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Abstract
While numerous contemporary composers have explored the endless possibilities afforded by microtonal tuning systems, Western popular music has hitherto rarely ventured from the harmonic comfort zone of 12-tone equal temperament. This article highlights an unlikely exception to this trend in the emergence of a community of microtonal electronic dance musicians, and examines how changes in technology, culture, and distribution might have led to its development.
ORCiD
Adam Hart http://orcid.org/0000-0002-3210-1223
Notes
1 The division of the octave into equal steps as a convenient tuning system, with the usual intention of closely approximating consonant intervals (see, e.g., Barbour, Citation2004, pp. 45–88; de Klirk, Citation1979; McGarry, Citation1984).
2 The term has fallen out of use, being criticised as divisive and derogatory by the artists to whom it was most frequently applied (Winfield, Citation2007).
9 An unusual scale in that it does not use the octave as a repeating measure, instead dividing the interval 3/1 into 13 steps. The scale has been examined by various theorists (Bohlen, Citation1978; Van Prooijen, Citation1978; Mathews, Roberts, & Pierce, Citation1984) including Walker herself (Citation2001).
10 The track does not feature on any Elaine Walker albums to date, but was featured in a 2010 conference on the Bohlen–Pierce scale (www.bohlen-pierce-conference.org/concert-1). A video of the performance can be found at Walker's YouTube page – www.youtube.com/channel/UCNuIo7ihrpoC66q9guIIsuQ
11 See Walker, Citation2001; www.ziaspace.com/_academic/microtonality
15 See also Erlich, Citation1998; Fokker, Citation1975; Mandelbaum, Citation1961.
16 The ratios of vibration rate between tones, whereby the smallest ratios are the most consonant and theoretically those which should be most closely approximated in a tuning system (see, e.g., Barbour, Citation2004, pp. 89–106; Helmholtz & Ellis, Citation2009, pp. 355–578;).
21 See, for example, www.cycling74.com/community and www.puredata.info/community
28 See, for example, www.xenharmonic.wikispaces.com/List+of+Microtonal+Software+Plugins
30 See, for example, the microtonal death metal band Last Sacrament, signed to Elaine Walker's label Microtonal Records—www.microtonalrecords.com/bands.html
31 Dutch experimental luthier Yuri Landman has built guitar-like instruments with microtonal capabilities for various alternative rock bands—www.hypercustom.nl
32 Reproduced with permission from Elaine Walker.
33 See, for example, Goldie—Temper temper (Citation1998) and Grooverider—Where's Jack the Ripper (Citation1998)
34 See, for example, Aphex Twin—Come to Daddy (Citation1997) and Aphex Twin—‘ΔMi−1 = −αΣn=1NDi[n][Σ j∈C[i] Fji[n − 1] + Fexti[n−1]]’ (Citation1999) [sic] (more commonly referred to as ‘Equation’ or ‘Formula’)
36 See, for example, Lepain, Citation1999; Davy, Godsill, & Idier, Citation2006; Klapuri, Citation2008.
37 The smallest perceivable difference in pitch is a matter of conjecture, though estimations are typically around this value (Sethares, Citation2005, pp. 43–45).
39 A system of tuning based upon approximation of the just interval 3/2 (see, for example, Barbour, Citation2004, pp. 25–44).
40 The stereo field in Belfast is breached by the distraction of an out-of-sync phasing effect, which seems to evoke a distant police siren, separate from the track itself. The psychoacoustic properties of Chime have been analysed extensively by Ratcliffe (Citation2012, Citation2013). Many other examples of the crossover between electroacoustic music and electronic dance music can be found in these texts.