What has been left unsaid about studio practices - How producers and engineers prepare, manage, and direct recording sessions (original) (raw)
Related papers
Journal of New Music Research, 42(4), 381-395, 2013
"Record producers interact with musicians to obtain the best artistic results from recording sessions. Commonly described as professionals without well-defined skills, the producers’ role has received scant attention. In this paper, we report a qualitative investigation of the producers’ tacit knowledge, skills and competences involved in making successful recordings, and we develop a model of artistic direction for studio sessions, extending Hennion (1989)’s concept of ‘intermediary between production and consumption’. We interviewed six world-renowned record producers about their mission, their methods of production and their contribution to the creative process of musical recordings. We first analysed their responses using content analysis. We then investigated emerging concepts using linguistic analysis with an emphasis on the producer’s artistic involvement during recording sessions. This combination of qualitative methods used in the Social Sciences (Grounded Theory) and in Linguistics allowed us to investigate in depth best practices for studio recording. Through this inductive analysis, we identified and described various levels of a producer’s artistic involvement during recording sessions, namely From context to situation, Intermediary role, Verbal communication, Management and Artistic collaboration. We also present inter-personal skills shared amongst interviewees to help musicians complete their recording project in the best possible conditions."
Social, Musical and Technical Processes in the Recording Session
We propose an exposé of ongoing research that seeks to understand the significance and lifespan of the recording session in the context of a broader creative process. In particular, we explore how people interact with one another, the technology and the architectural space that surrounds them. We want to implicate all those present at the recording session in the notion of performance in the studio. We will report initial findings comparing the differences in approach taken by two technical teams given the task of recording the same song performed by the same musicians in two separate recording sessions.
The impact of technological advances on recording studio practices
Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology, 2013
Since the invention of sound reproduction in the late 19th century, studio practices in musical recording evolved in parallel with technological improvements. Recently, digital technology and Internet file sharing led to the delocalization of professional recording studios and the decline of traditional record companies. A direct consequence of this new paradigm is that studio professions found themselves in a transitional phase, needing to be reinvented. To understand the scope of these recent technological advances, we first offer an overview of musical recording culture and history and show how studio recordings became a sophisticated form of musical artwork that differed from concert representations. We then trace the economic evolution of the recording industry through technological advances and present positive and negative impacts of the decline of the traditional business model on studio practices and professions. Finally, we report findings from interviews with six world-renowned record producers reflecting on their recording approaches, the impact of recent technological advances on their careers, and the future of their profession. Interviewees appreciate working on a wider variety of projects than they have in the past, but they all discuss trade-offs between artistic expectations and budget constraints in the current paradigm. Our investigations converge to show that studio professionals have adjusted their working settings to the new economic situation, although they still rely on the same aesthetic approaches as in the traditional business model to produce musical recordings.
Engineering the Performance: Recording Engineers, Tacit Knowledge and the Art of Controlling Sound
Social Studies of Science, 2004
At the dawn of sound recording, recordists were mechanical engineers whose only training was on the job. As the recording industry grew more sophisticated, so did the technology used to make records, yet the need for recording engineers to use craft skill and tacit knowledge in their work did not diminish. This paper explores the resistance to formalized training of recording engineers and the persistence of tacit knowledge as an indispensable part of the recording engineer's work. In particular, the concept of 'microphoning' -the ability to choose and use microphones to best effect in the recording situation -is discussed as an example of tacit knowledge in action. The recording studio also becomes the site of collaboration between technologists and artists, and this collaboration is at its best a symbiotic working relationship, requiring skills above and beyond either technical or artistic, which could account for one level of 'performance' required of the recording engineer. Described by one studio manager as 'a technician and a diplomat', the recording engineer performs a number of roles -technical, artistic, socially mediating -that render the concept of formal training problematic, yet necessary for the operation of technically complex equipment.
Popular Music
possibly in that, that my biggest compliment lies. I would feel comfortable recommending this text to students, colleagues and non-academics who are interested in the recording studio, but who are completely new to the area. However, I would also feel comfortable recommending the book to people who have worked extensively in a studio environment. The text offers entry points and critical analyses that are relevant, and exciting, irrespective of your previous experience. Thompson's main premise is to combine ways of understanding creativity with ways of understanding how a popular music recording is made. What distinguishes Creativity in the Recording Studio: Alternative Takes is its application of Csikszentmihalyi's systems model of creativity to the process of studio recording. For some, this systems model is somewhat 'static', and we could potentially run the risk of homogenising complex practices. However, Thompson's application demonstrates a flexibility. For instance, when considering David Bowie's 'Heroes', he notes that the knowledge of microphones and their placement couldand should be considered within 'the domain field of [studio] engineering' (p. 163). Through this process, Thompson is also successful in demonstrating that popular music, and the process of recording (popular, classical, or anything in between or outside of that music) is a collaborative effort, and that if we want to fullyunderstand how and/or why listeners are responding to a particular release, we consider isolated components and individual efforts at our own peril. As such, Thompson is also able to address various notions and myths surrounding romanticism and the lone, creative genius in terms of sound recording specifically, but also popular music more generally. Considerations of the recording studio and record production from a popular music studies perspective are relatively new, and while there is some great academic work available for those who are interested in the field, I would argue that Creativity in the Recording Studio marks a maturity, a 'coming of age', that is both exciting and responsive. Since reading the book, I have already recommended it several times to colleagues and students, and imagine I will continue to do so for the foreseeable future. It is an enjoyable, and educational book, and I would recommend it to you too.
Towards a Typology of Issues Affecting Performance in the Recording Studio
This article proposes a typology of eight generic headings for categorising the issues that affect musical performance in the recording studio: 1. The performer hearing themself 2. The performer hearing other performers 3. The performer seeing others 4. The nature of the studio environment 5. The nature of the recording technology 6. Power relationships and decision making 7. The alteration of a player's normal performance practice 8. The alteration of other aspects of the player's working practice
Producing Music, Producing Myth? Creativity in Recording Studios
Journal of the International Association for the Study of Popular Music, 2016
This paper presents research on the power of myth (Barthes 1972) and commonly accepted beliefs, or "doxa" (Bourdieu 1977), in shaping creative practices inside recording studios. Drawing from two ethnographic case studies of rock and hip-hop artists in recording studios, this paper addresses the (re)production of myths during studio sessions. Through critical incident analyses, we challenge romanticized representations of studios as individualistic spaces and highlight how mythic representations of creativity influence musicians' technical expectations of recording processes. Additionally, we illustrate the circulation of, and moments of resistance to, myths from cultural domains outside of the studio that pervade practices within studios. In sum, we show that studios-sites involving the intense scrutiny of music-making-offer insightful contexts in which to examine how myth can shape recording processes and studio practices.
Producing, Reproducing and Exposing the Myths of Creativity Inside the Recording Studio
This presentation introduces research on the power of myth (Barthes 1972) and commonly accepted beliefs, or “doxa” (Bourdieu 1977), in shaping creative practices inside recording studios. Drawing from two ethnographic case studies of rock and hip-hop artists in recording studios, this paper addresses the (re)production of myths during studio sessions. Through critical incident analyses, we challenge romanticized representations of studios as individualistic spaces and highlight how mythic representations of creativity influence musicians’ technical expectations of recording processes. Additionally, we illustrate the circulation of, and moments of resistance to, myths from cultural domains outside of the studio that pervade practices within studios. In sum, we show that studios—sites involving the intense scrutiny of music-making—offer insightful contexts in which to examine how myth can shape recording processes and studio practices.
The purpose of this article is to examine the creative and collaborative agency of a young, professional home-based studio producer of popular music, who identifies as a tracker/producer. The study seeks to illuminate how music production technologies and practices shape our understanding of the agency of the contemporary aspiring music producer and to provide insight into the music production studio as a socially constructed cultural space. In this article the music producer is seen to do more than just work with an artist on an existing work. Producing here means having a creative input on a song from the very beginning of the compositional process up until the point where the song is sent to the mastering engineer. By combining cultural study of music technology (Théberge 1997; Taylor 2001; Greene & Porcello 2005), which understands music technologies as cultural practices that produce and mediate musical meanings and experiences, and ethnographical methods, I approach the home-based music production studio as a cultural space (Bates 2012) where social and musical performances and interactions take place and meanings of music and its authorship are constantly in negotiation.