The Electric and Musical Industries, or EMI, was founded in 1931 as a merger of the Columbia Graphophone Company and the Gramophone Company, after record sales had plummeted drastically during the Great Depression in the early 1930’s. Both Columbia and the Gramophone Company had R&D departments, and after EMI was formed, Alan Blumlein, an influential Columbia scientist who had gone to the new company, developed the first stereo recording and playing system in the world. However, due to commercial reasons that were influenced by the negative economical climate, stereo recordings would not be widely available for the next few decades. Under the inspiring guidance of genius Blumlein, the EMI labs not only developed stereo technology, they had also given birth to the world’s first electrical television, which allowed the UK to be the world’s first country to launch public television services. EMI also developed the new technology of radar, which helped the Allied forces greatly at the time of World War II.
By the end of WW II, more new technologies became available to the music recording industry, and a revolutionary new technology, magnetic tape recording, became introduced to music recording studios for the first time in history
At the beginning of the period 1980-1990, the entire recording industry started to suffer hugely from a serious decline in sales. This period marked the end of the phenomenon of ‘Disco’ which allowed many new music styles to emerge, and one of the new directions was ‘Heavy Metal’. Among the first successful heavy metal bands to hit the charts was London-based Iron Maiden, under EMI contract. A few decades later, Iron Maiden are still successful EMI recording artists, and they still are touring relentlessly. The band is a true icon of a new generation that’s rocking all over the world. Other music genres that emerged during this period were sample-based and electronic music, for example, house, techno, and hip-hop. An important exponent of electronic music is the band Kraftwerk, who started already to experiment with electronic music and computers in the preceding decade. Other successful EMI artists in the early 1980’s included Duran Duran, and Kate Bush.
The period late 80’s – early 90’s marked for EMI, just like most of the industry, a time of huge changes. In 1983, the company released the first recordings on CD format, and the changes were so impressive that new silver-shiny CD disc was responsible for most album sales by the end of the decade. It was also in this period that EMI started to embark on a number of business deals that were to transform the company forever
The highly interesting and relevant archive of EMI Canada was recently donated by Universal Music Canada (UMC) to the University of Calgary’s Libraries and Cultural Resources. The University has also teamed up with Canada’s National Music Centre (NMC), that was playing a crucial role in transferring the EMI Canada archive to Calgary by bringing Universal Music Canada in contact with the University of Calgary. The university announced on March 31, 2016, that Universal had donated the EMI Canada Music Archive to its Libraries & Cultural Resources. The collection offers music lovers, students, and researchers from across the globe access to more than five decades of contemporary music that spans a wide range of styles.
The EMI Canada Archive is a unique collection documenting 63 years of Canada’s music industry in in the period 1949-2012. The collection includes more than 5 thousand boxes that contain over 20,000 audio recordings, almost 19,000 video recordings, and over 2 million biographies, photographs, and other documents. Universal Canada acquired the Canadian EMI archive when EMI Music Canada was bought by Universal Music Group in 2012.
Make the Internet Your Competitive Edge
Time is money. In this session, find out how to use the Internet effectively for business, how to search for what you need instead of surf, how to find directories of specific information and how to use e-mail effectively.
Enhance your business by using the Internet. Tour sites on the Internet that can specifically aid designers now. Increase your NETsense. Find great sites to market yourself, network with other professionals, develop leads, access resources and other information and save valuable time. Learn how to motivate your employees to continue their education through this remarkable example of an online GED program.
Get the intimate details of setting up your own website, what’s involved, what it should look like, how it should function and what you should expect from it. Visit sites that can make your life and work infinitely more efficient and learn to combine the power of the computer with the resources of the Internet to further enhance your business potential. Contact us
Barrier-Free Design: Exterior Access
This course will discuss exterior accessibility using a video and lecture methods to understand the elements of the accessible path. The video follows the antics of couple of bunglers who ultimately learn to understand the need for accessible parking spaces, ramps, etc. Interviews with disabled persons afford design professionals a greater understanding of the perspective and difficulties of those less than able to enter a building.
A Residential Introduction
Attendees of this course will be afforded a renewed awareness of the need to address society’s diversity in allowing access to the built environment. This basic course will discuss the considerations to be undertaken in planning an adaptation to a residential project, and the financial and social repercussions of barrier free design. Design professionals will be reminded of the basic requirements for barrier free design in the residential arena.
Any design professionals interested in learning the statistical implications of the population of the disabled, the legal requirements for providing barrier-free design, and the importance of using surveys and evaluations as tools in evaluating spaces with regard to barrier-free design.