Walter Carlos
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Wendy Carlos (born Walter Carlos; November 14, 1939) is an American musician and composer known for
electronic music Electronic music broadly is a group of music genres that employ electronic musical instruments, circuitry-based music technology and software, or general-purpose electronics (such as personal computers) in its creation. It includes both music ...
and film scores. Born and raised in
Rhode Island Rhode Island ( ) is a state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Connecticut to its west; Massachusetts to its north and east; and the Atlantic Ocean to its south via Rhode Island Sound and Block Is ...
, Carlos studied physics and music at
Brown University Brown University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Providence, Rhode Island, United States. It is the List of colonial colleges, seventh-oldest institution of higher education in the US, founded in 1764 as the ' ...
before moving to
New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...
in 1962 to study music composition at
Columbia University Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...
. Studying and working with various electronic musicians and technicians at the city's
Columbia-Princeton Electronic Music Center The Computer Music Center (CMC) at Columbia University is the oldest center for electronic and computer music research in the United States. It was founded in the 1950s as the Columbia-Princeton Electronic Music Center. Location The CMC is h ...
, she helped in the development of the
Moog synthesizer The Moog synthesizer ( ) is a modular synthesizer invented by the American engineer Robert Moog in 1964. Moog's company, R. A. Moog Co., produced numerous models from 1965 to 1981, and again from 2014. It was the first commercial synthesizer ...
,
Robert Moog Robert Arthur Moog ( ; May 23, 1934 – August 21, 2005) was an American engineer and electronic music pioneer. He was the founder of the synthesizer manufacturer Moog Music and the inventor of the first commercial synthesizer, the Moog synthe ...
's first commercially available keyboard instrument. Carlos came to prominence with ''
Switched-On Bach ''Switched-On Bach'' is the debut album by the American composer Wendy Carlos, released in October 1968 by Columbia Records. Produced by Carlos and Rachel Elkind, the album is a collection of pieces by Johann Sebastian Bach performed by Carlos ...
'' (1968), an album of music by
Johann Sebastian Bach Johann Sebastian Bach (German: Help:IPA/Standard German, joːhan zeˈbasti̯an baχ ( – 28 July 1750) was a German composer and musician of the late Baroque music, Baroque period. He is known for his prolific output across a variety ...
performed on a Moog synthesizer, which helped popularize its use in the 1970s and won her three Grammy Awards. Its commercial success led to several more albums, including further synthesized classical music adaptations, and
experimental An experiment is a procedure carried out to support or refute a hypothesis, or determine the efficacy or likelihood of something previously untried. Experiments provide insight into cause-and-effect by demonstrating what outcome occurs whe ...
and
ambient music Ambient music is a genre of music that emphasizes Musical tone, tone and atmosphere over traditional Musical form, musical structure or rhythm. Often "peaceful" sounding and lacking Musical composition, composition, beat, and/or structured melod ...
. She composed the score to two
Stanley Kubrick Stanley Kubrick (; July 26, 1928 – March 7, 1999) was an American filmmaker and photographer. Widely considered one of the greatest filmmakers of all time, Stanley Kubrick filmography, his films were nearly all adaptations of novels or sho ...
films, '' A Clockwork Orange'' (1971) and '' The Shining'' (1980), and for ''
Tron ''Tron'' (stylized as ''TRON'') is a 1982 American science fiction action adventure film written and directed by Steven Lisberger from a story by Lisberger and Bonnie MacBird. The film stars Jeff Bridges as Kevin Flynn, a computer programmer ...
'' (1982) for
Walt Disney Productions The Walt Disney Company, commonly referred to as simply Disney, is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was founded on October 16 ...
. In 1979, Carlos raised public awareness of
transgender A transgender (often shortened to trans) person has a gender identity different from that typically associated with the sex they were sex assignment, assigned at birth. The opposite of ''transgender'' is ''cisgender'', which describes perso ...
issues by disclosing she had been living as a woman since at least 1968, and in 1972 had undergone
sex reassignment surgery Gender-affirming surgery (GAS) is a surgical procedure, or series of procedures, that alters a person's physical appearance and sexual characteristics to resemble those associated with their gender identity. The phrase is most often associat ...
. , much of Carlos's discography is out of print, and has not been licensed for digital distribution to streaming or download platforms.


Early life

Carlos was born in
Pawtucket, Rhode Island Pawtucket ( ) is a city in Providence County, Rhode Island, United States. The population was 75,604 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making the city the fourth-largest in the state. Pawtucket borders Providence, Rhode Island, Prov ...
, to working-class parents Clarence and Mary Carlos Her parents married in 1937 and Carlos was the first of two children. Her mother played the piano and sang; one uncle played the trombone and another played the trumpet and drums. She began piano lessons at age six, and wrote her first composition, "A Trio for Clarinet, Accordion, and Piano", at age ten. Carlos attended St. Raphael Academy, a Catholic high school in Pawtucket. In 1953, at fourteen, Carlos won a scholarship by building a computer presented at the Westinghouse Science Fair, a science competition for high-school students. From 1958 to 1962, Carlos studied at
Brown University Brown University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Providence, Rhode Island, United States. It is the List of colonial colleges, seventh-oldest institution of higher education in the US, founded in 1764 as the ' ...
and graduated with a degree in music and physics, during which she taught lessons in
electronic music Electronic music broadly is a group of music genres that employ electronic musical instruments, circuitry-based music technology and software, or general-purpose electronics (such as personal computers) in its creation. It includes both music ...
at informal sessions.


Career


1960s

In 1965, Carlos graduated from
Columbia University Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...
with a
master's degree A master's degree (from Latin ) is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional prac ...
in music composition, and assisted
Leonard Bernstein Leonard Bernstein ( ; born Louis Bernstein; August 25, 1918 – October 14, 1990) was an American conductor, composer, pianist, music educator, author, and humanitarian. Considered to be one of the most important conductors of his time, he was th ...
in presenting an evening of electronic music at the Philharmonic Hall. Carlos studied with
Vladimir Ussachevsky Vladimir Alexeevich Ussachevsky (November 3, 1911 in Hailar, China – January 2, 1990 in New York, New York) was a Russian-American composer, particularly known for his work in electronic music. Biography Vladimir Ussachevsky was born in ...
and Otto Luening, two pioneers of electronic music in the 1960s. They were based in the Columbia–Princeton Electronic Music Center in
New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...
, the first of its kind in the United States. After Ussachevsky suggested to Carlos that she work in a recording studio to support herself, Carlos began working as a recording and mastering engineer at Gotham Recording Studios in New York City; she worked in this position until 1968. She called it "a really lovely occupation" and found it a useful learning experience. During her time at Columbia, Carlos met
Robert Moog Robert Arthur Moog ( ; May 23, 1934 – August 21, 2005) was an American engineer and electronic music pioneer. He was the founder of the synthesizer manufacturer Moog Music and the inventor of the first commercial synthesizer, the Moog synthe ...
at the 1964
Audio Engineering Society The Audio Engineering Society (AES) is a professional body for engineers, scientists, other individuals with an interest or involvement in the professional audio industry. The membership largely comprises engineers developing devices or product ...
show, which began a partnership. Carlos ordered custom-designed synthesizer modules from Moog, and gave him extensive advice and technical assistance in the development of what became the
Moog synthesizer The Moog synthesizer ( ) is a modular synthesizer invented by the American engineer Robert Moog in 1964. Moog's company, R. A. Moog Co., produced numerous models from 1965 to 1981, and again from 2014. It was the first commercial synthesizer ...
, Moog's new electronic instrument. She convinced Moog to add a touch-sensitive keyboard for greater musical dynamics, among other improvements. Moog recounted that Carlos gave extensive and very detailed constructive criticism about his equipment, presenting him with suggestions for improvements to every module, including the shapes and dimensions of the cases. Moog credited Carlos with originating many features of his synthesizer, and that many features that became part of the final production model of the Moog synthesizer originated with the custom modules he created for her, including the touch-sensitive keyboard, a
portamento In music, portamento (: ''portamenti''; from old , meaning 'carriage' or 'carrying'), also known by its French name glissade, is a pitch sliding from one Musical note, note to another. The term originated from the Italian language, Italian exp ...
control, a fixed filter bank, and a 49-oscillator polyphonic generator bank that could create chords and arpeggios. By 1966 Carlos owned a small Moog synthesizer, which she used to record sound effects and jingles for television commercials, which earned her "anywhere from $100 to $1000". In 1967, Carlos met and befriended fellow Gotham Recorders employee Rachel Elkind, a former singer who had a jazz and musical theatre background and had worked as a secretary for
Goddard Lieberson Goddard Lieberson (April 5, 1911 – May 29, 1977) was the president of Columbia Records from 1956 to 1971, and again from 1973 to 1975. He became president of the Recording Industry Association of America in 1964. He was also a composer, and stu ...
, then-president of
Columbia Records Columbia Records is an American reco ...
. Although their initial meetings were somewhat confrontational (Elkind initially found Carlos "arrogant"), they eventually became friends and began sharing a home, studio, and business premises in a brownstone building in the West Side of
Manhattan Manhattan ( ) is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City. Coextensive with New York County, Manhattan is the County statistics of the United States#Smallest, larg ...
in New York City. Carlos recorded several compositions in the 1960s as a student at the Columbia-Princeton Electronic Music Center. Two of them were re-recorded and released on ''By Request'' (1975), ''Dialogues for Piano and Two Loudspeakers'' (1963) and ''Episodes for Piano and Electronic Sound'' (1964), both featuring Phillip Ramey on piano. A third, ''Variations for Flute and Electronic Sounds'' (1964, featuring John Heiss on flute) was recorded and released in 1965 on a Turnabout Records "Electronic Music" compilation. Other known, but unreleased student compositions include "Episodes for Piano and Tape" (1964), "Pomposities for Narrator and Tape" (1965), and "Noah" (1965), a two-hour opera blending electronics with an orchestra. Carlos's first commercial release was ''Moog 900 Series – Electronic Music Systems'' (1967), an introduction to the technical aspects of the Moog synthesizer released as a nine-minute single-sided mono LP and narrated by Ed Stokes. Part of her compensation for making the recording was in Moog equipment, and in part payment for her various other contributions to Moog's product development, and for articles she wrote for his short-lived electronic music periodical, she was able to acquire additional Moog equipment at a discount, most of it custom-designed to her specific requirements. By the time Carlos began recording ''Switched On Bach'' she had built a home studio valued at around US$12,000 (approx. $100,000 in 2023) (although, given the unique nature of most of the modules, and their provenance, the 2023 value of her studio equipment would likely be far higher). Her home studio, crucially, included an eight-track recorder that Carlos had built herself (because she was unable to afford a factory-made machine), using parts from Ampex and EMI recorders, with the addition of Ampex's patented "Sel-Sync" system, which enabled recorded signals to be monitored via the record head, rather than the playback head, thus permitting multiple tracks to be kept in perfect synchronisation. Carlos was also one of the earliest adopters of the
Dolby Dolby Laboratories, Inc. (Dolby Labs or simply Dolby) is a British-American technology corporation specializing in audio noise reduction, audio encoding/compression, spatial audio, and high-dynamic-range television (HDR) imaging. Dolby li ...
noise reduction system, which she used for her final two-track masters.


''Switched-On Bach''

In 1968, Carlos released ''
Switched-On Bach ''Switched-On Bach'' is the debut album by the American composer Wendy Carlos, released in October 1968 by Columbia Records. Produced by Carlos and Rachel Elkind, the album is a collection of pieces by Johann Sebastian Bach performed by Carlos ...
'', an album formed of several pieces by
Johann Sebastian Bach Johann Sebastian Bach (German: Help:IPA/Standard German, joːhan zeˈbasti̯an baχ ( – 28 July 1750) was a German composer and musician of the late Baroque music, Baroque period. He is known for his prolific output across a variety ...
performed on a
Moog modular synthesizer The Moog synthesizer ( ) is a modular synthesizer invented by the American engineer Robert Moog in 1964. Moog's company, R. A. Moog Co., produced numerous models from 1965 to 1981, and again from 2014. It was the first commercial synthesizer a ...
. Carlos had originally wanted to record an album of her own music, but Elkind suggested that they use music that was more familiar to the general listener in order to introduce the synthesizer as a credible new instrument. The idea for an album of Bach's music performed on the Moog began to crystallize during 1967, after Carlos asked Elkind to listen to some recordings by Carlos and musicologist Benjamin Folkman made up to ten years prior at the Electronic Music Center, one of them being Bach's Two-Part Invention in F major, which Elkind took a liking to. Plans for an album of several Bach compositions developed from there. From her experience working in the music industry, Elkind knew that a major label would be unlikely to accept a pitch from a woman, so she approached her friend, the musician, conductor and producer Ettore Stratta, who was then a producer working in the A&R division at
Columbia Records Columbia Records is an American reco ...
. He successfully pitched the project to the label on their behalf, leading to a two-album recording contract with Columbia Masterworks, a deal that lasted until 1986. Crucially, it gave Carlos and Elkind ownership of their recording masters, and Elkind was able to negotiate what she described as "a very nice royalty", possibly because the label did not have to invest a large sum up-front and did not expect the album to sell many copies. Columbia had launched an album sales campaign named "Bach to Rock", though it had no album of Bach's works in a contemporary context in its catalogue. They were given a small advance from the label; Elkind recalled they were offered $1000, Carlos told an interviewer they were given about $2500, a relatively modest sum, given that the average recording budget for a major pop album at this time was about $10,000. Columbia granted Carlos and Elkind artistic freedom to produce and release the album. Carlos performs with additional synthesizers played by Folkman and with Elkind as producer. The recording process was long and complex, because the monophonic Moog could only play one note at a time. Due to the limitations of her equipment, every instrumental part in each score had to be recorded separately, and then each successive part was layered over the previously recorded parts on Carlos' eight-track recorder. All the parts were coordinated by recording each one in time with a
click track A click track is a series of audio cues used to synchronize sound recordings, sometimes for synchronization to a Film, moving image. The click track originated in early sound movies, where optical marks were made on the film to indicate precise ...
, which was eventually erased. Biographer Amanda Sewell reports that Carlos only rarely wrote down the complex combination of control knob settings and cable connections (or "patches") used to create specific sounds on the Moog, and that she was able to memorize and recall nearly her entire "library" of patches at will. This tortuous recording process was made even more difficult by the tendency of the early Moog oscillators to drift out of tune—by her own account, Carlos was often only able to record one or two measures of each part before the Moog went out of tune, and she claimed she sometimes even had to bang on the casing with a hammer to get it back into tune. This issue also meant that she had to meticulously review each segment for consistency once it had been recorded, because if one line was out of tune the entire section would be ruined. Carlos later recalled that she worked on the recording of the album for eight hours a day, five days a week, for five months, on top of her regular 40-hour-per-week day job at Gotham Studios. Although ''Switched-On Bach'' was extremely costly in terms of person-hours expended, her high-quality home studio, her proficiency as a programmer and performer on the Moog, and her ability as a recording engineer enabled Carlos and her colleagues to record and produce the album completely independently, thereby avoiding the need to use expensive commercial recording studios. As well as the consideration that repeatedly taking the bulky, complex and delicate Moog system to and from a studio for each session would have been almost impossible, given Carlos' own reckoning that the project took over 1100 hours to complete, using commercial studios would have made the recording prohibitively expensive, and would likely have cost upwards of US$100,000 in 1968. By comparison,
The Beatles The Beatles were an English Rock music, rock band formed in Liverpool in 1960. The core lineup of the band comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are widely regarded as the Cultural impact of the Beatle ...
' 1967 album ''
Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band ''Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band'' (often referred to simply as ''Sgt. Pepper'') is the eighth studio album by the English rock band the Beatles. Released on 26May 1967, ''Sgt. Pepper'' is regarded by musicologists as an early concept ...
'' took over 700 hours to record and cost a reported UK£25,000, or about US$60,000 at the 1968 exchange rate. Additionally, although the recording was extremely labour-intensive, the combination of the Moog and the multitrack recorder gave Carlos and Elkind unprecedented control over every facet of the timbral, expressive and environmental qualities of every single note they recorded, enabling them to create a new level of clarity for each "voice" in the compositions—a key concern for Elkind, who was critical of what she called the "soggy" audio quality of contemporary classical recordings. Released in October 1968, ''Switched-On Bach'' became an unexpected commercial and critical hit, with Glenn Gould calling it "the album of the decade", and it helped to draw attention to the synthesizer as a genuine musical instrument. A
Canadian Broadcasting Corporation The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (), branded as CBC/Radio-Canada, is the Canadian Public broadcasting, public broadcaster for both radio and television. It is a Crown corporation that serves as the national public broadcaster, with its E ...
program in November 1968, called CBC AM, secured a rare interview with Carlos about the selection and use of Moog. Biographer Amanda Sewell observes, it is notable that Carlos is not pictured anywhere on the album, and is only mentioned by name (as Walter Carlos) in the rear sleeve notes of the original cover. ''
Newsweek ''Newsweek'' is an American weekly news magazine based in New York City. Founded as a weekly print magazine in 1933, it was widely distributed during the 20th century and has had many notable editors-in-chief. It is currently co-owned by Dev P ...
'' dedicated a full page to Carlos with the caption "Plugging into the Steinway of the future". It peaked at No. 10 on the US ''Billboard'' 200 chart and was No. 1 on its Classical Albums chart from January 1969 to January 1972. It was the second classical album to sell over one million copies and was certified
Gold Gold is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol Au (from Latin ) and atomic number 79. In its pure form, it is a brightness, bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile metal. Chemically, gold is a transition metal ...
in 1969 and Platinum in 1986 by the
Recording Industry Association of America The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is a trade organization that represents the music recording industry in the United States. Its members consist of record labels and distributors that the RIAA says "create, manufacture, and/o ...
. Carlos performed selections from the album on stage with a synthesizer with the
St. Louis Symphony Orchestra The St. Louis Symphony Orchestra (SLSO) is an American symphony orchestra based in St. Louis, Missouri. Founded in 1880 by Joseph Otten as the St. Louis Choral Society, the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra is the second-oldest professional symphony or ...
. The massive and unexpected success of ''Switched-On Bach'' put great pressure on Carlos. She was by this time well into her gender confirmation process, and she was fearful of both personal ridicule and physical attack, and of the negative impact that her status as a transitioning person could have on her music career. Biographer Amanda Sewell records that the St. Louis appearance was extremely difficult for her—she hated having to disguise herself as Walter, for which she had to affect a deeper voice, use makeup to simulate a five o'clock shadow, and don a wig and pasted-on fake sideburns. Her childhood experiences of being bullied and assaulted made her so fearful of appearing in public that she reportedly even contemplated taking her own life before the event and cried all the way to St. Louis. This was to be one of only two live performances Carlos made following her days as a student, the other being with the Kurzweil Baroque Ensemble for "Bach at the Beacon" in 1997. In 1970, the album won a
Grammy Award The Grammy Awards, stylized as GRAMMY, and often referred to as The Grammys, are awards presented by The Recording Academy of the United States to recognize outstanding achievements in music. They are regarded by many as the most prestigious ...
for Best Classical Album, Best Classical Performance – Instrumental Soloist or Soloists (With or Without Orchestra), and Best Engineered Classical Recording. Carlos released a follow-up, '' The Well-Tempered Synthesizer'', with synthesized pieces from multiple composers. Released in November 1969, the album reached No. 199 on the ''Billboard'' 200 and received two Grammy nominations. The success of both albums allowed Carlos to move into Elkind's more spacious New York City home in 1971. Carlos considers Elkind's contribution to her work, and specifically ''Switched-On Bach'', to be underappreciated, calling her "a 'silent' partner" and her work "critical to my success".


1970s

After the release of ''Switched-On Bach'', Carlos was invited to compose the soundtrack of two science fiction films, '' Marooned'' (1969), directed by
John Sturges John Eliot Sturges (; January 3, 1910 – August 18, 1992) was an American film director. His films include '' Bad Day at Black Rock'' (1955), '' Gunfight at the O.K. Corral'' (1957), ''The Magnificent Seven'' (1960), '' The Great Escape'' (19 ...
, and '' A Clockwork Orange'' (1971), directed by
Stanley Kubrick Stanley Kubrick (; July 26, 1928 – March 7, 1999) was an American filmmaker and photographer. Widely considered one of the greatest filmmakers of all time, Stanley Kubrick filmography, his films were nearly all adaptations of novels or sho ...
. When the directors of ''Marooned'' changed their minds about including a soundtrack, Carlos chose to work with Kubrick, as she and Elkind were fans of his previous films, adding: "We finally wound up talking with someone who had a close connection to Stanley Kubrick's lawyer. We suddenly got an invitation to fly to London." Before Carlos knew about the offer, she read the book and began writing a piece based on it named "Timesteps". A soundtrack containing only the film cuts of the score was released as '' Stanley Kubrick's Clockwork Orange'' in 1972, combining synthesized and classical music by
Henry Purcell Henry Purcell (, rare: ; September 1659 – 21 November 1695) was an English composer of Baroque music, most remembered for his more than 100 songs; a tragic opera, Dido and Aeneas, ''Dido and Aeneas''; and his incidental music to a version o ...
,
Beethoven Ludwig van Beethoven (baptised 17 December 177026 March 1827) was a German composer and pianist. He is one of the most revered figures in the history of Western music; his works rank among the most performed of the classical music repertoire ...
and
Gioacchino Rossini Gioachino Antonio Rossini (29 February 1792 – 13 November 1868) was an Italian composer of the late Classical period (music), Classical and early Romantic music, Romantic eras. He gained fame for his 39 operas, although he also wrote man ...
with an early use of a
vocoder A vocoder (, a portmanteau of ''vo''ice and en''coder'') is a category of speech coding that analyzes and synthesizes the human voice signal for audio data compression, multiplexing, voice encryption or voice transformation. The vocoder wa ...
. Later that year, Carlos released an album of music not included in the final score titled '' Walter Carlos' Clockwork Orange'', which peaked on the ''Billboard'' 200 chart at No. 146. Carlos later described the project as "a lot of fun ... a pleasurable venture". Carlos experimented with
ambient music Ambient music is a genre of music that emphasizes Musical tone, tone and atmosphere over traditional Musical form, musical structure or rhythm. Often "peaceful" sounding and lacking Musical composition, composition, beat, and/or structured melod ...
on her third studio album '' Sonic Seasonings'', released as a
double album A double album (or double record) is an audio album that spans two units of the primary medium in which it is sold, typically either records or compact disc. A double album is usually, though not always, released as such because the recording ...
in 1972, with one side-long track dedicated to each of the four seasons. Recorded as early as 1970 and finished in mid-1971, before the ''A Clockwork Orange'' project was complete, Carlos wished to produce music that did not require "lengthy concentrated listening", but more than a collection of ambient noises to portray an environment. It combined
field recording Field recording is the production of audio recordings outside recording studios, and the term applies to recordings of both natural and human-produced sounds. It can also include the recording of electromagnetic fields or vibrations using diff ...
s of animals and nature with synthesized sounds, occasionally employing melodies, to create
soundscape A soundscape is the acoustic environment as perceived by humans, in context. The term, originally coined by Michael Southworth, was popularized by R. Murray Schafer. There is a varied history of the use of soundscape depending on discipline, ...
s. It reached No. 168 in the ''Billboard'' 200 and influenced other artists who went on to pursue the ambient and new-age genres in later years. By 1973, Columbia/ CBS Records had received a considerable number of requests for Carlos to produce another album of synthesized classical music. She agreed to the request, opting to produce a sequel to ''Switched-On Bach'', which began with her and Elkind seeking compositions that were most suitable for the synthesizer; the two picked selections from Suite No. 2 in B minor, Two-Part Inventions in A minor and major, Suite from
Notebook for Anna Magdalena Bach The title ''Notebook for Anna Magdalena Bach'' () refers to either of two manuscript notebooks that the German Baroque composer Johann Sebastian Bach presented to his second wife, Anna Magdalena. Keyboard music (minuets, rondeaux, polonaises, ...
, and Brandenburg Concerto No. 5 in D major. The latter features a Yamaha E-5 Electone organ for certain passages, as a reliable
polyphonic Polyphony ( ) is a type of musical texture consisting of two or more simultaneous lines of independent melody, as opposed to a musical texture with just one voice ( monophony) or a texture with one dominant melodic voice accompanied by chords ...
keyboard had not been developed. The result, '' Switched-On Bach II'', was released in 1973 and sold over 70,000 copies in the US during the first five weeks of its release. Following ''Switched-On Bach II'', Carlos changed musical directions once more. In 1971, she and Elkind had asked Columbia Records to attach a pre-paid business reply card in each new pressing of her albums, which resulted in a considerable amount of suggestions from the public regarding the subject of her future releases. The ideas received were divided; some asked for more classical adaptations, while others wanted more of Carlos's original compositions. Carlos decided, "If I was going to spend months for mere minutes of music, I certainly wasn't going to be pigeonholed into only retreading existing music", and so began a process of "re-directing new ideas, reworking old ones". By mid-1974, Carlos and Elkind had selected tracks of varying styles to record on the Moog synthesizer, which Carlos found liberating, as it demonstrated the flexibility of the instrument. Released as ''By Request'' in 1975, the album includes pieces from Bach,
Wagner Wilhelm Richard Wagner ( ; ; 22 May 181313 February 1883) was a German composer, theatre director, essayist, and conductor who is chiefly known for his operas (or, as some of his mature works were later known, "music dramas"). Unlike most o ...
,
Tchaikovsky Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky ( ; 7 May 1840 – 6 November 1893) was a Russian composer during the Romantic period. He was the first Russian composer whose music made a lasting impression internationally. Tchaikovsky wrote some of the most popular ...
, two of Carlos's compositions from the 1960s, and renditions of "
Eleanor Rigby "Eleanor Rigby" is a song by the English rock band the Beatles from their 1966 album ''Revolver''. It was also issued on a double A-side single, paired with " Yellow Submarine". Credited to the Lennon–McCartney songwriting partnership, the s ...
" by
The Beatles The Beatles were an English Rock music, rock band formed in Liverpool in 1960. The core lineup of the band comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are widely regarded as the Cultural impact of the Beatle ...
and "
What's New Pussycat? ''What's New Pussycat?'' is a 1965 screwball comedy film directed by Clive Donner, written by Woody Allen in his first produced screenplay, and starring Allen in his acting debut, along with Peter Sellers, Peter O'Toole, Romy Schneider, Capuc ...
", originally sung by
Tom Jones Tom Jones may refer to: Arts and entertainment *Tom Jones (singer) (born 1940), Welsh singer *Tom Jones (writer) (1928–2023), American librettist and lyricist *''The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling'', a novel by Henry Fielding published in 1 ...
. The latter track, featuring some 40 tracks of overdubbed synthesiser, was one of the pieces that Carlos had unsuccessfully presented to Elkind in 1967 when they were planning what became ''Switched-On Bach''. The final track, entitled "Pompous Circumstances", a "witty and serious" set of variations based on themes by
Edward Elgar Sir Edward William Elgar, 1st Baronet, (; 2 June 1857 – 23 February 1934) was an English composer, many of whose works have entered the British and international classical concert repertoire. Among his best-known compositions are orchestr ...
(see " Pomp and Circumstance"), was replaced by CBS with tracks from ''The Well-Tempered Synthesizer'' on UK pressings after members of Elgar's estate refused to have his music presented in this style, which "devastated" Carlos. Between 1974 and 1980 she scored several short films for producer Dick Young for
UNICEF UNICEF ( ), originally the United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund, officially United Nations Children's Fund since 1953, is an agency of the United Nations responsible for providing Humanitarianism, humanitarian and Development a ...
(seven of which were released in 2005 on ''Rediscovering Lost Scores, Vol.1''). ''By Request'' was followed by '' Switched-On Brandenburgs'', a double album containing all six of Bach's ''
Brandenburg Concertos The ''Brandenburg Concertos'' ( BWV 1046–1051) by Johann Sebastian Bach are a collection of six instrumental works presented by Bach to Christian Ludwig, Margrave of Brandenburg-Schwedt, in 1721 (though probably composed earlier). The origi ...
'' played on a synthesizer, in 1980.


1980s

Carlos reunited with Kubrick to compose the score for his psychological horror film '' The Shining'' (1980). Before filming began, Carlos and Elkind read the
book A book is a structured presentation of recorded information, primarily verbal and graphical, through a medium. Originally physical, electronic books and audiobooks are now existent. Physical books are objects that contain printed material, ...
, as per Kubrick's suggestion, for musical inspiration. Carlos recorded a complete electronic score for the film, but Kubrick ended up using mostly existing recordings by several
avant-garde In the arts and literature, the term ''avant-garde'' ( meaning or ) identifies an experimental genre or work of art, and the artist who created it, which usually is aesthetically innovative, whilst initially being ideologically unacceptable ...
composers, tracks that he had used as guide tracks during editing. Carlos and Elkind did not discover this until they were invited to a screening of the film in May 1980, and they were reportedly furious about Kubrick's actions. Their experience closely mirrored that of composer
Alex North Alex North (born Isadore Soifer; December 4, 1910 – September 8, 1991) was an American composer best known for his many film scores, including ''A Streetcar Named Desire'' (one of the first jazz-based film scores), '' Viva Zapata!'', ''Spartac ...
, who had written and recorded a complete orchestral soundtrack for Kubrick's ''2001: A Space Odyssey'', but discovered at the film's world premiere that Kubrick had jettisoned the entire score in favour of the guide tracks he had used while editing the movie. ''The Shining (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)'', released in 1980 on
Warner Bros. Records Warner Records Inc. (known as Warner Bros. Records Inc. until 2019) is an American record label. A subsidiary of Warner Music Group, it is headquartered in Los Angeles, California. It was founded on March 19, 1958, as the recorded music division ...
, featured only two tracks credited to Carlos and Elkind: the main title theme and "Rocky Mountains", the former a reinterpretation of the "Dies Irae" section of ''
Symphonie fantastique ' (''Fantastic Symphony: Episode in the Life of an Artist … in Five Sections'') Opus number, Op. 14, is a program music, programmatic symphony written by Hector Berlioz in 1830. The first performance was at the Paris Conservatoire on 5 December ...
'' by
Hector Berlioz Louis-Hector Berlioz (11 December 1803 – 8 March 1869) was a French Romantic music, Romantic composer and conductor. His output includes orchestral works such as the ''Symphonie fantastique'' and ''Harold en Italie, Harold in Italy'' ...
. Biographer Amanda Sewell discovered that Carlos and Elkind's agent Lucy Kroll had written a note in her files indicating that the duo had initially considered suing Kubrick, but Sewell found that, several pages further on, Kroll had written another note that read "No signed contract"—Carlos and Elkind had made the deal with Kubrick "on a handshake", and thus had no legal recourse. Some of Carlos's music had some legal issues regarding its release, but much of it was made available in 2005 as part of her two-volume compilation album ''Rediscovering Lost Scores''. With work on ''The Shining'' complete, Elkind ended her long-time collaboration with Carlos when she moved to
France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...
with her husband in 1980. Carlos remained in New York City, sharing a converted loft in
Greenwich Village Greenwich Village, or simply the Village, is a neighborhood on the west side of Lower Manhattan in New York City, bounded by 14th Street (Manhattan), 14th Street to the north, Broadway (Manhattan), Broadway to the east, Houston Street to the s ...
with her new business partner Annemarie Franklin. It housed her new, remodeled studio, which was enclosed in a
Faraday cage A Faraday cage or Faraday shield is an enclosure used to block some electromagnetic fields. A Faraday shield may be formed by a continuous covering of conductive material, or in the case of a Faraday cage, by a mesh of such materials. Faraday cag ...
to shield the equipment from interference by radio, television and AC power-line signals. Carlos's first project with Franklin began around 1980, when
The Walt Disney Company The Walt Disney Company, commonly referred to as simply Disney, is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was founded on October 16 ...
asked her to record the soundtrack to its science fiction feature ''
Tron ''Tron'' (stylized as ''TRON'') is a 1982 American science fiction action adventure film written and directed by Steven Lisberger from a story by Lisberger and Bonnie MacBird. The film stars Jeff Bridges as Kevin Flynn, a computer programmer ...
'' (1982). Carlos agreed, but was not interested in composing solely with electronic music, as she wished to incorporate an orchestra with her musical ideas. She recalled their demands were "tightly specified ... there wasn't a lot of elbow room, and that made it fun". The score incorporated Carlos's analog and digital synthesizers with the
London Philharmonic Orchestra The London Philharmonic Orchestra (LPO) is a British orchestra based in London. One of five permanent symphony orchestras in London, the LPO was founded by the conductors Thomas Beecham, Sir Thomas Beecham and Malcolm Sargent in 1932 as a riv ...
, the UCLA Chorus, and the
Royal Albert Hall Organ The Grand Organ (described by its builder as The Voice of Jupiter) situated in the Royal Albert Hall in London is the second largest pipe organ in the United Kingdom, after the Liverpool Cathedral#Music, grand organ of Liverpool Cathedral. It ...
. '' Tron: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack'' was released in 1982 and reached No. 135 on the ''Billboard'' 200. Carlos intended to release her scores on her own album, but Columbia/CBS showed a lack of interest in the prospect. Three studio albums from Carlos were released in the 1980s. The first was '' Digital Moonscapes'' in 1984, Carlos's first to only feature digital synthesizers. She wrote the album's tracks for orchestra "or orchestra replica", inspired by various astronomical subjects, which used some leftover material from her score to ''Tron''. Soon after, Carlos secured a deal with Audion Records, a smaller label, as she wished to "get away from that kind of big, monolithic government-like aspect that hehad dealt with for so many years". In 1986, Audion released ''
Beauty in the Beast ''Beauty in the Beast'' is a studio album from the American keyboardist and composer Wendy Carlos, released in 1986, on Audion Records, her first for a label other than Columbia Records since 1968. The album uses alternate musical tunings and mus ...
'', which saw Carlos experiment with
just intonation In music, just intonation or pure intonation is a musical tuning, tuning system in which the space between notes' frequency, frequencies (called interval (music), intervals) is a natural number, whole number ratio, ratio. Intervals spaced in thi ...
,
Bali Bali (English:; Balinese language, Balinese: ) is a Provinces of Indonesia, province of Indonesia and the westernmost of the Lesser Sunda Islands. East of Java and west of Lombok, the province includes the island of Bali and a few smaller o ...
nese scales, and four new
microtonal Microtonality is the use in music of microtones — intervals smaller than a semitone, also called "microintervals". It may also be extended to include any music using intervals not found in the customary Western tuning of twelve equal interv ...
scales she devised for the album:
harmonic In physics, acoustics, and telecommunications, a harmonic is a sinusoidal wave with a frequency that is a positive integer multiple of the ''fundamental frequency'' of a periodic signal. The fundamental frequency is also called the ''1st har ...
,
alpha Alpha (uppercase , lowercase ) is the first letter of the Greek alphabet. In the system of Greek numerals, it has a value of one. Alpha is derived from the Phoenician letter ''aleph'' , whose name comes from the West Semitic word for ' ...
,
beta Beta (, ; uppercase , lowercase , or cursive ; or ) is the second letter of the Greek alphabet. In the system of Greek numerals, it has a value of 2. In Ancient Greek, beta represented the voiced bilabial plosive . In Modern Greek, it represe ...
, and
gamma Gamma (; uppercase , lowercase ; ) is the third letter of the Greek alphabet. In the system of Greek numerals it has a value of 3. In Ancient Greek, the letter gamma represented a voiced velar stop . In Modern Greek, this letter normally repr ...
. The album features the first instance of a 35-note
octave In music, an octave (: eighth) or perfect octave (sometimes called the diapason) is an interval between two notes, one having twice the frequency of vibration of the other. The octave relationship is a natural phenomenon that has been referr ...
. Carlos considers the album as the most important of her career. She followed the album with ''Secrets of Synthesis'' in 1987, her final album for CBS/Columbia, featuring several introductions and demonstrations of synthesized music from Carlos with audio examples from her previous albums. In 1988, CBS Records asked Carlos to collaborate with comical musician
"Weird Al" Yankovic Alfred Matthew "Weird Al" Yankovic ( ; born October 23, 1959) is an American comedy musician, writer, and actor. He is best known for writing and performing Comedy music, comedy songs that often Parody music, parody specific songs by contempo ...
to release a parody of ''
Peter and the Wolf ''Peter and the Wolf'' ( rus, Петя и волк, Pétya i volk, p=ˈpʲetʲə i volk) Op. 67, a "symphonic tale for children", is a Program music , programmatic musical composition written by Sergei Prokofiev in 1936. The narrator tells a ...
'' by
Sergei Prokofiev Sergei Sergeyevich Prokofiev; alternative transliterations of his name include ''Sergey'' or ''Serge'', and ''Prokofief'', ''Prokofieff'', or ''Prokofyev''. , group=n ( – 5 March 1953) was a Russian composer, pianist, and conductor who l ...
. Carlos agreed to the project, as she felt it presented a chance "to let your sense of humor out of the cage". Yankovic adapted and narrated its story, while Carlos rearranged the music with a "
MIDI Musical Instrument Digital Interface (; MIDI) is an American-Japanese technical standard that describes a communication protocol, digital interface, and electrical connectors that connect a wide variety of electronic musical instruments, ...
orchestra", her first venture using the digital interface. The album's second side also contains a humorous adaptation of ''
The Carnival of the Animals ''The Carnival of the Animals'' () is a humorous musical suite of 14 movements, including " The Swan", by the French composer Camille Saint-Saëns. About 25 minutes in duration, it was written for private performance by two pianos and chambe ...
'' by
Camille Saint-Saëns Charles-Camille Saint-Saëns (, , 9October 183516 December 1921) was a French composer, organist, conductor and pianist of the Romantic music, Romantic era. His best-known works include Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso (1863), the Piano ...
titled "The Carnival of the Animals—Part II", with Yankovic providing funny poems for each of the featured animals in the style of poet
Ogden Nash Frederic Ogden Nash (August 19, 1902 – May 19, 1971) was an American poet well known for his Light poetry, light verse, of which he wrote more than 500 pieces. With his unconventional rhyme, rhyming schemes, he was declared by ''The New York T ...
, who did similar for the original. Released in October 1988, '' Peter and the Wolf/Carnival of the Animals—Part II'' was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Album for Children in 1989.


1990s–2000s

To mark the 25th anniversary of ''Switched-On Bach'', Carlos re-recorded the album with her set of digital instruments and recording techniques. Released in 1992 on Telarc Records, ''Switched-On Bach 2000'' took roughly one and a half years to produce; Carlos estimated around 3,000 hours were invested in the project, which involved using several
digital audio workstation A digital audio workstation (DAW ) is an electronic device or application software used for Sound recording and reproduction, recording, editing and producing audio files. DAWs come in a wide variety of configurations from a single software pr ...
software packages, including
Pro Tools Pro Tools is a digital audio workstation (DAW) developed and released by Avid Technology (formerly Digidesign) for Microsoft Windows and macOS. It is used for music creation and production, sound for picture (sound design, audio post-productio ...
. A Moog synthesizer is only used once on the record; the rest is performed on 13 modern synthesizers. The album also marked her first venture into mixing in
Dolby Surround Dolby Pro Logic is a surround sound processing technology developed by Dolby Laboratories, designed to decode soundtracks encoded with Dolby Surround. The terms Dolby Stereo and LtRt (''Left Total'', ''Right Total'') are also used to describe so ...
sound. Carlos wrote the soundtrack to the British film '' Brand New World'' (1998), also known as ''Woundings'', directed by Roberta Hanley and based on a play by
Jeff Noon Jeff Noon (born 1957 in Droylsden, Lancashire, England) is a British novelist, short story writer and playwright whose works make use of word play and fantasy. Noon's speculative fiction books have ties to the works of writers such as Lewis C ...
. Carlos explained the style of her music: "I was given fairly large carte blanche to do some horrific things and also some inside-psyche mood paintings, and that's what the film became". In 1998, Carlos released her most recent studio album, ''Tales from Heaven and Hell'', for the
East Side Digital East is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from west and is the direction from which the Sunrise, Sun rises on the Earth. Etymology As in other languages, the word is formed from the fact ...
label. Beginning in 1998, Carlos digitally remastered her studio albums, culminating in the ''Switched-On Box Set'' released in 1999 featuring her four synthesized classical albums. In 2005, the two-volume set ''Rediscovering Lost Scores'' was released, featuring previously out-of-print material, including the unreleased soundtrack to ''Woundings'' and music recorded for ''A Clockwork Orange'', ''The Shining'', and ''Tron'' that was not used in the films.


Personal life


Gender transition

Carlos became aware of her
gender dysphoria Gender dysphoria (GD) is the distress a person experiences due to inconsistency between their gender identitytheir personal sense of their own genderand their sex assigned at birth. The term replaced the previous diagnostic label of gender i ...
at an early age, recalling: "I was about five or six... I remember being convinced I was a little girl, much preferring long hair and girls' clothes, and not knowing why my parents didn't see it clearly". While at
Brown Brown is a color. It can be considered a composite color, but it is mainly a darker shade of orange. In the CMYK color model used in printing and painting, brown is usually made by combining the colors Orange (colour), orange and black. In the ...
, she went on a date with a girl and felt "so jealous of her I was beside myself". Sometime after entering graduate school at
Columbia University Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...
in the fall of 1962, she encountered studies of transgender issues for the first time, which explained to her what she was feeling. In the summer of 1966, New York sexologist
Harry Benjamin Harry Benjamin (January 12, 1885 – August 24, 1986) was a German-American endocrinologist and sexologist, widely known for his clinical work with transgender people. Early life and career Benjamin was born in Berlin, and raised in a German ...
published his landmark book ''
The Transsexual Phenomenon ''The Transsexual Phenomenon'' is a medical textbook published by American endocrinologist and sexologist Harry Benjamin in 1966 with The Julian Press. The text is notable for its examination of transsexualism not as a psychological issue, but rat ...
'' describing and explaining the affirmative treatment path he pioneered. In the fall of 1967, Carlos began counseling with him (well before ''
Switched-On Bach ''Switched-On Bach'' is the debut album by the American composer Wendy Carlos, released in October 1968 by Columbia Records. Produced by Carlos and Rachel Elkind, the album is a collection of pieces by Johann Sebastian Bach performed by Carlos ...
''). By early 1968, Carlos had begun hormone replacement treatment under Benjamin's care, which began altering her appearance. That created some problems for Carlos when ''Switched-On Bach'' became an unexpected hit after its release in October 1968. Prior to a live performance of excerpts from the album with the
St. Louis Symphony Orchestra The St. Louis Symphony Orchestra (SLSO) is an American symphony orchestra based in St. Louis, Missouri. Founded in 1880 by Joseph Otten as the St. Louis Choral Society, the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra is the second-oldest professional symphony or ...
, Carlos was apprehensive about appearing in public. She put on fake sideburns and a man's wig, and drew on facial hair with an eyebrow pencil to appear more masculine. She did the same thing again when she met Kubrick, and for an appearance on ''
The Dick Cavett Show ''The Dick Cavett Show'' is the title of several talk shows hosted by Dick Cavett on various television networks, including: * ABC daytime, (March 4, 1968 – January 24, 1969) originally titled ''This Morning'' * ABC prime time, Tuesday ...
'' in 1970. Finally, the commercial success of ''Switched-On Bach'' allowed Carlos the funds to undergo
sex reassignment surgery Gender-affirming surgery (GAS) is a surgical procedure, or series of procedures, that alters a person's physical appearance and sexual characteristics to resemble those associated with their gender identity. The phrase is most often associat ...
in May 1972, although for marketing reasons she released two more albums as Walter Carlos (1973's ''Switched-On Bach II'' and 1975's ''By Request''). Carlos disclosed her transgender status in a series of interviews with Arthur Bell held between December 1978 and January 1979, published in the May 1979 issue of ''
Playboy ''Playboy'' (stylized in all caps) is an American men's Lifestyle journalism, lifestyle and entertainment magazine, available both online and in print. It was founded in Chicago in 1953 by Hugh Hefner and his associates, funded in part by a $ ...
'' magazine. She explained in ''Playboy'' that she had "always been concerned with liberation, and wasanxious to liberate myself". In 1985, Carlos spoke about the reaction to her transition: "The public turned out to be amazingly tolerant or, if you wish, indifferent... There had never been any need of this charade to have taken place. It had proven a monstrous waste of years of my life." The first album released after the ''Playboy'' interview, '' Switched-On Brandenburgs'' (1980), and all subsequent releases and re-releases, have been issued under the name Wendy Carlos.


Lawsuit

In 1998, Carlos sued the songwriter/artist
Momus Momus (; Ancient Greek: Μῶμος ''Momos'') in Greek mythology was the personification of satire and mockery, two stories about whom figure among Aesop's Fables. During the Renaissance, several literary works used him as a mouthpiece for their ...
for $22 million regarding the song "Walter Carlos" (from the album '' The Little Red Songbook'', released that year), which postulated that after the
sex reassignment surgery Gender-affirming surgery (GAS) is a surgical procedure, or series of procedures, that alters a person's physical appearance and sexual characteristics to resemble those associated with their gender identity. The phrase is most often associat ...
Wendy could travel back in time to marry her pre-transition self, Walter. The case was settled out of court, with Momus agreeing to remove the song from subsequent editions of the CD and owing $30,000 in legal fees.


Published biography

A biography by musicologist Amanda Sewell, ''Wendy Carlos: A Biography'', was published by
Oxford University Press Oxford University Press (OUP) is the publishing house of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world. Its first book was printed in Oxford in 1478, with the Press officially granted the legal right to print books ...
in 2020. It relies entirely on published publicly-available sources, since the author was unable to secure an interview with Carlos or anyone close to her. Despite this limitation it was positively reviewed by critics. On her personal website, Carlos describes the work as "fiction" that mischaracterizes her life and deceased parents.


Awards and honors

''Switched-On Bach'' was the winner of three Grammy Awards at the 1970 ceremony: * Album of the Year, Classical * Best Classical Performance – Instrumental Soloist Or Soloists (With Or Without Orchestra) * Best Engineered Recording, Classical Carlos received three additional nominations for Best Classical Performance – Instrumental Soloist Or Soloists (With Or Without Orchestra) and Best Engineered Recording, Classical for '' The Well-Tempered Synthesizer'', and Best Recording for Children for '' Peter And The Wolf/Carnival Of The Animals (Part II)''. In 2005, Carlos was the recipient of the SEAMUS Lifetime Achievement Award "in recognition of lifetime achievement and contribution to the art and craft of electro-acoustic music" by the Society for Electro-Acoustic Music in the United States. (). Carlos is the first transgender recipient of a
Grammy Award The Grammy Awards, stylized as GRAMMY, and often referred to as The Grammys, are awards presented by The Recording Academy of the United States to recognize outstanding achievements in music. They are regarded by many as the most prestigious ...
.


Other activities

Carlos contributed a review of the then-available synthesizers to the June 1971 edition of the ''
Whole Earth Catalog The ''Whole Earth Catalog'' (WEC) was an American counterculture magazine and product catalog published by author Stewart Brand several times a year between 1968 and 1972, and occasionally thereafter, until 1998. The magazine featured essays ...
'', contrasting the Moog, Buchla and Tonus (aka ARP) systems. She was dismissive of smaller systems like the EMS
Putney Putney () is an affluent district in southwest London, England, in the London Borough of Wandsworth, southwest of Charing Cross. The area is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London. History Putney is an ...
and the
Minimoog The Minimoog is an analog synthesizer first manufactured by Moog Music between 1970 and 1981. Designed as a more affordable, portable version of the modular Moog synthesizer, it was the first synthesizer sold in retail stores. It was first popul ...
as "toys" and "cash-ins". Carlos is also an accomplished
solar eclipse A solar eclipse occurs when the Moon passes between Earth and the Sun, thereby obscuring the view of the Sun from a small part of Earth, totally or partially. Such an alignment occurs approximately every six months, during the eclipse season i ...
photographer. Her work has been published online by
NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the federal government of the United States, US federal government responsible for the United States ...
and has appeared on the cover of ''
Sky & Telescope ''Sky & Telescope'' (''S&T'') is a monthly magazine covering all aspects of amateur and professional astronomy, including what to see in the sky tonight and new findings in astronomy. Other topics covered include: *observing guides for planets, ...
''. She has developed various techniques for the extension of dynamic range in eclipse photography by the use of darkroom techniques and digital composites.


Discography


Studio albums

* ''
Switched-On Bach ''Switched-On Bach'' is the debut album by the American composer Wendy Carlos, released in October 1968 by Columbia Records. Produced by Carlos and Rachel Elkind, the album is a collection of pieces by Johann Sebastian Bach performed by Carlos ...
'' (1968) * '' The Well-Tempered Synthesizer'' (1969) * '' Sonic Seasonings'' (1972) * '' Walter Carlos's Clockwork Orange'' (1972; reissued in 1998 as ''A Clockwork Orange: Wendy Carlos's Complete Original Score'') * '' Switched-On Bach II'' (1973) * ''By Request'' (1975) * '' Switched-On Brandenburgs'' (1980) * '' Digital Moonscapes'' (1984) * ''
Beauty in the Beast ''Beauty in the Beast'' is a studio album from the American keyboardist and composer Wendy Carlos, released in 1986, on Audion Records, her first for a label other than Columbia Records since 1968. The album uses alternate musical tunings and mus ...
'' (1986) * ''Secrets of Synthesis'' (1987) * '' Peter & the Wolf'' (1988; with
"Weird Al" Yankovic Alfred Matthew "Weird Al" Yankovic ( ; born October 23, 1959) is an American comedy musician, writer, and actor. He is best known for writing and performing Comedy music, comedy songs that often Parody music, parody specific songs by contempo ...
) * ''Switched-On Bach 2000'' (1992) * ''Tales of Heaven and Hell'' (1998)


Soundtracks

* '' A Clockwork Orange'' (1971) * '' The Shining'' (1980) * ''
Tron ''Tron'' (stylized as ''TRON'') is a 1982 American science fiction action adventure film written and directed by Steven Lisberger from a story by Lisberger and Bonnie MacBird. The film stars Jeff Bridges as Kevin Flynn, a computer programmer ...
'' (1982) * ''Rediscovering Lost Scores, Volume 1'' (2005; compiles previously unreleased music from ''The Shining'', ''A Clockwork Orange'' and several
UNICEF UNICEF ( ), originally the United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund, officially United Nations Children's Fund since 1953, is an agency of the United Nations responsible for providing Humanitarianism, humanitarian and Development a ...
films) * ''Rediscovering Lost Scores, Volume 2'' (2005; compiles previously unreleased music from ''The Shining'', ''Tron'', ''Split Second'', ''Woundings'' and two
Dolby Dolby Laboratories, Inc. (Dolby Labs or simply Dolby) is a British-American technology corporation specializing in audio noise reduction, audio encoding/compression, spatial audio, and high-dynamic-range television (HDR) imaging. Dolby li ...
demonstration tracks)


Compilations

* ''Switched-On Brandenburgs, Vol. I'' (1987; comprises the first LP of ''Switched-On Brandenburgs'' (1979) and selections from ''Switched-On Bach II'' (1973)) * ''Switched-On Brandenburgs, Vol. II'' (1987; comprises the second LP of ''Switched-On Brandenburgs'' (1979), selections from ''Switched-On Bach II'' (1973), and Bach's ''"Little" Fugue in G minor, BWV 578'' from ''By Request'' (1975)) * ''Switched-On Boxed Set'' (1999; compiles ''Switched-On Bach'', ''The Well-Tempered Synthesizer'', ''Switched-On Bach II'' and ''Switched-On Brandenburgs'')


Appears on

* ''Electronic Music'' (1967) from Vox Turnabout. Includes two Carlos compositions "Dialogues for Piano and Two Loudspeakers" (with Phillip Ramey, pianist) and "Variations for Flute and Tape" (with John Heiss, flutist) * ''Moog 900 Series – Electronic Music Systems'' (1967) demonstration disc of the capabilities of the first commercially available Moog synthesizer * ''Childe Harold'' – "Brink of Death" / "Anne, With Love" (single, 1968, Limelight Records)


See also

*
List of ambient music artists This is a list of ambient music artists. This includes artists who have either been very important to the genre or have had a considerable amount of exposure (such as those who have been on a major label). This list does not include little-known ...


References


Further reading

*


External links

* * * as Walter * as Wendy * {{DEFAULTSORT:Carlos, Wendy 1939 births 20th-century American classical composers 20th-century American classical musicians 20th-century American keyboardists 20th-century American women composers 21st-century American classical composers 21st-century American classical musicians 21st-century American keyboardists 21st-century American women composers American electronic musicians American film score composers American LGBTQ composers American transgender musicians American transgender women American women classical composers American women film score composers American women in electronic music Brown University alumni CBS Records artists Classical musicians from Rhode Island Columbia Records artists Columbia University staff Columbia University School of the Arts alumni Electronic composers Grammy Award winners LGBTQ classical composers LGBTQ film score composers LGBTQ people from Rhode Island Living people Microtonal composers People from Pawtucket, Rhode Island Telarc Records artists Transgender composers Transgender women musicians Trautonium players Women in classical music Women instrument makers