New digital technologies allow everyone to be a guitar hero.

Next time you’re listening to your favorite music on an MP3 player or shredding out a wailing solo while playing Guitar Hero, give a nod of thanks to the unsung engineers who made it possible. Engineering is key to how music is played, recorded, distributed, and consumed. That’s why engineers can have long and fruitful careers in the music business — which is more than you can say for most wanna-be pop idols.
Consider the iPod. The device ushered in the digital music era and remains the world’s best-selling portable audio player.

It’s a beautiful example of how the engineer’s art can make the complex appear simple. IPods may be crammed with cutting-edge technology, but they’re sleekly designed and easy to operate, which is why they’re popular. That’s also true of Guitar Hero’s mini-guitars. Their simple push-button controls mask elaborate engineering that can faithfully mimic the sound of a real, screeching guitar.

Well-tuned engineering also explains why the electric guitar is little changed since its invention nearly 80 years ago. However, engineers are now starting to update that classic, six-string technology. A few years ago, Gibson introduced the first fully digital electric guitar, based on a prototype by Adrian Freed, an electrical engineer at the University of California–Berkeley’s Center for New Music and Audio Technologies. The sound and volume of each string can be controlled separately and then sent via an Ethernet cable to a computer, effects box, or amplifier. Gibson’s engineers have also produced a line of self-tuning guitars.

Engineers are creating completely new instruments and sounds, as well. Freed, for example, uses newly developed fibers, fabrics, and malleable materials to construct electric instruments from scratch. There is a growing market for new electronic instruments like the Haken Continuum Fingerboard, which has a large, flat surface that produces myriad sounds when stroked. Laser harps allow players to pluck celestial notes from beams of light.

In the recording studio, musicians rely on the skills of engineers to sweeten their sounds. Music engineers use digital technologies to mix and layer countless tracks into a seamless whole. And they devise software that can make flat voices sound tuneful and lush. Sound engineers are in demand because music permeates nearly all media — including films, television, radio, Web sites, and electronic games. Now, many schools offer degrees in audio and music engineering, like the University of Miami.

Engineers have even created instrument-playing robots, which have become a hit on YouTube. Frivolous fun? Perhaps. Freed admits that bot-bands won’t have much of a future “once the current novelty of seeing robots play instruments wears off.” But someday, he adds, the same robotic technologies will be used to help physically handicapped people play musical instruments. And that’s an outcome worthy of a standing ovation.

Watch this video on the Making of Guitar Hero III with Slash:

Filed under: Computer, Explore Engineering

Tags: Computer, Music, Technology