John Walker: Re-creating great performances

譯者: K. C. Peng 審譯者: Leonard Lin

Ninety-nine percent of us have the dream of listeners.

99%的我們都是音樂聆聽著

Not being the musicians -- the listeners, right?

不是音樂演奏者, 是聆聽者, 對吧?

And we crave one thing,

我們都渴望一件事

even though we kind of don't know it all the time.

雖然我們常不自覺

We crave to be in the room with the musician

但我們渴望能與音樂家同在

the day it was recorded, the day it was played.

錄音室中, 看著錄音的完成

And we go to live concerts, and we get that as much as we can.

同理, 我們總是喜歡盡可能地到現場聽音樂會

But then we listen to the other 99 percent of our stuff recorded.

但又總是花99%的時間聽被錄製的音樂

And it turns out the further back you go in history,

事實是 聽越久遠的錄音

the little rougher it sounds.

失真越多

And so we said, there's a solution to this.

我們提供了一解決方式

Let's separate the performance, as a thing,

我們要把演奏這件事與

out from the recording, which was how it was made.

錄音分離 就是錄音現場狀況

You know, the thing with microphones in the room and all that day.

就像是麥克風那一整天設在錄音室中

But the performance itself was how the musicians worked their fingers,

而演出是只音樂家如何移動他們的手指

and what instruments they were using.

彈奏他們的樂器

And it's the data hidden inside the recording.

這些是錄音後被隱藏的數據

In order to do this, it's a lot of hardware and software

為了克服 需要大量的硬體與軟體分析

that runs in a very high resolution.

以高解析度的方式處理

And Yamaha makes an incredible thing called the Disklavier Pro

Yamaha 作出一驚人的產品 叫 "Disklavier Pro"

that looks like a nice grand piano there.

它看起來只是個三角大鋼琴

And you probably didn't realize it's going to do all these things --

但有所不知的是它能作所有的事

but full of solenoids, and fiber optics, and computers

有著很多的線圈, 光纖 以及 電腦

and all this kind of stuff. The highest resolution out of Japan.

等等硬體裝置 --- 有著日本最高的解析度

And this just didn't work until we could cross this line that says high-definition.

這些都無法成功直到我們稱它是"高傳真清晰度"

And we were able to cross this line, called the uncanny valley,

才成功的跨過阻礙

in terms of -- artificial intelligence terms.

利用人工智慧

We have a process where we, you know,

軟體處理

kind of put it into the computer and digitize it, and then a whole lot of analysis.

用電腦數位化後做大量分析

And we look at every single note,

我們分析每一音符

and all the attributes of those notes:

以及其他的屬性

how hard they were struck, and how they were held down,

音鍵是怎麼被敲下 以及持續被壓下多久

and how you move the fingers.

又是怎麼移動手指

So we had to develop a whole new science of how you move your fingers.

所以我們建立了一個全新的科學研究手指如何在琴鍵上移動

And, you know, it's a thing your piano teacher teaches you,

就是那些細節你的鋼琴老師會教你的

but we never had a science behind these kinds of things.

但我們從沒一個科學研究這些問題

I'm going to start with Glenn Gould.

我要先介紹"Glenn Gould"

He died 25 years ago this year, and was born 75 years ago this year.

他出生75年前 但於25年前離開人世

Was a beloved pianist, maybe the great cult pianist of the twentieth century.

是個受人愛戴的鋼琴演奏家 可能是20世紀最為大的異類鋼琴師

He just got tired of being in front of an audience,

他厭倦在觀眾前演出

and felt like -- a performing monkey was, in fact, his term.

感覺就像是"耍猴戲" 他就是這麼說過

So he stepped back, and did nothing but the crafting of his work.

所以他退下來 專研他的作品

And Gould's specialty was playing Bach.

Gould 的專長就是演奏巴哈

His maybe most famous recording

可能是他最有名的作品是

was something called "The Goldberg Variations."

"戈德堡變奏曲"

Bach only wrote themes and variations one time.

巴哈只寫下些主旋律與變奏

He wrote some early pieces,

Gould也在早年改寫些

but late in his life, in his mature period,

但到了晚期, 也就是他的成熟期

he said, "Here's a theme -- 30 variations."

他輕鬆的完成 30組變奏曲

In fact, the theme isn't even the melody, it's the bass line.

事實上主調還不是旋律 而是低音線

And Gould recorded it in two major recordings that you may know about,

Gould錄製在兩種錄音方式

one in mono, and one in stereo.

一在單音 一在立體聲道

And the one in mono, by the way, he used the pedal,

在單音錄製時 他用了踏板

and as he got older, he said, "No, no, wait a minute.

待他年長 他說 "不!不! 等等

I'm going to get very scientific about this, and not use the pedal."

我得要更科學些而不用踏板錄音"

What I'd like you to hear live is the 1955 version,

現在要為你們現場展示的是 1955年的版本

and we'll play the first couple pieces of it.

我們只會演奏開始的一些片段

Glenn Gould, 1955.

Glenn Gould, 1955 作品 ...

(Music)

(鋼琴聲)

How about that?

如何?

(Applause)

(掌聲)

So let me tell you a little bit how this was done.

讓我告訴你們這是如何做到的

First of all, let me get you to the end step.

首先 讓我帶你們到最後階段

This is -- we have a fairly complex process

我們有了複雜的過程

that, you know, software and musicians and so on,

一大堆的軟體與音樂家等等

but when we're all done, we know that the ear is the final arbiter.

但當我們完成後, 我們知道耳朵才是最後的仲裁

We can play the original in one ear, and a new recording in the other.

我們可以用一隻耳朵聽原曲, 而在另一耳朵聽新錄製的

So I'm going to do this for you right now, what you just heard.

而我也要為你們示範剛聽到的曲子

And in the right speaker is going to be the original recording,

所以右聲道喇叭是原始錄製

and the left speaker is going to be the new recording,

左聲道喇叭是新錄製

actually of an instrument just like that one,

類似這鋼琴的新錄製

and I'm going to play them together at the same time.

我會同時播放左右聲道

(Music)

(鋼琴聲)

That's the original. [Unclear] That's the two together.

原始的

(Music)

(鋼琴聲)

Before "Jurassic Park,"

在電影"侏儸紀公園"前

there was no science for how skin hung off of muscle, right?

從未顯示恐龍的皮膚是如何長在考古研究後的肌肉上, 對吧?

So, in the video world,

所以在影像的世界中

we've been able to invent, in our lifetimes, natural behavior.

我們已經能用科技重現自然狀態

And this is kind of another example

我們這個就是另一

of putting a science behind natural behavior.

用科學重現當初原始的風貌

And then you heard the original.

也就是讓大家能聽到原始的現場

Ultimately, I started with the experience.

終極的 挑戰體驗

And the experience is: I want to be in the room and hear the musicians.

就是要能與錄音的音樂家同在一個錄音室中

Lots of you can afford to buy one of these.

相信許多其中的你們能買得起這樣的鋼琴

But, if not, there is now high-definition surround sound.

若不能 現在也有 高傳真的環場音響

And I got to tell you, if you haven't heard high-definition surround,

讓我提醒你 如果你還沒有聽過高傳真音效

go down to your audio dealer, your audiophile dealer.

快去音響經銷商試聽

It's so involving compared to regular stereo.

比一般音響更有臨場感

But if you don't have that, maybe you can listen on your headphones.

如果沒有這些 建議你用耳機收聽

And so on the same disk we have five recordings --

同張CD上 有5首錄音

Sony has five recordings.

SONY有5首錄音

And you could listen in headphones

可以用耳機收聽

with this thing called binaural recording.

利用了這叫"雙耳錄音法"

And it's a dummy head that sits in front of the instrument,

就是個假人頭放置於樂器前

and it's got microphones where the ears are.

假人的雙耳部分各有一麥克風

And when you put on headphones, and you listen to this,

所以當你戴上耳機時

you're inside of Glenn Gould's body.

你就好像是在Glenn Gould 的演奏位置

And it is a chuckle until, you know, the musicians,

這會是會心的微笑的

who are musicians who play the piano, listen to this, say,

當真的演奏家自己聽到這錄音會笑說

"I can't believe it! It's just what it's like to play the piano."

"我不敢相信 聽起來就好像是在演出中"

Except now you're inside Glenn Gould's body playing the piano,

差別是 你實際是在 Glenn Gould 的位置彈奏鋼琴

and it feels like your fingers are making the decisions

感覺像是你的手指在決定如何彈奏

and moving through the whole process.

移動在琴鍵上

It's a game changer.

是個業界革命性改變

Here's now something we know in spectacular quality.

這裡是我們所了解成就驚人品質的因素

The whole process is very sensitive to temperature and humidity.

樂器重現的整個過程 對溫溼度的變化相當敏感

What you heard today was not perfect.

今天所聽到的並不是最完美的

It's an amalgam of wood, and cast iron, and felt,

是木頭 鑄鐵 鋼弦

and steel strings, and all these,

等等的混合狀況

and they're all amazingly sensitive to temperature and humidity.

它們對溫溼度變化都非常敏感

So when you go into the recording session,

所以當要開始一錄製過程

you get to stop after every piece and rebuild the piano if you need to.

你必須要在每首錄製後停下檢查 必要時得重新建構鋼琴

There's the whole action there, sitting, kind of, on the side,

所有的錄製得停下待命

and the dummy head and our recording engineers

包括假人頭與錄音工程師

standing around while we rebuild the piano.

都得在一旁待命

Without putting dates next to these things,

沒有確定的時間表

step-by-step music will be turned into data,

按部就班地 音樂就能轉換成數據

like every field that's occurred in the past 35 or 40 years.

就像是每個專門領域的過去35~40年的發展

Audio has come very late to this game --

音響是較晚加入這場發展

I'm not talking about digitizing, and bits, and re-mastering.

不是指那些數位化, 數據, 與再混音錄製

I'm talking about turn it into the data that it was made from,

而是重現最初錄音時細節與狀態數據

which is how it was performed.

也就是剛剛所呈現的

And audio came very late because our ears are so hard to fool --

音響是最後加入精進行列, 是因為我們的耳朵是非常難去欺騙的

they're high-resolution, and they're wired straight to our emotions,

它們是高解析度 它們是直接連到情緒反應

and you can't trick them very easily.

無法騙過它們

Your eyes are pretty happy with some color and movement, you know.

我們的眼睛只要求顏色與動態

All right, there's this episode of "Star Trek."

舉例一集"星際爭霸戰"

(Laughter)

(笑聲)

I get it -- it was all just laid in for me yesterday there.

昨天就像在我面前

The episode of "Star Trek" for me was James Daly played Methuselah --

那集的星際爭霸戰是 James Daly 飾演 Methuselah

remember this one?

記得這集嗎?

And at some point he's dancing with his --

他在其中一段跳起舞來...

and I won't ruin the episode for you, from 1967.

我不會跟你講1967年的這集的內容的，放心

Right, do you know where I'm going?

你知道我想說什麼

And Nimoy, I'm sorry, Spock sits down at the piano,

Nimoy 喔不! 是劇中的Spock 坐在鋼琴前

and he starts playing this Brahms waltz, and they all dance to it.

他開始彈起了布拉姆斯的華爾茲 他們也就跳起舞來

And then Spock turns round, he goes,

Spock 站起說

"James, I know all of the Brahms waltzes,

"詹姆士, 我知道所有的布拉姆斯的華爾茲

and I don't believe this is one of them in the category."

我相信這曲並不是歸類在他之下"

That's where I'm at.

這就是我要說的

I want to hear the waltzes Brahms didn't write.

我想聽到布拉姆斯沒寫過的華爾茲

I want to hear the pieces that Horowitz didn't play.

我想聽到 Horowitz 沒彈奏過

But I believe we're on a path now, when we get to data,

我相信我們是正朝向那個方向

that we can distill styles, and templates, and formulas, and all these kinds of things,

我們能萃取出風格 樣式 與 規則 等等細節

again, that you've seen happen in the computer graphics world.

就像在電腦動畫世界中所體驗的重現

It's now coming in this world.

這樣的可能即將來臨

The transition will be this one.

轉換就是這個

It says right now, we think music is notes and how they're played.

我們認為音樂就是音符以及他們如何被演奏

And I believe this is coming.

我相信即將來臨

Because what you've just heard was a computer playing data --

因為剛剛聽到的就是電腦演奏數據 --

no Glenn Gould in the room.

沒有 Glenn Gould 在現場

But yet, it was human.

但能感受到就像是真人彈奏出的

And I believe you'll get to the next step, the real dream of listeners.

我也相信你會升級到另一階 聆聽者的夢想

Every time you listen to a recording today,

每次你聽到一錄音

every time you take out your iPod and whatever,

每次當你拿出iPod 或是其他

every time you listen to it, it's the same thing -- it's frozen.

每次你聽到音樂 都是同樣的感受 就像是結凍一樣

Wouldn't it be cool if every time you listened, it could be different?

這不是很棒嗎? 如果每次你聽音樂 都能是不同的

This morning, you're sadder, you want to hear your song,

今晨你覺德感傷 你想聽到你的歌

the same song, played sadder than you did yesterday.

那同樣的歌 能演奏得較昨天悲傷些

You want to hear it played by different musicians.

或是你想聽到不同的演奏者

You want to hear it in different rooms and whatever.

你想聽到在不同的室內演出

We've seen all these "Star Treks," and they're all holodeck episodes as well.

我們都看了星際爭霸戰 他們也就是利用虛擬場景

Every time I listen to that, I get goose bumps.

每次我聽到這些音樂 我就起雞皮疙瘩

It's so amazing, it's so exciting.

這麼驚人 這麼另人興奮

Every time I listen to that recording it's like, "Oh my God,

每次我聽到這些音樂 就像是 天啊

I can't believe I'm in the same room. I can't believe this is happening."

我不敢相信 居然同在一間室內 我無法相信聽到的

It's a way better experience

這是一更高層次的體驗

than whatever you're used to listening to, in whatever form.

相較之前我們曾聽過的任何形式

And lastly, I will wrap up with one minute of Art Tatum.

最後 我想以一分鐘的 Art Tatum 演奏做結束

So I've really overshot my budget here.

所以 會超過演講時間的

We made a new recording of him

我們為他做了新的錄製

playing in the Shrine Auditorium in September.

是九月在 Shrine 演奏廳錄製

It was a concert he recorded in the Shrine Auditorium in 1949.

這原本是1949年Shrine 演奏廳的現場演出

And I've got to tell you, we have this lab

我必須指出 我們有個實驗室

where we build and measure everything, back in Raleigh, North Carolina,

位於北卡的Raleigh 可以建構與測量所有項目

and we flew out to Los Angeles.

我們也飛來洛杉磯

And as the president of the company,

身為公司的總經理

I didn't feel real comfortable about where we were.

我並不覺得十分自在

That's a real uncomfortable feeling,

這是個緊張的時候

when all the equipment's come out and a whole Sony team,

當所有設備以及SONY團隊出現

and people are going to be sitting there in the audience.

加上人們一一入座

And we put the piano on the sweet spot of the stage in the Shrine,

我們將鋼琴放在Shrine台上

which has not changed since 1949, still seats 6,000 people.

是1949年以來皆沒改變的 也坐入6000人

And on the sweet spot on the stage, Tatum starts playing ...

就在舞台中央 Tatum 開始彈奏

and every note, every beat, every slur, every accent, every pedal

每個音符 每個節拍 每個連音 每個重音 每個踏板

was perfect, because he played it for that room on that day.

都是完美 因為他過去在那如何演出

And we captured all that data all over again.

都被我們用數據分析捕捉到

And I want you to hear that right now.

我希望你們現在也能聽見

And fortunately, it's right in here.

就在這裡了

This is an encore he used to do.

這是他常用的安可曲

It's one minute long.

只有一分鐘長

It's an Irish jig, and I want you to hear his humor.

是個愛爾蘭節奏 我希望你聽到他的幽默

(Music)

(鋼琴聲)

(Applause)

(熱烈掌聲)

And that's just what the live audience did.

這也正是現場觀眾的反應

(Applause)

(掌聲)

So thank you very much, Michael, thank you for the opportunity.

謝謝大家 Michael, 謝謝這個機會