Famous musicians who were also engineers  - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: schmitt trigger
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 19, 2018, 04:36:26 am
content: I am only aware of two:Queen’s John Deacon, and Boston’s Tom Scholz.Anyone else?

author: jh15
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: November 19, 2018, 05:43:31 am
content: Frank Zappa

author: NiHaoMike
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 19, 2018, 05:47:35 am
content: Fran Blanche, although she's famous for being the founder of Frantone, a company that made guitar effect gadgets.

author: tomato
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: November 19, 2018, 05:55:14 am
content: I think one of the guys from Styx had an engineering degree. (I wasn't a fan, so I don't know any of their names.)Zappa only attended college for a semester or two, so not an engineer.

author: xaxaxa
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: November 19, 2018, 08:18:53 am
content: Linus Walleij, a linux kernel developer, composer of the famous song <<rock turns to water>> that has been used in hundreds of YTPMVs

author: BradC
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 19, 2018, 08:29:28 am
content: Don Walker

author: Kjelt
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 19, 2018, 08:42:19 am
content: Leonardo da Vinci

author: LapTop006
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: November 19, 2018, 11:49:41 am
content: There's a few well known scientists too.Queen's Dr. Brian May is an astrophysicistThe Offspring's Dr. Dexter Holland is a molecular biologist.

author: BradC
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 19, 2018, 01:14:18 pm
content: Quote from: LapTop006 on November 19, 2018, 11:49:41 amIndeed, I had him autograph my guitar and we had an interesting conversation about the stars. Apparently it made a refreshing change from people constantly asking him about Freddie

author: larrybl
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: November 19, 2018, 02:00:40 pm
content: Not really famous (yet) but I have been following his build of the Marble Machine X. He has some serious CAD design skills. He posts a youtube every Wednesday.https://www.reddit.com/r/MarbleMachineX/

author: jaromir
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: November 19, 2018, 02:06:04 pm
content: Alexander Porfiryevich Borodin - other than being famous composer, he was also well known organic chemist, being among first to describe nucleophylic substitution and inventing aldol reaction.When I was 15 or so, I was central repair hub for two dozens of musical groups, mostly in rock, punk or metal genres, taking care of their guitars/amplifiers/stomp boxes. In almost every group, there at least one member who was - or later became - electrical or mechanic engineer. None of those groups are known outside local circles, though, so I wouldn't call them famous. But anyway, there is a lot of EEs among musicians and a lot of musicians among EEs.

author: SiliconWizard
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 19, 2018, 05:02:54 pm
content: Although not quite a musician, Rowan Atkinson (Mr Bean) actually has an engineering degree.

author: Bassman59
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 19, 2018, 05:03:43 pm
content: Quote from: schmitt trigger on November 19, 2018, 04:36:26 amHe's not an engineer, but rather a scientist, but anyway Milo Aukerman of the Descendents (note spelling!) has a PhD in biochemistry and has worked as a researcher and an instructor.I saw them last week. They're a bunch old guys (like myself), they still bring it! Kids today should pay attention.

author: Vtile
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 19, 2018, 05:23:31 pm
content: Quote from: BradC on November 19, 2018, 01:14:18 pmSo which who you were talking then? Punnn...

author: kosine
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: November 19, 2018, 05:25:25 pm
content: Also not an engineer, but particle physicist and TV presenter Brian Cox was keyboard player in D:Ream back in the 90s. Their "Things Can Only Get Better" was a number 1 hit and became Tony Blair's Labour party election anthem a few years later.

author: MT
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 19, 2018, 08:28:25 pm
content: Bob Moog was EE could play the piano. Bruce Dickinson singer in Iron maiden is pilot with 747 licence etc . Don Buchla was a composer and EE.

author: coppercone2
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 19, 2018, 09:02:58 pm
content: Quote from: SiliconWizard on November 19, 2018, 05:02:54 pmno wonder I find his spy movie so fucking funny

author: bsdphk
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: November 19, 2018, 09:55:04 pm
content: Does Brian May, who finished his astrophysics PhD after Queen ended, count ?

author: EHT
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: November 19, 2018, 10:02:12 pm
content: King Tubby

author: rdl
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 19, 2018, 11:31:54 pm
content: Freddie Mercury died over 25 years ago, but Queen as a band is still functioning.Quote from: bsdphk on November 19, 2018, 09:55:04 pm

author: ArthurDent
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 20, 2018, 12:46:07 am
content: Not exactly a musician but an amazing inventor responsible for spread-spectrum technology that makes modern communications possible, and most people have never heard of what she did. Hedy Lamarrhttps://www.marketplace.org/2017/11/21/tech/inventor-changed-our-world-and-also-happened-be-famous-hollywood-star

author: NiHaoMike
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 20, 2018, 12:57:18 am
content: Quote from: ArthurDent on November 20, 2018, 12:46:07 amShe's often seen as a "goddess" at Qualcomm, because a very large percentage of the wireless technology used in their products depend on her invention!And if we're going to bend the rules, Jeri Ellsworth would also qualify - she's famous but mostly for things other than music.

author: SiliconWizard
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 20, 2018, 01:19:38 am
content: Quote from: coppercone2 on November 19, 2018, 09:02:58 pmThat may also explain why he fiddles with electricity in many of his scenarios.I really love his work. It's utterly funny and deliciously absurd, typical of the british humour.

author: boB
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: November 20, 2018, 01:23:05 am
content: I don't know if he is an "engineer" but Joe Walsh from the James Gang and the Eagles is an active ham radio guy.

author: NiHaoMike
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 20, 2018, 05:13:50 am
content: Then there's MsMadLemon, although I'm not sure if she's famous enough to qualify.https://soundcloud.com/msmad-lemon/

author: Kevman
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: November 20, 2018, 12:51:55 pm
content: What about Ninja Brian, of Ninja Sex Party?I've seen NSP perform live and they are very good. Also strange. He has a PHD in theoretical physics and taught it for a while at the Queen Mary University of London.

author: djacobow
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 20, 2018, 02:40:37 pm
content: Herbie Hancock. Jazz pioneer and EE.

author: GeoffreyF
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: November 20, 2018, 02:54:24 pm
content: George Anthiel who wrote the score for Ballet Mechanique and, with the actress Hedy Lamarr filed the first patent for spread spectrum.Delia Derbyshire who wrote the original Doctor Who theme.Leon Theramin who invented and played the eponymous instrument as well as a passive RF Bug for the US Embassy in Moscow.J. Robert Oppenheimer who played the violin. (Other Los Alamos Scientists did as well).Todd Rundgren (personal knowledge)

author: zetaerre
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: November 20, 2018, 03:27:48 pm
content: I think one or more artist inKraftwerkband was engineer.r.

author: schmitt trigger
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 20, 2018, 04:28:18 pm
content: Now I rememberAlan Parsons, legendary sound engineer, also formed its own band, the Alan Parsons Project.

author: coppice
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 20, 2018, 04:32:04 pm
content: Quote from: GeoffreyF on November 20, 2018, 02:54:24 pmThere are huge numbers of scientists and engineers who play music well. I think the OP is looking for professional musicians.

author: Bassman59
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 20, 2018, 06:23:26 pm
content: Quote from: schmitt trigger on November 20, 2018, 04:28:18 pmThere is a never-ending discussion among professional sound people about whether a mix-person is an engineer.

author: Johnboy
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: November 20, 2018, 07:03:13 pm
content: Quote from: Bassman59 on November 20, 2018, 06:23:26 pmTrue. While I consider myself a recording engineer, it's a completely different sort of thing than a person who holds a mechanical or electrical engineering degree. I certainly don't consider myself an "engineer" in that sense at all. To me, "engineering a recording" is the work that goes into a given studio project. There are plenty of engineers, for example, in the pro audio field who don't actually understand decibels, while they are perfectly capable of doing the work without having to have internalized that information. There are also some pro audio guys who are EE's, of course, but I haven't met very many.

author: Howardlong
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 20, 2018, 07:16:07 pm
content: Quote from: BradC on November 19, 2018, 01:14:18 pmI occasionally see him on High St Kensington out shopping. One occasion was in Dixons, when it used to be called Dixons, and he was buying a radio in front of me in the check out line. My favourite occasion was that I happened to be in Moss Bros getting a fitting for a wedding suit at the same time, a quite surreal experience, we were both complainig that out waistlines weren’t getting any smaller. Very nice chap.

author: rsjsouza
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 20, 2018, 07:25:11 pm
content: Ed Van Halen is not an engineer, but he surely has the engineering soul.https://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/a15615/how-eddie-van-halen-hacks-a-guitar/(yeah, I am bending the rules)

author: zike
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: November 20, 2018, 08:39:33 pm
content: Bo Diddley. No degree, but he designed and built his own amps, guitars and effects. That iconic rectangular "box" guitar with dozens of pots and switches was a breadboard chassis.

author: Bassman59
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 21, 2018, 03:30:03 am
content: Quote from: Johnboy on November 20, 2018, 07:03:13 pmI'm a degreed do-it-for-a-living EE but for the longest time I've had another life as a live sound mix-person. (Funny, both my backline guy, a great FOH mix-person himself, and my tour manager are both degreed mechanical engineers who don't work in that field. But their approach to the job reflects their training.) I look at it this way: mixing a show is an artistic endeavor. Knowing when to boost the guitar for a solo and how much reverb to put on the voice is really not much different from playing an instrument (I'm also a non-practicing guitarist). Peopledonotice when they can't hear the guitar solo and when the vocal isn't up as much as it should be after that solo. And what people don't realize is that for the length of a three-hour show, the person mixing is concentrating as much as the people on the stage playing. That said, my degree and my work inform how I approach the job. I know how the gear works and its limitations.But on the other hand, system set-up reallyisengineering. Hanging the sound and lighting rig from truss or from points requires engineering to determine loads. Aligning the PA so coverage in the room is even is engineering. The goal of the system engineer is to provide a rig that can do what the mix person needs.On the gripping hand, when the end result sucks (and boy howdy does it sometimes suck), the people to blame are never the musicians or the crew (because we are just worker-bees). Instead blame falls on the accountants and venue owners who refuse to spend the necessary money on the rig and the room treatments, and the promoters who ignore tech rider requirements and bring in crap because it's cheaper. Just like any other manager, of course!

author: rdl
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 21, 2018, 07:21:50 am
content: Yeah, Eddie Van Halen is definitely a hardware hacker. I remember this interview where he talks about pretty much the same things as in that PM article. The hardware hacking stuff starts around 14 minutes.Quote from: rsjsouza on November 20, 2018, 07:25:11 pm

author: Johnboy
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: November 21, 2018, 03:06:55 pm
content: Quote from: Bassman59 on November 21, 2018, 03:30:03 amGreat points. In a lot of ways, front-of-house mixing is often a much more difficult and demanding proposition than studio work. I know this might seem like I'm hijacking the thread here, but Bassman59 made an important point here: Perhaps the title of this thread could've been "famous engineers who are also musicians". The guy behind the board at a live gig is also "performing" for the duration of the music, just as are the musicians onstage, and IME the best pro audio guys I've worked with were not only formidable musicians in their own right, but possessed an encyclopedic knowledge of industry-standard microphones and amplifiers. So an engineer is an engineer in that sense, as well as a musician, even if they can't even bust out "chopsticks" on a piano.That said, it's also fair to presume that most technically-inclined (or even technically-interested) folks don't go very far as an electric guitarist before they start wondering what's under the hood of their guitar and amp and what they might be able to do to improve the sound. Eddie's not alone.

author: schmitt trigger
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 21, 2018, 03:37:39 pm
content: Quote from: Bassman59 on November 21, 2018, 03:30:03 amDuring my EE college days, I moonlighted as a sound assistant for a local band.Although our technical requirements are orders of magnitude those of of big-name artists, I still can relate to your last sentence which I am quoting. We would indicate the required minimum available electrical power to correctly run our show. If not, we would lease an auxiliary generator to help share the load. Which the venue owner had to pay.However..............Many times we would arrive and find that some of the "available" circuits were being shared with other outside loads, and they would trip with our load.So one of the toughest jobs was to determine how to arrange the circuits for the mission critical loads and which loads we had to shed. Sound was sacred, so that would usually mean lights or effects. It would mean an overall duller show.

author: Bassman59
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 21, 2018, 06:19:37 pm
content: Quote from: schmitt trigger on November 21, 2018, 03:37:39 pmMy city used to have a twice-yearly "Club Crawl," where for the price of a wristband ($20, I think, cheep) people could bounce around to any of the participating venues as well as the three outdoor stages. I was hired to work on what they called the "main stage." Five bands, on the hour, no soundchecks except for the first band, forty-minute sets, and the best part is that someone else loaded the shit out.All was fine at set-up and the first band's soundcheck. Then when I came back after dinner, two things happened. One, my stage guy flaked and never returned. Two, the PA had an awful motorboating thing going on. I tracked it down -- someone plugged the beer trucks into the PA distro! I was like fuck that, and ran the beer truck power feeds to outlets in the basement of the theater to which my stage was adjacent. Problem solved. Until -- one of the guys who ran the theater saw the power lines and moved them BACK to my distro. I bitched at him and told him about the noise. HE DIDN'T CARE.It was right then that I realized that the whole show was about selling beer, so I went to the production office and got paid right then and there. I finished the show, and as soon as the last band was done I went home and left it all for someone else to deal with.When the call came six months later to do the shows, I told my pal who was hiring that my rate was triple and that the distro was for audio only. He couldn't meet the rate so I said "good luck!" and that was that.