About Me
2009 Forthcoming Concerts
THE LONDON PLANETARIUM
Details to be announced shortly
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2008 concerts completed
WHITE NOISE LIVE at ALL TOMORROW'S PARTIES
WHITE NOISE LIVE IN HOLLAND
Tracks and remixes from "An Electric Storm" plus new music in "The Ceremony of Innocence" by MARK JENKINS with WHITE NOISE, ARTHUR BROWN and ALQUIMIA
HERSTMONCEUX CONCERT AUGUST 2008 completed
PARIS CONCERT JUNE 2008 completed
GERMANY CONCERT MARCH 2008 completed
LONDON CONCERT OCTOBER 2007 completed
THE LONDON CONCERT ON SATURDAY OCTOBER 27th 2007 at the SWISS CHURCH, 79 ENDELL ST, LONDON WC2 7pm-10pm was the first ever stage performance of the legendary "An Electric Storm" album. See
http://www.myspace.com/musicforthe3rdmillennium
HISTORY
White Noise - originally a band project, but for 20 years the solo concern of American-born David Vorhaus - has been one of the premier names in innovative electronic music since the late 1960's.
Vorhaus studied both classical music (as a bassist) and electronics, and became interested in developing new styles of music while in London in the 1960's. Influenced by the classical avant-garde but also wishing to incorporate elements of pop music, he collaborated with several other musicians to create the first White Noise album (in fact credited to The White Noise) in 1968.
On subsequent albums, as technology developed, Vorhaus was able to continue the project as a solo act, also developing a busy career in library music and TV themes. White Noise tracks with their quirky use of electronics, sound samples and sequences are heard constantly around the world on TV documentaries, links and advertising, but the long form album projects "White Noise 2 - Concerto for Synthesizer", "White Noise 3 - Re-Entry", "White Noise 4 - Inferno" and "White Noise 5 - Sound Mind" extend the techniques and textures used to the maximum.
ALBUMS
"White Noise - An Electric Storm"
Originally released by Island Records in 1969, the debut White Noise album featured Delia Derbyshire and Brian Hodgson, who had worked for the BBC Radiophonic Workshop, and David Vorhaus, who had studied classical orchestral bass playing and electronics.
Tne instrumentation consisted of early electronic instruments and a huge amount of tape manipulation, the standard techniques of the Workshop in those days. The album only emerged on CD - in a "matrix mixed" format - as late as 1996, again on Island, but was rapidly deleted. NOW RE-ISSUED BY UNIVERSAL
"White Noise 2 - Concerto For Synthesizer"
Originally released by Virgin Records in 1974, the second White Noise album was recorded by David Vorhaus alone following his establishment of an all-electronic studio in Camden, North London.
The instrumentation comprised EMS VCS3 synthesizers - including one of the prototype models, still owned by Dave Vorhaus - plus a custom-built sequencer. Apart from some drums, the album features all-analog electronic sounds, in styles ranging from highly abstract to rock and semi-classical. In one section the interfaced synthesizers randomly compose their own music, gradually speeding up into a frenzy of electronics. The album has been issued on CD by Virgin but is usually out of print.
"White Noise III - Re-Entry"
AMP Records AMP-CD031 (1996) AVAILABLE
Originally released by Pulse Records in 1988, "White Noise III" is a space fantasy running almost continuously and recorded independently from David Vorhaus' documentary and advertising work of the period.
Featured instruments include the Sequential Prophet 5 synthesizer as well as the EMS VCS3's, an Oberheim SEM module, the MANIAC sequencer and matching drum machine built by Vorhaus, and the Kaleidophon synthesizer controller (see below). "White Noise 3" includes some wonderful multi-sequencer passages and will appeal to all fans of analog electronics. This CD version adds some contemporary library music tracks not on the original LP.
"White Noise IV - Inferno"
AMP Records AMP-CD010 (1990) AVAILABLE
An original release from AMP Records, including some material from several Vorhaus commercial music library albums (with tracks published by KPM) recorded around that time. Instrumentation concentrates more on sound sampling using the Fairlight CMI, plus Yamaha DX FM synthesizers and hybrid analog/digital sounds using the PPG Wave 2.2.
"White Noise 4" dates from around the start of the UK's Channel 4 and includes several pieces heard as links on that TV station. The album includes some great atmospheric pieces, powerful orchestrally influenced tracks and innovative sampling techniques.
David Vorhaus was the first Fairlight CMI computer musical instrument user outside Australia, and created many of the library sound samples for the machine. Most striking of these was the notorious "Orch 5" which invented the concept of the sampled "orchestral hit" and was widely used, among others by Klaus Schulze.
"White Noise V - Sound Mind"
AMP Records AMP-CD040 (2000) AVAILABLE
This is the incredible album marking the new phase of White Noise, getting back to the electronic roots of the project but continuing to innovate with new technology and techniques.
Analog loops underpin slowly developing digital sounds, drum loops are processed and filtered, and sampled voices and unidentifiable sounds spin and pan across the audio spectrum. "White Noise V" is the latest expression of a 30-year odyssey to the furthest reaches of electronic music and beyond...
For professional users, a library music version is published by Music House.
Limited edition CD-R's "White Noise 5.5 - White Label" and "White Noise - The Paris Set" including unreleased material are ALSO AVAILABLE in extremely limited quantities.
COMPILATION ALBUMS
VARIOUS ARTISTS "A Future Age Of Music"
AMP MUSIC AMP-CD015 (1995) AVAILABLE
A budget price introductory album for the AMP Records label featuring an otherwise unavailable Tangerine Dream edit, Keith Emerson, White Noise, Steve Jolliffe, Mark Jenkins, an Alquimia remix, Richard Pinhas, Paul Nagle, Daevid Allen, Daniel Biry and Martin Atkey. Almost 70 minutes of music ranging from relaxation to driving rock. The White Noise track is taken from "White Noise IV - Inferno".
VARIOUS ARTISTS "The Spirit of Christmas"
AMP RECORDS AMP-CD036 (1995) AVAILABLE
Fantastic Christmas music including rare and unreleased tracks from the world's greatest instrumental composers!
The White Noise track is "Peace On Earth", otherwise unavailable, a gentle and melodic sequenced track composed by Dave Vorhaus and Jude Allen with lyrics and vocal performance by Alquimia. Also on the CD; Kitaro, Rick Wakeman, Keith Emerson, Sally Oldfield, David Bedford, Zyklus, Mark Jenkins, Alquimia, MC Russell and more. The tracks run almost continuously, and there's an eye-catching high-tech sleeve with pics of all the artists.
VARIOUS ARTISTS "Music for the 3rd Millennium"
AMP Records AMP-CD039 (2000) AVAILABLE
This limited edition compilation contains unreleased tracks from Keith Emerson, Rick Wakeman, Larry Fast (Synergy), Karl Bartos (Kraftwerk), Isao Tomita and many others. The White Noise track is "I Need Space", now on "White Noise V".
CUSTOM INSTRUMENTS
As an electronics engineer, Dave Vorhaus was able to design, develop and modify new instruments and controllers for his analog synthesizers, starting with the building of a 16-track tape machine for the recording of "White Noise 2".
Later he built the M.A.N.I.A.C. - a Multiphasic Analog sequencer - which could simultaneously run multiple sequences, transpose them, reverse them, add and skip notes or play notes in random orders. This was much more powerful than the commercial analog sequencers of the time, and allowed Vorhaus to create music which flowed and developed much more smoothly than that of most contemporary electronic composers.
Accompanying the M.A.N.I.A.C. was a sound bank for analog drum sounds, and later the Kaleidophon, an electronic controller inspired by Vorhaus' bass playing. The prototype used a length of plastic drainpipe with conductive plastic strings and various switches, sliding controllers and a joystick. The Kaleidophon sent control voltages to play Vorhaus' Oberheim SEM synthesizers and the EMS VCS3's, which were modified with additional thumb triggers on the joystick to compensate for the player having to devote one hand to playing the Kaleidophon.
Pre-production Kaleidophons were built, but the instrument never went into full production, and more recently Vorhaus used a Syco Logic AMI Analog-to-MIDI interface to play MIDI instruments from the Kaleidophon.
David has also used the Zyklus sequencer, a rare Britiish-built hardware device also used by the band Zyklus and by Vangelis (who had an expanded custom version, the Direct machine). Recently he has been using a PC running Reaktor, a complex software package allowing the user to define synthesizer, sequencer and sampler instruments in a personalised setup, and a new custom-built all-MIDI version of the Kaleidophon controller, which is currently being used in all concerts.
CONCERTS
London Logan Hall 1987 - "White Noise IV - Inferno"
Solo concert with closely synchronised video backing to launch "White Noise IV".
London Conway Hall 1996 - unreleased material
7-piece band performance featuring new material being developed for White Noise and/or for a band release.
London The Spitz 1998 - unreleased material
More abstract and experimental material, being developed for "White Noise V".
London Union Chapel 2000 - "White Noise V - Sound Mind"
Debut of White Noise V performed with special guest Alex Paterson of The Orb.
Holland Alfa Centauri 2001 - "White Noise 5/White Noise 5.5"
A rare overseas solo appearance with computer graphic video backing
London St.Cyprian's May 2003 - "White Noise 5.5"
On a bill with Geoff Downes (Asia), duo concert of new improvised material.
London The Spitz October 2004 - "White Noise 5.5"
Band concert with Damo Suzuki of Can on vocals
London The Spitz May 2005 - "White Noise 5.5"
Duo concert of new material
Eindhoven Holland May 2006 "The Eindhoven Set"
Duo concert, David Vorhaus, Mark Jenkins, music from "An Electric Storm", "White Noise 3", "White Noise 5" and new material
NOW TAKING CONCERT BOOKINGS FOR 2008/2009
