FEATURE:
Music Technology Breakthroughs
Part Two: The Roland TR-808 Drum Machine
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THIS is a bit of a cheat…
IN THIS PHOTO: The chief engineer of the Roland TR-808 drum machine, Tadao Kikumoto
this week, as I have taken the lead from BBC Radio 6 Music. Mary Anne Hobbs recently presented 808 at 40 – The Drum Machine That Changed Music Forever, as an iconic piece of kit celebrated a big anniversary! It was fascinating to see how influential and used the Roland TR-808 is in music! It is amazing it took until 1980 for someone to harness technology that could produce a realistic-sounding drum sound…so the Roland TR-808 was a revolution! I want to bring in an article that discusses the legacy of the technological innovation but, first, this article gives us some background:
“In the late 1970s, no one knew how to get realistic-sounding drums out of a machine, so a team of engineers at the Japanese company Roland, led by Tadao Kikumoto, began using analog synthesis—a process that manipulates electrical currents to generate sounds—to create and store sounds that mimicked hand-claps and bass notes and in-studio drums, creating catchy percussion patterns. Unlike most drum machines at the time, the 808 gave musicians remarkable freedom: You weren’t limited to pre-programmed rhythms or orchestrations, which meant you could fashion sounds and stack them on top of one another until you’d created something that had never been heard before. The TR-808 was in many ways a living and breathing studio unto itself.
Ironically, it was the commercial failure of the 808 that would fuel its popularity: As established musicians began to unload their 808s at secondhand stores, the machine dipped below its initial $1,200 sticker price; by the mid-1980s, used 808s were selling for $100 or less, and the 808 became more accessible to young musicians, just as hip-hop and electronic dance music were preparing to make important leaps in their respective evolutions. Today, the 808’s legacy is most entrenched in Southern rap, where it is now nearly ubiquitous, thanks to the machine’s thundering bass, which comes alive in songs such as OutKast’s 2003 “The Way You Move.”
The 808 briefly sounded like the future, then briefly seemed to have no future. But it has provided beats for hundreds of hits, from Whitney Houston’s 1987 “I Wanna Dance With Somebody” to Drake’s 2018 “God’s Plan,” winning the affections of beatmakers across genres and generations, many of whom build their beats with 808s, or by remixing older 808-driven songs. If you want to get that classic 808 feel without buying the machine, just use the web-based software iO-808, released in 2016. With a few keystrokes, you can summon those analog 808 sounds that changed the world”.
Even if the Roland TR-808 did not burn bright commercially for long, it was transformative for many artists and songs. Like all great technology introductions the price was too steep, which meant that the Roland TR-808 did not sell in massive quantities. Some complained that the machine did not sound like real drums, but it was clear that the sound was authentic enough for many artists. It meant they could get a good beat without hiring a session musician and, if you look through the songs that has used the Roland TR-808, then you can see how diverse and malleable it is! I am going to drop in a playlist that Roland constructed that includes songs where the Roland TR-808 is in the mix – it is quite interesting listening! The Roland TR-808 spawned a load of copycat machines and programmes, as people love that original sound and wanted to make their own version.
Whilst one does not hear the Roland TR-808 so much these days - as software has evolved and there are more choices for electronic percussion -, many Hip-Hop artists still use it for their music. It is amazing that something so simple (although it was quite a breakthrough in 1980) has transformed music to such a degree! The Verge talked about the legacy of the Roland TR-808 shortly after its chief engineer, Ikutaro Kakehashi, died:
“The emergence of the drum machine was crucial to the formation of entire areas of music — especially hip-hop, but also subgenres like Miami bass, acid house, and Detroit techno. Before the 808, producers would dig for drum samples and meticulously loop them to create original drum patterns. With the arrival of drum machines, samples and live drummers became unnecessary. Producers were able to tweak their own patterns out of the 808’s “robotic” and “toy-like” sounds, which made it possible for nearly anyone to produce music. Drum machines like the 808 spawned the era of “bedroom producers” such as Rick Rubin (who used an 808 in his NYU dorm) and Pete Rock. Afrika Bambaataa was the first hip-hop act to put the machine on the map with his seminal 1982 record “Planet Rock.” It also hit mainstream success with Marvin Gaye’s 1982 hit “Sexual Healing.”
The 808 became a fixture in hip-hop culture, not only as a tool for producers but as a defining sound of the genre. When the New York epicenter of hip-hop started to move toward other machines in the 1990s, the 808 held its roots in Southern hip-hop with artists like Lil Jon (who has even been accused of overusing the handclap sound). It’s still as crucial as ever, and has spawned the creation of production groups such as 808 Mafia (Southside & Lex Luger), who are often credited with creating Atlanta’s “trap” sound, with one of the signature elements being the 808 bass drum. Trap producers Metro Boomin and Sonny Digital also rely heavily on the 808 sound, and they’re responsible for 90 percent of today’s most popular Migos and Future records — “Mask Off” being the most recent. Most, if not all, chart-topping hip-hop records today and in the past 30 years have probably used some element of an 808.
Step outside of hip-hop, and the 808 legacy can be found elsewhere, particularly in pop music. Starting as early as Cybotron’s “Clear,” and heard as recently as Jamie XX’s “Gosh,” the 808 brought a new level of power into pop’s sound. It also became heavily used in present-day EDM, with artists such as Diplo and David Guetta championing its elements in singles and collaborations.
The 808 broke down the walls between genres, and spawned collaborations between some of the biggest acts from different spaces. Because the 808 was so adaptable, it was like the first open-sourced sound, with artists building on each other’s interpretations and making it their own. Lil Jon and Usher’s “Yeah” was an unlikely collaboration that showcased an R&B singer on an 808 and made Usher instantly relevant again. Marvin Gaye’s “Sexual Healing” is nowhere near a hip-hop or techno record, yet it relied entirely on the 808. The 808 is like the not-so-secret sauce of hit records — sprinkle in an 808 drum, and your song instantly sounds better”.
Every music fan has to salute the Roland TR-808, as it offered new possibilities to artists across so many different genres. From Hip-Hop innovators to Soul legends; to Electronic pioneers, that distinct sound has made its way all across the music map! Forty years after it came onto the market, I wanted to add my nod and give thanks to an extraordinary and hugely influential technology. Those in 1980 who felt the Roland TR-808 offered novelty and little realism could not have envisaged how it would take off and be taken to heart. As you can hear from the playlist below, the Roland TR-808 creates…
SUCH a wonderful sound.