Sonic Signatures in Metal Music Production. Teutonic vs British vs American Sound (original) (raw)

Keeper of the Seven Keys: Audio heritage in metal music production

Metal Music Studies, 2022

Audio heritage is a relatively unexplored area within popular music studies from a technical production perspective. This research raises awareness of the importance and challenges of audio preservation and provides insights into archiving practices of record labels and producers. Based on interviews with German metal music producers, the article examines the conflicting artistic, economic and legal forces in the recording industry that often result in the loss of master tapes and multi-track recordings, thus preventing significant remastering for new consumer media such as high-resolution streaming or remixes valuable to artists and their fans alike. The findings suggest that there is no archiving standard amongst record labels. It is often up to record producers to archive and preserve recorded artefacts, which they do voluntarily and at their own expense, either in the hope of future commercial exploitation or to preserve their work. Whilst established record producers who began ...

Nail the Mix: Standardization in Mixing Metal Music?

Popular Music and Society, 2021

This article explores how the proliferation of affordable digital tools and the availability of specialist knowledge have affected the mixing stage of metal music productions, asking whether a standard methodology is apparent in producers’ use of templates and presets, processing of audio, and choice of tools. Analyzing fifty professional metal mixes on the platform Nail The Mix, the findings suggest that although producers follow a vaguely defined standard methodology for technical reasons, they have leeway for individuality and creativity. Producers freely give insight into their mixing approaches, which likely inspires exploration of new approaches in the metal producer community.

(No?) Adventures in Recording Land: Engineering Conventions in Metal Music

Rock Music Studies, 2022

Inspired by claims that metal music production has become standardized, this article draws on interviews with eight internationally recognized producers examining whether a uniform methodology in recording metal exists and where creative freedom remains. The findings suggest that although recordists must abide by electroacoustic laws and metal music’s pursuit of ever-heavier music, which entails some best practices, decades-long careers build on creative experimentation and sustained curiosity. The individuality of bands, songs, arrangements, and recording conditions requires individual production approaches, and most successful producers experiment to develop professionally and stay at the forefront of contemporary metal music production practice.

Tracking timbral changes in metal productions from 1990 to 2013

The metal scene has undergone an evolution in sonic characteristics that is partially rooted in music technology developments and associated production techniques that have given rise to a set of identifiably distinct ‘metal’ timbres. The science of psychoacoustics provides a measurable way of assessing these perceptual changes. This article proposes a methodology for psychoacoustic analysis in order to track the evolution of metal-specific timbres, and to speculate on the development of, and applications for, timbral metering in metal production. Sampling, synthesis and digital editing techniques have given rise to entirely new genres of music, yet metal as a genre has remained ostensibly with much the same musical format. Nevertheless, the sonic fingerprint of modern metal production often bears the hallmark of these computer-aided developments. In particular, the metal audience is now, consciously or not, used to the sound of triggered drum samples and sound replacement, ‘re-amping’ guitar and bass signals, and the restricted dynamic range of the ‘loudness war’. As a genre that is known for taking joy in all things loud, both anecdotally and in academic research, the issue of manipulating dynamic range compression in order to increase perceptual loudness in modern music production is perhaps even more pertinent to the metal genre than in other popular music forms.

“I Just Go with What Feels Right”. Variance and Commonality in Metal Music Mixing Practice

el oído pensante, 2023

Metal music is a genre defined by transgression, usually with the musical pursuit of heaviness. Interestingly, this commonly accepted genre-defining criterion, which can be considered as involving progress, conflicts with recent suggestions that the production of metal music is becoming more and more standardized, potentially hindering metal music's musical evolution. Based on interviews with eight leading metal producers, this study investigates the professionals' mixing approaches to determine whether they match the presumed standardization. The study finds common mixing approaches that result from the technical requirements of engineering fast, complex, and sonically dense music. However, there are significant alternatives between which producers choose to achieve the desired aesthetic outcomes. A multifaceted genre like metal with its diverse subgenres requires more than one production approach, and the unique combination and nuanced implementation of these approaches facilitate original results. With this in mind, the various production approaches, processes, and techniques appear to be evolving alongside the sub-genres and musical styles, supporting the genre's quest for transgression and heaviness.

The Development of Technology and its Influence on Recorded Heavy Metal Music 1969-2015

The development of technology and the resulting influence on a specific genre of recorded music provide the central motivation for this thesis. Record production has become an increasingly important part of contemporary musicology, with the recorded artefact being so easily accessible via digital archives. Seminal texts such as: The Art of Music Production (Burgess, 2013); The Cambridge Companion to Recorded Music (Cook, Clarke, Leech-Wilkinson and Rink, 2009); and, The Art of Record Production (Frith and Zagorski-Thomas, 2012), have contributed to the growing research surrounding the Art of record production, complimenting the publications that document the practise and technicalities of record production (Hosken, 2011; Katz, 2007; and Rumsey and McCormick, 2006, for example). This study focuses on the relationship between technology and recorded Heavy Metal (HM) music between 1969 and 2015. Using a semi-structured interview technique, Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis has been used to develop an acute and informed understanding of how recording technology developments have influenced HM music production, through a series of interviews with renowned record producers. These experts were chosen because of their position held within the HM community and the key albums they have produced. Overall, their careers can be delineated between 1969 and 2015 to provide a view of, what could be considered, both a revolutionary and transitory stage for HM music. The anticipated and potential uses of technology were identified as super-ordinate themes through an analysis of the interview data. These larger themes can be sub-divided into subordinate themes, which are (respectively): the impact of expectations, industry and external influences; and the presence of technological dichotomies, affordances and aspirations. The tensions caused by these themes highlighted issues of fragmentation within HM record production. The development of technology has changed the ways in which record producers experience record production, as technological affordances and commercial influences change the recording process. This fragmentation led to the discovery of a possible conceptual shift within record production: performance events are perhaps submissive to performance enhancement. This research provides an understanding of how technology has influenced recorded HM music. This insight is drawn from the experience of those directly involved in its creation. A method for approaching the place of technology in music production is set-out and this could be utilised, or adapted, for further research within music production; it could also be applied more generally to explore technologically influenced creative production in the arts. For example, the use of digital processes in photography has had a similar impact on both the retail and creative industries in the sector; a similar pattern can be seen in the music industry due to relatively inexpensive editing methods compared to earlier analogue procedures. Therefore, a similar study could investigate the working practices of photographers, both within the capture and editing of photographic work. In addition to the transfer or application of this method, a data set has been created that captures the experience of HM music production from a phenomenological perspective, highlighting wider implications for recorded music production more generally.

Metal Music Studies 5.3 'Metal and Musicology' Editorial

Metal Music Studies, 2019

Given its short history as a self-conscious academic field, metal studies' interdisciplinarity is impressive. Metal studies actively draws upon and engages sociology, anthropology, cultural studies, gender studies, history, geography and, of course, musicology. This special issue of Metal Music Studies, 'Metal and Musicology', is primarily concerned with the latter discipline and its interaction with metal studies. This is the editorial for the 'Metal and Musicology' special issue of Metal Music Studies journal, co-edited by Lewis F. Kennedy and M. Selim Yavuz (2019). The rest of the issue can be found here: https://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/intellect/mms/2019/00000005/00000003\. Members of the International Society for Metal Music Studies have access to the entire back catalogue of Metal Music Studies journal. Join the society here: https://www.metalstudies.org/membership

The formation of the West German power metal scene and the question of a 'Teutonic' sound

Metal Music Studies, 2019

Despite being one of the oldest and largest metal nations, little research on metal music from Germany exists. This article focuses on the formation of the West German power metal scene. This subgenre was one of the first to be played in Germany, and bands such as Helloween, Running Wild, Gamma Ray and Blind Guardian produced a characteristic German sound that was to become famous worldwide. Based on interviews with music producers, musicians, journalists and academics, this study analyses stylistic musical features of (German) power metal, the artists’ influences and their different aspirations for international success. The findings suggest that a characteristic German power metal sound emerged in the 1980s and 1990s that might be called ‘Teutonic’. Germany was amongst the first countries to burst out countless successful power metal bands before the genre spread to other parts of the world. No standards existed in those days, and production resources were limited and individual. This restricted infrastructure ‐ the unique characteristics of a few recording studios along with the small circle of professional musicians, engineers and producers ‐ has shaped the classic German power metal sound. With standardization of production resources, new techniques and consequences of globalization such as internationally operating record labels, American culture in public media and increased English language skills, these national characteristics gradually diminished.

Signature Mastering: New Sound Aesthetics in Post-Production and the New Role of Mastering

Mastering in Music, 2021

The article approaches the field of mastering taking two observations into consideration: firstly, sounds heard on vinyl are changing, offering a new kind of deepness, spatiality and presence in sound, and, secondly, the self-conception of the mastering engineer is changing. These changes will be identified and subsequently analyzed in relation to economic, cultural and aesthetic developments. By analyzing the discourse on mastering and vinyl cutting mainly in music press and musicology, the article aims to give insight into the new role of the mastering engineer as artist and into recent developments in the field of high-end music production, connecting them to economic developments (the Western music market and its rules and restrictions) as well as to cultural developments (the decline of club culture in some Western countries). The article investigates the work of three signature mastering engineers as case studies with a close analysis of the sound aesthetics developed through their specific approaches: Rashad Becker, Matt Colton and Taylor Deupree. The cases show a predilection for a certain aesthetic, favouring distorted over clean sound (Becker), raw over polished sound (Colton) and coloured over transparent sound (Deupree). All this to enhance a visceral and vibrating, club-sounding music. Finally, in conclusion, the impact of these changes is examined with respect to the current and future music industries.