Maquinaria y tiempo libre

The central element of the musical aspect of the domain of rock record production is the contemporary Western popular song (McIntyre, 2009b: 1). In his study of popular songwriters Phillip McIntyre determined that songwriters required a body of

knowledge to enable them to create songs and this knowledge includes an appreciation of lyrics, melody, rhythm, harmony, the structure of songs and their arrangement in addition to: ‘various production elements that affected the nature of the song’s reception and an understanding of audiences’ possible interpretations of the work

produced’ (2011: 84). In much the same way, all of the participants in this study demonstrated a working knowledge of Western contemporary songs and their elements including lyrics, melody, harmony, arrangement, rhythmic components and song structure. Principal songwriter and vocalist Paul explained that:

You need to understand the ‘hook’, in terms of pop writing, understanding the melody and what it’s doing, and how it brings the song together. Because a really rubbish melody over some fantastic music can really ruin a song.

Recording engineer Darren also had some understanding of these song elements as his ability to identify these musical features informed some of the technical processes such as recording, overdubbing or mixing, where he was often asked to start recording from the first verse or the second chorus. Musical knowledge therefore enables engineers: ‘to understand performers’, arrangers’, and producers’ discussions’ (Porcello, 2004: 733).

As well as knowledge of popular song and musical styles, the domain of record

production also holds some of the symbolic rules, traditions and practices of the related domain of musical performance. The significant difference, however, is that the

musicians were not performing in front of an audience, and the performance was captured and relayed to them through the use of microphones and headphones, and then further scrutinised by the engineer and the producer in the control room. The musicians’ performance of the song was therefore altered in a number of ways. For instance, in the latter stages of production complete performances of the song were not required so musicians only performed part of the song, or musicians were required to repeat a particular section of the song until the performance was deemed sufficient. The symbolic rules of live performance and those of record production are therefore different as the performance of the song in the recording studio can be stopped and started at any point, repeated numerous times and altered through both the application of recording technologies and the acoustics of the recording space. The musicians

demonstrated a knowledge of these practices and an ability to adapt to the use of these practices throughout the record production process.

All of the participants in this study also demonstrated a working knowledge of the structure and form of the songs through discussions between themselves, by taking instructions from the other participants and during subsequent interviews. The

principal songwriter, the record producer, the trumpet player, the saxophone player and the backing singer further exhibited their knowledge of melody and harmony through the alteration or addition of musical parts during the production process. However, it was the record producer who demonstrated the most acute ability to recognise the deficiency of specific musical elements in the performance of the song; in particular,

the clashing or mistiming of rhythmic, melodic or harmonic elements4. It has been

argued that the record producer often requires a greater musical understanding than all the other participants in the recording studio (Watson, 2006), where an entire working knowledge of the song’s musical aspects helps to effectively visualise, plan and predict the various ways in which the song could be arranged. The arrangement therefore:

Involves more than fitting together of instrumental parts; in many cases a track’s arrangement develops according to criteria that are specific to

recorded sound. That is, some of an arrangement’s characteristic features may come about as a result of electronic sound processing, frequency

manipulation, or various mixing techniques (Zak, 2001:32).

It has been further argued that: ‘the song is nothing before the arrangement’

(Fitzgerald, 1996: 20-21) and that conception: ‘occurs at the moment of orchestration, recording, and sound mixing’ (Ibid). The song is therefore orchestrated through a combination of these previously discussed elements of performance, arrangement and technical mediation in which the recording consists of the song, the musical

arrangement and the track (Zak, 2001). Consequently, listening to a record is the

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A specific example is illustrated during the stage of production in Chapter 8 ‘Producing in the Recording Studio’.

experience of hearing: ‘both the song and the arrangement’ (Zak 2001: 24). This is a fundamental aspect of the domain of rock because it illustrates how interconnected the areas of the domain are and their mutual interdependence. The relationship between music, technology and ‘sounds’ was evident throughout the study in which participants discussed the ‘sounds’ of specific eras of sound recording, the ‘sounds’ of specific technologies and the ‘sounds’ of specific bands. For example, record producer Marc referred to the ‘70s’ sound, which he explained was:

The golden era of sound recording and making records. It wasn’t just the

technology, although that did help, it was great songs and, y’know, great

sounds. Those records still sound great today and Crime of the Century is still

my favourite from that era’.

Marc’s comments above illustrate how the elements of musical performance and technical mediation combine through the processes of songwriting, engineering and production to create a resultant ‘sound’. Lead singer and songwriter Paul illustrated his knowledge of these processes during pre-production and explained that he has always considered how his songs will be orchestrated even before they have been played to the other band members:

Paul - I’ve always written with the bigger picture in mind. I’ve always written with the idea that “this is the song” with a dramatic picture of how the song will sound. Anytime I’ve demo’d anything I’ve always gone with that bigger picture.

Writing songs with an aesthetic consideration for their orchestration and arrangement has been defined as ‘writing records’ (McIntyre, 2009), a process in which framing the song plays a central part. In the context of rock record production, this process is commonly referred to as arranging and, as Zak previously noted, it: ‘involves more than the fitting together of instrumental parts’ (Zak, 2001: 33-32). Here, the musical, technical and cultural aspects of the domain of rock record production cannot only be

seen to overlap but also viewed as interdependent, and of all the research participants record producer Marc and lead singer and songwriter Paul demonstrated the most advanced knowledge in this area of the domain.