{"id":4142,"date":"2024-05-14T23:38:11","date_gmt":"2024-05-14T23:38:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.arpjournal.com\/asarpwp\/?p=4142"},"modified":"2024-05-20T13:22:48","modified_gmt":"2024-05-20T13:22:48","slug":"guy-baron-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.arpjournal.com\/asarpwp\/guy-baron-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Make music like no one is watching: a conversation on bedroom production in audio-visual piece Queen Aquamarine"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Guy Baron is an academic and a singer-producer working under the name&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/semipreciousmusic.bandcamp.com\/album\/sun-is-out\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Semi Precious<\/a>. His musical practice fuses electronic music production and songwriting to explore notions of bedroom production and hauntology, with previous musical works being endorsed by The Sunday Times (\u2018real emotional depth\u2019), The Guardian (\u2018subtly dislocating beauty\u2019) and i-D (\u2018celestial pop suspending and spinning in a dark and lonely bedroom\u2019). Baron serves as a lecturer of music production at&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.gold.ac.uk\/music\/staff\/baron-guy\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Goldsmiths University<\/a>, as well as leading practice-based modules at London South Bank University. His doctoral research focused on aspects of reminiscing and retrospection in the context of electronic music making.<\/p>\n<p>Yasmin Vardi\u2019s work incorporates video, installation, photography and text and focuses on trauma, the politics of form and mechanisms relating to constructed realities. She holds an MFA from Slade School of Fine Art, and exhibited in Open City Documentary Festival, Venice&#8217;s 17th Biennale, London\u2019s Architecture Festival and greengrassi Gallery.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"YouTube video player\" src=\"\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/4jrtVI1v-zY?si=iswlwg43Nq-gQ0D7&amp;controls=0\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"p1\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Conceived as a collaboration between singer-producer Semi Precious (Guy Baron) and video artist Yasmin Vardi, the audio-visual piece for Queen Aquamarine \u2013 the lead track from the <span class=\"s1\">new <\/span><span class=\"s1\">Semi Precious EP <\/span>\u2013 explores bedroom production aesthetics using iPhone footage and digital manipulations. It further addresses the notion of feeling comfortable a<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">nd liberated in one\u2019s own body, as experienced in private spaces and moments of exploration and play. In the conversation below, the two artists reflect on their approaches to bedroom production.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3 style=\"text-align: center;\">A conversation on bedroom production in audio-visual piece Queen Aquamarine<\/h3>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-4291\" src=\"https:\/\/www.arpjournal.com\/asarpwp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/GuyBaron_HomeStudio_1-225x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"225\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.arpjournal.com\/asarpwp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/GuyBaron_HomeStudio_1-225x300.jpg 225w, https:\/\/www.arpjournal.com\/asarpwp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/GuyBaron_HomeStudio_1-768x1024.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.arpjournal.com\/asarpwp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/GuyBaron_HomeStudio_1-1152x1536.jpg 1152w, https:\/\/www.arpjournal.com\/asarpwp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/GuyBaron_HomeStudio_1-1536x2048.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/www.arpjournal.com\/asarpwp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/GuyBaron_HomeStudio_1-scaled.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 225px) 100vw, 225px\" \/><strong style=\"font-size: revert; color: initial; font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, 'Segoe UI', Roboto, Oxygen-Sans, Ubuntu, Cantarell, 'Helvetica Neue', sans-serif;\">Guy Baron: <\/strong><span style=\"font-size: revert; color: initial; font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, 'Segoe UI', Roboto, Oxygen-Sans, Ubuntu, Cantarell, 'Helvetica Neue', sans-serif;\">I want to start the conversation discussing this feeling I get often: almost like a longing for a period in my life when I shared a place with a flatmate and when my bedroom, where I had a tiny folding desk, was basically the space where I did everything. I find myself wanting to revert to doing everything from my bedroom, having my shoes neatly placed on the side of bed. I\u2019m not sure why but I find this living-working setup kind of comforting and almost zen-like?<\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong>Yasmin Vardi: <\/strong><span style=\"font-size: revert; color: initial; font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, 'Segoe UI', Roboto, Oxygen-Sans, Ubuntu, Cantarell, 'Helvetica Neue', sans-serif;\">Even monk-ish<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\"><strong>GB: <\/strong><span style=\"font-size: revert; color: initial; font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, 'Segoe UI', Roboto, Oxygen-Sans, Ubuntu, Cantarell, 'Helvetica Neue', sans-serif;\">Yes! And it can on one hand feel claustrophobic or limiting but on the other hand there\u2019s a <\/span><span style=\"font-size: revert; color: initial; font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, 'Segoe UI', Roboto, Oxygen-Sans, Ubuntu, Cantarell, 'Helvetica Neue', sans-serif;\">certain coziness to it. And now I kind of lost that mode of living-working. I suppose that\u2019s why I <\/span><span style=\"font-size: revert; color: initial; font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, 'Segoe UI', Roboto, Oxygen-Sans, Ubuntu, Cantarell, 'Helvetica Neue', sans-serif;\">made my current music studio look a bit like a bedroom, with a shoes-off policy and a thick rug. <\/span><span style=\"font-size: revert; color: initial; font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, 'Segoe UI', Roboto, Oxygen-Sans, Ubuntu, Cantarell, 'Helvetica Neue', sans-serif;\">I recreated a bedroom in my work environment.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\"><strong>YV: <\/strong><span style=\"font-size: revert; color: initial; font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, 'Segoe UI', Roboto, Oxygen-Sans, Ubuntu, Cantarell, 'Helvetica Neue', sans-serif;\">For me it\u2019s the case that some creative work can\u2019t be done in the studio. For example, there <\/span><span style=\"font-size: revert; color: initial; font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, 'Segoe UI', Roboto, Oxygen-Sans, Ubuntu, Cantarell, 'Helvetica Neue', sans-serif;\">are certain scenes that I would not be able to write in my actual studio. I know that I will only <\/span><span style=\"font-size: revert; color: initial; font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, 'Segoe UI', Roboto, Oxygen-Sans, Ubuntu, Cantarell, 'Helvetica Neue', sans-serif;\">be able to write them in my bedroom, surrounded by piles of clothes and dirty laundry etc. On <\/span><span style=\"font-size: revert; color: initial; font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, 'Segoe UI', Roboto, Oxygen-Sans, Ubuntu, Cantarell, 'Helvetica Neue', sans-serif;\">the contrary, in the studio (or in a recording studio for that matter) there\u2019s a disconnection <\/span><span style=\"font-size: revert; color: initial; font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, 'Segoe UI', Roboto, Oxygen-Sans, Ubuntu, Cantarell, 'Helvetica Neue', sans-serif;\">from \u201creal life\u201d and house chores that enables a different stream of thought and workflow. But <\/span><span style=\"font-size: revert; color: initial; font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, 'Segoe UI', Roboto, Oxygen-Sans, Ubuntu, Cantarell, 'Helvetica Neue', sans-serif;\">with certain things you\u2019re working on you need that sense of closeness, a proximity to real life <\/span><span style=\"font-size: revert; color: initial; font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, 'Segoe UI', Roboto, Oxygen-Sans, Ubuntu, Cantarell, 'Helvetica Neue', sans-serif;\">that gives you a sense of perspective<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"color: #808080;\">* * * * *<\/span><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft wp-image-4292 size-medium\" src=\"https:\/\/www.arpjournal.com\/asarpwp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/GuyBaron_HomeStudio_2-225x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"225\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.arpjournal.com\/asarpwp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/GuyBaron_HomeStudio_2-225x300.jpg 225w, https:\/\/www.arpjournal.com\/asarpwp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/GuyBaron_HomeStudio_2-768x1024.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.arpjournal.com\/asarpwp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/GuyBaron_HomeStudio_2-1152x1536.jpg 1152w, https:\/\/www.arpjournal.com\/asarpwp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/GuyBaron_HomeStudio_2-1536x2048.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/www.arpjournal.com\/asarpwp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/GuyBaron_HomeStudio_2-scaled.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 225px) 100vw, 225px\" \/><strong>GB: <\/strong><span style=\"font-size: revert; color: initial; font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, 'Segoe UI', Roboto, Oxygen-Sans, Ubuntu, Cantarell, 'Helvetica Neue', sans-serif;\">So this thing of different work environments is something I talk a lot about with other music producers\u2026 and also about the idea of navigating between two modes of creative making: on the one hand you need to be disciplined, to treat creative work as a \u201cjob\u201d and commit yourself to the process, and then on the other hand there is another mode of creativity that is more about \u201cplay\u201d or playfulness. And I think that often when you go into a \u201creal\u201d studio you\u2019re inevitably in labour rather than play mode. Obviously sometimes this is useful, if you work on things like mixing and tweaking specific arrangement details. But I often find that the initial spark of inspiration needs to come from a place of almost allowing yourself to do something you\u2019re not supposed to do, or escaping to music making when you need to do other things. This takes me to the time I was still recording in my actual bedroom, when I used to find myself being \u201ctempted\u201d to make music in the middle of the night<\/span><\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><strong>YV:\u00a0 <\/strong>I completely identify. There is certain writing that I can do on the bus, for example, or certain ideas that come [\u2026] There\u2019s a very interesting text by McKenzie Wark that touches upon life and art and the boundaries between them (Wark, 2023), where <span class=\"s2\">she <\/span>basically says it\u2019s impossible to draw a line between creative writing and labour. And so I feel that this links to a lot of conversations we had about the need to fuse real life and art making \u2013 you could go to a party or sit in your bedroom [as opposed to being in the studio] and something will come to you, there\u2019s no separation. But I still find that I need to have a boundary: when I have the \u201clabour\u201d space, I am then able to cross it into the private-life realm<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"color: #808080;\">* * * * *<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\"><span style=\"font-size: revert; color: initial; font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, 'Segoe UI', Roboto, Oxygen-Sans, Ubuntu, Cantarell, 'Helvetica Neue', sans-serif;\"><strong><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-4293\" src=\"https:\/\/www.arpjournal.com\/asarpwp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/GuyBaron_HomeStudio_3-225x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"225\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.arpjournal.com\/asarpwp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/GuyBaron_HomeStudio_3-225x300.jpg 225w, https:\/\/www.arpjournal.com\/asarpwp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/GuyBaron_HomeStudio_3-768x1024.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.arpjournal.com\/asarpwp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/GuyBaron_HomeStudio_3-1152x1536.jpg 1152w, https:\/\/www.arpjournal.com\/asarpwp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/GuyBaron_HomeStudio_3-1536x2048.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/www.arpjournal.com\/asarpwp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/GuyBaron_HomeStudio_3-scaled.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 225px) 100vw, 225px\" \/>YV:<\/strong> Thinking about the inability to \u201cdiscipline\u201d one\u2019s own creative practice\u2026 It\u2019s obvious that our joint practice, with its bedroom production leaning, tends to be unstable and unpredictable<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\"><strong>GB:<\/strong> <span style=\"font-size: revert; color: initial; font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, 'Segoe UI', Roboto, Oxygen-Sans, Ubuntu, Cantarell, 'Helvetica Neue', sans-serif;\">I think there is discipline in our joint work, but when we collaborate ultimately things seem <\/span><span style=\"font-size: revert; color: initial; font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, 'Segoe UI', Roboto, Oxygen-Sans, Ubuntu, Cantarell, 'Helvetica Neue', sans-serif;\">to happen more organically by means of improvisation. And this is something that is clearly <\/span><span style=\"font-size: revert; color: initial; font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, 'Segoe UI', Roboto, Oxygen-Sans, Ubuntu, Cantarell, 'Helvetica Neue', sans-serif;\">intertwined with bedroom production as an ethos of working with what you have, with what is <\/span><span style=\"font-size: revert; color: initial; font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, 'Segoe UI', Roboto, Oxygen-Sans, Ubuntu, Cantarell, 'Helvetica Neue', sans-serif;\">available at hand\u2026 and responding to a given space, rather than being in that labour-studio <\/span><span style=\"font-size: revert; color: initial; font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, 'Segoe UI', Roboto, Oxygen-Sans, Ubuntu, Cantarell, 'Helvetica Neue', sans-serif;\">mode<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\"><strong>YV: <\/strong><span style=\"font-size: revert; color: initial; font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, 'Segoe UI', Roboto, Oxygen-Sans, Ubuntu, Cantarell, 'Helvetica Neue', sans-serif;\">I think that DIY playfulness is something that really captures people. I recently did a lecture <\/span><span style=\"font-size: revert; color: initial; font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, 'Segoe UI', Roboto, Oxygen-Sans, Ubuntu, Cantarell, 'Helvetica Neue', sans-serif;\">for undergraduate students and talked about Tyler the Creator in the context of visual <\/span><span style=\"font-size: revert; color: initial; font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, 'Segoe UI', Roboto, Oxygen-Sans, Ubuntu, Cantarell, 'Helvetica Neue', sans-serif;\">branding. I found that the students were mostly captivated by Tyler\u2019s earlier DIY aesthetics<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\"><strong>GB: <\/strong><span style=\"font-size: revert; color: initial; font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, 'Segoe UI', Roboto, Oxygen-Sans, Ubuntu, Cantarell, 'Helvetica Neue', sans-serif;\">What you\u2019re mentioning now for me taps into something else: the fact that when you\u2019re just starting to develop your creative practice, you\u2019re essentially less aware or conscious of what you\u2019re doing and trying to achieve. And then the more we refine our practice, the more we become aware \u2013 which is a good and a bad thing, as at this point we approach the process with a set of expectations and with an idea of the final outcome. Like with your Tyler the Creator example, where the spontaneous and goofy aesthetics at some point became something that is constructed and then capitalised upon<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\"><strong>YV: <\/strong><span style=\"font-size: revert; color: initial; font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, 'Segoe UI', Roboto, Oxygen-Sans, Ubuntu, Cantarell, 'Helvetica Neue', sans-serif;\">But there\u2019s a middle ground between the commodification of an aesthetics and the initial bedroom playfulness\u2026 it doesn\u2019t have to be binary. For me it\u2019s about finding that sweet spot where intimacy is kept at a distance. That\u2019s the secret<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\"><strong>GB: <\/strong><span style=\"font-size: revert; color: initial; font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, 'Segoe UI', Roboto, Oxygen-Sans, Ubuntu, Cantarell, 'Helvetica Neue', sans-serif;\">I guess this also relates to irony in art more broadly, and to things like pop art for example, where it\u2019s not altogether clear if the artist is doing something in a self-conscious and ironic way or from a place of genuine curiosity and naivety. That\u2019s also what fascinated me about sample-based, home-produced vapourware tracks when they first surfaced on reddit communities around 2011: that sense of ambiguity and that it wasn\u2019t clear whether these music producers were genuinely into shopping mall music and skyscrapers in Hong Kong, or that it was\u2026<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\"><strong>YV: <\/strong><span style=\"font-size: revert; color: initial; font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, 'Segoe UI', Roboto, Oxygen-Sans, Ubuntu, Cantarell, 'Helvetica Neue', sans-serif;\">A commentary<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\"><strong>GB: <\/strong><span style=\"font-size: revert; color: initial; font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, 'Segoe UI', Roboto, Oxygen-Sans, Ubuntu, Cantarell, 'Helvetica Neue', sans-serif;\">Yes, a commentary about consumerist culture<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\"><strong>YV: <\/strong><span style=\"font-size: revert; color: initial; font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, 'Segoe UI', Roboto, Oxygen-Sans, Ubuntu, Cantarell, 'Helvetica Neue', sans-serif;\">This is what I feel makes the video we\u2019ve created for Queen Aquamarine interesting. It has this duality or ambiguity that complicates the seemingly self-indulgent \u201cselfie\u201d footage<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\"><strong>GB:\u00a0 <\/strong>It\u2019s interesting you say that\u2026 I do feel that with my previous musical works there was this duality you mention. For example, in my album Ultimate Lounge (Baron, 2016) I sampled easy listening music that is clearly very \u201ccheesy\u201d. So the album became quite ironic and self-aware. But with Queen Aquamarine it was something else for me, for me it was quite naive<\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\"><strong>YV:\u00a0 <\/strong>I think we both approached the making of this video with a sense of naivety, but the result [\u2026] there\u2019s another thing that\u2019s happening there. For example, the way the video is spliced and edited in an almost brutal way into different strips (which reminds me of that distinction we talked about earlier between leisure and labour)<\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\"><strong>GB: <\/strong><span style=\"font-size: revert; color: initial; font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, 'Segoe UI', Roboto, Oxygen-Sans, Ubuntu, Cantarell, 'Helvetica Neue', sans-serif;\">For me the visuals in Queen Aquamarine are more associated with a sense of softness, like a mirror room. Or maybe like little ripples of the self that are exposed in a private bedroom environment<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"color: #808080;\">* * * * *<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: revert; color: initial; font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, 'Segoe UI', Roboto, Oxygen-Sans, Ubuntu, Cantarell, 'Helvetica Neue', sans-serif;\"><strong><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-4148\" src=\"https:\/\/www.arpjournal.com\/asarpwp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/Pic-3-credit-Yasmin-Vardi-300x200.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.arpjournal.com\/asarpwp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/Pic-3-credit-Yasmin-Vardi-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.arpjournal.com\/asarpwp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/Pic-3-credit-Yasmin-Vardi-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.arpjournal.com\/asarpwp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/Pic-3-credit-Yasmin-Vardi-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.arpjournal.com\/asarpwp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/Pic-3-credit-Yasmin-Vardi-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/www.arpjournal.com\/asarpwp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/Pic-3-credit-Yasmin-Vardi-2048x1365.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/>GB:<\/strong> I want to move for a moment to discussing ASMR YouTube videos, which emerged about a <\/span><span style=\"font-size: revert; color: initial; font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, 'Segoe UI', Roboto, Oxygen-Sans, Ubuntu, Cantarell, 'Helvetica Neue', sans-serif;\">decade ago and became a massive internet phenomenon, with their whispery and comforting <\/span><span style=\"font-size: revert; color: initial; font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, 'Segoe UI', Roboto, Oxygen-Sans, Ubuntu, Cantarell, 'Helvetica Neue', sans-serif;\">voices and as an example of bedroom production. There\u2019s something about those videos I still <\/span><span style=\"font-size: revert; color: initial; font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, 'Segoe UI', Roboto, Oxygen-Sans, Ubuntu, Cantarell, 'Helvetica Neue', sans-serif;\">struggle to articulate, like a sort of digital intimacy: the fact that there\u2019s someone out there on <\/span><span style=\"font-size: revert; color: initial; font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, 'Segoe UI', Roboto, Oxygen-Sans, Ubuntu, Cantarell, 'Helvetica Neue', sans-serif;\">the other side of the world that seemingly \u201ccares\u201d for you\u2026 and the need to make up for some <\/span><span style=\"font-size: revert; color: initial; font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, 'Segoe UI', Roboto, Oxygen-Sans, Ubuntu, Cantarell, 'Helvetica Neue', sans-serif;\">lost sense of care. It\u2019s almost like an intimate connectivity that is created through the digitally mediated<\/span><\/p>\n<h6>Photograph by Yasmin Vardi<\/h6>\n<p class=\"p2\"><strong>YV: <\/strong><span style=\"font-size: revert; color: initial; font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, 'Segoe UI', Roboto, Oxygen-Sans, Ubuntu, Cantarell, 'Helvetica Neue', sans-serif;\">For me it\u2019s a one-step-too-close sort of thing, or something that is simultaneously pleasant and intimidating. I think that Queen Aquamarine, for example, brings this quality of something that is perhaps a bit too close. The filming is as intimate and private as it gets<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\"><strong>GB: <\/strong><span style=\"font-size: revert; color: initial; font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, 'Segoe UI', Roboto, Oxygen-Sans, Ubuntu, Cantarell, 'Helvetica Neue', sans-serif;\">This is also something I identify in my teaching when I discuss vocal production in relation to notions of intimacy. The obvious example in this context is the use of compression on whispery vocals to create an overly intimate and proximate sound (like the case with Billie Eilish\u2019s vocal production). So the result is almost like a forced sense of intimacy<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\"><strong>YV: <\/strong><span style=\"font-size: revert; color: initial; font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, 'Segoe UI', Roboto, Oxygen-Sans, Ubuntu, Cantarell, 'Helvetica Neue', sans-serif;\">It\u2019s also happening on social media, where people share highly intimate moments in their homes or on vacation \u2013 but it\u2019s all being highly \u201ccompressed\u201d and mediated. And this also links to the idea of authenticity, which on social media is often fake authenticity as there\u2019s nothing genuine about these supposedly intimate and \u201cspontaneously captured\u201d <\/span><span class=\"s2\" style=\"font-size: revert; color: initial; font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, 'Segoe UI', Roboto, Oxygen-Sans, Ubuntu, Cantarell, 'Helvetica Neue', sans-serif;\">moments. This for me <\/span><span style=\"font-size: revert; color: initial; font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, 'Segoe UI', Roboto, Oxygen-Sans, Ubuntu, Cantarell, 'Helvetica Neue', sans-serif;\">calls to mind the feeling that comes after having casual sex \u2013 the notion of a very intimate, shared moment that becomes fleeting straight after<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><strong>GB: <\/strong><span style=\"font-size: revert; color: initial; font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, 'Segoe UI', Roboto, Oxygen-Sans, Ubuntu, Cantarell, 'Helvetica Neue', sans-serif;\">That moment when you put your clothes back on and you become two strangers again<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><strong>YV:<\/strong> <span style=\"font-size: revert; color: initial; font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, 'Segoe UI', Roboto, Oxygen-Sans, Ubuntu, Cantarell, 'Helvetica Neue', sans-serif;\">Exactly. And it\u2019s interesting to think how this dual feeling can be translated as a sonic and visual aesthetics. This idea of lovers-strangers and the fleetingness of intimacy<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"color: #808080;\">* * * * *<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\"><strong><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-4147\" src=\"https:\/\/www.arpjournal.com\/asarpwp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/Pic-2-credit-Yasmin-Vardi-300x156.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"156\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.arpjournal.com\/asarpwp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/Pic-2-credit-Yasmin-Vardi-300x156.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.arpjournal.com\/asarpwp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/Pic-2-credit-Yasmin-Vardi-1024x532.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.arpjournal.com\/asarpwp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/Pic-2-credit-Yasmin-Vardi-768x399.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.arpjournal.com\/asarpwp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/Pic-2-credit-Yasmin-Vardi-1536x798.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/www.arpjournal.com\/asarpwp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/Pic-2-credit-Yasmin-Vardi-2048x1064.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/>YV:<\/strong> I had this thought about bedroom production, or the notion of \u201cfour-walls\u201d\u2026 as a space that is private but has capacity for multiple potentialities. A place where everything happens, unlike a studio. So a bit like a mirror room or a <span class=\"s2\">black box<\/span>. It reminds me of a Diego Marcon exhibition I saw recently in Central London, where the artist created a separate space within the gallery using a white curtain (Marcon, 2023). So only when you entered that four-wall white curtain space \u2013 that\u2019s where the work existed. I found it fascinating\u2026 almost like an access point to an even more intimate space. It\u2019s like a deliberate decision to use only a designated, small section of that big gallery space. It ultimately works on a play between bringing something closer and distancing it<\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\"><strong>GB: <\/strong><span style=\"font-size: revert; color: initial; font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, 'Segoe UI', Roboto, Oxygen-Sans, Ubuntu, Cantarell, 'Helvetica Neue', sans-serif;\">Yes, these notions of proximity and distance are one aspect. But there\u2019s also a link to what we always talk about \u2013 the conscious decision to use limited resources to create something that is \u201csmaller\u201d or reduced. That\u2019s a very bedroom production thing for me<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\"><strong>YV:\u00a0 <\/strong>Agreed<\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\"><strong>GB:\u00a0 <\/strong>I can say that, from a music production perspective, when you work with a DAW like Ableton Live or Logic \u2013 you can still make music that sounds very professional and pristine from your bedroom using these software, which are also used in professional studios. Maybe what is actually at stake here is the idea of limitations and creativity: so when you have all these endless digital possibilities for editing your music, how do you set certain limitations for yourself to maintain creativity<\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\"><strong>YV: <\/strong><span style=\"font-size: revert; color: initial; font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, 'Segoe UI', Roboto, Oxygen-Sans, Ubuntu, Cantarell, 'Helvetica Neue', sans-serif;\">For me this also links to conversations about the commodification of the self and the authentic\u2026 So yes, like you say I often use whatever devices I have at hand, like an iPhone, for my filming, in a way that encapsulates that bedroom limitations ethos. But then in the art world or in the music industry this \u201csmall\u201d bedroom-y aesthetics has also become a token<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\"><strong>GB: <\/strong><span style=\"font-size: revert; color: initial; font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, 'Segoe UI', Roboto, Oxygen-Sans, Ubuntu, Cantarell, 'Helvetica Neue', sans-serif;\">Yes, I very much agree. When I talk about bedroom production, I\u2019m often very conscious that it can come across as a glorification of DIYness. And I also feel that sometimes I sort of \u201cfake\u201d certain DIY qualities in my music. After all, I did work with a mixing engineer and did the final stages of the production for my latest EP in a professional recording studio. And whilst some of my recordings on this EP were spontaneous one-takes, others were done a few times and then edited<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\"><strong>YV:\u00a0 <\/strong>I feel this is a very important point, also thinking about our joint creative work\u2026 that duality between actual bedroom aesthetics and the token it can become or the way in which it is being faked, which is obvious to us but not for others<\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\"><strong>GB: <\/strong><span style=\"font-size: revert; color: initial; font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, 'Segoe UI', Roboto, Oxygen-Sans, Ubuntu, Cantarell, 'Helvetica Neue', sans-serif;\">It\u2019s almost like you\u2019re iconising the \u201csmall\u201d and the rough-round-the-edges\u2026 it\u2019s a bit like nostalgia when I come to think about it: like the thing I said at the beginning of our conversation about the time when I first started making music from my bedroom\u2026 it comes with a certain glorified view of that experience through the lens of time passed. Like the notion that it was easier to create when we had less resources available. But it\u2019s kind of misleading as it&#8217;s done retrospectively<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\"><strong>YV: <\/strong><span style=\"font-size: revert; color: initial; font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, 'Segoe UI', Roboto, Oxygen-Sans, Ubuntu, Cantarell, 'Helvetica Neue', sans-serif;\">And you choose what to forget<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\"><strong>GB: <\/strong><span style=\"font-size: revert; color: initial; font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, 'Segoe UI', Roboto, Oxygen-Sans, Ubuntu, Cantarell, 'Helvetica Neue', sans-serif;\">Absolutely. My question is: does it matter? [if bedroom production aesthetics are glorified\/faked or not]<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\"><strong>YV: <\/strong><span style=\"font-size: revert; color: initial; font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, 'Segoe UI', Roboto, Oxygen-Sans, Ubuntu, Cantarell, 'Helvetica Neue', sans-serif;\">I don\u2019t think that\u2019s necessarily the point. I just feel it\u2019s important to put this awareness on the table, as an important side note on bedroom production in our joint work<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\"><strong>GB: <\/strong><span style=\"font-size: revert; color: initial; font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, 'Segoe UI', Roboto, Oxygen-Sans, Ubuntu, Cantarell, 'Helvetica Neue', sans-serif;\">One thing I do feel though, and this is something that is talked about in music production scholarship too: for me, being a bedroom producer who has always used digital software and never really worked with analogue gear (that\u2019s why I also feel somewhat alienated in professional studios), there\u2019s definitely a sense in which trying to create limitations for myself within the endless possibilities of digital software is really an attempt to find the analogue within the digital. For example, committing to one-take recordings, even though each recording can be endlessly tweaked<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\"><strong>YV: <\/strong><span style=\"font-size: revert; color: initial; font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, 'Segoe UI', Roboto, Oxygen-Sans, Ubuntu, Cantarell, 'Helvetica Neue', sans-serif;\">And that\u2019s exactly what we did with the Queen Aquamarine video too. I wasn\u2019t present in the room when the video was shot and it was all about that one-take of improvisation. Obviously, we haven\u2019t used film and the footage was edited digitally, but in terms of the process it does make a difference<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\"><strong>GB: <\/strong><span style=\"font-size: revert; color: initial; font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, 'Segoe UI', Roboto, Oxygen-Sans, Ubuntu, Cantarell, 'Helvetica Neue', sans-serif;\">And that one-take we ended up using for the video, that\u2019s the one where I was least conscious of my performance<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\"><strong>YV: <\/strong><span style=\"font-size: revert; color: initial; font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, 'Segoe UI', Roboto, Oxygen-Sans, Ubuntu, Cantarell, 'Helvetica Neue', sans-serif;\">That aspect of one-takes and improvisation was certainly key for this work. The sense of \u201cdance like no one is watching\u201d\u2026 That\u2019s the essence of the work<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\"><strong>GB: <\/strong><span style=\"font-size: revert; color: initial; font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, 'Segoe UI', Roboto, Oxygen-Sans, Ubuntu, Cantarell, 'Helvetica Neue', sans-serif;\">I feel everything you just described is intrinsic to aesthetics of bedroom production. For me they are about unedited versions of ourselves, as experienced in very private moments. Like when I have my shared flat to myself for a weekend and I experience a sort of cathartic feeling. It\u2019s these moments when something very real and pure comes out and no further \u201ctakes\u201d are needed. Because I\u2019m simply having fun and present \u2013 I\u2019m in the moment.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">&#8212;-<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">Baron, G., 2016. Semi Precious &#8211; Ultimate Lounge (LP). [Sound Recording] (Squareglass Records).<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">Marcon, D. (2023). Dolle. Sadie Coles HQ, London. Retrieved from:<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">https:\/\/www.sadiecoles.com\/exhibitions\/972-diego-marcon-dolle\/installation_shots<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">Wark, M. (2023, November). Critical (Auto) Theory. Retrieved from e-flux Journal:<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">https:\/\/www.e-flux.com\/journal\/140\/572300\/critical-auto-theory\/<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">&#8212;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Guy Baron is an academic and a singer-producer working under the name&nbsp;Semi Precious. His musical practice fuses electronic music production and songwriting to explore notions of bedroom production and hauntology, with previous musical works being endorsed by The Sunday Times (\u2018real emotional depth\u2019), The Guardian (\u2018subtly dislocating beauty\u2019) and i-D (\u2018celestial pop suspending and spinning [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":4291,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[444],"tags":[491,490,484,270],"class_list":["post-4142","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-artist-researcher-reflections","tag-artist-research","tag-bedroom-production","tag-electronic-music-production","tag-music-production","author-guy-baron"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.arpjournal.com\/asarpwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4142","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.arpjournal.com\/asarpwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.arpjournal.com\/asarpwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.arpjournal.com\/asarpwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.arpjournal.com\/asarpwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4142"}],"version-history":[{"count":46,"href":"https:\/\/www.arpjournal.com\/asarpwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4142\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4366,"href":"https:\/\/www.arpjournal.com\/asarpwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4142\/revisions\/4366"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.arpjournal.com\/asarpwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4291"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.arpjournal.com\/asarpwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4142"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.arpjournal.com\/asarpwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4142"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.arpjournal.com\/asarpwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4142"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}