Introduction The invention and expansion of sound recording technologies, the development of computers and the subsequent digital revolution, radically transformed the way music is currently conceived, created, produced, distributed and experienced in different cultures around the world. Nowadays, music is almost completely dependent on technological processes and its access is frequently mediated by digital technologies. […]
The Journal on the Art of Record Production (JARP) is an international double-blind peer reviewed open access online journal promoting the interdisciplinary study of record and music production. The term ‘record production’ is to be interpreted in the broadest sense as the production of recorded music. JARP was founded in 2006 by Simon Zagorski-Thomas and Katia Isakoff. The guest editor for the first issue was Simon Frith, and for the second, Albin Zak; both continue to contribute and guide as founding members of our advisory committee alongside many esteemed scholars from the ARP community. JARP has published eleven electronic issues and co-edited a book of 20 articles for issue 12.
The journal publishes double-blind peer reviewed research papers with contributions from world-renowned industry professionals.
Editors-in-Chief: Katia Isakoff and Richard James Burgess
Guest Editors: see individual journal issues
Managing Editors: Shara Rambarran and Brandon Vaccaro
Issue 08
Proceedings of the 2013 Art of Record Production Conference, Université Laval,
Québec. Published December 2013
Conference Papers
The ‘Brazilian Electronica’ Of César Camargo Mariano And Prisma (1984-7): Hybridization Or Tradition?
Mixing Synthesizers and Brazilian Music This paper discusses the work of the Prisma project, which happened between 1984 and 1987 and whose main purpose was to introduce synthesizers and MIDI technologies to the tradition called música popular brasileira (‘Brazilian popular music’; the anacronym ‘MPB’ is widely used as well) as a significant purpose of their […]
Rethinking Creative Practice In Record Production And Studio Recording Education: Addressing The Field
Introduction Traditionally, Western notions of creativity have been viewed from a Romantic perspective where often the moment of insight or inspiration is considered to be the point of creativity (Boden, 2004). Modern popular representations of musicians, engineers and record producers in the media also serve to support these notions. Most strikingly, the common sense representations […]
Recording as Social Practice
On college campuses across the United States, Canada, England and parts of Asia and Europe, ensembles of student singers regularly enter recording studios with the goal of creating not only a musical product, but also a musical and social experience. As a genre of amateur, peer-led musicians who arrange, perform and record mostly popular songs […]
Rock Production And Staging In Non-Studio Spaces: Presentations Of Space In Left Or Right’s Buzzy
Introduction This paper discusses the use of non-studio recording practices in the staging of ensemble vocal performances in contemporary rock music production. The paper analyses the production process and resultant audio examples from a record produced by the author in 2011-12. The methodology for this research is practice-led, and at times auto-ethnographic, drawing on similar […]
The “Virtual” Producer In The Recording Studio: Media Networks In Long Distance Peripheral Performances
Introduction The producer has for many years been a central agent in recording studio sessions; the validation of this role was, in many ways, related to the producer’s physical presence in the studio, to a greater or lesser extent. However, improvements in the speed of digital networks have allowed studio sessions to be produced long-distance, […]
Creativity And Home Studios: An In-Depth Study Of Recording Artists In Greece
Introduction The aim of my research is to identify whether the use of DAWs in home studios has influenced the way Greek artists produce music and if so, in which ways this medium can influence creativity. The nature of the topic dictates the full understanding of how musicians and producers in Greece work, what are […]
What is a Jazz Record Anyway? Lennie Tristano And The Use Of Extended Studio Techniques In Jazz
Introduction In 1956, jazz pianist Lennie Tristano released an eponymous LP on Atlantic Records that for the first time made use of overdubbing and the manipulation of tape speeds in a jazz context. The resulting tracks “Line Up,” “Requiem,” “Turkish Mambo,” and “East Thirty-Second Street” created a watershed moment for the creative use of extended […]
On Critical Listening, Musicianship and the Art of Record Production
Introduction The idea of a ‘record producer’ is a slippery one. As Mike Howlett tactfully puts it, “at its simplest, the producer’s task is to produce a satisfactory outcome” (2012, p.190). Elsewhere more noisily described as arranger, co-writer, industry interface, mix engineer liaison, mentor and more – a producer at the helm of a team assumes […]
A Semantic Approach To Autonomous Mixing
1 Introduction “There’s no reason why a band recording using reasonably conventional in- strumentation shouldn’t be EQ’d and balanced automatically by advanced DAW software.” Paul White, Editor In Chief of Sound On Sound magazine There is a clear need for systems that take care of the mixing stage of music production for live and recording […]
“You Won’t See Me” – In Search Of An Epistemology Of Collaborative Songwriting
Introduction This paper proposes an observational methodology by which we may gain deeper understanding of the creative processes used by collaborative songwriters. Almost every aspect of popular music production and consumption has been discussed and analysed in scholarly work, but the creation of the song itself has rarely been subject to scrutiny. This is perhaps […]