1st Edition

Cultural Production in and Beyond the Recording Studio

By Allan Watson Copyright 2015
    232 Pages 22 B/W Illustrations
    by Routledge

    250 Pages 22 B/W Illustrations
    by Routledge

    Recording studios are the most insulated, intimate and privileged sites of music production and creativity. Yet in a world of intensified globalisation, they are also sites which are highly connected into wider networks of music production that are increasingly spanning the globe. This book is the first comprehensive account of the new spatialities of cultural production in the recording studio sector of the musical economy, spatialities that illuminate the complexities of global cultural production.

    This unique text adopts a social-geographical perspective to capture the multiple spatial scales of music production: from opening the "black-box" of the insulated space of the recording studio; through the wider contexts in which music production is situated; to the far-flung global production networks of which recording studios are part. Drawing on original research, recent writing on cultural production across a variety of academic disciplines, secondary sources such as popular music biographies, and including a wide range of case studies, this lively and accessible text covers a range of issues including the role of technology in musical creativity; creative collaboration and emotional labour; networking and reputation; and contemporary economic challenges to studios.

    As a contribution to contemporary debates on creativity, cultural production and creative labour, Cultural Production in and Beyond the Recording Studio will appeal to academic students and researchers working across the social sciences, including human geography, cultural studies, media and communication studies, sociology, as well as those studying music production courses.

    Introduction

    PART I Inside the Studio

    1 Studio Technologies: Changing Concepts and Practices

    2 Technology, Collaboration and Creativity

    3 Emotional Labour and Musical Performance

    4 The Studio Sound-Space

    PART II Beyond the Studio

    5 Recording Studios in Urban Music Scenes

    6 Recording Studios in Project Networks (1): The Networked Studio

    7 Recording Studios in Project Networks (2): A Global Urban Geography of Music Production

    8 MP3s and Home Recording: The Problems of Software

    PART III Working and Networking in the Recording Studio Sector

    9 Changing Employment Relations and Experiences of Work

    10 Networking, Reputation Building and Getting Work

    Conclusion

    Biography

    Allan Watson is Senior Lecturer in Human Geography at Staffordshire University.