{"id":2657,"date":"2013-12-20T00:00:32","date_gmt":"2013-12-20T00:00:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/arpjournal.com\/?p=2657"},"modified":"2014-01-18T15:06:50","modified_gmt":"2014-01-18T15:06:50","slug":"recording-as-social-practice","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.arpjournal.com\/asarpwp\/recording-as-social-practice\/","title":{"rendered":"Recording as Social Practice"},"content":{"rendered":"

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.\u00a0 As a genre of amateur, peer-led musicians who arrange, perform and record mostly popular songs in vocal-only renditions, collegiate a cappella<\/em> has roots in American barbershop and doo-wop.\u00a0 The groups come in men\u2019s, women\u2019s, and mixed varieties, and at last count numbered somewhere over 1200 (Rapkin: 2008, 5).\u00a0 Often claimed to have begun with the founding of the Whiffenpoofs at Yale University in 1909, the genre has more recently started to inch from its meager subcultural beginnings toward the mainstream in a variety of media, including a trade book (Rapkin: 2008), an album by rock singer Ben Folds (Ben Folds Presents: University A Cappella!<\/em>, <\/em>2009), NBC\u2019s singing competition program, The Sing-Off!<\/em> (2009\u20132011, 2013), and a feature film, Pitch Perfect<\/em> (2012).[1]<\/p>\n

For many in collegiate a cappella<\/em> groups, one of the most important benefits of membership is the opportunity to record an album, a process that is deeply musical and at the same time intensely social.\u00a0 After all, as student groups that generally operate without faculty leadership, peer interactions are the basis of the membership experience and often give rise to the expectation that every voice has a say in all decisions, musical and otherwise.\u00a0 In this article, I consider the choices made and behaviors exhibited in preparation for, and throughout, the recording process, focusing in particular on the motivations for undertaking recording projects and the ways in which bodies and voices are organized musically, physically, and conceptually.\u00a0 This social practice both reflects ideologies central to the culture of production specific to the genre and, concurrently, has a defining impact on the resulting musical product.<\/p>\n

Research on collegiate a cappella<\/em> has been limited.\u00a0 My data is drawn from several years of ethnographic fieldwork (2001\u20132007) with groups on a variety of campuses in the United States, focusing in particular on groups at Boston, Brandeis, Harvard, Michigan State, and Yale Universities and the Universities of Michigan and Pennsylvania. During this time, I engaged in participant-observation at rehearsals, performances, recording sessions and social events, and I conducted semi-structured interviews with singers.\u00a0 The genre has also been studied from a music education perspective, usually as an example of informal music making that may be incorporated, to some degree, into more formal curricula (e.g., Mayhew: 2009; Schumaker: 2013).\u00a0 Several prevalent themes found in other studies bear on my work here, including autonomy, leadership and hierarchy, as well as the value of participation (Paparo: 2013).\u00a0 In addition, the a cappella<\/em> community has produced a collection of publications aside from musical arrangements that emphasize arranging methods but also include issues such as group formation and administration, repertory selection, and rehearsal and vocal percussion techniques (Bell and Sharon: 2012; Callahan: 2000; Chin and Scalise: 2012; and McDonald: 2012).\u00a0 Few studies, however, have specifically considered how musical and social structures established by a cappella <\/em>groups outside the recording studio affect the practices that take place there.<\/p>\n

Motivations for Recording: Bonding through Shared Experience, Signifying Nostalgia<\/h3>\n

For many artists, financial gain sits alongside the desire to make artistic, philosophical, or political statements as motivation to make a record.\u00a0 Similarly, some collegiate a cappella groups seek revenue from their albums.\u00a0 \u201cIt\u2019s how you market yourself when you\u2019re not always singing,\u201d said Dave, from the Treblemakers, a mixed group at Boston University (2005). \u00a0Recordings can generate income through album sales; many groups sell their albums directly to audiences at concerts and other performances, and some have begun selling their music online in Apple\u2019s iTunes music store and other on-line venues.\u00a0 Additionally, recordings can represent a group to future clients. \u00a0For example, before Amazin\u2019 Blue, a mixed group at the University of Michigan, was selected to sing backup for pop crooner Michael Bubl\u00e9 at the Fox Theatre in Detroit in 2007, the media company coordinating the local musicians asked the group for one of its albums.\u00a0 The existence of the CD reinforced the group\u2019s professional qualifications.<\/p>\n

The financial aspect of recording should not be overstated, however. \u00a0The benefits that individuals see from CD sales and digital downloads are not monetary, as proceeds customarily go to the group as a whole rather than directly to its members. \u00a0This suggests that, aside from the financial aspects of recording, the process and product also serve other purposes that I identify as social, including interpersonal bonding through shared experience and accomplishment, and a tangible signifier that enables nostalgia and personal gratification.<\/p>\n

A recording project offers a common objective for a group\u2019s members, with both short- and long-term results. \u00a0Dave explains:<\/p>\n

It becomes very important to you because it\u2019s a lot of hard work. \u00a0And just like any big project, you want it to be good. It\u2019s a huge commitment. \u00a0Fund-raising is a huge commitment . . . But on a personal level it\u2019s very important because it keeps morale up. \u00a0And it\u2019s cool to have a CD. \u00a0Like, \u201cHey, this is what I did in college.\u201d \u00a0To have a CD and say, \u201cThis is what I did<\/em>. \u00a0Check this out. \u00a0I\u2019m proud of this,\u201d it\u2019s really important. (Interview with Author: 2005)<\/p>\n

Indeed, the recording process was already on the minds of Amazin\u2019 Blue\u2019s leaders just days after auditioning new singers in September 2001.\u00a0 After inducting the new members, the entire group held a weekend-long \u201cretreat\u201d at one member\u2019s parents home a short drive from campus, the main activity of which was a series of presentations and discussions of the group\u2019s policies, procedures, and goals for the academic year, including its plans for studio recordings.\u00a0 Crucial to these conversations was the fact that several of the group\u2019s recent recordings had been included on the annual Best of College A Cappella <\/em>recorded compilations (including the 2001 edition), a trend in which the returning members clearly took pride and which that year\u2019s leaders sought to continue, despite the great effort it might entail.[2] Ultimately, these discussions offered an opportunity for two important things to happen: first, the group\u2019s leaders established their social roles within the organization by demonstrating their vision for the ensemble and its musical direction to the general membership. Second, they began a transfer of knowledge about the group, and its social and musical practices, to the new members\u2014before even beginning rehearsals.<\/p>\n

The collective goal represented by a recording project provides a foundation on which to build social relationships\u2014one of the overarching purposes of participation in an a cappella group (Duchan: 2012a). \u00a0Even disagreements can improve the sense of closeness and community that group members experience, especially if suitable musical results emerge from them. \u00a0Anna, an Amazin\u2019 Blue alumna, reminisced in an interview that recording<\/p>\n

[Was] a time when we were together for hours and hours and hours on end, which of course makes you argue more. \u00a0But [\u2026] you end up with something that\u2019s totally amazing\u2026you work your ass off\u2014right?\u2014and in the end you\u2019re so much the better for it. (Interview with Author: 2004)<\/p>\n

As Dave\u2019s comments reveal, once an album is completed, it stands as a lasting embodiment of a group\u2019s efforts. \u00a0A recording\u2019s ability to transcend the passage of time makes it a reminder of the liminal experience of college. \u00a0\u201cRecording\u2019s important; it\u2019s a more permanent<\/em> thing, whereas performing is immediate<\/em>,\u201d explained Emily, also a Treblemaker. Recordings are \u201cliterally a record of what you\u2019ve done the past four years\u201d (Interview with Author: 2004).<\/p>\n

The experience of making an a cappella recording renders the final product replete with vivid memories of the process. \u00a0Nearly all the singers and alumni I interviewed smiled, laughed, and enjoyed telling stories of their groups\u2019 recording sessions, even in cases when they also recalled some of the tensions involved. \u00a0In an interview, alumna Jenny reminisced about recording with Amazin\u2019 Blue in the early 1990s:<\/p>\n

Recording was incredible.\u00a0 [\u2026]\u00a0 I do remember\u2026we were experimenting.\u00a0 It was totally fun.\u00a0 I was on two albums and the two processes were totally different.\u00a0 We had different numbers of tracks.\u00a0 There may have been eighteen tracks on the first album\u2026[but] on the next album we did, you could overdub like crazy, and that was really fun.\u00a0 But I do remember there were discussions in the group about: do we have live songs on the album?\u00a0 [\u2026]\u00a0 We prided ourselves on being really good live. (Interview with Author: 2004)<\/p>\n

Jenny clearly conveys the joy associated with her memories of the recording process by describing it as \u201cincredible\u201d and \u201ctotally fun.\u201d\u00a0 Moreover, her recollection hints at how recording technology was changing at the time by referencing the number of available tracks on the studio\u2019s multi-track tape recorder.\u00a0 Indeed, these improvements, which translated into more opportunities for overdubbing, created additional occasions for memorable and \u201cfun\u201d musical experimentation.\u00a0 Her comments about the possible inclusion of \u201clive songs,\u201d however, reveal some trepidation about the artificiality such richly overdubbed recordings might exhibit.\u00a0 After all, in practice, overdubbing is often a solitary effort involving an individual, rather than the whole group singing together in a manner similar to live performance.\u00a0 Thus, as much \u201cfun\u201d as overdubbing might be, both the resulting sounds and the memories associated with it differ significantly from those created outside the studio environment.<\/p>\n

Mark, a critic for the Recorded A Cappella Review Board (RARB) website, linked a feeling of connectedness from live performance to recording and, specifically, to what he called \u201cmemorable moments\u201d:<\/p>\n

You\u2019re sharing a moment with someone\u2026 And that can happen onstage, locking eyes with someone or realizing that you\u2019re suddenly synced up with somebody. \u00a0Or it can happen on a recording, too, when you hear everything just completely coalesce perfectly and crystallize beautifully for a moment. \u00a0And then you keep hitting rewind to hear it over and over again, to hear that build, that hit, back at that one spot. (Interview with Author: 2005)<\/p>\n

One might consider these memorable moments, of which Jenny implicitly speaks, as one kind of signifier for nostalgia, as they create in the present a vivid connection with the past. \u00a0The objects resulting from the a cappella recording process\u2014originally L.P.s and later cassettes and CDs\u2014are another kind, as they may spark memories with their physicality.\u00a0 For example, many a cappella <\/em>CDs include in their packaging photographs of the members whose voices can be heard on the disc, a visual representation of the group that, at least in my experience, can serve as a nostalgic trigger.[3]<\/p>\n

Svetlana Boym describes \u201cmodern nostalgia\u201d as \u201ca mourning for the impossibility of mythical return, for the loss of an enchanted world with clear borders and values…the edenic unity of time and space before entry into history\u201d (2001: 8).\u00a0 It is, moreover, \u201cdependent on the modern conception of unrepeatable and irreversible time,\u201d for its objects exist \u201csomewhere in the twilight of the past or on the island of utopia where time has happily stopped\u201d(13).\u00a0 Indeed, one\u2019s participation in an a cappella<\/em> group is always fleeting, as each year members graduate and are replaced.\u00a0 While there exists a growing semi-professional and professional a cappella<\/em> world, comprising many musicians who formerly sang with college groups, it is virtually impossible to repeat or reverse time by returning to one\u2019s collegiate group.\u00a0 (Try though they might: groups often invite alumni to join them on stage in concert for an \u201calumni song,\u201d wherein former members may relive the experience for but a few moments.)\u00a0 Thus, Boym\u2019s characterization of nostalgia largely applies to the a cappella<\/em> experience, as the recordings serve merely as audio and visual snapshots of a time, though filled with memorable moments, that is (long) past.<\/p>\n

Organizing the Recording Process: Repertory Selection and Tracking Method<\/h3>\n

Collegiate a cappella<\/em> groups exhibit a variety of approaches to the recording process that are determined partly by practical (usually financial) circumstances and partly by aesthetic preferences and social goals.\u00a0 The most important decision that must be made before actually entering a studio entails song selection.\u00a0 Some groups simply include their entire repertory from a given academic year on their records, usually between ten and twelve songs.\u00a0 This approach results in what reviewers for the RARB call a \u201cyearbook album,\u201d since it is a sounding document of a particular configuration of voices from a particular time, like a yearbook of photos whose subjects all eventually graduate and move on.[4] As resources are finite, this method carries the danger that each song may receive limited studio time and attention, which may lessen the overall musical quality of the recordings. \u00a0However, for many groups, musical excellence is not the only objective. \u00a0Documentation is also important: the more songs that can be included on the album, the more opportunities exist for memorable moments, thus maximizing the record\u2019s nostalgic potential.<\/p>\n

Alternatively, some a cappella<\/em> groups (such as Amazin\u2019 Blue) choose songs for their recording project from their larger repertory by vote. \u00a0The number of songs that can be recorded is determined by the group\u2019s budget. \u00a0A third approach is for songs to be selected by the group\u2019s democratically elected leaders, typically the musical director and business director, president, or similar officer.\u00a0 With this method, decision-making power is concentrated in the hands of a few individuals, thus carrying the greatest potential to sow discontent among the rest of the membership. \u00a0With these latter two approaches, only certain songs are recorded, the work of a few arrangers highlighted, a few soloists\u2019 voices featured.\u00a0 The documentary aspect of recording therefore is less pronounced, and the resulting tracks can no longer be taken as a representation of all the group\u2019s musical efforts for the year.\u00a0 Instead, they privilege certain sounds or voices over others. \u00a0This kind of distinction taps into the more general ways in which students use membership in an a cappella group\u2014and all the activities therein\u2014for social purposes, not just musical ones (Duchan: 2012a, 72\u20133, 80, 147, 181).<\/p>\n

Once selected, groups must choose how their songs will be recorded, beginning with how to organize the basic tracking of background voice parts, which is usually accomplished before the song\u2019s lead vocal is completed. \u00a0Like their more traditional choral counterparts, a cappella<\/em> arrangements commonly organize voices by parts<\/em> corresponding to vocal range, often adopting soprano, alto, tenor, (sometimes baritone) and bass designations from the Western choral tradition.\u00a0 In the studio, however, each part need not correspond directly to a recorded track<\/em>. \u00a0An individual singer might record his or her part two or three times onto separate tracks, doubling, tripling, or otherwise layering them to sound like there are more voices singing than there are actual singers. \u00a0An individual singer might also record separate tracks, each containing a different voice part, to fill in for absent singers or to bolster specific parts.<\/p>\n

Moreover, different formal sections of a voice part may be recorded onto separate tracks in order to optimize the different functions each has in the arrangement. \u00a0For example, the same part may emulate a rhythm guitar during one section of a song (e.g., a verse) but a background vocalist in another section (the chorus), as was the case with the Treblemakers\u2019 rendition of Stevie Wonder\u2019s \u201cSigned, Sealed, Delivered\u201d (2008). \u00a0By separating a part onto different tracks this way, the audio contained on each can be treated separately in post-production to guide listeners toward a particular interpretation of the sounds they hear. \u00a0The sections of the song where a singer\u2019s part emulates a guitar can be treated with a guitar distortion effect, for example, but the sections where his or her part is intended to sound like a vocalist will not.\u00a0 Thus, the shift from live performance to recording studio, from choral arrangement to recording project, can result in a shift in the way singers conceive <\/em>of their singing. \u00a0Dave, for example, is no longer a tenor, but his voice now has an instrumental function (Duchan 2007).<\/p>\n

Oftentimes background parts are recorded simultaneously, even if each individual singer or each group of singers sharing a voice part is captured on a different track.\u00a0 Certainly there are disadvantages to tracking a room full of singers at all once.\u00a0 Mistakes are more difficult to edit out due to sound bleeding from one singer onto another\u2019s microphone, for instance.\u00a0 But this method also has advantages.\u00a0 For one, it is efficient, allowing groups with smaller budgets to record more songs in the studio time they can afford.[5] Another advantage is social, as simultaneous multi-tracking may be as close to the feeling of a live performance as the group will get in the studio.\u00a0 For some groups, such as the University of Michigan\u2019s Gimble, financial factors are most important.\u00a0 For others, such as the Whiffenpoofs, group tracking is an aesthetic choice.[6]<\/p>\n

In groups that adopt this approach to tracking, a sense of authenticity often underscores beliefs regarding the recording process and its products. \u00a0To these musicians and, presumably, their audience, there is value in recordings that sound like concert performances, however imperfect. \u00a0In this view, the creation of recordings that sound markedly different from live performance is problematic because it challenges beliefs about authorship and the authenticity of the human voice seen as inherent to the a cappella <\/em>medium (Duchan: 2012b).<\/p>\n

This aesthetic stance is not universal among or even within a cappella<\/em> groups, however. \u00a0Amazin\u2019 Blue eschews simultaneous group tracking in favor of isolating individual parts and singers processurally, through more liberal overdubbing and \u201cpunching\u201d in and out, and physically, with moveable studio baffles.\u00a0 It takes much longer and is therefore more costly, but also reveals an aesthetic shift: recordings are no longer taken to be representations of live performance but artistic works in and of themselves whose components and overall sound are slowly and deliberately crafted using all the technologies at the group\u2019s disposal.\u00a0 These recordings are less documentary or \u201cauthentic\u201d in the way a live performance is.\u00a0 They may still fulfill a nostalgic function years later, but do so through an audio amalgam conceptually different from yearbook albums.<\/p>\n

Social Organization:\u00a0 Power and Relationships in the Studio<\/h3>\n

Amazin\u2019 Blue\u2019s approach to tracking highlights how the experience of recording music in a studio can differ greatly from live performance. \u00a0For college-age amateur singers used to rehearsal and performance environments, this difference can be especially noticeable.\u00a0 This is perhaps why, as Jenny recalled, Amazin\u2019 Blue considered including live material, taken from actual concerts or recorded live-in-studio, on their albums.\u00a0 In the studio, the co-temporality of performance is removed and singers can only respond to the sounds that were recorded before them; they are no longer \u201cinteracting,\u201d but \u201creacting\u201d (Porcello: 1996, 60). \u00a0The \u201ctemporal simultaneity\u201d that makes the Gimble or Whiffenpoofs recording session seem more like a live performance also allows it to serve a community-building purpose, as much choral activity does (Ahlquist: 2006).\u00a0 But for an Amazin\u2019 Blue\u2013style session to do the same requires the singers to accept that their individual contributions are discrete and will be assembled later and, in ceding control of their voices, trust that that assembly will reflect well on their musicianship. \u00a0Indeed, when I sat in on recording sessions with Gimble, the Whiffenpoofs and other groups using similar methods, most of the singers remained near the control room listening to the playback of their voices or any overdubs that followed. \u00a0In contrast, when I recorded with Amazin\u2019 Blue, I observed that fewer group members usually remained in the control room; the rest tended to study or hang out in the studio\u2019s lobby, away from the recording process and disconnected from the ongoing musical activities.<\/p>\n

The temporal fragmentation created by Amazin\u2019 Blue\u2019s method results in what Porcello calls an \u201cantidemocratic force\u201d (1996, 60) which counters the efforts many a cappella groups make to value each member\u2019s contributions. \u00a0The physical fragmentation also reinforces Alan Williams\u2019s claims about how the \u201cperformance space\/control room divide\u201d can be used in ways that enable particular actors in the studio environment to maintain certain levels of control (2013). \u00a0In the situations Williams observed, it was most often engineers and producers who exerted control over musicians through the panopticon (Foucault: 1979) of the control room window and talkback systems. \u00a0In the a cappella<\/em> context, the role of producer is usually filled by the singers\u2019 peers, acting in specific social and musical roles\u2014either as the group\u2019s musical director or the arranger of the song(s) being recorded\u2014meant to ensure effective workflow so that the group can achieve its goals.<\/p>\n

However, the fact that group members often serve as producer does not always mean that the performance space\/control room divide is erased.\u00a0 In my fieldwork, I witnessed at least one situation in which a soloist left the studio in tears, complaining about feeling manipulated by the seemingly omnipresent voice coming over the studio\u2019s talkback system, delivering requests for elaborate vocal stylings that were impossible to fulfill.\u00a0 And while the sessions I observed with Gimble and some other groups included the presence of singers in the control room, this is not a universal approach.\u00a0 My experience in the studio as a member of a mixed group at the University of Pennsylvania is telling: under pressure to record our entire repertory from the academic year in a matter of days and at a level competitive with that of other groups appearing on the annual Best of College A Cappella<\/em> compilation, the music director and president announced that access to the control room would only be granted to the group\u2019s officers. \u00a0The rest of the members, when not singing, were shunted to the studio\u2019s sparse waiting room, disconnected from the recording process.\u00a0 They did not even have tea or coffee, beverages that have been identified as crucial to facilitating social interaction within the studio environment (Bates: 2012).[7] Many were unhappy and voiced their displeasure.\u00a0 Despite the fact that the officers had, in fact, been elected by the group\u2019s general membership to make decisions on their behalf, many of the rank-and-file believed that they deserved at least the chance to witness the decisions that would ultimately have a direct impact on the sound of their album (reviewers on the RARB website called the resulting CD \u201ca letdown,\u201d see Cohen: 2001) and, consequently, the memories associated with that sound and its creation.<\/p>\n

It was partly as a result of this experience that I took a different approach when it was my turn to play producer for some Amazin\u2019 Blue sessions.\u00a0 I encouraged all the group\u2019s members to participate in creating large, decorated flowcharts of the recording process, which were hung in the studio on the wall of the control room.\u00a0 In theory, at least, these would enable all members to better understand \u201cwhere we were\u201d in this temporally disjointed process, share knowledge about its various steps, make the technology of the studio less intimidating to new members who may not have been to such a facility before, and facilitate their entry and exit from the room according to their own whims.<\/p>\n

Because Amazin\u2019 Blue\u2019s approach to recording involved temporally and physically isolating individual singers in both basic tracking and overdubs, it took a considerable amount of time.\u00a0 It was therefore not unusual for food to be brought in and shared, offering an opportunity for more communal gathering.\u00a0 While a break from explicitly musical activity, these shared meals created additional occasions for the direct transfer of knowledge between members, and the state of the work-in-progress was a common topic of discussion.\u00a0 These conversations often located those with more technical or musical know-how in a position of considerable power within the group\u2019s social landscape, as it was they who could best explain what had been accomplished and what remained to be done.[8]<\/p>\n

Williams observes how musicians are increasingly able to describe their \u201cinternal ideal audioscapes and\u2026articulate their demands towards achieving the ideal\u201d (2013). \u00a0Indeed, the more time a cappella singers spend in the control room, the greater the potential to absorb the concepts and terminology the engineers use.\u00a0 Moreover, I get the sense that it is becoming increasingly common for a cappella groups\u2014not just at the college level, but also high school groups\u2014to handle parts of the recording process themselves.\u00a0 Not every group can construct its own recording studio, like the Massachusetts Institute of Technology\u2019s Logarhythms did in 2003.\u00a0 But by the time I left Amazin\u2019 Blue, the group would routinely track at the studio, then bring the files back to campus and perform certain basic edits in the Performing Arts Technology Department\u2019s audio suites before returning to the studio for mixing and mastering.\u00a0 Interestingly, whereas most group members would at least be in the building for tracking, few would attend editing sessions, once again placing power in the hands of a couple dedicated individuals.<\/p>\n

Conclusions<\/h3>\n

While many of the practices observed in the collegiate a cappella<\/em> context are similar to those in other musical genres, a few aspects of the genre\u2019s culture of production are distinctive.\u00a0 The first is that recordings and the process of their creation have a lasting impact on the lives of the musicians involved, linking music, technology, memory, and nostalgia.\u00a0 Yet, as a musical genre in which each person\u2019s involvement is time-limited, recording(s) can be especially fraught.\u00a0 If an album is, as Emily put it, \u201ca more permanent<\/em> thing\u201d (2004) to which memories of sound and experience adhere, the pressure to get it \u201cright\u201d may be great.\u00a0 After all, there may be a follow-up album, and it may bear the same group\u2019s name, but it almost certainly will not capture the same voices, singing the same songs, under the same leadership.\u00a0 The nostalgic potential of a record is greatest for those carrying memories of its creation.\u00a0 As one singer put it, \u201cin a cappella, the people who prize the recording the most are the people who made the recording.\u201d\u00a0 One can contrast this with other genres of popular music in which \u201cfandom\u201d includes intense activity surrounding the collection of records (e.g., Shuker: 2004).<\/p>\n

Second, from the very beginning of a recording project, the choices these groups (or their leaders) make are motivated by financial constraints as well as aesthetic and social goals particular to their status as peer-led, student ensembles. \u00a0Each musician only participates for a few years, at most, and must therefore decide (or may contribute to the decision regarding) how he or she will leave a musical mark: with a documentary \u201cyearbook\u201d album of perhaps mediocre musical quality but complete representation of a year\u2019s work; or with a more limited record <\/em>that perhaps does not actually represent how the group ever sounded in live performance but meets someone\u2019s (whose?) ideal conception of the arrangements or, in the pursuit of the perfect cover, uses studio technology to modify voices to emulate instruments to such a degree that they no longer even sound like voices.\u00a0 The ethnographic evidence suggests that different groups\u2014even different members within groups\u2014make different choices, for varying reasons.<\/p>\n

And third, the a cappella context illustrates how the social roles of the group can directly affect the sound of the recording and the experience of its creation.\u00a0 If college is, indeed, a liminal period, then on some level the differences between members in this time of transition are minimized, a process known anthropologically as communitas<\/em> (Turner: 1969). \u00a0On another level, however, a community of equals does not make for efficient decision making, especially when time is money and decisions with direct bearing on the final product\u2014regarding tracking techniques, edits, mixing, post-production, etc.\u2014are made seemingly by the minute by individuals with no personal financial stake in the project.\u00a0 So if a group\u2019s leaders are empowered to make those decisions, how will the rest of the membership react\u2014especially when it is their legacy on the line?\u00a0 My fieldwork included a wide variety of responses, from compliance resulting from strong faith in group leaders and their direction, on one hand, to utter rejection of the leaders\u2019 decisions and open challenges to their authority on the other.<\/p>\n

The social bonds of trust, formed outside the studio through months of rehearsal and performance, are thus dragged inside, where they can influence musicians\u2019 behavior and the kinds and qualities of sound they offer.\u00a0 Moreover, positive experiences in the studio can reinforce the trust that group members place in each other.\u00a0 As Andrea, a singer with the Michigan State University Capital Green, remarked, after beginning to record her group\u2019s album, \u201cpeople started to trust [each other], like \u2018I\u2019m going to handle my part and everyone else is going to handle theirs\u2019\u201d (2005).\u00a0 Ultimately, then, the a cappella case shows that recording is not just the capture (Katz: 2004) or composition (Zak: 2001) of sound, but the encoding of experience.<\/p>\n

Acknowledgments<\/h3>\n

The author would like to thank the members of the Boston University Treblemakers, the Michigan State University Capital Green, the University of Michigan Amazin\u2019 Blue, the University of Michigan Gimble, the University of Pennsylvania Counterparts, and the Yale University Whiffenpoofs for sharing their musical experiences; attendees at the 2013 Art of Record Production conference for their feedback; and Wendy Matthews, Emery Stephens, and the anonymous reviewers for their critique of earlier drafts of this essay.<\/p>\n

[1]\u00a0Despite this relatively recent explosion of a cappella<\/em> activity and the historical significance of the 1909 Whiffenpoofs, there is plenty of evidence of such groups throughout the nineteenth century and earlier at Yale and elsewhere (see Duchan: 2012a, 11\u201322).<\/p>\n

[2] The Best of College A Cappella <\/em>series, begun in 1995, is produced annually by Varsity Vocals.\u00a0 See http:\/\/www.varsityvocals.com.<\/p>\n

[3] Further study may examine the impact of digital distribution on this kind of physically and visually stimulated nostalgia, as CDs become less and less the primary medium through which a cappella recordings are bought, sold, and shared.<\/p>\n

[4] See, for example, Trendler\u2019s, review of University of Wisconsin-Madison MadHatters\u2019 album, Friday After Class<\/em>: \u201c[T]he rhythmic clunkiness, awkward moments, and largely uninspiring arrangements, combined with the live recording of Ave Maria <\/em>(yes, the same one you sang with your mediocre college men\u2019s group), smacks of a young group recording a yearbook album.\u00a0 As is usually the case with yearbook albums, relegate Friday After Class <\/em>to family, friends\u2014oh, and the Queen of Hearts\u2019 guillotine\u201d (2005).<\/p>\n

[5] Further study may reveal a correlation between these \u201cyearbook albums\u201d and simultaneous group tracking methods.<\/p>\n

[6] Given the Whiffenpoofs\u2019 extensive international touring schedule, a generous operating budget can be inferred.\u00a0 Therefore, the group\u2019s preference for simultaneous multi-tracking is most likely an aesthetic, rather than financially driven, choice.<\/p>\n

[7] Bates discusses English and Turkish studios in particular, but my observations in several American studios with a cappella<\/em> musicians also support this claim.<\/p>\n

[8] When not discussing the recording process, these familial conversations frequently provided members more general with social (and sometimes more directly academic) support at a critical and stressful time in the academic year, as recording sessions were often scheduled around final exams at the end of each semester to avoid conflicts with academic obligations.<\/p>\n

Bibliography<\/h3>\n

Alquist, K., ed.\u00a0 (2006)\u00a0 Chorus and Community<\/em>.\u00a0 Urbana: University of Illinois Press.<\/p>\n

Andrea [Michigan State University Capital Green].\u00a0 (2005)\u00a0 Personal interview, 21 January.<\/p>\n

Anna [University of Michigan Amazin\u2019 Blue].\u00a0 (2004)\u00a0 Personal interview, 12 November.<\/p>\n

Bates, E.\u00a0 (2012) \u00a0\u201cWhat Studios Do.\u201d \u00a0In: Journal of the Art of Record Production<\/em> 7.<\/p>\n

Bell, D., and Sharon, D.\u00a0 (2012)\u00a0 A Cappella Arranging<\/em>.\u00a0 Milwaukee: Hal Leonard.<\/p>\n

Boym, S.\u00a0 (2001)\u00a0 The Future of Nostalgia<\/em>.\u00a0 New York: Basic.<\/p>\n

Callahan, A.\u00a0 (2000)\u00a0 Anna\u2019s Amazing A Cappella Arranging Advice: The Collegiate A Cappella Arranging Manual<\/em>.\u00a0 Milwaukee: Hal Leonard.<\/p>\n

Chin, M., and Scalise, M.\u00a0 (2012)\u00a0 The A Cappella Book<\/em>.\u00a0 The A Cappella Blog.<\/p>\n

Cohen, M.\u00a0 (2001)\u00a0 Review of the University of Pennsylvania Counterparts, Ten <\/em>(2001).\u00a0 In: Recorded A Cappella Review Board [online].\u00a0 Available at: http:\/\/www.rarb.org\/reviews\/268.html\u00a0 (accessed: December 2009).<\/p>\n

Dave [Boston University Treblemakers].\u00a0 (2005)\u00a0 Personal interview, 9 February.<\/p>\n

Duchan, J.\u00a0 (2007)\u00a0 \u201cCollegiate A Cappella: Emulation and Originality.\u201d\u00a0 In: American Music<\/em>.\u00a0 25, 4, pp. 477\u2013506.<\/p>\n

Duchan, J.\u00a0 (2012a)\u00a0 Powerful Voices: The Musical and Social World of Collegiate A Cappella<\/em>.\u00a0 Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.<\/p>\n

Duchan, J.\u00a0 (2012b)\u00a0 \u201cRecordings, Technology, and Discourse in Collegiate A Cappella.\u201d\u00a0 In: Journal of American Folklore<\/em>.\u00a0 125, 498, pp. 488\u2013502.<\/p>\n

Emily [Boston University Treblemakers].\u00a0 (2004)\u00a0 Personal interview, 6 December.<\/p>\n

Foucault, M.\u00a0 (1979)\u00a0 Discipline and Punish: The Birth of the Prison<\/em>. \u00a0New York: Vintage.<\/p>\n

Jenny [University of Michigan Amazin\u2019 Blue].\u00a0 (2004)\u00a0 Personal interview, 12 November.<\/p>\n

Katz, M.\u00a0 (2004)\u00a0 Capturing Sound: How Technology Has Changed Music<\/em>.\u00a0 Berkeley: University of California Press.<\/p>\n

Mark [Recorded A Cappella Review Board].\u00a0 (2005)\u00a0 Personal interview, 23 March.<\/p>\n

Mayhew, P.J.\u00a0 (2009)\u00a0 \u201cPerception of Collegiate Contemporary A Cappella Ensembles.\u201d \u00a0In: Research Perspectives in Music Education<\/em>. \u00a013, pp. 22\u201327.<\/p>\n

McDonald, B.\u00a0 (2012)\u00a0 A Cappella Pop: A Complete Guide to Contemporary A Cappella Singing<\/em>.\u00a0 Van Nuys, CA: Alfred.<\/p>\n

Paparo, S.A.\u00a0 (2013)\u00a0 \u201cThe Accafellows<\/em>: exploring the music making and culture of a collegiate a cappella ensemble.\u201d\u00a0 In: Music Education Research.<\/em> 15, 1, pp. 19\u201338.<\/p>\n

Porcello, T. (1996) \u00a0\u201cSonic Artistry: Music, Discourse, and Technology in the Sound Recording Studio.\u201d \u00a0Ph.D. diss., University of Texas at Austin.<\/p>\n

Rapkin, M.\u00a0 (2008)\u00a0 Pitch Perfect: The Quest for A Cappella Glory<\/em>.\u00a0 New York: Gotham.<\/p>\n

Schumaker, A.\u00a0 (2013) \u00a0\u201cIncorporating Popular Music Into the Classroom.\u201d\u00a0 D.M.A. dissertation, University of Miami.<\/p>\n

Shuker, R.\u00a0 (2004)\u00a0 \u201cBeyond the \u2018high fidelity\u2019 stereotype: defining the (contemporary) record collector.\u201d\u00a0 In: Popular Music<\/em>.\u00a0 23, 3, pp. 311\u2013330.<\/p>\n

Trendler, D.\u00a0 (2005)\u00a0 Review of University of Wisconsin-Madison HadHatters, Friday After Class <\/em>(2005).\u00a0 In: Recorded A Cappella Review Board [online].\u00a0 Available at: http:\/\/www.rarb.org\/reviews\/563.html\u00a0 (accessed: January 2007).<\/p>\n

Turner, V.\u00a0 (1969) \u00a0The Ritual Process: Structure and Anti-Structure<\/em>.\u00a0 Chicago: Aldine.<\/p>\n

Williams, A.\u00a0 (2013)\u00a0 \u201cAbsorb and Diffuse: The Liminality of Recording Studio Practice.\u201d \u00a0Paper delivered at the meeting of the International Association for the Study of Popular Music, US Branch, Austin, Texas.<\/p>\n

Zak, A.\u00a0 (2001)\u00a0 The Poetics of Rock: Cutting Tracks, Making Records<\/em>.\u00a0 Berkeley: University of California Press.<\/p>\n

Discography and Videography<\/h3>\n

Best of College A Cappella<\/em>.\u00a0 CD, Varsity Vocals, annually, 1995\u2013.<\/p>\n

Folds, B., Ben Folds Presents: University A Cappella!<\/em>. \u00a0CD, Sony, 2009.<\/p>\n

The Sing-Off!<\/em>. \u00a0Television series, NBC, 2009\u20132011, 2013\u2013.<\/p>\n

Treblemakers [Boston University], \u201cSigned, Sealed, Delivered,\u201d Live From a Cardboard Box<\/em>. CD, [no label], 2008.\u00a0 Originally by Stevie Wonder, Lee Garrett, Syreeta Wright, and Lula Mae Hardaway, vinyl, Tamla, 1970.<\/p>\n

Pitch Perfect<\/em>. \u00a0Directed by Jason Moore. \u00a0Film, Universal Pictures, 2012.<\/p>\n

University of Wisconsin-Madison MadHatters, Friday After Class<\/em>.\u00a0 CD, [no label], 2005.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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