Q: What is the most common reaction when people hear Soothing Sounds for the first time?

A: Well, that depends on the person, of course; there's a wide range of reactions...

Some wonder what the heck it is, and question if its actually "music" at all. A few years ago, for example, the David Letterman show used "SOOTHING SOUNDS" for a gag. Letterman held up the volume 2 album cover while they played a clip from "The Toy Typewriter" track. Then Dave delivered the punch-line. "Baby's first words? Turn it off! TURN IT OFF!!"

By contrast, others are completely amazed because it was created in the early 1960s, yet sounds so modern. And when they realize that Raymond Scott designed and built the instruments he played for the "SOOTHING SOUNDS" series, they are doubly knocked-out.

Q: Are most people surprised to learn these albums were made in the early 60s?

A: For sure... The concept of electronic music for babies in the early 1960s usually strikes folks as either extremely clever and useful, or totally insane. And the music itself is also precedent, of course. My friend Brian, for example, likes to play the "SOOTHING SOUNDS" series for his (adult) guests, then ask them from what year they guess it was recorded. The earliest anyone has ever guessed was the 1980s.

Q: Have Kraftwerk and Brian Eno acknowledged these albums? Are they aware they even exist?

A: Not surprisingly, we haven't heard from the Kraftbots yet. But...

My Amsterdam-based colleague Gert-Jan Blom has worked with Brian Eno. And on several occasions, Blom has evangelized the Scott gospel to Mr. Eno, who is indeed impressed. He agreed that some of Raymond Scott's electronic music is similar to some of his own work.

Q: Try to put into perspective for modern music fans how difficult it was for Scott to create these sounds using vacuum tube and transistor technology.

OK, I'll try... But its hard... Given the amazing, tiny, and cheap technology that's everywhere today, its a real challenge for us moderns to appreciate how difficult, and S-L-O-W, the process was... At first, they didn't even call it "electronics." The word was "mechanical" -- this means moving parts! Switches and relays, and GEARS! Later, the term became "electro-mechanical." But it was always laborious, tedious, and extremely time consuming. Not to mention the enormous amounts of money required! Designing, theorizing, soldering, then testing... Wiring, rewiring, and testing again, and again... Hour after hour, year after year -- literally -- decade after decade...

Q: Was Scott basically inventing both the music and the machine to make the music at the same time? Did he have to create an instrument and then coax music out of it?

A: Right, it was simultaneous... Raymond would test the devices as he worked, and these experiments would result in his wild musical ideas. Sometimes happy accidents during tests would inspire new directions.

Q: How many people know that Raymond Scott, according to his own words "first conceived and built the sequencer."

A: Not much of the public knew back in the old days, but important figures in the early development of electro-music hardware, like Bob Moog and Herb Deutsch, knew about Scott's sequencers. And in recent years, more and more folks are finding out, thanks to things like the "MANHATTAN RESEARCH INC." book and CD set, my feature article for ELECTRONIC MUSICIAN magazine, and my website (RaymondScott.com).

Q: Is his lack of fame and recognition his own fault for being so secretive?

A: Yes, basically, that's it... (Well, I should point out here that Scott WAS famous -- but not for his electronic work. In case you don't know, Scott was a high-profile star of the swing and big band eras who sold millions of records during his long career. By age 25, he had written his first hit tune. In 1938, TIME magazine reported that Scott's music, which was already a pop radio sensation, had "attracted the attention of such musical bigwigs as Igor Stravinsky." In the 1940s he was a bandleader on par with Duke Ellington, and during the '50s he was a star of the new medium of television. Raymond Scott was a household name. Until Elvis came along!)

Anyway... To continue... During the 1940s, '50s, and '60s, among the very few who were thinking about electro-instruments, no one foresaw a consumer market for hardware. Who could afford it? Scott spent literally millions of dollars pursuing his concepts. (And this was back in the old days, when, as Tom Waits said, "a million was a million.") And the stuff was HUGE -- how many people had 8 extra rooms to fill with equipment? Plus: almost no one wanted those kinds of sounds yet. But Scott found a way to exploit his passions commercially; he created film and TV soundtracks with his inventions.

Q: Is it the job of the Raymond Scott Archive to get more people to know about his work?

Yep, that's it in a nutshell... And also to preserve the materials, of course.

Q: Can you tell me a little more about the Clavivox? I'm especially interested because Trucker is a Canadian magazine and the Clavivox is housed in the Audities Foundation in Calgary.

A: Its important to remember that, although the very first (1950-'51) prototype of The Clavivox incorporated the tone-generating element from a theremin, the Clavivoxes were really FAR more than just keyboard theremins... By the time he patented them in 1956, they were full-blown synthesizers. "This was NOT a theremin anymore," Bob Moog is careful to explain, "Raymond quickly realized there were more elegant ways of controlling an electronic circuit." And the Clavivox's methods of altering the waveforms were similar to later analog synths. In fact, Moog now admits, "A lot of the sound-producing circuitry of Scott's Clavivox resembled, very closely, the first analog synthesizer my company made in the mid-'60s. Some of the sounds are not the same, but they're close."

Also, what we've quoted Tom Rhea as saying about the Clavivox in the "SOOTHING SOUNDS" CD booklet is WRONG! It WAS definitely capable of fast, staccato attacks, & was almost certainly used for the "SOOTHING SOUNDS" recordings.

Q: Do you know of many people who have used these recording to calm their children? Have they worked?

A: YES -- surprisingly -- a lot! I guess I shouldn't be surprised, given the title... But many are buying the CDs these days to play for their kids. I get emails all the time at my site... And, yes, they report that it DOES in fact work!