Kate Bush and the Fairlight CMI

Video lecture of 'Kate Bush and the Fairlight CMI' presented by Dr Dori Howard and Cliff Bradbury.
This was filmed in Music Technology facilities at Keele University in 2020 showcasing the Fairlight CMI.

A large part of this lecture is informed by the work of Ron Moy. For more information, please see his 2007 book Kate Bush and Hounds of Love.

[Hakucho]

Fairlight is switched on at 16:30, if you just want to skip to that bit.

[bobbyarchaic]

This is the best suggestion youtube has made for me in months. It's brilliant that the Fairlight got demonstrated.

[markcoull]

OMG - I used that very Fairlight in my compositions when studying music at Keele - 1981 - 1984

[ramonrojasalmuzara]

Being a Fairlight user and a Kate Bush fan myself this video is like a dream come true.

[Steve-boht]

I've just started to use the Arturia version of the CMI Fairlight sampler as I am crazy about what Kate managed to get from this instrument in the studio, and you quickly realise the amount of work and pure genius that went into her incredible songs. My wife Lyn studied at Keele for her maths and computer science degree and we have a great affection for the University and holds many special memory's for her, and many thanks for taking time share this video Manuella.

[radarmusen]

Under ice is giving me goosebumps, Kate bush has always mixed the sound perfectly. When sampling sound it reminds me of the art of noises way to use it.

[nutster]

This all started when Bush accompanied Peter Gabriel in 1979 working on his third album, she sampled her voice through the Fairlight for "intertextual" effects on a few tracks including "No Self Control" & "Games Without Frontiers" The fact is, she was at the first demos that Peter Vogel gave at Gabriel's farm studio in 1979 & there are photos on the internet of the event. I believe Vogel & Gabriel invited a few other famous artists to these sessions. So her involvement with Fairlight were from the very start of Vogel trying to sell the series 1. There are similarities in how Bush & Madonna have had such a huge talent for exploiting technology at a certain point in time, in an amazingly visionary way that I don't think was appreciated at the time. Saying that, from 79/80 onwards there was a huge revolution in music technology. For artists like Bush with her creative talents ( David Gilmour saw this in her) it was like being in a candy store with completely new ways to express her art.

[birdsong]

Kate was raised around different instruments esp Irish and becuase her brother owned instruments from all over the world and very rare ones. Thats what he is known for.

[michaelrosendahl]

It's always a relief when a person on Youtube actually has something to say.

[CsawIvu]

Thank You Manuella, and Dr, Howard, this was indeed a comprehensive, and brilliant series of analysis. This allowed me to revisit, and reconsider the compositions of Kate Bush, which I have always enjoyed, and found so immersive.

[Choober]

You teach it, I design it. I designed a "Fairlight" type machine in the mid 80's, now I have everything I need to make a FULL Fairlight IIx or III. I have all the schematics from Peter Vogel. Thanks Pete.

[egodeathbliss]

Kate Bush + Fairlight = Hounds of Love ( an amazing musical and artistic achievement). Thanks so much for the in-depth Fairlight tutorial as well!

[HandyAndyTechTips]

Kate's "Babooshka" (1980) contained, I believe, the first use of a Fairlight on a commercially released pop single. Just listen to how the sound of breaking glass is shifted into different keys at the end of the song.

[cecileemusic]

Very interesting lecture! As a huge Kate Bush fan and a music producer, I loved the demonstrations of the Fairlight! Music nerd!!

I do wish it had been mentioned that Kate's first album with the Fairlight was actually Never For Ever, her third album and the one before The Dreaming, and released in 1980. The broken glass on Babooshka (a huge hit when it was released) was recorded and sampled on the Fairlight, for example.

Also, not to say Kate didn't use the Fairlight on HOL, because she certainly did! BUT the Fairlight was used far more extensively on The Dreaming, the album before HOL. I wish The Dreaming had been used as more of an example of her use of this instrument. :)

[mattierenton]

This is absolutely brilliant, reminds me of an open university program from years ago !!. fascinating stuff, I just love the way Dr Dori (beautiful name btw) explains it and her passion shines through. Please do more of these, Dori's voice is just wonderful, thankyou

[lustechsource]

It's amazing how the phone I carry in my pocket is much more powerful than an entire studio from the 80's, yet my musical abilities aren't as powerful as the abilities of our earliest ancestors.

[ManoOne-Music-Production]

Thank you so much for this! Everyone needs to listen to the album Kate & Me by french producer Pone, made with eye tracking (!) due to the fact that he has ALS and is paralyzed. Kate herself was touched. It is made with samples from her work.

[antopsyco]

Just to point out, before Zoolook 22:53, Jean-Michel Jarre first bought the Fairlight CMI in 1979 which he started experimenting and used it in his 1981 Magnetic Fields album, and if you look at its over sleeve of this album, you'll see some a screenshot of the Fairlight waveform display that he used.

[SamHarrisonMusic]

Honestly, I love Kate's early work more because of its more organic instrumentation, but it's fascinating seeing how difficult and expensive early sampling was :)

[ukrocksounds]

Nice to see americans loving Kate bush. Genius sums kate up.