Technologically Mediated Transparency in Music Production

Abstract

This article argues that several recent developments in popular music make the artist’s production process more transparent to listeners. By using loop pedals, by releasing the recorded stems of songs, or by uploading performative instructional videos on YouTube, producers “reveal” techniques used during the production process. Such revelations partly deconstruct earlier concerns from rock fans regarding the (lack of) authenticity of particular musics. Furthermore, we argue that these developments have a history in earlier forms of popular music, such as the “extended version” of 12-inch singles from the 1970s and 1980s. Here, songs were frequently stripped down to their core, making specific parts (and, by extension, specific arrangement techniques) more accessible to listeners.

Notes

1. Admittedly, the distinction between musically “knowledgeable” and “other” listeners is arbitrary, since listeners without formal training are often “experts” who can “distinguish patterns of sound” (Blacking 8–9; see also Becker; Malbon; Burnard). Nonetheless, we retain a modified version of the distinction because it helps to illuminate the increased transparency of production techniques in the examples discussed in this paper.

2. This in and of itself could reflect a contemporary audience that is more accepting of a wide range of musical practices.

3. Henceforth, the figures in the body of the text refer to the bar/beat number as indicated in Ableton Live. The figures in parentheses provide an approximate timing indication so that the details can be followed with a regular CD/MP3 recording.

4. It is worth emphasizing here that we are referring primarily to earlier remix practices (which focused on the mute and/or solo button), rather than more recent remixes in which it is customary to completely recompose a track. As remixer Ewan Pearson describes them, these latter remixes are the type “where you just get...a burp from the original song and just put that into a new track” (http://www.djhistory.com/interviews/ewan-pearson).