Organising Sound: the performance of music and power in recording studios
Wednesday 2 May 2012, 16:00
A15 Charles Carter Building
Jonathan Gander- University of East Anglia
Abstract:
Project based organizing as a feature of creative industry production has generated a number of studies on advertising (Grabher, 2002), film (Ebbers and Wijnberg, 2006), music (Long Lingo and O’Mahoney, 2010) and television (Antcliff et al, 2007). The organization of such projects is recognized as a complex achievement requiring the co-ordination of the different interests of the varied and temporarily assembled protagonists, the management of a highly uncertain production process, and the creation of a product of ambiguous qualities. Taking a socio-material perspective that draws on the work of Latour (1983, 2004), Law (1994, 2005) and Orlikowski (2007) this paper examines a particular case of this achievement - the making of a pop song. Based on a mix of observation and interview, the paper traces the construction of the song from song writing, through recording, mixing and mastering, to live performance. During the account of this transformation I reveal the critical contribution played by sound and space in organising the project. Enrolled by the music producer, sound and space discipline the artists and record label representatives, describe identities, frame agency and form a system of calculation that enable decisions over quality to be made. There is more than one kind of performance that occurs in the music studio.
