EG 2007
John Q. Walker: Great piano performances, recreated
乔治·沃克对伟大演奏的重新创作
Filmed:
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设想在今天再次听到那些伟大的,已经逝去的钢琴家们的演奏,就像他们在亲自演奏一样.乔治·沃克展示了如何把录音分解成准确的键盘弹奏和脚踏板的动作,然后重新在电脑控制的大钢琴上演奏出来.
John Q. Walker - Musician and inventor
Software entrepreneur John Q. Walker uses computers to bring piano legends back to life -- digitally reconstructing their performances from audio tracks and playing them on real instruments, live. Full bio
Software entrepreneur John Q. Walker uses computers to bring piano legends back to life -- digitally reconstructing their performances from audio tracks and playing them on real instruments, live. Full bio
Double-click the English transcript below to play the video.
00:16
Ninety-nine percent of us have the dream of listeners.
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我们中百分之九十九的人都有做听众的梦想.
00:20
Not being the musicians -- the listeners, right?
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不是去做音乐家,而是做听众,对吧?
00:22
And we crave one thing,
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而且我们渴望一件事情,
00:24
even though we kind of don't know it all the time.
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尽管我们可能并不总会意识到这点.
00:26
We crave to be in the room with the musician
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我们渴望和音乐家在一个房间里
00:31
the day it was recorded, the day it was played.
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在录音的那天,在演奏的那天.
00:33
And we go to live concerts, and we get that as much as we can.
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然后我们去听现场音乐会,去尽可能地享受我们在现场所能感受的一切.
00:36
But then we listen to the other 99 percent of our stuff recorded.
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但是我们听到的另外百分之九十九的东西都是录音.
00:39
And it turns out the further back you go in history,
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而结果你越是探寻历史久远的,
00:42
the little rougher it sounds.
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声音听起来就越有点儿粗糙.
00:44
And so we said, there's a solution to this.
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所以我们说,应该想个办法解决它.
00:48
Let's separate the performance, as a thing,
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让我们把演奏作为一个事情分开,
00:52
out from the recording, which was how it was made.
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以区别于录音,后者是制作的结果.
00:55
You know, the thing with microphones in the room and all that day.
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你们知道,在那个年代,屋里都是麦克风.
00:58
But the performance itself was how the musicians worked their fingers,
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但演奏本事在于音乐家如何活动他们的手指,
01:01
and what instruments they were using.
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以及他们使用的是什么乐器.
01:03
And it's the data hidden inside the recording.
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需要的是那些隐藏在录音背后的数据.
01:08
In order to do this, it's a lot of hardware and software
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为了做到这点,需要有很多的硬件和软件
01:11
that runs in a very high resolution.
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需要有很高的分辨率.
01:13
And Yamaha makes an incredible thing called the Disklavier Pro
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所以雅马哈做了一件不可思议的东西叫做Disklavier Pro,
01:17
that looks like a nice grand piano there.
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看起来像摆在那儿的漂亮的大钢琴 --
01:19
And you probably didn't realize it's going to do all these things --
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而且你可能都没意识到它可以完成所有这些事情 --
01:21
but full of solenoids, and fiber optics, and computers
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但它布满了螺线管,光纤,和计算机
01:24
and all this kind of stuff. The highest resolution out of Japan.
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和所有这类东西 -- 它拥有在日本最高的分辨率.
01:27
And this just didn't work until we could cross this line that says high-definition.
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但这些都不管用,直道我们越过高清晰度这条线.
01:31
And we were able to cross this line, called the uncanny valley,
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而我们能够越过这条线,把它称作不可逾越的峡谷,
01:34
in terms of -- artificial intelligence terms.
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按照人工智能的说法.
01:39
We have a process where we, you know,
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我们有一套程序,你们知道,
01:41
kind of put it into the computer and digitize it, and then a whole lot of analysis.
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可以把它输入电脑,数字化,然后进行一系列分析.
01:44
And we look at every single note,
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然后我们看每一个音符,
01:46
and all the attributes of those notes:
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以及所有这些音符的特征:
01:48
how hard they were struck, and how they were held down,
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用了多大劲儿弹奏,如何被控制,
01:50
and how you move the fingers.
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还包括你如何移动手指.
01:52
So we had to develop a whole new science of how you move your fingers.
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所以我们发展出一整套你是如何移动手指的全新科学.
01:54
And, you know, it's a thing your piano teacher teaches you,
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而且,你们知道,钢琴老师教过你这些,
01:57
but we never had a science behind these kinds of things.
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但我们还从来没有一门科学研究背后的这些事情.
02:00
I'm going to start with Glenn Gould.
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我要从格伦·古尔德开始.
02:02
He died 25 years ago this year, and was born 75 years ago this year.
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他25年前去世,75年前出生.
02:06
Was a beloved pianist, maybe the great cult pianist of the twentieth century.
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是备受喜爱的钢琴家,也许是二十世纪最受崇拜的钢琴家.
02:10
He just got tired of being in front of an audience,
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他就是厌倦了出现在听众面前,
02:12
and felt like -- a performing monkey was, in fact, his term.
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而且觉得像是"一只演奏的猴子,"这实际是他的原话.
02:14
So he stepped back, and did nothing but the crafting of his work.
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所以他退居幕后,不干其他事,专心磨练演奏技巧.
02:18
And Gould's specialty was playing Bach.
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古尔德最为擅长演奏巴赫.
02:20
His maybe most famous recording
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也许他最有名的录音
02:22
was something called "The Goldberg Variations."
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是"戈德堡变奏曲."
02:24
Bach only wrote themes and variations one time.
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巴赫曾经只写过主题和变奏曲.
02:27
He wrote some early pieces,
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他写过一些早期作品,
02:29
but late in his life, in his mature period,
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但他的晚年,在他的成熟时期,
02:31
he said, "Here's a theme -- 30 variations."
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他说,"这是一个主题 -- 30种变奏."
02:34
In fact, the theme isn't even the melody, it's the bass line.
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实际上这个主题甚至不是旋律,而是基本音.
02:37
And Gould recorded it in two major recordings that you may know about,
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于是古尔德录制了两个版本的唱片,这你们可能知道,
02:42
one in mono, and one in stereo.
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一个是未经处理的独奏,一个是立体声.
02:44
And the one in mono, by the way, he used the pedal,
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顺便说一句,在独奏里,他使用了脚踏板,
02:47
and as he got older, he said, "No, no, wait a minute.
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而当他年纪大些之后,他说,"不,不,等一下."
02:50
I'm going to get very scientific about this, and not use the pedal."
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"我想把它做得更科学而不用脚踏板."
02:53
What I'd like you to hear live is the 1955 version,
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我想让你们在现场听到的是1955年版,
02:57
and we'll play the first couple pieces of it.
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我们将放它的前几首.
02:59
Glenn Gould, 1955.
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格伦·古尔德, 1955年.
03:02
(Music)
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(音乐)
05:35
How about that?
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怎么样?
05:37
(Applause)
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(掌声)
05:41
So let me tell you a little bit how this was done.
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那么让我来告诉你这是如何完成的.
05:43
First of all, let me get you to the end step.
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首先,让我告诉你最后一步.
05:45
This is -- we have a fairly complex process
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那就是 -- 我们有一个相当复杂的过程
05:47
that, you know, software and musicians and so on,
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你们知道,这些软件,音乐家等等
05:50
but when we're all done, we know that the ear is the final arbiter.
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但我们全部做完的时候,我们知道,耳朵才是最终的裁判.
05:55
We can play the original in one ear, and a new recording in the other.
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我们可以一个耳朵听原版,另一个耳朵听新版录音.
05:58
So I'm going to do this for you right now, what you just heard.
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所以我现在要为你们做的,就是你们刚才所听到的.
06:01
And in the right speaker is going to be the original recording,
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在右边的喇叭传出的是原版
06:03
and the left speaker is going to be the new recording,
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左边的喇叭传出的是新版 --
06:06
actually of an instrument just like that one,
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实际上就像那架大钢琴一样的乐器,
06:09
and I'm going to play them together at the same time.
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我将同时播放这两个版本.
06:11
(Music)
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(音乐)
06:17
That's the original. [Unclear] That's the two together.
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这是原版.
06:19
(Music)
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(音乐)
06:55
Before "Jurassic Park,"
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在"侏罗纪公园"之前,
06:57
there was no science for how skin hung off of muscle, right?
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没有一门科学是研究皮肤是怎样悬挂在肌肉上的,对吧?
07:03
So, in the video world,
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所以在影像世界里,
07:04
we've been able to invent, in our lifetimes, natural behavior.
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我们可能在有生之年去创造一些自然行为.
07:07
And this is kind of another example
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而这也算是另一个例子
07:09
of putting a science behind natural behavior.
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在自然行为背后建立一门科学.
07:12
And then you heard the original.
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然后你将听到原版音乐.
07:14
Ultimately, I started with the experience.
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最终,我开始进行体验.
07:16
And the experience is: I want to be in the room and hear the musicians.
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这个体验就是:我想在这间屋子里,听到音乐家的演奏.
07:20
Lots of you can afford to buy one of these.
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你们中很多人能买得起这样一架"大钢琴."
07:22
But, if not, there is now high-definition surround sound.
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但如果买不起,现在有高清晰度环绕立体声.
07:28
And I got to tell you, if you haven't heard high-definition surround,
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而且我要告诉你,如果你还没听过高清晰环绕立体声,
07:31
go down to your audio dealer, your audiophile dealer.
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去找你们的音响经销商,爱好唱片的经销商.
07:33
It's so involving compared to regular stereo.
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相比普通的立体声,会感觉非常沉醉.
07:37
But if you don't have that, maybe you can listen on your headphones.
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但如果你没有那种立体声,也许你可以通过你的耳机听到.
07:39
And so on the same disk we have five recordings --
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同一张唱片我们有五份录音 --
07:41
Sony has five recordings.
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索尼有五份录音.
07:43
And you could listen in headphones
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因此你可以从耳机里听到
07:45
with this thing called binaural recording.
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通过这个叫双耳式录音的东西.
07:48
And it's a dummy head that sits in front of the instrument,
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这是一个头的模型,它坐在乐器前,
07:52
and it's got microphones where the ears are.
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在耳朵的地方装有麦克风.
07:56
And when you put on headphones, and you listen to this,
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当你戴上耳机听它的时候,
07:58
you're inside of Glenn Gould's body.
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你就好像进入了格伦·古尔德的身体.
08:00
And it is a chuckle until, you know, the musicians,
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这像是个笑话,但直到,你们知道,那些音乐家,
08:03
who are musicians who play the piano, listen to this, say,
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那些弹钢琴的音乐家们听到这个,他们说,
08:05
"I can't believe it! It's just what it's like to play the piano."
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"我简直不敢相信!就好像是在弹钢琴."
08:07
Except now you're inside Glenn Gould's body playing the piano,
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只是现在你是在格伦·格伦古尔德的身体里弹钢琴,
08:09
and it feels like your fingers are making the decisions
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而且感觉像是你的手指在做决定
08:11
and moving through the whole process.
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在移动中完成整个过程.
08:13
It's a game changer.
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这是一个游戏的改变者.
08:15
Here's now something we know in spectacular quality.
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这就是现在我们所知的达到惊人品质的东西.
08:17
The whole process is very sensitive to temperature and humidity.
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整个过程对温度和湿度是非常敏感的.
08:21
What you heard today was not perfect.
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今天你们所听到的还不是最完美的.
08:23
It's an amalgam of wood, and cast iron, and felt,
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这是由木头,铸铁和毡制品制成的混合物,
08:27
and steel strings, and all these,
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还有钢丝以及所有这些,
08:29
and they're all amazingly sensitive to temperature and humidity.
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而且他们都对温度和湿度出奇地敏感.
08:32
So when you go into the recording session,
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所以当你在录音期间,
08:35
you get to stop after every piece and rebuild the piano if you need to.
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如果有必要,你要在每首曲子之后停下来重建钢琴.
08:39
There's the whole action there, sitting, kind of, on the side,
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整个行动等在一边,
08:41
and the dummy head and our recording engineers
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那个头部模型和我们的录音师们
08:43
standing around while we rebuild the piano.
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站在一旁等我们重建钢琴.
08:45
Without putting dates next to these things,
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没有把日期标在这些东西上,
08:47
step-by-step music will be turned into data,
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一步一步地,音乐就变成了数据,
08:50
like every field that's occurred in the past 35 or 40 years.
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就像在过去35到40年间每个领域所发生的事情一样.
08:54
Audio has come very late to this game --
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声音很晚才进入这个领域 --
08:57
I'm not talking about digitizing, and bits, and re-mastering.
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我不是说数字化, 字节，重新灌录之类 --
09:00
I'm talking about turn it into the data that it was made from,
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我是说把它变成音乐来源的数据,
09:03
which is how it was performed.
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音乐也是这样被演奏的.
09:05
And audio came very late because our ears are so hard to fool --
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声音很晚才被数据化是因为我们的耳朵太难被欺骗了--
09:08
they're high-resolution, and they're wired straight to our emotions,
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它们有很高的分辨力,直接与我们的情感相连,
09:11
and you can't trick them very easily.
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所以你不能轻易地欺骗它们.
09:13
Your eyes are pretty happy with some color and movement, you know.
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眼睛倒是很乐于看到一些颜色和运动
09:16
All right, there's this episode of "Star Trek."
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好吧,比如有一集"星际旅行."
09:19
(Laughter)
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(笑声)
09:22
I get it -- it was all just laid in for me yesterday there.
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我明白了 -- 这些是昨天才为我摆在这里的.
09:24
The episode of "Star Trek" for me was James Daly played Methuselah --
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对我而言,这集"星际旅行"是由詹姆斯·达利扮演玛士撒拉 --
09:28
remember this one?
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记得这集么?
09:30
And at some point he's dancing with his --
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有一段是他跳舞,带着他的--
09:33
and I won't ruin the episode for you, from 1967.
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我不会给你毁了这集,是1967年的.
09:35
Right, do you know where I'm going?
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是的,你们知道我接下来要说什么?
09:37
And Nimoy, I'm sorry, Spock sits down at the piano,
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尼莫伊,不好意思,是斯波克坐在钢琴前,
09:39
and he starts playing this Brahms waltz, and they all dance to it.
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他开始弹奏勃拉姆斯的华尔兹,他们都随音乐起舞.
09:43
And then Spock turns round, he goes,
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然后斯波克转身说,
09:45
"James, I know all of the Brahms waltzes,
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"詹姆斯,我知道勃拉姆斯的所有华尔兹,
09:50
and I don't believe this is one of them in the category."
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我不认为这首是其中之一."
09:54
That's where I'm at.
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这正是我要说的.
09:56
I want to hear the waltzes Brahms didn't write.
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我想听勃拉姆斯没有写过的华尔兹.
10:00
I want to hear the pieces that Horowitz didn't play.
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我想听霍罗威茨没有演奏过的曲子.
10:04
But I believe we're on a path now, when we get to data,
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但我相信当我们有了数据,我们就有了出路
10:09
that we can distill styles, and templates, and formulas, and all these kinds of things,
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我们可以提取风格,模式,公式和所有这些东西 --
10:13
again, that you've seen happen in the computer graphics world.
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再一次地,就像你在电脑图像世界里看到的.
10:16
It's now coming in this world.
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现在它真地来到了这个世界上.
10:18
The transition will be this one.
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转变就是这一点.
10:20
It says right now, we think music is notes and how they're played.
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就是说现在我们认为音乐是一堆音符以及如何演奏这些音符.
10:23
And I believe this is coming.
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我认为这即将成为事实.
10:25
Because what you've just heard was a computer playing data --
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因为你们刚才听到的是一台电脑在演奏数据 --
10:30
no Glenn Gould in the room.
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而不是格伦·古尔德在这个屋里.
10:32
But yet, it was human.
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但它又是很人性的.
10:34
And I believe you'll get to the next step, the real dream of listeners.
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而且我相信你们会达到下一个目标,就是成为聆听者的梦想.
10:37
Every time you listen to a recording today,
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每次你听到一张今天的录音,
10:40
every time you take out your iPod and whatever,
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每次你掏出你的iPod或者无论什么,
10:42
every time you listen to it, it's the same thing -- it's frozen.
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每次你听它,总是一样的 -- 被定格了.
10:47
Wouldn't it be cool if every time you listened, it could be different?
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如果每次听的时候,都能听到不一样的效果,会不会很爽呢?
10:51
This morning, you're sadder, you want to hear your song,
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比如今天早上你比较伤心,你仍然想听你的音乐,
10:54
the same song, played sadder than you did yesterday.
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同样的曲子,但比昨天弹奏得更伤感.
10:56
You want to hear it played by different musicians.
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你想听到不同音乐家对同一曲目的演奏.
10:58
You want to hear it in different rooms and whatever.
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你想在不同的房间里听或无论什么条件.
11:01
We've seen all these "Star Treks," and they're all holodeck episodes as well.
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我们已经看过一系列"星际旅行,"这些全是在仿真空间中进行的.
11:03
Every time I listen to that, I get goose bumps.
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每次我听到那个,我都起鸡皮疙瘩.
11:06
It's so amazing, it's so exciting.
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这太令人惊异了,太令人兴奋了.
11:09
Every time I listen to that recording it's like, "Oh my God,
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每次我听那个录音,就像是,哦我的天啊,
11:11
I can't believe I'm in the same room. I can't believe this is happening."
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我简直不能相信我是在同一间房里,我不敢相信这确实能发生.
11:13
It's a way better experience
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这是比以往好得多的体验
11:15
than whatever you're used to listening to, in whatever form.
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好于任何你通常听的,任何形式的东西.
11:17
And lastly, I will wrap up with one minute of Art Tatum.
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最后,我用一分钟的时间介绍亚瑟·泰特姆作为结束.
11:22
So I've really overshot my budget here.
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我恐怕真得要超出我预计的演讲时间了.
11:24
We made a new recording of him
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我们为他做了一张新唱片
11:27
playing in the Shrine Auditorium in September.
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是九月份在Shrine音乐厅(洛杉矶)演奏的.
11:30
It was a concert he recorded in the Shrine Auditorium in 1949.
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这是1949年他在Shrine音乐厅录制的音乐会.
11:34
And I've got to tell you, we have this lab
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我必须告诉你,我们有这样一个实验室
11:36
where we build and measure everything, back in Raleigh, North Carolina,
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在北卡罗来那州的罗利,我们可以建造和测验一切,
11:39
and we flew out to Los Angeles.
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然后我们飞到洛杉矶.
11:42
And as the president of the company,
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作为公司总裁,
11:44
I didn't feel real comfortable about where we were.
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我对我们曾经待的地方感觉并不特别舒服.
11:47
That's a real uncomfortable feeling,
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那是一种非常不舒服的感觉
11:49
when all the equipment's come out and a whole Sony team,
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当所有器械都被搬出来,整个索尼团队,
11:51
and people are going to be sitting there in the audience.
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和大家要做到听众席里.
11:53
And we put the piano on the sweet spot of the stage in the Shrine,
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我们把钢琴放到Shrine音乐厅舞台上和原来一样的位置 --
11:57
which has not changed since 1949, still seats 6,000 people.
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这个音乐厅自1949年来就没有变过,一直能容纳六千人 --
12:01
And on the sweet spot on the stage, Tatum starts playing ...
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在那个位置上,泰特姆开始了他的演奏...
12:04
and every note, every beat, every slur, every accent, every pedal
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每个音符,每个节拍,每个连音,每个重音,每次使用脚踏盘
12:10
was perfect, because he played it for that room on that day.
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都是完美的,因为他曾经就在同一时间同一地点演奏过.
12:14
And we captured all that data all over again.
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我们捕捉了全部数据并得以再现.
12:16
And I want you to hear that right now.
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我想让你们现在听听.
12:18
And fortunately, it's right in here.
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幸运地是,它就在这里 --
12:20
This is an encore he used to do.
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这是他曾经的返场曲目.
12:23
It's one minute long.
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时长一分钟.
12:25
It's an Irish jig, and I want you to hear his humor.
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它是一种爱尔兰快步舞曲,我想让你听到他的幽默.
12:27
(Music)
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(音乐)
13:23
(Applause)
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(掌声)
13:24
And that's just what the live audience did.
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这正是现场听众们的反应.
13:27
(Applause)
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(掌声)
13:29
So thank you very much, Michael, thank you for the opportunity.
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非常感谢,麦克,谢谢你提供的机会.
ABOUT THE SPEAKER
John Q. Walker - Musician and inventorSoftware entrepreneur John Q. Walker uses computers to bring piano legends back to life -- digitally reconstructing their performances from audio tracks and playing them on real instruments, live.
Why you should listen
Glenn Gould, Thelonious Monk, Art Tatum: legends of live piano performance lost to time. But John Q. Walker asks us to imagine hearing those great, departed musicians play again today, just as they would in person. Such is the promise of Walker's company, Zenph Studios, which builds technology to re-create live music performances. Piano tracks are converted into precise keystrokes and pedal motions -- then played back on computer-controlled grand pianos.
Before founding Zenph in 2002, Walker was a leading developer of VoIP, and was influential in the creation of the IEEE 802 local-area network (LAN) and the 802.11 wireless LAN (“Wi-Fi”) standards. He is himself a devoted pianist.
John Q. Walker | Speaker | TED.com