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The uncertain future of the large-format recording studio
Conference paper   Open access   Peer reviewed

The uncertain future of the large-format recording studio

Lachlan Goold and Philip Graham
Proceedings of the Art of Record Production 2017, pp.119-136
Art of Record Production Conference, 12th (Stockholm, Sweden, 01-Dec-2017–03-Dec-2017)
Royal College of Music (KMH) & Art of Record Production
2019
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Abstract

Communication and Media Studies
This paper is an investigation of new approaches to music production that have emerged over the past thirty years and greatly accelerated over the past decade. The changes have primarily been facilitated by the proliferation of low cost digital music production tools. A secondary trigger has been the subsequent decline in recording budgets concomitant with the decline of revenues for recorded music (Burgess, 2008, p. 1). The confluence of these issues has meant large-format recording studio processes are giving way to lower cost "desktop", "bedroom", or "DIY" music production processes (Bennett, 2012, p. 8; Théberge, 2012, pp. 89-90). Little attention has been focused on evaluating and understanding the outcomes of these new technologies from perceptual, actual, and aesthetic perspectives specifically as they pertain to the meaning of the term "recording studio" as a particular kind of space. This paper seeks to address this gap in understanding through evaluations of a comparative set of recordings completed in disparate scenarios. It compares processes of recording in large-format recording studios with those associated with situations dictated by a set of limitations common to smaller budget "DIY" projects, and with those involved with a hybrid approach combining both methods. As part of a PhD project, research methods include participant interviews, participant observation, peer review of the material produced, and analysis of attitudes towards creative labour under these different circumstances. This paper will focus on the peer review of the material produced by seven highly regarded producers which indicates that while different recording spaces present different advantages and disadvantages, in terms of recording quality, the large-format recording studio appears to present no major technical or aesthetic advantage over DIY environments in terms of recording outcomes. Given the proliferation of DIY approaches to recording, this topic has important ramifications across the music and recording industries and brings into question the viability of the large-format recording space.

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