{{Short description|American composer}} {{Multiple issues| {{More citations needed|date=March 2015}} {{More footnotes|date=January 2020}}}} {{Infobox musical artist | name = Tod Dockstader | image = | alt = | caption = | background = non_performing_personnel | birth_date = {{Birth date|1932|03|20}} | birth_place = Saint Paul, Minnesota, US | death_date = {{Death date and age|2015|2|27|1932|03|20}} | death_place = Arlington, Massachusetts, US | known_for = | occupation = Composer, sound engineer | years_active = 1958-2015 | genre = {{hlist|Electronic|''musique concrète''|sound design}} | website = | signature = }}
'''Tod Dockstader''' (March 20, 1932 – February 27, 2015)<ref name="Dead">{{cite web|author=Doc Rock |url=http://www.thedeadrockstarsclub.com/2015.html |title=January to June 2015 |publisher=The Dead Rock Stars Club |date= |accessdate=2015-03-03}}</ref> was an American electronic music composer and sound designer. He is regarded{{who|date=May 2023}} as one of the first American ''musique concrète'' composers.
==Biography== Dockstader was born on March 20, 1932, in Saint Paul, Minnesota.<ref name="Dead" /> In the 1950s, he studied painting and film while at the University of Minnesota before moving to Hollywood to become an apprentice film editor. He moved into work as a sound engineer in 1958, and apprenticed at Gotham Recording Studios, where he first started composing; he also worked for Terrytoons alongside Gene Deitch. From 1961 to 1962, when Deitch directed thirteen new ''Tom and Jerry'' shorts, Dockstader was responsible for creating the unusual, heavily reverberated sound effects heard throughout them; he also wrote the shorts ''Mouse into Space'' and ''Landing Stripling''.
Dockstader's first album, ''Eight Electronic Pieces'', was released in 1960; segments were later used on the soundtrack to Federico Fellini's 1969 film ''Fellini Satyricon''. He continued to create music throughout the first half of the decade, working principally with tape manipulation effects. In 1966, Owl Records released four albums of his work from this period, including ''Quatermass''. He achieved modest recognition and radio play alongside the likes of Karlheinz Stockhausen, Edgard Varèse, and John Cage.
In 1961, he applied to use the facilities at the Columbia-Princeton Electronic Music Center and was denied access in separate rejection letters penned by Vladimir Ussachevsky and Milton Babbitt. Ussachevsky’s official reason was the “overstrained” schedule of the studios, although it was suspected{{By whom|date=October 2025}} that Dockstader's lack of academic training was a factor in the decision. After leaving Gotham Recording Studios in the late 1960s, he formed the audio-visual service Westport Communications Group along with former Gotham executive Fred Hertz. The company focused on corporate clients and produced award-winning educational films for the American Heritage series.
Dockstader was also a prolific writer on electronic music, with several articles published by ''Electronic Music Review'' and ''The Musical Quarterly''.<ref>{{cite web |title=UbuWeb - Electronic Musical Resources - Periodicals |url=http://www.ubu.com/emr/periodicals.html |accessdate=January 21, 2020 |website=Ubu.com}}</ref>
In the early 1990s, Starkland re-released most of the content of Dockstader’s out-of-print Owl recordings, alongside previously unreleased material, on two CDs.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.discogs.com/artist/32189-Tod-Dockstader|title=Tod Dockstader : Discography |website=Discogs.com|accessdate=January 21, 2020}}</ref> These releases brought him new, significant acclaim. ''The Washington Post'' called Dockstader "a highly imaginative pioneer," and ''The Wire'' concluded: "The obsessive care with which Starkland have compiled these extraordinary recordings should ensure that Dockstader will be remembered as the innovative, visionary figure he undoubtedly was." Reinvigorated, Dockstader returned to music at the start of the 21st century, adopting computer composition. New CDs appeared from Sub Rosa and ReR Megacorp.
Work on a documentary about his life, ''Unlocking Dockstader'', was begun in 2011; however,a lack of funding stalled the project.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://unlockingdockstader.com/about-the-film/ |title=About the film — Unlocking Dockstader | a documentary film about Tod Dockstader |website=unlockingdockstader.com |access-date=15 January 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141007094824/http://unlockingdockstader.com/about-the-film/ |archive-date=7 October 2014 |url-status=dead}}</ref>
Dockstader died in Arlington, Massachusetts, on February 27, 2015, at the age of 82.<ref name="Dead"/><ref>{{cite web|url=http://pitchfork.com/news/58660-musique-concrete-composer-tod-dockstader-has-died/ |title=Musique Concrète Composer Tod Dockstader Has Died | News |publisher=Pitchfork |date=2015-02-27 |accessdate=2015-03-03}}</ref>
In 2016, Starkland released ''From the Archives,''<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.starkland.com/st226/index.htm |title=Tod Dockstader: From the Archives. 15 new Tod Dockstader works premiere on this Starkland CD|website=Starkland.com|accessdate=January 21, 2020}}</ref> a CD that premiered 15 works selected from the unexpected discovery of 4,200 sound files found on Dockstader's private computer after his death. Created from 2000-2008, these were among the last pieces composed by Dockstader, before dementia made his studio work too difficult.
==Influence== Alvin Lee of Ten Years After took influence from Dockstader when recording the band's 1969 album ''Stonedhenge''; he said he was in a "musique concrete phase."<ref name="Fielder">{{cite web |last1=Fielder |first1=Hugh |title=Ten Years After |url=https://www.rocksbackpages.com/Library/Article/ten-years-after-2 |website=Classic Rock |access-date=2 May 2023 |date=August 2003}}</ref> ''Classic Rock''{{'}}s Hugh Fielder deemed Dockstader an "avant garde industrial composer".<ref name="Fielder" />
==Discography== * 1961 ''Eight Electronic Pieces'' (re-released by Folkways Records in 1968 and Locust Music in 2003) * 1966 ''Luna Park, Traveling Music, Apocalypse'' (Owl Records) * 1966 ''Drone, Two Fragments from Apocalypse, Water Music'' (Owl Records) * 1966 ''Quatermass'' (Owl Records) * 1966 ''Omniphony 1'' (with James Reichart) (Owl Records) * 1979 ''Electronic Vol. 1'' (Boosey & Hawkes Library) * 1981 ''Electronic Vol. 2'' (Boosey & Hawkes Library) * 1992 ''Water Music, Two Moons, Quatermass'' (Starkland) * 1993 ''Apocalypse'' (Starkland) * 2004 ''Pond'' (with David Lee Myers (Arcane Device)) (ReR Megacorp) * 2005 ''Bijou'' (with David Lee Myers) (ReR Megacorp) * 2005 ''Aerial #1'' (Sub Rosa) * 2005 ''Aerial #2'' (Sub Rosa) * 2005 ''Aerial #3'' (Sub Rosa) * 2016 ''From The Archives'' (Starkland)
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== *[http://www.starkland.com/st226/index.htm Dockstader's From the Archives CD from Starkland] *[http://www.newmusicbox.org/articles/remembering-tod-dockstader-1932-2015/ Remembering Tod Dockstader at New Music Box] *[http://www.unlockingdockstader.com Unlocking Dockstader] *[http://www.starkland.com/st202/Memorial.htm Dockstader In Memoriam Quotes] *[http://www.starkland.com/st201/index.htm Dockstader's Quatermass CD from Starkland] *[http://www.starkland.com/st202/index.htm Dockstader's Apocalypse CD from Starkland] *[http://dockstader.info/ The Unofficial Tod Dockstader Web Site] *[http://www.ubu.com/sound/dockstader.html Biography and radio interview at ubu.com] *[http://www.folkways.si.edu/tod-dockstader/eight-electronic-pieces/contemporary/music/album/smithsonian ''Eight Electronic Pieces'' Album Details] at Smithsonian Folkways
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Dockstader, Tod}} Category:1932 births Category:2015 deaths Category:University of Minnesota College of Liberal Arts alumni Category:20th-century American classical composers Category:20th-century American male composers Category:21st-century American classical composers Category:American experimental composers Category:Electroacoustic music composers Category:American male classical composers Category:Animation composers Category:Sub Rosa Records artists Category:Folkways Records artists Category:Musique concrète Category:American industrial musicians Category:21st-century American male composers