music project power point
TRANSCRIPT
Tom Scholz
Early Life
• Born March 10, 1947 in Toledo, Ohio.
• His father, Don Scholz, was a homebuilder who garnered considerable wealth from his designs of prefabricated luxury houses and founded Scholz Homes, Inc.
• His mother Olive Scholz was valedictorian of her class, and went on to become an architectural designer and a landscape architect.
• Tom Scholz studied classical piano and had a habit for tinkering with everything from go-carts to model airplanes.
• Graduated from MIT where he received both a bachelor’s and master’s degree in mechanical engineering.
Inventions
• In 1980, Tom started his own firm to design and manufacture signal processing devices for musical instruments.
• The company was called Scholz Research & Development.
• Due to limitations of mid-1970’s guitar processing equipment, Tom couldn’t get the majestic rock music sound swirling around in his head to translate easily to tape.
• In order to get the distorted, overdriven power-rock sound out of a guitar amplifier, technicians were saddled with recording then-state-of-the-art tube amps at maximum volume to achieve the desired “heavy” effect.
Power Soak, circa 1980
• The first device that Tom created at his company was the Power Soak.
• This device, a little box that allows your amplifier to achieve great sound at low volumes.
• Placing a series of resistors between the output of a high-level (100-W) tube amp and a speaker cabinet, Scholz found a way to “soak up” an amp’s output -though it could still be pinned a maximum volume, for full distortion effect. He had created the Power Soak.
• Early inventions of the Power Soak had settable input and output impedances and a rotary knob on the front that allowed a player to dial the volume down. Though the amplifier could crank out at 100 W, a player could actually plug in headphones into the amp and play at a comfortable level.
The Rockman, circa 1982
• At the time the Power Soak was invented (2 years previous), it was normal to play with huge 100W stacks with 8 12’ speakers. Cumbersome, but normal. At that time, the average guitar player was not really interested in this tool.
• Everyone was dreaming about something compact, handy, enabling someone to “plug & play” (this expression didn’t exist until 1982).
• Through Tom’s debut album, no one has been able to duplicate this highly compressed, heavily distorted sound, with this specific wide stereo image.
• But one thing was missing: the gear (stacks of amplifiers!)
• It’s portability wasn’t the only impact it made on music today.
• Stereo: Before the Rockman, only professional musicians could use stereo, and the complete stereo equipment was necessary to achieve it.
• Multi-effects in a box: A Rockman consisted of a compressor, a distortion, a cab sim, a chorus, and a reverb packed in the volumed of a pocket book.
• Presets: Tweaking knobs us usually painstaking and the result is not guaranteed. A Rockman always sounds good.
• Direct connection: No microphone, no huge cab, no heavy amp. Plug the guitar in the Rockman, plug the Rockman in the mixer and the sound is here.
• Profession sound made available to everyone!
Benefits of the Rockman
So........what is “The Band” that Tom Scholz was a part of that helped revolutionize rock music today?
“The Band” - Just a little history...
• Now you know how BOSTON’s sound came to be, but do you know how it got it’s name and why “The Band” is in quotes?
• Although Boston is still active playing and recording today, many listeners associate Boston with the music from their debut album. Ferreting out the origin of those songs, and that sound, explains how the “band” got it’s first recording contract in 1976.
• Only two people were actually signed by Epic Records to record the album, Tom Scholz and Brad Delp.
• Over the years that they have been recording or playing at venues, they used local recording studio bands or they would hire local musicians just for that city’s concert, so you would never see the same band members at any event.
