of that. That's so inspiring to me, as an artist. I wasn't aware that you owned and operated the labels that release your work. That's extremely cool. Have you toured a lot since you started releasing music, and do you enjoy it?

SC: In the old days, I used to tour a lot. I had a group called The Wave, and we went to Asia and Europe and around the States. I used to play a lot in Spain. I used to do a tour almost every year in Spain. Now, with my new incarnation it's way fun. I had no idea how pervasive this interest in analog, electronic music was. I've been invited to, mostly festivals and that's new for me, because I used to play solo. My concert. And somebody would open for me, but it was not a festival.

Now, it's festivals and it's a lot of fun, and there are lots of people. Every once in a while, I'm a headliner and it's just me. The more traditional structure of the concert. I love it because it's very international. I've traveled more now than I ever thought possible. Before, I was invited to play in Australia. I never wanted to go to Australia, it was too far away. I go to Australia, and from Australia, I go to Sweden. It's summer in Australia, and winter in Sweden. In one day. It's really amazing. Change seasons, on one tour.

JB: I believe I have experienced that a time or two. When you said that you traveled with a group in the early days, did that mean that people were on stage with you or just management, and things like that?

SC: No, people were on stage with me. I had a group called The Wave, and we did a live recording for television. There is a DVD some place of our performance at the Herbst Theatre in San Francisco, and it was on public television for a while. I've been around a long time.

JB: You've done so many amazing things. I wish I could talk to you all day, but not possible. I have so many questions. I wondered if you could talk a little bit about your earliest memories of music and earliest memories of music and technology interaction?

SC: My earliest memories are not that early, for technology. I was in college when the idea of music technology was starting to grow, visibly. One night, my class at Wellesley went to MIT because that was our brother school. They just started that brother/sister relationship in my junior year or senior year at college. We were exchanging classes and things. It was at MIT that I saw a professor try to make a sound with his computer. In those days, the computers were huge. They filled whole rooms.

It's really fun to witness the evolution of technology. I like to make a distinction between the concepts and the actual manifestation of them because the way we express things is always changing because the physical technology is changing. But, the concepts go way back. The idea that you could make music with a machine is kind of old.

SC: We're getting better at it. Let's just say that right now, we're in a mature stage of these instruments. The same way I've come back after forty years, I think we're reconnecting with the deep origins of these possibilities. When Buchla designed an instrument, he had a vision that was inspired by this new possibility.

JB: Absolutely.

SC: Yeah. And we lost touch with that vision over the years.

JB: I agree. Do you think that the renewed interest in modular systems is a reaction to laptop music, and laptop music making?

SC: That's an amazing miracle to me. I am so grateful and so happy that people started to look backwards, because I've hated all that digital stuff.

JB: Right. I think a lot of people do.

SC: Isn't that great?

JB: Yeah. It's more intuitive for me, personally to have something in front of me that's a physical object that I can interact with, and almost communicate with.

SC: Yeah. The distinction is, "Can you perform it?" If you have to go in and go to a menu, and look for something, you're out of real time. When you design modules, if you keep that in mind, that things need to be accessible, you can in fact honor performance.

A lot of instruments don't. When I go to the NAMM Show, or whatever, and I look at what’s happening now, and it's starting to get better, because you need visual feedback. You need to know what's going on inside the machine, or you can't perform it. There are two different worlds. One is, you're in the studio and you're recording. The other one is, you're out. It's portable. You can carry it, and you can interact with it in the moment. And that’s the world that I came from with Buchla.

JB: Exactly. And you don't have to worry about some computer color wheel coming up and hindering your creation or your performance.

SC: Right. How old are you? I'm just curious.

JB: I'm 39. I've been performing music for about ten years, I would say. Getting close to it. I went to school for darkroom photography and was always tinkering at home, always singing and stuff, and then put out my first CD after I made vocal loops on a guitar pedal.

SC: Wow. You'll have to send me some of your stuff. A URL, or something, where I can listen.

JB: I'd love to.

SC: Yeah. I'd love to hear it.

JB: I'll send it your way, for sure.

SC: I'm also involved in photography.

JB: Really?

SC: Yeah. I collected it for years in the 80s. I did take a course in darkroom just once, and it helped me. The stuff that I collect is mostly from the 30s. Those prints were so amazing.

JB: Absolutely. So, the course helped you do what with the work that you were collecting?

SC: I got to appreciate the art form of the print. People don't understand that a print is a unique expression. They think of photography as this stamped thing. They don't realize that each print is an original.

JB: Absolutely. There's so many variables that go into one print, for sure.

SC: Where do you live, Julianna?

JB: I live in Los Angeles now.

SC: Okay. Cool. Do you like it?

JB: I like it a lot. I lived in New York for sixteen years, and then moved to LA almost two years ago. I'm really enjoying it. I feel like New York is still my home, but I'm really liking my experience in LA a lot. It's nice and sunny. And you live in California as well, right?

SC: Yeah. I lived in New York for nineteen years.

JB: Was that in the 80s?

SC: I lived there from 74 to 92.

JB: Amazing.

SC: I know what it feels like to leave New York, but California — everyone seems to be moving to LA, in your age group.

JB: It's true. It's really true. Was it a heartbreaking experience to leave New York?

SC: I missed it so much, but I say I'm a prisoner of beauty here because it's so amazing. I sleep with the sound of the ocean. The air is clean. There's no noise.

JB: That's heaven. That's a goal for me. That's where I wanna be in ten years or so, hopefully. That is something I'd really want to be able to do is walk onto my back deck and see and hear the ocean. That's an ultimate dream, for sure. Okay. We’ve got a couple of minutes. I have ten million questions for you. I wish I could ask them all. Maybe one day. I was wondering one last process question. Have you found that your techniques have changed with the newer models you're using?

SC: That brings up this idea that in 1976 or 75, I wrote a paper about how to play the Buchla. It was techniques for performance, and I actually use those same techniques today. The 200e has a digital component, which is a memory that I use with a lot of discretion, so I don't memorize everything.

SC: I memorize a few things. It is different. The approach is different because in the early days, there was no memory at all, but also, some of the modules were more powerful.

I have some clones of these earlier modules, because I couldn't live without them. I think it's good to look at the early stuff. I think some of the ideas represented there, like by the multiple arbitrary function generator, otherwise known as the MARF... I think those are some of the highest level designs in a performable analog instrument.

It's a collaborative process with the artist: the tool is designed by the engineer with feedback from the artist. What can I say? The artist is dependent on the tool. We need to direct the design of the tool in a meaningful way.

JB: Absolutely. That's really cool. I understand growing attached to an instrument. I've used a Boss RC-50 Vocal Looper for ten years, and it started not functioning as well as it did, and I had to search high and low to find a new one because it was discontinued. It was the only thing that lent itself best to creation for me, and performance. So I understand that commitment you can have to something that you perform with and create with, for sure.

SC: That's interesting. So, the new ones didn't do what the old one did.

JB: They're just different. The new one had a giant foot pedal, volume pedal and weird effects, and it just wasn't the same. I could use the RC-50 with my eyes closed, kind of thing, so it was like part of me. You know?

SC: Yeah. That's interesting. It doesn't always get better. They always say technology is marching forward. Something's marching forward, but it's not the design.

JB: Right. I'd much prefer the older design, for sure. It definitely works better for what I try to do. I'm gonna let you go. Are you performing at The Ace in October? I guess it is October! Happy October!

SC: Happy October. I'm on my way to England, actually. I have a tour in England, then I come back and I go to South America. I think I wanted to play that, but it didn't work out.

JB: Alright. Have a wonderful time in England, and South America. That sounds heavenly. Thank you for talking to me for a little bit. I really appreciate it.

SC: Thanks, Julianna. That was really nice to speak with you.

JB: Alright. Have a good day. Have fun with your friends.

SC: Don't forget to send me your music, so I can hear it.

[The spoken intro is a slightly altered excerpt from the poem "In Memoriam A.H.H." by Alfred Tennyson, (1846)]

"O earth, what changes hast thou seen There where the long street roars, hath been The stillness of the central sea. The hills are shadows, and they flow From form to form, and nothing stands; Like clouds they shape themselves and go."

(..Ooh.. yeah..) Running away, running away Running away forever It's the only chance of finding home (Ah-ah.. ah-ah.. ah..)

Running away, running away Running away together With only thoughts of finding home.. Yeah..

I'll wait for the ocean to rise up And meet me as it rose up before (I'll know the time..) I'll wait for the ocean to rise up And greet me as it rose up before (I'll know the year..)

You're never alone ..Even when you're alone You're never alone.. Now.. Watch the seventh wave

Running away, running away Running into the weather With only thoughts of finding home (Ah-ah.. ah-ah.. ah..)

Running away, running away Running away forever I realize I'm on my own!!

I'll wait for the ocean to rise up And meet me as it rose up before (I'll know the time..) (Oh-oh!)

I'll wait for the ocean to rise up And greet me as it rose up before (I'll know the year..)

You're never alone ..Even when you're alone You're never alone.. Watch the seventh wave

On my way, pass it on! On my way, pass it on!

On my way, pass it on! On my way, pass it on..!

(Ah, ah, ah-ah, ah, ah.. ah..) (Ah, ah, ah-ah, ah, ah..) [Unintelligible spoken audio]

I'll wait for the ocean to rise up And meet me as it rose up before (I'll know the time..) I'll wait for the ocean to rise up And greet me as it rose up before (I'll know the year..)

You're never alone ..Even when you're alone You're never alone.. Ah!.. Watch the ocean..!