The Music Producer as Artistic Co-creator
(2024)
author(s): Morten Büchert
published in: Rhythmic Music Conservatory, Copenhagen
In my artistic research project, I embarked on an exploration of the continuum between the roles of a music producer as both facilitator and initiator. Through in-depth engagement with real-world scenarios in professional music production, I examined the dynamics and nuances of how these roles negotiate, intersect, and shape the final artistic outcomes. This investigation not only unveils the intricate processes that underpin music creation but also highlights the implications these negotiations have on the resulting works of art. The findings shed light on the subtle artistry embedded in production decisions and offer a fresh perspective on the evolving landscape of music production.
Music City Excesses: Phenomenological Thresholds and Nashville Noise Regulations
(2018)
author(s): Michael Butera
published in: Journal of Sonic Studies
In this essay I will be exploring phenomenological connections between private and public interpretations of urban sound. First, I will briefly outline a theory of perceptual excess wherein the listener is unable to interpret sounds according to intentional auditory categories. I argue that listeners respond through various acoustic techniques that intentionally change the way spaces sound, reforming acoustic orders. I will explore this in the case of Nashville, Tennessee’s urban noise ordinances. Its constructed identity as ‘Music City’ requires strategic maintenance to ensure that certain sounds are given priority (institutionalize live music) while others are suppressed (pre-recorded music) or marginalized (busking). The specificity of these laws indicates a capitalist cultural nostalgia as well as a fundamental preference for perceptual stability for residents, tourists, and lawmakers alike. A common logic is drawn between the subject as a phenomenological individual and the subject as a listening/governing state. The ability to predict and control which sounds will be heard, to sustain a certain acoustic order, highlights the problem of the listener’s perceptual stability in the context of urban noise and silence.
