Talks
Forthcoming talks
Past talks
Technologies of spirituality, hi-tech-sponsored communalism, and the dialectics of Northern California's electronic dance music microcultures
Where: MACSEM 2009 (Richmond, VA), MACSEM (Middle Atlantic Chapter of the Society of Ethnomusicology) Dates: 18th April 2009 - 19th April 2009 When: April 2009
LikeRon's right arm: tactility, visualization, and the synesthesia of audio engineering
Where: Art of Record Production 4 (Lowell, MA), Society for the Art of Record Production When: November 2008
The bulk of scholarship on audio engineering and studio musicianship generally considers the practices and practitioners in terms of musical and technical knowledges. When a reference is made to sensory perception, it is typically to listening and hearing practices: audiophilia, critical listening (golden ears), and technologies of audition. However, particularly in light of computer-based workflows, audio engineering has come to be a practice defined by a carefully developed synesthesia of critical listening, visualization of digital audio, and tactile manipulations of interfaces.
In this paper I draw on literature in the emerging field of sensory scholarship, in particular Brian Massumi’s theorization of synesthesia and affect, in order to understand how changing and emergent practices of audio engineering are necessarily theorized as a strategic retraining of the senses. I draw diverse examples from field research conducted in the US and Turkey. One example – Ron’s right arm – explores how one audio engineer uses his right arm to “feel” when the bass is right in a rock mix. Another example explores how the creation of “büyük ses” (big sound) in Anatolian ethnic music is dependent upon millisecond-level visualizations and manipulations in the Protools edit window. Various bass frequency sound sources are deliberately moved out of sync so as to create the effect of a single huge bass drum sound while avoiding the use of compression. Turkish engineers know what this bass sound will sound like by seeing precisely staggered attacks of the individual parts that make up this composite sound.
In both cases, bass is something that is felt or seen, but not immediately audible. Yet, audition is still important in these practices as a confirmation of other-sensory knowledge. Through an attention to synesthesia, we can better understand how audio engineers perform their craft.
Folkloric resources and the legitimation of innovative arranged recordings in Turkey
Where: SEM 2008 (Wesleyan U.), Society for Ethnomusicology When: October 2008
The derleme, or collected original source, is a pivotal element in the current practice of recording folk and ethnic musics in Turkey. A derleme is typically a recording from government-sponsored folklore collection efforts or from more recent private collecting trips. To an increasing extent, the recorded derleme serves as the most important tool for authenticating contemporary arrangements of traditional materials, and assuring that musical innovations still fall within the rubric of traditional performance. During the process of creating new recordings, arrangers and singers continuously reference the original sources.
However, there is considerable leeway regarding what constitutes a derleme, and what it means to be "true to the original." In some cases, after the derivative arrangement is finished, a derleme is constructed as an after-the-thought authentication procedure. The creation of a new derleme can be contentious, as partially-authored or multiply-authored musics often lose their authorship outright in the process.
In this paper I use the term folkloric resource to draw attention to how musicians interact with the products of folklore collection expeditions. I show that folkloric resources have become structurally very similar, if not identical, to another kind of resource, digital audio samples, which are the primary building blocks of all digitally-recorded music. In addition to providing examples of derleme construction and usage in contemporary recordings produced in Istanbul, I draw connections to several periods of folklore collection activity in 20th-21st century Turkey.
Comfort and tea: institutional culture and aesthetic decision-making in the Turkish recording industry
Where: NCCSEM 2008 (Fremont, CA), Northern California Chapter for the Society of Ethnomusicology When: March 2008
Winner of the Marnie Dilling Prize
In this paper I merge an organizational sociological approach towards the institutional culture of Turkey’s record labels with a social network analysis of a variety of actors, individual and organizational, involved with record production. I will show that many aspects of the sound of arranged work unfold through logics less concerned with an “artistic vision” or aesthetic ideal than with complex sets of social obligations, and that recording studio professionals value most of all their ability to work with people whom they trust. Additionally, I will explore the question of who performs on recordings in order to understand why such a small number of studio professionals are responsible for a vast percentage of all recorded sound in Turkey. In considering these questions, I focus on financial and legal risk, decision-making partnerships, and social rituals such as tea making and consumption that serve as primary vehicles for network maintenance.
This research arose from a two year ethnographic study of the “cultures of production” in Istanbul, correlated with longer-term music industry manufacturing data. In contrast with media studies scholarship on the “culture industries,” I use Ann Swidler’s concept of culture, and connect my findings with a growing body of studies of entrepreneurialism (Stuart and Ding 2006), organizational change (Sine, Haveman and Holbert 2005), and the conditions for the success of changes to technology (Bijsterveld and Schulp 2005) and workflow (Uzzi 2005).
Folk music of Anatolia
Where: Academy Village (Tucson, AZ) When: 2008
Co-presented with Ladi Dell'aira
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