Disco! Disco! Disco! Punk! Punk! Punk!

When it came to disco and politics, it wasn't a happy combination to start with. There were lack of rights for the gay community. It was an oppressive time and there was a lack of freedom for minorities. But over time, things did change.

Disco started in the late 60's to the early 70's and involved 4 types of people that started it up; Latin, African American, Gay and Psychedelic Communities. The style/feel it has came from the genre of Motown music with gave it that funky feel. Disco was also influenced by funk, lating and soul. Disco also was a rebellion against the take over of all the rock that was being played at the time. One of the pioneers of disco was called DJ David Mancuso. He opened a club called "The Loft" which was a member only, private only club which was in his own home.

When disco was involved with politics, it was a hard time for the audience of disco. The audience mainly consisted of African American, Gays, and Latin, all of both genders. During this time period, right were scarce when it came to other ethnicities and sexualities and even genders. But as the civil rights were initiated, a ripple effect of rights came after. The civil rights are a class of rights that protects and individual's freedom. As this was taking effect, other rights/movements were as well, such as the Women's Liberation Movement and the African-America Civil Rights Movement. These movements were 2 out of the 3 essential rights that help disco become free. The 3rd essential rights act that completely set free disco were the Gay rights or LGTB rights. These set of rights are unfortunately still going on and being discussed. In some countries, gay marriage/partnerships are completely allowed where as in other countries it is not and can even be punishable by death. In the disco times, being gay was looked at as an "illness" and was not welcomed at all.

Gay people were seriously oppressed in those days. Many where "in denial" because they had to hide the fact that they were gay, other wise they would get harassed a lot verbally or even physically. But one event that happened which pushed the offenders back was the StoneWall riots. This helped the gay community strengthen up and blossom helping all the gay people that were being oppressed have more confidence and stand up the the offenders. After all of these happened, the disco era was a happier place. This was until a backlash happened and a decline in disco popularity occurred. This happened in the late 70's because a strong anti-gay group formed among punk/rock fans and musicians especially in the USA. Slogans such as "disco sucks" and "death to disco" were chanted at a big riot to stop disco.

July 12, 1979 - "The Day Disco Died" -

The effect of disco and its function in society had many branches. Drugs, dancing, sex and fashion where fairly big parts of the disco era. The type of drugs that where very popular in those time where the types of drugs that would "enhance" the experience of dancing and flashing lights. The drugs used where usually cocaine, amyl nitrate (poppers) and other drugs that made your limbs feels "loose" or "Jelly-like". At one point at they dispersed cocaine through the sprinklers at the famous studio 54 club in new york. All the drug taking induced a lot of the sexual promiscuity that was rampant and public. In the clubs a lot of the actual sex would happen in the bathrooms, exit stairwell etc. All of these would take place in underground gatherings as well as famous disco clubs.

The reason why I think disco was popular is because it is was a big general resistance to the oppression of politics. It was a breakthrough for many types of people that had different sexualities or were a different race. So many political activites were breached because of how vast the resistance was. Besides the riots and political action, the form of expression was all in and through disco. Disco in terms of how it effected the participants, is a juxtaposition. As much as the music makers and users used music to fight against politicians, they also used it to get away from the violence. Overall disco was popular and strong enough genre to go down in history as era.

Events that occurred in the disco era also happened with punk in the UK. But in this case, the procedures were simular but the intentions/morals were the quite the opposite. Instead of a gradual rise to victory, this was a much stronger rebellion.

Punk in its self are several things such as, a genre of music, fashion sense and subculture. Punk, the genre of music, started in the USA, UK and Australia in the mid 70's. It is usually edgy and hard sounding with songs that are rebelling about politics. Punk music is related to rock because it was used as a term to describe garage rock. Over time the popularity grew and particularly in the UK and bands like the Sex Pistols and The Clash help spread the sound. Like disco when Punk was mixed with politics, it was not a nice story. During the Punk era, a lot of political crisis' were happening. There was a major recession and a lot of financial problems that resulted in lack of jobs. This is what inspired/motivated the style and type of lyrics and sound punk had, because it was how they expressed themselves.

All aspects of punk rock is associated with anti-goverment, anti-establishment or "D.I.Y" ethos. This means do it yourself. One company that help motivate this way of thinking was called Punk Zine. This was a magazine company that released a monthly issue to help the audience of punk since the government was not supporting people, which is the one of the reasons why Punk was born and a key motive for the genre. This monthly issue was called "Sniffin' Glue".

When compared, Punk went through similar problems as disco but it was the punk/rock crowd that took over after disco and essential killed it through oppressive and violent behaviour. Both era's went through problems due to politics but disco when through more of a "gaining rights/independence" fight where as punk went more of a "rebellion/ Anti-establishment" fight. Disco's method was more of a political/academic way of dealing with there problems despite the rebellion of the stonewall riots. Punk was more of a violent/ loud way of fighting the oppression of the government, though their music was a form of an expression.


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Grants Work Recording 2

For the bass we used 2 tracks to record, one recording the bass through the Amplifier with the Audix D6, and the other to record the bass with a DI box. The reason why we used both is because as well as the clean quality of the DI box, we wanted to capture the warm acoustics of the bass. The is diagram of how it was done. 

A D.I. box connects line level output signals to microphone level input, through a XLR cable and does this through connecting a jack cable to the bass guitar. The D.I. box then transforms this line level signal into a microphone level output. It then sends it to the floor box, which goes straight into the mixer. This output comes through an XLR output. There is also an XLR input, which is used to connect the Bass and D.I. box to the amplifier, through an XLR to Jack cable. The D.I. box requires an external power source which must contain 48 volts.

When it came to the mixing desk to record the bass, we connected them to a separate track each. For example DI box in channel 1 and the Audix D6 in channel 2. Then we balanced the levels between the 2, to get the cleanliness of the bass coming from the DI box and then the warmness from the amp.These where simultaneously recorded. 

When it came to drums we used:

Rhode NT5 x2 in the XY stereo set up (Overheads)

SM57 (Snare)

Audix D6 (Kick drum)

When the drums where recorded, 4 tracks were made. It was one track per mic. We had to turn the channels into mono rather than stereo so we could arm the tracks and record at the same time. The mics were set up the same way before. The SM57 holstered close to the snare and because it is a dynamic mic, it can take more louder because it isn't as sensitive as a condenser mic. The Audix D6 was shallowly placed within the Kick drum. This mic was used for the bass drum because it is recommended for lower frequencies which is was the kick drum produces. The overheads where placed above the kit. They weren't placed to the kit because they are condensers and are more sensitive than dynamic mics. These mics also require a (48V) power supply. The overheads where there to pick up mainly the crash, ride and toms. But instead of putting on them on separate mic stands, we used the XY mic formation. This technique will give a balanced signal that the over heads will receive. 

Originally the piano was supposed be the first to be recorded but because of player issues, I had to record drums first to set the tempo, rhythm and feel. The piano was then recorded after the drums were done. What we used to record the piano was 2 rode NT5's. 1 was placed at the higher end of the piano, and the other at the lower. The reason why we never changed the type of mic when it came to the lower end of the piano, is because the lower end of the piano is quite high in frequency. Also the sensitivity you can use and play on a piano will be caught by the condenser mics because they are sensitive picking up delicate sounds. Knowing this, the NT5's were high suited to record the piano. After setting up the mics and connecting them to mixer, we changed them to mono so we record both of them simultaneously. After that, the piano was recorded to playing of the drums that were recorded earlier. 

The Mics/Equipment we used (RODE NT5, AUDIX D6, SM57, DI BOX)