Suzanne Ciani on the David Letterman Show
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- Опубликовано: 8 июл 2009
- Here's my nine minutes of late-night (I meant early-morning) fame on the David Letterman Show when originally broadcasted on NBC. It was produced on August 14, 1980.
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It was done with the Prophet. The filter rises while the pitch lowers. Glad you like it!
Suzanne, I love the music and the inspiration. Let sound keep you and all of us young. Frequencies are discovered every day, we have to find a way to share them.
This is wonderful! Thank you for sharing it!
ok , so ,, basically ,,,you are a god , ok1
You're the best, I love your music!
I love the tension at the end when you can’t get the computer to play and then all of a sudden out of nowhere comes the most heavenly piece of music... after all the (wonderful) goofing around it elevates the whole vibration of the room to a higher level and then the whole segment is ended by letterman because what’s left to say really? I’d like to think he was dumbstruck by the beautiful sound of the prophet and almost got embarrassed to have it play on his simple talk show :)
"this looks like a normal keyboard"
*POINTS TO PROPHET 5*
WHAAAAT BLASPHEMY! ATROCIOUS!!!!!
well I mean......Letterman is very sarcastic
To Letterman's defense- he doesn't know anything about keyboards- he was just being a smart-ass, he knew that Prophet looked like a beast
I laughed at that when he said it.
Does the Prophet 5 not look normal?
Fourty-two years ago, when this was first aired, I had just finished building an electronic synthesizer instrument that I could not afford to otherwise purchase. Ms. Ciani was front-and-center in the world of electronic music, and to a slightly lesser degree, in the music industry press because of Suzanne's amazing vision, leadership, and raw guts. Additionally, because of who she was/is and because she was so fearless, many of us became hopeful that we could put food on the table with our own electronic music efforts. After a year-long tribulation of building a 45-module first generation patch cord synthesizer while finishing up at Berklee and embarking upon the world of recorded and live music, I was able to position myself to get paid to create commercial music, sfx, and live music ( ! ) using similar, although far cruder instruments. The result was having my music heard all over the world, and, for a time, being able to eke out a living as an electronic musician. The world and I personally owe a you, Suzanne, a great debt of gratitude for your pioneering work.
Link to your work?
My dear sir we are intriiigued
God you are old dood
I want to know as well
who is you be isn'?
Amazing that a segment on synthesizers and sound processors got such a long amount of airtime. Of course, Letterman had to play the curmudgeon, as he was also the voice of the viewer who had no idea what was going on. On the other hand, he also gave Ciani a generous amount of time to explain and demonstrate things which were clearly over the head of the average viewer in that day and age. What we take for granted today was pretty "out there" back then. Much appreciated segment.
Michael Bradford Letterman loves talented and weird people, that’s why he’s going to be remembered as best host of our era.
Nailed it my g, and what's weird is that today in age, everyone can afford a Synthesizer, I mean not vintage $5k + Synthesizer but it's not affordable to everyone if you want to get into it.... As for back then when not everyone had the money for it....
Late 60s into the mid 80s emerging technology (lots of programs on avant guard musique concrète, the fairlight cmi, ned synclavier, moog modular, ems et al)
Yes it was
@@nicholasfaith8999 i forgot that
Suzanne is an unrecognized genius (outside of the electronic music world) and pioneer. This Letterman segment doesn’t even scratch the surface of not only what she could do, but the amount of time she devoted to her craft. Remember, NO one else was doing this before her.
I find that hard to believe.
Could always research it and that research COULD turn up a credible answer or, to the extent that you are able, provide you with a relatively accurate overview of however this is rightly categorized. I guess; the early practice of sound synthesis using electronic instruments and computers
She may very well have been a pioneer at the time she came on the scene or participated in carrying the torch
Rick Wakeman, John lord, frank zappa, etc comes to mind.
@@truetexan7755
I’m going to add Bob Moog, Larry Fast and Kieth Emerson….😄
RUclips, Synergy (Larry Fast) my favs, Relay Breakdown and Classical Gas (Mason Williams composition)
Enjoy! 🍻❤️😎
@@tubester4567 Tangerine Dream, Klaus Schulze, maybe even Jean Michel Jarre, come to my mind. Yes in the mid to late 1980 more groups came on the scene, which was grouped under the term "New Age". Not to forget Japan's Kitaro., who also discovered in the mid 1970 the Synthesizers. But most musicians named had nothing to do with the "religious/spiritual New Age movement. And yes I did buy a couple of Cianis work, like the *velocity of love* . Another female Pioneer to name would be Wendy Carlos.
It's so great as adult to find out you had female heroes on your field of computer games and electronic music. She's influenced on both sectors. Man, this is what I like the most about youtube, it's a archive of interesting educational content.
Else Marie Pade
Komponist
"they call me"
she was so quick with that that even letterman went a little quiet.
Was she high?
fucking clutch. what a woman.
I'm impressed by the speed at which she was able to pull up all those sounds. It may look like she has a few gaffes, or gets the wrong sound. But you can't save settings for either the Prophet 5 nor her vocal processors. They all have to be manually configured on the fly and having the two systems connected increases the complexity exponentially. The fact she could pull them up so quickly, while under the pressure of being on live TV where even a second of dead air is death is incredible and demonstrates just how skilled and familiar she is with this equipment (in addition to her top notch sound design and music, of course).
The Prophet 5 was one of, if not THE first synthesizer to allow users to save settings
You can save patches on the original Prophet 5. It was the first one to do that and a big reason it was so successful (not to mention it sounds incredible)
Besides the prophet 5, some of the digital effects she used also probably had presets that could be recalled. The first digital effect (A delay from Eventide) was made alreday in 1972. That didn't have memory for presets but at least some of the Lexicon Reverbs could save user presets as early as 1978. In 1980 (the year the video is from) there was a "boom" in effect units with lots of patch memory!
I’m just imagining the fact these kinds of sounds were really new back then and barely ever heard by anyone. The “one that sounds like the studio explodes”, it’s just so powerful and for that time pretty unique.
That one is known as a Shepard tone.
@b b "That's the reason new wave blew up in the 80's. The sounds were all brand new. We couldn't wait to hear new music so we could hear new sounds." - YES! Exactly that. New generations are so accustomed to pretty much any kind of sound being easy to make in music that they will never know how magical it was. I became obsessed with synthesizers in my teens (around 1979, Gary Numan fan, haha!) and I've never lost that excitement.
By 1980 synths were full on mainstream thanks to disco. Parliament and funkidelic were tearin up the place ( Flash Light - '77) along with Kraftwerk through out the 70s.
I think most people apart of old folks were already familiar with these sounds, as they were used in 50s Sci-Fi flicks or 60s saturday morning cartoons like Johnny Quest. The only relatively new thing were emerging music genres, made mainly with synthesizers and analog effects, like Synthpop, New Age or Berlin School music.
These sounds were all over mid/late 70s movies and TV shows by then. Battlestar Galactica, Buck Rogers, and lots of commercials just for starters.
I’m reaching my 50’s and I had the privilege to enjoy the eighties in my adolescence. Today I have my little studio at home, with synthesizers, cables and a lot of geeky stuff. Thanks to this visionary woman and another great artists like her I turned myself into an electronic music lover. This was by far THE BEST age for the music. Thank you!.
You need a band brother
The 80's were almost a complete wasteland in terms of any popular music
@Z B no they weren't, only the top 40 and sometimes not even that. You are repeating narratives you've heard. I'm a musician and trust me music today and basically ever since has been worse
@Fred Striker hey man, that's what I said. "POPULAR MUSIC" . You need to read and contemplate a comment before you just fire out a jab at someone whose even willing to engage with you. There has been awesome music that has came out of every modern time period, worldwide, not just America. Instead of belittling someone who maybe doesn't share your perspective, find a unique way of using your words to communicate your point. I'll just leave you to it, buddy. Looks like you've got it all figured out. 👍
@Z B I'm not quite sure why you took such offense dude. Two points, 1. I said "sometimes, not even that" Actually referring to top 40 popular music. So I was disagreeing with you pointing out that sometimes the top 40 was good quality music. I wasn't contradicting myself and misreading. But even of I was who gives a rat's ass. Enjoy your evening.
I actually watched that segment live in 1980, in fact, I VIDEO RECORDED IT on my beta machine then, I think I still have the tape somewhere -- at that time I was an audio production man for a radio station, trying to find unusual sounds for jingles and such, so I LOVED this segment!! I also play electronic music keyboard by ear, so this was right up my alley! Thanks for posting this! I'm going to watch more of your work!
I was a kid at the time, and we didn't have a VCR, but for some reason, I audiorecorded this very segment on a cassette recorder held up to a TV speaker in the back bedroom of my grandparents' house.
Else Marie Pade
Komponist
You have any music online?
What I love of this interview is how happy and quiet Suzanne seems to be... I was very lucky to talk to her in person in my small town in Spain after a concert with other fans a lot of years ago, she was already a legend for all of us lovers of "New Age" and electronic music, but she showed so kind and humble... it was an amazing experience. Will never forget it.
Seeing him request and then emotionally react to it at 6:00 (stepping away as if the synth is gaining in potential energy) is pretty damn awesome :)
That's a Shepard tone. It could go on forever too.
@@mattloguephotography Nah I don't think it is. Sounds a lot higher pitched in the end than in the beginning
I can't tell if it's getting higher or lower ! 😮 Crazy sound!!
@@StefanReich It's a shepart tone. Soinding "higher pitched in the end" is part of its basic illusion
Frequencies exists 👽
Her natural personality is part of the presentation of her art as much as the gear. A pretentious goof couldn't pull this off. She's likable, and acts like a human. She doesn't need to lecture, or act like "the smartest person in the room". People instinctively know to distrust that.
InsertName130
Why should people distrust that?
@@jumpingeezus5080 great question
i am not expressing myself honestly
Ok.
piping piping
You sound threatened by her.
piping piping
Misunderstood you.
her reaction at 8:08 is priceless
Her smile, her voice, her sound, her genius mind...All this wrapped in sexiness, talent and a playful sense of humour ! What a woman 😍!!! What a soul !!!
She definitely had the "suffer no fools" vibe going on, but then maybe she needed that to get where she did.
Anyone else get such a warm, full feeling, maybe even goosebumps, when, Ciani finally gets that arp to work at the end? The joy and excitement on her face is so palpable, this moment is so magical. Almost as if she had found the formula to world peace and shared it with her viewers in real time
I love segments like this on regular TV. Another favorite is when Herbie Hancock was on Sesame Street demonstrating the Fairlight synth to a bunch of kids. Props to her for doing her thing.
One thing I loved about 80s music is the electronic music!! Loved that robot voice!!
"Make the thing make some noises for us" - Some things never change.
In the mid 80s I worked at one of the LucasFilms spinoffs (the DroidWorks), where we designed and built the world's first ever fully digital audio/video editing and production platform (eventually the hardware rights went to Steve Jobs/Apple, which later became the Next media computer). Electronic music was still emerging, my supervisor at DW was the director of the electronic music group at MIT. A bit later, I was attempting to build my own DYI audio processors . . . and Ms Ciani was the goddess of synth.
Meet her years ago and thanked her for her artistry, was nice to see a throwback moment of Suzanne in the very early days......her money comment did rock!
The first time I heard " The Velocity of Love" by Ms. Ciani I was hooked. So, on to "Seven Waves", "Hotel Luna", "Pianissimo", etc. I spread the Beauty as well: Many years ago my friend's GF ( at the time, later they married ) was grading her students' papers at our rental home and I offered to put some background music on for her. Instrumental piano. She agreed. It was "Pianissimo". She later thanked me, saying it was pretty. No, thank you, Suzanni Ciani for sharing your God-given gift with the world. Peace, Grace, Truth, Joy, Love to you.
I love how she explain all the stuff with her beautiful voice
She was opening new worlds to us, but we weren’t ready for it back then. Thanks. ❤️
She’s a true pioneer and tell me playing with those vintage instruments is much more fun than point and paste any day of the week!
I think I'd be thoroughly entertained just listening to you talk!
8:08 Love the excited arms! 😀
Ha! 35 years later, same damned crush on this brilliant, geeky masterpiece of a lady. Too bad she didn't show him the Buchla. His hair would have gone white. Nice to visit. Thanks for posting.
lol
And she's still beautiful and brilliant!
......"His hair would have gone white."........
Not only that, but an enormous beard would have sprouted from his chin.
7
"Too bad she didn't show him the Buchla" thats what he said
Today is the one I came across a musical genius soul in human form known as Suzanne Ciani. I dig your expressions and after recently embarking on my own musical journey, find your creations deeply inspiring. Infinite gratitude. 🦋
Wow, what a wonderful bit of history to stumble across on a rainy morning. I would have been 16 when this aired, just about the time I first started getting into bands and dreaming of having my own synth one day.
Murdock Scott I was a bit younger and watched Dave religiously. I remember this.
Same here. How time changes us. I would have killed for a Prophet 5 in 1980. Now I have multiple synths collecting dust in a storage for years on end. :-\
She's so flirty when she's having fun.
Just puts a smile on your face!
Suzanne Ciani is so awesome that her jingle was used at the end of various programs produced by Columbia Pictures Television until 1987. RIP CPT Suzanne Ciani jingle 1976-1988
ruclips.net/video/B_EDa31dPeE/видео.html
She is charming and confident. Letterman's attitude shows he took her so seriously as she deserved.
Thank you Suzanne, you make me cry with your beautiful symbiotic relationship with electronic synthesis, truly moving. I wish I'd known about you and your work in this field earlier in my life, what you were doing in 1980 is astounding and so far ahaead of its time, using sequences and computers to reproduce tracks, AMAZING.
Worth it to see Suzanne’s joy at the end when the beautiful new age sequence starts at the end of the clip, and the band begin to play along with it. Great clip.
8:04 I’d kill for a track of this. One of the most beautiful things I’ve ever heard
same!
I think you'd enjoy one of my favorites from her works: The Third Wave - Love in the Waves - Suzanne Ciani
Check out Sonne Image's channel
I felt exactly the same way, is there no actual song for this? goodness it's beautiful and heavenly
Fear of a Blank Planet 🤘
I always fantasize about a world where these late night shows host more abstract/experimental artists than pop music. You got to make some cool sound on Letterman, and I admire that. Thanks for posting!
I can "hear" the sound engineer for Letterman in the back having kittens, lol.
I am still in wonder watching thiis pioneer........her excitement and curiosity of the instrument that's true passion and thank you for uploading it ..
Thank you. Your contribution to the evolution of music production is immeasurable.
Just perfect finding this great piece of synth history! The opening of Dave’s original morning show is also pretty awesome as well! Big Dave fan. Never owned a Prophet but I used one in the studio at the time. Just a fantastic instrument! Suzanne, you are an awesome guest/presenter/musician! ❤️🎹
I was born in 1991 so seeing both the old school NBC bumper and the pre-late night theme song was a special treat
Thank you for posting this. Great segment, and I am ALWAYS grateful to see a daytime David letterman show segment!
Such wonderful stuff. Thanks so much for sharing!!
can’t stop smiling watching this!
So Glad to see you on Letterman back in the day, Suzanne. I remember hearing The Velocity Of Love around 1985 and running right out to buy a copy of your album. Thanks for the inspiring sounds.
Such a glorious musical rendition of the times. Massive pinball vibes 🤌🏻
Adore everything about Cianni. An absolute unique genius. A cornerstone to any mention of pioneers in electronic music. The prophet🙏🏻
I don't recall a guest of Letterman who ever made him beam like an amazed and delighted child. 6:35
That was real magic.
I don't know, there was this Drew Barrymore episode that I remember
I INSTANTLY saw the same thing! He looked like a kid who had ALWAYS wanted to hear that live, and now did.
8:08 for the penguin arms arms and beautiful arpeggios. Legend.
Dear Suzanne, you should see the beautiful mood we have at home here during all pandemics, confined and very limited, listening and showing to my lovely lil daughter Isabel your music. She loves to play listening to Neverland. Thanks so much for your music.
I remember watching this as a young man. Brilliant and inspiring
Thank you 👍❤️👍
So happy to find this, you're a role model for young lady producer musicians
These sounds were such a huge part of the late 70’s and 80’s. I had no idea the Prophet / she was responsible for a lot of it. Very cool.
I notice that the intro to the show was a forerunner of the Late Night shows intro. Fabulous vid.
Your Mozaic always in my playlist!One of the Best !
Wow this is so awesome. I remember staying up late and watching Dave. I would have been about 13 years old on this night. I had forgot about his intro. Thanks so much for uploading this 13 YEARS AGO!!!
This has to be one of the funniest interviews. Dave looked like he was just too lost for zingers, unlike how he usually gets in with his guests. You truly spaced him out lol. Nothing against, Dave, just enjoying the far out demo you provided. You owned the stage! What a pioneer. Thanks for your contributions to the art of electronic music!
Her version of Deep Note @ 6:19 two years before it was created at Lucasfilm....
It sounds like the Krell trolly.
The power of synthesizers, yooo
I thought "THX sound" too - but all oscillators are rising in her example
THX sound is convergence of ascending and descending tones (you invert the envelope applied to pitch on some of the oscillators) which is 1 or 2 steps further down in complexity.
but yea I also agree
@@user-xt3hk1wh6l Barber Pole is a shepherd tone - which repeats - this is non-looping envelope-based (which shephard is otherwise LFO-based so it can loop)
Wow. How cool. Thanks for uploading this. I love the look in David’s face. It was all so new back then.
Thanks Suzanne for sharing this clip. I love you and your gizmo even today. I think you helped lots of people get more into the electronic sound than you would ever realize.
As a longtime fan and student of electronic music, it's really refreshing to see this video, and the gear you used. Great stuff!
Wow, amazing talent!!
Thank you Suzanne for your music. I recently became hip your music by hearing the WBAI performance and your recent work. Amazing stuff.
I also wish I had a longer version of that song at the end there. I dig that late 70's early 80's music so much.
6:56 It is so frustrating that she didn't explain to him that the sounds are not pre-recorded and that they are in fact made right there :(
Dave always plays the dumb guy character... that's part of his schtick.
She was just being sympathetic...'trust me David we don't want to go there'
@@markinnes4264 dave is daft. its not a character. typical wanker behavior.
I really like Ciani's style. Unvarnished. Not interested in doing conventional synth patches, but still demonstrated the range of the Prophet V.
Watching this 13 years after upload. I enjoyed so much! Thank you. Dreaming of a prophet to play with 😂
Incredible, and glad you found this!
my goodness what a babe. and a musical genius
@@DefundTheFringes So was every electronic geek in the country...
She's nowhere near musical genius, but her personality is great though.
Bitch played white keys only in order not to fuck up.. gtfo here
Lettermen was leering at all his lady guests
EQH1 I do black keys only to not fuck up. White keys can def fuck up just play 2nds or 11ths or whatever
6:20 Dave's laughing until Suzanne summons the electric storm from Hell! 🤣
Thanks for your contributions and inspiration :)
She was so entertaining to watch and I’m so grateful to her, as a lover of electronic music! ❤
This was fantastic to watch! Thanks for uploading this. I still love every sound that your synthesizer there made- I don't think people use those sounds now anymore... they sounded so space-like and futuristic... it's kind of funny; 30 years ago, that sounded more futuristic than the stuff around now...
@ 6:26 when Dave is backing up, he can't help but smile, this is the bliss of drone, Idk why but it does that to me too, sometimes I laugh, completely immersed in vibration, it's similar to being on a roller coaster, pure excitement, and kids today just make the same shaped cheap cookies over and over, no I don't want your thlammin danth twack cookies! Ty Suzanne
Thanks for posting this!!
Good Lord. This is Dave's MORNING show.
We used to watch it every day
This is pure gold!
The sound at 6.30... over 40 years later is still amazing
This made me smile more than I have in weeks!! Thankyou! 🙂😂
For those wondering, the song played at the end of the video seems to be a rough draft of the middle section from 'The First Wave' off of her 1981 album 'Seven Waves'.
She is the voice of XENON (Pinball)
Really? Cool!
"money is not an issue here" ... wow.
And herein lies the difference of today's priorities.
...when you're rich!
When you're passionate about something you will sacrifice much to sustain it.
Letterman is a known douchebag
I remember seeing this when it first aired, really cool and nostalgic to come across this and your channel Suzanne so many years later, the voice morphing still crack's me up to this day 😂😂
Just wanted to say thanks for your contribution, for the sounds of a pinball game I have played many times over, Pride of Pinbot.
the last part of tht was fucking insane. beautiful sounds
Best for last
I still remember the first time seeing you play on the children’s show 3-2-1 Contact. I was blown away by the technology and it was especially cool to see a woman behind the gear for a change. Love your stuff, you are a true pioneer!
Your display of wonder and passion about what you are doing, and your little reactions of joy are absolutely magical and captivating. I wish I could watch hours of you creating sounds
Amazing, thank you for sharing your gift
Isn't it AMAZING that ALL of that equipment that Suzanne has in front of her, at that time, was WAY advanced stuff, and today, it could ALL be encompassed into a computer software plugin; a file no bigger than a few megabytes. Ciani was clearly WAY ahead of her time here; I mean, a VOCODER in 1980??? wow!
it's not amazing, it's bullshit. Listen to pionners from the early 70's.
A vocoder in 1980? You just needed some money to buy one. She is still a good musician.
prophet 5 was expensive too, and with all the gear she used there... she could have bought a vocoder. Or if she's so genius... she could have used a talkbox... as there is a external plug in on synth of the time.
"listen to the pioneers from the early 70s" ... extreme noob alert
"extreme noob alert" moron mode
The Roland Mc-8 could take "45 minutes to an hour for a three- or four-minute piece of music to back up and verify". My God we've come a long way.
They didn't call the MC-8 Speedy Noriega.
Many years ago, I worked on the Akai S900 sampler library, making about 65 disks for the library. I had a Macintosh Plus (with 1 MB RAM) running Digidesign Sound Designer software. I used the software to trim and loop the samples. The only way to transfer samples to and from the Macintosh was with a protocol called MIDI Sample Dump. It was slower than death. If I was working on a cymbal sample, I could go take lunch while it was transferring the file.
@@mcmike100 No sir. Nothing Speedy about it.
@@mcmike100 That's insane. You gotta really appreciate what sound designers and artists went through back then.
This is wonderful. You are having so much fun!
Wow to the whole thing and what a finale. Fabulous. Suzanne you are amazing. I came across the video of you making the pinball sound effects, I’m hooked!
I just followed a link from the NYT article on the death of Don Buchla. This is wonderful! I really loved the old Letterman shows, the guests were so much more interesting.
He really was the Joe Rogan of his day...
@Suzanne Ciani I wanted to apologize and say I am sorry that only last night was I made aware of your aptitude, innovation, and musical prowess. Knowing that you were exceptional, when this aired, and I was a year and nine months old, only attests there is no excuse. I am disheartened to say of all things I was hanging a TV, listening to my Pandora station, The Portland Cello Project, when Sargasso Sea started to play. I would have preferred to not been mesmerized by you and kept at my project blissfully unaware of you and your beauty. As it were I couldn't stop replaying that song, and now 12 hours later I have it to play as my sense of foreboding deepens as I can't find your album on vinyl.
stop mackin'on my woman bro...lol!
So talented and so beautiful. Funny too! The song at the end was lovely and very cheerful. It made me happy.
Man, I remember spending late nights in the summer of 82, programming on my Commodore Vic20 and listening to Letterman in the background. :)
Wow! You are a real innovator Suzanne - like a female Vangelis, I've only recently heard of your work but that voice box is amazing!!!!
Suzanne Ciani has a RUclips channel? That's nice!
Hey Suzanne, I like your work and positive attitude! I just recently discovered your art.
Wherever you are - have a nice day! :^)
what a beautiful break through in technology the sounds are almost human...again very beautiful!!!!
pretty fun engagement. Thanks for sharing this moment in time!