Music that is not afraid of experimentation. Crossover for acoustics - what is it and what is it for Singers singing in the style of a classic crossover

classic crossover (classic crossover) - a musical style, which is a kind of synthesis, a harmonious combination of elements classical music and pop, rock, electronic music. The name was officially approved not so long ago, entering the list of nominations music award Grammy Awarded annually by the US National Recording Academy. This style is so popular that Billboard has created a separate chart for it among their charts. Sometimes in relation to vocal music of this genre use the name operatic pop or popera.

Classical crossover as a musical style was formed gradually, over the past three decades, step by step, overcoming the path from eclectic experiments in combining rock and classics to wide recognition.

Story

In the 1970s, Emerson, Lake & Palmer (ELP) played rock arrangements of Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition to roaring success, and Procol Harum boldly quoted Bach. Legendary Electric Light Orchestra(ELO) along with the traditional rock sound and electronics used symphonic sound and classical composition techniques. Queen, starting with the album "A Night at the Opera", apply classical techniques of composition and sound, and this becomes an integral part of their unique sound.

At the turn of the century, rock bands Metallica, Scorpions, Gary Moore performed with great success with symphony orchestras, and symphonic power metallers Nightwish used Tarja Turunen's academic vocals. Rock and classical are combined by guitarists Ritchie Blackmore ( deep purple, Rainbow), Yngwie Malmsteen. Rock and classics were also joined by Elton John, Bono, Jon Bon Jovi at a concert played with Luciano Pavarotti

On the other hand, artists of the classical genre are expanding the boundaries of academic music. Great tenor Enrico Caruso along with classical opera performed with pleasure folk songs and compositions own composition. Classical crossover became a global phenomenon thanks to Placido Domingo, Jose Carreras and Luciano Pavarotti. The trio of tenors made their debut in 1990: in Rome, they performed the "Football Song" on the occasion of the opening of the World Cup. The project lasted 15 years and became the most profitable in the history of music.

Popular singers Sissel Shirshebo, Sarah Brightman, Emma Shaplin, Charlotte Church, singers Andrea Bocelli, Alessandro Safina, Russell Watson, as well as Aria, Amici Forever, Appassionante, Svetlana Feodulova, Vanessa May, Josh Groban, Il Divo, Jackie Ivanko, Natasha Marsh , Giorgia Fumanti, Mario Frangoulis, Vittorio Grigolo, Tarja Turunen, Floor Jansen, and many others successfully work in the Classical Crossover style, adding pop elements to the classical basis, blurring the boundaries between musical styles. Classical crossover is developing in a huge musical territory, gaining more and more fans. The style constraint is the need high level education and talent of composers, arrangers, musicians and vocalists.

Classical crossover in Russia

Classical crossover in Russia is represented by: singers Marina Cruso, Irina Delskaya, Sergiy Shamber (German by birth), as well as soprano Evgeniya Sotnikova, Victoria Sukhareva and Maria Demyanenko; singers, Valentin Sukhodolets, Alek Bugaev and Igor Manashirov; the GULFSTREAM symphonic group, the Terem-Kvartet ensemble, Universal Music Band, the Ariaphonics group, the Pianochocolate group, Viktor Zinchuk, DiDuLa, the QUATRO group, virtuoso cellist Georgy Gusev, as well as the composer and director Alexei Kolomiytsev and his musical theatrical project Esthetic Empire. In 2013 in St. Petersburg the soloist of the "Helikon Opera" theater Dmitry Yankovsky organized the project "NeoClassic - New Classic Dmitry Yankovsky.

In Russia, Radio Classic 100.9 FM operated exclusively in the classical crossover format. On the air of other Russian music radio stations and on TV, sound elements and the best representatives of this style are increasingly breaking through.

Classical crossover, in comparison with other musical styles and directions, has the widest age structure of the audience. (According to COMCON-MEDIA research: from 12 to 60+ years, where the age of the main audience is from 20 to 60 years).

Classical crossover is gaining more and more popularity in the world, harmoniously uniting musical styles and genres.

The classic crossover does not have a strict terminological definition, but it unites many contemporary performers and is one of the important modern musical genres.

The term "crossover" (English crossover) literally means "crossing" and means a combination in one work different styles. The definition of "classic" indicates that in this genre some academic component is required. It can be added to any of mass genres XX and XXI centuries: jazz, rock and roll, rock, electro, disco, pop music and hip-hop.

I often hear how these performers are called neoclassical, but this is a misunderstanding of the term. We talked about neoclassicism in, and, on the contrary, it is characterized by stylization of classical musical forms.

The concept of "classic crossover" combines works that have completely different origins. They can be conditionally divided into three categories:

Modern interpretations of classical works - transcribed to the beat (Vanessa May, Edwin Marton), replayed on electronic instruments, remixes, as well as music using contemporary genre classical works(Emerson, Lake & Palmer "Pictures at an Exhibition");

Works of new genres created using academic instruments (Metallica or Eminem with a classical symphony orchestra, rock operas that combine different styles);

Academic "covers" are works of new genres created in the 20th and XXI centuries and replayed in an academic manner, whether performed by a symphony orchestra or operatic vocals (Eileen Farrell "I Gotta Right to Sing the Blues", Turetsky Choir, Andrea Bocelli).

There are a lot of similar performers now, since 2007 the nomination “ Best Album in the style of a classic crossover "is in the Grammy Award. The genre is immensely popular with an audience with an extremely wide age range, as evidenced by the number of performances in this genre on the Voice show in different countries. At the end of the twentieth early XXI century, more and more often we meet joint performances of rock musicians and opera singers(Queen and Luciano Pavarotti, Freddie Mercury and Montserrat Caballe).

This kind of music is easier to listen to than academic music. At Škola Crew concerts, we try to popularize academic music, tell how to listen to it and how to enjoy it, instead of artificially mixing it with the beat of the 20th century. At the same time, the classic crossover is an interesting product of mutual interest between more “elitist”, “complex” art and mass art. This trend is characteristic of postmodern art, and its roots can be found as early as the 1960s.

In the 1920s-1930s. there has been a rise in mass listening to classical music since technological revolution provided everyone with access to radio stations, where concerts of academic music were broadcast. A situation arose that seems impossible today: all segments of the population, without division into "hard workers" and "intellectuals", knew the entire population equally well. academic repertoire. Before that, classical music was the lot of the elite, and now any worker could listen to the radio all day at the machine tool.

The division of music, and indeed all art, into "popular" and "academic" is a long process that continued throughout the 20th century. At the same time, in music, academic authors went into more and more complex concepts, came up with new musical languages; the work of professional composers moved further and further away from the everyday listener. Meanwhile, "light" musical genres conquered the stage.

This year I will also try to introduce you to an interesting phenomenon in the world of music. Fortunately, this world is surprisingly vast and diverse, because there are a huge number of styles and trends in it.

One of them iscrossover.

No, you heard right. Not at all such a well-known crossover, I mean.

And not like that.

crossover(English) crossover, literally transitional or matching device, boundary or transitional phenomenon, crossing etc.) is a collective name referring to various concepts and objects:

Crossover (music) - music in which two different styles are mixed.

Crossover thrash is a mixture of thrash metal and hardcore punk.

Crossover (plot) - plot artwork, which mixes characters and/or locations from different works.

Crossover (car type) - fromcross-over- cross-country driving. Station wagon (hatchback) cross-country ability, a car, with all-wheel drive.

A crossover in computer networks is a patch cord for direct connection of network cards of two computers.

A crossover in electronics is a crossover filter (usually for audio frequencies, for example, a filter for a multi-band speaker system).

A crossover in basketball is a sudden change in direction while dribbling.

Crossover in bodybuilding is a power simulator for cross-pull of two cables.

So, today we will be interested not in a car, not in a plot, and not even in a power simulator, but in music, "in which two different styles are mixed."

In particular, classic crossover - This " a kind of synthesis, a harmonious combination of elements of classical music and pop, rock, electronic music ". Despite the fact that this style originated around the 1970s, it received its name relatively recently.

There are cases when rock musicians included classical works in their concerts or used some excerpts from them, of course, in a peculiar arrangement (for example, the groupEmerson, Lake & Palmer).
It has become no less common today to attract people to rock concerts symphony orchestras(that's what groups do)Metallica, Scorpions, Gary Moore) or a joint performance of works by a classical and rock singer (Freddie Mercury And Montserrat Caballe ).

Scorpions & Berlim Philharmonic Orchestra

In turn, classical singers perform not only compositions of the genre they are accustomed to, but sometimes they also move into other people's “possessions” (a trio of tenors -Placido Domingo, Jose Carreras and Luciano Pavarotti ).
Three tenors perform the song You "ll Never Walk Alone from the repertoire of Elvis Presley.
It was written in 1945 for the musical Carousel.
The most interesting thing is that the song is also the anthem of the English football team Liverpool)))

Typically, such musical numbers listeners like it, because sound unusual and fresh, often revealing new facets of the long-familiar.

Year by year, the classic crossover is becoming more and more popular and has even already entered the award nominations.Grammys, receiving their well-deserved prizes.

Among the best known foreign performers classic crossover can be calledSarah Brightman And Andrea Bocelli, Vanessa May, quartet Il Divo, Emma Shaplin, Josh Groban etc. Among Russian artists– guitaristsVictor Zinchuk And DiDuLu, ensemble " Terem-Quartet" and etc.

Clip is old but good..
Viktor Zinchuk performs Caprice No. 24 by N. Paganini .

On different radio stations you can hear the music of this style, but I advise its ardent fans to find a Russian classical crossover station specially created for them.Radio Classic(100.9 FM). She boasts of her popularity among the people of the most different ages. And this cannot but rejoice, because it becomes clear that many are already tired of the tasteless and primitive stage, which imposes "three chords" as the ultimate of listeners' dreams. Modern music lovers want to find music for themselves, which makes it possible not only for the feet to frolic, but also for the soul to get real pleasure.

Will we listen again?

He issued five solo albums have sold over 25,000,000 copies worldwide. According to Billboard magazine, Groban is the only singer whose two albums were in the top twenty of the best-selling albums of the last decade.

IN track record the artist has many duets: with Charles Aznavour, Beyoncé, Sarah Brightman, Lara Fabian, Celine Dion, Nelly Furtado, Barbra Streisand and many others. others. But also romantic solo singing Joshua Groban evokes positive emotions.

David Garrett(English) David Garrett, real name David Bongartz German. David Bongartz; September 4, 1980, Aachen, Germany) is a German-American virtuoso violinist.

The first meeting with the violin occurred when David was only four years old. By the way, the instrument was bought for the older brother, not for him. But, as they say, "what will be, it will not be avoided", and the boy soon learned to play, so much so that a year later he received the first prize at the competition. In the future, Garrett received a serious musical education. He records discs, gives concerts, tirelessly popularizing classical music.

Tarja Soile Susanna Turunen Kabuli(Fin. Tarja Soile Susanna Turunen Cabuli; August 17, 1977, Kitee, Finland) is a Finnish opera and rock singer, pianist, and composer.

Tarja Turunen also showed herself in early age. At the age of three, she shocked everyone by performing a song in the church hall of Kitee. And so she began to sing in the church choir and learn to sing, and then to play the piano. Teachers noted how quickly their student grasps everything that others understand in the process of long classes. Sarah Brightman had a decisive influence in choosing the style of a classic crossover for Tarja.

For several years, Turunen successfully worked as the vocalist of the Finnish symphonic metal band Nightwish, but then due to internal conflicts and their contradictions parted ways. The singer started solo career, which, however, did not prevent her from collaborating with other musicians. In particular, with famous band Scorpions.

When installing a modern stereo system in a car, the owner must choose the right crossover. This choice is quite simple if you know and understand what it is and what it is intended for, as well as in which system this device will work. So, let's figure out what a crossover for acoustics is.

Characteristics, purpose

A crossover is a special piece of equipment in the kit, the main function of which is to prepare the desired frequency range for each speaker. As you know, any one is designed for a specific operating frequency range. If the speaker signal is out of range, the sound may be distorted.

So, if you apply a frequency too low for it to the speaker, then the sound picture will turn out to be distorted. If the frequency is too high, then the owner of the system will be able to face not only distorted sound, but also the failure of the high-frequency speaker. The latter simply cannot withstand such a mode of operation.

Under normal circumstances, the function of tweeters is to reproduce sounds only at high frequencies. Low frequencies work separately. Sometimes they are even installed in different places in the cabin. The same applies to midrange sounds. They are fed only to the speaker that produces the mids.

Therefore, for high-quality reproduction of music tracks in a car, it is necessary to allocate certain frequencies and apply them strictly to specific speakers. For this, you need a crossover for acoustics.

How it works

The design of the device is quite simple. These are two frequency filters that work according to the following principle. So, when the crossover frequency is 1000 Hz, one of the two filters will pick out frequencies below that. The second filter will work with a frequency band above the mark. Filters have their own names. Low-pass is designed to work with low frequencies up to 1000 Hz. The high pass will only process frequencies above 1000 Hz.

Two-way devices operate on this principle. However, on modern market There is also a three-way crossover. The main difference here is another filter capable of handling mid frequencies between 600 and 1000 Hz.

More audio frequency filtering channels and feeding them to the speakers corresponding to these frequencies leads to better sound quality in the car interior.

Technical features of crossovers

Most modern devices are inductors and capacitors. Depending on the number and quality of manufacturing of these elements, the cost of the product is formed.

Why does an acoustic crossover include a capacitor and a coil? These are the simplest reactive parts. They are cost-effectively capable of processing various audio frequencies.

The capacitor can isolate and process the high frequency, while the inductor works with the low frequencies. Manufacturers competently use these properties and make structurally simple, but quite effective devices.

The number of reactive parts affects the filter capacity: 1 - one element is used, 2 - two elements. Depending on the number of reactive parts, as well as the crossover circuit, the system filters differently those frequencies that are not suitable for specific channels. It can be assumed that the more reactive elements in the circuit, the better the speaker crossovers will filter the signal. Filtration schemes have a certain characteristic. This is the so-called "slope slope". In other words, it's sensitivity. Depending on the level of "slope of the recession", all products on the market can be divided into models of the first, second, third and fourth class.

Active and passive equipment

Passive crossover for acoustics is the most common solution. It can often be found in the modern market. As the name implies, this device does not require additional power to operate. Therefore, it will be much faster and easier for the car owner to install sound equipment. The disadvantage of this group of devices is that simplicity is not always a guarantee of quality.

Due to the passive circuit, the system takes part of the energy to ensure the operation of the filter. At the same time, the reactive parts change the phase shift. Naturally, this is far from the most serious drawback. However, it will not be possible to perform the frequency correction as finely as possible.

An active crossover does not have such a disadvantage. The fact is that despite the more complex design, the flow of audio frequencies in them is filtered much better. Due to the presence in the circuit of not only several coils and capacitors, but also semiconductors, developers create high-quality devices with more compact dimensions. An active crossover is rarely found as a separate module. However, any amplifier has such active filters.

How to set up the device correctly?

In order to get the highest quality sound in a car, you need to choose the right frequency at which all unnecessary will be cut off. In the case of an active device designed for three bands, you need to find two cutoff points. The first will mark the edge in the range between low and medium frequencies. The second is the difference between medium and high frequencies.

How to calculate with your own hands?

Crossover calculation for acoustics is an important process. No manufacturer has yet been able to produce an ideal one that could reproduce sound in a different range with high quality. Subwoofers are used for low frequencies. For mids, midrange speakers are used. But when this whole complex begins to sound, a certain confusion may arise. That's what a crossover is for in acoustics - so that a signal of only a certain frequency goes to a specific speaker system.

To obtain a bipolar system or any other, a device that divides the signal is connected to the first channel of the amplifier. This is the filter. Complete with acoustic systems there are already passive crossovers made and calculated by manufacturers.

But what if you need to separate the sound into frequencies according to a different principle? You don’t have to count anything manually - in our high-tech time, there is software for even the simplest operations. So for these calculations there is a program, for example Crossover Elements Calculator.

First of all, the impedance index of the bass and treble speakers is introduced into the program, which is often 4 ohms. Next, enter the frequency that the device should separate. The order of the crossover is also introduced here. Then they press the button and wait for the program to give the result. As a result, it will issue a diagram where the necessary capacitors and coils for the entered parameters will be indicated.

Features of choice

The market offers a wide range of devices that differ in quality, cost, specific manufacturers. Choosing a crossover for acoustics is not easy - you can’t just take and buy what you like. The choice is made according to certain

Imagine that you have a subwoofer that produces a low frequency in the range from 18 to 200 Hz, a midrange speaker reproduces frequencies from 200 to 1000 Hz, and a high frequency speaker from 1000 to 16,000 Hz. At the same time, the amplifier does not have a built-in filter and reproduces frequencies in the range from 18 to 20,000 Hz. In this particular case, you need a three-way crossover capable of filtering in these ranges.

Also, when choosing, pay attention to the number of lanes. Another important parameter is the frequency range. Be sure to take into account throughput. Multi-level devices with high sensitivity can significantly improve sound quality.

Conclusion

So, we found out what a crossover is and what functions it performs. As you can see, this is a fairly important element in the car's speaker system.