As part of our Intro to Music Production classes we are required write a weekly blog post on different topics set by our lecturer. For this week’s post I was assigned to read and reflect on Ocean of Sound, chapter 10, “altered states v: lucid dreaming”, (Toop, 1996, pp.208-216)
For me the most significant elements from the reading were two-fold. The first is the democratisation of the technology used in music production over the last 20 years, and the second is the importance of the creative process in music production. These two elements while seemingly unconnected go hand in hand as it is difficult to separate one from the other.
Staring with the democratisation of technology and its role in music production, I have personally seen incredible change over the last 20 years. The amount of music now being released is increasing at an incredible rate, “at 60,000 tracks per day, Spotify is seeing a new track uploaded to its platform every 1.4 seconds,” (Ingham, 2021). This is backed up by Toop, “What they do reflect, however, is an upsurge in domestically composed and recorded electronic music, thanks to the increasing affordability of compact, user-friendly sequencing software and digital audio recorders during the late 1980s.” (Toop, 1996, p. 213). Backed by a further quote later in the chapter, “Cottage industrialisation in the digital world seemed to be generating its own needs, its own pace,” (Toop, 1995 p.216). Toop goes on to reference the Atari 1040 ST which when it was released in 1985 sported MIDI input and output. (Toop, 1996, p. 213) The Atari made its way into many home and professional studios due to its low cost and ability to become the centre of a small home recording studio.
Equally, the process of creating music via sequencers (democratisation of the production process) also influenced the music itself. As Toop writes, “Home studio hum was annoying them, but at Fon, the results were intolerable for being ‘too polished’,” (Toop, pp. 213-214). For me this is a prime example of how technology can influence music and suggests how early choral music is created for, and influenced by, the setting where it is performed, most usually in a church with long reverb. This necessitates slower tempo to allow for pleasant use of the soundscape generated by natural reverb. This is backed up by Alonso et al. “acoustic needs have influenced the formal, artistic, and spatial configuration of the temples.” (2018). So, what of the advent of the DAW and its effect on music production? As Warner writes, “Once a sound has been digitally recorded it can be manipulated in a wide variety of ways within a digital editing programme, and these manipulations are non-destructive. As a result, pop musicians can extensively explore the musical potential of recorded sounds without ever losing the original recording.” He then goes on to say, “And since so much is possible with digital editing systems, it is the creative imagination of the pop musician that becomes to the determining factor in pop music production, rather than any physical limitations.” (Warner, 2003, p.21).
Having read this chapter I now feel that the democratisation of technology is a powerful enabler, but still heavily relies on the creative process and judgement of musicians and music producers to both learn the rules and subsequently ignore them if it does not sound right to them. I am reminded of the writing I did on Burial and his production process for Untrue. He did not use a DAW but used SoundForge (Kottle, 2007) for that album. And it is its non-quantized sound that gives his work a feel that makes the work better. This knowledge will help me to make better decisions in the creative process and listen more to what I would like the music to sound like, rather than just going through the motions of mechanically putting a track together. As a next step I will try and bring this knowledge into my group recording project.
References:
Alonso, A., Suárez, R. and Sendra, J.J. (2018) The acoustics of the choir in Spanish cathedrals, MDPI. Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute. Available at: https://www.mdpi.com/2624-599X/1/1/4 (Accessed: December 5, 2022).
Ingham, T. (2021) Over 60,000 tracks are now uploaded to Spotify every day. that’s nearly one per second., Music Business Worldwide. Available at: https://www.musicbusinessworldwide.com/over-60000-tracks-are-now-uploaded-to-spotify-daily-thats-nearly-one-per-second/ (Accessed: December 5, 2022).
Kottle, J. (2017) The making of burial’s untrue, kottke.org. Available at: https://kottke.org/17/12/the-making-of-burials-untrue (Accessed: November 21, 2022).
Toop, D. (1996) “Chapter 10, Altered States V: Lucid Dreaming,” in Ocean of Sound. London, UK: Serpent’s Tail, pp. 208–216. Warner, T. (2003) “’Relax’ by Frankie Goes to Hollywood,” in Pop music- technology and creativity. London, UK: Ashgate.