marylovettpostgradblog

[marylovettpostgradblog]

10: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY                                                                 The process and where it has led.

The blog has afforded me a unique opportunity to explore a journey of enquiry. It has opened up unexpected avenues for research, particularly for someone studying a music technology-based masters degree. Although some blog posts have focused on technical audio practices, most of them have not been.  I have found myself drawn to looking back at the historical context of the ancestral line of my female electronic musician forbearers. This feels important to me and it was impossible to do this without reflecting on the patriarchal systems and institutions that exist within the music industry and beyond. This has made me think more widely about societal value systems, about who decides what is “good” art or music and what is not and how these decisions and values are made.  My own research has not adhered to a particular methodology, I have simply followed my interests related to my field, as per the assignment brief.  

Having freedom to do this has led me to look at music production through the lens of feminist writers and researchers as a result. This had bought me to feminist epistemology, which as Duran puts it, is a means of summarising, to some extent, and integrating women's knowledge and experiences. (Duran 1991). Central to this idea is the multiplicity of women’s voices, implying that feminist researchers are not searching for one truth, but the multiple truths that exist within women’s experience. (Ardovini-Brooker 2002). This may also link back to why a single statistic about the number of women in audio is not enough to collect the data on the more complex nature of women’s roles within the music industry. There is more than one answer, as there is more than one lived experience, numbers are not enough on their own. The nature of women's roles in the music industry is complex: the proportion of women working within it rose from 45.3% in 2016 to 49.1% in 2018. On face value this looks encouraging, but when the type of roles are closely examined, it shows a different and less positive picture. Approximately 21.7% of artists in the music industry are women, but only 12.3% of songwriters, 2.1% of music producers, and 3% of engineers/mixers in popular music are women, so women are excluded from crucial roles in the industry. (Smith et al. 2019 cited in Hepworth -Sawyer M et al. 2020)

Feminists argue that women are under-represented in audio production due to a previous implicit assumption that it was a male domain, due to undervaluing of the contribution of women in audio production and exclusion of women from studios historically. Tara Rogers expresses this in relation to women in electronic music by saying that ‘the terms technology and music are often marked as male domains, and the trenchancy of associated gendered stereotypes seems to gain force when these fields converge in electronic music’ (McCartney & Waterman 2006, Cited in Rogers T 2005). It is the same gendered associations about music that Pauline Oliveros referred to when she emphasized musical values of intuitive practice as being important yet undervalued as patriarchal culture has coded this as feminine. (Taylor T 1993).  

David Butler also refers to patriarchy in his paper that offers an alternative view of Delia Derbyshire’s post BBC life. He refers to well-intentioned masculinist narratives on the much reported tragic and uncreative years, casting her as a failed artist and alcoholic (Butler D 2020). He cited many examples of her creative work which were not acknowledged during this time. My own thoughts on this are that perhaps her work was not perceived as valuable or significant because they were not in the mainstream or presented through powerful structures like the BBC. This is another example of the masculinist hegemony, dictating what is viewed as valuable and important.

When writing my first blog post on why there are so few women in audio, I could see that this subject could be a huge distraction from me researching technically how to be a better music producer. Indeed, this cautionary comment is made in the recommendations for change in the book 'Gender and Music Production'. Women in production need proactive male allies because, ‘when women are given sole responsibility for inclusion agendas, their time is taken up on the gender agenda, which prohibits progression within their actual field.’ (Jude Brereton, et al cited in Hepworth -Sawyer M et al. 2020)

The direction and subjects of my research make me consider the Baader Mienhof phenomenon, also known as the frequency illusion, a term that Professor of linguistics Arnold Zwicky coined to describe it, He, said that ‘once you notice a phenomenon, you believe it happens a whole lot.’ (Zwicky A 2006) According to Zwicky the frequency illusion is the result of two psychological processes, selective attention and confirmation bias (Zwicky, A. 2006). This could have implications on my own objectivity. If I had only researched texts that were noteworthy to me and ignored others (selective attention) and looked for texts that supported, my position and overlooked counter evidence. (Confirmation bias) I’m not sure that I had a particular position to support, apart from the obvious fact that I am a woman in electronic music production. Judith Bell warns of dangers of bias especially when there is only one researcher who may have strong views about the topic they are researching, choosing texts that support your view point and using inappropriate language that could indicate bias in one direction. Bell, J. (2014). In my blog I have followed personal interests so there is inevitably an element of bias and my comments in blogs are not necessarily objective, but I am aware of the need to consider bias in research. I do acknowledge the challenge of remaining objective in potentially emotive gender issues, however I have tried to be balanced in my research.

Collaboration as opposed to single genius. Ideas that feed into my practice

None of us exist on a creative island where the muse comes, bypasses all other influences and we independently create a musical masterpiece.  Influences are an inherent part in what we do.  Brian Eno came up with the word “scenius” rather than genius, rejecting the idea that his creativity was an independent act. He chose to collaborate with other artists in unconventional ways. Eno describes scenius as ‘the power generated by a group of artists who gather in one place at one time, genius is individual, scenius is communal.’  (Jones A 2014) Pauline Oliveros described the experience of being with two other musicians in an underground cistern with a 45 second reverb. She described it as playing with the reverb, improvising and playing with it, respecting it’s sound and including it in their collective musical sensibility, as if it were another musician in the space. The musicians in the cistern had learn to listen and interact to the sound in a new way. (Ted X. 2015)   In his 1979 lecture, the studio as a compositional tool, Brian Eno described composition as now being ‘additive’ as a result of four track analogue tape recording, and something that is done in the studio, rather than having a fixed idea and then recording it, as was preciously the case. (Eno, B. 1979. cited in Cox, C. 2020) Composition in collaboration with technology which is how a vast number of people work in a DAW environment today. Like Oliveros improvising with the reverb and Eno composing with the studio, musicians and producers are in musical collaboration with the technology in the DAW. Listening and responding to the sounds that are generated rather than a fully formed idea being generated, at least this is how I work. The only difference from when Eno talked about four track additive composition is that now there is no limit to the number of tracks that can be used, which can be  a mixed blessing!

In this time of Covid 19 lockdowns and enforced isolation I am fortunate in being able to make music in my home studio. I still feel the lack of musical collaboration with people in the room and also profoundly miss my song writing partnership. I have been re thinking how I interact with my DAW and have begun thinking of it as something to improvise with. In a sense I was already doing this but had not thought of it in these terms.  I enjoy improvising musically with other humans and some of the spirit of that can be lost using a DAW in solitude. Error and serendipity have afforded me a different way of working with my DAW. I accidentally moved a drum loop into a software instrument piano track.  I really loved the sound of the piano as it interpreted the midi information of the drum loop.  I have made a piece of music based on this discovery. The lyrical content of the track is influenced by my research and blog on Melodyne. Further to this as part of my experimentation in working in different ways, I also utilised the voice from some assistive software designed for people with dyslexia.  The voice reads small sections of text from my blog. I will be using it as part of a four track EP assignment submission.

The blog posts relate to my practice directly in the case of technical audio software and recording. The other subjects all influence my work either by exploring the male dominated paradigm in which I work or concerning artists who inspire me.  Some of these subjects have featured in my production work for other modules. The idea of an electronic music ancestral mother line which was expressed by the DJ known as the Black Madonna hugely resonates with me. She said that she felt “Motherless” in terms of female role models in electronic music and then remembered Pauline Oliveros et al she was inspired to start the Daphne (Oram) festival celebrating the pioneering women of electronic music and highlighting contemporary female and nonbinary electronic musicians. Eoin M (2017)

This theme is used in another production for my EP submission for the Creative Music Production Module. I am encouraged by the achievement of past female audio electronic musicians but also by the discovery of organisations who promote their achievement and offer education to children to celebrate their work and to experiment in sound workshops. Writing these blogs have made me reflect on my interest in promoting women and young girls access into audio production as well as the changing technologies and approaches to the creative process which are influences on my work.    

References:

Feminist Epistemology https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/288331875.pdf Taylor, Timothy D. “The Gendered Construction of the Musical Self: The Music of Pauline Oliveros.” The Musical Quarterly, vol. 77, no. 3, 1993, pp. 385–396. JSTOR,

https://www-jstor-org.ezproxy.herts.ac.uk/stable/742386?pq-origsite=summon&seq=1#metadata_info_tab_contents

https://search-proquest-com.ezproxy.herts.ac.uk/docview/1545867803?accountid=14660&pq-origsite=summon

https://web.stanford.edu/~zwicky/LSA07illude.abst.pdf

Bell, Judith, and Stephen Waters. Doing Your Research Project : A Guide For First-Time Researchers, McGraw-Hill Education, 2014. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/herts/detail.action?docID=1910218. Created from herts on 2021-01-15 06:36:20.

https://herts-summon-serialssolutions-com.ezproxy.herts.ac.uk/search?s.q=Doing+Your+Research+Project+&s.fvf%5B%5D=ContentType%2CNewspaper+Article%2Ct%7CContentType%2CBook+Review%2Ct&keep_r=true&s.cmd=#!/search?ho=t&fvf=ContentType,Newspaper%20Article,t%7CContentType,Book%20Review,t&l=en-UK&q=Doing%20Your%20Research%20Project%20

https://library.herts.ac.uk/cgi-bin/koha/opac-detail.pl?biblionumber=249618

https://thevinylfactory.com/features/pauline-oliveros-legacy-deep-listening/

Image:

https://www.pexels.com/search/magnifying%20glass/

#reflection

[marylovettpostgradblog]

9: WRITING FOR THE ALGORITHM: The New Music Echo Chamber, and Artist’s that Can’t Pay The Rent.

Streaming platforms have not only radically changed the way music is consumed it also has transformed the art of song writing itself. Streaming data shows that attention spans are shorter with tracks being skipped, on average in the first 5 seconds (New Song 2020) Keeping listeners engaged in a track is paramount and especially as royalty payments are only made when tracks have played for 30 seconds. A track getting to the 31st second dictates whether an artist receives payment. (New Song 2020) For artists to have more of a chance of a hit song structure has changed. Choruses and hook lines are in straight away to grab listeners attention and stop them skipping. Songs are shorter and faster with no time for narrative resulting in the compression of musical ideas, repeated chord progressions, less harmonic range. Nile Rogers argues that he has always started with a chorus for example in his iconic 1978 song Le Freak with the familiar line, “Ahh Freak out” …  He has the same justification in getting listers hooked early, but for different reasons. Rogers says that he knew as a black artist in America he had fewer avenues open to him and had to grab people’s attention straight away. New Song (2020) The chorus in Le Freak comes in first but it is easy to differentiate between the verse and chorus.  Contemporary songs made for streaming will often have the same chord progression for verse and chorus. This could be due to the way that the music has been created on a DAW using loops and not changing the harmonic content. New Song (2020). Having experienced both playing acoustic instruments and using DAW for writing music, I can see the potential of this as a compositional trap you can fall into

Songwriters understandably chasing the holy grail of the royalty payment is not what is dictating the trend, it is the data provided by the streaming services. The briefs that songwriters are given are informed by the data. Song writer, lyricist and topliner Emily Philips says that streaming is shifting the musical landscape and that the problem is that we are being dictated to by the machine. (New Song 2020)

Format dictating the music is not a new thing, a vinyl 7” single in the 1960’s could hold three minutes of music, hence the traditional duration of a pop song. Now that the data is so much more detailed and as a result labels want to replicate successful songs. The data gives them the formula, this is what Helienne Lindvall describes as the feedback loop. ‘You listen to the music, the data of the music you are listening to gets picked up from the streaming service, the streaming service report to the record label, and the record label tells managers artists song writers, what is popular and what works. (New Song 2020)

In a bitter nutshell we have the conflicting nature of the music business, and the artist. (in this case songwriters). Both business and artist want to be profitable. The business makes pragmatic data driven choices in the current market. The artists or artists can feel conflicted and compromised in making music dictated to by an algorithm. The average number of songwriters credited on a top ten track in the US is nine. (New Song 2020) It could be argued that it has always been ever thus. Before streaming, charts and album sales were the measure of commercial success of recorded music.

Emily Philips has expressed her frustration that the creativity of contemporary songwriters is being restricted by the algorithmic dictate. This to me is problematic enough but part of a bigger problem is the exploitation of artists’ works due to unfair revenue splitting. Recently a DCMS enquiry has begun after political pressure from The Ivor’s Academy and The Musicians Union with the Keep Music Alive campaign. The Broken Record campaign founded by Paul Gray has also been campaigning. Due to the first national lockdown, MU members reported over £21m of lost income.  The Ivor’s Academy anticipate losses of £25,000 per person over a six-month period.  It would take 62 million Spotify streams to break even on a £25,000 loss. One in 5 members said they were considering leaving music altogether. (Ivor’s Academy.com 2020)

A DCMS committee has begun the process of reviewing the economic model of streaming and its fairness to artists writers and session musicians. Exactly what the revenue share is between streaming platforms and labels is unknown and hidden with non-disclosure agreements. (New Song 2020) Streaming represents over half of music industry revenue. It brings more that 1 billion in revenue in the UK. There were 114 billion music streams in the last year, however artists can be paid as little as 13% of the income generated. (DCMS 2020)

This was brought sharply into focus even for higher profile artists who had tours, festivals and TV appearances cancelled, relying only on streaming income.

Nadine Shah (a Mercury prize nominated artist) gave evidence to the DCMS enquiry and said that “I have a substantial profile, a substantial fanbase, I’m critically acclaimed but I don’t make enough money from streaming and am struggling to pay my rent. I am a successful musician, but I am just not being paid fairly for the work that I make” (Sweny M 2020).

The major labels and streaming platforms are the gatekeepers and have a huge amount of control over an artist’s life. Shar also told the enquiry that fellow artists were afraid to speak out for fear of losing favour with the platforms or major labels (Herne A & Bakare L 2020).

Paul Gray from The Broken Record Campaign in his evidence said that “There’s genuine jeopardy here for artists. There’s only one mode of selling music anymore and that one mode controls everything in an artist’s life: their remuneration from the recorded works, their exposure to new audiences, their continuing relevance. These aren’t small things for an artist, it’s basically our world.”

Broken Record are pushing for equitable renumeration which already applies in broadcast usage in the UK, to be extended to streaming. This is where the streams are split 50/50 between labels and groups. This means that a percentage would go directly to the people that made the recording, as well as the writers.  Guy Garvey from Elbow describes this as “reliable income that has nothing to do with labels or the streaming platform-it’s a right.” (Bakare L 2020)

This will be a hugely complicated negotiation and the outcome of the enquiry is not yet known. Guy Garvey anticipates that people will have to pay more for streaming services. (Bakare L. 2020) I would be happier paying more if I knew that the money was reaching the artists. Should we be making sure that we play a track for 31 seconds, after all, every little helps doesn’t it?  Well perhaps not until the paradigm shifts and the renumeration is fair. Researching this has been dispiriting and I have questioned why I want to be a part of this industry at all. The truth of it is, (in my opinion) that musicians are musicians are musicians, it’s in our DNA. We need to make music to feel alright in ourselves and in the world we inhabit. This can all too easily be exploited by the music industry. Knowing that there are people campaigning and using their profiles to try to improve things for all artists gives me hope for the future.  

References

https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=203447234640280

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000qjfd

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2020/may/11/musicians-music-industry-lockdown-streaming-spotify-coronavirus

https://ivorsacademy.com/news/the-ivors-academy-and-musicians-union-launch-keep-music-alive-campaign-to-fix-streaming-now/#:~:text=The%20Ivors%20Academy%20and%20the,campaign%20to%20Keep%20Music%20Alive.&text=Covid%2D19%20has%20hit%20songwriters%2C%20musicians%20and%20composers%20hard.

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2020/nov/30/guy-garvey-says-music-fans-should-pay-more-for-streaming-services

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2020/dec/01/mps-warn-music-streaming-platforms-against-interference-in-inquiry

Images:

Fig 1: https://engineering.atspotify.com/2020/05/28/spotify-modernizes-client-side-architecture-to-accelerate-service-on-all-devices/

Fig 2: https://musiciansunion.org.uk/campaigns/fix-streaming-and-keep-music-alive

#reflection

[marylovettpostgradblog]

8: HYMNS FOR ROBOTS.  Delia Derbyshire, what then and what now?

In 2018 I went to see Hymns for Robots in a newly opened Arts Centre in North Norfolk. This was a play inspired by the discovery of 267 tapes found packed in cereal boxes in Delia Derbyshire’s attic after her death in 2001.

Fig 1: Image from the play Hymns for Robots.

This play was a glimpse into the life of a largely un sung (unsung) heroine of electronic music and sound design. In the decade that she worked in the Radiophonic workshop at the BBC, she contributed hugely to the British public’s awareness and understanding of electronic music. (Butler, D. 2019)

Fig 2: Delia Derbyshire in the BBC Radiophonic workshop

The familiar and globally recognisable Dr Who theme music written by Ron Grainer was electronically bought to life by Derbyshire.  Her arrangement of the Dr Who theme tune is more famous than she is. At the time Grainer was happy for her to get a writing credit but the BBC policy was that no one who worked in the Radiophonic workshop was individually credited. The BBC later changed their policy but wouldn’t change the rules retrospectively.  If they had she would have got a lot of money from the Dr Who Theme. (Blackburn Clive 2016) 

With a gift for Mathematics and Music she was accepted to read Mathematics at Cambridge. This was by her own admission “Quite something for a working-class girl in the 50s where only one in 10 university students were female.” (Delian Mode 2016) Her degree was in the end in Maths and Music. She had a strong connection between the visual and sonic. Her approach to the often-laborious work of constructing tape edits was meticulous and disciplined. Her contribution to electronic music is enormous and considering the technology available to her at the time it is a testament to her vision and precision of her editing. She physically cut and spliced tape together to create the technique of Musique Concrete, recording and manipulating found sounds using everyday objects. The use of her music in TV and radio in the late 60’s and early 70’s has meant that, her sound design and music has been a childhood soundtrack to countless numbers. Her music has created an aesthetic for lots of people that make music now. (The Delian Mode)  

I can clearly hear her influences in contemporary music. In this extract from the archive in the link below, 32 seconds into the recordings there is an oscillating synth like sound which reminds me of the sound at the beginning of one of my favourite Bjork tracks Play dead.

https://doi.org/10.17658/issn.2058-5462/issue-12/dbutler/figure7

Delia Derbyshire, Labyrynth, Beachcomber for Brighton Festival, ca. 1967. Note: the spelling of Labyrynth was copied from the label on the tape.

Fig 4: video Play Dead by Björk.

Reading about the techniques she used to create her music and soundscapes makes me reflect on how easy it is for me to generate an enormous array of sounds on my DAW, many of which seem to emulate sounds that Delia Derbyshire created with tape loops. We can now do digitally what Delia was doing in analogue, this makes her work all the more extraordinary as she had no multi track recording equipment, no synthesisers or computers, each sound was manipulated through hardware.

Fig 3: Equipment in the Radiophonic workshop.

Delia’s partner Clive Blackburn described how rather than playing at a piano, she used to plot out her music on graph paper and use a slide rule. Caro C who is an electronic music artist and researcher studied the notes and working methods in the archive and described Derbyshire as being to some extent a visual artist. She seemed to be able to visualise the sounds she wanted and often used graphic scores as part of the process. 

Fig 5: A Graphic Score from the Delia Derbyshire archive.

In 1999 Peter Kember of Sonic Boom was recording a song called Delia Derbyshire and decided to get in touch with her.  They struck up regular conversations and towards what would be the end of her life, would speak on the phone several times a week. He says that he still listens to Delia’s music and is struck by her genius, believing Dr Who to possibly be the most important electronic piece of its time (Coney B 2018). He commented,

“Stockhausen and Boulez and all those dudes were pivotal, no question, but Delia took their lead and placed it in a cultural context, courtesy of the BBC, that affected millions and millions in a really transportive way.”

Sadly, Delia Derbyshire was not as highly revered as Stockhausen et al and would not see anything like the recognition in her lifetime that she has now.  This is largely down to people retrospectively appreciating her work, the discovery and curation of her archive at Manchester University and the Charity Delia Day being founded.

In 2012 Caro C, Aillis Ni Riain and Naomi Kashiwagi founded Delia Derbyshire Day and registered as a charity as a team, the first DD Day was in 2013.  

The charitable aims are: 

1: To advance the education of the public in music technology and the history of British electronic music via the archive and works of Delia Derbyshire.

2: To advance the art of British electronic music via the archive and works of Delia Derbyshire.

The video below made as a result of  Delia Derbyshire Day workshops with schools.  

Fig 6: A video made by primary school children to commemorate Delia Derbyshire Day. 

References:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n2dvGQ32q8g&ab_channel=AnalogNoiseLab

https://thequietus.com/articles/24930-pete-kember-sonic-boom-spacemen-3-spectrum-interview

https://deliaderbyshireday.com/education/

https://doi.org/10.17658/issn.2058-5462/issue-12/dbutler/figure7

Images:

Fig 1:http://geekchocolate.co.uk/hymns-for-robots/

Fig 2:https://soundgirls.org/delia-derbyshire-in-profile/

Fig 3: https://soundgirls.org/delia-derbyshire-in-profile/

Fig 4: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mNoo_rNZQ84&ab_channel=CruiseControl

Fig 5: https://deliaderbyshireday.com/dd-archive/

Fig 6: https://deliaderbyshireday.com/education/

#reflection

[marylovettpostgradblog]

7:CREATIVE CUL-DE- SACS; OBLIQUE STRATEGIES AS A PRODUCTION TOOL.

Fig 1: Album Cover of Music For Airports by Brian Eno.

Brian Eno’s Music for airports is a piece of music I don’t feel I would ever become bored of despite having listened to it many times. It was used routinely in a two-year action research project with young children with speech and language delay, conducted by Pitt, J and Arculus, C. 2018. I was one of the music specialists on the team working with speech and language therapists. The music was used in a free play environment to encourage parents to interact with their children non verbally. This was not always easy for parents to do as the anxiety of having a child with language delay could understandably urge them to constantly speak to their children and ask them questions, hoping for a response. 

The term “Tyranny of talk” is used in the Salt report, challenging the perception of what language is and the over emphasis on the number of words young children have as a target and measure. (Arculus C & Pitt, J. 2018). Setting up a non-verbal play environment and having Eno’s Music for Airports playing in the background created a soothing and spacious soundscape where the “tyranny of talk was less dominant and the focus can be turned towards interaction between parent and child, between peers, and between child and practitioner.” (Pitt J, Arculus C 2018). 

I’ve found myself listening to it again while I am researching and pondering on the barriers to studio creativity. This was once described to me as the conflict between the left and right hemispheres of the brain.  The right side being the creative side and the left the logical side.  I’m not sure if it is as clear cut as that, but there can often be technical issues that can interfere with the creative flow. I am also interested in how to overcome being sick of myself creatively. By this I mean feeling stuck in a musical cul-de-sac and struggling for new ideas. Or being too close to the thing you are working on to allow any new approaches in. 

I have been looking more at Brian Eno’s work and his influences. Originally an art student in 1966 he was taught by Roy Ascott, who was considered to be an unorthodox artist and theorist. Eno was taught what Ascott termed “the power of process not product.” (Jones, F. 2014). This is a phrase that is familiar and widely used in the context of community music practice. Being fixated on the outcome of a creative project can leave other avenues unexplored. 

During his studies at Art School in Winchester, Eno was introduced to the work of John Cage and the Fluxus experimental music group. Eno performed with the group in the “Drip event,” by George Brecht. The score reads: “Erect containers such that water from other containers drips into them.” 

Eno then wrote a piece with the instructions: 

The instruments are in turn

ground down and individually

cast into blocks of acrylic

resin. The blocks are given to

young children.

Now the music begins . . .

In 1975 Brian Eno and Peter Schmidt created a deck of over 100 cards called Oblique Strategies. Each card has a suggestion or often a cryptic provocation to help in creative work. Eno’s intent behind them was his observation that it was easy to forget obvious things, when closely focussing on work in the studio.  The cards were a way to break the context which you might be stuck in. (Eno, B. 2001) The cards in the Oblique Strategy gave the opportunity to come at the problem from a new angle. Instead of trying to attack a problem head on, the cards offered, in many ways a more interesting tangential way of approaching problems. (Jones F 2014) Some instructions are cryptic and some more straight forward like “go and open the door.” 

Fig 2: Instruction one of the Oblique Strategies cards.

There are various ways in which to use the deck, some prefer to draw a card at random. Boxes of Oblique Strategies’ have become revered and sought-after items. Currently (December 2020) a 1978 2nd edition set is being auctioned on eBay with a starting bid of £549.99.

Fig 3: A 1978 2nd edition set of Oblique Strategies. 

Oblique Strategies is associated with bands Eno produced in the mid to late 70’s such as Talking Heads, the Berlin Trilogy-era of David Bowie and Devo. Coldplay used it when they worked with Eno on their track Viva La Vida.

Fig 4: Brian Eno talking about The Oblique Strategies.

Paul Morley said on the radio 4 programme Oblique Strategies that during the making of the Bowie Berlin Trilogy albums the Oblique Strategies cards were used. Bowie and Eno would choose a card and not tell each other what it was and both act on what the card had told them. Eno was drawing on ideas from John Cage who consulted the ancient Chinese divination test, I Ching, and Marshall McLuhan’s Distant Early Warning cards designed for out of the box thinking in 1969.  Morley also suggests that It was flattering to Bowie and Eno that they were in a tradition of Avant-garde modernist art movements such as Fluxus, Dadaism and Surrealism. Oblique Strategies (2014 )

Fig 5: Distant Early Warning Cards.

Eno draws on influences from Art and Philosophy, and has a strong emphasis on collaboration, improvisation and process. This resonates with me, particularly as I have been unwittingly quoting Roy Ascott in “valuing the process rather than the product,” when facilitating community music projects. I had not made the connection with my own independent work. Perhaps this is something I can adopt as well as consulting the newly purchased Oblique Strategy phone App on my next audio project!  I can’t help feeling that the physical deck of cards would be more satisfying to use.  I can draw parallels between Salt music challenging the established perception of what language is, to Fluxus challenging existing aesthetic conventions and perceptions of what music is.  

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/b02qncrt

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Brian-Eno-Peter-Schmidt-Oblique-Strategies-scarce-2nd-second-edition-1978/324418984672?hash=item4b88e0dae0:g:d~8AAOSwnfpfVMN7

http://researchonline.rcm.ac.uk/id/eprint/334/1/SaltMusic-Research-Report.pdf

FRERE-JONES, A., 2014. Ambient Genius. The New Yorker, 90(19), pp. 82.

https://search-proquest-com.ezproxy.herts.ac.uk/docview/1565516280?accountid=14660&pq-origsite=summon

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2009/sep/07/oblique-strategies#:~:text=Oblique%20Strategies%20is%20most%20associated,trilogy%2Dera%20Bowie%20and%20Devo.

Images:

Fig 1 https://productionadvice.co.uk/oblique-strategies/

Fig 2: https://productionadvice.co.uk/oblique-strategies/

Fig 3: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Brian-Eno-Peter-Schmidt-Oblique-Strategies-scarce-2nd-second-edition-1978/324418984672?hash=item4b88e0dae0:g:d~8AAOSwnfpfVMN7

Fig 4: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PHQVMulkBqg&feature=related&ab_channel=MichaelRoss

Fig 5: https://www.openculture.com/2015/08/marshall-mcluhans-1969-deck-of-cards-designed-for-out-of-the-box-thinking.html

#Reflection

[marylovettpostgradblog]

6: POLYPHONIC PITCH CORRECTION  AND DEEP WONDROUS MATHEMATICS

Fig 1: Image from Melodynes website

Wonderous and mathematics are not two words that I would usually put together. I have struggled with my understanding of maths and would like to be one of those people that can see the beauty of mathematics.

Researching Melodyne 5 and its inventor Peter Neubacker has bought me a tentative step closer to appreciating its beauty. That really is saying something for someone who cannot reliably recite the times tables!

Melodyne 5 is capable of correcting pitch in a polyphonic audio file. This has previously not been possible. The capabilities of post-production editing in audio are now more aligned with what can be done in MIDI.

fig 2 Melodyne 5 promotional video

The extraordinary thinking behind the development of the DNA direct note access algorithm has been influenced by Pythagorean harmonic theory, perhaps not that surprising as this is dealing with pitch and harmonic content. The thing that struck me was the deeper ideas of music from philosophers of antiquity. In the documentary What does a stone sound like? Neubacker comments on the distinction they made between “music that existed in the world as an idea, and the music that was made by people.” (Neubacker P 2011) Music exists in the world, in a way that can be inaudible but we can also experience music as sound waves, such as harmonic intervals, “when we hear music, the mind calculates unconsciously.” Music as we know it is “realised through sound waves,” (Celemony, 2011)

Fig 3: Pythagoras  

Neubacker also sites Johannes Kepler a 17th Century Astronomer, saying during his research he often returned to Kepler’s’ book The Harmony of the world. Kepler talks about the relationship between musical harmony of the world and geometry. Pythagorean theory states that the entire universe is based on number and that there is a relationship between “Musical harmony and the order of the cosmos. Furthermore, that the ratio of distance between planets, follows a musical progression, also expressible in simple whole numbers.” (Caleon, I and Ramanathan, S. 2008)

Pitch correction is a controversial subject and has critics from within the industry and in academia. This is reflected in the view that vocalist Joanna Eden has, likening pitch correction to photo shop fixing, she equates it as an aural version of body dysmorphia. (Eden, J. 2018) Kay Dickinson has expressed concerns due to her research on altering vocal sound through applied technology regarding the "mediation of artistic expression" and the "notion of artistic authenticity." (Hughes. D, 2015) There are valid views against homogenising vocal production in favour of authenticity. Since the huge success in 1997 of Cher’s Do you Believe in life after love, it could be argued that this was the gateway track that popularised overtly auto tuned vocals. Generations of young people have never heard commercial music without vocal processing either overtly or otherwise. The same is perhaps true for the generation who listened to music produced in the 70’s and 80’s through using the Aphex Aural Exciter.  

Take it away Cher....

Overt use of auto tune on vocals has become a stylistic creative choice in sub pop genres. How long that will remain in vogue remains to be seen. Pitch correction is here to stay as a post-production editing tool. The potential of using Melodyne as a creative tool is interesting to me and I am looking forward to experimenting with a 30-day trial of the software.

This research process has taken me on surprising journeys of discovery. What this reveals to me is that the context in which you learn something is so crucial. My brain usually switches off when mathematics, algorithms and software design are mentioned.  Just looking at Melodyne the product would be far less interesting to me. I am interested in people and how they think, and while I cannot claim to understand all of the deep theoretical underpinning used here, I found the concepts completely fascinating.

References

Celemony. (2011). What does a stone look like? [YouTube channel]available at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u573PyXo-pY&ab_channel=Celemony [accessed 4th December 2020]

Eden, J. (2018). Losing our human sound [online] available at: https://www.soundonsound.com/people/sounding-losing-our-human-sound. [accessed 11th December 2020]

(HUGHES, D. 2015). ‘Technological Pitch Correction: Controversy, Contexts, and Considerations.’ Journal of Singing, [online] 71 (5), pp. 587-594.available from https://search-proquest-com.ezproxy.herts.ac.uk/docview/1684205616?accountid=14660&pq-origsite=summon [accessed 4th December 2020]

Caleon, I. (2008) Ramanathan, S. From Music to Physics: The Undervalued Legacy of Pythagoras. Sci & Education, [online] 17, 449–456 (2008). Available at: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11191-007-9090-x [Accessed December 5th 2020]

Images: 

Fig1: https://www.celemony.com/en/melodyne/what-is-melodyne

Fig 2:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wSS1OSAEisE&ab_channel=Celemony

Fig 3:https://macprovideo.com/article/audio-hardware/music-theory-exploring-the-432hz-tuning-debate

Fig 4: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nZXRV4MezEw&list=PLXSHaYvTtMJitkZbTNG1mf05zEdEQWGBM&ab_channel=Cher

https://www.thakanon.org/index.html

#reflection

[marylovettpostgradblog]

5: VOCAL RECORDING AND ERGONOMICS IN THE HOME STUDIO

I have been thinking a lot about my own studio set up and have been trying to refine how it works.  I started out in an insulated summerhouse, where, in winter I would awkwardly stoop over my laptop freezing for hours. A few years ago, I graduated into an upstairs bedroom. This is a dedicated studio space with two decent sized screen monitors and monitor speakers at the right height for the optimum tweeter to ear ratio. It is comparative luxury inside in the warm, I am so fortunate to have this space.  That said there are still many adjustments and tweaks to make. I have spent the last few weeks thinking and moving things around to make the most ergonomic acoustically pleasing, non-back ache inducing place to work. Ergonomics seem to be an easier issue to address than treating the acoustics.  I have researched home studio set ups and looked at seating. Chris Corfield states the case for proper seating in a Music Radar article. He says it is essential to invest in a proper chair for the sake of your health and posture. (Corfield, C. 2020) Once I had got used to the idea of the cost of a decent task chair, I decided that it was worth investing in. Once purchased it immediately revolutionised being at my desk and I realised how uncomfortable I had been previously. With the addition of wrist rests for mouse and keyboard to avoid RSI, and the purchase of height adjustable legs for my desk, I am able store my 88 key weighted keyboards that I use as a midi trigger beneath the desk on a stand with wheels.  This has finally made it possible to slide out from beneath the desk when in use, neatly sliding back when I don’t need it.  I am very pleased with this solution, at the fraction of the cost of any studio furniture currently on the market.  Focussing on work flow and ergonomics is I am sure a result of my age and experience with previous set ups that have caused problems. I am a person with ADHD, one of the traits is having a propensity to hyper focus on things that are interesting to me. When I am working, I can easily lose track of the hours that I have been on a task.  I am a freelancer so there are no occupational health people popping in to the studio to make sure that your chair and desk is set up properly. Or colleagues to remind me to take breaks and remember to eat, so I have a watch with haptic reminders to stand up and walk around periodically throughout the day. The other issue with my home studio is acoustic treatment and lack of vocal booth. This is the biggest thing that currently holds me back.  When I want to record vocals, I feel inhibited if I know I can be heard, either by those inside the house or by neighbours. I share my house with a lodger who is currently working from home and I have noticed I am less inclined to sing. This may seem at odds with my previous work leading choirs and confidently using my voice every day. Since lockdown in March 2020, my working life changed drastically and I have not been singing as much and the choirs are dormant. I’ve noticed that the vocals I have recorded since and for my course work are definitely held back. The song writing process is deeply personal, and something that I am used to doing privately. Paula Wolfe writes about women needing solitude and privacy and says that having a space to create, learn and experiment in a domestic setting, offers women creative control and career potential. (Wolfe P 2012) Of course this need is not exclusive to women, but as I am one, I can confirm this has definitely been my experience. Apart from the psychological barriers, I struggle to find the best vocal sound.  Having tested three mics, two condensers (AKG P200, AT3035), and one dynamic (SM58) in the room. I used a reflection filter with the condenser Mics but still didn’t manage to find the sweet spot. I came to the conclusion that the SM58 is the best mic to use for this as yet untreated space, because it is picks up less reflections from the room. I have experimented with a DIY vocal set up with Duvets in order to be able use my condenser mic for vocals. This was much more successful having followed Paul Whites advice on this in his Producer's Manual. Although I have a reflection filter, I had not considered the room reflections on the wall behind the microphone. The reflections were deadened by a mattress and duvets clipped onto the bookcase and another over a clothes horse.

fig 1: DIY Home Studio Vocal recording set up

Reading articles on recording vocals in Sound on Sound and listening to the SOS podcasts on vocal production have been helpful in the quest for a better vocal sound. As usual I have mixed success and typically as a learner my over-use of parallel processing techniques have resulted so far in an over processed sound, but it is progress.

I will persevere with the act of confidently singing in this space, despite the lockdown and proximity of neighbours and lodgers. Conquering this will help in capturing the best recorded sound. Sylvia Massey talks about the psychological problems that singers have in her book Recording Unhinged. She says that the one person that typically gets in the way of a great vocal performance is the singer themself. Massey, S. (2016) She has observed over years of working with singers that many can be self-conscious about their voice not working properly and focussing on that can derail a vocal session. Her strategy is to give the singers so many other things to do that they are forced to concentrate on the physical tasks she asks them to do that they are forced out of their self-critical mid set. These include: 

Standing on one foot while singing, pretend you are driving a car while singing or breaking away from the melody and ad-libbing on the spot.  I can see how these techniques would be effective although quite challenging to trick yourself out of your own head as the singer on your own productions. However, it is still useful to read and bear in mind, perhaps there is a way to get the best out of yourself. What I have also found useful are her unorthodox tips on vocal recording such as singing into a snare drum or a fan. She makes a good point about using what you have to hand, ‘who says you need an acoustically treated room with high end condenser mics to record in?’ Massey, S. (2016) 

This is music to my ears as it is easy to fall into the trap of thinking that I need new equipment to get the best sound. To some extent it might be true, but new gear doesn’t necessarily make your musical ideas better. Experimenting, practicing and understanding recording and production techniques with what I already have is far better than wasting valuable creative time succumbing to the endless advertising of plugs ins and gear that allude to the shimmering promise of better audio quality and improved workflow.  Improved workflow is becoming a phrase I am starting to get sick of reading. But that’s another story…. 

References: https://www.musicradar.com/news/best-studio-chairs Wolfe P (2012)’A Studio of one’s own: Music Production, Technology and Gender.’ Journal on the Art of Record Production. [online]07 (11) Available at: https://www.arpjournal.com/asarpwp/a-studio-of-one%E2%80%99s-own-music-production-technology-and-gender/[Accessed: November 13th 2020]

Massy, S and Johnson, C. (2016) Milwaukee. Recording Unhinged: Creative and unconventional recording. Hal Leonard Books 2016

White, P. (2020) Cumbria. The Producers Manual. Jake Island Ltd. 2020

Images

Fig 1: Photograph taken by Mary Lovett of the vocal recording with duvet experiment.

#reflection

[marylovettpostgradblog]

4:DEEP LISTENING, REVERB, DELAY AND TIME TRAVEL.   Pauline Oliveros

Fig 1: Pauline Oliveros

As a small child I recall lying beneath my Mother’s piano as it was  played. The harmonics sustain and reverberation gave me a kind of visceral sound bath that I kept returning to. I still enjoy this today by playing a chord on my upright acoustic piano holding the  sustain pedal down, resting my head on the front of the piano until the sound decays. This is a glorious lo fi simple pleasure and until recently, thought this was just peculiar to me. In Eric Tams biography, Brian Eno explains why he loves the piano,“I like it because of the complexity of the sound.  If you hold the sustain pedal down, strike a note and just listen…. That’s one of my favourite musical experiences.” (Tam E 1989)

This has made me think about why reverb, sustain harmonics and delay so pleasing to our ears? Perhaps the heady combination of the harmonics sustain and reverberations reflecting the room that makes this experience so rich.  I don’t have an answer but in researching Pauline Oliveros I was captivated by her intriguing way of speaking about sound. Acoustic space is where time and space merge as they are activated by sound (Bands R ND)

Fig 2: The Album by the Deep Listening Band

The Album Cistern music Pauline Oliveros recorded with Jherek Bischoff in a drained underground reservoir in Cologne.  They also recorded in another underground cistern 14 feet beneath Fort Worden State Park in America. So large and cavernous that it naturally had a 45 second reverb. This was the beginning of the deep listening band and and deep listening as a  a philosophy.

Oliveros was a “Prolific writer and philosopher of music, feminist and humanitarian issues” (Rogers T 2010) She also pioneered work in experimental electronic music. In the 1960s her work included early recordings of tape delay systems and later developed the expanded instrument system (EIS) which is is a “performer-controlled delay based network of digital sound processing devices designed to be an improvising environment for acoustic musicians.” (Gamper D ND) Her instrument of choice was an accordion in two different tunings. She described the delays in the EIS as a time machines, ’because when I play something in the present, it is delayed and then comes back in the future. I’m playing in the past, and playing again in the present, anticipating the future.” (Rogers T 2010) The EIS was presented at the International Computer Music Conference in 1991.  

Deep listening as a philosophy and practice. A practice that is about listening rather than hearing. Building on the influence of what playing in the cistern taught her, she observed that ‘musicians were not really listening to the music that they were playing” As a result of her investigations she  developed a sounding practice not unlike chanting. When she sang ‘elongated notes and deeply  focused on the sound she  felt that she had a heightened awareness and a sense of wellbeing.’ (Oliveros P 2005) from the cistern music music experiment as has developed into the practice of Deep Listening and the founding of the Deep listening institute, where courses are run and scholars come for conferences. Oliveros describes the development of the practice during her TED talk. She said that Deep listening came form an 14′ underground to higher education.’ Oliveros TED (2016) The practice incorporates meditation, Tai chi , breath work posture  improvisation, journaling and journaling dreams, extreme slow walking paying attention to what you can hear under the soles of your feet. “take a walk at night, walk so softly that your feet become ears.” Instructions for her 5th sonic meditation 1974 (Tam E 1989) It’s impossible to document her vast canon of work in one blog post. Oliveros was born in 1932 and entered into a hugely male dominated field and pioneered cutting edge, radical and influential work. Combining science technology inclusiveness and spirituality. Her legacy lives on and it is clear that she really touched the lives of the people she worked with.

Fig 3: American DJ The Blessed Madonna

I have personally  been moved by her work and relate strongly to what DJ and Producer, The Blessed Madonna said about her motivation for creating the Daphne festival. The festival named after Daphne Oram was to remember and celebrate women in electronic music. She says that ‘it reasserted that connection to our history and to our matriarchal lineage, also, for all of us, there was an idea that listening could be a feminist act, that listening itself could be both meditative and feminist and part of the sociology of feminism. Pauline is just so fundamental to everything.’ Murray, E. (2017)

References: 

https://quod.lib.umich.edu/cgi/p/pod/dod-idx/expanded-instrument-system-recent-developments.pdf?c=icmc;idno=bbp2372.1998.273;format=pdf

https://thevinylfactory.com/features/pauline-oliveros-legacy-deep-listening/

https://www.newsounds.org/story/3879-cistern-music-oliveros/

Rodgers T et al. (2010) Pink Noises. Durham and London Duke University Press 2010

https://thevinylfactory.com/features/pauline-oliveros-legacy-deep-listening/

Images:

Fig 1: https://flypaper.soundfly.com/features/pauline-oliveros-made-me-a-better-listener/

Fig 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=34puXJdXEQA

Fig 3: https://mixmag.asia/feature/the-black-madonna-is-the-dj-of-the-year

#reflection

[marylovettpostgradblog]

3. BOUDICCA, PATRIARCHY AND HOW SHOULD WE BE TALKING ABOUT GENDER DISPARITY?

Note: When I talk about women I am including those who identify as women and non conforming genders.

During conversations about gender disparity with my male peers, whenever I have used the word patriarchy, I am aware of visible discomfort in the facial expressions reflected back to me. It’s one of those “difficult words.” A word describing culture, structures, institutions and attitudes that surround us all. The London Feminist network define patriarchy as, “characterised by current and historic unequal power relations between women and men whereby women are systematically disadvantaged and oppressed…..” (ND) The Oxford Dictionary definition of patriarchy is- “ruled or controlled by men; giving power and importance only to men” signifying an overt intentional ruling and controlling of women. Historically this has been the case, one example being the struggle for women’s suffrage. It might be easy to frame this as historical repression and that we have come a long way since, then haven’t we? In the UK ,“Prior to 1992, forced sexual activity within a marriage wasn’t illegal, as a husband could enforce conjugal rights on his wife without committing an offence based on the belief that a wife had provided their ongoing consent through the contract of marriage.” (Titchener N 2019) It was only 28 years ago that a man could not be prosecuted for raping his wife. What’s all this got to do with the music industry? Well, everything…

Attitudes and practices inherited from the past are difficult to erase, even when they are legislated against. Women victims of sexual assault and rape are still questioned about what they were wearing, as if in some way this could have provoked the attack.  High school dress codes have been informed on the same basis. Girls are told not to show too much leg, or be a distraction to the boys.  2016 Deputy Principal Cherith Telford High school in New Zealand made headlines when telling female students to wear knee length skirts. This was to  “keep the girls safe, stop boys from getting ideas, and create a good work environment for male staff.” Reactions were mixed. Singer Erica Badu felt that girls had no business wearing skirts above the knee to school. Reagan Gomez (actress) argued that it wasn’t the responsibility of the girls to avoid being a temptation to men.’ (Kendall M 2016) According to Kendall, M. (2016) “If our culture insists on perpetuating the lie that clothing leads to rape, despite all evidence to the contrary, then the problem is our culture.” I would argue that the problem is a Patriarchal system that blames victims of crime perpetrated by men.  Jackson Katz goes further to say in his Ted talk.  He offers a paradigm shifting perspective on the issues on gender violence. He makes the argument that Violence against women is a men’s issue. “We talk about how many women were raped last year, not about how many men raped women.” (Katz J )  The language used around this issue is problematic for example the term  ‘victims of domestic abuse’ leaves Men out of the sentence and out of the conversation.

So here we are in the Patriarchy, a system so established and embedded that the privileges of being male (especially while and middle-class) are invisible to those that it favours. If one is not obstructed by it, then it is much harder to see it as an obstacle for others. 

It is much like the strongly held believe in meritocracy, the belief that if you work hard, you will succeed, but the playing field is not level. The game is rigged! Strong asserts that“Cultural workers often strongly buy in to the notion of the existence of a meritocracy which supposedly ensures the success of the most talented and hardworking people regardless of their identity”(Strong C & Cannizzo 2017: vi). Is this the reason for the discomfort I perceive coming from male peers when gender disparity mentioned? The idea that simply hard work and talent are the ingredients for success. An inability to see the problem because it has not been directly experienced.  After all it’s difficult to see things that are invisible to you right? 

I have experienced only one stand out sexist comment worth mentioning in my career so far. In 2005 when in conversation after taking part in a student recording session. I asked the studio owner if there were any openings for jobs or work experience. His response, “Yeah, well we do need a cleaner.” Just to qualify, I do not think being a cleaner is a demeaning occupation. It is however low paid, undervalued and predominantly carried out by women. I was not applying for a cleaning job. I will never know if he would have responded in the same way to a man asking the same question. I doubt it. Largely my experiences have been positive and have not felt directly excluded based on my gender. I really value collaborating with my male colleagues. 

However I can not claim that it has been easy career choice. Here I am doing a Masters in Creative Music Production now that my four children have reached adulthood and live independently. Now that all my extra workload of unpaid labour in the realm of motherhood carried out simultaneously as my career has changed. I am free to REALLY focus on my art. That irony is not lost on me.

It has been difficult to find a way to effectively articulate the issue of gender disparity in the industry without counter-productive accusatory finger pointing.  Alison Wenham, the Chair of The Association of Independent Music, succinctly expresses what I am attempting to express. “We remain one of the most white-male-dominated industries in the world. I do not believe the men in the industry have ever deliberately exercised prejudice, it is more a deeply ingrained set of customs and habits that has resulted in this imbalance.”  AIM AGM, London, Wolfe P (2009). There it is again, the gosh darn patriarchy!

On the 15th November I attended Boudicca Music conference a live stream conference. Magdalena Jensen from Key Change hosted a “A Conversation Exploring The Disparity Of Gender Throughout The Music Industry,” with a panel of women working within the industry. From management, agencies set up to chase royalty payments to DJ’s and Producers.

The discussion was both depressing and heartening, with some interesting insights and thought provoking dialogue. Although the world of the London DJ scene has never been on my radar, it was a glimpse into a world I know nothing about. It revealed the challenges for women to break through and also the sense of community and safe spaces that club nights can offer. The music being the unifying factor.  It also revealed a whole host of organisations actively working towards supporting women and redressing the imbalance. One influential organisation being Keychange funded by the PRS Foundation in the UK and has Swedish and german branches, and the movement is gaining momentum. https://www.keychange.eu/about-us

How do we  frame the ongoing discourse without using the “P” word or acting in a way as to alienate potential and existing male allies? Should we temper the discourse because it makes for uncomfortable conversations? Shauni Cabellero believes that“People have to be made uncomfortable to make changes.” Cabellero S (2020) 

How do individuals within the industry respond to change without feeling attacked or obliged to recruit woman because of arbitrary quotas, (which don’t actually exist in the music industry), and if they did, would it be  representation or tokenism? Cabellero believes that because women are not currently represented in numbers so we have to rely on people adopting voluntary policy until we are. (Cabellero S 2020). An important point that was  made is to celebrate individuals and organisations that  are actively embracing the need for positive change. One of these is Crispin Hunt of PPL stepping down from the board on the Ivor Novellos, to make room for Women.(Cabellero S 2020).

One of the themes that seems to come back though my research is one that that  DJ Syreeta Echo’s, that of knowing your worth. Important for everyone regardless of gender but in my observations is something that women can all too easily lack.  The precise reasons why this might be  the case are far to complex and nuanced to include in one blog post. 

The takeaways for me from the conference were that:

Change has to be also implemented from the top down.

Investment in research, education, funding targeted  programmes 

More women in powerful positions

Calling out prejudice

In education, encouraging girls into music, having female role models

Having mentors 

Building teams and being conscious of recruiting from diverse backgrounds. 

The 50/50 pledge from Keychange Inclusivity contracts.  

Being aware of the organisations campaigning for change 

The need for male, and organisational allies in embracing change.

Celebrating those that actively facilitate change.

Below are Screen shots from the Key Change Website setting out the aims of the movement

Boudicca Online Conference November the 14th 2020 

Magdalena Jensen (Keychange) https://www.keychange.eu/about-us 

Shauni Caballero (The Go 2 Agency)https://thego2agency.com/

Syreeta (He.She.They) https://www.residentadvisor.net/dj/syreeta-uk 

Cori Chinnici (AWAL / The MMF)https://themmf.net/ Faux Naïf ( M II M)

https://www.residentadvisor.net/dj/fauxnaif

https://www.nme.com/news/music/nadine-shah-vows-to-run-for-ppl-chair-as-previous-steps-down-2700372

https://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/definition/english/patriarchal

https://www.bl.uk/votes-for-women?gclid=Cj0KCQiAqdP9BRDVARIsAGSZ8Al-KdHFHyiPDSuXAAbXnrEOfg3Lov3jaYhCJHz_jqat1XtwCG-ApxIaAqdvEALw_wcBhttps://(Titchener N 2020)

www.lawtonslaw.co.uk/resources/what-are-the-legal-penalties-for-marital-rape/

https://iaspmjournal.net/index.php/IASPM_Journal/article/viewFile/906/pdf_1

https://www.arpjournal.com/asarpwp/a-studio-of-one%E2%80%99s-own-music-production-technology-and-gender/

Fig 1 https://www.girlmuseum.org/alternative-girls-being-a-female-vinyl-dj/

#reflection

[marylovettpostgradblog]

This week my research has taken me into a world of vintage audio tech forums and archives which I would never usually venture. Dipping a toe into psychoacoustics, mystical marketing, and unashamed 70s and 80s nostalgia. 

Fig 1: The Aphex Aural Exciter

In the mid 70’s the provocatively named Aphex Aural Exciter was developed to add clarity and top end sheen to recordings to tape that had become lifeless as a result of overdubbing. It’s conception by an accidental error leading to an understanding psychoacoustics. A small beginning shrouded in mystery that went on to be an industry standard.

In 1956 Curt Knoppel, discovered while building a stereo valve amplifier kit, one of the channels was not wired properly. He mixed the two sounds together and was surprised that it sounded better than the original. He found this so fascinating that he made time to investigate this over the next 20 years. In 1971 he read about Holography and wondered if the sound he had heard fifteen years previously, “might be to pure sound what holography is to pure light.” (Gershman M 1977) His research lead him into psychoacoustics. This is the study of how the brain processes sound. “The human brain was obviously an integral element in hearing sounds that can not be measured on oscilloscopes.” (Gershman M 1977)

Fig 2: Carl Knoppel

Knoppel’s research, development and financial investment resulted in the ability to recreate the illusive extra harmonic content that he heard by accident fifteen years previously. His discovery added sheen and sparkle to the mid and top end frequencies previously unobtainable when recording to tape. “The Aural Exciter worked by a combination of phase-shifting and adding high frequency harmonics, both very subtly applied.” (computer music 2019)

Fig 3: Simplified  block diagram of the Aphex Exciter from the owners manual.

Knoppel met business Partner Marvin Caesar and began “Aphex Systems LTD in March 1975.” (Gershman M 1977) Aphex systems received a pivotal break when the  The first model (402) was used in NBC-TV Midnight special broadcast. “It has been used on every broadcast since then.” (Gershman M 1977)

Fig 4: Marven Caesar

It could also be used in live sound. Marvin Caesar reflects on how this came about ‘Our first big break came with the Wings over America tour. Peter Asher  couldn't believe that the same piano now sounded so much better. He was pointed to the Aural Exciter.  Learning that the effect could be used on tape he rushed to the Sound Factory in Hollywood where they were finishing off a Linda Ronstadt album. They remastered the whole thing using the Aphex and crediting it on on the sleeve. Then things moved from there, first in America and then internationally.’(Caesar M ND)

Aphex Systems decided to rent the units to studio’s as they lacked finance to manufacture and patent protection. Whether by design or accident this contributed to the mystique. “The mysterious Aphex Aural Exciter, so ubiquitous in pop recordings” (High fidelity 1983) The cost to hire one was $30 per minute of recording time. “It was very interesting back in the day how much mystery there was surrounding the Aural Exciter, especially since we always credited it in the liner notes of the records: "This album was mixed using the Aphex Aural Exciter system.” (Garay V 2011) The genius of this business strategy was that this also provided free advertising, piquing the curiosity of audio engineers avidly pawing over sleeve notes and industry publications.

Fig 5: Letter page in Modern Recording Magazine

Fig 6 letter sent to Modern Recording Magazine

Integral to the hire agreement was that Aural exciter had to be mentioned on the album. “We were very undercapitalised to start with and the most we could do was scrape together enough money to build a few units and until we could obtain patent protection, we decided only to hire them out so that we could control happened to them. We sealed up the circuits and didn't tell anyone what was inside.” (Caesar M ND) Val Garay recording engineer used the unit on subsequent high profile releases. ‘Linda Ronstadt’s Hasten Down The Wind in 1976. Bonnie Raitt, James Taylor, Neil Diamond, Frankie Valli & The Four Seasons, Andrew Gold, Orleans.’  (Garay V 2011)

Fig 7 Val Garay and Martha Davis of the Motels. 1980

“After the huge success of the multi-Platinum, Grammy award-winning Linda Ronstadt album Simple Dreams, it became a recording industry standard.” (Garay V 2011) In 1980 Aphex Systems began manufacturing units for sale.

Fig 8 Studio Sound Magazine 1980

Thoughts and Musings

The Aural Exciter was originated by accident, it success a result of unrelenting curiosity, perseverance and serendipity. Curt Knoppel’s technical skill coupled with Marvin Caesar’s business acumen. Perhaps another one of those familiar stories from a bygone era when the industry seemed simpler and more lucrative. 

I have been considering the power of nostalgia and if this is something that informs the analogue officianardo. Some of whom vigorously insist its superiority.  Aphex Aural Exciter was used in TV and radio broadcast as well as in recording studios. Generations have heard music through this processor. So it was bound to played a part in the perceived notion of how things sound, psychoacoustically speaking.  (I never imagined I would ever say “psychoacoustically speaking” in a sentence!) Or is it all in the kHz, and do I actually really care?  

Fig 9 Trevor Horn pictured with the Aphex Aural Exciter in his studio rack

The Aphex Aural Exciter has certainly influenced the way we hear music. “By exclusively distorting this frequency band and mixing this new signal with the original, harmonic excitation provides a harmonically-related crispness that isn’t replicable with standard EQ methods.” (Brown G 2020) With the current trend for analogue sound the Aural exciter exists as a plug in. What I find so interesting is the way the brain can “hear “ harmonics when the fundamental is not present. Comparable to reading, we don’t read each letter but decode the word by anticipating what is next and understanding the context. “We are continuously anticipating what we will see, hear or feel next.”(Muckli L 2011) I have been surprised by the sheer amount of information and the genuine affection that is expressed in the curated archives that I have come across during research. It was particularly pleasing to discover the yellowing vintage magazines with the 70’s and 80’s styling in both type set and photography. Personally this builds on an increasing appreciation of the connection between sound engineering, physics, mathematics, neuroscience, nostalgia and music.

fig 10: Trevor Horn in the Buggles with the hit song Video Killed the Radio Star.  

References

https://ask.audio/articles/review-aphex-exciter

https://worldradiohistory.com/hd2/IDX-Audio/Archive-High-Fidelity-IDX/IDX/80s/High-Fidelity-1983-02-OCR-Page-0012.pdf#search=%22aphex%20aural%20exciter%22

https://www.izotope.com/en/learn/4-ways-to-add-augment-or-excite-upper-harmonics.html

http://www.muzines.co.uk/articles/the-man-who-sells-excitement/8393

https://www.radioworld.com/uncategorized/sharper-image-to-sell-hd-radios-336656

https://www.musicradar.com/news/a-brief-history-of-sonic-enhancers-plus-5-of-the-tastiest-sweetening-plugins

https://photos.google.com/share/AF1QipObQHFIuCxQVBcgtdbzFI7feak9rczemV-dQqmvK02yAhEX7Eq_D_f6xRTqfRZDwg?key=RWE0WlU2bW1NanV6NFJKNkpmRFFDTW4xQ2RQNXp3

https://www.waves.com/val-garay-on-the-hits-of-the-70-and-80

https://photos.google.com/share/AF1QipObQHFIuCxQVBcgtdbzFI7feak9rczemV-dQqmvK02yAhEX7Eq_D_f6xRTqfRZDwg/photo/AF1QipPBKRpTgZwZ3j6Pm9GK09dziTRbz99-XISZYbmk?key=RWE0WlU2bW1NanV6NFJKNkpmRFFDTW4xQ2RQNXp3

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-04-eyes-brain.html

Images

Fig 1: https://www.261.gr/vintage9.html

Fig 2: https://photos.google.com/share/AF1QipObQHFIuCxQVBcgtdbzFI7feak9rczemV-dQqmvK02yAhEX7Eq_D_f6xRTqfRZDwg/photo/AF1QipPBKRpTgZwZ3j6Pm9GK09dziTRbz99-XISZYbmk?key=RWE0WlU2bW1NanV6NFJKNkpmRFFDTW4xQ2RQNXp3

Fig 3: https://ask.audio/articles/review-aphex-exciter

Fig 4: http://www.muzines.co.uk/articles/the-man-who-sells-excitement/8393 

Fig 5: https://photos.google.com/share/AF1QipObQHFIuCxQVBcgtdbzFI7feak9rczemV-dQqmvK02yAhEX7Eq_D_f6xRTqfRZDwg/photo/AF1QipP7E4OLnN3b67Bi3Zjy0xoyxUywmle-NnBEyxn2?key=RWE0WlU2bW1NanV6NFJKNkpmRFFDTW4xQ2RQNXp3

Fig 6: https://www.discogs.com/Linda-Ronstadt-Hasten-Down-The-Wind/release/6277450

Fig 7: https://www.zocalopublicsquare.org/2018/03/01/l-s-recording-studios-ruled-music-scene/ideas/essay/

Fig 8: https://worldradiohistory.com/hd2/IDX-Audio/Archive-Studio-Sound-IDX/IDX/80s/Studio-Sound-1980-12-OCR-Page-0027.pdf#search=%22aphex%20aural%20exciter%22

Fig 9:https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0394924/mediaviewer/rm3715659776

#reflection

[marylovettpostgradblog]

1. IS IT BECAUSE I AM A GIRL?

Too Few Women in Audio 

My work to date has been weighted more towards working with people in a therapeutic way rather than music technology. I have a ”Freelance portfolio career” which loosely translated means juggling different projects simultaneously to pay the rent. Most of which have been in community music and theatre. The work consists of, performance, commissions for music for immersive site specific theatre and directing community choirs.

My rationale for choosing to study Creative Music Production is to develop the technical skills be able to produce my own music to an industry standard. (whatever that means) To to accurately translate compositional ideas and in turn do justice to them. Despite having used Logic as my preferred DAW for over twelve years, I still feel like I have only just dipped my toe into the program, and its capabilities.  I enjoy working in my own small home studio and the security it provides.  I am currently confronting my feelings of overwhelm with the studio desk at the University.

During my experience of music technology education over the last 16 years, women have definitely been in the minority.  Reflecting on my own feelings embarking on Masters study, I really notice how a lack of self confidence rises within me particularly around technology.

For years I have been more interested in the process of composition rather than  mixing and production. Preferring to leave this to other more technically skilled people.  This has often resulted in being unsatisfied with the end result. 

I thought that being able to speak the language of the studio and understanding what things did would help in communicating ideas about the mix. While this certainly helps, I have come to the conclusion that there is no substitute for learning to do this my self. Having to overcome this reluctance was something I wanted to investigate.  Why the reluctance? What is the difficulty? Surely it's not because I am a girl?

fig 1: Leslie Gaston-Bird

I began to look at texts about women in the music industry and in particular production and engineering. My interest was piqued when looking into gender within the music industry as a whole and examining the technical roles of women. Exploring this opens a whole world of historical, sociological, systemic, and complex reasons as to why this has been the case and remains present today.  

Women in Early Audio

Fig 2: Ada Lovelace 1840

Ada’s place in history was not only for her outstanding work but also assisted by her lineage. Her Father being Lord Byron, the famous poet and politician and her Mother, Annabella Milbanke, ensuring that she was tutored in Mathematics, logic and science. She worked alongside Charles Babbage who was developing a machine called the “Analytical Engine.” James Essinger in his book “Ada’s Algorithm” says that  “With her definition of the word “operation,” she is giving birth to the science of computing and computer programming and is in fact now regarded to be the inventor of computer programming. (Gaston Bird 2020)

In relation to music Ada wrote, “Supposing, for instance, that the fundamental relations of pitched sounds in the science of harmony and of musical composition were susceptible of such expression and adaptations, the engine might compose elaborate and scientific pieces of music of any degree of complexity or extent” (Essinger, 2014).

Sophie Germain a French Mathematician. Answering an “open call” call in 1808 from the Academy of Science for Mathematicians, (A place where girls were not allowed to study) to build on the work of Ernest Chladni. He had described the resonant frequencies of vibration with the patterns made from sand on a metal plate. Germain’s work was to develop the formulae to mathematically predict what the resonances would be. This was not acknowledged at the time. Even when she had won the grand prize at the Institute of Science in France (on her third attempt.) She was not invited to the Grand Prix ceremony and not allowed to publish her work. She self-published in 1821. 

Fig 3: Patterns of sand on a metal plate with the vibration from a violin bow

Historically Women’s achievements in STEM subjects (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) have been hampered by not being able to access this type of education.  Those that have broken through are have been uncredited and their work not recognised, or excluded. Sophie Germain's formula was used in architecture to measure that stresses on metal. This contributed to the building of the Eiffel Tower. “However, you will not find Germain’s name on any of the four sides of the Tower, which was built between 1887 and 1889 and upon which are inscribed the names of 72 scientists who contributed their intellect to its construction.” (Mozans 1913)

Woman were actively excluded from education and  professions deemed (by men) to be unfit for Women. Today, the door is not so blatantly closed as it was for Sophie Germain back in 1802.  

Perhaps more subtle barriers are at play? Audio Engineering is a profession open to all genders, yet we never hear the term “Male audio engineer.” When women in the same profession, they are described with her gender as the prefix. 

“Gender-based designations such as these have been the case throughout history; perhaps more so in science, technology, engineering, and math, where women are underrepresented. In contemporary discussions in the media, we hear the phrases “women in medicine” or “women in physics.”(Gaston-Bird 2020)

 The ratio of male to female producers is estimated to be 47-1 (Smith et al 2020) 

The question of why this might be continues to be asked. Singer songwriter and producer Rosina Ncube says that her experience at school could be described as “character building”, being the only female in the music technology class.  Not being chosen to collaborate in group work, and having to speak louder to be heard. She also recollects, being crowded away from the mixing desk whenever there was a demonstration. “Suggesting an idea, having it rejected, then when a guy suggests exactly the same thing 20 minutes later, everyone loves it. Frustrating? You bet, and it's just one in a string of similar experiences that I have had as a woman starting out in the world of music production.” (Ncube R 2013)

fig 4: Rosina Ncube 

The comedy sketch from the “Fast Show”posted beautifully illustrates what Rosina Ncube was saying. See fig 9 below

In 2004 I accidentally discovered Imogen Heap when she was playing solo supporting Rufus Wainwright. This was inspiring and influential to me to have a female role model using tech and playing live. She wrote, recorded and engineered her music. Winning a Grammy for best Engineered non classical album in 2009. What is it that young women and girls need to be encouraged into audio? Female role models to aspire to? Women teaching and leading workshops in music technology in schools and colleges? Programs specifically for girls and women? I began to look at how these questions are being addressed. 

Organisations across the world have developed specifically to encourage women into the industry. The Yorkshire Sound Women Network is one of these, founded in 2015 by Dr Liz Dobson. 

“We have to be in an environment which is lower risk, which – in this case – means not being the only woman in a world which associates masculinity and technology; to remove that risk to be in a community of peers; and to have a chance to put your hands on and use equipment. To make mistakes and learn from that” (Dobson 2019).

fig 5 Yorkshire Sound Women Network

fig 6 Yorkshire Sound Women Network Workshop Video 

Thoughts and Musings:

Digging in to gender disparity has the potential to enrage, dishearten and become a cul-de-sac that could distract from my main objective of being better at production! Heartening though, are initiatives like the YSWN. Watching the video and seeing the excitement and enthusiasm of the girls taking part in the workshop was an absolute joy. It seems that throughout my studies gender and audio are intrinsically entwined. This topic once explored, impossible to ignore and yet I’d like to be able to ignore it and get on with being a creative music producer. Much like Leslie Gaston Bird would rather just be called an audio engineer, but that’s not how she is represented.

“I am not a woman in audio. I am an audio engineer. Nor am I a “Black woman audio engineer.” I am an audio engineer who happens to be a Black woman.” (Gaston-Bird 2019)

fig 7 The Incredible Invisible woman

References:

https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/herts/detail.action?docID=5988228

https://www.soundonsound.com/people/sounding-why-so-few-women-audio

https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/herts/detail.action?docID=5988228

http://researchonline.rcm.ac.uk/id/eprint/334/1/SaltMusic-Research-Report.pdf 

Images: 

Fig1: https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/herts/detail.action?docID=5988228

Fig 2:https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/herts/detail.action?docID=5988228

Fig 3:https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/herts/detail.action?docID=5988228

Fig 4:www.soundonsound.com/people/sounding-why-so-few-women-audio 

Fig 5: https://yorkshiresoundwomen.com/

Fig 6: https://yorkshiresoundwomen.com/

Fig 7:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DE3r_CgScms&ab_channel=Lizallinos

#reflection