About Craig Anderton

Craig Anderton got an early start in the world of music: By his 22nd birthday he had recorded three albums, toured most of the USA east of the Mississippi, and played Carnegie Hall.

He began his recording career as a teen-ager in 1967 with the Philadelphia-based group “Mandrake Memorial” – the same year his professional writing career got started by being published in Popular Electronics magazine. Working with producer/engineers such as Tony Bongiovi (who engineered for Jimi Hendrix and co-owned New York’s legendary Power Station studio), Brooks Arthur (Neil Diamond), and Shel Talmy (Kinks, Who), Craig learned much about recording while composing songs for, and playing guitar and/or synthesizer on, all three Mandrake albums.

He invested some money he made with Mandrake into setting up an electronics lab, which paid many dividends. He was one of the first musicians to use synthesizers on stage, having built his first synth in 1968 and a second, more advanced version in 1969. During that same year he also developed several types of electronic drum sets, capped by the invention of a semi-programmable, all-electronic drum machine in 1970.

During the early 70s he played sessions on both guitar and synthesizer for Epic, Metromedia, Columbia, RCA, United Artists, and other labels, working with R&B/jazz session players such as Airto Moreira, Gordon Edwards, and Cornell Dupree. He has also produced three albums by classical guitarist Linda Cohen, was mixdown/production consultant on Valley in the Clouds by David Arkenstone (which, a year after its release, was still on Billboard’s Top 20 new age chart), and mixed several cuts on Emerald (by Brewer, Tingstad, and Rumbel, recently re-released). More recently, he has found success in the European dance music scene, with cuts on several compilation CDs.

Craig has also done a variety of other musically-related projects, from scoring a rock version of Shakespeare’s “Midsummer Night’s Dream,” to cutting radio spots, to performing as staff synthesist for the avant-garde dance company Group Motion Berlin. He even played a bit part in an Italian detective movie.

After moving to California in the mid-70s, Craig concentrated on building Microsound (a private studio/laboratory) and perfecting a variety of innovative recording techniques and electronic devices. One of these techniques, “synchro-sonic recording,” was presented in a paper to the Audio Engineering Society and forecast the rise of rhythmically-synchronized dance music, as well as anticipated the technology used to make it possible. Several of his designs have shown up in products from TASCAM, Peavey, PAiA, Steinberg, Kurzweil, and other manufacturers; they’ve been used by bands such as Boston, the Motels, Heart, Van Halen, Bachman-Turner Overdrive, and individual artists like synth wizard (and ex-Peter Gabriel keyboard player) Larry Fast.

During the mid-70s Craig started writing extensively about music and electronics for a variety of publications including Guitar Player, Byte, Keyboard, Rolling Stone, Musician, Popular Electronics, A/V Video, and Mix. He has also been published in major British, German, French, Belgian, Japanese, Dutch, Polish, Spanish, Swiss, and Italian publications. Currently he is a regular contributor to EQ, Keyboard, Pro Sound News, Performing Songwriter, Sound on Sound (UK), and Keyboards – Recording and Computers (Germany).

Craig started writing books in 1976, and Music Sales Corporation has published most of them. Music Sales also published Digital Projects for Musicians, co-authored with Bob Moses and Greg Bartett. Warner Communications published 7 Simple Steps to Buying a Word Processor, and Miller-Freeman books published Do It Yourself Projects for Guitarists. He has also written Quick Start guides, a collaboration between Music Sales and the Germany company Wizoo, on Cakewalk Sonar, Cakewalk Home Studio, Propellerheads Reason, and Audio Mastering. His latest books, Cubase SX/SL – Mixing and Mastering and Sonar 3 – Mixing and Mastering relate the art of music mixing to the technology offered by these platforms. He has also been commissioned by several manufacturers to write owner’s manuals for some of the industry’s most popular musical instruments, processors, and software programs.

From 1974 to 1982, Craig was senior copy writer and musical arranger for a West coast ad agency specializing in computer advertising. In 1980 he became editor of Polyphony magazine, a small publication for electronic music enthusiasts. In 1983 he sold his share of the agency to concentrate exclusively on making, and writing about, music; two years later, he decided that the burgeoning electronic music market was not being adequately served by any existing publications, and was the main force behind transforming Polyphony into Electronic Musician, a more consumer-oriented publication with a wider appeal.

Mix Publications bought Electronic Musician in late 1985, retaining Craig as editor. During his tenure, Electronic Musician’s subscriber base grew from 2,000 to 44,000+ readers, with additional copies sold over the newsstand. Craig stayed on with the magazine for a little over a year after Mix Publications was bought by Act III Communications (TV producer Norman Lear’s media group). He resigned in mid-1990 to pursue his musical and technological interests.

Throughout his career, Craig has also been extremely active as a lecturer because of his ability to explain complex concepts in easy-to-understand terms. He has given seminars on many aspects of musical electronics at colleges, music stores, and conventions in 37 states and 10 countries (and in three different languages).

In the spring of 1989, Craig re-entered the music business as a solo performer with Forward Motion, a “desktop CD” written, recorded, and mixed in his home studio with the help of noted new age keyboardist Spencer Brewer. Released in late August 1989 on the Sona Gaia label (an affiliate of Narada records distributed by MCA), the project garnered a tremendous amount of interest and positive reviews – even more for the music than for the innovative techniques used in recording that music. As Guitar Player magazine said in the lead review for their August 1989 issue, “an impressively organic sound...once you start listening to what’s going on in this lush, multi-leveled music, you begin to hear that Anderton is truly onto something: You’re drawn in by tasty guitar fills with strange, tantalizing textures and rhythm backing that doesn’t chop or hack. Soothing yet fascinating.” Rolling Stone called it “one of those rare instrumental electronic albums that is not mere New Age tapioca.” Forward Motion has enjoyed airplay on stations across the country; it was also selected for United Airlines’ in-flight entertainment program during May and June 1990, and during 1991 and 1996 as well.

An interesting side result of Forward Motion is that Ensoniq marketed the samples Craig developed for use on that project as part of their “Signature Series” of sound disks for the Ensoniq Performance Sampler. His were the best-selling of the series, which led to his designing sounds for Alesis, Digitech, Discrete Drums, E-mu, Northstar, Optical Media, M-Audio, Native Instruments, Peavey, Prosonus, Steinberg, Wizoo, and Yamaha. He also spec’ed the Quadrafuzz plug-in marketed by Steinberg, now included as part of Cubase SX. His most recent sample CDs are “Technoid Guitars” (Steinberg), “Turbulent Filth Monsters” (Discrete Drums), and “AdrenaLinn Guitars” (M-Audio).

In 1998 he started playing on a semi-regular basis with Rei$$dorf Force, a German experimental electronic music band headquartered in Cologne, and performing solo under his own name. He also appears occasionally as a guest artist with the group Air Liquide. Several of his tunes have been remixed for the European market. He has also scored several independent movies.

From 1995 to 1998, Craig started and maintained the Sound, Studio, and Stage site on AOL (America OnLine). Its combination of forums and instructional materials made it one of the first commercially successful online sites for musicians. In 2000, the SSS forums moved to the web as part of MusicPlayer.com, a division of United Entertainment Media (the same group that publishes Guitar Player, EQ, Keyboard, and several other magazines).

Bibliography

Electronic Projects for Musicians, Guitar Player Books/Music Sales, published 1975. Revised and expanded version published in 1981.
Home Recording for Musicians, Guitar Player Books/Music Sales,
published 1978. Revised and expanded version published in 1997.
4/8 Track Studio Logbook, Polyphony Publishing, published 1981.
Craig Anderton’s Contemporary Keyboard Articles (reprint),
Polyphony Publishing, published 1981.
Guitar Gadgets, Music Sales, published 1983.
7 Simple Steps to Buying a Word Processor, Warner Communications,
published 1984.
The Digital Delay Line Handbook, Music Sales, published 1985. Revised version published 1989.
MIDI For Musicians, Music Sales, published 1986.
The Electronic Musician’s Dictionary, Music Sales, published 1988.
The Complete Guide to the Alesis HR-16 and MMT-8, Music Sales, published 1989.
Power Sequencing with Master Tracks Pro/Pro 4, Music Sales, published 1990.
Digital Project for Musicians, with Bob Moses and Greg Bartlett, published 1994.
Multieffects for Musicians, Music Sales, published 1995
Do It Yourself Projects for Guitarists, Miller-Freeman, published 1995
Quick Start Sonar, Wizoo/Music Sales, published 2001
Quick Start Reason, Wizoo/Music Sales, published 2001
Quick Start Audio Mastering, Wizoo/Music Sales, published 2002
Quick Start Sonar 2, Wizoo/Music Sales, published 2002
Quick Start Reason 2, Wizoo/Music Sales, published 2002
Quick Start Cakewalk Home Studio, Wizoo/Music Sales, published 2003
Cubase SX/SL – Mixing and Mastering, Wizoo/Music Sales, published 2003
Sonar 3 – Mixing and Mastering, Wizoo/Music Sales, scheduled 1st quarter 2004

Instructional Videos

NAMM-On-Video, Winter 1984 (Notch Productions)
NAMM-On-Video, Summer 1984 (Notch Productions)
MIDI ‘87: An Update (NAMM)
MIDI Basics (Alesis Publishing)
Understanding the SR-16 Drum Machine (Alesis Publishing)
Discrete Drums online seminar
Native Instruments Battery online seminar
Native Instruments FM7 online seminar
Cakewalk Sonar online seminar
TC Electronic FX Machine online seminar
Scribe CD duplication system online seminar
Korg ESX-1 online video
Korg MicroKontrol online video
Korg EMX-1 online video
Korg Triton Studio online video
Korg KAOSS Pad Entrancer online video
Korg D32XD online video
ToneWorks PXR-4 online video
ToneWorks Ampworks Guitar online video
ToneWorks Ampworks Bass online video

Partial Discography/Tapes

Mandrake Memorial, Mandrake Memorial, MGM records
Medium, Mandrake Memorial, RCA records
Puzzle, Mandrake Memorial, RCA records
Leda, Linda Cohen, United Artists records
Lake of Light, Linda Cohen, United Artists records
Angel Alley, Linda Cohen, Tomato records
Love Me Like a Dinosaur, King Tip Toe, Metromedia Records
In Whose Eyes, Phil Flowers’ United Family, Epic Records
All Cried Out, Walter Jackson, CBS Records
Proteus I Demo Tape, for PAiA Electronics
Roctave Divider Demo Tape, for PAiA Electronics
Echo/Digital Recorder Demo Tape, for Imaginearing Audio
ADM 4096 Delay Line Demo Tape, for DeltaLab Research
IPS-33 Demo Tape, for DigiTech Electronics
Soundsheet in the W issue of Op magazine
Soundsheet in the March 1985 issue of Guitar Player magazine
Soundsheet in the May 1985 issue of Keyboard magazine
Emerald, Brewer/Rumbel/Tingstad, Narada/MCA Records
Valley in the Clouds, David Arkenstone, Narada/Mystique Records
Portraits, Spencer Brewer, Narada/MCA Records (as arranger)
Forward Motion, Sona Gaia/MCA Records
Fly There with Me, cut on DigiTech Studio Vocalist demo CD
New York City 01, cut on Battery Park 3.0 compilation, Harvest/EMI
Big Dog, cut on Sweatbath compilation CD, Hotel Lotte
Time Stretch Paradise, Walker/Wulfmanson/LL Nino/Anderton, Syncom/Hotel Lotte
Smart Dust, Rei$$dorf Force, EMI (as mastering engineer)
Original Sin, Rei$$dorf Force, EMI
What R U Waiting 4?, cut on Battery Park 4.0 compilation, Syncom/Hotel Lotte

Documentation Credits

ADA: Harmony Synthesizer
Akai: AX60 Synthesizer, S900 Sampler
Alesis: SR-16 drum machine, 3630 Compressor, QuadraVerb GT, RA-100 Reference Amplifier, D4 Drum Module, ADAT recorder, LX20, M20
Antares: kantos 1.0 synthesizer
Clarity: Retro MIDI to CV converter manual
CompuPro: System 8/16A & 8/16B User Guide; “Bits, Bytes, and Buzzwords” (instructional book); individual manuals for board-level computer products
DeltaLab: Effectron Jr. Owner’s Manual, Echotron Owner’s Manual
Dr. T’s Software: Beyond (Macintosh sequencer) owner’s manual
E-mu Systems: Drumulator, Emulator II, Emulator III, Emax, Emax HD, Emax II, Drumulator Apple Interface, SP12 Drum Machine, and SP1200 Drum Machine manuals
Korg: KPR-77 Drum Machine (instructional aids for dealers)
Line 6: GuitarPort online guide
Microboards: CD Duplication System
Native Instruments: FM7 synthesizer, Kontakt sampler
Oberheim Electronics: Revised OB-8 Owner’s Manual
PAiA Electronics: Hyperflange + Chorus, Vocoder, Quadrafuzz
assembly manuals
Peavey: Ultraverb II, DPM V3, DPM 3 SE, DPM 2, DPM SP, and C8 Master Controller manuals
Roger Linn Electronics: AdrenaLinn guitar processor
Synchronous Technologies: SMPL System Owner’s Manual

PROFESSIONAL SERVICES

Craig Anderton is available for projects in several selected fields.

Mastering. Craig accepts unmastered, raw mixes for mastering. He also does occasional “salvage jobs” with improperly pre-mastered material.

Promotional or instructional videos. This includes kiosk videos for trade shows and training-oriented videos.

Acidization or REX file conversions for sample CDs. Craig has “acidized” files to optimize them for time-stretching for several companies. Rates depend on the material to be converted.

Technical writing. In addition to generating documentation from scratch, Craig also specializes in editing and prepping in-house documentation to make it suitable for release, as well as write and/or edit white papers relating to specific aspects of technology.

Instructional seminars. Craig is fluent in French as well as English, and specializes in consumer-oriented seminars involving technology and the arts.

Availability varies depending on current bookings. For additional details, contact Craig via email.