Recording the Story:
Exploring the Relationship Between Music Production and Narrative
Jack Williams BCTech, BMusTech (Hons)
Submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy
School of Creative Practice Faculty of Creative Industries, Education and Social Justice Queensland University of Technology 2021
Keywords
Music narrative; music production; musicology; narrative; narratology; personic environment; phonomusicology; popular music; production techniques; proxemic zones; recorded popular music; spatialisation; story; track.
Recording the Story: Exploring the Relationship Between Music Production and Narrative i
Abstract
This research explores the role of music production techniques in the communication of narrative in recorded popular music through an artistic research approach.
Although there have been recent contributions to the field of narratology with respect to traditional musicology, the importance of production techniques has been largely overlooked. The aim of this research project is to identify the relationships that exist between the technical aspects of a recording and the story that is being conveyed by the lyrics and music. Elements from both narratology and phonomusicology are combined to generate a single, cohesive analytical framework through which five cases are examined. These findings then inform the production of a number of creative works that aim to illustrate how the communication of narrative in popular music can be supported or enhanced through the use of music production techniques.
To demonstrate the influence of production techniques on the communication of narrative within recorded popular music, I select three songs and produce two contrasting versions of each song. These six tracks then form the basis of a survey to determine how listeners perceive various narrative aspects within the tracks. The findings of the artistic research and survey indicate that there exists a strong relationship between the creative production decisions made in the creation of a track and the listener’s experience of the story being told.
ii Recording the Story: Exploring the Relationship Between Music Production and Narrative
Table of Contents
Keywords ...... i
Abstract...... ii
List of Figures ...... vii
List of Tables ...... x
Statement of Originality ...... xi
Acknowledgements ...... xii
Introduction ...... 1
Chapter One – Literature Review...... 7
Research Questions ...... 7
Popular Music ...... 7
Production ...... 10
Phonomusicology ...... 12
Proxemic Zones and Personic Environment ...... 21
Narratology ...... 24
Music and Narrative ...... 28
Exemplars ...... 37
Chapter Two – Methodology ...... 42
Methodological Framework ...... 42
Methods ...... 43
Case Studies ...... 43
Case Selection ...... 47
Creative Practice Component ...... 52
Triangulation ...... 55
Survey ...... 56
Recording the Story: Exploring the Relationship Between Music Production and Narrative iii
Chapter Three – Case Study Analyses...... 63
‘Where the Wild Roses Grow’ – Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds feat. Kylie Minogue
...... 64
‘Space Oddity’ – David Bowie...... 68
‘Sarah’ – Kate Miller-Heidke ...... 72
‘Stan’ – Eminem...... 77
‘Save the Life of My Child’ – Simon & Garfunkel ...... 82
Summary ...... 86
Proxemic Zones and Personic Environment ...... 86
Spatialisation ...... 88
Sound Effects...... 89
Production Techniques ...... 89
Chapter Four – Creative Practice Project Design ...... 93
Conception ...... 93
Project Aims ...... 95
Song Selection...... 96
Chapter Five – Creative Works and Analysis ...... 103
Links to Creative Works ...... 105
Tracking...... 106
Mixing ...... 108
Narrative Concepts and Production Approach ...... 111
‘I Heard Love Is Blind’ – Amy Winehouse ...... 111
‘Casimir Pulaski Day’ – Sufjan Stevens ...... 127
‘Love Vigilantes’ – New Order ...... 150
Sound Field Visualisation Links...... 171
Project Summary ...... 172 iv Recording the Story: Exploring the Relationship Between Music Production and Narrative
Chapter Six – Survey Results ...... 175
Perceived Emotions Present in Each Track ...... 176
‘I Heard Love Is Blind’ ...... 176
‘Casimir Pulaski Day’ ...... 180
‘Love Vigilantes’ ...... 186
Emotions – Summary ...... 190
Perceived Proximity in Each Track ...... 194
‘I Heard Love Is Blind’ ...... 195
‘Casimir Pulaski Day’ ...... 198
‘Love Vigilantes’ ...... 200
Proximity – Summary ...... 202
Narrative Support in Each Track ...... 204
Narrative Support – Summary ...... 209
Narrative Differences Between Each Pair of Tracks ...... 210
Narrative Differences – Summary ...... 213
Survey Results Summary...... 214
Survey Improvements...... 218
Chapter Seven – Reflections...... 224
Amended Research/Project Design ...... 235
Chapter Eight – Conclusion ...... 239
References...... 253
Appendices ...... 268
A – Production Journal ...... 268
B – Musician Briefs ...... 282
‘I Heard Love Is Blind (Apology)’ ...... 282
‘I Heard Love Is Blind (Angry)’ ...... 284 Recording the Story: Exploring the Relationship Between Music Production and Narrative v
‘Casimir Pulaski Day’ ...... 285
‘Love Vigilantes (Dead)’ ...... 287
‘Love Vigilantes (Alive)’...... 288
C – Song Lyrics ...... 289
‘I Heard Love Is Blind’ – Amy Winehouse ...... 289
‘Casimir Pulaski Day’ – Sufjan Stevens ...... 291
‘Love Vigilantes’ – New Order ...... 293
‘Where the Wild Roses Grow’ – Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds feat. Kylie Minogue
...... 295
‘Space Oddity’ – David Bowie...... 297
‘Sarah’ – Kate Miller-Heidke ...... 299
‘Stan’ – Eminem...... 302
‘Save the Life of My Child’ – Simon & Garfunkel ...... 308
D – Charts ...... 309
vi Recording the Story: Exploring the Relationship Between Music Production and Narrative
List of Figures
Figure 1: David Gibson’s visual representation of spatiality (2016) ...... 15
Figure 2: Dockwray and Moore’s sound-box of The Kinks’ ‘Lola’ (2010, p. 193) 16
Figure 3: Moylan’s temporal representation of space in The Beatles’ ‘A Day In The
Life’ (Moylan, 2007, p. 171) ...... 17
Figure 4: Liu-Rosenbaum’s temporal representation of space in Led Zeppelin’s
‘When the Levee Breaks’ (Liu-Rosenbaum, 2012) ...... 18
Figure 5: A top-down view of width and distance/depth (Rumsey, 2002, p. 661) .. 19
Figure 6: Research Plan ...... 62
Figure 7: ‘Space Oddity’ Spatialisation ...... 69
Figure 8: ‘Save the Life of My Child’ Spatialisation ...... 84
Figure 9: ‘I Heard Love Is Blind (Apology)’ Verse Sound Field ...... 119
Figure 10: ‘I Heard Love Is Blind (Apology)’ Bridge Sound Field ...... 119
Figure 11: ‘I Heard Love Is Blind (Apology)’ Stereo Image Over Time ...... 120
Figure 12: ‘I Heard Love Is Blind (Angry)’ Verse Sound Field...... 125
Figure 13: ‘I Heard Love Is Blind (Angry)’ Stereo Image Over Time ...... 126
Figure 14: ‘Casimir Pulaski Day (Acceptance)’ Verse Sound Field ...... 139
Figure 15: ‘Casimir Pulaski Day (Acceptance)’ Stereo Image Over Time ...... 140
Figure 16: ‘Casimir Pulaski Day (Grief)’ Verse Sound Field ...... 148
Figure 17: ‘Casimir Pulaski Day (Grief)’ Stereo Image Over Time ...... 149
Figure 18: ‘Love Vigilantes (Dead)’ Outro Vocal Panning ...... 157
Figure 19: ‘Love Vigilantes (Dead)’ Outro Ebow Panning ...... 157
Figure 20: ‘Love Vigilantes (Dead)’ Chorus Sound Field...... 161
Figure 21: ‘Love Vigilantes (Dead)’ Outro Sound Field ...... 161
Figure 22: ‘Love Vigilantes (Dead)’ Stereo Image Over Time ...... 162
Recording the Story: Exploring the Relationship Between Music Production and Narrative vii
Figure 23: ‘Love Vigilantes (Alive)’ Chorus 2 Sound Field ...... 169
Figure 24: ‘Love Vigilantes (Alive)’ Chorus 3 Sound Field ...... 169
Figure 25: ‘Love Vigilantes (Alive)’ Stereo Image Over Time ...... 170
Figure 26: ‘I Heard Love Is Blind (Apology)’ Emotions Survey Results ...... 176
Figure 27: ‘I Heard Love Is Blind (Angry)’ Emotions Survey Results ...... 178
Figure 28: ‘Casimir Pulaski Day (Acceptance)’ Emotions Survey Results ...... 180
Figure 29: ‘Casimir Pulaski Day (Grief)’ Emotions Survey Results ...... 182
Figure 30: ‘Love Vigilantes (Dead)’ Emotions Survey Results ...... 186
Figure 31: ‘Love Vigilantes (Alive)’ Emotions Survey Results ...... 188
Figure 32: ‘I Heard Love Is Blind (Apology)’ Proximity Survey Results ...... 195
Figure 33: ‘I Heard Love Is Blind (Angry)’ Proximity Survey Results ...... 196
Figure 34: ‘Casimir Pulaski Day (Acceptance)’ Proximity Survey Results ...... 198
Figure 35: ‘Casimir Pulaski Day (Grief)’ Proximity Survey Results ...... 199
Figure 36: ‘Love Vigilantes (Dead)’ Proximity Survey Results ...... 200
Figure 37: ‘Love Vigilantes (Alive)’ Proximity Survey Results ...... 202
Figure 38: ‘I Heard Love Is Blind (Apology)’ Narrative Support Survey Results 205
Figure 39: ‘I Heard Love Is Blind (Angry)’ Narrative Support Survey Results ... 205
Figure 40: ‘Casimir Pulaski Day (Acceptance)’ Narrative Support Survey Results
...... 206
Figure 41: ‘Casimir Pulaski Day (Grief)’ Narrative Support Survey Results ...... 206
Figure 42: ‘Love Vigilantes (Dead)’ Narrative Support Survey Results ...... 207
Figure 43: ‘Love Vigilantes (Alive)’ Narrative Support Survey Results ...... 207
Figure 44: ‘I Heard Love Is Blind’ Narrative Differences Survey Results ...... 211
Figure 45: ‘Casimir Pulaski Day’ Narrative Differences Survey Results ...... 211
Figure 46: ‘Love Vigilantes’ Narrative Differences Survey Results ...... 212 viii Recording the Story: Exploring the Relationship Between Music Production and Narrative
Figure 47: Amended Research Plan ...... 238
Recording the Story: Exploring the Relationship Between Music Production and Narrative ix
List of Tables
Table 1: Shortlist for Case Selection ...... 49
Table 2: Survey Questions ...... 61
Table 3: Summary of Production Narrativity in Case Studies ...... 91
Table 4: ‘I Heard Love Is Blind (Apology)’ Personnel ...... 114
Table 5: ‘I Heard Love Is Blind (Apology)’ Summary of Production Techniques118
Table 6: ‘I Heard Love Is Blind (Angry)’ Personnel ...... 121
Table 7: ‘I Heard Love Is Blind (Angry)’ Summary of Production Techniques ... 124
Table 8: ‘Casimir Pulaski Day (Acceptance)’ Personnel ...... 132
Table 9: ‘Casimir Pulaski Day (Acceptance)’ Summary of Production Techniques
...... 138
Table 10: ‘Casimir Pulaski Day (Grief)’ Personnel ...... 141
Table 11: ‘Casimir Pulaski Day (Grief)’ Summary of Production Techniques..... 147
Table 12: ‘Love Vigilantes (Dead)’ Personnel ...... 154
Table 13: ‘Love Vigilantes (Dead)’ Summary of Production Techniques ...... 160
Table 14: ‘Love Vigilantes (Alive)’ Personnel ...... 163
Table 15: ‘Love Vigilantes (Alive)’ Summary of Production Techniques ...... 168
Table 16: Summary of Production Narrativity in the Creative Works ...... 173
Table 17: Emotions Survey Results Highlighted ...... 191
Table 18: Survey Analogues for Proxemic Zones ...... 194
x Recording the Story: Exploring the Relationship Between Music Production and Narrative
Statement of Originality
The work contained in this thesis has not been previously submitted to meet requirements for an award at this or any other higher education institution. To the best of my knowledge and belief, the thesis contains no material previously published or written by another person except where due reference is made.
Signature: QUT Verified Signature
Date: ______09/03/2021
Recording the Story: Exploring the Relationship Between Music Production and Narrative xi Acknowledgements
First and foremost, I would like to thank my principal supervisor Associate Professor
Michael Whelan for his endless patience and guidance over the last few years. His gentle steering and constant encouragement have been instrumental throughout this research, and I am extremely grateful for his mentorship.
I would like to thank my associate supervisor Yanto Browning, without whom this project would not exist in its current form. His thoughtful input, both creative and academic, has been invaluable and is greatly appreciated.
Special thanks go to all the musicians who helped with the recordings, especially the vocalists Maxine McCabe, Sharon Brooks, and Andy Ward. They brought the music to this research and made it sing. Thank you also to the QUT Technical Services
Team for their constant support and technical advice.
I am also grateful to all those friends who have provided me with much needed feedback: David Page, Amanda Terry, and Christina Langham, to name a few.
Many thanks are owed to Kellie Willis for editing this thesis and catching my numerous grammatical mistakes.
In addition, I would like to acknowledge my Research Training Program stipend scholarship funded by the Australian government.
Last, but not least, I would like to thank my family: my partner and my parents, for their constant love, support, and encouragement.
xii Recording the Story: Exploring the Relationship Between Music Production and Narrative
Introduction
“Art thrives on narrative” (Abbott, 2008, p. 1).
Narrative has long been an integral aspect of human culture, existing in virtually all forms of art, as well as life in general (Bal, 2009). Music is no exception. For millennia, music has been used to tell stories, to convey meaning, to pass on knowledge, to entertain. Music is a ubiquitous artistic phenomenon, employed in artistic expression across practically all cultures throughout history, and it is no surprise that it retains such a prominent position in modern, Western society
(Moguel, 2007). However, the last century has witnessed a significant shift in the means by which many people consume music. The advent of recording technologies has made the passive consumption of music accessible to the masses, while simultaneously making the production of music more accessible to the individual.
These advances in recording techniques and musical media have also significantly altered the means by which music is created, disseminated, and consumed, and therefore how meaning is conveyed to the listener (Bayley, 2010; Doyle, 2004). It is reasonable, then, to assume that some idiosyncrasies may exist in recorded music that contribute to how a song tells a story or conveys a narrative. It is certainly my experience as an audio engineer and musician that the initial narrative connection I make with a piece of recorded music is primarily through its sonic attributes. The purpose of this research is to identify and investigate the nature of the relationship between narrative and modern forms of music production through the implementation of an ‘artistic research’ project.
Recording the Story: Exploring the Relationship Between Music Production and Narrative 1
Drawing from various fields, particularly narratology (the study of narrative) and phonomusicology (the study of recorded music), this thesis provides a new perspective on the multifaceted relationship between music production and narrative.
I further illustrate this relationship through the production of six tracks, consisting of two contrasting versions of three selected songs. The purpose of these creative works is to illuminate the various methods by which musicians (songwriters and performers), engineers, and producers alike can more effectively tell a story through music. A survey is also utilised to gather external perspectives and gauge the effectiveness of the communication of narrative in the creative works. In addition, this research project contributes to a more formalised framework through which the communication of narrative in a recorded song can be analysed and interpreted. For purposes of scope and manageability, I focus primarily on recordings of contemporary Western popular music.
This research represents a coupling of both theory and practice. Chapter One presents a review of literature in fields that are relevant to this research project, focusing on narratology and phonomusicology. Here I discuss the problems associated with the definition and use of the term ‘popular music’ and provide a definition that is sufficient for the purposes of this research. I then continue with a discussion of the role that the production process plays within recorded popular music, taking direction from industry professionals and academics alike. Following this, I examine various phonomusicological approaches to the analysis and interpretation of recorded music, identifying the strategies of authors such as Moore, Rumsey, and Liu-Rosenbaum as informing my own analysis of production techniques. I then explore various schools of thought within narratology, allowing for the distillation of a usable definition of narrative that is applicable to musical recordings. In an effort to combine these two
2 Recording the Story: Exploring the Relationship Between Music Production and Narrative disparate fields, I review various attempts to examine narrative within the context of music, drawing on the work of authors such as Nicholls and Negus to demonstrate various means by which theories of narrative and music are synthesised. Chapter One concludes with a short description of songs that demonstrate a high degree of narrativity within their production that serves to illustrate the type of situation where the previously discussed analytical frameworks may be applied.
Chapter Two provides an overview of the methodological approach taken in this research project. I demonstrate the utility of case study analyses and explain the selection process undertaken to choose cases for my own analysis. I then provide justification for the use of practice-led and practice-based research strategies under the more general banner of ‘artistic research’ while also explaining how the creative practice component of this project is situated within the broader research context.
This chapter also outlines reasons for the inclusion of a survey, highlighting the benefits of inviting multiple listener perspectives to ascertain the effectiveness of the creative works.
Chapter Three contains the case study analyses that are used to provide inspiration for the creative works. Five songs are investigated using analytical frameworks identified in the literature review. From these analyses, I draw out the relationships that exist between a song’s narrative and its production (unique or otherwise) and speculate on the utility of these techniques in other musical and narrative contexts.
Chapter Four presents the project design of the creative works. I outline the aims of the creative works and clarify their utility within the larger research project. I also detail the song selection process, identifying the selection criteria used to choose appropriate songs to record.
Recording the Story: Exploring the Relationship Between Music Production and Narrative 3
In Chapter Five, the creative works are realised. Links are provided here to the six- track EP, Recording the Story, produced as part of this research. I discuss in detail the process of tracking and mixing the various tracks, as well as outlining the briefs provided to the session musicians. I explain the creative decisions made in the production of each track, and provide an analysis of each of the creative works. Also included here are visualisations of the stereo image and sound field of each track over time. These visualisations are intended to help illustrate some of the production techniques employed throughout the creative works as they change over the course of each track.
Chapter Six provides a detailed examination of the survey data. I discuss the results from each question in turn, identifying instances of congruence between survey responses and the intentions of the creative works, as well as instances of incongruence. I also propose various improvements to the survey design that could capture a richer dataset in future iterations of research.
Chapter Seven contains my reflection on the production of the creative works. I discuss my personal creative practice as demonstrated in the context of this research project, highlighting aspects that worked well and those that could be improved. I also make suggestions for an amended research plan that would eliminate some of the difficulties I have faced throughout this research project.
Finally, Chapter Eight concludes this thesis with a summary of the research findings.
I reiterate the research aims and the methods used in service of these, highlighting the primary sources of both creative and academic inspiration that have influenced this research project. I briefly summarise the outcomes of the creative works and the results of the survey. I then conclude by outlining the utility of these research findings
4 Recording the Story: Exploring the Relationship Between Music Production and Narrative for both other practitioners and other scholars, and suggest potential avenues for future research.
Recording the Story: Exploring the Relationship Between Music Production and Narrative 5
Chapter One – Literature Review
This chapter provides an overview of the various academic disciplines that relate to both music production and narrative. I discuss various perspectives on the meaning of ‘popular music’ along with the role of production within recorded popular music.
I then examine theoretical models from both narratology and phonomusicology, and examples of the synthesis of these two fields. The chapter concludes with a brief analysis of the narrativity present in the production of various popular songs.
Research Questions
Before delving into various academic fields of enquiry, it is worth clarifying the precise research questions that this project seeks to answer.
The primary research question is:
• How can music production techniques be used to support or enhance the
communication of narrative in recorded popular music?
From this, a number of sub-questions arise:
• How can sonic characteristics in recorded popular music convey meaning to
the listener?
• How do these sonic characteristics relate to production techniques?
Popular Music
It is difficult to provide a precise definition for the term ‘popular music’. There are many opposing and overlapping definitions currently in use, and much academic discourse has been dedicated to both the definition of ‘popular music’ and its utility as a term (see Baker, Bennett & Taylor, 2013; International Advisory Editors [IAE],
Recording the Story: Exploring the Relationship Between Music Production and Narrative 7
2005). The main problem arises from the ambiguity of the word ‘popular’ and whether it represents a commercial or stylistic position. Some authors focus on the stylistic characteristics that define popular music or, more accurately, the stylistic characteristics in opposition to those of other categories of music, including classical, art, or folk music (see, for example, Weinstein, 2005; Brackett, 2005; Live
Performance Australia, 2010). In this sense, popular music is often defined more by what it isn’t than what it is, which acknowledges the difficulty in restricting the genre to specific stylistic conventions, but ultimately feels unsatisfactory (Machin, 2010).
The term ‘popular music’ may also be seen as a description of the various forms of music that are united by their position and impact within contemporary society
(Björnberg, 2005). Some scholars focus on the mass dissemination of music, or the popularity of songs based on sales and chart positions (see Manuel, 2005; Bradby,
2005; Huber, 2013). For example, Witzleben views “popular music simply as music which has mass appeal and distribution” (2005, p. 139). Furthering this idea, Frith
(2005) connects popular music with the introduction of more advanced recording technologies, implying an inherent link between the two. He associates sociocultural factors, such as media and economics, with the various production and distribution technologies that have facilitated the mass consumption exemplified by popular music in the modern era (Frith, 2005). This view avoids the identification of the musical or stylistic characteristics of popular music, but makes it clear that popular music would not be what it is today without the significant technological advances that have occurred in the recording industry over the past century.
Continuing the eschewal of identifying popular music by stylistic musical conventions, David Machin proposes a particularly broad characterisation of popular music as “the music that surrounds us in everyday life” (2010, p. 9). This definition
8 Recording the Story: Exploring the Relationship Between Music Production and Narrative embraces the many ways we are exposed to music, including through film and television, in supermarkets, and in various types of advertisements. Another sociocultural perspective is the positioning of popular music as music for the youth
(Covach, 2010). This implies that a degree of generational progression is inherent in the definition, which, along with the consideration of mass mediation, allows for the term to encompass multiple, seemingly disparate musical styles over time.
Also worthy of consideration is the distinction between the terms ‘popular music’ and ‘pop music’. While these are often both used interchangeably, the term ‘pop’ is sometimes set in opposition to other genres, such as rock, which may otherwise be considered a subset of popular music (Björnberg, 2005). While there are undoubtedly examples that contradict this generalisation, I take the view that popular music is a broad collection of musical genres, the most commercially motivated and mass- mediated subset of which can be described as pop.
It is beyond the scope of this research to attempt to form a concrete definition of
‘popular music’, especially considering that the seemingly inherent ambiguity of the term is celebrated by many (Negus, 1996; IAE, 2005). Rather, ‘popular music’ will be used as a loose umbrella term for the wide variety of twentieth and twenty-first century Western musical styles analysed in this research. This includes, but is not limited to, musical genres such as rock, country, indie, pop, blues, jazz, soul, electronic, modern folk, hip hop, and R&B and excludes styles such as classical, art, experimental, and non-Western. I recognise that such a distinction is, at this stage, somewhat arbitrary and primarily intuitive, and more accurate terminology will be used where appropriate in order to minimise ambiguities. The term ‘recorded popular music’ is used here to refer to the purposeful translation of popular music into a
Recording the Story: Exploring the Relationship Between Music Production and Narrative 9
recorded artefact, be that vinyl, CD, cassette tape, digital file, or any other means by which music can be captured and distributed.
Production
I use the terms ‘music production’ and ‘production techniques’ throughout this thesis, and it is worth clarifying exactly what I mean. Music production broadly refers to the sociocultural act of creating and consuming music (Regev, 2005). In more specific terms, music production deals with the particular acts of mediating and capturing a song in a recorded format. In this sense, it is difficult to obtain a more precise definition due to the highly variable and often genre-dependent differences in what is considered ‘production’, or what roles the ‘producer’ is responsible for
(see Howlett, 2009; Draper, 2013; Walzer, 2017). Depending on the situation, a producer may adopt the roles of musician, engineer, project manager, team leader, translator, critic, collaborator, or some combination thereof (Walzer, 2017). The precise nature of the music production process is equally multifaceted, thus resisting a succinct, universal definition that applies equally to all situations.
The term ‘production technique’ faces a similar issue. In general terms, production techniques refer to the specific activities that make up the larger music production process. Therefore, what constitutes a production technique is similarly nebulous and context-dependent. A distinction is often made between pre-production, production, and post-production, where everything leading up to the point of tracking is deemed pre-production, aspects of the tracking stage of a recording constitute the production, and processes used throughout the mixing and mastering stages are considered part of the post-production. In this thesis, however, the general term ‘production techniques’ can be considered to constitute any of the more technical aspects of
10 Recording the Story: Exploring the Relationship Between Music Production and Narrative music production, including but not limited to, level balancing, microphone placement, spatialisation techniques (panning, reverberation), compression, and equalisation, regardless of which stage they occur in (see Watkinson, 1998; Nisbett,
2003; Moylan, 2007). These techniques are all aspects of recorded music that are situated in Zak’s (2001) track level. However, depending on exactly how
‘production’ is defined, it can be argued that elements of Zak’s (2001) arrangement layer also constitute part of the greater production process. As a result, certain non- technical aspects of the overall creative process, such as the musical arrangement, the briefing of musicians, organisation of tracking schedules, and so on, could be considered to represent production techniques is certain contexts. This definition is admittedly vague, and the lines between what constitutes a production technique and what doesn’t are inevitably blurry, yet it is this blurriness that provides an appropriate degree of flexibility when considering how to best capture narrative ideas in sonic form. Included below is a more detailed outline of Zak’s (2001) categorisation of layers. As such, I posit that aspects of song arrangement and performance may, in the context of presenting the music in a recorded context, be considered subsets of music production and therefore also constitute production techniques.
While many of the processes outlined above are often considered to be of a purely technical nature, some practitioners have promoted the inherently creative foundation that supports most, if not all, technical production decisions (see Stavrou,
2003; Doyle, 2005; Bayley, 2010). Speaking about mixing a record, Mixerman expresses the notion that the act is not merely technical, but instead is “a musical process, and as such, a mix is something that one performs–like an artist” (2010, p.
15). Anthony furthers this conceptualisation of the mix as a performance, stating that
“mixing is more than the sonic refinement of audio signals–it also involves a creative
Recording the Story: Exploring the Relationship Between Music Production and Narrative 11
process (mixing as performance) that satisfies the mixer’s musical and emotional connection to the song” (2017, para. 45). These characterisations of the mixing process and, by extension, the greater production process as an inherently creative act enable an understanding of the use of production techniques as part of an explicitly creative process. Thus, along with the composition of music, music production is part of the larger creative act of music making and storytelling. As such, any consideration of narrativity in recorded popular music is incomplete without addressing the creative influence of the production techniques implemented during the production process.
Phonomusicology
Phonomusicology as a distinct field of study is a relatively recent addition to academic discourse (Moore, 2010). Phonomusicology is defined by Cottrell (2010, p. 15) as “the study of recorded music, including its contexts of production and patterns of consumption”. Whereas musicological fields have traditionally focused on a piece of music’s score and the underlying musical theory that the score represents, the rise of popular musicology has encouraged more attention to a song’s primary means of distribution and consumption, that being its recording. This shift in focus has led to the development of a new branch of musicology that concerns itself not with the score or the live performance, but the sonic artefact that is the record (Cottrell, 2010). In other words, the focus of phonomusicology is not simply the music, but the sound of the recording. As this research project endeavours to explore the interplay between the sonic aspects of a recorded track and the narrative it presents, phonomusicology necessarily shapes theoretical aspects of this work.
12 Recording the Story: Exploring the Relationship Between Music Production and Narrative
Early recognition of the sonic elements of popular music can be traced to Tagg who identifies “acoustical aspects” and “electromusical and mechanical aspects” as elements of his “checklist of parameters of musical expression” (1982, pp. 47-48, emphasis in original). These categories include such sonic characteristics as dynamic range, reverberation, panning, compression, and mixing. These sonic characteristics are considered alongside more traditionally favoured musical characteristics such as melody, tempo, rhythm, and tonality (Tagg, 1982). The inclusion of extra-musical elements in Tagg’s checklist demonstrates their importance in attaining a complete understanding of popular music. However, while Tagg’s early contribution to the recognition of sonic elements in musical recordings is undoubtedly important, there is little further development in the phonomusicology of popular music until the early twenty-first century.
Zak (2001) makes a significant contribution to phonomusicological discourse with the identification of three distinct layers present in popular music recordings. These are the song (the core musical essence; melody, lyrics, chord progression), the musical arrangement (the particular instrumentation used, and each instrument’s respective role), and the track (the recording itself) (Zak, 2001, p. 24). It is the layer of the track that phonomusicology concerns itself with. This is not to suggest that phonomusicology ignores the first two layers, but that it views them through the lens of the third. As Zak notes, “when we hear a record, we experience both song and arrangement through the sounds of the track” (2001, p. 24). This perspective is not confined to issues of melody, rhythm, metre, harmony, et cetera, but also addresses aspects of the track such as timbre, texture, spectral content, and spatial dimensionality. Such an approach effectively takes Tagg’s checklist of parameters and focuses on popular music from the perspective of these acoustic and
Recording the Story: Exploring the Relationship Between Music Production and Narrative 13
electromusical parameters. Thus, phonomusicology can provide an alternate view of popular song that addresses aspects that may be overlooked by traditional musicology.
A number of authors have proposed methods of phonomusicological analysis that I use throughout this research project. Gibson (1997) identifies the three spatial dimensions of a recording (panning as left to right, volume as front to back, and pitch as up and down). While the volume and pitch of a particular instrument are, at least in part, dictated by the song and musical arrangement, these qualities can also be manipulated in the production process (recording, editing, mixing, and mastering), thus affecting how such aspects manifest in the track. Panning, on the other hand, is a sonic quality that relies almost entirely on the production process, either by how the performers and microphones are positioned during recording, or by artificially panning sound sources during the mix. Similarly, while volume is a prominent factor in determining the front/back positioning of a sound, reverberation can also have a significant influence on how close a sound appears to a listener. While volume can be encoded within a musical score, it can also be heavily manipulated through microphone placement and level balance. Reverberation, however, relies entirely on the acoustic characteristics of the recording space, the microphone techniques used, and any artificial reverberation applied during the mix. It follows, then, that a track’s spatial dimensions are, by and large, a product of the recording and mixing processes implemented in the production of the song.
In addition to his identification of a recording’s spatial qualities, Gibson (1997) provides detailed visual representations of this sound field. Such visual representations allow for relatively easy and unambiguous communication of a recording’s spatial characteristics as well as the spatial relationships that exist
14 Recording the Story: Exploring the Relationship Between Music Production and Narrative between each instrument or sound source within the song. Figure 1 demonstrates this visual depiction of spatial dimensionality.
Figure 1: David Gibson’s visual representation of spatiality (2016) Moore (2001; 2012; Dockwray & Moore, 2010) has further developed Gibson’s spatial concepts, updating the descriptions of each dimension and identifying common spatial trends that have come into use since the inception of stereophonic mixing and playback. This phenomenon of spatiality within musical recordings is characterised by Moore as the ‘sound-box’ (see Figure 2). Worth noting is that
Moore’s discussion of the ‘sound-box’ not only addresses the spatial elements of a recording, but also the temporal nature of music (Dockwray & Moore, 2010).
However, this temporality is not represented visually.
Recording the Story: Exploring the Relationship Between Music Production and Narrative 15
Figure 2: Dockwray and Moore’s sound-box of The Kinks’ ‘Lola’ (2010, p. 193) Moylan (2007; 2009) has also introduced a number of useful analytical tools and methods of representation, which tend to focus on issues of spatiality. Crucially,
Moylan (2007) produced visual representations of a recording’s spatial and tonal qualities that incorporated a temporal axis (see Figure 3). This allows more direct access to issues of narrativity in the recording, and makes mapping changes over time much more intuitive than in other static models. Liu-Rosenbaum (2012) builds on this concept but rotates the axes so that left and right correspond more appropriately to the track’s actual panning (see Figure 4). In both cases, instruments are split across multiple instances of the left-right axis to allow for easy viewing.
16 Recording the Story: Exploring the Relationship Between Music Production and Narrative
Figure 3: Moylan’s temporal representation of space in The Beatles’ ‘A Day In The Life’ (Moylan, 2007, p. 171)
Recording the Story: Exploring the Relationship Between Music Production and Narrative 17
Figure 4: Liu-Rosenbaum’s temporal representation of space in Led Zeppelin’s ‘When the Levee Breaks’ (Liu-Rosenbaum, 2012) In addition to the dimensions of left and right, up and down, and front and back,
Rumsey (2002) makes a further distinction between the concepts of distance and depth. ‘Distance’ is used to refer to the space that exists between the listener and the apparent position of the sound, a concept many authors refer to as ‘depth’. However,
Rumsey uses the term ‘depth’ to refer to the distance between the front of the sound and the back of the same sound, or how a sound “recedes from the listener, as opposed to a flat sound image” (Rumsey, 2002, p. 660). It is worth noting that
Rumsey does not consider pitch or the up/down dimension in his discussion on dimensionality. Perhaps because of this, he represents width and distance/depth with a two-dimensional, top-down view, making the front/back dimension much clearer than the previously discussed front view representations of space (see Figure 5). 18 Recording the Story: Exploring the Relationship Between Music Production and Narrative
While many authors acknowledge the presence of an up-down dimension relating to pitch, such a relationship appears to be much more nebulous and subjective than distance and stereo panning. In addition, my experience of pitch having height properties is purely metaphorical; to my ears, a high-pitched sound does not occupy a space that is physically above from a concurrent low-pitched sound. Due to my lack of a spatial experience of pitch, I have not focused on this particular aspect of spatiality during this research project. As such, from herein I will give preference to the type of diagram used by Rumsey as it more accurately represents the spatial dimensions I have focused on, namely stereo location and distance/depth.
Figure 5: A top-down view of width and distance/depth (Rumsey, 2002, p. 661) While still relatively new in the world of academia, the field of phonomusicology has recently become a more widely recognised means of inquiry. In addition to the examples presented above, a number of authors have provided phonomusicological
Recording the Story: Exploring the Relationship Between Music Production and Narrative 19
analyses of popular songs. Bennett (2016) endeavours to bring much deserved (but rarely acknowledged) credit to the role of the engineers and producers in the crafting of glam rock’s distinct sound. Here, she makes a distinction between the production and the song, a distinction that appears to be roughly analogous to Zak’s track/song differentiation. The production, as articulated by Bennett (2016, p. 57), comprises of
“dynamic range, frequency spread, presence of multi tracking and/or overdubbing, spatial positioning of instruments within the stereo field, and the gestural decisions of the recordist”. This approach is then demonstrated in the detailed phonomusicological analysis of two seminal glam rock songs: David Bowie’s ‘Space
Oddity’ (1969, track 1) and Elton John’s ‘Rocket Man’ (1972, track 5). Elements of the recording that would typically be ignored by a traditional musicological analysis, such as the stereo position of different instruments, or the changes in the perceived proximity of the vocal, are instead given precedence here. This shift in perspective acknowledges the importance of extra-musical devices in generating meaning or supporting the musical content.
Askerøi (2016) introduces the term sonic markers to refer to specific sonic characteristics that exist within musical recordings and can be employed by the artist or producer to imbue meaning or make associations within the track. However, while the general idea behind sonic markers is a useful way to characterise the layers of meaning associated with a particular sound or sonic trend, Askerøi’s use of this concept focuses on the ability of sonic markers to create connotations with particular eras of popular music and is therefore not directly relevant to the types of meaning that this research is concerned with.
Liu-Rosenbaum notes that “studio craftsmanship comprises part of rock music’s core aesthetics” (2012, p. 1). He goes on to provide a detailed phonomusicological and
20 Recording the Story: Exploring the Relationship Between Music Production and Narrative narratological analysis of Led Zeppelin’s ‘When the Levee Breaks’ (1971, track 8).
Notably, his analysis contains a strong focus on the narrative repercussions of the production elements, and, as such, will be discussed in greater detail below. In summary, scholars and practitioners are gradually recognising and endorsing phonomusicology’s importance to the study of popular music.
Proxemic Zones and Personic Environment
While phonomusicology deals with how the recorded sounds are perceived and understood by the listener (Cottrell, 2010), Moore (2012) proposes a number of different semiotic elements that contribute to the perception of meaning and significance in the listener. One concept relevant to my research is the notion of persona, typically manifested within a track by the singer, through which the song’s message is communicated to the listener. The idea of a persona is developed from the works of Simon Frith (1998) and Philip Auslander (2009), who identify three distinguishable strata of identity within popular music singers. Auslander’s (2009) first level is that of performer, which refers to the singer as a real person. The second level is the persona, or the identity that the performer inhabits when presenting their public image. The third level is the character, or the protagonist, which exists within the song itself, often as the narrator, but potentially as multiple, distinct characters.
A good example to illustrate these differing perspectives is that of David Bowie.
Bowie was a performer who would, for a time, inhabit the persona of Ziggy Stardust, who in turn sang songs often narrated by other characters (Moore, 2012, p. 183).
While Auslander’s (2009) work focuses heavily on the physical aspects of musical performance, Moore (2012) brings these concepts into a more sonic context. Moore also makes a further differentiation with persona, distinguishing between realistic
Recording the Story: Exploring the Relationship Between Music Production and Narrative 21
and fictional personae, the latter of which he somewhat conflates with the adoption of a character. While I acknowledge the distinction made between the concepts of persona and character, in terms of their sonic representation, such a distinction is largely arbitrary. As such, for the purposes of this research, unless otherwise specified, I will herein use the terms ‘persona’ and ‘narrator’ interchangeably to refer to concepts of both persona and character/protagonist/narrator. This is to disambiguate the character portrayed by the singer of a song and those characters that otherwise exist in the song’s narrative but are not inhabited by the persona.
The sonic characteristics of this persona (or narrator) can have a dramatic influence on how the listener perceives meaning in the song (Moore, 2012). As the persona’s attributes are influenced by various performative and technical considerations, such as timbre, spatial position, dynamic range, and prominence within the mix, it is clear that specific music production techniques are able to affect the perceived meaning in a track. Moore (2012) adapts Edward T Hall’s (1969) theory of proxemics and applies this concept to popular music, identifying four proxemic zones within which the persona may be situated in relation to its sonic environment. Each zone represents the interpersonal distance that is perceived to exist between the listener and the song’s persona, and each zone possesses its own implicit range of meanings. While
Hall’s (1969) zones were developed to describe the various social interactions of human beings and therefore include the other senses of sight, smell, and touch, their formulation was based heavily on observations of changes in voice. These proxemic zones, from nearest to farthest, are: intimate, personal, social, and public. The intimate zone is characterised by a positioning of the persona in front of the sonic environment, with subtle vocal sounds clearly audible, such as whispers and intakes of breath. The public zone, by contrast, is characterised by the positioning of the
22 Recording the Story: Exploring the Relationship Between Music Production and Narrative persona far back within the sonic environment, with the voice almost needing to shout to be heard across the perceived distance between them and the listener. The personal and social proxemic zones exist partway along the spectrum between these two extremes. Depending on the lyrical and musical context, these zones can imply certain characteristics of the persona and their relationship to the listener. A persona within the intimate zone may connote familiarity or, fittingly, a certain degree of intimacy with the listener or the implied audience. A persona positioned within the public zone, on the other hand, may imply an unfamiliarity or hostility towards the listener. The positioning of a persona within a particular zone can be achieved through a combination of vocal performance, microphone positioning, spatialisation, and mixing techniques, once more identifying the production process as a means to impart meaning into a song. While there are many more aspects of phonomusicological enquiry, this example is particularly demonstrative of how important such a perspective is in understanding the role that music production techniques play in the communication of narrative.
Much of the work of discussed here is built upon or is influenced various aspects of semiotics (see Moore, 2012; Tagg, 1982; Negus, 2012a; Askerøi, 2016). However, I do not engage directly with the foundational texts on semiotic theory, nor do I use explicit semiotic terminology as these concepts are implicit in the phonomusicological frameworks I am drawing from. I feel that traditional semiotic terminology is not well-suited to a musical or sonic context and as such have decided to favour the more musically focused language adopted in the field of phonomusicology.
Recording the Story: Exploring the Relationship Between Music Production and Narrative 23
Narratology
Narratology is the theory of narrative. As Prince writes, “narratology studies the nature, form, and functioning of narrative” (2003, p. 66), and narrative, in simple terms, is “the representation of an event or a series of events” (Abbott, 2008, p. 13).
The important element to consider here is the concept of an event. Essentially, an event is something that happens. Therefore, narrative deals with a depiction of something that happens, either real or fictitious, or somewhere in between, and narratology is the study of this phenomenon. As Roland Barthes observes, “narrative is international, transhistorical, transcultural: it is simply there, like life itself” (as cited in Abbott, 2008, p. 2). Similarly, Mieke Bal (2009) makes the claim that narrative can be perceived to exist, to a greater or lesser degree, in practically all aspects of culture. These sentiments express the understanding that the act of storytelling, and therefore the presence of narrative, is almost universal in our cultural experience, whether that be expressed through literature, visual art, news programs, or music.
Built upon the traditions of Russian formalism and French structuralist linguistics
(among other fields, such as semiotics and folklore studies), narratology developed in the mid-twentieth century as an attempt to formalise the study of narrative texts
(Darby, 2001). Early proponents included the French Gerard Genette and Roland
Barthes, and Germans Eberhard Lämmert and Franz Stanzel, who independently developed conceptual frameworks of narrative theory (Darby, 2001). Contemporary
English language narratology has developed primarily from the French tradition through students of Genette such as Seymour Chatman, Gerald Prince, and Mieke
Bal, who have further progressed narrative theory (Darby, 2001). Chatman, a proponent of structuralist theory in narratology, is known for his classification of two 24 Recording the Story: Exploring the Relationship Between Music Production and Narrative inherent components of narrative: histoire (the story itself) and discours (the expression of that story) (1978). However, in the latter half of the twentieth century, post-structuralist perspectives on narratology emerged, providing a more nuanced view of the previously heavily structuralist field (Darby, 2001). Smith (1980), for instance, denounces Chatman’s histoire and discours, arguing that a story does not
(and cannot) exist in separation from its expression – its medium of conveyance. This perspective is particularly interesting when considering the discussion of track as opposed to song; can the song really be viewed independently from the track as its primary medium of distribution and consumption? In recent years, the field of narratology has further evolved and diversified, moving towards “a broadly cognitive impulse to prove how any and all narratives are the product of our mental capacity for sense making” (Dawson, 2013, p. 110).
Many similar, but distinct, theoretical models exist among the various schools of thought relating to what the fundamental nature of narrative can be said to be.
Narratological models often suggest that narrativity rests on the existence of events that are related to one another, chronologically, causally, or otherwise (see, for example, Ronen, 1990; Fludernik, 2006). These events are, in essence, what happens; they are the individual building blocks of what is generally understood as plot or story. Another component of narrative is the concept of a narrator, a lens or voice through which the events are communicated to the audience (see Bal, 1990;
Fludernik, 2006). While both Fludernik (2006) and Abbott (2008) acknowledge the notion that narrative can exist without a narrator (as in ballet, for example), Prince defines narrative as “the recounting…of one or more real or fictive EVENTS communicated by…NARRATORS to…NARRATEES” (2003, p. 53, emphasis in original). This definition presents the existence of narrative as dependent on the
Recording the Story: Exploring the Relationship Between Music Production and Narrative 25
presence of both a narrator and an audience (the narratees), along with the communication of some series of events between the two. However, Fludernik
(2006) goes on to suggest that, from the perspective of cognitive theory, it is merely the presence of a character that is sufficient to create narrativity. In this sense, the concepts of events and the narrator are automatically generated, or at least implied, through the existence of a character. Regardless of which elements are deemed absolutely necessary for the existence of narrativity, it is clear that narratives generally include a series of events, experienced by characters, often communicated to an audience (real or implied) by a narrator. This research project will focus on these three basic components of narrative.
One of the more detailed taxonomies of narrativity is that developed by Gérard
Genette (1980), who divides the narrativity of a text into three categories, each consisting of their own subcategories. These subcategories represent the various narrative techniques used to communicate a story, for example, whether the narrative voice is homodiegetic (narrator is a character in the story) or heterodiegetic (narrator is external to the story), whether the time of narration is subsequent (past tense), simultaneous (present tense), prior (future tense), or interpolated (between the events), or what the focus of the narrative perspective is, either zero focalization (the narrator knows more than the characters), internal focalization (the narrator knows the same as the characters) or external focalization (the narrator know less than the characters) (as summarised in Fludernik, 2006, p. 99). Genette’s method of categorisation is definitely useful when analysing the lyrical narrative of a song, as this can contain explicit indicators of tense and perspective (see Ward, 2019).
However, the applicability of such a framework when dealing with sonic narratives is less obvious. That is not to say that sonic elements of a track cannot contribute to
26 Recording the Story: Exploring the Relationship Between Music Production and Narrative these aspects of the narrative, but rather that such elements are insufficient to convey such specific narrative attributes by themselves. Nevertheless, an understanding of the perspective, tense, and focalisation of a lyrical narrative of a song may certainly assist practitioners in the production of a congruent sonic narrative in the track.
Despite assertions that narratology is concerned principally with narrative as presented across any medium of representation (Prince, 2003), the field has traditionally dealt primarily with literary narrative. As a result, much of narratology’s terminology is informed by this literary preference, as can be seen in the aforementioned example from Genette. This emphasis on terminology derived from literary study does not mean that such concepts are not transferable to other artistic practices. On the contrary, the co-opting of narratological models into other artistic forms has occurred many times in recent years as a number of non-literary artistic fields have attracted narratological attention, including film, comics, and painting
(see, for example, Ryan, 2004). Transmedial (that is, existing across multiple media) approaches have also been proposed, demonstrating a precedent for the adaptation of narratology into a new context (Dawson, 2013). Despite the field of narratology’s apparent willingness to branch out into non-literary forms of expression, narratological explorations of music are conspicuously scarce. As Randle and Evans note, despite the obvious role that story plays within song, it is perplexing that
“narrative theory has not been used more to parse out the elements or structure of story in song, explicit or implicit” (2013, p. 126). Yet, while certain forms of music
(most commonly Western art music) have been addressed from a narratological perspective (see, for example, Nicholls, 2007; Almén, 2008), there remains little development regarding the narratological nature of sonic, extra-musical elements within the context of recorded music.
Recording the Story: Exploring the Relationship Between Music Production and Narrative 27
Music and Narrative
As Tarasti states, “the issue of narrativity in music is a complex matter that varies according to styles, periods, and cultural contexts” (2004, p. 283). With such a degree of variance across different genres or musical traditions it is perhaps unsurprising that scholarly opinion is far from reaching a consensus on the role of narrativity in music. Despite music’s almost universal appeal, and the ease with which it is accessed and consumed on a global scale, it nevertheless retains a high degree of esotericism (Ryan, 2004). The ostensibly simple question of whether music can be considered to be a form of narrative engenders dispute within narratological discourse. The answer rests largely on the narrowness of the definition of ‘narrative’.
While some authors argue that music is inherently narrative focused, due in part to its intrinsic temporal nature (Negus, 2012b), others argue that music can, at most, contain elements of narrativity, but not constitute a self-sustained narrative (Tarasti,
2004).
One area of study which may appear to be particularly relevant here is that of music composed for films and games. These are media that are heavily narrative-based by nature and, as a result, so too is the accompanying music. However, while there is a great deal of literature regarding concepts of narrative and character in film music
(see, for example, Gorbman, 1980; Meyer, 2012), the discourse remains heavily focused on musical composition (e.g. melody, harmony, leitmotif) with little explicit acknowledgement of the role of production techniques in the communication of narrative concepts. Discussions on the narrative functions of music in games go somewhat further towards acknowledging the sonic aspects of the music, yet still fall short of being directly applicable to this research (see, for example, Gibbons, 2011;
Williams & Lee, 2018). With that said, there remains the possibility for strong 28 Recording the Story: Exploring the Relationship Between Music Production and Narrative interdisciplinary connections to be made between these various aspects of musical narrative.
Central to the concept of narrative within music is the notion of meaning and how it is conveyed from the composer/performer to the listener. Garavaglia (2009) investigates the ‘dramaturgy’ of music, positing a number of possible dramaturgical relationships within music. Intrinsic (or inherent) dramaturgy refers to that which is contained within the musical discourse itself, while extrinsic (or emergent) dramaturgy refers to that which originates in the mind of the listener through the activity of listening (Garavaglia, 2009, pp. 4-5). This highlights a fundamental problem in the communication of meaning from the artist to the audience. That is, the meaning perceived by the audience can be (and often is) distinct from that intended by the artist. This is not to say that the listener’s interpretation is invalid, but rather to acknowledge the inherent subjectivity of art in general. The listener can even be seen to be the primary music creator with some authors conceding “authority to the perceiver’s creative act” (Kafalenos, 2004, p. 280). Hall’s (1980) encoding/decoding model, while originally formulated to address television and journalism, can also be seen to reflect this emphasis on the audience decoding a text as being of similar importance to the creator encoding it. In this model there is also a focus on the circulation of meaning that identifies a two-way flow of meaning between author and audience (see Bødker, 2016). That is, the meanings decoded by the audience impact the larger cultural context within which the creators also exist, thereby influencing their subsequent encoding, suggesting an almost symbiotic relationship between the two groups.
Weale (2006) investigates this disparity between intention and reception and attempts to identify the extent to which meaning can be conveyed from the composer
Recording the Story: Exploring the Relationship Between Music Production and Narrative 29
to the listener purely through the music itself. Using newly composed electroacoustic music, Weale found that “many aspects of the composer’s communicative intentions…were received by a majority of listeners” (2006, p. 196), although there was still significant variation in many cases. This is somewhat reassuring. While the obvious gap between the artist’s intention and the audience’s reception must be acknowledged, a significant degree of potential mutual understanding remains in the interpretation of meaning between creation and consumption. On a similar note,
Zagorski-Thomas (2018) suggests that although the connections each listener makes with a piece of music are inherently individual, there may be consistent associations across the majority of a given audience.
There have been a number of analytical approaches that combine narratological principles with musicology. Foremost of these is introduced by Almén (2008), who provides a model for detailed analyses and interpretations of narrative structures within ‘narrative music’. While Almén’s focus resides primarily with Western art music, he nonetheless observes that “narrative organisation is far more normative and common [in music] than is generally conceded” (2008, p. 3). While developing his ‘theory of musical narrative,’ Almén (2008) adopts a number of narratological semiotic concepts (particularly those of Liszka) and translates them into a musical context. Many of these concepts have been demonstrated to remain consistent and, more importantly, provide valuable perspectives when situated within a musicological context. This translatability is indicative of the concepts’ additional potential value within a phonomusicological context.
Ryan (2006) notes certain aspects of narrative communication that are achievable through music and those that aren’t. For example, she states the music can “capture flow of time…suggest narrative pattern[s]…through relations between
30 Recording the Story: Exploring the Relationship Between Music Production and Narrative chords…create suspense for what comes next…[and] arouse emotions” (Ryan, 2006, pp. 19-20). Conversely, music is seen as being unable to “represent thought, dialogue, causality, virtuality…single out distinct objects, characters, or events…tell a specific story, since its stimuli have no fixed meaning” (Ryan, 2006, p. 20). This designation of music as being unable to communicate concrete narrative elements further highlights the emphasis on purely instrumental music in narrative studies and yet still overlooks the many layers of narrative meaning that can be encoded into a musical score, let alone the performance or recording thereof. With that said, Ryan
(2006) does acknowledge the power of music to make strong emotional contributions to multimedia or transmedia, however, the potential for music to embody a complete narrative representation by itself is largely overlooked in this discourse.
While most authors who investigate the role of narrativity in music deal primarily with instrumental music, opera, and music for film (see Ryan, 2004; Kafalenos, 2004,
Almén, 2008), there are a number of authors who have applied narratological concepts to popular music. Randle and Evans (2013) propose four categories (or, more accurately, a two-dimensional spectrum) within which the lyrical narrative of a song may be situated. These categories focus on whether a song’s narrative is defined (contains easily identifiable narrative elements, such as events and characters) or undefined (does not contain easily identifiable narrative elements), and if the story presented invites a closed reading (only a single interpretation is possible) or an open reading (multiple interpretations are reasonably justifiable). This taxonomy of narrative within popular song allows the identification of songs whose lyrics present the most potential for narrative enhancement or interpretation through the application of production elements, as discussed in more detail below.
Recording the Story: Exploring the Relationship Between Music Production and Narrative 31
Nicholls (2007), on the other hand, highlights the inherent temporal dimension of music as an analogue to the inherent temporal dimension of narrative; where narrative presents characters experiencing events occurring over time, music is a sequence of musical events presented over time. Nicholls (2007) also notes an important difference between popular music and most art music: the inclusion of a lyrical vocal part. Due to the presence of an explicit text, this lyrical addition to the music “provides an entry point for narrative analysis” (Nicholls, 2007, p. 299). This lyrical entry point allows for the analysis of narrative in popular music to draw from textual, musical, and sonic elements (among others). An important contribution made by Nicholls (2007) is the acknowledgement that varying degrees of narrativity can exist in popular song, and the subsequent proposal of a five-level system of categorising such degrees of narrativity. The levels proposed by Nicholls are as follows:
1) The ‘control’ level, at which there is no story per se in the lyrics, and as a
consequence there is no element of narrative discourse in the musical setting.
2) The lyrics contain elements of narrative discourse, but these are not reflected
or supported in the (neutral) musical setting.
3) The lyrics contain elements of narrative discourse, and these are supported
by the musical setting.
4) Both lyrics and music contain elements of narrative discourse, which to some
degree operate independently to each other, though always in relation to an
overlying story.
5) A complex narrative discourse is rendered through multiple media, including
lyrics, music, prose, and art work. (Nicholls, 2007, p. 301)
32 Recording the Story: Exploring the Relationship Between Music Production and Narrative
These five levels indicate points on a spectrum between a song (or album) containing no elements of narrativity and a song (or album) that is saturated with narrativity.
Nicholls (2007) largely ignores the first two levels, dismissing them as irrelevant and uninteresting in a narratological context, and focuses instead on the third, fourth, and fifth levels, where narrativity is a significant characteristic of the song. The important distinctions between the first three levels and the next two are that: at level three, the lyrics are the prime custodian of the narrative, which is merely supported by the music; at level four, the music shares custody of the narrative with the lyrics – independent yet cooperative; at level five, the narrative exists in a complex, transmedial manner, contained in various aspects of the song and its related materials
(such as album art or music videos). There is some contention, however, as to the relevance and necessity of the first level in this system. Negus argues that even a seemingly static short pop song can contain “equally complex narrative meanings…due to their embedding in a broader social and cultural context” (2012a, p. 370), and therefore the existence of songs that contain “no story per se in the lyrics”
(Nicholls, 2007, p. 301) is questionable. With that said, Negus does endorse the descriptions of the other four levels and the concept of the spectrum in general.
While Nicholls (2007) does mention the role of production techniques in passing
(such as the vocal effect used in The Buggles’ ‘Video Killed the Radio Star’ (1979, track 2), and the use of environmental soundscapes in The Who’s Quadrophenia
(1973)), his analytical model largely avoids addressing their contribution to the construction and communication of elements of narrativity. Adopting a more sonically focused perspective, Moore (2012) adapts Nicholls’ five-level categorisation to his concept of personic environment. The idea of personic environment relates to the musical and extra-musical sonic components of a track
Recording the Story: Exploring the Relationship Between Music Production and Narrative 33
within which the persona (typically associated with the lead vocal) is situated. This is the perceived sonic environment presented by a track that provides an aural space for the persona to exist and act within. Moore’s five levels of personic environment are as follows:
1) the environment is inert, contributing nothing specific to the meaning of the
song;
2) the environment is quiescent, merely setting up the (largely attitudinal)
expectations through which a listener may listen;
3) the environment is active, and supports the position of the persona, frequently
through devices related to word-painting;
4) the environment is interventionist, going further than what is specified in the
lyric by amplifying what it signifies, or even by enacting the lyric;
5) the environment is oppositional (2012, p. 191).
The parallels between the two systems of categorisation are clear, especially among levels one, three, and four. Level three in both systems refer to the support of the lyrics/persona, while level four indicates a degree of independence between the lyrics/persona and the music/environment. There is an important difference at the fifth level, however. Where Nicholls’ (2007) system refers to a multiplicity of distinct yet cohesive elements bound by a common narrative, Moore (2012) refers to the environment being ‘oppositional’ or antagonistic to the persona.
In contrast to Nicholls, Moore’s (2012) system of categorisation focuses primarily on production elements (by way of the relationship between the persona and the personic environment) while seeming to avoid any explicit reference to narrativity.
The similarity of the two models (due, of course, to one’s derivation from the other)
34 Recording the Story: Exploring the Relationship Between Music Production and Narrative lends them to be easily merged in order to develop a system of categorisation that takes into account both narrativity and production characteristics in popular music. I will discuss this in greater detail in Chapter Two.
While Almén (2008) and Nicholls’ (2007) analyses focus primarily on the score or the lyrics and music, a number of authors have addressed the sonic aspects of popular music recordings in relation to narrative. Focusing on aspects of spatialisation,
Kraugerud (2017) adopts Askerøi’s (2013; 2017) concept of sonic markers in order to demonstrate how narrative meaning can be encoded within a recording. This is significant as it directly addresses the use of production techniques within recorded popular music and how meaning may be imparted to the listener through deliberate manipulation of such techniques. However, while Kraugerud (2017) addresses concepts of narrativity, his characterisation of such concepts seems to refer more to the narratives that exist beyond the song itself, concerning himself with the notion of
‘transtextuality’, or how, through reference to a common “cultural network” of associations, meaning can be imparted to the listener. Having said this, an understanding of this transtextual interaction between artist and audience is extremely useful when considering how production techniques are able to evoke common meanings within a group of listeners.
Liu-Rosenbaum, on the other hand, directly addresses notions of narrativity as they are presented within a song. Drawing from narrative theorists such as Genette and phonomusicologists such as Moore, Moylan, and Lacasse, Liu-Rosenbaum (2012) maps a ‘sonic narrative’ within Led Zeppelin’s recording of ‘When the Levee
Breaks’ (1971, track 8). By identifying elements of the track that relate to the story being told in the song, Liu-Rosenbaum demonstrates the possibility of strong parallels existing between the sonic narrative and the lyrical/musical narrative. Some
Recording the Story: Exploring the Relationship Between Music Production and Narrative 35
of the sonic narrative elements identified include the stereo location of each instrument and their relative movement throughout the song, the tonal and spectral characteristics of the various instruments, the use of reverberation and delay, and artificial time manipulations (Liu-Rosenbaum, 2012). Through this, Liu-Rosenbaum asserts that it is possible to identify ‘protagonist’ and ‘antagonist’ elements in the track and to show how the relationship between these two factions follows the same narrative path as the lyrics. More importantly, he demonstrates that the study of narrative elements in the sonic aspect of a recorded song is not only valid, but also useful and insightful to those wishing to analyse the song’s telling of a story. Liu-
Rosenbaum’s analysis is particularly noteworthy as it successfully interweaves the typically disparate fields of narratology and phonomusicology in order to develop a valid and coherent interpretation of a particular track. His study serves as a precedent for this research project and provides a platform from which to expand and develop an understanding of the role that music production techniques play in the development of a track’s narrative.
A clear void exists in the academic literature that explicitly addresses the relationship between narrative and production techniques in popular music. Early discussions of narrativity in music by Almén, Ryan, and Kafalenos (among others) focus on instrumental, operatic, and film music, almost entirely ignoring popular music. Later excursions into the narratology of music, such as those made by Nicholls and Negus, do address popular music, but only give the production elements a passing mention.
Similarly, recent phonomusicological works by Moore, Zak, and Moylan (among others) deal with concepts of meaning presented by a track’s sonic elements, but tend to avoid explicitly addressing the narrativity present in popular music. There are few examples of academic enquiry, such as that made by Liu-Rosenbaum, that address
36 Recording the Story: Exploring the Relationship Between Music Production and Narrative narrativity in popular music with explicit reference to the production techniques exhibited in the recording of the music. This indicates that this topic is ripe for exploration that builds on and incorporates the work of those authors who have dealt with each aspect in isolation.
Exemplars
Music has always been used to tell stories. Some musical works contain more explicit elements of narrative than others. Through a combination of lyrics, musical accompaniment, and extra-musical production techniques, songs are able to convey a meaningful narrative to the listener. The following examples show where production elements of a musical recording have contributed to the songs’ narrative.
Lorde’s song ‘Sober’ (2017, track 2) tells a story of new love and the highs and lows associated with that experience. The song is set at a party where the narrator is exploring her feelings towards a new love interest. The song begins with a sampled vocal line that is looped repeatedly, saying “Night, midnight, lose my mind”. This vocal sample is constant throughout almost the entire song but is manipulated tonally and spatially. The voice is initially positioned in the front centre of the stereo image, but is quickly pushed back and to the far right when the main verse vocals come in.
The sample shifts in and out of focus through the use of EQ and filters and is sometimes paired with a similar voice positioned in the opposite location in the stereo field. This vocal sample, combined with the various other vocal stabs and harmonies, represent both the narrator’s inner voice of apprehension and self-doubt, as well as the voices of other people at the party, simulating how crowded and almost claustrophobic the protagonist feels.
Recording the Story: Exploring the Relationship Between Music Production and Narrative 37
A similar effect to that used by Lorde can be also be seen in Missy Higgins’
‘Hallucinate’ (2018, track 9). This song is centred on a theme of questioning oneself, and whether or not the narrator’s experiences are real or hallucinations. The song ends with multiple voices, positioned around the stereo field, all questioning the narrator’s sanity. Again, the layering of multiple voices positioned at specific spatial locations can give the listener an insight into the narrator’s state of mind. This provides the listener with the ability to experience the character’s perspective, while also calling into question the verisimilitude of the story being told. Without the sonic narrative, the listener has to rely solely on the lyrics and music in order to understand the song’s story. While the use of production techniques in these examples has not drastically altered the overall narrative being conveyed, the addition of sonic elements certainly adds an extra dimension to the story and cements the particular narrative interpretation being expressed.
Billie Eilish’s songs often contain unconventional vocal production techniques that relate to the story being told. An obvious example can be found in the track
‘everything i wanted’ (2019). The song is a discussion of the nightmares experienced by the narrator, who finds herself underwater during the second verse. Coinciding with the lyrics “but my head was underwater”, the lead vocal becomes muffled, and a thick reverb becomes prominent, signifying the disconcertion caused by this sudden shift of perspective. In addition, Eilish’s song ‘xanny’ (2019, track 3) discusses the use of recreational drugs. During the chorus on the line “I don’t need a xanny”, the lead vocal is distorted and pans quickly back and forth across the stereo field, signifying disorientation that could be associated with the consumption of recreational substances. Another vocal production technique is employed in the song
‘bury a friend’ (2019, track 10). This song adopts the perspective of the monster
38 Recording the Story: Exploring the Relationship Between Music Production and Narrative under the bed. The chorus involves a layering of Eilish’s voice with multiple low, pitch-shifted harmonies that create an unnatural, creepy timbre, signifying the adopted persona’s unnatural, monstrous nature.
‘The Lovers’ is a song by Nine Inch Nails (2017, track 2). It tells the story of a man who is unable to escape his drug addiction. The song contains an almost jittery synth sequence through the majority of the song. This piece is created by overlapping multiple synth patterns that have an uneven number of beats, so while each layer repeats regularly, the overall pattern is constantly shifting and rarely repeats. This lack of obvious repetition creates a sense of timeless randomness, as it is difficult to identify any kind of regular pattern, as well as a feeling that the persona presented in the song does not have total control of their situation. At the same time, despite being in constant flux, the synth line is consistent throughout. All of these qualities of the music support and enhance the lyrical narrative about giving in to a drug addiction.
While it could be argued that the synth element is part of the song’s score, it is only made possible through the application of a production technique (overdubbing) and thus is a result of the production process.
Another song that uses sonic elements to contribute to the persona’s characterisation is The Killers’ ‘Rut’ (2017, track 3). This song is performed by a male singer
(Brandon Flowers) but the story is told from the perspective of a woman (his wife).
While Flowers’ voice is not treated any differently than usual for the majority of the song, it is changed in two sections. The song’s Introduction contains a pitch-shifted version of Flowers’ voice that gives it a stereotypically female quality, in order to establish the characteristics of the song’s narrator/protagonist. This vocal effect is repeated at the very end of the song. While perhaps not essential for the song’s overall message, this example is an attempt to convey some information about the narrator’s
Recording the Story: Exploring the Relationship Between Music Production and Narrative 39
qualities. By framing the rest of the song with these ‘female’ vocals, Flowers reminds the listener that the story he is telling does not belong to him and that the persona he is portraying is a separate and distinct entity.
Another example of spatial production techniques being used to great effect can be found in ‘Smother’ (2013, track 2) by the band Daughter. The song focuses on themes of suffocation and smothering in terms of a romantic relationship. These themes can be interpreted as having a dual meaning. The narrator is suffocating her love interest but is also being suffocated by regret and despair. The song begins with a moderate level of reverberation which is slowly increased as these themes of smothering are introduced. The reverberation is light and airy at first, but builds throughout the song, culminating in a thick, wet, almost impenetrable wall of reverberation in the second chorus. This would most likely be considered an excessive amount of reverb by typical industry standards, but it effectively reinforces the lyrical narrative.
Surrounded by a swirling ocean of reverberation and echo, the listener feels as if they are suffocating, or even drowning, in sound. This reverb suddenly drops away once the narrator reaches a point of acceptance and apologises for being smothering, thus signifying the change in the character’s emotional state.
These songs represent a few instances of production techniques being used to contribute to the song’s narrative. There are countless such examples of similar associations between narrative and production techniques, whether intentional or not.
Pink Floyd’s ‘Money’ (1973, track 6) begins with a tape loop consisting of various money-related sound effects, such as coins jingling and a cash register chiming.
‘Wake the Dead’ by The Used (2007, track 8) capitalises on its horror themes with the inclusion of piercing screams. Working along similar lines, Michael Jackson’s
‘Thriller’ (1982, track 4) sets the scene with the sounds of ominous creaking and
40 Recording the Story: Exploring the Relationship Between Music Production and Narrative wolves howling. The Beatles’ song ‘A Day In The Life’ (1967, track 13) contains the line “and I went into a dream” followed immediately by a wail that is drenched in reverb and echo and wanders back and forth across the stereo field, presenting surreal, dream-like qualities.
It is worth noting that there are also many examples of songs with strong narratives that are not obviously supported by specific production techniques. Much of Harry
James Angus’ music, for example, is able to efficiently convey narrative through lyrics and music alone, with very minimal and transparent production processes. For instance, Angus’ song ‘Yakini (The Last Gorilla)’ (2008, track 8) tells of a gorilla who learns to communicate with humans, only to learn that their species is all but extinct and they are the last gorilla on earth. Despite its unusual subject matter, this story is conveyed effectively to the listener without the aid of specific production techniques; the recording is simply acoustic guitar and vocal, with minimal processing applied. Perhaps in these cases the minimalistic production choices support the lyrical narrative by simply getting out of the way.
Having said this, it is evident that in many cases various production techniques have been employed by musicians, producers, and engineers to support and enhance the story being told in the song. These examples exist across a broad range of genres and time periods. While not often discussed explicitly, it is of clear importance to understand the interaction between the application of production techniques and the communication of narrative in popular music.
Chapter Three provides a more detailed analysis of the contributions that production techniques have made to the narrative of a song in a number of notable cases.
Recording the Story: Exploring the Relationship Between Music Production and Narrative 41
Chapter Two – Methodology
Methodological Framework
This chapter details the methods utilised in this thesis and situates this research project within the field of artistic research, incorporating both qualitative and quantitative methods, drawing from the fields of narratology and phonomusicology, and combining these with creative practice. Due to the nature of the research questions, a balance of theoretical approaches and creative practice inquiry is necessary to adequately answer such questions. A survey is used to enable triangulation through the comparison of my findings with the responses of listeners.
A unique perspective on the relationship between production techniques and the communication of narrative in recorded popular music is attained through the combination of these elements.
The examination of theoretical models from both narratology and phonomusicology shows ways that meaning is generated in each field, and multiple theories are assessed on their applicability to recorded popular music and their potential as a means of analysis. Similarities drawn between these theoretical models allow for the development of a hybridised theoretical model that synthesises multiple perspectives into a single analytical framework.
This analytical framework is applied to a selection of songs in order to identify a number of specific production techniques that demonstrate a close relationship between a song’s sonic elements and its narrative. This series of case study analyses then informs the development of the creative project, which consists of three pairs of tracks recorded to illustrate the means by which production techniques can enhance
42 Recording the Story: Exploring the Relationship Between Music Production and Narrative or influence the narrativity of a song. The tracks created as part of the project are then scrutinised using the same analytical framework. The effectiveness or ineffectiveness of the production techniques used in each project is assessed and reflected upon in order to determine the validity of the techniques used.
To minimise the creative project’s reliance on my own subjective and potentially biased assessment of each production technique’s effectiveness, external validation is invited in the form of a survey. The engagement of external parties allows the data to be triangulated, strengthening the validity and reliability of the study’s findings.
This focus on creative practice exemplifies both practice-led and practice-based research. The act of practice itself is an integral component of the greater artistic research process and allows the research project to extend beyond the theoretical in terms of its results and conclusions.
Methods
Case Studies
“Case study is the study of the particularity and complexity of a single case, coming
to understand its activity within important circumstances.” (Stake, 1995, p. xi)
Case studies are used to provide detailed examinations of individual units, resulting in “concrete, context-dependent knowledge” (Flyvbjerg, 2011, p. 302). This context- dependent knowledge is of particular importance within the creative field of music production. The popular music ‘track’ is both a musical and a socio-cultural product.
As a result, analysis of the often subjective relationships between elements of a track relies heavily on an understanding of the musical and socio-cultural contexts within which the track is situated.
Recording the Story: Exploring the Relationship Between Music Production and Narrative 43
As Eysenck writes: “sometimes we simply have to keep our eyes open and look carefully at individual cases—not in the hope of proving anything, but rather in the hope of learning something” (as cited in Flyvbjerg, 2011, p. 303). Adopting this ethos, this research project’s intention is not to prove that a particular music production technique will always have a specific and universal associated narrative meaning, but rather to uncover and illuminate some of the complex and context- dependent relationships that exist between various sonic and narratological elements of the track.
Flyvbjerg (2011) identifies a number of case types that will affect the conclusions a researcher can make from their study (for other, similar models, see Creswell, 2013;
Gray, 2009). Random selection, comprising either a random sample or a stratified sample, is useful when aiming to draw generalisations about an entire population, or sub-set thereof. However, choosing an intentionally typical sample may not necessarily provide the most fertile example in terms of research potential, nor is it always desirable to attempt to make generalisations that apply to the entire population. Instead, cases may be selected based on an assessment of the richness of information they may be able to provide. This is known as information-oriented selection, and represents four types of cases:
• Extreme/Deviant Cases: To obtain information on unusual cases…to
understand the limits of existing theories and to develop new concepts;
• Maximum Variation Cases: To obtain information about the significance of
various circumstances for case process and outcome;
• Critical Cases: To achieve information that permits logical deductions of the
type, “If this is (not) valid for this case, then it applies to all (no) cases”;
44 Recording the Story: Exploring the Relationship Between Music Production and Narrative
• Paradigmatic Cases: To develop a metaphor or establish a school for the
domain that the case concerns (Flyvbjerg, 2011, p. 307).
This research project requires an information-oriented selection in order to gain the greatest amount of relevant and useful information from a limited number of cases; a random selection would likely result in a set of cases without an appropriately strong narrative component. Specifically, the paradigmatic case model is the most appropriate choice for this project as it allows for the selection of specific cases that most clearly illustrate the interaction between music production and narrative. This means songs that demonstrate a strong relationship between the music production techniques used and the narrative being communicated can be identified and studied in depth in order to extract relevant information more efficiently.
Alternatively, the extreme/deviant case model may also provide useful information, as this model assists in identifying the limits of these relationships and clearly outlines the relevance of context in these cases. Extreme/deviant cases may take the form of a song that exhibits a strong degree of narrativity but does not explicitly make use of music production techniques in the communication of its narrative. However, while an acknowledgement of such examples provides recognition of the narratological limitations inherent in such a narrow field of inquiry, it is beyond the scope of this study to focus on non-production related expressions of narrativity within popular music.
In addition to Flyvbjerg’s information-oriented case types, Robert Stake provides an alternative categorisation of possible case study types:
Recording the Story: Exploring the Relationship Between Music Production and Narrative 45
• Intrinsic Case Study: There exists an intrinsic interest in a particular case
and there is no expectation that a study of such a case will provide the
researcher with useful generalisations about other cases;
• Instrumental Case Study: There exists a need for a broad, general
understanding of a particular field, and it is anticipated that the study of a
particular case will provide this insight;
• Collective Case Study: There exists a need for a broad, general
understanding of a particular field, but it is expected that this will be best
gained through the combination of and coordination between multiple studies
of individual cases (Stake, 1995, pp. 3-4).
Depending on exactly how the cases are framed in relation to the broader musical environment, it can be argued that none of these three case study types are completely inappropriate for this research project. As per the intrinsic case study, for example, investigating a single track that expresses a strong relationship between its production techniques and narrativity is not expected to provide any substantial generalisation about recorded popular music as a whole. There is, however, an expectation that a single case will be at least somewhat representative of the small subset of recorded popular music where there is strong interplay between the song’s narrative and its production process. This implies that an instrumental case study may be a useful approach, assuming any generalised understanding is restricted to this particular subset of popular song.
The most appropriate choice for this research project, however, is collective case study, whereby multiple cases are utilised and subsequently coordinated to provide a larger picture of the particular phenomenon in question. This allows for more accurate generalisations to be made (at least within the aforementioned subset of 46 Recording the Story: Exploring the Relationship Between Music Production and Narrative recorded popular music with high levels of narrativity) than could otherwise be obtained from a single case. Since the meaning contained within the sonic production elements of a recorded song is often subjective and heavily context-dependent, it is necessary to triangulate production-narrative relationships across multiple cases, identifying both the similarities and disparities that exist in the chosen collection of cases.
Therefore, a combination of both Flyvbjerg’s paradigmatic cases (2011) and Stake’s collective case study (1995) is adopted for this research project’s case study selection process. This approach incorporates the generalisability of studying multiple cases with the focus of selecting cases that exemplify the phenomenon in question. Thus, each case is expected to provide a rich amount of information, both individually and collectively, which is essential to the effectiveness of this case study approach
(Creswell, 2013).
Case Selection
Five songs have been selected to be analysed as cases. These songs were chosen according to a number of factors, including the degree of narrativity present within the song itself, and the degree of narrativity expressed by the sonic elements within the song’s recording. The songs were sourced from both external lists of narrative- based songs as well as my personal experiences with narrative-based songs.
A number of both curated and user-submitted lists exist online that catalogue songs with strong narrative elements. The lists used for case selection include those published on the websites LyricInterpretations.com (Lyric Interpretations, 2017),
TheTopTens.com (The Top Tens, 2017), Spinditty.com (Spinditty, 2017),
ListChallenges.com (Mercer, 2017), and AVClub.com (Bahn, Hyden, Robinson,
Recording the Story: Exploring the Relationship Between Music Production and Narrative 47
Murray, Tobias, & Heller, 2017). These lists feature an eclectic range of songs in terms of both genre and release date, ranging from Elvis Presley to Taylor Swift, from Kenny Rogers to System of a Down. These lists provided me with exposure to both songs that I was unfamiliar with and those that I had not previously noted as containing a high degree of narrativity. However, while the use of such lists was extremely useful, they were not without their limitations. For instance, they do not discriminate between songs that express narrative elements only in the lyrics and music and those that also express narrativity through their production elements. Nor do they discriminate between the types of narrative expressed in each song. Thus, a large amount of further screening was required to select appropriate cases for investigation.
48 Recording the Story: Exploring the Relationship Between Music Production and Narrative
Artist Album Song Year Producer Engineer Songwriter/Composer Story/Concept Notes
Kate Nightflight Sarah 2012 Keir Kate Miller-Heidke; Narrator and friend Miller- Nuttall, Keir Nuttall attend festival, friend Heidke Lindsay goes missing, narrator is Gravina blamed for disappearance, friend returns with no memory of what transpired.
David Space Space 1969 Gus Gus David Bowie Major Tom launches on Diegetic Bowie Oddity Oddity Dudgeon Dudgeon a mission to the moon, sound there is dialogue effects between him and ground control, perspective shifts between major tom and ground control, ship malfunctions, major tom leaves ship, floats through space, presumed dead.
Nick Cave Muder Where 1996 Victor Van Nick Cave Murderer and victim and the Ballads the Wild Vugt, recount few days Bad Roses Tony leading up to murder. Seeds Grow Cohen, Both perspectives feat. Kylie The Bad present. Minogue Seeds
Simon & Bookends Save the 1968 Simon & Roy Halee Paul Simon & Art Crowd gathers to watch Use of Garfunkel Life of Garfunkel, Garfunkel a boy on a ledge character My Child Roy Halee contemplating suicide. 'dialogue'
The Sgt Pepper's A Day In 1967 George Geoff John Lennon, Paul Surreal account of news Diegetic Beatles Lonely The Life Martin Emerick McCartney stories with an sound Hearts Club interjection of mundane effects Band daily life. Lennon - dreamlike, McCartney - mundane.
Bloc Another Emma 2007 Bloc Party; Kele A person struggles with Party Weekend In Kate's Okereke domestic violence. The City Accident
Eminem The Stan 2005 The 45 Marshall Marshall Mathers, A fan of Eminem writes Diegetic Marshall King, Mathers Dido, Paul Herman him letters, sound Mathers EP Eminem misinterprets Eminem's effects actions, gets angry, kills himself along with his girlfriend and unborn child
Coldplay Viva La Vida Viva La 2008 Markus Michael Coldplay; Chris Martin A king is deposed from or Death Vida Dravs, Brauer his throne, reminisces and All His Brian Eno, about his time as ruler Friends Jon of the world. Hopkins, Rik Simpson Table 1: Shortlist for Case Selection Randle and Evans (2013) provide a two-dimensional grid within which songs can be categorised according to the type of lyrical narrative they present. The x-axis represents the narrativity of the song and how concrete or defined the song’s narrative is. Borrowing from Bal’s (1997) fabula, a defined narrative is one that contains “a sequence of interrelated events…with specific characters…and with a specific time and setting” (Randle & Evans, 2013, p. 134), whereas an undefined narrative does not contain such explicit narrative components. The y-axis, on the other hand, adopts
Recording the Story: Exploring the Relationship Between Music Production and Narrative 49
Barthes’ narrative codes of meaning (1982) to determine the ‘openness’ of a song’s narrative. An open narrative is a narrative that presents multiple possible interpretations, whereas a closed narrative only allows for a literal interpretation of the story (Randle & Evans, 2013, pp. 134-135).
Thus, a song can be categorised into four broad categories:
1. Closed reading/Undefined narrative
2. Open reading/Undefined narrative
3. Open reading/Defined narrative
4. Closed reading/Defined narrative (Randle & Evans, 2013, p. 135)
For this research project, the desired cases should fall into the defined narrative categories as songs with an undefined narrative are more difficult to interpret, and therefore more difficult to identify relationships between the song’s story and its production elements. In terms of a song’s openness, cases may have either an open reading or closed reading, as both options offer potential for the determination of production-narrative relationships.
While this two-dimensional categorisation is useful when considering the narrativity inherent in a song, it does not directly acknowledge the narrativity of a song’s production elements. Thus, a combination of Nicholls’ (2007) and Moore’s (2012) five level systems was used to address this aspect of potential cases. Nicholls’ five level system is concerned with the narrativity of a song’s music and lyrics but does not address a song’s production. Moore’s five level system, on the other hand, addresses a song’s production and to what degree meaning is encoded within it, but does not explicitly deal with a song’s narrativity.
50 Recording the Story: Exploring the Relationship Between Music Production and Narrative
Since Moore’s five levels were derived from Nicholls’, the two systems can be readily combined into a single system that addresses the degree of narrativity expressed by a song’s production elements. Borrowing terms from both Nicholls and
Moore, I propose the following five levels of production narrativity:
1) The production elements are inert, containing a minimal amount of narrativity;
2) The production elements are scenic, in that they construct an environment within
which the musical and lyrical narratives occur, but do not contribute to the
narrative beyond this;
3) The production elements are supportive, as they reinforce the narrative presented
by the music and lyrics;
4) The production elements are active, as they contribute narrative elements that act
out and expand upon those presented by the music and lyrics;
5) The production elements are complex, contributing original narrative ideas that
are not explicitly present in the music and lyrics.
For the purpose of this research, I deal primarily with tracks and albums determined to fall within the fourth and fifth levels (active and complex) of this system of categorisation. Although expressed as five distinct categories, these five levels are, in reality, points on a continual spectrum between which any real distinctions are subjective and blurred. Despite this, these classifications provide a means to filter the large list of songs with a notable narrative component and identify tracks that exhibit the greatest potential for a productive case study.
Each track is analysed from both a narratological and phonomusicological perspective. These analyses map production elements (such as stereo location, reverberation, level balance, etc…) against narrative elements (such as characters, events, setting, etc…). The mapping of these production and narrative elements Recording the Story: Exploring the Relationship Between Music Production and Narrative 51
allows parallels to be drawn between a track’s production techniques and the story the song is conveying. Thus, broad inferences are able to be made regarding which elements of production contribute to the song’s narrative.
Creative Practice Component
In addition to the case studies, a number of creative works have been produced to form the creative practice component of this research project. These creative works are informed by the findings generated from the case studies as well as a more general understanding of the theoretical principles behind the generation of narrativity and meaning through sonic elements. The purpose of the creative works is to further explore the relationship between production techniques and narrative in popular music from a more involved and process-driven perspective. This experience provides a translation of the production-narrative relationships from the theoretical to the practical, thus enriching the knowledge gained from both aspects of the research.
As an industry practitioner, I adopt many distinct (but not mutually exclusive) roles: songwriter, musician, engineer, and producer. These roles inform both my research and creative practice. It is therefore important to me as a researcher that any knowledge gained regarding artistic practice be grounded in that practice. Therefore, this research project adopts both practice-led and practice-based approaches in order to generate new knowledge through creative practice.
Practice-led research and practice-based research are terms that, despite having been utilised in academia for decades, are often used interchangeably or generate confusion within practitioners (Candy, 2006; Candy & Emmonds, 2018). However, it is clear that both terms pertain to the “crucial interrelationship that exists between
52 Recording the Story: Exploring the Relationship Between Music Production and Narrative theory and practice” (Barrett, 2010, p. 1). Drawing on Bourdieu’s theory of practice,
Barrett characterises practice-led research as “moving beyond traditional objective/subjective, empirical/hermeneutic binaries” and adopting a middle ground that is “robust enough to be objective and generalisable, but at the same time accounts for individual subjective thought and action” (2010, pp. 4-5; see also Grenfell &
James, 1998). Similarly, Crispin (2015) identifies the researcher’s need to balance their uniqueness and individuality with the desire to communicate ideas that extend beyond personal relevance as characteristic of this type of research. These qualities are inherent in both practice-led and practice-based research.
Candy provides the following distinction:
• If a creative artefact is the basis of the contribution to knowledge, the research
is practice-based.
• If the research leads primarily to new understandings about practice, it is
practice-led. (2006, p. 3, emphasis in original)
Using these definitions to distinguish between practice-based and practice-led approaches, I argue that this research project makes use of both models. This research can be considered practice-based as it incorporates a creative artefact which is integral to the study’s contribution to knowledge. However, it can also be considered practice-led as it aims to uncover new understandings about creative practice. To avoid confusion between the two terms, and to more accurately represent the multifaceted nature of this research project, I have adopted the broader term artistic research which operates as an umbrella label underneath which both practice-based and practice-led research approaches are situated (Barrett, 2010; Crispin, 2015).
Recording the Story: Exploring the Relationship Between Music Production and Narrative 53
Artistic research, as Crispin explains, “differentiates itself both from the supposedly…purely intuitive explorations of the artist-practitioner and from the so- called ‘objective’ situation of the scientific researcher” (2015, p. 56; see also Barrett,
2010). The term embodies the balance between subjectivity and objectivity characteristic of both practice-based and practice-led approaches without committing to the precise nature of the creative works’ position within the overall research project. Therefore, the term ‘artistic research’ is a more appropriate descriptor of this research project’s methodological approach than can be expressed through either practice-based or practice-led.
This research project also draws from reflective practice scholarship, in order to reinforce the connections that exist between theory and creative practice. Reflective practice can be described as “the specific application of experiential learning to activities carried out as part of one’s profession or job…with its emphasis on the improvement of practice through reflection or experience” (McMahon, 1999, p. 163).
While reflective practice may take many forms, it will generally fall into one of two broad categorisations: reflection in action or reflection on action (Schon, 1983). The approach taken here falls primarily in the latter category. That is, while there is certainly a degree of reflection occurring during the creative activities, the reflections presented here are largely from after the completion of the creative project. Since the creative works necessarily involve a quite personal and subjective process, the act of reflective practice serves to highlight many of the otherwise invisible or inexplicit decisions made throughout the course of the creative works. It also provides a framework for the examination and critique of those decisions. The act of reflective practice also informs recommendations for improvements to the overall research design. While this project stops short of implementing a truly iterative action research
54 Recording the Story: Exploring the Relationship Between Music Production and Narrative approach, characterised by a regimented cycle of planning, action, observation, and reflection (Kemmis & McTaggart, 2005), I have endeavoured to use reflections to inform certain aspects of the post-production where possible. This integration of reflective practice allows for efficient and timely changes to be made to the creative practice, as is discussed in greater detail in Chapter Seven.
Triangulation
The inherently subjective nature of creative works is a potential weakness with a project that relies heavily on such works while attempting to draw broader generalisations. Although efforts may be made to minimise the influence of personal biases, it is difficult, if not impossible, to remove these entirely from consideration.
As such, it would be dangerous to determine the success or failure of the project’s aims by myself. Despite efforts to provide an honest appraisal of the effectiveness of each track’s production narrativity, my viewpoint will always be filtered through the unavoidable knowledge of my initial intentions. Therefore, while my own evaluation of the creative works is certainly integral to the overall analysis of such work, it is also necessary to draw from external perspectives to validate (or invalidate) my own conclusions. Such external validation is provided through the application of across- method triangulation (Denzin, 2017). Across-method triangulation is a form of mixed-methods research that aims to use multiple, dissimilar data collection methods, since the “flaws of one method are often the strengths of another” (Denzin,
2017, p. 308). This approach allows the researcher to determine whether an apparent effect is borne out by complementary data collection methods. It must be acknowledged that such repetitions of data do not guarantee total accuracy (Oleinik,
2010), but do serve to increase confidence that the observed effect is real.
Conversely, if the data from one method is contradicted by other lines of evidence, Recording the Story: Exploring the Relationship Between Music Production and Narrative 55
this may indicate that the effect is not real or, at best, inconclusive. Either possible outcome serves only to improve the value of the research by providing a broader array of perspectives and avenues for observation.
A survey of external listeners is used to triangulate data for this research project. The survey consists of a short questionnaire that contains a number of closed questions regarding the participants’ perceptions of the creative works. The responses to these questions provide a combination of quantitative and qualitative data that demonstrates whether the production techniques employed on the creative works were successful in conveying the intended narrative interpretation to the audience.
Survey
The use of a survey has a number of benefits. These include the ability to reach larger sample sizes, participant anonymity (associated with more honest responses), insight into opinions and attitudes, and the ability to easily code responses to closed-ended questions (Nardi, 2018). These features make the survey an appropriate tool for gaining insight into the perceptions of a large group of listeners. That is, I can disseminate the survey to a large group of people and easily codify their responses in order to gain quantitative data regarding how an audience may interpret the narratives present in the creative works. However, surveys also come with a number of disadvantages, including potentially restrictive close-ended questions, low response rates impacting generalisability, and the inability of participants to ask for clarification if necessary (Nardi, 2018). These potential limitations of surveys must be balanced against the benefits, as well as against the other methods used.
A small focus group was initially planned in conjunction with the survey, which would have provided richer, long form responses as well as the opportunity to probe
56 Recording the Story: Exploring the Relationship Between Music Production and Narrative more deeply into certain areas of interest of the participants. Unfortunately, COVID-
19 restrictions made it substantially difficult to conduct this focus group at the appropriate time. Alternative plans were not feasible to achieve within a short time- frame, and the decision was made to remove this element of the research project in favour of moving forward with the discussions, reflections, and conclusion of the project.
One of the most immediate concerns regarding the use of a survey to ascertain the attitudes and perceptions of an audience was the possibility that many of the production techniques used in the creative works might not be apparent upon first listen. As such, it was unreasonable to expect survey participants to provide detailed information regarding nuanced aspects of each track’s production. Therefore, it was necessary to design a survey that focused on gathering information that a listener could reasonably be expected to convey after only one or, at most, a few listens to a track. Similarly, it would be unfair to expect participants to recount specific details of the narrative presented by the song without ample time to listen closely to the lyrics, time that most participants would be unlikely to invest. Another concern is the vast range of possible answers that could be provided in response to open-ended questions, leading to difficulties regarding accurate coding.
In light of these concerns, the survey employed consisted of an online questionnaire that contained a small number of closed-ended questions corresponding to each track.
In order to make efficient use of the questionnaire, it was necessary to identify both the most pertinent aspects of the creative works that required external validation as well as features of the tracks that a participant could reasonably be expected to comment on after only one listen. Since it would be unfair on the participants to ask about specific plot elements or production techniques after potentially only a single
Recording the Story: Exploring the Relationship Between Music Production and Narrative 57
listen, I opted to focus on more generalised and immediately identifiable indicators.
Thus, the questions included in the questionnaire touched on the emotions perceived by the listener, the apparent proximity of the narrator, and the perceived relationship between the narrator and the other sonic elements in the track. By focusing on these few elements, I was able to determine whether the different production approaches taken with each track resulted in the conveyance of different emotions, the correlation between this and the proxemic zone the narrator is situated in, as well as their interaction with the personic environment. While it would be possible to compare the responses for each track against each other to determine whether any consistent differences existed, I was also interested in whether the participants exhibited a conscious awareness of the differences in intended narrative interpretation between each pair of tracks. Therefore, a question addressing this point was included with each pair of tracks.
One potential limitation with this survey was the lack of a control group for the comparison of the collected data. Unfortunately, it would be extremely difficult to create appropriate ‘neutral’ versions of the tracks to use as controls without the possibility of bias on my part. Instead, the questions were designed to allow for comparisons to be made between the responses for each of the tracks. In this way, each track operated as a proxy control for each of the other tracks. Thus, the raw numbers in the survey data hold little weight on their own, but are enlightening when situated in the context of the other tracks.
The participants for the survey consisted of a combination of audio engineering students and music industry professionals. The music industry professionals were recruited from my professional network, while the audio engineering students were recruited through their studies at SAE Creative Media Institute, where I work as an
58 Recording the Story: Exploring the Relationship Between Music Production and Narrative
Associate Lecturer. All participants were informed that their responses would be anonymised and that participation or non-participation would have no impact on their relationship with myself, SAE, or QUT.
The questionnaire provided the participants with some context regarding the nature of the research project before leading them to the first pair of tracks. The tracks themselves were uploaded to SoundCloud and accessed via a hyperlink on the questionnaire. In an effort to reduce the possibility of participants gleaning my intended narrative interpretations from the song names I have used elsewhere, the titles were replaced with the generic titles of ‘Song A’ through to ‘Song F’. In addition, the ordering of the pairs of tracks was randomised to reduce any biases that could result from participants becoming more cognisant of the survey questions as the questionnaire progressed and providing less accurate responses for the first pair of tracks in comparison to the final pair. A potential limitation that could impact the listeners’ perception of the tracks was the listening device they used. As I did not have control over the environment in which the participants listened to the tracks, the survey requested that they use high quality headphones. This would ensure that, assuming the headphones were operating correctly, the participants would at least experience a stable stereo image.
In order to ascertain the emotions perceived by the listener in the track, the questionnaire asked the participants to choose which emotions they felt were presented in the track. The emotions were chosen from a predetermined list, with multiple selections permitted. The emotions included were a combination of the emotions I had in mind when producing each track (for example grief, acceptance, and anger) and others drawn from discourse on human emotions (for example fear, desire, and envy) (see Vikan, 2017; Plamper, 2012; Plutchik, 2001). It would be
Recording the Story: Exploring the Relationship Between Music Production and Narrative 59
impractical to include a comprehensive list of all human emotions, so I focused on those that were both common and easily understood, while also covering a broad area of the emotional spectrum.
In order to enquire about the perceived proxemic zone inhabited by each track’s narrator, the next question asked the participant to identify how close the singer appeared to be positioned in relation to them. This question makes use of a four-point
Likert scale (see Nardi, 2018) ranging from very close to very distant. These four points are considered to be roughly analogous to the four proxemic zones: intimate, personal, social, and public. In a similar manner, the following question addressed the notion of personic environment. Once more using a four-point Likert scale, this time ranging from strongly agree to strongly disagree, the question asked the participant whether or not they agreed with the notion that the other sonic elements in the track supported the narrator.
After each pair of tracks, there was a question relating to both versions of the song.
This question asked whether the listener had discerned a difference in the narrative being presented by each track. As with the previous question, a four-point Likert scale ranging from strongly agree to strongly disagree was used. While possible differences in the listener’s perception of the narrative presented by each track could be inferred from their responses to the previous questions, this final question addressed whether the participant was aware of such differences. The questionnaire is in the table below.
60 Recording the Story: Exploring the Relationship Between Music Production and Narrative
Referring to Song *, consider the emotions portrayed by the singer and the song as a whole. Which of the following emotions do you feel are presented in the song? Please select all that apply.
o Acceptance o Envy o Happiness o Nostalgia o Anger o Excitement o Hate o Regret o Calmness o Fear o Hope o Remorse o Desire o Grief o Intimacy o Sadness o Distance o Guilt o Love o Sympathy
In Song *, how close did the narrator appear to be to you?
o Very Close o Moderately o Moderately o Very Close Distant Distant
In Song *, do you feel that the narrator’s position was supported by the rest of the sonic elements in the song?
o Strongly o Agree o Disagree o Strongly Agree Disagree
Referring to both Song * and Song *, did the narratives presented by each song differ significantly from each other?
o Strongly o Agree o Disagree o Strongly Agree Disagree
Table 2: Survey Questions
After discussing the results from the survey and my own analyses of the tracks, I will provide a reflection on the process as a whole, leading to the thesis’ final conclusions.
The overall layout of the research plan is represented below.
Recording the Story: Exploring the Relationship Between Music Production and Narrative 61
Figure 6: Research Plan
62 Recording the Story: Exploring the Relationship Between Music Production and Narrative
Chapter Three – Case Study Analyses
This chapter provides a detailed discussion of the selected cases. The songs are analysed with reference to their narrative elements and corresponding sonic characteristics. From these cases, I identify a number of production techniques that have been seen to make a substantial contribution to the narrative being presented in their respective tracks. These identified production techniques will then be used to inform the production of the creative works, serving as inspiration for my own creative practice.
The songs chosen to be part of the case study include:
• ‘Where the Wild Roses Grow’ – Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds feat. Kylie
Minogue (1996, track 5)
• ‘Space Oddity’ – David Bowie (1969, track 1)
• ‘Sarah’ – Kate Miller-Heidke (2012, track 2)
• ‘Stan’ – Eminem (2000, track 3)
• ‘Save the Life of My Child’ – Simon & Garfunkel (1968, track 2)
While there exists a great number of factors which could influence an audience member’s perception of each song’s narrative, such as public personae, music video, album artwork, other associated marketing material, artist statements, and so on, my focus here remains on the phonomusicological aspects of the tracks. I also do not give substantial attention to the narrative intentions of the artist or producer as the determination of such intentions would be problematic to achieve reliably. In addition, it would be nearly impossible to avoid my analyses being heavily influenced by the purported intentions of the original creators.
Recording the Story: Exploring the Relationship Between Music Production and Narrative 63
‘Where the Wild Roses Grow’ – Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds feat. Kylie
Minogue
‘Where the Wild Roses Grow’ by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds feat. Kylie Minogue
(1996, track 5) contains a somewhat complex relationship between its personic environment and personae due to its use of multiple characters. The song tells the story of Elisa Day (portrayed by Kylie Minogue) who is taken advantage of and murdered by a man (portrayed by Nick Cave). The story is presented from both characters’ perspectives, leading to shifting and overlapping personae and, as a result, personic environment. The challenge in analysing this track is to tease apart the two narrators in order to investigate how each relates to the (per)sonic environment as well as to each other.
The song consists of six verses and four choruses. The verses alternate perspective between murderer and victim, while the choruses represent both characters. The song begins (after a short instrumental prelude) with a chorus and the line “they call me
The Wild Rose” being sung by both the murderer and the victim. This is an incredibly important line that demonstrates the relationship between the personae. Both the murderer and the victim are apparently referred to by ‘them’ (presumably the public and/or media) as ‘The Wild Rose.’ This is likely a moniker that references the use of a wild rose in the staging of the victim’s body. As a result, the term is used to refer to the victim, but also the murderer, tying the identity of the two characters together.
However, the relative positioning of each narrator within the personic environment can provide insight into exactly what this title means to them. The victim is positioned front and centre and is the primary focus of the chorus. The murderer, however, is positioned behind and below the victim. This spatial relationship implies
64 Recording the Story: Exploring the Relationship Between Music Production and Narrative that the murderer’s identity is tied to, but occulted by, that of the victim; to the outside world he exists only in relation to his actions and his connection to the victim.
Similarly, the victim’s identity is determined by the act of her murder; she is viewed primarily as a victim. While she protests this imposed identity with the following line
(“but my name was Elisa Day”), the murderer silently accepts it. Both personae sing the bemused line “why they call me that I do not know”, and the chorus finishes with a repeat of the victim’s protest of identity. The spatial positioning of each character within the chorus, combined with the lyrical content, demonstrates a nuanced interpersonal relationship that exists between the two personae as well as the public’s perception of them. This is all established before any precise plot-details are elaborated upon in the verses, although it must be noted that the verses are required to fully understand the specific significance of this personic relationship. In summary, the first chorus serves to build a relationship dynamic between the song’s two personae and the listener by exhibiting their association with the personic environment through the use of spatial positioning and level.
The verses of the song demonstrate each character’s version of the narrative. This provides a sequential, yet overlapping, view of the events in the days leading up to the murder that alternates perspective from the murderer to the victim. As a narrative device, this is particularly effective as it demonstrates the naivety of the victim alongside the ominous manipulation of the murderer. Here, the importance of the vocal performances must be noted; the innocent qualities of Minogue’s voice contrast against Cave’s deep, dark drawl, perfectly depicting each persona.
The victim’s voice is distinguished from the murderer’s in a number of ways. Firstly,
Minogue was recorded through the use of close microphone positioning. This has the effect of reproducing the subtle vocal sounds, such as intakes of breath and sibilance,
Recording the Story: Exploring the Relationship Between Music Production and Narrative 65
thus positioning the victim’s persona in the intimate or personal proxemic zones. In contrast, Cave’s voice has been recorded and edited to remove these subtle vocal characteristics; it is difficult to hear his breathing or other mouth sounds. This has the effect of distancing the murderer persona from the listener, despite being at a similar volume level as the victim persona. While the victim is situated within the intimate or personal proxemic zone, the murderer is placed in the more distant social proxemic zone.
Secondly, the use of reverb differs between each persona. While the murderer’s voice remains relatively dry, with only small amounts of ambience applied, the victim’s voice has a much more noticeable reverb tail. This reverb tail serves to accentuate the voice’s subtle vocal sounds, thus reinforcing the persona’s proxemic location.
While reverb can tend to push an instrument further back in the mix, the use of pre- delay (the insertion of a time delay between the original vocal signal and the reverberation) on the victim’s voice allows it to remain close to the listener and thus retain its intimate quality.
In addition to the manipulation of vocals, the music also contributes to the narrative by providing a sonic setting. The song’s instrumentation consists predominantly of strings, acoustic guitar, bass guitar, and drums, along with piano and church bells.
These instruments are all equalised to reduce the higher frequencies, thus creating a dull, dark musical landscape. This reinforces the song’s themes of betrayal and murder, while simultaneously providing a contrast to the victim’s relatively bright voice.
This combination of production techniques creates a sonic environment which supports and enhances the interactions that exist between the personae and the
66 Recording the Story: Exploring the Relationship Between Music Production and Narrative listener, therefore constructing an interventionist environment. While the full context of the characters’ relationship with each other does not become explicit until the final two verses, the nature of the connection between them is established from the start.
In this way, the production works with the music and the lyrics to create an appropriate atmosphere and enhance the communication of the narrative. Referring to the five levels of production narrativity I have constructed, ‘Where the Wild Roses
Grow’ falls within the complex category, as the sonic relationship between the song’s two characters contributes additional information to the lyrical narrative.
Recording the Story: Exploring the Relationship Between Music Production and Narrative 67
‘Space Oddity’ – David Bowie
The personic environment of David Bowie’s ‘Space Oddity’ (1969, track 1) is particularly active due to a number of factors. The arrangement makes use of multiple instruments allowing for the generation of various sonic textures throughout the song. These instruments are also imbued with spatial motion due to creative use of panning and depth. While some of the song’s instruments remain fairly static, others move regularly throughout the song. In addition, various instruments are brought in and out of focus through level adjustments. This all contributes to a notably active personic environment. While the track was primarily released in mono, as was the primary format at the time, the overt use of panning in the stereo mix clearly demonstrates the intentional creative implementation of the stereo field.
The song begins with the acoustic guitar slowly coming into focus out of silence, bringing with it the drums, bass, and electric guitar. The acoustic is panned hard right with the rest of the instruments on the left. This leaves space in the centre for the lead vocal with the first line of the verse: “Ground Control to Major Tom”. This is accompanied by the stylophone, which subsequently dominates the centre of the stereo field once the vocal moves to the right on the next line, mirrored by the backing vocal on the left. This pattern of movement is repeated in the second verse.
The relationship between left and right during the first part of the song can be interpreted as being representative of the primary persona’s (Major Tom) position relative to everyone and everything else. The lead vocal is situated on the right with the acoustic guitar its only spatial accompaniment. This sparseness and isolation of the right is juxtaposed against the relative textural richness of the left with drums, bass, and electric guitar. Thus, we can view the left as Ground Control on Earth whereas the right is Major Tom in his spaceship floating through the emptiness of 68 Recording the Story: Exploring the Relationship Between Music Production and Narrative space; community vs isolation, stability vs fragility. These two extremes are connected via the electronic and (at the time of release) futuristic stylophone which is panned to the centre; perhaps indicative of the radio that is the only connection between Major Tom and Ground Control. This interpretation is somewhat weakened due to the fact that the positions of the instruments don’t change between when
Ground Control is speaking and when Major Tom is speaking. However, it is worth pointing out that the countdown is situated on the left with Ground Control. Having said this, it is still reasonable to view the relative stereo positioning of the different instruments as being relevant to the primary persona of the song as a whole, rather than each individual lyric (see Figure 7).
Figure 7: ‘Space Oddity’ Spatialisation
After ‘lift-off’ the stereo field becomes more balanced with the introduction of strings and woodwind that fill out the stereo image. These new instrumental elements represent change, progress, and development, indicating the change in environment
Recording the Story: Exploring the Relationship Between Music Production and Narrative 69
described in the song; from the comfort and familiarity of earth to the emptiness and novelty of space. Musically, they also indicate a sense of wonder and fantasy, especially with the trills on the flutes. Combined with the stylophone, mellotron, and electric guitar, these instruments build a rich texture that is familiar and comfortable while at the same time expressing sensations of wonder and amazement and hinting at other worlds. Again, this corresponds to the relationship between Ground Control and Major Tom and the journey that Major Tom has embarked on.
The relationship between the instrumentation and the journey to the stars is made particularly explicit in a couple of instances. The first is the ‘lift-off’ itself. After the backing vocal counts down from ten and announces ‘lift-off’ the instruments launch into an unconventional crescendo. The strings, flutes, and electric guitar (complete with delay) combine to create a discordant rising arpeggio that builds in intensity until it reaches a crescendo that leads into the next verse. This is intended to be reminiscent of a rocket launch that slowly builds speed as it breaks free from Earth’s gravitational hold. In this moment, the personic environment clearly becomes interventionist: it enacts and amplifies the lyric. Not only does the lyric tell the listener that lift-off occurs, the song actually performs it. Similarly, this level of narrative enactment also occurs at the end of the song. As Major Tom is “floating
‘round” his spaceship and presumably dying, the instruments start being brought in and out of focus, alternating between the left and right sides of the stereo image.
Combined with the electric guitar’s stereo location being shifted back and forth, this creates a swirling sensation, as if the music is spinning around the listener. Thus, the personic environment purposely embodies the fictional environment of the persona.
Another aspect of ‘Space Oddity’ that is of interest is the dual meaning contained within its lyrics. This is a particularly explicit example of a song whose narrative
70 Recording the Story: Exploring the Relationship Between Music Production and Narrative invites an open reading (Randle & Evans, 2013). In addition to the literal interpretation of the song’s lyrics as discussed above, an alternative interpretation of the song focuses on the experience of taking hallucinogenic drugs (Dickerson, 2016).
From this perspective, the voyage into space is seen as a metaphor for the taking of a mind-altering substance (perhaps LSD). The rocket launch is the initial onset of the altered experience, while Major Tom floating through space represents succumbing to the experience, or perhaps even overdosing. The interesting thing about this alternate interpretation is that it is equally supported by the sonic narrative being expressed by the song’s production elements. The ‘lift-off’ is a crescendo towards ecstasy, the shifting positions of the protagonist’s voice are a breakdown in his sense of self, and the swirling instruments at the song’s end represent being lost and disoriented and powerless against the drug’s power. In this example, while the song’s sonic narrative does not necessarily endorse one narrative interpretation over the other, it is able to enact the perceived lyrical narrative in both cases. This combination of production techniques places ‘Space Oddity’ within the active level of production narrativity, where the production elements act out the lyrical narrative, but do not necessarily contribute new information.
Recording the Story: Exploring the Relationship Between Music Production and Narrative 71
‘Sarah’ – Kate Miller-Heidke
Kate Miller-Heidke’s ‘Sarah’ (2012, track 2) tells the story of a young girl who goes missing at a music festival, only to be found weeks later with no memory of the incident. The story is told from the perspective of Sarah’s friend, who was with her at the festival. While the song is ostensibly about Sarah’s plight, it is arguably more about the friend’s experience of Sarah’s disappearance.
The verses of the song detail the chronological series of events, narrating Sarah’s disappearance at the music festival, the search for her, and her subsequent reappearance. The choruses, however, focus on the friend’s struggle with guilt and frustration about the situation; she oscillates between blaming herself and blaming
Sarah for the disappearance. This internal struggle to cope with the traumatic experience is the focus of the song. It is interesting to note that there is no mention in the song of the actual perpetrator (if there even was one), or any explanation of what actually happened. The song is not so much about the facts of what happened, it is more about the friend’s limited and subjective experience and her emotional turmoil following Sarah’s disappearance.
The song’s scene is established early in the first verse with the lyrics “1997, Livid
Festival, me and Sarah my best friend, stripy tights and fairy wings”. These few lines give the song’s narrative a time, place, and main characters. These characters are
Sarah and her best friend, the song’s primary persona. The characters are also imbued with certain characteristics: “stripy tights and fairy wings” imply a couple of carefree, young women, unaware of the events that are about to unfold.
The scene conjured by these lyrics is supported by the musical and sonic aspects of the track. The arpeggiated piano and accompanying glockenspiel that initiate the
72 Recording the Story: Exploring the Relationship Between Music Production and Narrative song both contain significant levels of reverberation. This combination of bright instrumentation and dark ambience produced by the reverb symbolise the incongruence of the situation: the juxtaposition of the girls’ optimism and exuberance against the foreboding of the events that are about to take place. As the vocals enter, the glockenspiel disappears and is replaced by a low, bowed double bass which creates a low rumble of suspense. Again, what begins as bright and hopeful is replaced by deep, more sinister tones. This sonic motif is repeated throughout the track.
The song’s chorus signifies a slight shift in perspective. While the verses contain a recounting of the events as they happened, the chorus provides a much more intimate and emotional insight into the protagonist’s feelings. Here, the narrator is pleading with Sarah, and attempting to offload some of the blame that she had received as a result of Sarah’s disappearance. The chorus vocal is distinguished from the verse vocal in a number of ways. Firstly, the voice is layered with multiple harmonies and double tracked melodies. This thickening of the voice (along with a shift in the vocal performance) leads to a much stronger personic voice and therefore a more powerful statement of innocence, of bemusement, of frustration and anger. Perhaps counterintuitively, this effect is enhanced by the change in proxemic zone occupied by the voice as it migrates from the personal to the social, thus retaining its perceived intensity even as it retreats spatially from the listener. Secondly, the reverberation applied to the voice, already quite prominent in the verses, is significantly increased in the chorus. Where the vocal in the verses was quite distinct from its personic environment, it is now situated firmly within the personic environment. This change in spatial relationships supports the lyrics of the chorus and portrays the persona as
Recording the Story: Exploring the Relationship Between Music Production and Narrative 73
immersed in the moment, emotional and raw compared to the relatively restrained verses.
While the song’s perspective primarily occupies the persona of the friend, there are a few instances where this perspective temporarily shifts. The first instance is arguably the line “safe as safe can be”, situated at the end of both the first and second verse. In both cases, the line is doubled and shifted from the centre of the stereo image to the sides. One interpretation of the line is that it comes from the same character as the rest of the verse and that such a change in sonic characteristics is to emphasise the particular line. Another interpretation is that the change in sonic characteristics indicates a shift in persona from the friend to an external narrator who is making explicit the dramatic irony that is implicit in the music. I support this second interpretation over the ‘emphasis’ interpretation due to the lack of similar sonic emphases on other lines in the song. Also, the shift in spatial positioning of the voice from the centre to the sides implies a separation from the central persona and only serves as an emphasis through contrast rather than spatial or dynamic prominence.
The second and third instances of potential alternate perspectives are relatively minor cases of intradiegetic dialogue. These occur during the third and sixth verses respectively; the man from the St. John’s stand who indicates that he had recently seen Sarah, and Sarah’s mother who asks “Where’ve you been?” when Sarah unexpectedly arrives at home. In each of these cases, the persona merely narrates this dialogue, and there are no corresponding sonic cues to indicate a major shift of perspective.
74 Recording the Story: Exploring the Relationship Between Music Production and Narrative
The final change in perspective occurs at the end of the sixth verse. Here we encounter Sarah’s dialogue for the first time and her confusion and disorientation is made clear with the lines “I don’t know…I’m not sure…I can’t remember anything at all”. As Sarah is the central figure in this song’s narrative, her perspective is important to understand and to focus on, however briefly. In order to demonstrate
Sarah’s fragile and confused state of mind, the music temporarily loses its steady pulse and becomes much more fluid and indefinite. As the music regains its pulse with a crescendo, the vocal undergoes another increase in the amount of reverb, spatial decentralisation, and corresponding shift in positioning relative to the personic environment. In addition, the vocal undergoes a change in proxemic zone similar to the chorus. However, in this instance, the vocal’s spatial position recedes even further into the public zone until it is almost swallowed by the instrumentation as the chorus returns. These production decisions, along with the song’s arrangement, contribute to a sense of confusion, disorientation, and helplessness that correspond to Sarah’s characterisation within the narrative.
A final example of narrative enactment within the song occurs at the end of the second chorus where the lines “Why didn’t you scream? Why didn’t you shout?’ are followed by a high-pitched, operatic wail. While this example could be argued to be purely a case of musical arrangement rather than production, its function as a sonic parallel to the song’s lyrical narrative demonstrates the blurry line that exists between arrangement and production. In this case, I would argue that the musical arrangement is operating as a subset of the production.
‘Sarah’ demonstrates a personic environment that is, at the very least, interventionist.
The track contains multiple examples of musical and production elements enacting both the lyrics and the emotions that the lyrics imply but do not explicitly state. It is
Recording the Story: Exploring the Relationship Between Music Production and Narrative 75
arguable that the personic environment also contains oppositional components where the musical and production elements go beyond the primary lyrical persona and provide some level of antagonism. This is demonstrated most clearly in the lines
“safe as safe can be” and the related juxtaposition of optimism and sinisterness that pervades the entire track.
This song is particularly noteworthy in the context of this research as it demonstrates multiple character perspectives as well as multiple perspectives within the one persona. It achieves this through both musical and extra-musical production elements that translate the emotional and dramatic content contained in the lyrics into sonic cues. It is important to highlight the prevalence and importance of reverberation level in these instances. While reverb does not necessarily contain meaning by itself, it is the changes in relative reverb levels that act as sonic markers, signifying a shift in perspective or location within a physical (or artificial) space, or a development in the narrative. It follows, then, that the particular meaning ascribed to each reverb alteration is not intrinsic but rather heavily dependent on context (lyrical, musical, and narrative). This clearly demonstrates the vast potential of production techniques in generating or enhancing narrative meaning within a track, but also shows the volatile nature of such sonic elements and stresses the importance of an adequate contextual environment.
Regarding the five levels of production narrativity, ‘Sarah’ can be seen to inhabit the active level. The production elements do not contribute any significant amount of new information to the narrative, but they do expand upon the emotional state of the characters that is implicit in the lyrics through the use of reverberation and other spatial manipulation.
76 Recording the Story: Exploring the Relationship Between Music Production and Narrative
‘Stan’ – Eminem
Eminem’s ‘Stan’ (2000, track 3) exhibits fewer examples of production techniques contributing to the song’s narrative than some of the other songs discussed here.
However, it does provide a useful case of intradiegetic sound effects being incorporated into the track to create a soundscape that operates parallel to the song’s lyrical narrative.
The track begins with rain sound effects over the top of a heavily filtered sample of
Dido’s ‘Thank You’ (1999, track 6). A thunder clap cuts through the mix, and the sample comes into focus. This introduction serves to establish a scene, i.e. a rainy, stormy day in a setting where music is being played through small speakers (as suggested by the band-pass filter applied to the sample). The rain and thunder sound effects also serve to reinforce the lyrics in the sampled track: “the morning rain clouds up my window…even if I could [see] it’d all be grey”. Thus, the sampled track and the sound effects are closely tied to each other. In addition to the physical scene evoked by the rain and thunder, the sound effects also evoke an emotional
‘scene’ within which the entire song exists – sombre, melancholic, and tragic. In this way, the storm simultaneously operates on both an intradiegetic and extradiegetic level.
The verses take the form of letters being written to Eminem by a fan called Stan. The letters are addressed to one of Eminem’s stage personae, Slim Shady. Eminem makes use of multiple personae in his music: the rapper/performer (Eminem), the character
(Slim Shady), and the person behind both (Marshall Mathers). His songs variously make use of each of these personae, depending on the nature of each song’s lyrics.
Slim Shady expresses the darker, more irreverent, and comical aspects of the music,
Marshall Mathers tackles the more serious and personal issues, and Eminem Recording the Story: Exploring the Relationship Between Music Production and Narrative 77
addresses the middle ground between these two extremes. These personae, or alter egos, allow Eminem to touch on a wide variety of concepts in his songs while maintaining a buffer between Marshall Mathers as a person and artist and some of his more controversial lyrical content. This utilisation of multiple personae, each with their own personality, is particularly interesting from a narrative perspective. All three personae inhabit independent narratives, yet they are all components of the one person, and the lines between each are somewhat blurred. In addition, there is very little (if any) difference in vocal delivery from persona to persona, making it necessary to use lyrical cues to determine which persona is being presented.
Since Stan addresses his letters to Slim, rather than Eminem or Marshall Mathers, this indicates that he does not fully comprehend the distinction between the constructed persona and the real person. Thus, it is clear from the first line of the song’s first verse that Stan’s grasp of reality is not completely stable. This is reinforced throughout the verses as Stan jumps randomly from topic to topic, becoming increasingly aggressive and unreasonable. In contrast, Eminem’s (or, more likely, Marshall’s) response in the final verse is far more stable in its delivery. While this expression of multiple personae does not directly relate to the production techniques used in the track, it is indicative of how vocal performance is integral to the establishment of personae within a song.
As the first verse comes in, the storm subsides slightly and is accompanied by the sound of a pencil scratching on paper. This is an aural cue that reinforces the lyric, cementing the act of writing and thereby clarifying that Eminem is portraying a character. When the song’s chorus (the Dido sample) comes back in the pencil sound disappears, only to return with the second verse.
78 Recording the Story: Exploring the Relationship Between Music Production and Narrative
The third verse does not include the pencil sound effect, as Stan is now dictating his
‘letter’ to Slim into a cassette tape. He describes driving in his car, drunk and speeding on the freeway, and this is accompanied by the sound of windscreen wipers, reinforcing the intradiegetic nature of the storm. Also present in the third verse is a woman’s scream, filtered to sound muffled and distant. Stan explains that this is the voice of his pregnant girlfriend who he has locked in the trunk of his car. This is followed by the sounds of a crash and, after a short pause, a splash as the car drives off the bridge and into the river below. The storm remains omnipresent. These sound effects combine to craft a detailed sonic scene that utilises extra-musical sound to enact the lyrical narrative.
The fourth verse is a letter from Eminem’s perspective and makes use of the pencil sound effect again. The change in character perspective is made clear in the lyrics, but there is little to sonically distinguish this verse from the previous verses beyond
Eminem’s relatively calm vocal delivery. The verse ends with Eminem’s realisation that Stan has killed himself, along with his girlfriend and unborn child. This moment is punctuated by a final thunderclap that concludes the song.
Musically, the song remains fairly consistent throughout. The verses use the same music as the choruses, albeit without Dido’s vocals, so there is very little variation or progression in the music itself. The narrative therefore relies on the combination of the lyrics (and Eminem’s delivery of the lyrics) and the soundscape to drive it forward. The use of intradiegetic sound effects demonstrates the track’s sonic environment acting in an interventionist manner, actively supporting the personae and enacting the narrative. Each sound effect is instrumental in either setting the scene or punctuating a vital moment. The rain and thunder throughout the track contribute to an atmosphere of chaos and violence which are representative of Stan’s
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dark and explosive mental state. The pencil and windscreen wipers both act to illustrate a scene, granting the lyrics a sense of realism. The screams, crash, and splash bring to life a crucial moment of action and tragedy, again contributing to the realism of the lyrics and enhancing the impact of the horrific act.
While more sonic cues could have been used to differentiate between the two characters’ perspectives or to instil some musical progression, the use of intradiegetic
(and arguably extradiegetic) sound effects to create a soundscape is effective in supporting and contributing to the lyrical narrative. This demonstrates the potential of non-musical, or extra-musical, sonic elements to be included in a track for the purpose of furthering the song’s narrative. While it may be easy to envisage a scenario where this effect could be overused, ‘Stan’ demonstrates that it is possible to find a balance between the soundscape and the song where the sound effects act as an integral part of the track without obscuring the musical elements of the song.
The use of sound effects to create a soundscape that runs parallel to the music is intriguing to me as it indicates the potential to enhance a song’s narrative with aural cues that are not achievable using typical musical instruments. While sound effects may not necessarily be considered part of the song itself, they are relevant to my project as they exist on the level of the ‘track’ and therefore constitute part of the broader production process. In this sense, the sound effects can be considered analogous to other post-production techniques, such as artificial reverberation or spatial positioning. That is, the song may exist independently of the recording, but it is the track that I am primarily concerned with, and non-musical sounds are just as much a part of the track as the music is. Incorporating sound effects into the production process significantly expands the range of possible narrative elements
80 Recording the Story: Exploring the Relationship Between Music Production and Narrative that can be conveyed to the listener through the track, thus potentially enhancing the narrativity of the song.
In terms of the song’s production narrativity, ‘Stan’ does not fall neatly into a particular category. The song is certainly active, as the sound effects enact aspects of the lyrical narrative (car crash, pencil scribbling, screams). However, it is debatable whether or not ‘Stan’ should be considered complex. The inclusion of rain and thunder sound effects is a contribution of information not explicitly present in the lyrics, but does not contribute anything of significance to the overall narrative beyond setting the scene.
The incorporation of soundscape elements would not be appropriate for many of the songs recorded for this research project. It is, however, an important tool to be aware of so that it can be applied when appropriate. The difficulty would be in deciding what aspects of the song’s narrative would best be served through sound effects while also avoiding sounds that detract or distract from the song itself.
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‘Save the Life of My Child’ – Simon & Garfunkel
‘Save the Life of My Child’ by Simon & Garfunkel (1968, track 2) depicts a scene where a crowd has gathered on the street to watch a boy sitting on a ledge, presumably contemplating jumping to his death. The song contains multiple characters, some who have direct involvement in the song while others are only referred to in passing. The instrumentation is a combination of acoustic guitar, drums, and synthesiser, with a number of other sounds included.
The sonic environment does not provide an obvious connection to the song’s narrative, unless you interpret the stereo dichotomy of acoustic vs electronic instrumentation as being a reference to the disconnect between the boy and the
(presumably older) onlookers. However, the song does include a number of sonic elements that contribute to the overall story.
The most noticeable of these is the use of character voices when direct dialogue is quoted by the narrator. This occurs on four occasions throughout the song: “Good
God, don’t jump”; “He’s alright”; “He must be high on something”; and “The force can't do a decent job cause the kids’ got no respect for the law today (and blah blah blah)”. These lines, while still recounted by the narrator, are punctuated by the addition of characters voicing them as well. While these characters are arguably a part of the song’s arrangement, it is reasonable to view this aspect of the arrangement as falling under the larger umbrella of ‘production’ or ‘track’. Giving voice to the characters mentioned in the song creates a sense of realism, albeit with a touch of comedy, that helps illustrate the reality of the situation. These characters are not confined to a single line recounted by the narrator, they are granted a life of their own.
82 Recording the Story: Exploring the Relationship Between Music Production and Narrative
The other character that is included in the song is the boy’s mother. This character is not given a line, per se, but is perhaps the most sonically visceral character in the story. The chorus sings “‘Save the life of my child’ cried the desperate mother”.
While we hear the other characters double their lines, in this instance we hear the mother as a cacophony of wailing. There are multiple, overlapping voices that melt into each other through overt use of reverberation. These create a sense of unbridled grief and desperation, depicting the mother’s state of mind in such a devastating situation. The use of multiple voices could be interpreted as a deconstruction of linear time, either from the perspective of the mother herself, or from the surrounding onlookers.
These examples of the characters being included in the song demonstrate the sonic environment’s interventionist properties. The doubled voices and, in the case of the desperate mother, wailing bring the events described by the lyrics to life; they grant the characters and events described by the song a more tangible quality. These are examples of explicitly intradiegetic (occurring within the story itself) musical passages and serve to clarify which lyrics are meant to be considered as dialogue, while also clearly distinguishing between each character.
Another aspect of the song that is supported by the production is the clash between generations, or the traditional and the modern. While this is less directly related to the song’s narrative, it is nevertheless presented as an important theme by the lyrics.
The song depicts a tension between the younger generation and the rest of established society: “He must be high on something”; “The kids got no respect for the law today”; “Oh, what’s becoming of the children”. This disconnect between generations is supported by the spatial positioning of instruments within the track; the acoustic guitar (representing tradition and familiarity) is placed opposite the bass synth and
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electronic percussion (representing modernism and progression, at least in 1968) in the stereo field (see Figure 8). In addition to the more general theme of generational divide, this placement of instruments could also be seen to represent the rift that exists between the mother and her son.
Figure 8: ‘Save the Life of My Child’ Spatialisation
The inclusion of the first couple of lines from Simon & Garfunkel’s previous song
‘The Sounds of Silence’ (1964, track 6) is a further example of the song’s production highlighting such ideas. This is inserted over the top of a discordant bridge in the middle of the song. ‘The Sounds of Silence’ also addresses issues of societal disconnection, and its inclusion in ‘Save the Life of My Child’ further cements these themes.
The song’s sonic environment is both active and interventionist as it both supports and enacts the narrative expressed by the lyrics. The use of spatial positioning to
84 Recording the Story: Exploring the Relationship Between Music Production and Narrative reinforce themes of distance and detachment supports the implicit lyrical content, while the inclusion of character voices effectively acts out the narrative. To generalise, ‘Save the Life of My Child’ demonstrates the potential for spatial positioning to establish relationships between different characters/emotions/themes that are expressed within a song. Similarly, the use of intradiegetic dialogue can be used to illustrate or solidify certain narrative moments beyond the capability of the lyrics alone. In terms of the track’s production narrativity, ‘Save the Life of My
Child’ falls within the active level, with the overdubbed characters playing out the lyrics. An argument could be made for the track to be considered complex, but this rests on the interpretation of the instruments’ stereo placement as making reference to generational tensions.
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Summary
From these case study analyses, I identify a number of production-narrative relationships that can exist within recorded popular song. Many of these relationships are heavily context-dependent, relying on both the lyrical narrative being expressed and the production aesthetic established within the track. In particular, the application of Moore’s (2012) concepts of proxemic zones and personic environment allowed me to identify and understand these production-narrative relationships in a consistent and justifiable manner.
Proxemic Zones and Personic Environment
The positioning of a song’s persona within a particular proxemic zone has a strong impact on the relationship that is almost immediately established between the persona and the listener. The placement of the victim in ‘Where the Wild Roses
Grow’ (Cave, 1996, track 5) into the intimate zone creates an instant sense of closeness and empathy with the character. This is directly contrasted against the murderer, who occupies the more distant social zone, thus establishing a relative disconnect between the listener and the murderer, characterising the murderer as an outsider, at least in comparison to the victim.
In Kate Miller-Heidke’s ‘Sarah’ (2012, track 2), the protagonist’s proxemic zone changes throughout the song, tracking the character’s emotional journey. In this case, shifts in proxemic location are used to signify changes in the persona’s mental and emotional states. As the character loses control of the situation and her own emotions, the voice drifts further away from the listener, representing a weakening of identity, or at least an unbalancing of character.
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The situating of a voice or character within a specific proxemic zone can be achieved through the application of various production techniques. Volume levels can be adjusted to bring a voice closer to or farther from the listener. This can be augmented through reverberation settings (particularly pre-delay and early reflections), along with equalisation and compression. This placement within proxemic zones starts with the specific microphone placement used during the recording process. A voice recorded from a great distance will, depending on the recording environment, tend to fall within the social or public zones, and will consequently be difficult to position in the intimate zone. Conversely, a voice recorded using close microphone placements within an acoustically dry environment will naturally fall into the intimate or personal zones and will require additional processing to place at a greater distance from the listener.
Related to the concept of proxemic zones is that of personic environment. The personic environment refers to the relationship that exists between the song’s persona
(typically the protagonist of the narrative) and the sonic environment. This sonic environment is constructed through the interplay of both musical and extra-musical elements. A song’s musical arrangement can be inherently sombre through the use of minor keys, or slow tempos, but these effects can be built on or contradicted by extra-musical elements, such as spatialisation or spectral manipulation.
In the final section of David Bowie’s ‘Space Oddity’ (1969, track 1), the personic environment becomes dynamic and unstable, with sounds swirling around the listener, coming in and out of focus. This is a sonic representation of the precarious and disorienting situation that the song’s protagonist finds himself in. ‘Sarah’ demonstrates a personic environment that is ominous, despite the early optimism present in the lyrics, thus creating a sense of unease and anticipation in the listener
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through a combination of reverberation and instrumentation. ‘Stan’, on the other hand, makes use of non-musical sound effects, such as rain and thunder, to craft a particularly foreboding personic environment within which the song’s characters are situated. These examples demonstrate the importance of production techniques in the creation of atmosphere or mood that surrounds the song’s persona(e): the personic environment.
Spatialisation
While spatialisation techniques such as reverberation or stereo placement are important in the creation of proxemic zones or personic environments, as discussed above, they may also be utilised in more general circumstances to convey narrative meaning to a listener. ‘Space Oddity’ (Bowie, 1969, track 1) demonstrates the use of stereo placement to physically distinguish the protagonist from the song’s other characters, placing particular sonic elements on opposite sides of the stereo field.
Similarly, Simon & Garfunkel’s ‘Save the Life of My Child’ (1968, track 2) places certain elements on opposing sides of the stereo field in order to imply conflict or, at least, a certain degree of disharmony within the song’s narrative.
Different characters can also be distinguished through the use of contrasting reverberation. This character differentiation is demonstrated in Kate Miller-Heidke’s
‘Sarah’ (2012, track 2) where certain lines that are not voiced by the protagonist have a different type of reverb applied to them. A similar differentiation can be seen in
‘Save the Life of My Child’ where the mother’s wailing is significantly more reverberant than the narrator’s voice.
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Sound Effects
While the use of sound effects is not particularly common within popular music, it is worth acknowledging their potential for narrative meaning within a track. Sound effects enable a track to extend beyond the music and add sonic elements that have a more direct relationship to the events contained within the narrative than might otherwise be possible. Eminem’s ‘Stan’ (2000, track 3) demonstrates this use of sound effects with the inclusion of a number of specific sounds that refer directly to events within the narrative, such as a pencil scribbling on paper and a car crash, as well as sounds that contribute to the song’s atmosphere, such as the rain and thunder.
Since these sounds are explicitly non-musical, they are not a part of the song, but rather exist as a component of the track.
Production Techniques
These cases exhibit the potential for a song to enhance its narrativity when recorded through the use of various production techniques. While the particular narrative meaning conveyed by each technique is extremely context dependent and will vary somewhat from listener to listener, it is important for practitioners – musicians, producers, and engineers alike – to have an awareness and understanding of these relationships. Such an understanding will provide practitioners with the ability to apply production techniques in order to more effectively communicate a song’s narrative in cases where this is appropriate. As demonstrated by the cases investigated above, as well as the broader range of songs with strong production narrativity, many practitioners are already making use of such techniques to communicate narrative within popular music. However, this research aims to make explicit these production techniques that may previously have been exploited unintentionally or utilised tacitly by musicians and producers. In addition to Recording the Story: Exploring the Relationship Between Music Production and Narrative 89
cataloguing the various techniques observed in these cases, an understanding of the relationship between production techniques and narrative opens up a vast array of narrative possibilities for the practitioner, depending on the story they are telling and how they wish to tell it.
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Song Production Personic Proxemic Zone Spatialisation Sound Effects Narrativity Environment
Where the Intimate/Personal Differentiation Wild Roses Complex Active (victim) N/A between characters Grow Social (murderer)
Positioning of different sonic Space Active Interventionist Personal/Social elements on N/A Oddity opposite sides of the stereo field
Differentiation Personal/Social between characters Sarah Active Active N/A Public Construction of atmosphere
Rain and thunder establish atmosphere Active/ Stan Interventionist Personal Minimal Pencil on paper, car Complex crash, screaming woman enact events within the narrative
Positioning of different sonic Save the elements on Active/ Life of My Oppositional Personal/Social opposite sides of N/A Complex Child the stereo field Differentiation between characters
Table 3: Summary of Production Narrativity in Case Studies
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Chapter Four – Creative Practice Project Design
The following chapter outlines the creative works produced for this research project.
These creative works constitute the creative practice component of the artistic research project. The relationships between music production and narrativity identified in both the literature review and case studies inform the production techniques employed in these creative works. The creative works are six tracks that represent three different songs, each produced in two contrasting ways. It is these six tracks that form the basis of the survey outlined in Chapter Two.
Conception
The purpose of the creative works developed for this research project is to investigate and illustrate the application of specific production techniques in order to promote a desired narrative interpretation within a recorded song. Drawing from the traditions of practice-led and practice-based research, referred to collectively here as artistic research (Crispin, 2015), these creative works provide a means by which this project’s research questions may be studied in a ‘real-world’, practical environment.
This practical approach, in tandem with the more theoretical investigations discussed previously, allows the findings of this research project to be situated firmly in both theory and practice.
While the use of case studies allows for the analysis and interpretation of sonic elements (and, by extension, the production techniques used) in relation to their possible narrative meanings, these analyses are insufficient to separate the meaning expressed in the track from the meaning inherent in the song. For instance, while certain sonic elements may be viewed as existing in support of a song’s lyrical
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narrative, it can be difficult to determine whether such sonic features have actually contributed any further meaning to the lyrics, or perhaps, in the case of songs with a lyrical narrative that suggests an open reading (Randle & Evans, 2013), influenced an alternative interpretation of the lyrical narrative. The goal here is to isolate production techniques as an independent variable and, as a result, more confidently determine their impact on a song’s narrativity.
To achieve this goal of separating the production from the song, I have selected three songs and produced each of these songs in two different and contrasting ways. The intention is to influence the listener’s likely interpretation of the song’s narrative using different production techniques while the lyrics and harmonic structure of the music remain consistent. Thereby any perceived variation in the song’s narrative can be attributed to the use of specific production techniques rather than the song’s inherent lyrical and musical narrative. While the specific techniques used for each pair of tracks will differ, thus making it difficult to draw direct comparisons between the songs, I believe the creative benefits of choosing techniques that suit each song outweigh the accompanying limitations.
The songs to be recorded were chosen in a similar way to those used as case studies.
That is, various online lists of songs with strong narratives were used to find songs that would allow an appropriate demonstration of how production/narrative relationships can be generated in practice. However, while my five-level scale of production narrativity was used to identify tracks with strong production narrativity for case analysis, in this instance I was interested in tracks that contained a strong lyrical narrative but did not demonstrate strong production/narrative relationships.
That is, I was looking for songs which inhabited the inert, scenic, or supportive levels of production narrativity. The other primary selection factor was that the song’s
94 Recording the Story: Exploring the Relationship Between Music Production and Narrative narrative should suggest an open reading, or multiple narrative interpretations. This narrative ambiguity allows for the identification of two distinct narrative interpretations that may be explored through the application of different production techniques.
Project Aims
The overarching question that this research project seeks to address is ‘How can music production techniques be used to support or enhance the communication of narrative in recorded popular music?’ While the case studies have addressed hypothesised relationships between production techniques and a song’s narrative, such analyses are insufficient to make justifiable claims about how these relationships are developed in practice. It may be the case that the musicians, producers, and engineers responsible for the tracks investigated in the case studies had a tacit understanding of the relationship between production and narrative. It may also be the case that the emergence of such relationships was an entirely unintentional consequence of the production process. In order to minimise this uncertainty, this creative project aims to make such production/narrative relationships explicit in the context of creative practice.
Specifically, the creative practice component of this research project aims to validate
(or potentially invalidate) the findings of the case studies and to explore further production/narrative relationships that may not have been exhibited by the chosen cases. These aims will be achieved through the creation of multiple recordings of three songs that will be juxtaposed against one another in order to identify differences in narrativity.
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Song Selection
To justify the choice of songs to be recorded, I will outline the factors that determined the song selection criteria and describe how these criteria relate to the research project’s aims. The precise nature of these creative works has evolved throughout the course of this research project. Similarly, the stories that were to be explored through this artistic research project have changed in synchrony with the various developments in creative approach. The initial conception of the creative works was as a collection of original works, written by me and a number of collaborators. A subsequent iteration of the project involved the creation of a pseudo-narrative by thematically linking multiple, ostensibly unrelated songs. In these cases, the proposed narratives that would be expressed by the creative project would exist across the entire concept EP. That is, certain story arcs would only have been fully appreciated through the comprehension of multiple songs. However, these particular projects would likely have resulted in tracks in which the sonic narrative could not be properly appreciated in isolation. Rather, it may have been necessary to view each song in the context of the entire EP before the sonic narrative became apparent. While this would not be inherently problematic in itself, such creative works would not directly address the issue of narrative and production technique relationships on the level of the individual track and, as such, would not adequately answer the project’s research questions.
The decision to focus on three unrelated songs for the creative works therefore provided the additional benefit of restoring the project’s focus to narrative on the level of the individual song. Rather than the slow emergence of a narrative over multiple songs, each track would present a self-contained narrative that could be reasonably understood and appreciated in isolation. That is not to say that no thematic 96 Recording the Story: Exploring the Relationship Between Music Production and Narrative associations exist between the chosen songs, but rather that a listener’s understanding and interpretation of each song is not predicated upon their familiarity with the others. In the context of the concept album, where the full narrative is only appreciated across multiple songs, a multi-song narrative approach would certainly be appropriate. In that light, a modified version of this research project could prove fruitful as a future research avenue where the focus is on the inter-song relationships and the album (or EP) as a single narrative unit rather than the individual songs.
Once I had made the decision to create two alternate versions of each song, I needed to adjust the song selection criteria. The first (and perhaps most obvious) criterion was that the songs would need to exhibit a strong lyrical narrative from which to build on. While most (if not all) songs contain aspects of narrativity, I wished to provide myself with ample narrative material to work with. With the acknowledegment that the degree of narrativity presented by a song exists on a spectrum, I found Randle and Evans’ (2013) distinction between defined narratives and undefined narratives to be a useful means for easily identifying potentially useful songs while at the same time excluding examples that were likely to be narratively inadequate. In simple terms, I was looking for songs with clearly identified characters and events. It was also important to find songs whose lyrical and musical narratives would translate reasonably well into a sonic representation. This criterion is difficult to articulate in a concise manner as it is an inherently subjective judgement that relies heavily on the practitioner’s experience and creativity. Songs that do not necessarily present me with an obvious opportunity for the development of a sonic representation of the narrative may stand out to another practitioner as manifestly suitable for sonic interpretation, and vice versa. It is therefore necessary to acknowledge that, due to the deeply subjective nature of this criterion, the choices I have made are heavily
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influenced by my personal biases. In choosing the few songs that captured my attention and provoked my imagination, I have undoubtedly dismissed songs that would be considered equally suitable by other practitioners. That being the case, the purpose of this research project is not to provide an exhaustive exploration of potential sonic narrativity within popular music, but rather to illustrate the creative value of this particular narrative-focused approach to music production within the limited context of songs presenting a significant degree of narrativity.
In addition to containing a lyrical narrative that was conducive to sonic representation, the chosen songs’ narratives also needed to be open to multiple interpretations. Once again, this is a difficult criterion to quantify precisely due to the subjective nature of such interpretations. Fortunately, Randle and Evans (2013) also make a distinction between songs with narratives that offer a closed reading and songs with narratives that lend themselves to an open reading. While all songs could arguably offer multiple interpretations to different people depending on a vast array of various factors, Randle and Evans’ (2013) matrix is a useful tool to filter out those songs which are especially ambiguous in their storytelling. This narrative ambiguity is necessary to allow for multiple, equally valid sonic narratives to be created without making significant changes to either the lyrics or the music. Such lyrical narrative ambiguity is therefore ideal for this research project as it provides an opportunity to isolate the application of production techniques in a way that more concrete narratives would not.
In addition to these criteria, I wanted to use songs with recordings that did not demonstrate high levels of sonic narrativity within the production elements.
Referring to my five levels of sonic narrativity in production, I wanted to use songs whose existing recordings fell on the inert, scenic, or supportive levels, and avoid
98 Recording the Story: Exploring the Relationship Between Music Production and Narrative those that were already situated on the active or complex levels. This criterion is not as crucial to the project’s research aims as the first two discussed here, but I was concerned with being overly influenced, subconsciously or otherwise, by the original artists’ use of production techniques to enhance the narrativity of the tracks. By focusing on songs on the lower end of the sonic narrativity spectrum I would minimise the possibility of unintended mimicry on my part.
Combining these criteria, my search for songs to record for this research project was centred on those with a defined narrative, but with an open reading, and demonstrated inert, scenic, or supportive degrees of sonic narrativity in the production of their original recordings. Together, these criteria help to focus the creative works on the specific contribution of production techniques to a track’s overall narrativity. However, such criteria inevitably place potential limitations on the scope of the research project in terms of how broadly its findings can be generalised to songs outside of the narrow selection parameters.
In an effort to isolate production techniques, I have ignored songs with undefined narratives, songs with closed readings, and songs whose recordings already demonstrate active or complex sonic narrativity. There is no reason to suggest that such songs are incapable of having their narratives enhanced through deliberate production processes, but due to the specific nature of this project’s research design
I am unable to directly address those particular contexts. For example, songs with a closed reading may almost certainly be enhanced through the application of particular production techniques. Indeed, such songs may arguably be even more suited to narrative enhancement through production, as they have a single (or at least narrow) possible narrative interpretation to anchor the sonic narrative. However, my concern with this category of song was that it would be difficult to isolate the specific
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contribution of production techniques to the communication of the song’s narrative.
If I was to produce two versions of the same song, one with production techniques intended to enhance the song’s narrative and one without, it would be problematic to measure the success of the project without calling into question any bias of mine that may have influenced the two tracks. That is to say, if my intention was to demonstrate that particular music production techniques can be utilised to augment the communication of a song’s narrative, I would need to produce a version of the song with sonic narrative elements and a version without in order to compare the two approaches. But then, what is to stop me from performing a poor mix for the control track in order to exaggerate the impact of the sonic narrative track? Even if I did not intentionally attempt to skew the results, I would never be completely confident that
I had not unconsciously given the control track less attention or effort than the sonic narrative track. I could potentially enlist another engineer to mix the control track, but then it might be difficult to attribute any differences in the two tracks to the specific approach taken for each one rather than the simple explanation that different engineers can create substantially different mixes from the same source material. In addition, it would be difficult to ensure that the engineer mixing the control track did not, purposefully or otherwise, introduce aspects of sonic narrativity into their track as well. Thus, while exploring the potential of sonic narrativity within songs that exhibit a closed lyrical narrative would be creatively interesting, the validity of any findings developed from such an approach in the context of this project’s research aims would be questionable at best. It must therefore be acknowledged that by striving for academic rigour I am forgoing the opportunity to work with what could be the most creatively appropriate category of song. For research projects with
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different aims to mine, songs with closed readings could be the most fruitful examples to explore.
On a related note, songs with undefined narratives also present fertile opportunities for sonic narrative experimentation. The lack of a clearly defined narrative could provide a degree of freedom for the producer to introduce their own story ideas to the track. However, I felt that this potential level of freedom would be detrimental to this research project, as it might be difficult to sufficiently justify any sonic narrative choices without having a solid lyrical narrative as a foundation. Since I am focusing on enhancing the lyrical narrative through the application of production techniques,
I feel that a song with an undefined narrative would be too nebulous to allow for reliable demonstrations of the relationship between the lyrics and any sonic narrative that I were to create. Once again, however, such songs may be appropriate for research projects with different aims and methodologies, and are certainly ripe for exploration in non-academic contexts.
Finally, while there is nothing to suggest that songs with tracks already situated on the active or complex levels of sonic narrativity could not be reinterpreted in a new way, I was not confident that I would be able to separate the song itself from the existing sonic narrative of the original track. I felt that if I used songs that already occupied those higher levels, I would likely be tempted to imitate the creative decisions made by the original producers and engineers. While such imitation could certainly be an educational experience, it is doubtful that such an approach would contribute much in the way of meaningful research findings. As a result, I restricted my search to songs with tracks on the inert, scenic, or supportive levels, thereby minimising the temptation to emulate existing sonic narratives.
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Chapter Five – Creative Works and Analysis
In this chapter, I will examine the specific narratives present within each chosen song and discuss how each relates to the broader research aims. I will also detail the overall production process, focusing on the briefings provided to the musicians, the tracking and mixing sessions, and the production techniques used to create the sonic narratives for each track, relating these to concepts of personic environment and proxemic zones. Visual representations of the stereo image and sound field have also been created for each track to clearly illustrate how the spatial positioning of the various instruments changes over time. These visual representations take the form of both images and videos. Tables summarising the production techniques used and their narrative significance are also included with timecodes to assist in easily locating the relevant point in each track.
As I chose only three songs for the creative works, I wanted to ensure that the three examples were diverse in terms of their ability to answer the research question. As a result, I endeavoured to choose songs that were complementary to one another and evoked some different possibilities in terms of production techniques. As outlined above, one of the primary selection criteria was that the songs present defined narratives that invite open readings. I believe that the three songs chosen to be used for the creative works meet the relevant criteria and demonstrate a wide range of possibilities in terms of how they lend themselves to sonic interpretation.
In addition, I will also touch upon which level of production narrativity I believe each of my tracks is situated on. As a reminder, the five levels of production narrativity are:
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1) The production elements are inert, containing a minimal amount of
narrativity;
2) The production elements are scenic, in that they construct an environment
within which the musical and lyrical narratives occur, but do not contribute
to the narrative beyond this;
3) The production elements are supportive, as they reinforce the narrative
presented by the music and lyrics;
4) The production elements are active, as they contribute narrative elements that
act out and expand upon those presented by the music and lyrics;
5) The production elements are complex, contributing original narrative ideas
that are not explicitly present in the music and lyrics.
The creative works encompass six tracks that form an EP titled Recording the Story.
The songs chosen to be recorded are ‘I Heard Love Is Blind’ by Amy Winehouse, from the album Frank (2003, track 5), ‘Casimir Pulaski Day’ by Sufjan Stevens, from the album Come on feel the Illinoise (2005, track 10), and ‘Love Vigilantes’ by New
Order, from the album Low-Life (1985, track 1). I produced, recorded, and mixed all tracks, with mastering conducted by Guy Gray. I will specify the additional personnel for each track in the relevant sections. Links to the creative works are included below.
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Links to Creative Works
Recording the Story EP: https://soundcloud.com/jackywilliams/sets/narrativity-ep
I Heard Love Is Blind Apology: https://soundcloud.com/jackywilliams/i-heard- love-is-blind-apology-1
I Heard Love Is Blind Angry: https://soundcloud.com/jackywilliams/i-heard-love- is-blind-angry
Casimir Pulaski Day Acceptance: https://soundcloud.com/jackywilliams/casimir- pulaski-day-acceptance
Casimir Pulaski Day Grief: https://soundcloud.com/jackywilliams/casimir- pulaski-day-grief-1
Love Vigilantes Dead: https://soundcloud.com/jackywilliams/love-vigilantes-dead
Love Vigilantes Alive: https://soundcloud.com/jackywilliams/love-vigilantes-alive
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Tracking
The tracking stage of a production is integral to the overall music production process as it is the point at which the musical performances are captured. While it is possible to manipulate these performances to a certain extent, there is only so much that can be changed once they have been committed to Pro Tools. In addition, the musical performances are where much of the song’s emotionality is embedded. As such, this aspect of the creative works is a crucial component which significantly impacts the subsequent stages of the project.
The tracking sessions for this project took place across April and May 2018 at the studios on QUT’s Kelvin Grove campus. In most cases, each musician was hired for a single tracking session where they provided all of their musical performances for each track. The drummer and bassist recorded their takes together, as did the violinist and cellist, and the saxophonist and trombonist. The guitarist, keyboardist, and all of the vocalists recorded individually. This approach meant that each of the session musicians was required to move quickly from one track to the next, and only limited time was available to fully examine whether the recorded performances provided appropriate and meaningful contributions to the final product. This particular concern was mitigated to a certain extent through the use of experienced session musicians and the briefing process discussed below. Nevertheless, I would have preferred a more relaxed tracking schedule in order to have the opportunity to absorb and reflect upon the recorded takes and determine whether or not they could be reasonably improved upon, however budgetary and scheduling limitations precluded this.
With the exception of a few cases, the tracking sessions went to plan and achieved their purpose. However, the vocals for both the ‘Casimir Pulaski Day’ and ‘Love
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Vigilantes’ tracks required re-tracking as the initial performances did not satisfactorily convey the desired emotional arcs of the respective narrators. For the
‘Casimir Pulaski Day’ tracks, this was due to the vocalist performing to incomplete arrangements of the track, while for ‘Love Vigilantes’ I decided that the initial vocalist was not suitable and re-tracked with a different singer. In addition, the initial instrumental recordings for ‘Love Vigilantes Alive’ felt flat and uninteresting, so these were also re-tracked. As I was unable to source the original session musicians for the additional tracking session, this track contains different musicians than the others. Ultimately, the tracking sessions were successful and provided appropriate instrumental and vocal recordings that were consistent with the narrative interpretations for each track.
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Mixing
Much of the success of the creative works, and therefore the whole research project, rested on the mixing stage of the production process. It was at this point that I assumed sole control over the creative aspects of the tracks, sculpting the raw recordings into their desired shape. While some of the production techniques discussed throughout this research project stem from the tracking stage, many are inherently part of the mixing stage. These techniques include the application of artificial reverberation or delay, automation of panning, and the construction of a stereo image from multiple sound sources, in conjunction with the basic balancing of levels and control over spectral and dynamic parameters.
I took a largely unstructured approach to the mixing stage, focusing on play and experimentation within Pro Tools. While I certainly had goals for each track, and some specific ideas of techniques that I wanted to use, I was also open to trying a variety of techniques with the hope of inadvertently discovering new ways to construct an appropriate sonic narrative. Certain production decisions, such as condensing the entire stereo image during the bridge of ‘I Heard Love Is Blind
Apology’ or the ethereal vocals at the end of ‘Love Vigilantes Dead’, were not fully conceived of prior to the mixing stage and were borne largely from experimentation with unconventional uses of basic mixing tools.
While the tracks for ‘I Heard Love Is Blind’ and ‘Love Vigilantes’ required relatively straightforward editing and mixing, the tracks for ‘Casimir Pulaski Day’ necessitated a much more involved process. With the exception of the vocals, the tracking sessions for ‘Casimir Pulaski Day’ did not make a distinction between the two tracks.
Instead, the musicians each played multiple versions of the chords, melodies, and
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grooves for the song, each with different voicings, intensities, or emphases. In addition, due to the static nature of the song’s harmonic progression, it was possible to record all the required parts in short, eight bar sections. It was then a process of piecing together these individual parts to form two independent tracks, each exhibiting a distinct sonic narrative. The positive aspect of this approach is that it demonstrates how powerful the mixing stage can be in the creation of a song’s narrative. While the musicians were provided with very basic instructions on what to play and how to play it, they did not have a sense of the overall narrative interpretations that would influence the direction of the final tracks. Together with the disjointed nature of the parts being recorded, this meant that the musical performances contain very little inherent narrativity, if any. Thus, any significant degree of narrativity present in the final track, with the exception of the lead vocal, can be confidently ascribed to my editing and mixing.
However, pursuing such an approach where the musical performances are intentionally divorced from the narrative arcs that they are intended to represent is likely to result in a less cohesive final product than what would be possible if the musicians were provided with the opportunity to tailor their performances appropriately. This particular shortcoming became especially evident in the vocal recordings. The lead vocals were initially recorded to a generic edit of the song before the two distinct versions had taken form. Without a clear idea of how each track would ultimately sound, the vocalist was unable to deliver a completely suitable vocal performance and required retracking. Though this issue manifested most noticeably with the lead vocal, it is not a stretch to imagine that many of the session musicians were similarly disadvantaged by the lack of a clear sonic direction during tracking. Upon reflection, I feel that adopting this strategy for ‘Casimir Pulaski Day’
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was fruitful in terms of demonstrating the narrative potential of the mixing stage of a production, but did not result in the best possible tracks. As a form of extended pre- production however, I believe this approach could prove valuable, as it allowed for the construction of an instrumental arrangement that I was unlikely to have constructed outside of a DAW. This could then serve as a scaffold to re-record some, if not all, of the instruments so that the musicians have a chance to contribute to the track with a better understanding of what the final product will be.
Ultimately, the mixing stage is where the sonic narratives for each track are fully realised. While the tracking stage is essential for capturing appropriate performances, it is the mix that sculpts and arranges these performances to form the concrete recorded artefact: the track. While a track’s personic environment certainly stems from the initial instrumental recordings, as does the proxemic zone inhabited by the narrator, the mixing stage provides the opportunity to finely control the manifestation of these attributes through the manipulation of the various tools at the mix engineer’s disposal. To illustrate the creative decisions made and the specific production techniques used in the mixes, I have provided a detailed discussion of each track’s mix below.
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Narrative Concepts and Production Approach
‘I Heard Love Is Blind’ – Amy Winehouse
‘I Heard Love Is Blind’ by Amy Winehouse (2003, track 5) is a song that evokes classic jazz standards in its structure and harmonic content. The song uses a modified
32-bar AABA jazz form. For consistency of terminology across the various songs, I will herein refer to the A sections as verses and the B section as a bridge. The story presented by the song’s lyrics is the narrator’s confession of infidelity to their partner, and attempt to justify their actions.
The story presented in ‘I Heard Love Is Blind’ meets the criterion of being a defined narrative as it contains clear characters (narrator, partner, new lover) who experience events (the narrator confessing their past transgressions). The song also meets the criterion of presenting an open reading. The lyrics do not make it clear whether the narrator is trying to justify and minimise their actions through genuine remorse or from a place of denial. Such internal ambiguity in the motivations of the narrator opens the song up to alternate interpretations that can be highlighted through the production process.
Referring to Genette’s (1980) categorisations, ‘I Heard Love Is Blind’ can be seen to be homodiegetic (first person), subsequent (recounting past events), intradiegetic
(occurring within the story), and with an internal focalization (narrator knows the same as the characters). That is to say, the narrator is a character within the story who is recounting events that have already occurred, and as they are addressing their partner, the lyrics are presented as dialogue. These categorisations highlight the immediacy of the story being told in the song, thus emphasising the importance of
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the listener having an understanding of the narrator’s emotions at the time of narration.
I chose to record ‘I Heard Love Is Blind’ as I felt the song’s harmonic complexity conveyed neither a clear positive or negative attitude; while the song is ostensibly in a major key, it contains a multitude of minor seventh, diminished, and ninth chords, among others, along with significant chromaticism that minimise the major feel overall. Such harmonic complexity contributes to the ambiguity presented in
Winehouse’s original version but also invites a more sonically focused approach towards establishing an overall attitude. For this project, I decided to focus on two differing emotional states of the narrator that influence the narrative meaning of the lyrics. The first interpretation views the narrator as feeling a deep sense of remorse and is confessing to their partner in an effort to apologise and make amends. The production accordingly focuses on making the narrator seem sincere and accentuates the intimacy between the two main characters. I refer to this version as the ‘Apology’ track. The alternate interpretation takes the angle of the narrator being insincere and aggressively defensive; rather than apologising, she is denying that the problem exists in the first place. The production for this track is relatively more aggressive in tone, accenting the anger underpinning the narrator’s denial. I refer to this version as the ‘Angry’ track. By approaching the song in these two distinct ways I can demonstrate the capability of the production process to influence the listener’s perception of the main persona’s emotional state despite both versions containing identical lyrics.
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Musician Briefs
The instrumentation used on the two tracks of ‘I Heard Love Is Blind’ is the most similar out of the three songs in the creative works. As a result, clear communication of the narrative concepts to the musicians was required to ensure a sufficient degree of contrast between the two tracks. In this case, there were few major differences in the narrative events represented by either interpretation. Instead, the crucial narrative idiosyncrasies result from a transformation of the narrator’s attitude and emotional journey. Instrumentally, the primary distinction between the two tracks is the inclusion of horns in the Angry version and their substitution for strings in the
Apology version. Therefore, in order to capture appropriate performances that supported each respective narrative interpretation, it was imperative that the musicians received detailed briefs that specified precisely the emotional expression they should convey.
The emotional descriptions I provided for each track were fairly similar across most of the musicians. With the Angry track, I wanted sharp, aggressive performances, characterised by staccato and strong accents. Where possible, I encouraged some slight distortion, as if the instruments were on the verge of breaking apart. These slightly overdriven tones would help establish a personic environment on the edge of breaking apart and becoming unstable, mirroring the emotional state of the narrator.
The balance between too sweet a tone and too harsh a tone was crucial, so I spent considerable time with both the keyboardist and the guitarist to obtain an appropriate degree of distortion. Regarding the vocals, my focus was on capturing the raw emotion of the vocalist’s performance which was strained and harsh, demonstrating the frustration and anger of the narrator.
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The Apology track, on the other hand, required a much gentler approach. The strings were directed to be tender and remorseful, while the keys and guitar were to be tentative and gentle. All of the instruments were to be played in a slightly legato manner, with the strings adding a touch of vibrato for greater expression. The vocalist was asked to deliver a performance that showcased the narrator’s sincerity and remorse, highlighting the depth of her emotion and coming close to breaking. This would distinguish the narrator from the harsher portrayal seen in the Angry track.
While the instrumentation for both tracks was quite similar, the subtle differences in the performances delivered by each of the session musicians go a long way toward presenting a contrasting narrative to the listener. Such differences can then be highlighted and amplified through other production techniques, but there is no substitute for capturing an appropriate instrumental performance in the first place.
Apology
I Heard Love Is Blind (Apology) Personnel
Lead Vocals Sharon Brooks Guitars Thomas Combes
William Keys Drums Brenton Fitzgerald Martineau
Bass Mick Millard Violin Kelly Jensen
Cello Tim Andrews Table 4: ‘I Heard Love Is Blind (Apology)’ Personnel Starting with the Apology track, I wanted to create a calm and supportive personic environment to signify the narrator’s attempts to pacify their partner. The instrumentation for the song thus focused on clean, soft, gentle tones, with acoustic guitar, electric piano, and strings forming the main harmonic accompaniment, supported by a lazy groove from the drums and bass. The tempo of the song was set
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at a leisurely seventy beats per minute to further accentuate this sense of calmness.
All of the session musicians were briefed about the apologetic interpretation of the song’s lyrics and were accordingly instructed to play in a gentle and relaxed manner; the keys were played softly, strings emphasised a legato feel, guitar avoided excessive strumming, and so on. The combination of these various elements works to generate a personic environment that reflects and supports the desire of the narrator, that of pacification and hopeful forgiveness.
The lead vocal was situated very forward in the mix to place the narrator in the intimate or, at the very least, personal proxemic zone. Such positioning was achieved through a combination of close microphone placement, subtle reverberation with a significant pre-delay, gentle compression to accentuate the quiet mouth sounds while maintaining dynamic range, and simple level adjustments. In addition, the keys and guitar parts are panned towards the left and right to allow the lead vocal some space in the centre of the mix without fear of masking. This purposeful placement of the persona was an effort to create a sense of intimacy between the narrator and the audience, who are assuming the role of the partner. This placement remains stable for the first two verses in the track, establishing the track’s status quo.
In the bridge, the narrator’s gentle demeanour slips as they feel that they are losing control of the situation, lashing out with “What do you expect? You left me here alone”. This change in the narrator’s attitude is represented by a corresponding shift in the personic environment. The stereo image of the track is significantly condensed, squeezing all the instruments towards the centre and crowding around the lead vocal.
This sudden shift in the track’s stereo width creates a sense of claustrophobia, as if the metaphorical walls are closing in around the narrator. Simultaneously, through the addition of an increase in the level of reverberation, a decrease in the reverb’s
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pre-delay, and a slight overall drop in level, the lead vocal recedes into the social proxemic zone as the narrator loses hold of the intimacy they were attempting to maintain with the partner. This loss of control is a disorienting experience for the persona, signified by the lead vocal pacing back and forth across the stereo field, seemingly at random, as they try to get their bearings once more. As the third verse begins, the narrator regains their composure and the stereo image is restored to its former width, indicating to the audience the personic environment has settled once more. The lead vocal also moves closer to the listener again, although not quite as close as before since the trust that was once shared between them has been damaged.
Unfortunately, the M/S processing used by the mastering engineer somewhat muted the intensity of these left-right movements. While a revised master did much to restore the original mix’s stereo width, the final result was still less extreme than I had intended.
The Apology track’s combination of instrumental arrangement, vocal placement, and stereo field manipulation serves to enhance the narrative interpretation of the narrator being sincerely apologetic. The relationship between the narrator and their partner
(the audience) changes throughout the track, following the arc of the story being told.
As such, I believe ‘I Heard Love Is Blind (Apology)’ falls on the active level of production narrativity.
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I Heard Love Is Blind (Apology)
Production Time Section Instrument Technique Narrative Significance
The gentle chord at the start of the song helps to set the scene Acoustic for the narrative. It is soft, clean, Rich, clean timbre, 0:00 Intro Guitar and and creates a feeling of safety softly played. Keys and comfort, which will subsequently be challenged throughout the song. Close mic, front and Positioning of the vocal in the centre, subtle personal or intimate proxemic reverb, separate zones creates a sense of close from other 0:04 Verse 1 Lead Vocal proximity with the listener. This instruments. contributes to a sense of Situated in personal intimacy and vulnerability in the or intimate proxemic narrator's voice. zone.
Legato performance, rich texture, gentle Supports the narrator by adding 0:14 Verse 1 Strings introduction, to the gentle and safe personic significant room environment. sound.
At this point in the song, the narrator is becoming unsure of the success of their apology. The compressed stereo image All Stereo image shrinks represents a feeling of 0:58 Bridge Instruments towards centre. everything closing in around you. The previously supportive personic environment has verged towards being claustrophobic.
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The narrator withdraws slightly Vocal reverb from the listener, as they fear increases, pushing that their apology is not being 1:00 Bridge Lead Vocal the vocal back accepted. Thus, there is a towards the social reduced degree of intimacy and proxemic zone. vulnerability between narrator and audience. The narrator is struggling to Lead vocal is panned remain composed against their back and forth doubt and regret. They are 1:00 Bridge Lead Vocal across the stereo pushing back against the field. restrictive personic environment. All Stereo image returns The narrator is successful in 1:26 Verse 3 Instruments to original width. regaining their composure. While the narrator has Vocal reverb overcome their self-doubt, the decreases slightly, 1:27 Verse 3 Lead Vocal emotional distance between remaining higher them and the listener is greater than the initial level. than at the start of the track.
Table 5: ‘I Heard Love Is Blind (Apology)’ Summary of Production Techniques
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Figure 9: ‘I Heard Love Is Blind (Apology)’ Verse Sound Field
Figure 10: ‘I Heard Love Is Blind (Apology)’ Bridge Sound Field
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Figure 11: ‘I Heard Love Is Blind (Apology)’ Stereo Image Over Time
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Angry
I Heard Love Is Blind (Angry) Personnel
Lead Vocals Sharon Brooks Guitars Thomas Combes
Keys William Drums Brenton Martineau Fitzgerald
Bass Mick Millard Saxophone Yori Dade
Trombone/Trumpet Griffin Youngs Table 6: ‘I Heard Love Is Blind (Angry)’ Personnel With the Angry track for ‘I Heard Love Is Blind’, I wanted to maintain as much of the instrumentation as possible from the Apology track in order to explore the sonic variety that could be achieved through other means. Thus, the bulk of the instrumental arrangement remains consistent across both tracks, with the notable exceptions of an electric guitar playing rhythm instead of an acoustic guitar, and a horn section in place of the strings. For the Angry track, I wanted to develop a personic environment that was more hostile and agitated than in the previous track.
The tempo for this track was increased to eighty beats per minute to give a sense of impatience and agitation in comparison to the Apology track’s seventy beats per minute. In addition, the session musicians were instructed to perform their parts with aggression, with short, sharp staccatos where appropriate. Horns were chosen to play the song’s counter melodies in this track as they are more capable of creating a harsh, forceful tone than strings. While I did desire to maintain as much of the same instrumentation as possible, I felt that including strings could undermine the aggressive personic environment I was endeavouring to create. In addition, some slight distortion was added to the guitar and keys in order to make them sound a little brighter and harsher than their clean tones. Together, these various elements create a personic environment that is impatient and a little aggressive, representing both the
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narrator’s internal emotional state as well as the hostility that is present within the confrontation with their partner.
In order to signify the emotional distance that exists between the narrator and their partner in this interpretation of the narrative, I positioned the lead vocal around the border of the personal and social proxemic zones. This spatial placement of the narrator was achieved through the addition of a room microphone during the tracking stage, which adds some natural ambience and space to the voice, along with some artificial reverberation with a low pre-delay setting. Ideally, I would have placed the lead vocal farther back in the mix to situate it more firmly within the social proxemic zone, but I was forced to make a compromise with maintaining a moderate degree of intelligibility; pushing the vocal too far back in the mix could make it difficult for an unfamiliar listener to understand the lyrics.
As with the Apology track, the bridge in the Angry track presents a shift in the narrative. Here the narrator lets go of the last bit of restraint they were holding onto and goes on the offense, accusing their partner of neglect: “You left me here alone…Don’t overreact”. To convey this release of anger, the narrator’s voice becomes noticeably distorted, breaking up and becoming much harsher. The vocal distortion is present at a low level throughout the entire track, but comes to the fore during the bridge and is accompanied by a slight bandpass filter. I had initially used a basic distortion plug-in that provided a uniform level of distortion over the lead vocal but after receiving some feedback that it was too extreme, I opted for a more subtle vintage style of distortion and ran it in parallel with the clean vocal. This particular type of distortion had the added benefit of being slightly more dynamic; as the voice gets louder, the amount of distortion increases in tandem. This situation is
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another example of the need to find a balance between creating a clear sonic narrative and not getting in the way of the song itself. While the original vocal distortion was much more noticeable, and arguably more effective in conveying the anger of the narrator, it was ultimately deemed too distracting for listeners. While there are certainly examples where a deliberate production technique should be clearly obvious to the listener, in this case I felt the risk of undermining the overall narrative for the sake of drawing attention to one small part of it was too great. Returning to the final verse, the vocal distortion is decreased slightly as the narrator fights to bring their anger under control. However, the distortion remains on the edge of perception, signifying the rage the narrator has simmering under the surface.
Through tonal manipulation of the lead vocal along with its spatial placement, the
Angry track serves to enhance the interpretation of the narrator being angry and defensive regarding their past actions. The personic environment is harsh at times, and the track is ultimately antagonistic towards the audience. As with the Apology track, ‘I Heard Love Is Blind (Angry)’ is situated on the active level of production narrativity.
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I Heard Love Is Blind (Angry)
Time Section Instrument Production Technique Narrative Significance
There is slight The distortion contributes to a Electric 0:00 Intro distortion in the subtle sense of conflict in the Guitar electric guitars. personic environment.
As with the electric guitars, the There is slight distortion contributes to setting 0:00 Intro Keys distortion in the keys. up a subtle sense of conflict in the personic environment. Combination of close The narrator is positioned in the mic and room mic social proxemic zone, implying 0:04 Verse 1 Lead Vocal adds ambience and emotional distance between pushes vocal further them and the listener. There is back in the mix. little intimacy here. Sudden shift in The personic environment dynamics, All settles into the intense, 0:12 Verse 1 accompaniment gets Instruments antagonistic situation presented louder and more by the narrator. intense. The bright, edgy quality of the Bright, brassy tones 0:12 Verse 1 Horns horns contributes to the played forcefully. oppositional environment.
The vocal starts to break apart, showing the raw emotion of the narrator as they become Vintage distortion and frustrated with their partner. 0:52 Bridge Lead Vocal band pass filter added The anger is barely restrained as to lead vocal. the narrator lashes out. The voice becomes less clear, their message obscured by their rage. Distortion is reduced, The narrator regains some 1:15 Verse 3 Lead Vocal but not completely control over their emotions, but removed. a hint of anger remains.
Table 7: ‘I Heard Love Is Blind (Angry)’ Summary of Production Techniques
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Figure 12: ‘I Heard Love Is Blind (Angry)’ Verse Sound Field
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Figure 13: ‘I Heard Love Is Blind (Angry)’ Stereo Image Over Time
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‘Casimir Pulaski Day’ – Sufjan Stevens
Sufjan Stevens’ song ‘Casimir Pulaski Day’ (2005, track 10) makes use of the strophic form. That is, the song does not contain a chorus, but rather a series of verses
(fourteen in total), each with different lyrics that relate the song’s narrative. This sequence of fourteen verses is broken into three subgroups of four, four, and six, with each subgroup separated by short instrumental sections. The lyrics tell of an adolescent friendship and romance that ends with the tragic death of one of the characters due to cancer. The lyrics focus on the grief experienced by the narrator at their friend’s death, along with the narrator reminiscing with memories of their short time together.
‘Casimir Pulaski Day’ satisfies the criteria of a defined narrative; it presents clearly defined characters (the narrator, the friend, the friend’s father), and recounts specific events (cancer diagnosis, kiss, death). Where the song presents an open reading is in the interpretation of the narrator’s emotional state throughout the song. While the subject matter of the song is undoubtedly sad, I felt that there was room for various presentations of the narrator’s experience of the events. How does the narrator feel about their friend’s death? Are they melancholic? Are they depressed? Are they bitter and angry? Or could they be striving towards a more serene state of acceptance? It was this emotional ambiguity of the narrative that I wanted to explore sonically.
Viewing the song through Genette’s (1980) categories, the song can be seen to be homodiegetic (first person), subsequent (past tense), and extradiegetic (external to the story itself). The verses tell vignettes from the narrator’s memories of their time with their friend, depicting the friend’s cancer diagnosis, family reactions, their burgeoning romance, the friend’s passing, and coping with the aftermath. It is not clear whether these short snippets in the verses are strictly chronological or not, but Recording the Story: Exploring the Relationship Between Music Production and Narrative 127
they are at the very least structured into a roughly sequential order. There are some mentions of specific days, although it is not clear if they describe events that all occur within the one week. What can be determined for certain is that the friend’s death occurs on Monday, the 1st of March, which is Casimir Pulaski Day, a local holiday celebrated in Chicago on the first Monday of March, hence the song’s title. The themes explored in the song include young romance, friendship, hope, and grief, as we witness friends and family struggle to cope with the cancer diagnosis, while hints of romance are threaded throughout. Religious themes are also touched on, with the narrator calling into question the injustice felt at losing their friend at such a young age.
For the recordings, I chose to focus on two possible interpretations of the narrator’s emotional journey. In one interpretation, the narrator becomes absorbed by their negative emotions, fixating on the memories of their friend, and beginning to grieve before their friend actually passes. The production for this version is heavy and dark, showing the loneliness and isolation experienced by the narrator. I refer to this as the
‘Grief’ track. The contrasting interpretation shows the narrator as ultimately optimistic. While they still express grief at the moment of their friend’s passing, this is soon superseded by a sense of hope. The production for this version is light and relatively bright, demonstrating the predominantly positive attitude of the narrator and the happiness that is associated with the recollection of their friend. I refer to this as the ‘Acceptance’ track. With such a broad spectrum of potential interpretations, I felt that this song provided the opportunity to explore the use of production techniques to develop juxtaposing emotional arcs, thereby demonstrating the ability to enhance a song’s narrative, at least in an emotional sense. These two contrasting emotional versions were not my original plan, however. I had initially intended to 128 Recording the Story: Exploring the Relationship Between Music Production and Narrative
create one neutral version and one generically emotional version, with the idea that the former would show just the events while the latter would also highlight the narrator’s emotional arc. After some discussion with the vocalist for that track and issues inherent in the idea of producing a ‘neutral’ track (discussed in more detail in
Chapter Six), I decided that it would be more constructive to attempt to create juxtaposing emotional narratives and discarded the idea of the neutral narrative.
One notable feature of ‘Casimir Pulaski Day’ is that the chord progression does not change throughout the song’s entire duration. The only source of sonic development within the song’s original track is in the timbral and melodic variations in the instrumental sections and between each verse. I was drawn to this harmonically static song as I thought it would provide a challenge to create a sonic and emotional narrative; rather than relying on the harmonic progression to provide sonic novelty,
I would be forced to craft a texturally dynamic mix.
I decided to enhance this challenge during the production process by recording each version of the song at the exact same tempo and in the same key. Therefore, any differences between the two resulting tracks would be due solely to the musical performances and the post-production process. In an effort to isolate the individual production elements even further, I made the decision to record each instrument
(except for the vocals) in short sections, with the musicians focusing on intensity and general emotions rather than specific narrative interpretations. These parts were then manually arranged within Pro Tools in order to craft the two versions of the song.
While adopting this approach introduced some significant difficulties during post- production, the final result is two contrasting tracks that convey appreciably different emotions to the listener.
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Musician Briefs
For ‘Casimir Pulaski Day’, the vocalist was reasonably familiar with the song and its lyrics. This familiarity was both a benefit and a hindrance. While the vocalist already understood the broad narrative of the song, she had also developed her own understanding of the narrative based on the original Sufjan Stevens track. Over the course of a few conversations, we discussed the nature of each track’s particular intended emotional arc. As discussed above, I had considered the idea of having one track with a neutral vocal delivery, and one with an emotional delivery, but we realised that a truly neutral vocal performance would be difficult, if not impossible, to achieve, as well as being ultimately uninteresting in terms of the narrative it would present.
For the Grief track, we discussed how the narrator should take an almost self-centred perspective regarding their friend’s death, becoming internally focused and buried in their grief, even before their friend was gone. The vocal delivery was therefore to be depressed and heavy, as though it was struggling to break free of some manner of emotional quicksand. In contrast, the Acceptance track was to be much lighter in its delivery, highlighting the ability of the narrator to focus on the bright side and remember the good times. This positive perspective would nevertheless be punctuated with moments of sombreness and retrospection at crucial moments in the song.
The briefs I provided to the other musicians for ‘Casimir Pulaski Day’ were comparatively light on detail. Due to the nature of the production plan for these two tracks (as discussed above), the other musicians were not required to have a full appreciation of each narrative interpretation. Rather, they were instructed to play
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different takes with various intensities or moods; for example, soft and tentative, or loud and aggressive, or somewhere in between. As I was using this song to experiment with arrangement, I did not have a clear outline for any of the musicians.
Instead, I tried to account for any possible performance that I might want to use later and thus made a multitude of recordings for each instrument in an effort to cover all bases.
While I certainly could have been more efficient throughout this process, I believe the simplified briefs provided to the session musicians were adequate for obtaining the raw material to work with during the arrangement and post-production stages. In retrospect, depriving the musicians of specific narrative details was unlikely to improve the ultimate result, and deprived them of the opportunity to contribute their own musical interpretations to their performances. Upon reflection, however, the decision to shift the arrangement process to the post-production stage does have the benefit of more clearly demonstrating the potential significance of the mixing engineer’s role in sculpting a song’s narrative arc than would otherwise be possible with a more typical production approach. For this reason, I believe that the production decisions made for ‘Casimir Pulaski Day’ were ultimately valuable in the context of the research project, despite potentially compromising the final artistic work.
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Acceptance
Casimir Pulaski Day (Acceptance) Personnel
Lead Vocals Maxine McCabe Guitars Thomas Combes
William Brenton Keys Drums Martineau Fitzgerald
Bass Mick Millard Violin Kelly Jensen
Cello Tim Andrews Saxophone Yori Dade
Trombone/Trumpet Griffin Youngs Table 8: ‘Casimir Pulaski Day (Acceptance)’ Personnel The Acceptance track has the difficult task of communicating a sense of hope and optimism while simultaneously conveying a tragic story of love and loss. The major key helps with the positivity, but it had to be appropriately tempered. For the track’s instrumentation, I focused on gaining a balance of bright and dark timbres to mirror the balance of positive and negative emotions expressed by the narrator. The track begins with a single fingerpicked acoustic guitar. There is a slight bounce to the performance with a touch of swing, thus establishing a somewhat optimistic personic environment.
The lead vocal enters in the first verse, positioned in the personal proxemic zone, at times verging on the intimate. The reverberation applied to the vocal is pulled down at the end of each verse, helping to tilt the narrator closer to the listener to give a sense of intimacy and familiarity. This technique also serves to bring focus to the last phrase of the verse, which in the case of the first verse is the important revelation that the friend has “cancer of the bone”. Since the audience is occupying the role of the friend who is being addressed as ‘you’ in the lyrics, this close placement of the lead vocal represents the closeness that the narrator feels toward their friend.
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Accompanying the lead vocal is a vocal delay that is positioned behind and slightly to the right. This vocal delay is intended to signify the comfort and support felt by the narrator regarding their friend; they are a constant supportive presence. In some of the verses where the friend is physically present in the story, I have included a harmony line to represent them. While the harmony vocal is singing the same lyrics as the main vocal, there are moments where it is intentionally slightly out of sync to demonstrate a modicum of independence from the persona of the narrator. This independence is reinforced by the harmony vocal’s placement to the far left of the stereo image.
Bass, guitar, and drums enter at the end of the fourth verse and build into the first interlude where they are accompanied by a light electric piano melody. At this point in the song, the narrator’s optimism is at its height, and this state of mind is reinforced by the personic environment. In the fifth verse, however, the situation starts to look more dire as it becomes clear that the friend is not healing. A violin is introduced playing the same melody as was introduced by the electric piano, but now in a much more mournful, legato manner, enhanced by the addition of a medium-length reverb.
Over the next few verses, cello is added to this melody as well.
At the end of the eighth verse, the friend runs away from the narrator, apparently desiring to be left alone. The melody played in the following interlude is performed by a series of solo horns, including trumpet, saxophone, and trombone. This choice of solo horn is intended to signify the friend’s attempts to stand alone and face her impending mortality by herself: “…when you ran outside…you told me not to follow you”. The horns are strong and noble, but are only heard in isolation as solo instruments.
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In verse nine, the song takes a downward turn emotionally. The friend’s death is imminent, and they are preparing for the end. Here the melody is played on a grand piano, with a high level of reverberation to accentuate its melancholy quality. In the eleventh verse, we experience the inevitable passing of the friend: “In the morning, when you finally go”. To highlight this moment, many of the instruments drop out, replaced by bass and piano playing long, held chords and electric guitar and keys holding a single note. It is as if everything has slowed down and reality has paused momentarily. In addition to the instrumental changes, the vocal delay and vocal reverb are removed, which helps to push the narrator firmly into the intimate proxemic zone. This shift in position signifies the narrator’s sense of loneliness and vulnerability in that moment. This is perhaps the most noticeable moment in the track as, until now, the track had been moving steadily ahead, whereas here things finally slow down and pause.
Central to this track’s narrative interpretation is the notion of acceptance and moving forward. To signify this, after a few moments of quiet contemplation, the track returns to its former pace and intensity. However, the vocal delay is now completely absent, leaving the lead vocal to continue on its own. Where the vocal delay once signified the figurative presence of the friend in the narrator’s life, that presence has now gone. The vocal harmony is not heard again for the rest of the track. The final three verses continue in this manner, describing the narrator’s struggle with their faith in light of the premature death of their friend.
‘Casimir Pulaski Day’ finishes with an extended instrumental outro. While there are no vocal parts in this section, I have endeavoured to use the instrumental arrangement as somewhat of a summary of the overall narrative interpretation that is being
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presented in the Acceptance track. In a way, it is a representation of the narrator’s experience and memories. The outro begins with most of the instruments dropping away, leaving the acoustic guitar as the main focus. After a short period, the acoustic guitar is accompanied by melodies provided by electric piano and strings as well as some bright arpeggios from an electric guitar. These melodies represent the introduction of the friend into the narrator’s life and the brief romance they shared.
At this point the narrator makes a conscious decision to focus on the positive memories of their friend, rather than dwelling on the pain and sorrow associated with their loss. This growth on the part of the narrator is portrayed through the addition of a full horn section playing a powerful, uplifting melody, accompanied by a more energetic performance from the other instruments as well.
‘Casimir Pulaski Day’ is a song full of juxtapositions; young love and premature death, a tragic tale set against a bright major key, hopeful melodies and dark themes.
In the Acceptance track I have endeavoured to bring these contrasting elements into sharper focus. While the track’s ultimate message is one of acceptance and hope, driven home by the energetic and uplifting melodies in the track’s outro, there are also moments of melancholy and grief, most notably during the eleventh verse. While
I do not presume that some of the more subtle production decisions made will be faithfully interpreted by listeners of the track, I am confident that the overall theme of acceptance will shine through. In terms of the track’s degree of production narrativity, I believe ‘Casimir Pulaski Day (Acceptance)’ falls on the complex level.
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Casimir Pulaski Day (Acceptance)
Production Time Section Instrument Narrative Significance Technique
Sets up the personic environment, the Acoustic Bright EQ, short bright guitar hints at a sense of 0:00 Intro Guitar reverb optimism; this is not just a sad story, there is a light at the end of the tunnel.
Narrator is positioned in the personal Positioned front and proxemic zone, verging on the 0:14 Verse 1 Lead Vocal centre, short ambient intimate. There is a close relationship reverb. between them and the listener. The narrator’s voice is accompanied by a consistent, short delay. This delay 0:14 Verse 1 Lead Vocal Delay represents the accompaniment and support felt by the narrator because of their friend. The reduction of the reverb and the Reverb is reduced at slight increase of level at the end of 0:22 Verse 1 Lead Vocal end of verse each verse push the vocal into the intimate proxemic zone. During verses where the friend is physically present, there exists a Backup Harmony panned to backup vocal singing a harmony line. 0:43 Verse 3 Vocal left, specific verses This vocal is panned to the side to distinguish it from the narrator, despite being performed by the same vocalist. The drums, bass, guitar, and keys play upbeat rhythms and major melodies/chord progressions. Interlude All Upbeat, but not However, the performances are not 1:14 1 Instruments energetic particularly energetic. This combination implies a restrained optimism, a happiness tainted by sadness.
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The single string instruments playing Single string melody legato melodies creates a mournful 1:36 Verse 5 Strings lines, reverb feeling, emphasised by the medium- length reverb. The melody here is played by a series of solo horns, each with a strong Interlude Solo horns with 2:29 Horns amount of reverb. This represents the 2 reverb friend’s desire to face her sickness on her own. The melody played by the keys here are highly reverberant, supporting the 3:04 Verse 9 Keys Highly reverberant sense of reminiscence expressed by the lyrics. This is the moment that the narrator learns of their friend’s death. The delay 3:34 Verse 11 Lead Vocal Delay is removed that represented the support they felt from their friend vanishes abruptly; the narrator is now alone. The removal of most of the instruments represents a perceived Most of the All pause in time. The moment the 3:34 Verse 11 instruments stop Instruments narrator learns of their friend’s death, playing the world slows down, the room holds its breath. After a moment of sadness and loss for The instruments that All the death of their friend, the narrator 3:41 Verse 12 stopped in the Instruments decides that life must move forward previous verse return regardless of their emotional state. The vocal effects representing the The delay and presence of the friend are now absent, 3:41 Verse 12 Lead Vocal harmony are no continuing the sense that the narrator longer present is alone.
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Most of the The outro of the song summarises the instruments stop narrative through the instrumentation. Acoustic 4:25 Outro playing, except for It begins with acoustic guitar and Guitar acoustic guitar and cymbals. These represent the narrator cymbals beginning their story by themselves. After a short period, the rest of the All The majority of instrumentation returns, representing 4:40 Outro Instruments instruments return the fullness of life brought by the friend. The strings and piano repeat melodic Strings and piano motifs from earlier in the song. These Strings and 4:40 Outro alternate melody represent the presence and influence Piano lines of the friend on the narrator throughout their time together. Here the narrative diverges slightly; the narrator makes the decision to focus All 5:10 Outro Increase in intensity on remembering the good times with Instruments their friend rather than dwelling on their loss. The bright and energetic brass are a celebration of life. They play the 5:10 Outro Brass Loudly play melody melody with confidence and pride, highlighting the positive lasting effects of the friend’s life.
Table 9: ‘Casimir Pulaski Day (Acceptance)’ Summary of Production Techniques
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Figure 14: ‘Casimir Pulaski Day (Acceptance)’ Verse Sound Field
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Figure 15: ‘Casimir Pulaski Day (Acceptance)’ Stereo Image Over Time
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Grief
Casimir Pulaski Day (Grief) Personnel
Lead Vocals Maxine McCabe Guitars Thomas Combes
William Brenton Keys Drums Martineau Fitzgerald
Bass Mick Millard Violin Kelly Jensen
Additional Cello Tim Andrews Jack Williams Programming Table 10: ‘Casimir Pulaski Day (Grief)’ Personnel The alternate interpretation of ‘Casimir Pulaski Day’ takes a more pessimistic perspective on the song’s narrative. Whereas the Acceptance track contained moments of grief before acceptance and moving forward, in the Grief track, sorrow traps the narrator. Where the Acceptance track focused on both the light and the dark, the Grief track is firmly situated within the dark. In this interpretation of the narrative, the narrator is overcome with misery and is unable to break free of its hold. Rather than highlighting the closeness and warmth of the relationship and their friend, here we only feel the loss. There is no bittersweet reminiscence, just loneliness.
As has been touched on above, the harmonic content of the song is centred on a major key, with the chords and melodies creating a sense of optimism and positivity. To make this track lean hard in the other direction required significant effort from the sonic narrative. While there are plausible options for transposing the song into a minor key, this would such a fundamental change to the song that it would undermine the research project’s purpose to demonstrate the capacity for production techniques to influence narrative interpretations. Similarly, I opted to maintain the same tempo as the Acceptance track in order to isolate the effects of the other aspects of the track’s instrumental arrangement and mixing process. This decision also aided in the
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recording process, as it allowed for me to record numerous takes for each instrument and choose which were more appropriate for the Acceptance track or the Grief track during the mixing stage.
To create a dark and melancholic personic environment that would undermine the song’s major key qualities, the track is built on a low, plodding grand piano. Apart from the odd embellishment, this piano part remains in the lower register, creating a deep and dark texture. Added to the piano over the first section of verses is a deep organ that forms an approximation of a pedal point, although it does change on the fourth chord of the progression. An extremely reverberant chime takes the role of the melody, and serves to fill out some space, both in terms of the stereo image and the track’s spectral content. Together, these three elements create a personic environment that is slightly monotonous, heavy and oppressive.
During the track’s introduction, the piano is initially panned to the centre of the stereo image, but gradually moves towards the left before the lead vocal is introduced. The purpose of this placement is to present an isolated and lonely narrator, with even the instruments in the track avoiding their presence. I had originally planned to have the piano positioned hard left from the very start of the track, but this was deemed to be too off-putting for the listener to have such extreme asymmetry in the stereo image from the very beginning of the track. When the lead vocal is introduced, it is alone in the centre of the stereo field and placed in the personal proxemic zone through the use of a short reverb with a moderate pre-delay. While the narrator is not extremely close to the listener, the spatial positioning of the other instruments puts them very much in front of the mix, which further accentuates their isolation.
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In the fifth verse, a high-pitched vocal tone is introduced. Like the chimes, this is a purely reverberant sound, with none of the original, dry signal included in the final mix. As the personic environment was intended to be dark and gloomy, the addition of this element helps to balance the track’s spectral content without undermining the ominous nature of the other instrumentation. By only including the wet, reverberant signal, this vocal part takes on an airy, disconcerting timbre. The use of this vocal as an inverted pedal point further adds to its unsettling quality.
The track becomes significantly busier during its second interlude, with drums and strings in addition to the acoustic guitar introduced in the previous verses. However, while there are no vocals in this section, there remains a strict zone of exclusion around where the narrator would normally be situated. Even the drums have been panned to the side to avoid encroaching on the narrator’s position in the centre. While drums being panned to one side of a mix can be traced back to the early days of stereo recordings, it is certainly an uncommon approach in current popular music recordings. Thus, it is my hope that the inclusion of the drums on the left of the mix will serve to drive home the isolation of the narrator within the personic environment.
In the ninth verse, the cello takes over the melody lines, playing softly and mournfully. This solo, melancholic cello foreshadows the impending death of the friend, and ceases to play after the friend has died. In the eleventh verse, where the friend’s death occurs, the Grief track takes a slightly different approach to that of the
Acceptance track. Whereas this moment is specifically highlighted in the Acceptance track as being a pivotal point in the narrative, it is given much less significance here with only a subtle change in instrumentation and intensity. By minimising the impact of the friend’s death in the sonic narrative, I hoped to convey that in this interpretation of the story the physical death of the friend is only of minor importance to the
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narrator’s sense of grief and loss. They have been grieving since the initial cancer diagnosis and will grieve long after, the actual moment of the friend’s death comes across as little more than a painful formality. There is a certain impression of selfishness or self-centredness that comes across here that reinforces how internally focused the narrator is; it is their own grief and isolation that form the lens through which they experience the events of the story.
As with the Acceptance track, the Grief track uses the extended instrumental outro to create a sonic summary of the overall narrative. This section begins with the piano playing simple chords, with the only other sound being the airy vocal reverb in the background. This sparse arrangement highlights the loneliness at the heart of the narrator’s experience. The strings are then introduced, reinforcing the sorrow and pain that the narrator associates with their friend. Even when the rest of the instruments join in and the strings switch to a more optimistic melody, representing their short-lived romance, this section is brief and the track remains muted and heavy overall. The track soon returns to a sparse texture, finishing with a sombre and reverberant piano on the far right accompanied by the chimes that have now moved to the left. The narrator’s story begins and ends alone, with only a short friendship in the middle. Even the memory of this friendship is irrevocably tainted with sorrow and loss. As with the ‘I Heard Love Is Blind (Apology)’ track, the mastering process somewhat diminished the track’s stereo width, although a subsequent revision has largely rectified this.
Where the previous interpretation of this song attempted to bring its juxtapositions to the fore, the Grief track submerges itself in the negative emotions associated with the loss of a loved one. The spatial placement of the various sonic elements
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accentuates the loneliness experienced by the narrator, and the instrumental arrangement and use of reverberation contribute to a dark, oppressive personic environment despite the major tonality. ‘Casimir Pulaski Day (Grief)’ could be considered to fall on the active level of production narrativity.
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Casimir Pulaski Day (Grief)
Production Time Section Instrument Narrative Significance Technique
The dark timbre of the piano and the heavy, plodding feel of the chords Dark EQ, single 0:00 Intro Piano creates a personic environment that chords. feels slow and sluggish, almost oppressive.
The piano begins centred in the stereo field, but shifts towards the left to provide space for the vocal to 0:09 Intro Piano Panned to left enter. The asymmetrical stereo image creates a sense of being unbalanced and unstable. The vocal is positioned in the centre of the stereo field by itself, signifying Close mic, short the isolation of the narrator. The reverb with pre- vocal is positioned in the personal 0:15 Verse 1 Lead Vocal delay, spatial proxemic zone, separated from the positioning rest of the instrumentation and further solidifying feelings of loneliness.
The chime sounds contain no dry signal, only wet, reverberant signal. This dulls the attack and positions the 0:22 Verse 2 Chimes Purely reverberant instrument further back in the mix to retain the emptiness around the narrator.
The organ drone represents the monotony of the narrator’s current existence; while there are some 0:46 Verse 3 Organ Low drone occasional small changes, they quickly return to their starting point. The muted, bass-heavy tone reinforces the heaviness of the piano.
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Ethereal, insubstantial vocal pad High Vocal Purely reverberant, 1:28 Verse 5 hints at a presence that is watching Sample delayed over the scene. Interlude Maintains a sense of separation and 2:27 Drums Panned to left 2 unbalance. Strings played with legato and Warm EQ, medium accentuated warm tones help 3:04 Verse 9 Strings room reverb foreshadow to the listener that something sad is about to happen. The intensity of the track diminishes Acoustic guitar slightly at the moment of the friend’s Acoustic strumming and death. The change is noticeable but 3:34 Verse 11 Guitar and cymbals removed not overt, representing the minimal Cymbals from mix change this moment makes in the narrator’s emotional state. The outro of the song summarises the All instruments All story through the instrumentation. except for piano 4:26 Outro instrument Returning to a solo piano here re- and high vocal s establishes the position of the synth drop out narrator as lonely and isolated. The strings repeat some of the Strings previous melodic motifs to remind reintroduced, along 4:55 Outro Strings the listener of the friend and the with other emotional journey they have just instruments experienced. The song concludes similarly to how it started, with almost exclusively piano. However, where the song Other instruments began with dark, broody piano tones, fade out, leaving here the piano is light and sombre. 5:32 Outro Piano the piano playing The melody played shows that the chords and melody memory of the friend is still alive, however the isolation felt by the narrator remains the dominant feeling.
Table 11: ‘Casimir Pulaski Day (Grief)’ Summary of Production Techniques
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Figure 16: ‘Casimir Pulaski Day (Grief)’ Verse Sound Field
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Figure 17: ‘Casimir Pulaski Day (Grief)’ Stereo Image Over Time
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‘Love Vigilantes’ – New Order
New Order’s song ‘Love Vigilantes’ (1985, track 1) is a typical pop rock song in terms of its instrumentation and structure. The original track follows a simple verse- chorus form and utilises drums, bass, guitar, vocals, and melodica. The song is presented from the perspective of a soldier who is returning home from a violent warzone to see their family. On their return, it is revealed that their wife has suicided, due to receiving a telegram notifying her of the soldier’s death. The lyrics tell a story of hope and tragedy, life and death, love and loss, and provide a rich opportunity for sonic narrative exploration.
As with both ‘I Heard Love Is Blind’ and ‘Casimir Pulaski Day’, ‘Love Vigilantes’ presents a defined narrative with an open reading. The song’s lyrics contain clearly defined characters (soldier, wife, child) and events (battle, return home, discovery of wife). In the case of ‘Love Vigilantes’, however, there are two opposing interpretations of the narrative that are suggested by Bernard Sumner, the songwriter
(Gale, 2012). This song therefore provided me with the ability to work with existing alternate readings of the story, rather than relying solely on my own interpretations.
One reading of the lyrical narrative sees the soldier returning home from war on leave, and finding their wife dead after receiving an erroneous telegram of the soldier’s death. The alternate take on the lyrical narrative sees the telegram as being true, meaning that the soldier has already died in war and it is only their spirit (or ghost, or soul) that is returning home. In this second interpretation, it is not clear whether or not the soldier realises that they are dead at the start of the song, or if it is a gradual revelation throughout the course of the song and finally confirmed upon discovery of the telegram. The lyrics are intentionally ambiguous and do not
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explicitly endorse either interpretation over the other. This situation provides a perfect opportunity to demonstrate how production techniques may influence a listener’s interpretation of the lyrical narrative. In this case, the difference in the alternate interpretations rests on whether the soldier is alive or dead.
This song choice felt somewhat like a relatively safe option in the sense that I did not need to be concerned about whether my interpretations of the lyrical narrative were valid or would be readily understood by other listeners. Having said that, this song provided its own challenges regarding the creation of distinct sonic narratives. Part of the strength of the original track is the ambiguity it presents to its audience in the story it tells. There is inevitable tragedy at the heart of the story, but the form it takes is slightly different depending on which particular narrative is being focused on.
In both interpretations of ‘Love Vigilantes’, the emotional arc of the narrator is essentially the same: hope, followed by shock, then grief. This uniformity meant that, while the emotional state of the narrator could certainly be represented sonically in one or both versions, the distinction between the interpretations could not rely solely on the conveyance of differing emotions. Whereas the sonic narratives crafted for ‘I
Heard Love Is Blind’ and ‘Casimir Pulaski Day’ were focused on the emotional journey of the narrator, the sonic narratives crafted for ‘Love Vigilantes’ needed to have a more direct connection to the events presented in the song, specifically whether the narrator was alive or dead. This characteristic of the lyrical narrative and its interpretations once more provided a unique challenge – that of symbolising the alive or dead status of the narrator through the application of production techniques.
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Musician Briefs
New Order’s ‘Love Vigilantes’ presented fairly simple narrative interpretations when compared with the other two songs used in this creative project. While there are certainly some more nuanced moments in the song, a reduction of the interpretations to a simple alive/dead dichotomy was sufficient for most of the musicians. As with the other songs, however, the vocalist required a more in-depth understanding of each particular reading of the narrative than the rest of the performers.
For the Dead track, I asked the musicians to convey a lazy, airy, subdued feel. This track was played at a relatively slow tempo, so I wanted the musical performances to lean into that sedate, melancholy feeling. With the drums, I asked for a simple pattern that was a little behind the beat, and this lazy rhythmic feel was mirrored by the other musicians. I asked the keys player to play long, sustained chords, using an organ tone reminiscent of those typically heard at funerals in order to provide a sonic marker that was associated with death. For the guitar, I wanted something ethereal and undefined, with substantial delay and reverb, and a focus on long, slow chords and arpeggios. The vocalist and I discussed the narrator’s arc, deciding to try to retain some of the ambiguity of the original track by showing the narrator gradually realising or embracing their spritely form. To achieve this effect, the singer was to begin singing in a more typical, grounded manner, becoming more delicate and ethereal in their delivery towards the end of the song. Thus, whether the narrator was dead or alive would only become apparent to the listener over the course of the track.
In contrast, the Alive track required a much livelier musical performance to represent the narrator’s state of being. I therefore asked all of the musicians to play energetically and vigorously, a request that was assisted by the comparatively fast
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tempo used in this version of the song. However, while the song should be played fast and energetically, I stipulated that there should be no aggression in the performances. The bass and electric guitar were to be driving forces in the choruses, but decrease their intensity during the verses. Since the song uses the same chord progression throughout, rhythmic and dynamic intensity was used to generate some sonic variation. These instruments were to be supported by the drums playing a rhythmic pattern on the kick drum that is suggestive of a heartbeat. As for the vocals,
I wanted a performance that contrasted against those recorded for the Dead track.
Rather than being soft and delicate, the vocals in this track were to be, for the most part, strong and stable.
‘Love Vigilantes Alive’ required a complete re-tracking. The first iteration of the track was lacking in vibrancy and intensity, resulting in a product that was ultimately flat and boring. There are multiple factors that led to the development of this dull product, including the musical arrangement and the initial choice of vocalist.
However, I believe the insufficient briefing I initially provided to the musicians was also a significant contributing factor. While I had outlined the basic structure of the narrative, I did not provide enough direction as to how I imagined the musical performances and, importantly, how the sonic narrative would help communicate that story. Since this track was arguably the simplest out of the six in terms of musical arrangement, I anticipated that it would also be the easiest to record and therefore underestimated the time and effort that was necessary to commit to its planning and production. When the track was recorded a second time, I provided the musicians with more specific directions in terms of what and how they should play, while also performing a number of overdubs myself. I was also more confident in my ability and responsibility to dictate to the musicians how they should play their parts, a trait
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that was especially helpful with the new drummer who had substantially differing ideas regarding the type of beat that would suit the track. The content of the briefs themselves was not fundamentally different from the original attempt, but the communication of them to the musicians was clearer and more direct.
Dead
Love Vigilantes (Dead) Personnel
Lead Vocals Andy Ward Guitars Thomas Combes
William Brenton Keys Drums Martineau Fitzgerald
Additional Bass Mick Millard Guitars and Jack Williams Programming
Backing Vocals Maxine McCabe Table 12: ‘Love Vigilantes (Dead)’ Personnel The purpose of the ‘Love Vigilantes (Dead)’ track was to convey to the listener that the narrator was not alive and was in fact an incorporeal spirit. I could not rely solely on emotional cues to communicate this effectively, but the use of sonic markers could be valuable in this regard. Therefore, many of the production decisions made regarding the Dead track revolved around the generation of sonic markers that would impart notions of death.
One of the primary examples of this use of sonic elements to create allusions to death was the tone of the organ used. I chose an organ tone that sounded church-like and evoked images of funerals. The keyboardist and I found an appropriate organ tone that contributed a constant funeral-style timbre throughout the track. Together with the electric guitar, which used a copious amount of reverb and delay, this helped to build an ethereal and otherworldly personic environment.
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The lead vocal was then edited and mixed in a way to make the narrator feel unnatural. For instance, the vocal was edited very tightly to remove clearly audible breathing. While the vocal quality itself was somewhat breathy in nature, the track is largely devoid of clear breathing sounds from the narrator. The connection between this approach to vocal editing and the narrative interpretation is clear: the narrator is dead and therefore no longer needs to breathe. In conjunction with the tight editing, reverberation and delay are applied to the narrator’s voice to create a hint of ephemerality. The vocal delay is short and serves to make the voice sound slightly odd, while the artificial reverb creates a sense of airiness and places the narrator in an unnatural space. The relative level of the reverb also changes throughout the track, starting at a moderate level and gradually increasing in a stepwise fashion until it becomes a dominant feature in the final chorus. This changing reverberation also serves to shift the narrator’s proxemic zone over the course of the track, beginning in the personal proxemic zone and ultimately receding into the public proxemic zone during the track’s outro. Along with these aspects of the mix, the vocalist was also instructed to be more grounded in their vocal delivery at the start of the song, gradually becoming lighter and more ethereal by the final few choruses. This progressive shift in the vocalist’s delivery and the corresponding recession of the narrator’s position throughout the track represents their disembodied spirit gradually fading away over time.
Returning to the slightly unnatural personic environment presented in the track, it is enhanced through the addition of a few extra elements. Firstly, the track begins with a reverse reverb swell that crescendos into the first beat of the song. Such a sound is impossible to create in reality and thus establishes an otherworldly feeling from the very start of the track. Also, the main melody parts are performed on electric guitar
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with the use of an ebow, an electromagnetic device used to create artificial sustain on a guitar, running through both reverb and delay. Again, this is a sound that does not sound entirely natural, and adds an eerie quality to the track’s personic environment. The ebow is reintroduced throughout the song, albeit in the background and often barely audible. Despite the ebow guitar parts often avoiding notice, they still provide a significant contribution to the overall personic environment.
During the track’s outro, the allusions to disembodied spirits is further increased. It is here that the narrator’s spirit is reunited with the spirit of their wife. To represent this, the lead vocal performs some ad-libbed wails that are layered and overlapped, while also being inundated with reverb. Simultaneously, there appears a female vocal representing the wife and performing similar layered wails. These multiple vocal parts are situated firmly in the public proxemic zone and shift back and forth across the stereo field at random, making it impossible to conclusively identify their spatial position (see Figure 18). To further cement the otherworldly characteristics of the track, multiple layers of dissonant ebowed guitars were added in the background, also panned back and forth at random (see Figure 19). Again, these ebow parts are not readily identifiable, yet still make a noticeable impact on the track. As a final representation of the narrator leaving the corporeal world, the track concludes with a slow fade out; the narrator simply fades away.
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Figure 18: ‘Love Vigilantes (Dead)’ Outro Vocal Panning
Figure 19: ‘Love Vigilantes (Dead)’ Outro Ebow Panning Through the targeted application of reverberation and other spatial manipulation, this track situates the narrator in an established personic environment that evokes a sense of other-worldliness. The vocal editing and processing also contributes to the narrator’s disembodied and slightly unnatural feel, thus reinforcing the narrative interpretation that the narrator is dead throughout the track. ‘Love Vigilantes (Dead)’ falls on the complex level of production narrativity.
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Love Vigilantes (Dead)
Production Time Section Instrument Narrative Significance Technique
The sound starts from nothing and gradually swells into a swirling crescendo, All Reverse reverb leading into the song’s introduction. This 0:00 Intro Instruments swell helps to establish a personic environment that is not solid, but rather somewhat insubstantial. The tone used by the organ is reminiscent 0:04 Intro Organ Funeral organ of that used in funerals, thus creating a subtle association with death.
The electric guitar uses slow, strummed chords that contain significant levels of Electric Reverb and reverberation and delay which, in 0:04 Intro Guitar delay conjunction with the organ, helps to build a personic environment that is ethereal and otherworldly.
The organ playing the intro melodies uses tones with a soft attack to contribute to 0:04 Intro Organ Soft attack the soft, intangible personic environment being constructed. The reverb used for the lead vocal is a plate reverb, creating an artificial virtual 0:38 Verse 1 Lead Vocal Artificial Reverb space within which the narrator is situated. While the narrator is situated in the Breath noises personal proxemic zone, they do not 0:38 Verse 1 Lead Vocal removed present audible breath noises, indicating that they are no longer alive. The lead vocal contains a subtle, short delay that serves to spread the voice out 0:38 Verse 1 Lead Vocal Delay slightly and contribute to its ethereal qualities.
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The reverberation on the lead vocal increases during the choruses before decreasing again in the verses. This change in spatial positioning helps ground the Chorus narrator during the more exposition-like 1:14 Lead Vocal Reverb increases 1 verses while contributing to the sense of being disembodied in the more generalised choruses. The overall reverb level trends upwards across the entirety of the track. Verse 3 portrays the discovery of the soldier’s wife’s dead body. The personic All 2:41 Verse 3 Intensity drops environment seems to drop away here, Instruments bringing the listener’s focus to the narrator and their story. At this point in the narrative, the spirit of the soldier is starting to loosen their grasp Diverges from Chorus on the real world. The vocal melody 3:51 Lead Vocal melody; increase 6 diverges from the previously established in reverb chorus melody and the reverberation level increases significantly. Here the narrator begins to fade away, with their vocal becoming an insubstantial Ad-libbed vocal wail in the distance. They are positioned in wails; excessive the public proxemic zone, receding from 4:08 Outro Lead Vocal reverb; the listener. The spatial position of the randomised voice is unclear and constantly shifting, panning furthering the otherworldly, insubstantial, and ethereal nature of the voice.
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The narrator’s voice is joined by a female Ad-libbed vocal voice, representing the reunion with their wails; excessive Backing wife in the afterlife. As with the lead vocal, 4:10 Outro reverb; Vocal this secondary voice is also positioned in randomised the public proxemic zone and has an panning undetermined spatial position.
Multiple layers of discordant ebow are positioned in the background through the use of reverberation and delay. Their Discordant, spatial position is randomised, similar to overlapping the vocal wails. These guitar parts Electric 4:15 Outro wails; contribute to the otherworldly personic Guitar randomised environment while also adding elements panning of creepiness and unease. They are mixed at a low volume to be on the edge of perception of the listener; audible but not identifiable.
Table 13: ‘Love Vigilantes (Dead)’ Summary of Production Techniques
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Figure 20: ‘Love Vigilantes (Dead)’ Chorus Sound Field
Figure 21: ‘Love Vigilantes (Dead)’ Outro Sound Field
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Figure 22: ‘Love Vigilantes (Dead)’ Stereo Image Over Time
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Alive
Love Vigilantes (Alive) Personnel
Guitars and Lead Vocals Andy Ward Additional Jack Williams Programming
Bass James McEwan Drums Tim Green Table 14: ‘Love Vigilantes (Alive)’ Personnel The Alive version of ‘Love Vigilantes’ takes the view that the telegram received by the soldier’s wife is sent erroneously and the soldier is in fact still alive. This is arguably a more tragic interpretation of the song’s narrative, and is somewhat reminiscent of a Shakespearean tragedy. As outlined above however, the sonic narratives created for the two versions of this song were to focus on the physical aspects of each interpretation rather than the emotional. Therefore, the primary factor that needs to be communicated by the Alive track is just that: the narrator is alive.
Whereas the Dead track made efforts to present the narrator as incorporeal and unnatural, the aim with the Alive track was to highlight the vitality of the narrator, despite their tragic circumstances. The first decision made in service of this aim was to increase the track’s tempo to one hundred and thirty beats per minute from the
Dead track’s one hundred and ten beats per minute. In addition to this tempo shift, the track was to be performed in a much more typical rock style, with energetic drums and bass and bright, distorted electric guitar.
The entire ‘Love Vigilantes (Alive)’ track was re-recorded because the original recordings were unsatisfactory. Because of scheduling conflicts, the newer recording used different session musicians than the Dead track, making the contrast between the two tracks even greater. The vocalist was also changed for both tracks from a female vocalist to a male vocalist. Whereas the original key was appropriate for the
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Dead track as it allowed the vocalist to utilise their head voice, I shifted the Alive track down a tone from A major to G major to allow the vocalist to deliver a more powerful performance. As with the other changes in the instrumental arrangement, this shift in key served to reinforce the liveliness of the narrator by allowing the vocalist to perform in a much more energetic manner.
The track begins with all instruments entering together, loud and vivacious, with the electric guitar playing the main melody. Where the Dead track used ebow to create unusual textures, here ebow is used in conjunction with picked guitar to have a combination of both attack and sustain. The bass and drums play a simple rhythmic pattern that becomes more obvious in the verse, the rhythm electric guitar plays big, distorted chords, and the acoustic guitar uses a fast, energetic strumming pattern. In this way, the track establishes a personic environment that is lively and energetic.
As the track’s first verse begins, the electric guitars fade out, leaving only the acoustic guitar. The intensity of the track drops, giving space for the narrator to communicate their story, and allowing room to return to a higher intensity in the choruses. The narrator is introduced here and is positioned in the personal proxemic zone, where they remain for the entire track. The room-modelled reverberation applied to the lead vocal is more subtle and natural sounding than that used in the Dead track, thus placing the narrator in a more realistic space. There is also a vocal delay that serves to thicken the narrator’s voice and provide some extra weight. One notable difference between the two ‘Love Vigilantes’ tracks is the inclusion of breath noises in the lead vocal for the Alive track, signifying to the listener that the narrator is indeed alive. It is also here in the first verse that the kick drum pattern becomes much more prominent, playing a double crotchet pattern reminiscent of a heartbeat. This
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heartbeat remains reasonably consistent throughout the track, but comes to the fore in the verses.
This track also employs intradiegetic sound effects to enhance the narrative. When the narrator sings the line “with our rifles and grenades” we hear a gunshot and a grenade explosion (Partners In Rhyme, 2018a; 2018b) that are timed to sound simultaneously with the associated words. These sound effects serve to add a sense of realism to the track and add impact and weight to that particular line, emphasising the horror of the situation that the soldier is returning home from. Some reverberation has been applied to these sound effects to help position them within a space and make them sound even larger.
The intensity of the track builds up again into the first chorus, becoming bright and energetic once more, representing the eagerness of the narrator to return home. This pattern of intensity is repeated for the second verse and the second chorus. In the third verse, however, the overall intensity drops even further, giving more space for the vocal performance to shine through and highlighting the moment when the soldier discovers their dead wife. The one exception to this overall drop in intensity is the kick, which shifts to a more constant pounding in this verse. This kick pattern represents the narrator’s heart beating hard as they make their devastating discovery.
When the rest of the instruments return in the track’s final chorus section, the stereo position of all of the guitars suddenly switch sides. This sudden shift in the stereo image after the discovery of the dead wife represents the narrator’s feeling that their entire world has been turned upside down. The track finishes with a short instrumental outro where the intensity of the performances increases even further.
The final beat of the track is also accompanied by the gunshot and grenade sound effects heard earlier in the song. Since the original version of ‘Love Vigilantes’ had Recording the Story: Exploring the Relationship Between Music Production and Narrative 165
a degree of narrative ambiguity at its heart, I wanted to introduce some ambiguity into my track as well. Thus the gunshot at the end of the track could be understood as simply a sonic call-back to earlier in the track, or it could be understood as indicating that the soldier has also suicided.
Overall, the Alive track presents a personic environment that is vibrant and lively, while also providing space for the narrator to convey the tragedy of their story. The intradiegetic sound effects are used sparingly and serve to emphasise certain moments without detracting from the other sonic elements in the track. The kick drum pattern contributes a constant heartbeat throughout the track, reinforcing the central notion that the narrator is alive and thereby enhancing the tragedy of the song’s revelation in the third verse. With the addition of the sound effects and kick drum pattern, this track reaches the complex level of production narrativity, although the majority of the track sits at the active level.
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Love Vigilantes (Alive)
Production Time Section Instrument Narrative Significance Technique
All instruments (except for vocals) begin together at a relatively high All 0:00 Intro Start together intensity, establishing a personic Instruments environment that is active and full of vitality.
The layering of both picked and ebowed electric guitar playing the Electric Combination of intro melodies creates a balance of 0:00 Intro Guitar picking and ebow attack and sustain that further contribute to the track’s personic environment. The bright timbre of the acoustic guitar is accentuated through EQ and, Acoustic Bright tone, fast 0:00 Intro together with the fast strumming Guitar strum pattern, creates a vibrant and energetic feel. The lead vocal uses a more natural 0:29 Verse 1 Lead Vocal Natural reverb sounding reverb to ground it in a ‘real’ space. The kick pattern sets up the heartbeat motif that will be repeated 0:29 Verse 1 Drums Kick pattern throughout the song, signifying life and vigour. Signifies that the narrator is still alive 0:35 Verse 1 Lead Vocal Breath noise and breathing.
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The lyrics ‘rifles’ and ‘grenades’ are accompanied by corresponding sound Gunshot and effects that draw the listener’s focus Sound 0:52 Verse 1 grenade sound and make the line more impactful. Effects effects This also serves to make the war the narrator is referring to more visceral to the listener.
The intensity of the instrumental performances drops significantly in Intensity of this verse, representing the outside All 2:13 Verse 3 performances world shifting out of focus as the Instruments drop narrator discovers their wife’s body. This also helps to draw the listener’s focus to the lead vocal. The snare drum stops, emphasising the heartbeat in the kick pattern once 2:13 Verse 3 Drums Kick pattern more. This is the narrator’s heart beating hard as they return home and find their wife dead. The stereo position of all instruments (with the exception of the vocal delay) suddenly switches to the other side. Chorus All Stereo image 2:42 This switch in positioning represents 4 Instruments flips the narrator’s disorientation as their world is figuratively turned upside down. The track finishes with simultaneous gunshot and grenade sound effects. Gunshot and Sound This is intended to raise the possibility 3:41 Outro grenade sound Effects that the narrator has followed their effect wife by suiciding. Thus, the song concludes with one final tragedy.
Table 15: ‘Love Vigilantes (Alive)’ Summary of Production Techniques
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Figure 23: ‘Love Vigilantes (Alive)’ Chorus 2 Sound Field
Figure 24: ‘Love Vigilantes (Alive)’ Chorus 3 Sound Field
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Figure 25: ‘Love Vigilantes (Alive)’ Stereo Image Over Time
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Sound Field Visualisation Links
Playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLkWagxVk8jVNDHfgGu9znbtuROQTpz
Bn9
I Heard Love Is Blind (Apology): https://youtu.be/WM6epp3sX-o
I Heard Love Is Blind (Angry): https://youtu.be/-SJXNDJwSYA
Casimir Pulaski Day (Acceptance): https://youtu.be/iJLg3tXjMnM
Casimir Pulaski Day (Grief): https://youtu.be/waHMMW2qJ_s
Love Vigilantes (Dead): https://youtu.be/ZLFlTUSEg4Y
Love Vigilantes (Alive): https://youtu.be/W9VxYUEg0_8
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Project Summary
Throughout the six tracks recorded, I have demonstrated many of the production techniques identified through the case studies as being a potential source of narrative meaning within popular recorded music. These tracks are far from an exhaustive collection of production techniques, rather they provide an example of how, with some forethought and an understanding of how meaning can be conveyed sonically, production techniques may be used to create a track in which the sonic narrative contributes to a listener’s overall understanding of the story being told. For a more detailed examination of how these sonic narratives are understood by listeners,
Chapter Six provides a discussion of the results from the survey that involved participants listening to and answering questions about perceived narrative elements in the six tracks.
These tracks show how the application of various production techniques can be used to construct a range of differing personic environments, each of which is appropriate to the respective narrative interpretation that is being communicated to the listener.
Situated within these personic environments is the narrator, whose voice can be manipulated in both the tracking and mixing stages of a production in order to situate them in a specific proxemic zone and to express different emotions and relationships with the listener. These tracks also demonstrate how similar production techniques can have vastly different connotations when used in different narrative contexts, as can be seen through the use of vocal delay across the various tracks. In summary, these creative works address the project’s research question by demonstrating multiple examples of how production techniques can support and enhance the communication of narrative in recorded popular music.
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Song Production Personic Proxemic Spatialisation Sound Narrativity Environment Zone Effects
Lead vocal recedes toward the I Heard Love back of the mix during the bridge, Is Blind Active Active Intimate>Social as well as being panned back and N/A (Apology) forth. The rest of the instruments are condensed concurrently
I Heard Love Interventionist/ Personal/ Use of room mic to push lead Is Blind Active N/A vocal further back (Angry) Oppositional Social
Casimir Intimate/ Vocal delay used to represent the Pulaski Day Complex Interventionist support of the friend, is removed N/A (Acceptance) Personal after the friend passes away
Lead vocal is the only instrument Casimir positioned in the centre of the Pulaski Day Active Interventionist Personal N/A mix, representing the loneliness (Grief) felt by the narrator
Lead vocal gradually recedes into Love the distance over the course of Vigilantes Complex Interventionist Personal>Public N/A the track to signify their spirit (Dead) fading away
Love Active/ Stereo image flips in final chorus Gunshot Vigilantes Interventionist Personal to represent the narrator’s and (Alive) Complex disorientation grenade
Table 16: Summary of Production Narrativity in the Creative Works
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Chapter Six – Survey Results
Presented here is a discussion of the data obtained from the survey along with proposed improvements to the survey design. There were 21 respondents to the survey from approximately 200 people who were invited to participate. This was a smaller response rate than I had anticipated (I was expecting a response rate of at least 20-30%) and, as a result, some findings are difficult to generalise. However, certain questions show a clear signal in the responses, and there is much to be gleaned from comparing the survey responses across each pair of tracks, as well as from comparing the responses across the different songs.
It must be reiterated here that the purpose of this survey is not to provide any definitive proof of the research hypothesis, but rather to provide myself with multiple, external perspectives from fresh listeners with which to compare against my creative intentions. The limitations of the survey, such as the sample size, inadequate controls, and lack of open questions, preclude the data gathered here from forming any single unified conclusion. Nevertheless, the inclusion of many perspectives other than my own is useful to get a broad sense of how the tracks are perceived by a general listening audience.
In the majority of cases, the survey results indicate an audience response that is consistent with the intended narrative interpretations being communicated by each track. This consistency is present across all aspects addressed by the survey, but is most clear with the emotions perceived by the participants. The responses relating to proximity, narrative support, and narrative distinction are also generally consistent with the intended narrative interpretations, although responses that deviate from the desired result are more prevalent in these areas. Overall, the survey results support Recording the Story: Exploring the Relationship Between Music Production and Narrative 175
the notion that the production techniques employed in each track were largely successful in the communication of narrative to the listener.
Perceived Emotions Present in Each Track
For each track, participants were asked to look at a list of emotions and choose which ones they felt were being communicated through the narrator and the track as a whole. Below are the data collected relating to the perceived emotions presented by each track.
‘I Heard Love Is Blind’
Apology
I Heard Love Is Blind (Apology) - Emotions 16 14 12 10 8 6 4 2 0
Figure 26: ‘I Heard Love Is Blind (Apology)’ Emotions Survey Results The most common responses regarding the emotions presented by the ‘I Heard Love
Is Blind (Apology)’ track are intimacy (71%), desire (62%), love (52%), and guilt
(48%). This track was intended to convey the remorse felt by the narrator regarding their acts of infidelity and their subsequent attempts to salvage a relationship, with the narrator positioned primarily within the personal and intimate proxemic zones. It is clear from these responses that a sense of intimacy has been effectively conveyed to the audience, as well as, to a lesser extent, feelings of love and longing. In addition, 176 Recording the Story: Exploring the Relationship Between Music Production and Narrative
while sadness received a low response (14%), no participant indicated that happiness was expressed by the track, suggesting a consistency in the track’s communication, or lack thereof, of any sense of joy or pleasure.
The emotion of remorse received a relatively low response (23%) for ‘I Heard Love
Is Blind (Apology)’, which could imply that this particular aspect of the narrative interpretation was not successfully communicated, especially when compared to the response for remorse for the Angry track (29%). However, there are some caveats that could be made here. For instance, while there are some subtle but important distinctions between remorse, guilt, and regret, there do appear to be discrepancies between common understandings of these terms, with various sources emphasising slightly different facets of each emotion (Randall, 2013). Thus, without ascertaining how each participant defines the various terms, it is difficult to draw concrete conclusions regarding the differences in participant responses. Having said this, there is a great deal of overlap between the three terms and, if taken together, the Apology track received responses for at least one of these terms from 57% of participants, compared to 48% for the Angry track. While this broader perspective lends some support to the notion of the Apology track being successful in demonstrating a sense of guilt or remorse, the similarities between the responses for both tracks and the various distinctions that could be made between the three terms mean that a strong conclusion cannot be drawn in either direction.
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Angry
I Heard Love Is Blind (Angry) - Emotions 12 10 8 6 4 2 0
Figure 27: ‘I Heard Love Is Blind (Angry)’ Emotions Survey Results The most common responses regarding the emotions presented by the ‘I Heard Love
Is Blind (Angry)’ track are intimacy (52%), desire (47%), love (38%), and hope
(33%). These results are somewhat at odds with the intended narrative interpretation.
This track was intended to display anger and aggressiveness from the narrator, facilitated by a sense of distance. While the response for anger was higher for this track (19%) than the Apology track (5%), it is still a small response compared to some of the other emotions measured in the survey. Also, while not quite reaching the same number of responses as in the Apology track, intimacy was still the strongest response for the Angry track at 52%. Such a result is contrary to the intended sense of distance represented by the positioning of the narrator in the personal and social proxemic zones. Similarly, distance only received a response of 24%. A more detailed discussion of the intended and perceived proxemic zones is included below.
Overall, the responses for the ‘I Heard Love Is Blind (Angry)’ track are much more varied than those for the Apology track. This may indicate that the intended narrative interpretation for the Angry track was not as consistently communicated to the audience.
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In addition to these discrepancies, there are a few emotions that unexpectedly received lower responses in the Apology track than in the Angry track. These include acceptance (5% and 29% respectively) and hope (14% and 33% respectively). Worth noting is that the response for guilt was much lower in the Angry track (24%) than the Apology track (48%). However, when including responses for remorse and regret, the total for the Angry track rises to 48%, as compared with 57% for the
Apology track, indicating a much less significant distinction between the two tracks in this regard. Other notable differences between the Apology track and the Angry track can be seen in excitement (19% and 29% respectively) and happiness (0% and
24% respectively). While excitement and happiness were not specifically intended to be portrayed any more in the Angry track than in the Apology track, the increased intensity of the musical arrangement in the Angry track could understandably be perceived in this way. This unintentional crossover between anger and happiness serves to highlight the overlap that exists between the various emotions that could be elicited by a particular musical performance or production technique. Such an overlap makes it clear that any given listener could make a narrative interpretation that is contrary to that intended by the artist. As highlighted by Weale (2006), it is not uncommon for listeners to make conflicting interpretations like those seen here, especially when presented in the absence of additional explanatory material.
Assuming the communication of a specific narrative is important to the creators of a given track, this possibility should be taken into consideration during the production process.
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‘Casimir Pulaski Day’
Acceptance
Casimir Pulaski Day (Acceptance) - Emotions 16 14 12 10 8 6 4 2 0
Figure 28: ‘Casimir Pulaski Day (Acceptance)’ Emotions Survey Results The most common responses regarding the emotions presented by the ‘Casimir
Pulaski Day (Acceptance)’ track are nostalgia (67%), love and sadness (both 52%), and acceptance and calmness (both 48%). The intended narrative interpretation for this track was that the narrator was sad at the passing of their friend but had ultimately learned to move on with life and was focused on remembering their friend fondly.
The emotions that garnered the strongest response from the participants are consistent with this interpretation.
Nostalgia is certainly a dominant feature of the narrative, and an aspect I attempted to highlight in the track, particularly with the vocal production. However, since it is also a conspicuous element of the song’s lyrical narrative, it is not possible to determine precisely how much of this response is due to the track’s production. This ambiguity is also present for both love and sadness, as these emotions are certainly at the forefront of the story being told in the song. However, while sadness received a strong response for the Acceptance track (52%), this is much lower than the
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response received for the Grief track (86%). This large difference between the two tracks indicates the success of the attempt to keep the Acceptance track light and ultimately optimistic through musical arrangement and mixing choices, and the strength of the Grief track’s emphasis on despair.
As acceptance is a somewhat nebulous concept compared with some of the other options available for the participants to select, receiving a strong response (48%) for the ‘Casimir Pulaski Day (Acceptance)’ track indicates that this attitude was successfully communicated to many of the listeners. For context, the next highest response for acceptance is 29% for the ‘I Heard Love Is Blind (Angry)’ track, while the ‘Casimir Pulaski Day (Grief)’ track received a response of 24%. This emotional response is difficult to associate with one particular music production technique, but rather speaks to the confluence of multiple aspects of the arrangement, performances, and mix working together to convey a coherent narrative interpretation.
Overall, the strong responses for nostalgia, love, and acceptance, in conjunction with the relatively low responses for guilt, sadness, and grief, are consistent with the intended narrative interpretation presented by the track. Nostalgia and acceptance are two emotions that were specifically highlighted in this track, along with a sense of optimism and personal growth. While certain aspects of the survey responses may be difficult to attribute specifically to the production techniques used, the consistency that can be seen between my intentions and the ultimate audience response lends support to the notion that the track’s production played an important role in the communication of the song’s narrative.
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Grief
Casimir Pulaski Day (Grief) - Emotions 20 18 16 14 12 10 8 6 4 2 0
Figure 29: ‘Casimir Pulaski Day (Grief)’ Emotions Survey Results The most common responses regarding the emotions presented by the ‘Casimir
Pulaski Day (Grief)’ track are sadness (86%), love (67%), grief (62%), and nostalgia
(57%). The intended narrative interpretation for this track was that the narrator is sad following the death of their friend and probable lover, is unable to move past the tragedy, and becomes consumed by grief and loneliness. The strong results for both sadness and grief support this focus on the narrator’s sense of loss, while the emotions of love and nostalgia also factor into this interpretation of the narrative.
The responses for both sadness (86%) and grief (62%) support the interpretation of the narrator being consumed by the loss of their close friend. The figures for both of these emotions are each significantly higher than those received for the Acceptance track (52% and 33% respectively). While the song’s lyrical narrative certainly conveys a strong sense of loss, such stark differences between the responses for the two tracks clearly demonstrate the degree of influence the production process has on the reception of the track’s emotional elements by the audience. Again, it is not possible to assign responsibility for these results to a specific production technique,
182 Recording the Story: Exploring the Relationship Between Music Production and Narrative
however it is reasonable to suggest that features such as the instrumental arrangement, musical performances, spectral processing, spatial positioning and so on, have all contributed to the audience’s response.
As discussed above, nostalgia was an aspect of the lyrical narrative that was specifically focused on within the Acceptance track. The effect of this focus can be seen in the higher response for the Acceptance track (67%) compared to the Grief track (57%). However, while the response for the Grief track is lower relative to the
Acceptance track, it is still quite high compared to the majority of other emotions.
There are two likely explanations for this track receiving such a strong response for nostalgia despite the absence of any purposeful focus on it in the production techniques. The first is that the lyrical narrative contains such a strong sense of nostalgia that this emotion is conveyed regardless of the production techniques used.
This explanation would also minimise the significance of the strong result for the
Acceptance track, a possibility that must be entertained. The second is that the approaches taken to highlight other emotions, such as grief and sadness, have had an unintended side effect of also promoting the sense of nostalgia present within the song. While each of these potential explanations present different ramifications regarding the role of production in the audience’s perception of nostalgia, this example nonetheless highlights the fact that it is difficult, if not practically impossible, to control or predict how an audience might respond to and interpret the emotional content of a track. Either the lyrical narrative maintains a degree of independence from the track through which it is presented, or each production decision intended to elicit one particular emotion will inevitably overlap with other, related emotions. Most likely both of these factors are at play to a certain extent.
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Another unanticipated result is the responses received for love. While the Acceptance track received a strong response of 52%, the Grief track resulted in an even higher response of 67%. While the lyrical narrative certainly highlights the love felt by the narrator toward their friend, neither of my tracks contained any specific attempts to use production techniques to focus on this particular aspect of the narrative. Having said this, my expectation was that the Acceptance track would have received a higher response for love than the Grief track, as it represented a much more positive take on the story. However, it is possible that, as with nostalgia, the techniques used to highlight the sorrow of the narrator may have helped to convey a stronger sense of love in this track than that conveyed by the Acceptance track.
There are a number of other notable distinctions to be made between the responses for the ‘Casimir Pulaski Day (Acceptance)’ track and the ‘Casimir Pulaski Day
(Grief)’ track. These include the responses for acceptance (48% and 24% respectively), calmness (48% and 19% respectively), guilt (5% and 19% respectively), happiness (29% and 0% respectively), and regret (10% and 24% respectively). The consistency in the differences between the responses for sadness, grief, and, inversely, happiness, demonstrate a degree of reliability in the perception of the narratives presented by each track.
It is also interesting to note that there was a marked difference between the responses for both guilt and regret, which were both stronger in the Grief track, while remorse received an identical response of 19%. Both guilt and regret are often seen to be a little self-focused, while remorse is often perceived to be a more selfless expression
(see Paul, 2017; Fjelstad, 2015). However, as mentioned above, the use of these terms across various academic and colloquial sources indicates some slight inconsistencies
184 Recording the Story: Exploring the Relationship Between Music Production and Narrative
in their precise definitions, leading to difficulties ascertaining how the survey participants have distinguished each term from the others (Randall, 2013). Having said this, it could be suggested that the emphasis on guilt and regret in the responses for the Grief track imply a more self-centred perspective presented by the narrator when compared against the Acceptance track.
Despite some slightly unexpected responses, the emotions perceived by the survey participants are largely congruent with the intended narrative interpretations for each track. ‘Casimir Pulaski Day (Acceptance)’ received strong responses for acceptance and calmness, while ‘Casimir Pulaski Day (Grief)’ received strong responses for grief and sadness, indicating that these primary sentiments were successfully communicated by each track. In addition, both tracks showed strong results for nostalgia and love which, despite the slightly surprising distribution of responses, are both consistent with the underlying lyrical narrative and do not contradict each track’s particular narrative interpretation.
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‘Love Vigilantes’
Dead
Love Vigilantes (Dead) - Emotions 16 14 12 10 8 6 4 2 0
Figure 30: ‘Love Vigilantes (Dead)’ Emotions Survey Results The most common responses regarding the emotions presented by the ‘Love
Vigilantes (Dead)’ track are distance and sadness (both at 71%), desire (62%), love
(57%), and calmness (48%). This track was intended to portray the narrator as a spirit returning from war to be with his dead wife and their child. The narrator was positioned in the personal proxemic zone initially, but moved through the social and public proxemic zones over the course of the track. The survey responses are largely consistent with that narrative interpretation.
One of the primary methods by which the narrator’s status as an incorporeal spirit was communicated to the listener was through the progressively distant spatial placement of the narrator. While the survey questionnaire does not directly address the participant’s interpretation of whether the narrator is alive or dead, it is clear that the use of spatial positioning has conveyed a sense of distance. It must be acknowledged that distance could reasonably be interpreted as being emotionally detached or reserved. However, the simultaneously strong results for emotions such
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as desire and love imply that such an interpretation is not being made by the majority of participants.
While the narrative interpretation of this song concludes on a slightly positive note with the reunion of the narrator’s spirit with their wife, there is ultimately tragedy at the heart of the story. Both the narrator and their wife die in this interpretation, with the wife having suicided upon learning of her partner’s death in battle, although the fate of their child is not made clear. Through the nature of the musical performances, arrangement decisions, and mix choices, this inherent sorrow is highlighted and subsequently reflected in the strong response for sadness (71%) and the correspondingly low response for happiness (5%).
Survey participants also provided strong responses for desire (62%) and love (57%).
Both of these emotions are inherent in the song’s narrative and are not unique to the
Dead track’s narrative interpretation. Nor was there an attempt to highlight these particular aspects of the story through the use of production techniques. Similar results for both of these emotions (57% and 67% respectively) in the Alive track could indicate that these responses are largely due to the lyrical narrative being presented and the absence of any sonic elements that would lead the listener toward any contrary emotional interpretations.
Recording the Story: Exploring the Relationship Between Music Production and Narrative 187
Alive
Love Vigilantes (Alive) - Emotions 16 14 12 10 8 6 4 2 0
Figure 31: ‘Love Vigilantes (Alive)’ Emotions Survey Results The most common responses regarding the emotions presented by the ‘Love
Vigilantes (Alive)’ track are love (67%), hope (62%), desire and excitement (both at
57%), distance (48%), and nostalgia (43%). The intended narrative interpretation for this track was that of a narrator who returns home from war to find their wife has committed suicide after erroneously receiving news of their death. However, the production techniques employed for this track were more focused on conveying a sense of vitality to juxtapose against the more subdued Dead track rather than concentrating on the tragedy of the narrative. Therefore, the high response rates for certain positive emotions such as hope and excitement are consistent with the production approach taken for this track despite being somewhat at odds with the overall narrative, although it could be argued that the narrator displays hope and excitement before the discovery of their wife. These results indicate another instance of the production techniques resulting in unintentionally perceived emotions that could be seen as incongruent with the underlying narrative. Such a disparity between the intended emotional content of a track and the audience’s perceptions isn’t
188 Recording the Story: Exploring the Relationship Between Music Production and Narrative
necessarily a negative consequence, but it could compromise the communication of the story that the artist is trying to tell.
Other positive emotions, such as love and desire, are more in line with the intended narrative. Like those emotions discussed above, these were not consciously enhanced through the use of production techniques. In this case, however, the unintended emotional responses supported the desired narrative interpretation, demonstrating the potential for unconscious production decisions to inadvertently assist with the communication of the track’s narrative.
There are a number of distinct differences in terms of emotions perceived by survey participants in the Dead and Alive tracks for ‘Love Vigilantes’. These include calmness (48% and 19% respectively), excitement (0% and 57% respectively), happiness (5% and 33% respectively), hope (38% and 62% respectively), and sadness (71% and 33% respectively). While the responses for calmness are reasonably consistent with the intended narrative interpretations for the two tracks, the responses for the other emotions are not. As mentioned above, such responses are not wholly unexpected, considering the means by which the two interpretations were represented sonically. It is reassuring, however, that both the Dead and Alive tracks elicited similar responses for desire (62% and 57% respectively) and love (57% and
67% respectively) as each of these emotions were central to both interpretations of the narrative.
A likely explanation for the prevalence of unanticipated survey responses received for the two ‘Love Vigilantes’ tracks is that the production techniques employed in order to convey the different narrative interpretations do not directly focus on the communication of specific emotions, which was a primary focus of the survey. The tracks for both ‘I Heard Love Is Blind’ and ‘Casimir Pulaski Day’ are distinguished Recording the Story: Exploring the Relationship Between Music Production and Narrative 189
largely by the portrayal of the emotional state of the respective narrators, whereas the tracks for ‘Love Vigilantes’ are distinguished by the physical state of the narrator; that is, whether or not they are alive at the time of narration. Therefore, it is not completely surprising that there appear to be inconsistencies between the intended narrative interpretations for each track and the responses of the participants. And, since the narrative interpretations in this case were not centred on the emotions presented by the narrator, it is possible that the primary aspects of the narrative interpretations were still conveyed to the listeners. A survey that provided the opportunity for participants to express a more detailed account of their interpretation could shed more light on this particular aspect. Unfortunately, such detail was beyond the scope of this survey.
Emotions – Summary
Below are the data for the perceived emotions across the six tracks, with the highest and lowest responses for each emotion highlighted green and red, respectively.
190 Recording the Story: Exploring the Relationship Between Music Production and Narrative
I Heard Love Is Blind Casimir Pulaski Day Love Vigilantes Emotions Apology Angry Acceptance Grief Dead Alive
Acceptance 4.76% 28.57% 47.62% 23.81% 14.29% 23.81%
Anger 4.76% 19.05% 4.76% 4.76% 4.76% 0.00%
Calmness 28.57% 14.29% 47.62% 19.05% 47.62% 19.05%
Desire 61.90% 47.62% 23.81% 28.57% 61.90% 57.14%
Distance 19.05% 23.81% 4.76% 14.29% 71.43% 47.62%
Envy 4.76% 4.76% 0.00% 0.00% 4.76% 4.76%
Excitement 19.05% 28.57% 4.76% 0.00% 0.00% 57.14%
Fear 0.00% 0.00% 9.52% 14.29% 9.52% 4.76%
Grief 4.76% 4.76% 33.33% 61.90% 23.81% 4.76%
Guilt 47.62% 23.81% 4.76% 19.05% 19.05% 9.52%
Happiness 0.00% 23.81% 28.57% 0.00% 4.76% 33.33%
Hate 4.76% 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% 0.00%
Hope 14.29% 33.33% 38.10% 38.10% 38.10% 61.90%
Intimacy 71.43% 52.38% 33.33% 42.86% 9.52% 9.52%
Love 52.38% 38.10% 52.38% 66.67% 57.14% 66.67%
Nostalgia 28.57% 23.81% 66.67% 57.14% 38.10% 42.86%
Regret 33.33% 28.57% 9.52% 23.81% 14.29% 9.52%
Remorse 23.81% 28.57% 19.05% 19.05% 28.57% 14.29%
Sadness 14.29% 0.00% 52.38% 85.71% 71.43% 33.33%
Sympathy 4.76% 4.76% 38.10% 28.57% 19.05% 9.52% Table 17: Emotions Survey Results Highlighted
Recording the Story: Exploring the Relationship Between Music Production and Narrative 191
Although the research project was designed to directly contrast each pair of tracks against one another, and this is indeed where the most fruitful comparisons are made, some broader findings can also be drawn from viewing the responses for all six tracks in their totality. From this more expanded viewpoint, we can clearly see which emotions are perceived to be presented most (or least) by which track.
The ‘I Heard Love Is Blind (Apology)’ track received the highest overall responses for desire, guilt, intimacy, and regret, while also receiving the lowest overall responses for acceptance, grief, happiness, and hope. The ‘I Heard Love Is Blind
(Angry)’ track received the highest overall responses for anger and remorse, but received the lowest overall responses for calmness, grief, love, nostalgia, and sadness. The ‘Casimir Pulaski Day (Acceptance)’ track received the highest overall responses for acceptance, calmness, nostalgia, and sympathy, while also receiving the lowest overall responses for desire, distance, guilt, and regret. The ‘Casimir
Pulaski Day (Grief)’ track received the highest overall responses for fear, grief, love, and sadness, but received the lowest overall response for excitement. The ‘Love
Vigilantes (Dead)’ track received the highest overall responses for calmness, desire, distance, and remorse, while receiving the lowest overall responses for excitement and intimacy. The ‘Love Vigilantes (Alive)’ track received the highest overall responses for excitement, hope, and love, yet received the lowest overall responses for anger, grief, intimacy, regret, and remorse.
With a few exceptions, the emotions that prompted the strongest and weakest responses for each track are consistent with the intended narrative interpretations presented by each track. ‘I Heard Love Is Blind (Apology)’ demonstrated guilt and regret, but also intimacy, while the Angry track demonstrated anger but little
192 Recording the Story: Exploring the Relationship Between Music Production and Narrative
sadness. ‘Love Vigilantes (Dead)’ expressed distance and desire, as opposed to the
Alive track, which expressed excitement and hope. ‘Casimir Pulaski Day
(Acceptance)’ conveyed acceptance and nostalgia, whereas the Grief track conveyed grief and sadness.
It is not possible to conclude definitively from these results that the participants made the same narrative interpretations as I had intended, especially when they most likely only listened to each track a small number of times. However, the data does support the notion that the broad narrative arcs crafted through the purposeful application of specific production techniques throughout the recording, mixing, and musical performances have made a significant and measurable impact on the audience’s perceptions of each track’s emotional content. By comparing two tracks with identical lyrics, melodies, and chord progressions but contrasting production approaches, appreciable differences in the emotions conveyed by each track can be confidently attributed to such production choices. There do exist a number of discrepancies and incongruities, which serve to demonstrate the existence of a certain amount of unpredictability regarding the translation of production techniques to emotional reception. However, these examples of inconsistencies are the minority when compared to the number of survey responses that are consistent with the intended narrative interpretations for each track. For the most part, the emotions presented by each track’s sonic narrative have been successfully conveyed to the audience.
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Perceived Proximity in Each Track
The survey participants were asked to specify the perceived relative distance between themselves and the narrator in each track. The potential options of very close, moderately close, moderately distant, and very distant are considered to be roughly analogous to Moore’s (2012) proxemic zones of intimate, personal, social, and public respectively.
Moderately Survey Option Very Close Moderately Close Very Distant Distant
Proxemic Zone Intimate Personal Social Public
Table 18: Survey Analogues for Proxemic Zones The responses for this question are not easily translatable into a numerical form, but while I do not wish to imply that the complexity inherent in the question can be reduced to a single number, there is some value in calculating what the average response for each track for the purpose of succinctly comparing them against one another. To do this, I apply a numerical value to each of the possible responses so that very close = 1, moderately close = 2, moderately distant = 3, and very distant =
4, in order to calculate the mean response from the survey participants. A mean value closer to 1 indicates that, overall, the participants perceived the narrator as being close to them, while a mean value closer to 4 indicates the participants perceived the narrator as being far away from them. This mean value does not capture the distribution of responses and should not be treated as a sufficient representation of the data, but merely as a simple way of comparing the average response for each track.
194 Recording the Story: Exploring the Relationship Between Music Production and Narrative
‘I Heard Love Is Blind’
Apology
I Heard Love Is Blind (Apology) - Proximity 14
12
10
8
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4
2
0 Very Close Moderately Close Moderately Distant Very Distant
Figure 32: ‘I Heard Love Is Blind (Apology)’ Proximity Survey Results The intended narrative interpretation for ‘I Heard Love Is Blind (Apology)’ involves the narrator admitting wrongdoing and pleading for understanding and forgiveness.
In order to highlight the vulnerability and desperation of the narrator, their voice was positioned approximately in the intimate and personal proxemic zones, moving into the social proxemic zone during the song’s bridge. The survey responses are somewhat in-line with this, with the majority of respondents indicating the narrator appeared to be situated moderately close (57%), followed by moderately distant
(29%). However, only 10% of respondents selected very close. While two thirds of the participants chose either very close or moderately close, the preponderance of responses for moderately close indicate that I was only partially successful in my attempt to convey an extreme sense of intimacy and vulnerability through spatial positioning of the lead vocal. The mean value of 2.29 also indicates an average response close to moderately distant. Such results are broadly consistent with the intended positioning of the narrator, although there is much room for improvement.
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Angry
I Heard Love Is Blind (Angry) - Proximity 12
10
8
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0 Very Close Moderately Close Moderately Distant Very Distant
Figure 33: ‘I Heard Love Is Blind (Angry)’ Proximity Survey Results The intended narrative interpretation for ‘I Heard Love Is Blind (Angry)’ focuses on the narrator’s anger and lack of remorse; instead of admitting their wrongdoing and asking for forgiveness, they remain defiant and attempt to shift some of the blame to their partner. In order to represent this figurative distance between the narrator and the listener (who is inhabiting the role of the partner), their voice was positioned in the social proxemic zone. Once again, the survey responses indicate this spatial positioning of the narrator resulted in mixed responses from the participants. The most common response received was moderately distant (47%), followed by moderately close (38%). Unlike the Apology track, no response received a majority of responses, although moderately distant did receive the most responses and most closely maps to the social proxemic zone. However, there was no difference in the response for very distant, which remains at 5% for both tracks.
Despite 52% of participants indicating a proximity of moderately distant or very distant, the mean response for the ‘I Heard Love Is Blind (Angry)’ track is 2.48. This
196 Recording the Story: Exploring the Relationship Between Music Production and Narrative
value indicates that while moderately distant received the most responses, the average skews very slightly toward moderately close. Compared to the Apology track’s mean of 2.29, we can see that, though the Angry track is more distant, there is only a small difference in the average response for each track. One complicating factor that could influence the similarity of these results is that the recession of the narrator into the social proxemic zone during the bridge of the Apology track makes it difficult to give a single, consistent response and perhaps without that change in perceived distance, the Apology track would have a lower mean result. Another explanation is that I didn’t convey as strong a sense of distance in the Angry track as
I had hoped.
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‘Casimir Pulaski Day’
Acceptance
Casimir Pulaski Day (Acceptance) - Proximity 12
10
8
6
4
2
0 Very Close Moderately Close Moderately Distant Very Distant
Figure 34: ‘Casimir Pulaski Day (Acceptance)’ Proximity Survey Results The intended narrative interpretation for ‘Casimir Pulaski Day (Acceptance)’ deals with the narrator experiencing the death of a close friend, but ultimately moving past the loss and choosing to focus on the good memories they shared. This narrative interpretation does not require an incredibly intimate feeling, nor does it require a sense of distance, so I attempted to place the lead vocal in the personal proxemic zone. The survey results demonstrate a strong response for moderately close (52%), followed by moderately distant (29%) and very close (14%). This response is largely consistent with the spatial positioning of the narrator in the personal proxemic zone.
A mean value of 2.24 also supports this placement.
198 Recording the Story: Exploring the Relationship Between Music Production and Narrative
Grief
Casimir Pulaski Day (Grief) - Proximity 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0 Very Close Moderately Close Moderately Distant Very Distant
Figure 35: ‘Casimir Pulaski Day (Grief)’ Proximity Survey Results The intended narrative interpretation for ‘Casimir Pulaski Day (Grief)’ involves the narrator being overcome with grief at the death of their friend, and subsequently feeling alone in the world. To convey this sense of vulnerability and isolation, I attempted to position the vocal in the intimate proxemic zone. This positioning is somewhat supported by the survey results, with very close receiving the largest response (43%), followed by moderately close (33%) and moderately distant (19%).
While very close did not attract a majority of the responses, it did receive more responses than the other available options, indicating a large portion of the survey participants perceived the intimacy of the narrator’s placement. Taken together, very close and moderately close received 76% of the responses, showing a clear majority for the two close responses over the two distant responses. The mean value calculated from these responses is 1.86, which, while still being closest to moderately distant, indicates a definite shift towards the intimate proxemic zone when compared with the other tracks. Overall, these results support the notion that the placement of the
Recording the Story: Exploring the Relationship Between Music Production and Narrative 199
narrator in the intimate proxemic zone was conveyed to a significant minority of the survey participants.
‘Love Vigilantes’
Dead
Love Vigilantes (Dead) - Proximity 12
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8
6
4
2
0 Very Close Moderately Close Moderately Distant Very Distant
Figure 36: ‘Love Vigilantes (Dead)’ Proximity Survey Results The narrative interpretation for ‘Love Vigilantes (Dead)’ sees the narrator as a spirit or ghost who is returning home to find their family. To represent a sense of incorporeality, I wanted to position the vocal in the public proxemic zone. However,
I was concerned that this would negatively affect the intelligibility of the narrator’s voice and undermine the communication of the narrative that the track was attempting to support. Instead, I opted to start the narrator in the personal proxemic zone and gradually move them farther from the listener over the course of the track, moving through the social proxemic zone and ultimately landing in the public proxemic zone by the end of the track. This gradual shift would also create a sense of the narrator’s spirit fading away as they are reunited with the spirit of their wife.
Unfortunately, this changing spatial positioning of the narrator poses a problem when
200 Recording the Story: Exploring the Relationship Between Music Production and Narrative
the survey requests a single answer to the question of perceived proximity. The largest response was received for moderately close (52%), followed by moderately distant (33%) and very close (15%). Curiously, ‘Love Vigilantes (Dead)’ is the only track that received no responses for very distant, although no track received a response greater than 5%, so it is difficult to determine the significance of this. The strong response for moderately close is consistent with the narrator beginning in the personal proxemic zone, but is inconsistent with the narrator ending in the public proxemic zone. It would be interesting to break down the song into smaller sections to see if the results would be appropriately stratified, however such granularity was beyond the scope of the questionnaire. The mean value for the Dead track is 2.19, which does not support the positioning of the narrator in the social or public proxemic zones. However, with the aforementioned issues regarding the narrator’s change in position over the course of the song, it is possible this inconsistency results primarily from the inflexibility of the questionnaire rather than the track’s failure to communicate the narrator’s eventual distance.
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Alive
Love Vigilantes (Alive) - Proximity 14
12
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0 Very Close Moderately Close Moderately Distant Very Distant
Figure 37: ‘Love Vigilantes (Alive)’ Proximity Survey Results The narrative interpretation for ‘Love Vigilantes (Alive)’ differs from the Dead track by presenting the narrator as still alive throughout the duration of the track. To contrast the Alive track against the Dead track, I placed the narrator in the personal proxemic zone, and kept them in place for the entirety of the track. Such a placement is supported by the survey results with the largest number of responses for moderately close (57%), followed by very close and moderately distant (both at
19%). With the majority of survey participants indicating moderately close, and the outliers split roughly equally on either side, it appears that the spatial positioning of the narrator in the personal proxemic zone was successfully conveyed to the audience. The Alive track has a mean value of 2.10, providing further evidence of the track’s successful communication of the narrator’s perceived closeness.
Proximity – Summary
Overall, the perceived proximities of the various tracks demonstrated mixed results.
While tracks where the narrator was positioned within the personal proxemic zone
202 Recording the Story: Exploring the Relationship Between Music Production and Narrative
typically received responses consistent with this placement, tracks that deviated from this received inconsistent responses. However, it must be considered that some of these aberrant cases make use of a changing spatiality over the course of the track.
Perhaps the shifting perceived position of the narrator through different proxemic zones leads to a nebulous awareness in the listener, resulting in more divergent responses from the survey participants. Or perhaps listeners focused on different parts of the song when answering this question and responded accurately within that context. To tease out which of these possibilities, if any, are the primary factor, a more granular and flexible questionnaire would be required.
Another surprising consequence of these survey data is that there does not appear to be a consistent relationship between how survey respondents perceived the distance of the narrator and the sense of emotional intimacy or distance. As discussed above, there is not necessarily a direct relationship between physical and emotional distance, however I did expect to see some correlation between the two. While the ‘I Heard
Love Is Blind (Apology)’ track received the strongest response for intimacy (71%), it received the smallest response for very close (10%) in terms of the narrator’s perceived distance. Similarly, ‘I Heard Love Is Blind (Apology)’ and ‘Love
Vigilantes (Dead)’ received similar responses for moderately close (57% and 52% respectively), they received drastically different responses for intimacy (71% and
10% respectively). In addition, ‘Love Vigilantes (Dead)’ received the strongest response for distance (71%) despite only receiving a middling response for moderately distant (33%) and no response for very distant. Once again, the aforementioned changes in the narrator’s position within the proxemic zones are likely to be a confounding factor here. However, further research would be necessary to determine this for certain.
Recording the Story: Exploring the Relationship Between Music Production and Narrative 203
Narrative Support in Each Track
Survey participants were asked if they felt that the narrator’s position was supported by the other sonic elements in the track. They were provided with a four-point Likert scale, ranging from strongly agree to strongly disagree, to choose an answer from.
This question is important to determine whether the audience perceives a degree of congruence between the narrator and the track’s sonic elements. However, there is a significant limitation that must be acknowledged; this question is open to learning bias, where the survey participant may understand the hypothesis being tested and therefore be influenced in their response (Choi & Pak, 2005). Along with the absence of a true control group, these constraints mean that the data cannot simply be taken at face value. However, it can be reasonably assumed that any learning bias would be consistent across the various tracks, thus allowing for comparisons to be drawn between the responses for each track.
In order to further distinguish between the tracks, a mean value can be calculated in a similar way to the previous question. Numerical values are assigned to each possible response where strongly agree = 1, agree = 2, disagree = 3, strongly disagree = 4. This will allow for mean values to be generated for each track where a value closer to 1 indicates agreement that the sonic elements of the track support the narrator’s position while a value closer to 4 indicates disagreement. As explained above, this value is merely a means for quickly comparing tracks and does not adequately capture many of the nuances present in the data.
204 Recording the Story: Exploring the Relationship Between Music Production and Narrative
Below are the data relating to the survey participants’ perception of whether the narrator’s position was supported by the other sonic elements in the track.
I Heard Love Is Blind (Apology) - Narrative Support 12
10
8
6
4
2
0 Strongly Agree Agree Disagree Strongly Disagree
Figure 38: ‘I Heard Love Is Blind (Apology)’ Narrative Support Survey Results
I Heard Love Is Blind (Angry) - Narrative Support 14
12
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8
6
4
2
0 Strongly Agree Agree Disagree Strongly Disagree
Figure 39: ‘I Heard Love Is Blind (Angry)’ Narrative Support Survey Results
Recording the Story: Exploring the Relationship Between Music Production and Narrative 205
Casimir Pulaski Day (Acceptance) - Narrative Support 14
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0 Strongly Agree Agree Disagree Strongly Disagree
Figure 40: ‘Casimir Pulaski Day (Acceptance)’ Narrative Support Survey Results
Casimir Pulaski Day (Grief) - Narrative Support 16
14
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6
4
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0 Strongly Agree Agree Disagree Strongly Disagree
Figure 41: ‘Casimir Pulaski Day (Grief)’ Narrative Support Survey Results
206 Recording the Story: Exploring the Relationship Between Music Production and Narrative
Love Vigilantes (Dead) - Narrative Support 12
10
8
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0 Strongly Agree Agree Disagree Strongly Disagree
Figure 42: ‘Love Vigilantes (Dead)’ Narrative Support Survey Results
Love Vigilantes (Alive) - Narrative Support 14
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0 Strongly Agree Agree Disagree Strongly Disagree
Figure 43: ‘Love Vigilantes (Alive)’ Narrative Support Survey Results
Recording the Story: Exploring the Relationship Between Music Production and Narrative 207
When looking at the total number of participants who chose either strongly agree or agree against those who chose either disagree or strongly disagree, both ‘I Heard
Love Is Blind’ and ‘Love Vigilantes’ show little difference between the tracks. For both songs, the total proportion of respondents who chose one of the agree options sits at either 81% or 86% for each of the tracks. There is a more noticeable difference in the mean values between these tracks, with ‘I Heard Love is Blind (Apology)’ at
1.81 and ‘I Heard Love is Blind (Angry)’ at 2, as well as ‘Love Vigilantes (Dead)’ at 1.86 and ‘Love Vigilantes (Alive)’ at 2.05, though these differences are still small.
‘Casimir Pulaski Day’, however, shows a more significant difference between the two tracks. ‘Casimir Pulaski Day (Acceptance)’ only attracted positive responses from 71% of participants and a mean value of 2.19, while ‘Casimir Pulaski Day
(Grief)’ received 100% of responses as either strongly agree or agree and a mean value of 1.67. These results suggest that, on the whole, the ‘Casimir Pulaski Day
(Grief)’ track was the most successful at presenting a sonic narrative that was consistent with the narrator’s perceived emotional state. Conversely, the ‘Casimir
Pulaski Day (Acceptance)’ track was the least successful at doing so, with both tracks for ‘I Heard Love Is Blind’ and ‘Love Vigilantes’ falling in between these two extremes.
It is not immediately clear why there exists such a stark difference between the two
‘Casimir Pulaski Day’ tracks. Perhaps the optimistic feeling of the Acceptance track’s musical arrangement seemed at odds with the tragedy being told by the narrator. Perhaps the narrative interpretation presented by the track was not as consistent. A clue can be found when comparing the results to this question with the perceived emotions discussed above. The ‘Casimir Pulaski Day (Grief)’ track typically received higher response rates for relevant emotions than the Acceptance 208 Recording the Story: Exploring the Relationship Between Music Production and Narrative
track. The Grief track received responses of 50% or higher for four emotions, with a maximum of 85% for sadness, and also received a total agree response of 100% and a mean of 1.67. Meanwhile, the Acceptance track received responses of 50% or higher for only two emotions, with a maximum of 67% for nostalgia, along with a total agree response of only 71% and a mean of 2.19. Taken together, these results indicate that the degree of consensus between participants regarding the emotions presented by the narrator is loosely correlated with the perceived congruence between the narrator and the track’s other sonic elements. However, while this relationship between consensus of emotions and narrative support is generally backed up by the data, there are exceptions. For example, the ‘I Heard Love Is Blind
(Angry)’ track received responses of 50% or higher for only one emotion, with a response of 52% for intimacy, yet it received stronger results than the ‘Casimir
Pulaski Day (Acceptance)’ track in terms of narrative support with a total agree response of 81% and a mean of 2.
Narrative Support – Summary
While all the questions in this survey present difficulties with making generalisations due to the lack of an appropriate control against which they can be compared, this question suffers most from such a handicap as comparing the tracks’ results against each other does not reveal obvious conclusions. While it is tempting to conclude that the preponderance of positive responses ranging from totals of 71% to 100% mean that all six tracks were quite successful in terms of creating a sonic narrative that supported the narrator’s story, such conclusions must be tempered by the possibility that most songs would score similarly high. As with some of the other aspects of this survey, further research would be required before making definite conclusions regarding the sonic elements’ support of the narrator’s position.
Recording the Story: Exploring the Relationship Between Music Production and Narrative 209
Narrative Differences Between Each Pair of Tracks
After listening and answering questions relating to both versions of each song, the survey participants were asked whether the narratives presented by each track differed significantly from each other. They were once again asked to choose a response from a four-point Likert scale, ranging from strongly agree to strongly disagree. While narrative differences between each track can be inferred from the responses to the previous questions, I was curious about whether such differences were noticed by the listeners on a conscious level. Once again, this question suffers from the possibility of learning bias, and the absence of a control group limits the conclusions and generalisations that can be made from this particular data.
Nevertheless, it is useful to compare the pairs of tracks against one another to see whether significant differences exist.
As above, a mean value can be calculated in a similar way to the previous question.
Numerical values are assigned to each possible response where strongly agree = 1, agree = 2, disagree = 3, strongly disagree = 4. This will allow for mean values to be generated for each track where a value closer to 1 indicates agreement that the narratives presented by each track differ noticeably from each other, while a value closer to 4 indicates disagreement.
210 Recording the Story: Exploring the Relationship Between Music Production and Narrative
Below are the data relating to the survey participants’ perception of difference in narrative between each pair of tracks.
I Heard Love Is Blind - Narrative Differences 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0 Strongly Agree Agree Disagree Strongly Disagree
Figure 44: ‘I Heard Love Is Blind’ Narrative Differences Survey Results
Casimir Pulaski Day - Narrative Differences 14
12
10
8
6
4
2
0 Strongly Agree Agree Disagree Strongly Disagree
Figure 45: ‘Casimir Pulaski Day’ Narrative Differences Survey Results
Recording the Story: Exploring the Relationship Between Music Production and Narrative 211
Love Vigilantes - Narrative Differences 12
10
8
6
4
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0 Strongly Agree Agree Disagree Strongly Disagree
Figure 46: ‘Love Vigilantes’ Narrative Differences Survey Results
From this data, we can see that the ‘Love Vigilantes’ tracks exhibited the greatest degree of difference between the narratives presented by each track, with a total agree response of 81% and a mean of 1.86. ‘Casimir Pulaski Day’ and ‘I Heard Love
Is Blind’ present similar mean values of 2.10 and 2.05 respectively, although
‘Casimir Pulaski Day’ had the greater proportion of total agree responses with 76%, compared to 67% for ‘I Heard Love Is Blind’. These results are also consistent with the average difference between responses for the emotions presented by each track:
15% for ‘Love Vigilantes’, 12% for ‘Casimir Pulaski Day’, and 11% for ‘I Heard
Love Is Blind’.
I suspect a likely cause for this particular distribution stems from the instrumental arrangements for each pair of tracks. The instrumental arrangements for ‘Love
Vigilantes’ were vastly different, with different instrumentation, musicians, tempos, and keys. In comparison, the two versions of ‘Casimir Pulaski Day’ maintained the same tempo and key, but differed substantially in terms of instrumentation, while the two versions of ‘I Heard Love Is Blind’ contained predominantly similar
212 Recording the Story: Exploring the Relationship Between Music Production and Narrative
instrumentation but at different tempos. As these macro aspects of the tracks are the most likely to be recognised by listeners upon their first listen, it is reasonable to surmise that they are the primary factor influencing the participants’ responses.
Narrative Differences – Summary
A majority of survey participants indicated that the two tracks for each of the three songs exhibited notable differences in the narratives they were presenting. While this is generally a positive result, a significant minority of participants, ranging from a fifth to a third, indicated that there were not notable differences in the stories being told. As there is currently no control to compare against, it is difficult to determine precisely how relevant that minority is. Learning bias and control issues aside, it appears that the majority of participants observed a marked difference between the narratives conveyed by each pair of tracks, with ‘Love Vigilantes’ evoking the strongest response. A likely factor that contributes to these particular results could be the instrumental arrangements of each track, as this component contains the most easily identifiable differences between the tracks. Whether these results remain consistent over repeated exposure to the tracks remains to be seen, as some of the more subtle examples of production techniques may take multiple listens to become apparent. Such speculation also applies to the total number of disagree responses for each pair of tracks: would greater exposure to the tracks lead to listeners identifying more points of difference over time? This presents a possible negative bias, although to what extent this may counteract the learning bias remains to be seen. On balance, these results support the notion that each pair of tracks communicate distinct narrative interpretations to the listeners, albeit to varying degrees.
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Survey Results Summary
Due to a number of limiting factors, including the moderate sample size, issues relating to appropriate controls, and the potential for learning bias in certain questions, the survey results are insufficient to make large, concrete generalisations regarding how people perceive narrative in the sonic elements of a song. They do, however, provide abundant support to the idea that the production techniques used in the creation of a track can have a significant impact on how a typical listener interprets its emotional and narrative aspects. Such support stems largely from the emotions perceived to be presented by the song’s narrator, with the narrator’s apparent proximity playing a small, but not insignificant, role.
The communication of particular emotions to a listener through the application of specific production techniques is not a precise process. One significant limitation highlighted by the survey results is that there exists significant variation within a group of listeners in terms of how they interpret a track’s emotional content. This variation could stem from a multitude of conflating factors, including cultural background, age, musical taste, familiarity with the song in question, understanding of musical theory, proficiency of a musical instrument, experience with music production, competence with critical listening practices, life experience, and emotional intelligence. It is beyond the scope of this research project to control for all of these variables. Nevertheless, the point stands that any given audience will display a certain level of variance in their individual responses to a track’s emotional content. Thus, no practitioner should expect to achieve a totally uniform understanding of their creative work, no matter the degree to which they attempt to
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convey a particular emotion or narrative interpretation, nor how similar members of the audience are to one another.
While this inherent variance within the audience can easily be seen to result in certain members making alternate narrative and emotional interpretations, there also exists the possibility that such interpretations could directly contradict the creator’s intentions. This can be seen in the survey results for the emotions perceived in ‘Love
Vigilantes Alive’, where a third of participants chose happiness as an emotion being presented by the narrator, despite the tragedy inherent in my intended narrative interpretation. However, considering my focus on presenting a narrative interpretation where the narrator is alive, it is completely understandable that a certain proportion of listeners would perceive sonic elements intended to portray a sense of life and vitality as the narrator being happy. Similarly, the narrator does spend a significant portion of the song in a state of excitement and anticipation as they return home from war, further justifying the perception of happiness by the survey participants, despite the song’s ultimate narrative conclusion. Whether or not this particular interpretation is an undesirable outcome depends on the creator’s attitude regarding the transaction between creator and audience; as touched on above, ambiguity is often a desirable feature of art. Yet, given the assumption that the creator of a track wants to elicit a response from the audience that is consistent with their own intentions, such ambiguity can be ultimately problematic and has the potential to undermine the intended narrative.
The survey results also indicate a complex relationship between the intended proximity of the narrator, or lead vocal, and the proximity perceived by the audience.
There is a loose correlation between these two factors, indicating that such spatial placement is often conveyed to the audience. However, there remain significant
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deviations that suggest the relationship between intended proximity and perceived proximity is not linear. Other factors, such as the movement of the narrator’s perceived position over time or the listener’s familiarity with the song’s lyrics, could be the source of such discrepancies in the data. It is also possible that my skill as an engineer is a limiting factor in this instance; perhaps I did not achieve as accurate a spatial placement of the lead vocal in the relevant tracks as I intended. Due to the limitations of the questionnaire, it is not possible to determine whether the negative responses result from traits inherent to the tracks in question (such as changing proximity or inadequate mixing) or whether it suggests that such a metric is not particularly important to many listeners. In addition to the mixed results regarding the apparent position of the narrator, there was also little correlation between the narrator’s perceived proximity and the responses to distance and intimacy. This lack of correlation could indicate that perceived physical proximity has little influence on the audience’s interpretation of a track’s presentation of emotional distance and intimacy. However, due to the aforementioned limitations of the questionnaire, such a conclusion cannot be confidently made.
The generally positive responses to the question of whether the narrator’s position is supported by the track’s other sonic elements is promising as it suggests that I was successful in the creation of coherent sonic narratives that were consistent with the songs’ lyrical narratives. However, the limitations of the questionnaire once more place restrictions on the extent to which such results can be generalised to a broader context. While it is clear that certain tracks were either more successful or less successful in the presentation of a consistent sonic narrative, it is unclear how these would compare against a hypothetical ‘neutral’ track. Nevertheless, it is reasonable to conclude that the choice of production techniques applied to a track can have a 216 Recording the Story: Exploring the Relationship Between Music Production and Narrative
significant impact on the perceived congruence between the track’s sonic narrative and the song’s lyrical narrative.
Regarding whether or not an audience is able to identify a significant difference between the narratives presented by each pair of tracks, the survey data once more suggest generally positive results, albeit with some important caveats. Each pair of tracks received a significant majority of affirmative responses from the survey participants regarding the presentation of distinct narratives between the songs, ranging from two thirds to approximately four fifths. Such results indicate that, for the most part, the tracks were successful at conveying a noticeably distinctive narrative to the audience. With that said, biases in the participants’ responses must also be considered. Despite efforts to phrase the question in a neutral manner, it is not difficult to surmise what my desired response would be, given the background information provided to the participants about the research aims. Therefore, it is not unreasonable to assume that a certain percentage of respondents may have chosen a response that matched more closely to what they believed they ‘should’ choose, rather than answering honestly. In the absence of other data, it is not possible to accurately estimate how significant this effect may have been beyond comparing the different songs with one another. Such a comparison implies that the tracks with the most drastic differences in their instrumental arrangements drew the most recognition from listeners as presenting differing narratives. This implication is perhaps unsurprising, considering the instrumental arrangement is one of the most readily accessible sonic features of a track. Even with a potential learning bias shifting results towards the positive, there remains a significant minority of respondents who did not consciously identify notable differences in the narratives being presented by the track pairs in question. However, considering most
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participants likely only listened to the tracks a few times at most when completing the survey, it is plausible that positive responses would increase in conjunction with greater familiarity with the tracks. It is also worth keeping in mind that, regardless of whether respondents were able to consciously recognise narrative distinctions between the tracks, the results from the question regarding emotions clearly demonstrate substantial differences in the listeners’ perceptions of each track. With all this said, these survey results do imply that it is indeed possible to convey a significant portion of the creator’s intended narrative interpretation to a majority of audience members. Therefore, the survey provides a significant contribution towards answering this research project’s sub-questions regarding how meaning is conveyed through sonic characteristics as well as how these sonic characteristics relate to production techniques.
Survey Improvements
The results from this survey highlight a number of limitations inherent in the survey design. Some of these limitations allow for simple fixes, while others would require significant changes in research design, and others still outline the boundaries of what may be reasonably gleaned about the relationship between narrative and music production techniques through the use of a survey.
The most obvious improvement that could be made here would be to increase the survey’s sample size. While there are some signals that are clearly present in the data, the moderate sample size used here restricts the level of confidence in any conclusions that are made based on results that are less clear. If such results remained consistent with an increased sample size, their validity would be much improved, potential biases aside. Another concern with the sample group used here is the focus
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on both musicians and audio engineers. I chose to target this demographic as I was concerned that a typical layman may not be able to sufficiently understand the background information necessary to properly comprehend each question and therefore provide accurate responses. The disadvantage of such a focus on people with a pronounced familiarity with music is that the results received may not accurately represent a general listening audience. Whether this demographic engages with sonic narratives in a fundamentally different manner than a non-musical listener or whether their engagement is simply enhanced remains to be seen. It is also possible that the difference between the two groups would be minimal. In any case, it would be enlightening to compare the responses from different demographics in terms of the participants’ level of familiarity and engagement with music and music production.
Regarding the question on perceived emotions in each track, there was some deliberation around whether the survey participants should be provided with a predetermined list of emotions to choose from or given the option to freely input what they felt. I ultimately decided on the predetermined list for the sake of consistency and ease of direct comparison between each track. In retrospect, this list could have been improved upon. For example, the role that loneliness played in certain tracks, especially ‘Casimir Pulaski Day (Grief)’, was not insignificant, however this was overlooked when putting the list together. The other disadvantage of inviting the respondents to choose from a list of emotions is that if they perceive other emotions in the track, they are not able to communicate this to me. A suitable compromise could be to use the list but with an ‘Other’ option that allows for the use to input any emotion that is not covered by those in the list.
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In a similar fashion, the question regarding the narrator’s apparent proximity in relation to the listener also suffers from the limitations imposed by the questionnaire’s possible responses. Survey participants were asked to select one of four options, ranging from very close to very distant, relating to how distant they perceived the narrator to be. One obvious concern here is that of calibration; is one person’s idea of very close the same as another’s? Once again, a larger sample size would help by increasing the confidence in the overall results being more representative of an average, typical response. Also, while I have treated the choices of very close, moderately close, moderately distant, and very distant, as loose proxies for the proxemic zones of intimate, personal, social, and public, it is not clear that such direct parallels can confidently be made. However, rather than attempting to communicate the relevant theory underpinning the notion of proxemic zones to the participants within the questionnaire itself, I opted to use more generalised terms.
In addition to the problem of calibration is that the responses provided to the question of perceived proximity are static. Some of the tracks contain sections where the narrator’s proximity changes, but even if a respondent identified this apparent movement, they would be unable to voice this through the limited responses provided. In order to accommodate more dynamic responses, the question would have to abandon the straightforward Likert scale and adopt another format. At this stage, I am unsure of how to enable responses that accurately represent the movement of the narrator in each track without leading the participant, while also retaining the use of simplified terminology that is easy to understand. A more open-ended framing of the question could allow respondents to more accurately describe their perception of the narrator’s apparent proximity over the course of each track, but could make it more difficult to directly compare responses. 220 Recording the Story: Exploring the Relationship Between Music Production and Narrative
Another limitation of this survey is that it relies on the participants’ early impressions of each track after potentially only one or two times listening through. It is therefore natural to expect that, considering such brief exposure to the tracks, survey respondents are likely to focus on the more obvious macro elements of the recordings, such as the instrumental arrangement, overall intensity of the performances, and the lead vocal delivery. As a result, the more subtle aspects of each track’s production, such as changes in stereo placement, proximity, or spectral content may go by unnoticed. It is certainly my experience that my perception of a song’s meaning develops gradually over time as I notice different layers of the track across repeated listens. By questioning listeners before they have had a chance to fully appreciate the subtleties presented by each track, the survey fails to capture the audience’s more nuanced understanding of the meanings contained within the tracks.
A survey that captures both the listeners’ first impressions of the tracks along with their more developed opinions after repeated exposure would provide a more holistic view of how narrative meaning is conveyed to an audience.
Regarding the issue of including a control within the survey, there are some fundamental constraints that are difficult to overcome. While it is certainly true that some of the data gathered from the survey would benefit through comparison with some form of a control, realising an appropriate control poses significant hurdles.
The ideal control would be a track (or tracks) that conveyed a defined narrative but did not contain any relationship between the techniques used in its production and the lyrical narrative. However, due to the subjectivity inherent in identifying such relationships, it would be difficult to find an example completely devoid of any degree of sonic narrativity. Even without any intent from the creators of a track, production decisions could be made that subconsciously reinforced the lyrical
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narrative or were perceived by the listener to be connected. An argument could be made to use a collection of songs that I judged to be situated in the lower levels of production narrativity, either inert or scenic, in order to establish an average baseline against which to compare the results for my tracks. However, this approach would have required significantly more time and attention from the survey participants, and
I was already concerned with retaining their interest throughout my own six tracks.
With that said, a larger study that was able to make use of the same participants over multiple sessions could conceivably take this approach.
One other possibility that was considered was the idea of completing one mix of each song that demonstrated a relationship between the sonic narrative and the lyrical narrative and another mix of each song that was completely neutral. However, in addition to the aforementioned problems regarding subconscious decisions and unintended audience interpretations, this approach was also susceptible to significant bias on my part. It would be natural for me to put more thought and effort into the
‘real’ mixes, which could unintentionally leave the neutral mixes underdeveloped.
This would run the risk of undermining the purpose of the survey; differences in the survey results between each pair of tracks could be due to the quality of the mixes rather than the application of specific production techniques. It was this concern that led to the decision to create two alternate versions of each song, where each would ideally contain a strong degree of production narrativity, albeit in different ways.
Thus, while there would not be a true control, the tracks could act as substitute controls for each other. A similar approach could involve two people creating separate mixes of a song, with one explicitly aiming to support the lyrical narrative in the mix. However, this method would similarly suffer from issues around
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sufficient controls as two different engineers are likely to produce very different mixes regardless of their narrative intention.
Despite the limitations inherent in the survey discussed here, I believe it was ultimately successful in achieving its objective within the context of the larger research project. The purpose of the survey was not to conclusively prove how an audience interprets sonic narratives or to investigate differences between different demographics of listeners. Instead, the survey was intended to provide an external perspective on specific aspects of the intended sonic narrative, those being the communication of emotions, perception of proximity, awareness of personic environment, and noticeable distinction between the narratives presented by each track. This external perspective is necessary to either support or contradict my own judgements regarding the efficacy of the production techniques used to convey a particular narrative interpretation in each track. Without such external validation, I could not be confident that the various layers of meaning I attempted to imbue within each track were actually communicable to listeners not involved in the production process. In addition, the survey lends further support to the frameworks developed by Nicholls (2007) and Moore (2012), showing that listeners are capable of drawing both narrative and personic meaning from a track after only brief exposure. Despite the limitations discussed above, the survey was successful in demonstrating that, for the most part, the production techniques used in the creation of these tracks are strongly correlated with the anticipated corresponding perceptions in the audience.
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Chapter Seven – Reflections
The following chapter is a discussion and reflection on the creative practice component of this research project. I evaluate the creative project throughout the design, planning, and implementation phases, identifying both strengths and weaknesses encountered during these processes. In order to improve the efficacy of this creative approach for future instances of implementation, I propose improvements to each stage of the project with the hope of helping other practitioners avoid the obstacles I have experienced. While these issues are evident in both the conception and application of this research project’s creative practice component, the creative works are nonetheless successful in terms of addressing the project’s research questions. That is to say, both the creative works themselves and the methods employed to craft the recordings within an artistic research context serve to address the primary research question of how certain music production techniques can be utilised in order to assist in the communication of narrative within the context of recorded popular music.
This research project has been a long process with many changes in focus and approach along the way. Some of these changes have been made as a result of internal research factors, while others have been made in response to issues that are external to the immediate research process. I will outline the most significant of these changes and discuss their impact on the research project with regard to their effect on both the creative works as an independent piece of art and the academic outcomes of the creative practice process.
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As the concept of narrative is at the heart of this artistic research project, it is important to examine the role that the narratives play in the creative works. While the specific narratives of each song have undergone detailed examination in Chapter
Five, this chapter provides an opportunity to scrutinise how these narratives relate to the broader project. I discuss how these narratives were intended to provide a means of answering the research question, acknowledge the limitations that were encountered as a result of the narratives chosen, and contemplate alternative narrative approaches that could potentially avoid such limitations.
After discussing the narratives of the creative works, I once more adopt a broader perspective and investigate to what degree the project was successful overall. Here I examine whether or not the creative process was able to produce works that address my research question. That is, I discuss to what extent the tracks that I have produced can provide insight into the relationship between narrative and music production techniques. The limitations of my analyses will also be addressed, with reference to the subjectivity that is inherent to works of this nature.
Finally, by drawing upon my experience and collating the recommendations made in this chapter, I propose an amended research and project design. This updated project design is by no means free of imperfections, but it exhibits a marked improvement on the project design I have followed for this artistic research project. By acknowledging and highlighting the hurdles I have encountered and the mistakes I have made throughout this process, I hope to provide other practitioners and researchers with some guidance to assist their enquiries into narrativity and music production, whether that be from a primarily academic research perspective or simply as a creative practitioner who is interested in expanding the range of creative tools at their disposal.
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Before discussing the various changes to the research design and creative works that
I made over the course of this research project, it is worth reiterating the initial research questions to assist in retaining an appropriate perspective. As outlined above, this project’s primary research question is:
• How can music production techniques be used to support or enhance the
communication of narrative in recorded popular music?
This question is accompanied by the sub-questions:
• How can sonic characteristics in recorded popular music convey meaning to
the listener?
• How do these sonic characteristics relate to production techniques?
These questions focus heavily on the role played by production techniques within the complex relationship that exists between narrative and the sonic representation of music and lyrics within popular music. It is therefore important that the research plan is designed to reflect this emphasis on production over other factors, such as songwriting or musicianship. It is this concern that has provided a recurring motivation for change within my creative works as this research project has evolved over time.
Early iterations of the creative project involved the production of multiple concept
EPs that were either composed by myself or by other songwriters who would be commissioned for the project. While developing a narrative from inception through to realisation would certainly be an interesting creative venture, I ultimately deemed this approach to be inappropriate as a means of efficiently addressing the research questions. Writing songs by myself or working with other songwriters presented the substantial risk of shifting the focus of the project away from the production 226 Recording the Story: Exploring the Relationship Between Music Production and Narrative
techniques used in the recording of the songs and more towards the songwriting process itself. Once the idea of writing or commissioning songs was dismissed, the remaining option was to consider recording covers of existing songs. I had already begun collecting lists of narrative-based songs for the case studies, and had been somewhat frustrated at the lack of songs with a strong sonic narrative to back up their strong lyrical narrative – that is, songs whose production elements would be considered to be on the active or complex levels using the system I adapted from
Moore (2012) and Nicholls (2007). However, once I was actively searching for songs with a strong lyrical (and possibly musical) narrative but without a strong sonic narrative, these lists became much more valuable. At this stage of the research process, the creative project was still envisioned as a concept EP, but using pre- existing songs rather than writing my own. While I now had access to a huge pool of potential songs, the task of choosing songs that could be grouped together to form a concept EP with a more complex unifying theme than something simple such as, for example, ‘love’ or ‘loss’, proved to be more difficult than anticipated.
It was during this phase of the project that I began having concerns about the conclusions that might reasonably be drawn by merely re-recording existing songs.
How would I reliably isolate the sonic narrative created through my use of particular production techniques from the lyrical and musical narratives that were already present within the song? How could I be confident that my sonic additions were making meaningful contributions to the overall narrative? Would I need to judge my versions against the original recordings? Should I ask others to make such judgements? Would these judgements result in unfair comparisons, since I would be contrasting a potentially familiar, professionally produced track against an unfamiliar and less professionally produced track? These questions raised valid issues regarding
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my project design. While this particular version of the creative project was certainly an improvement on the previous incarnation, there remained substantial confounding factors that were likely to obscure any attempt to answer the research questions directly. The project required a means to further draw the focus of the creative works away from any direct comparison with different performances of the song and back to the production techniques and resultant sonic narratives present within a specific track.
The solution to this problem of appropriate focus and relevancy to the research questions was to record a small number of songs multiple times each rather than recording a larger number of songs only once. In each version of the song, I would employ a different array of production techniques with the intention of expressing disparate or, at the very least, distinct interpretations of the song’s lyrical narrative.
This approach would allow for a more direct comparison between relatively similar performances of the same song where the primary differences between each track would be exhibited by the variations in production techniques used; that is to say, each track would contain similar lyrical and musical narratives, but exhibit a distinct sonic narrative. Therefore, when analysing each pair of tracks, any unique characteristics in the perceived narrative communicated by the track can be confidently attributed to the production techniques used, rather than either the song itself or the particular performance of the song.
The question then became one of depth or breadth; would it be better to choose a greater number of songs and address them in a shallow manner, or a few songs that
I could explore in much richer detail? I ultimately decided to record two versions of three songs (making six tracks in total) as I felt that this would allow me to achieve
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an appropriate balance between giving each song the attention it deserves and demonstrating a variety of production techniques in differing musical and narrative contexts. Too few songs would risk undermining the generalisability of any conclusions I might make due to the very narrow circumstances exhibited by my creative project; although this remains a concern of mine even with three songs. Too many songs, on the other hand, could result in underdeveloped productions as I was acutely conscious of my personal and professional limitations and was hesitant to attempt more tracks than I was capable of producing within a reasonable timeframe.
Thus, the creative project became an EP of six tracks, featuring two differing versions of three songs.
This revised creative project plan provided me with an effective means to address my research questions without being distracted by less relevant aspects of the creative process or becoming embroiled in unnecessary logistical difficulties. In addition, I was able to reduce the scope of my research project in such a way that allowed for more achievable outcomes while maintaining an appropriate avenue for creative experimentation. However, adopting this new approach was not without its own limitations.
Each of the songs selected for these creative works were chosen with specific features of their narrative in mind, allowing for a diversity of approaches to be explored in terms of producing appropriate sonic narratives. For a more detailed discussion of the idiosyncrasies of each song’s narrative and why they were nominated as suitable candidates for these creative works, see Chapter Five. However, the general threshold for basic eligibility was that the songs contain a defined narrative that invited an open reading and did not already satisfy the criteria for being placed on either the active or complex levels of production narrativity. While these limitations on the type of
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song used for this research project are necessary to adequately address the research question, they nevertheless result in some shortcomings related to working within such a narrow scope.
In an effort to retain a sharp focus on the specific role of production techniques, a large segment of popular music was excluded from being eligible for the creative works. Restricting the creative works to only those songs with an ambiguous narrative means that I was unable to explore the creation of a sonic narrative within songs that exhibit a clear, unambiguous narrative. Perhaps such songs would present an opportunity to be even more direct in terms of the production techniques used, however they would not provide adequate opportunity to answer the primary research question. On a similar note, even though I was working with ambiguous lyrical narratives, each track I created necessitated the development of a relatively unambiguous sonic narrative. As I have touched on above, one of the strengths of some of the songs dealt with in this research project is that very ambiguity. It would be interesting to experiment with the creation of sonic narratives that supported and enhanced the lyrical narratives, but also matched their level of ambiguity, as can be seen in Bowie’s ‘Space Oddity’ (1969, track 1), for example.
Each song used as part of the creative works provides a unique pathway into the investigation of the role of production techniques in the formation of a sonic narrative. ‘I Heard Love Is Blind’ showcases the significance of vocal production and stereo field manipulation in a case where the instrumental arrangement stays the same, for the most part. ‘Casimir Pulaski Day’ demonstrates the ability to construct cohesive sonic narratives during post-production, using recordings that were only minimally performed with a specific narrative interpretation in mind. ‘Love
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Vigilantes’ shows how a small difference in narrative interpretation can result in drastically different productions of the same song. With that said, there are certainly improvements that could have been made in each case.
A research project that took a broader perspective of the entire creative process from conception through to the final production would not be subject to the same limitations as this project is. For example, research that was focused on the songwriting process as well as the production of a track would not be restricted to defined narratives with open readings. Similarly, research that investigated how different practitioners approach the production of a sonic narrative within a mix would also be able to make use of songs with undefined narratives or closed readings. Such projects would, of course, be subject to their own idiosyncratic limitations, but they would at least be open to examining a broader range of songs.
With that in mind, it must be reiterated that this research project is not intended to be comprehensive in terms of the type of songs it is applicable to; such a small set of songs could never be truly representative of popular music as a whole. However, while these songs do not represent an exploration of narrative spanning the entirety of popular music, they do illustrate the narrative potential of various creative applications of production techniques across a diverse set of situations.
In summary, this creative project required a compromise between a relatively uninhibited exploration of narrativity in popular music production and a focused approach that directly addressed the initial research questions. In the context of a higher degree research project, the priority necessarily falls to addressing the research questions in a reasonably direct and efficient manner. Having said this, I have been repeatedly tempted to pursue a less constrained exploration of the role of narrative in popular music production throughout the research process. For example, would I be
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able to demonstrate a stronger degree of narrativity in a recording if I was less concerned about trying to isolate the production techniques from the rest of the creative process? Would a song written with the explicit intention of recording it in such a way as to contain a high degree of sonic narrativity in the track result in a substantially different product than one written without such consideration? Would focusing on a single narrative interpretation allow me to develop a more evocative sonic narrative rather than trying to split my attention across multiple interpretations?
Suffice to say, there are many opportunities for future research in this area that, if framed differently than my own research, may provide further insights into the creative potential of sonic narrativity in popular music.
Viewing the creative works as a whole, the EP that I have produced provides an effective means of addressing this project’s research question. More specifically, the creative works contribute to an understanding of how the sonic characteristics that convey meaning to a listener are related to production techniques within the context of recorded popular music. While the case studies are useful for identifying aspects of music production that could potentially impart a degree of narrativity to a track, the creative works realised here provide the opportunity for an in-depth examination of the creative process behind this relationship between music production techniques and sonic narrativity. This artistic research approach brought focus to the underlying mechanisms that communicate narrative through the sonic elements of a track.
The analysis of these creative works and their narrative impact is an inherently subjective act. As such, there will always be room for interpretation or disagreement between different listeners or practitioners. To account for this subjectivity, I have endeavoured to embed a certain amount of consistency within my analyses. Building
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on concepts developed by Moore (2012), Nicholls (2007), Moylan (2007), and Liu-
Rosenbaum (2012), among others, I constructed a framework through which I analysed both existing works and my own creative works. There is obviously a concern for bias within such a framework as I am naturally more familiar with the products of my own creative practice than those of others. However, I have attempted to balance this bias through the inclusion of external perspectives in the form of the survey. The survey invited the contribution of multiple viewpoints on the narrative outcomes of the creative works, serving to either reinforce or contradict my own analyses. As discussed in Chapter Six, within the limitations of the survey design there was a general consensus between myself and the survey participants for the majority of the relevant sonic and narrative elements focused on in my creative practice. Such consistency across multiple listeners lends further credence to the validity of the framework developed here.
In addition to the use of a survey to provide external validation, I have provided visual aides to highlight certain aspects of the tracks that I have focused on in my analyses. These visual aids build on those developed by Dockwray and Moore
(2010), Rumsey (2002), Moylan (2007), and Liu-Rosenbaum (2012), providing a more tangible representation of the relevant production techniques at play in the various tracks through both static depictions of the stereo field over time as well as real-time animations depicting both stereo placement and depth. While these visualisations are narrow in terms of the sonic parameters they can accurately portray, they are nevertheless useful in translating somewhat nebulous concepts into a more concrete and digestible format. In this respect, such visual aids make a valuable contribution to my analyses of the creative works.
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Regarding my own creative practice, this research was a valuable learning experience for me. Treating each track as a storytelling device forced me to be more conscious of every creative decision made than I have been in past projects. Constructing a very specific sonic narrative for each track required a tight focus and great attention to detail. One of the major personal difficulties I had to overcome was the communication with other personnel. As I was not working for the musicians, but rather realising my own creative vision, it was important that I was able to clearly articulate that vision to the session musicians. The re-tracking of ‘Love Vigilantes
(Alive)’ is a result of that communication falling short. As for the mixing, the main issue I struggled with was maintaining an appropriate balance between creating a strong, clear sonic narrative and retaining a ‘radio-friendly’ mix. As the focus of this project is on recorded popular music, I did not want to deviate too far from what would typically be considered commercial. What exactly constitutes a track being commercial is nebulous, but there were definitely moments within the mixing stage that I felt I went too far. For example, the initial version of the bridge in ‘I Heard
Love Is Blind (Angry)’ contained an extremely distorted lead vocal that was harsh and crackly, but barely intelligible. In terms of the sonic narrative, it suited the track perfectly. In terms of a listener being able to understand the lyrics and enjoy the experience of listening to the track, not so much. Where the ideal balancing point between these two extremes will obviously differ from project to project, depending on the creative and commercial aspirations of the artist. Nevertheless, it was a balancing point that I was perpetually aware of and constantly trying to reach.
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Amended Research/Project Design
There are many possible avenues that future research into narrativity and production techniques could follow. Such pathways depend on the particular focus of the project’s research question, as well as the overall scope of the research. Here I will propose some improvements to my current project design with the assumption that the research questions and general scope remain largely unchanged; that is, the research project is still focused on investigating the relationship between music production techniques and narrative in popular recorded music. For broader suggestions of possible future research, see Chapter Eight.
There are certain aspects of my research design that I believe have strong merit.
Firstly, recording two versions of a song to isolate the production techniques from a track’s many other contributing factors is an effective means to appropriately narrow the focus of the research project. As outlined in Chapter Four, isolating the role of a track’s production techniques from the song itself, the musical proficiency of the performers, or the competency of the producer and engineer is an important step towards answering the project’s research question. Despite introducing limitations in terms of the project’s generalisability, this approach allows for the identification of narrative elements that are influenced primarily by the production techniques used in a track.
Secondly, the five levels of production narrativity I developed based on the work of
Nicholls (2007) and Moore (2012) provide an effective means of categorising the strength of the sonic narrative elements present in a track. These five levels are built on existing models of narrativity and meaning and enable the comparison of production narrativity across different tracks in a reasonably consistent manner.
While there is still a degree of subjectivity inherent in the application of such a Recording the Story: Exploring the Relationship Between Music Production and Narrative 235
system, this subjectivity is mitigated by the clearly defined levels, allowing for use by multiple researchers and practitioners with few discrepancies.
Regarding possible changes to the project design, the first amendment I would propose is the introduction of a stricter, action research derived structure for the creative works. In such a project, each pair of tracks would be completed before the work on the next pair is begun. More importantly, there would be a period of analysis, reflection, and gathering of external feedback between each iteration of the process.
Thus, the results derived from a survey would be able to be actioned in a more immediate manner, allowing the researcher to quickly identify problematic areas and enact appropriate changes before inviting feedback once again. Such a project design would necessitate either a larger budget, or for alternative arrangements to be made with the musicians. However, I believe such a structure would enable the researcher to make more educated and targeted production decisions throughout the creative process.
The second amendment I would propose stems from the first and involves significant changes made to the employment of the survey. By splitting the survey questionnaire into the parts relevant to only a single pair of tracks, it would be feasible to conduct the survey after each stage of the production process, thus enabling the use of the survey data at each point to inform subsequent production decisions. I would also suggest the use of a complementary survey that invited participants to listen to the tracks multiple times over a longer period and included open questions that touched on more specific narrative aspects of the tracks, such as characters, events, and the perceived relationship between the narrator and the listener. This survey would run in parallel to the other survey and would provide more information about how the
236 Recording the Story: Exploring the Relationship Between Music Production and Narrative
narrative aspects of a track manifest over a longer period of time. The potential downside to these surveys would be the difficulty in comparing data for each pair of tracks, since the data was collected at different points in time and potentially from a different set of participants. To mitigate these concerns, one could make efforts to ensure that the participants remained the same across each part of the survey, or else conduct a survey similar to the one used in this research project in conjunction with the two described above. Such an approach would necessitate the recruitment of a much larger set of participants, but it would also allow for direct comparisons to be made between the various tracks, as well as giving the researcher the opportunity to incorporate feedback into future productions and providing richer data regarding the specific narrative interpretations of the participants.
Recording the Story: Exploring the Relationship Between Music Production and Narrative 237
Figure 47: Amended Research Plan
238 Recording the Story: Exploring the Relationship Between Music Production and Narrative
Chapter Eight – Conclusion
This research began with a desire to understand the power of storytelling and its place within recorded popular music. As an audio engineer, my focus naturally falls on the more technical aspects of a musical recording, whether that be in the tracking or mixing of a song. Building on a long tradition of advocating for the creativity that is inherent in these more technical aspects (see, for example, Eno, 2004; Massey, 2000;
Stavrou, 2003), this research represents an attempt to explore the storytelling possibilities of a heretofore largely unacknowledged component of the music production process. Humans are natural storytellers and narrative forms an essential ingredient in many of our artistic endeavours. Recorded popular music is certainly no exception to this.
In order to delve into the role that production techniques play in the construction of narratives, this research project posed the question:
• How can music production techniques be used to support or enhance the
communication of narrative in recorded popular music?
This question represents the project’s ultimate motivation: exploring the means by which the producer and engineer of a recording can assist in the song’s act of storytelling through the contribution of creative production techniques. In order to address this question, the research first needed to deal with the sub-questions:
• How can sonic characteristics in recorded popular music convey meaning to
the listener?
• How do these sonic characteristics relate to production techniques?
Recording the Story: Exploring the Relationship Between Music Production and Narrative 239
This chapter summarises the process of answering these questions, highlighting the existing scholarship and the contribution made by this project. I also summarise the findings of the various stages of the research, noting both the successes and failures encountered throughout. I outline the utility of this research for scholars and practitioners alike, highlighting the benefits of including sonic narratives within both phonomusicological analysis and creative practice. Finally, I propose avenues for future research.
A review of the current narratological literature clearly demonstrates a lack of scholarship regarding music in general and popular music more specifically.
Understandably, narratology has traditionally been primarily concerned with literary analysis, with notable authors such as Genette (1980) and Barthes (1982) providing literature-focused frameworks for understanding the various components of a narrative. Despite the innate storytelling that is at the heart of many, if not most, types of music, very few authors have directly addressed the role of narrative within a musical context. While some scholars, such as Nicholls (2007), have made efforts to adapt narrative theory to popular music, there remains very little academic discourse on the role that music production plays in terms of storytelling. Phonomusicological scholarship has made strides in recent years regarding how meaning can be conveyed through the sonic elements of musical recordings. This branch of musicology does not deal directly with the music or lyrics of a song, but its recording, or as Zak (2001) identifies, the track. For example, Moore (2012) adopted concepts such as personic environment and proxemic zones to a musical context in order to reveal the communicative power of the various sonic attributes of a track. Liu-Rosenbaum
(2012) makes a significant step towards combining narratology and phonomusicology with an example of sonic narrativity in his analysis of Led 240 Recording the Story: Exploring the Relationship Between Music Production and Narrative
Zeppelin’s ‘When the Levee Breaks’ (1971, track 8), describing how various extra- musical elements of the track serve to reinforce the story being told in the song’s lyrics. These authors, among others, provide the foundation upon which this research project is built.
Using the work of Nicholls (2007) and Moore (2012) as a scaffold, I have proposed a framework of categorising the degree to which a track’s production creates narrativity in its sonic elements. This framework consists of the following five levels:
1) The production elements are inert, containing a minimal amount of
narrativity;
2) The production elements are scenic, in that they construct an environment
within which the musical and lyrical narratives occur, but do not contribute
to the narrative beyond this;
3) The production elements are supportive, as they reinforce the narrative
presented by the music and lyrics;
4) The production elements are active, as they contribute narrative elements that
act out and expand upon those presented by the music and lyrics;
5) The production elements are complex, contributing original narrative ideas
that are not explicitly present in the music and lyrics.
This framework allows for the efficient categorisation of a track based on the degree to which its production elements contribute to the overall narrative. The spectrum implied by the five levels spans from tracks whose production elements represent a negligible amount of narrativity to tracks whose production elements represent a sophisticated, multifaceted narrativity that extends beyond that contained in the lyrics or music. This spectrum encompasses all recorded popular music, from the most basic recordings through to complex, narrative-focused productions. These five Recording the Story: Exploring the Relationship Between Music Production and Narrative 241
levels provide researchers and practitioners alike with a means to easily ascertain how much the sonic narrative of a track contributes to its overall narrative. For researchers, this opens a doorway to further research into the relationship between production and storytelling. For practitioners, this encourages an awareness of the potential contribution of sonic narratives, empowering them to make informed decisions regarding the narrativity of their own productions. For myself, formalising the various levels of narrativity present in a song’s production helped me to gain an understanding of what distinguishes a track with a low degree of narrativity from a track with a high degree of narrativity. Rather than merely attempting to produce a track that highlighted the lyrical narrative, I could aim for a specific level of production narrativity, say active or complex, with full cognisance of the narrative and production requirements necessary to reach that level.
For this research project, this five-level categorisation system assisted in the case study analysis of five existing tracks that were determined to fall on the active or complex levels. These five tracks represent a variety of sonic narrative approaches.
Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds’ ‘Where the Wild Roses Grow’ (1996, track 5) featuring Kylie Minogue demonstrates the use of proxemic zones to denote the relationship between the two main characters, the murderer and the victim. David
Bowie’s ‘Space Oddity’ (1969, track 1) uses stereo panning to represent the disorientation of an astronaut spinning through space or, alternatively, someone overdosing on drugs. Kate Miller-Heidke’s ‘Sarah’ (2012, track 2) utilises reverberation to manipulate the personic environment and the narrator’s position within that environment. ‘Stan’ by Eminem (2000, track 3) contains intradiegetic sound effects – non-musical sounds that add a sense of realism to the lyrical narrative.
Simon and Garfunkel’s ‘Save the Life of My Child’ (1968, track 2) demonstrates the 242 Recording the Story: Exploring the Relationship Between Music Production and Narrative
use of layered vocal parts to represent the heightened emotion of the panicked mother. Together, the analyses of these five tracks provided me with an array of production techniques that have been used in the past, intentionally or otherwise, to contribute a degree of sonic narrativity to a track. These sonic elements exist beyond the song’s lyrics or music, coming into existence only through the act of recording and mixing a track.
These case studies formed the inspiration and foundation for the creative works produced as part of this project’s artistic research approach. Six tracks were produced, consisting of two distinct versions of three songs. These creative works allowed for the isolation and comparison of production techniques between a pair of tracks that contained the same lyrics and musical content but differed in their production. The songs used for the creative works were chosen as they exhibited both a definitive narrative and an open reading, thus facilitating the creation of contrasting narrative interpretations. These songs included Amy Winehouse’s ‘I Heard Love Is
Blind’ (2003, track 5), Sufjan Stevens’ ‘Casimir Pulaski Day’ (2005, track 10), and
New Order’s ‘Love Vigilantes’ (1985, track 1).
‘I Heard Love Is Blind’, a song about infidelity and its consequences, engendered two interpretations, designated Apology and Angry. The Apology track presents the narrator as sincerely apologetic, using the placement of the lead vocal in the intimate proxemic zone to convey their vulnerability and the shifting stereo field to create an uncomfortable, claustrophobic personic environment. The Angry track uses subtle distortion on the lead vocal to magnify the anger being expressed by the narrator.
‘Casimir Pulaski Day’ relates a story about young romance, friendship, and untimely death. This song led to two interpretations, labelled Acceptance and Grief. The
Acceptance track conveys the tragedy of the story, but shows the narrator choosing
Recording the Story: Exploring the Relationship Between Music Production and Narrative 243
to focus on the good times. The track uses vocal delay to imply the presence and absence of the narrator’s friend and uses reverberation to manipulate the proxemic zone occupied by the narrator in order to emphasise certain lyrics. The Grief track is characterised by a heavy, lethargic personic environment, using the track’s stereo image to highlight the narrator’s sense of isolation. Finally, ‘Love Vigilantes’ is a song about how the tragedy of war can extend back home, resulting in the two interpretations of Dead and Alive. The Dead track employs vocal editing and proxemic zones to represent the narrator as a disembodied spirit, supported by the use of sonic markers to symbolise death. The Alive track makes use of the instrumental arrangement to create a personic environment that emphasises the vitality of the narrator, adding intradiegetic sound effects to accent key points and create a sense of realism. These various production techniques represent but a few of the possibilities available to be used in recorded popular music. By drawing inspiration from the case studies, these creative works demonstrate the ability of a practitioner to support and enhance a song’s lyrical narrative through the construction of a sonic narrative.
The production and analysis of these creative works point to the myriad of approaches an artist could take in order to extend their storytelling capabilities beyond the lyrical or musical and into the sonic realm. The lead vocal in a track is the conveyor of the song’s lyrics and coincides with the role of narrator, often portraying a prominent character in the story being told. Thus, the lead vocal provides a natural focal point for the generation of sonic meaning within a track. The creative works included here demonstrate that the manipulation of the lead vocal can lead to a wide array of narrative associations. Such manipulation may include the vocal performance itself, microphone placement, stereo positioning, depth and distance 244 Recording the Story: Exploring the Relationship Between Music Production and Narrative
(proxemic zone), spectral shaping (EQ), dynamics, delay, reverberation, distortion, doubling, or any combination thereof. In conjunction with this treatment of the lead vocal, the additional musical contributions to a track can be similarly manipulated for the purpose of establishing a personic environment that can convey scenic and contextual meaning to the listener, beyond the persona of the narrator. The meanings associated with these production techniques are not easily taxonomised as they are sensitive to a variety of other contextual factors, including the lyrical narrative itself, the song’s melody, the musical and instrumental arrangements, and the interaction between the narrator and personic environment within which they are situated. It must be acknowledged that such sensitivity makes it impossible to predict with complete certainty how a particular sonic element will be interpreted by a given listener, not to mention the inherently subjective nature of such interpretations.
However, an understanding of the relationships between production techniques and meaning, as demonstrated in this research project, will nevertheless make it feasible for practitioners to influence a typical listener’s interpretation of the narrative presented by the track.
To ascertain the extent to which these production techniques were able to convey meaning to the listener, a survey was conducted involving participants listening to each of the creative works and answering a questionnaire regarding certain aspects of the tracks’ sonic narrativity. The survey questions addressed the emotions perceived to be expressed by the track, the apparent proximity of the narrator
(proxemic zones), the narrative support expressed by the additional sonic elements of the track (personic environment), and the perceived difference in the narratives presented by each pair of tracks. The survey results show that the emotions portrayed by the tracks were effectively conveyed to a majority of listeners. The stark
Recording the Story: Exploring the Relationship Between Music Production and Narrative 245
differences between the responses received for the relevant emotions in each pair of tracks, as well as across all six tracks, clearly demonstrate the extent to which emotions can be communicated through the sonic elements of a track. For example,
‘I Heard Love Is Blind (Apology)’ received the strongest responses for guilt and intimacy, and a low response for anger, while ‘I Heard Love Is Blind (Angry)’ received the strongest response for anger and the lowest responses for calmness and love. ‘Casimir Pulaski Day (Acceptance)’ received the strongest responses for acceptance, calmness, and nostalgia, and the lowest responses for guilt and regret, while ‘Casimir Pulaski Day (Grief)’ received the strongest responses for grief and sadness. ‘Love Vigilantes (Dead)’ received strong responses for both distance and sadness, while ‘Love Vigilantes (Alive)’ received the strongest responses for excitement and happiness. Such results strongly support the premise that production techniques play an important role in the communication of meaning to the listener.
However, there do exist some unanticipated results that serve to highlight the potential for the communication of unintended emotions. The results also show that any particular emotional perception is rarely universal; there will always be some variation from listener to listener. However, on balance, the survey serves to reinforce the effectiveness of many of the production techniques explored within the creative works.
The results for the perceived proximity of the narrator in the various tracks showed a loose consensus that generally aligned with the narrator’s intended placement.
There was not a clear correlation between the narrator’s proximity and associated emotions, however, there existed confounding factors that could potentially occlude a relationship in this instance. For example, without a sufficient calibration process or reference point, there likely exists significant variation in terms of what listeners 246 Recording the Story: Exploring the Relationship Between Music Production and Narrative
perceive as close or distant. While the collection of responses can be averaged to determine a mean response, there is likely to always be a broad spread of responses.
In addition, many of the tracks positioned the narrator in a variety of proxemic zones throughout different sections of the song, an effect that the questionnaire was unable to fully examine.
Regarding the perceived narrative support of the sonic elements in the tracks, an analogue for the personic environment, the tracks for both ‘I Heard Love Is Blind’ and ‘Love Vigilantes’ received similar responses. While the responses for these tracks were overwhelmingly positive, without an external control it is difficult to determine their effectiveness beyond the observation that these four tracks were similarly effective at presenting a supportive personic environment. ‘Casimir Pulaski
Day Acceptance’ received the lowest response out of the six tracks, while ‘Casimir
Pulaski Day Grief’ received the strongest response, with all participants indicating either agree or strongly agree. While it is difficult to make generalisations based on this data, it is clear that certain tracks were more effective, and others less effective, at presenting a personic environment that was congruent with and supportive of the perceived narrative, implying once more that the production techniques used in the creation of a track play a significant role in this respect.
The survey also addressed whether participants identified a noticeable difference between the narratives presented by each pair of tracks. While the responses to the other questions clearly demonstrate differences in listener perception between the pairs of tracks, especially with regard to the perceived emotions, it is worth noting whether these differences are explicitly recognised by the audience. Once more, the responses were largely in the affirmative across each of the three pairs, although the number of participants who perceived substantial differences in the two tracks for ‘I
Recording the Story: Exploring the Relationship Between Music Production and Narrative 247
Heard Love Is Blind’ was significantly lower than was seen for ‘Casimir Pulaski
Day’ and ‘Love Vigilantes’. Although the data in this instance is not sufficient to draw concrete conclusions, these results suggest a correlation between more easily noticeable differences in instrumental arrangements and a recognition of differing narratives being presented.
In summary, the sonic characteristics of a track can convey meaning to a listener through the establishment and manipulation of both the listener’s relationship with the song’s narrator as well as the environmental or scenic attributes of a track. By positioning the narrator in a specific artificial space, much information can be inferred by the listener about the narrator’s situation and state of mind. Do they dominate the sound field, or are they overwhelmed by the events being recounted?
Is their tone warm and gentle, or harsh and aggressive? Are they central to the story being told, or are they merely a supporting act? Are the sonic characteristics surrounding the narrator acting in a supportive or adversarial manner? Is the mood of the track optimistic or melancholic? What do the characteristics of the vocal and instrumental performances convey? All of these aspects of a track can convey meanings to the listener, consciously or subconsciously, that subsequently influence their understanding of the music and lyrics that form the song. Such characteristics of a track can be mapped to a wide array of production techniques, ranging from the initial instrumental arrangement of the track through to microphone placement during tracking, stereo placement of the various instruments, and use of time-based effects like reverberation and delay, to name but a few. In this way, music production techniques can be used to support and enhance the communication of narrative in recorded popular music.
248 Recording the Story: Exploring the Relationship Between Music Production and Narrative
Overall, the combination of case studies, creative works, and survey data detailed in this research provides substantial support for the notion that production techniques can provide a considerable influence over an audience’s perception and interpretation of the story being told in a song. To reiterate the point made by Zak, “when we hear a record, we experience both song and arrangement through the sounds of the track”
(2001, p. 24). The production techniques that go into the creation of a track shape and colour the lens through which a listener views and interacts with the song. This sonic lens naturally has the potential to colour the listener’s experience of the song and the narrative being presented therein. Furthermore, the findings of this research project highlight a variety of relationships that exist between sound and meaning, tying these relationships to corresponding production techniques. By adopting an artistic research approach with a strong focus on creative practice, I have not only identified existing examples of such relationships but also demonstrated the application of these production techniques across a diverse set of productions, reinforced by the inclusion of external perspectives through the use of a survey.
This research is relevant for creative practitioners interested in enhancing the storytelling capabilities of recorded popular music, whether they be songwriters, musicians, engineers, or producers. While the case studies included here demonstrate that the use of production techniques to support a song’s narrative is far from a novel idea, there is currently little public awareness of the capabilities of such an approach.
To many creative practitioners, the construction of a sonic narrative is a low priority compared to other concerns relevant to music production. However, for those who are interested in pursuing a multifaceted approach to storytelling, this research provides a framework for incorporating sonic narratives into the larger music production process. Such an approach would naturally induce a greater culture of
Recording the Story: Exploring the Relationship Between Music Production and Narrative 249
collaboration within the music production process, as the audio engineer would occupy a position of narrative authorship alongside the songwriters and musicians.
Incorporating sonic narrativity into the creative process could also serve to provide the engineer with a more focused target for their creative input and help to foster a greater degree of congruence between the song and the track.
In terms of relevance to academia, this research establishes a robust foundation for the inclusion of sonic narratives as part of the toolset for phonomusicological analysis of popular music. By building on scholarship from the fields of both narratology and phonomusicology, this research provides a scaffold for the recognition and analysis of the influence of the music production process on an audience’s perception of narrative within a track. I have combined existing analytical tools that deal with sonic meaning or narrative and adapted them for use in an alternative context, demonstrating the utility of these tools for both analytical and creative practice purposes. As recorded songs are the primary means by which contemporary Western popular music is consumed, any holistic scholarly investigation into the role of storytelling in popular music should incorporate the sonic narrative as a significant narratological component.
This research project represents a starting point for future research addressing narrative in music. There are many potential avenues that may be explored from this point forward. As mentioned above, a holistic investigation of narrative in popular music would take into account the lyrics, music, and production of a song in order to gain a full appreciation of how songs can be used to tell stories. There are also more specific research perspectives that could be explored. For example, many types of popular music exhibit genre-specific production techniques that are either unique to
250 Recording the Story: Exploring the Relationship Between Music Production and Narrative
that genre or simply used in a novel manner. Research on whether fans of various genres experience differences in their interpretation of the sonic characteristics created through the use of production techniques is also an avenue for future study.
Similarly, an investigation into the universality of these sonic narratives across different cultures and musical traditions could further illuminate the underlying mechanisms of the relationships between sound and narrative. The use of surveys is an effective means of gathering a large number of perspectives in order to construct an understanding of how a given subpopulation responds to specific instances of sonic narrativity. This basic approach could be modified in a number of ways in order to gain a more comprehensive picture of how people perceive narrativity in recorded popular music. For instance, a multi-stage survey that tracked participants’ responses to a track over time could shed light on how an understanding of a song’s narrative is constructed over time. There is also the possibility to create a more in-depth survey or instead use a focus group, either of which would enable participants to communicate more complex and nuanced information relating to their experiences of a track’s sonic narrative. In addition, this project focused on the role of sonic narrativity within an individual track; future research could adopt a broader perspective and explore the influence of narrativity across multiple songs within a concept album. These suggestions represent but a few of the possible directions in which future research could head.
I am a musician, a songwriter, an engineer, a producer. I am a storyteller. By exploring the relationship between music production and narrative, I have identified and demonstrated both methods for analysis and methods for production. Not only have I furthered my own creative practice through research, deepening my understanding of the power of sound in the act of storytelling, I have also provided a
Recording the Story: Exploring the Relationship Between Music Production and Narrative 251
template for future researchers and practitioners to further explore this fascinating and oft-unappreciated quality of music. It is my hope that this research project can help foster an appreciation of recorded popular music as a rich source of narrative.
I am a creator, a consumer, a performer, a listener. I am a storyteller, and the track is my page.
252 Recording the Story: Exploring the Relationship Between Music Production and Narrative
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Appendices
A – Production Journal
7/4/18
Piano and Keys
Today I tracked piano and keyboards for all the songs for the creative work. I recently decided to try something slightly different with Casimir Pulaski Day: rather than recording two completely disparate versions of the song, I will record one ‘master’ version of the song from which two different versions will be crafted. This master version will contain an excessive amount of parts, both rhythm section and overdubs.
Two different mixes will then be created that draw elements from the master version as needed. I want to try this method as it will isolate/highlight the post-production techniques a little better than in the other songs.
Today’s session started with piano. 451 XY pair above the piano, 414 spaced pair as room mics. Sounded pretty good to begin with, so only made slight adjustments, such as moving the XY closer to create a greater sonic distinction between the two pairs.
Was originally planning to have Will (the pianist) play separate takes of chords and melodies, but while setting up he incorporated the melody into the chords. Decided to do a take with this combo version, while still doing takes of the separate versions in case I need greater control over each part. Moved onto keyboard for Casimir
Pulaski Day. Chose a nice electric piano sound. Again, recorded takes of chords, melody, and combo.
268 Recording the Story: Exploring the Relationship Between Music Production and Narrative
Recorded keys for Love Vigilantes. Rock version required pretty basic keys, so I only recorded a few progressions, as it will be easy to loop. However, this led to an oversight as I forgot to have him record the ending of the song (the four stabs).
Realised this after he’d left, but a quick edit would indicate that it won’t be noticeable in the greater mix.
Spent some time finding a tone for the soft version of Love Vigilantes. Originally was planning a super electronic/non-real tone, but during the demo stage, decided I wanted a ‘funeral’ type tone, as this will invoke themes of death more effectively than an electronic sound.
Aggressive version of Love Is Blind went well. Was initially apprehensive about the complex chords in the song and Will’s lack of rehearsal, but he nailed it. Took a little coaching about the feel and little idiosyncrasies in the song, but he picked it up pretty quick. He also pointed out a minor mistake in one of the melodies. Keys tone was a slightly dirty electric piano tone.
Soft version of Love Is Blind also went quite well. Mellow keys, and long chords.
Decided in the moment to get a take on the grand piano as well. Initial listen indicates that the keys and piano tracks blend together quite nicely.
Overall, only gave Will loose descriptions of the narratives, instead gave him emotional cues and descriptions for each part.
Recording the Story: Exploring the Relationship Between Music Production and Narrative 269
8/4/18
Drums and Bass
Recorded drums and bass today. Had originally organized an assistant to help me out with setting up/pulling sounds, but he bailed at the last minute, unfortunately. This left me a little rushed in the setup as well as the general session, as I no longer had the time or ability to easily move microphones around to get the desired tone for each track. Instead I was resigned to setting up the microphones by myself and living with those tones for every track in order to get everything recorded while the drummer was available.
Bass player (Mick) wanted to be in the same room as the drummer (Fitzie), so I ran his bass into another room via tie-line. Bass seemed to retain tone, so miked it up with an M88. Had to share a hearback controller as only one of the outputs works in the room.
Used 57s for snare and toms, D6 for Kick In, Beta 52A for Kick out, 451 for hats, nt55s as XY overheads, and 414s for spaced overheads/room mics. Had some phasing issues with the snare, made some adjustments, and was happy enough with the sound. Used two sets of overheads, plus top and bottom snare mics and in and out kick mics to give myself options to adjust the mix between songs a little more.
Perhaps the ‘alive’ version of Love Vigilantes will sound better with a roomier kit, and the ‘dead’ version with a tighter, more artificial sound. Or maybe the opposite will work? The downside of not having the time (or an assistant) to make changes for each song is that the drum tones will likely be a little generic and not too distinguishable between each song. The upside of using multiple mics is that I’m able
270 Recording the Story: Exploring the Relationship Between Music Production and Narrative
to make those decisions later (to a certain extent) in the context of the full mix. Not sure which option would be the most effective, but my hand was forced.
Started off with Casimir Pulaski Day. Explained the concept of recording a certain amount of bars at a time with different intensities and grooves. Mick and Fitzie were onboard with the idea, and Fitzie took the initiative, with Mick following his lead.
Went through many variations of drum and bass patterns, as well as different intensities. Also had them play a few takes that were full of fills that I could use at a later date. Was pretty happy with all of this at the time, but when trying to edit a rough take afterwards I immediately ran into some problems. Due to the takes being recorded completely separately, it was much more noticeable than I’d anticipated when editing multiple takes together. This was due to the changes in the cymbals ringing out. In retrospect, I should have had them play more transitions rather than isolated grooves.
Moved onto Love Vigilantes (dead). Tried a few different variations that took inspiration from my MIDI demo and settled on one that worked. This song went pretty smoothly. Love Vigilantes (alive) was both simple and difficult. The beat is a pretty basic rock beat, but that makes it difficult to sound interesting. Made some changes in intensity between verses and choruses, with an additional drop in intensity for Verse 3, but otherwise was pretty consistent. Didn’t really give them much guidance regarding the narrative interpretations of these songs, just dictated what intensity/groove I was after.
I Heard Love Is Blind was more fun to work with. Started with the soft, sincere version. This is more along the lines of the music that Mick and Fitzie usually play, so they settled into a groove pretty quickly. Gave them a little bit of an idea of what the emotional narrative was about, but didn’t give too much direction as I was happy Recording the Story: Exploring the Relationship Between Music Production and Narrative 271
with the groove. For the angry version of I Heard Love Is Blind, they initially wanted to try a new groove, but I was happy with what they were playing and just instructed them to play it more intensely and angrily.
Apart from losing the assistant, not being able to tailor mic techniques for each song, and encountering slight issues when editing certain takes together, I was pretty happy with today’s session. Bass player and drummer were able to work together and bounce ideas and grooves off each other, which wouldn’t have been possible if they recorded separately. Also got multiple takes for every song, so shouldn’t have any problematic moments.
272 Recording the Story: Exploring the Relationship Between Music Production and Narrative
9/4/18
Editing Casimir Pulaski Day
Today I sat down to properly edit some of the Casimir Pulaski Day drum and bass takes. I noticed issues yesterday with the cymbals when making edits between different takes/grooves. After a bit of trial an error, the problem isn’t as bad as it first seemed. Typical editing between drum takes usually means the edit takes place on
(or near) the beat, with a fairly short crossfade. This wasn’t working for the overheads or hi-hats, so I pushed the edit point further forward and used long crossfades to hear the cymbals ring out. So far it’s working well, especially once all the other instruments are playing. Also tried editing some fills in, required a bit of fiddling but was able to get them sounding natural. Will have to be conscious of transitions with other instruments, but drums are probably the most problematic in this sense. In retrospect, I probably should have had a more structured plan of what I wanted to record, but I don’t know if I would have anticipated this.
Recording the Story: Exploring the Relationship Between Music Production and Narrative 273
10/4/18
Guitars
The guitars session began with Casimir Pulaski Day on acoustic guitar. Discussed the problems with editing the drums with the guitarist, and we decided to record the guitar as dry as possible to minimize any ringing out of harmonics that might make edits too obvious. Acoustic was recorded in a corner of the control room, as it was more of a dead space than the studio, and I added a Reflexion Filter to further control the room reflections. Used a combination of a mono mic (U87) and a fairly narrow stereo pair (NT55) to have some variation. Guitarist (Tom) began playing various strumming patterns and chord voicings. Most of these will probably not be used, but there were some nice ideas that may compliment the song in certain moments. I eventually asked the guitarist to play something similar to the original song, as it has a very distinctive strumming pattern. Despite the change in key, he picked it up pretty quickly and gave me a few variations on that as well. We also spent some time playing with transitions between louder and quieter sections, so they will hopefully be useful if I run into similar problems with editing together different takes.
Next worked on the soft version of I Heard Love Is Blind. Explained how I envisioned each version of the song and the emotional context of this version (i.e. apologetic, regretful). Went through a few acoustic takes of the main chord progression. That was all I had in mind for the guitar of that song, but the guitarist had some ideas for electric lead parts, so we went to work on those. Used my Fender
Deluxe amp in the live room. First tried to use tie-lines from the control room, but the signal was a little noisy so Tom decided to just work in the studio. Still had issues with mechanical noise so had to leave the amp at a lower level than would be ideal.
274 Recording the Story: Exploring the Relationship Between Music Production and Narrative
Used a few different mics on the amp to allow for mix options (414, 57, 121) plus a room mic (U87) and DI. Played a few variations of some funk style accompaniment, plus a couple of improvised lead takes. Was a little difficult as we were not working to a scratch track, but will edit around the vocals as necessary.
Next was the loud version of I Heard Love Is Blind. Conveyed to Tom that this version was meant to be angry and defensive and a little aggressive, without being over the top. Played the main rhythm part and then added some similar groove parts as the soft version but with more attack and intensity.
The next song was Love Vigilantes (loud). Used a Les Paul rather than Strat for this song. Was pretty simple so was done quite easily and quickly. Added a lot of variations on the lead parts. Didn’t stick exactly to the original, but I liked the slight variation, and it didn’t seem to clash with the other parts. Will possibly layer various takes on top of each other when I edit it all together. Love Vigilantes (soft) was similarly simple. Wanted a super spacy, unrealistic guitar tone. Initially requested the use of effects pedals, but guitarist didn’t have anything that was completely suitable. Decided to record without effects pedals and instead tried the Crystallizer plug-in in Pro Tools. Will need to further adjust the parameters, but was pretty happy with the tone. Tom was able to play to it as well, which helps. Played lots of long, sustained chords that complement the organ nicely.
Recording the Story: Exploring the Relationship Between Music Production and Narrative 275
14/4/18
Vocals – Maxine
Started off with a mic A/B test. Tried Beeznees 47 Clone, U87, 414, Blue Bluebird,
Coles 4038. 414 and 4038 were clear losers. Bluebird was slightly behind 87 and 47.
Ended up choosing the 47 as it was slightly warmer.
First song was Casimir Pulaski Day. Set up the singer (Maxine) in a smaller booth with extra baffles to get a dry, isolated recording. Wanted an isolated sound so I have as much control over reverb and ambience in the mix, and did not have time to change recording spaces between each track. Had Maxine do a few passes of Casimir Pulaski
Day with little direction. This produced a neutral performance, which will be useful for one version of the track. After this, we went back through the song verse by verse, and I had Maxine give a more emotional performance based on what the narrator’s emotional state would presumably be at that point in the narrative. Also had Maxine do some harmonies on the verses where the narrator and the friend are both present.
Love Vigilantes (soft) was fairly smooth. Explained to Maxine that the narrator is dead in this version of the song, and that the voice is intended to sound disembodied.
Fed her a lot of reverb so she could play off that. Did a few variations on the choruses to have some options to choose from. Love Vigilantes (loud) went similarly.
Explained that the narrator was now alive, but more sorrowful. Also got some chorus variations.
In hindsight, I should have put more time into planning exactly what I wanted for each song in terms of delivery and harmonies and melodic variation. Too much time was spent trying out different things. More time should have been spent with Maxine during pre-production so that she was more rehearsed before the day of tracking. 276 Recording the Story: Exploring the Relationship Between Music Production and Narrative
15/4/18
Vocals – Sharon
Wasn’t as concerned with isolation with I Heard Love Is Blind so set up in the larger live room with a few baffles and the Reflexion Filter. Used the 47 again, as well as a
U87 as a room mic. Started with I Heard Love is Blind (soft). Explained to the singer
(Sharon) that in this version the narrator is sincerely apologetic about her actions and is trying to minimize the damage she causes to her partner. I instructed her to sing as close to the mic as possible to get a really intimate vocal performance. She sang 5 slightly different takes, all of which were good.
Moved onto I Heard Love is Blind (loud). Explained that, in this version, the narrator is angry, and in denial about the consequences of her actions. I asked her to take a step back from the microphone to be a little less intimate and to sing the song loudly and aggressively. However, I suspect she drifted back closer to the microphone and didn’t maintain her distance from it, but didn’t notice as I could not see her from the control room due to the baffles. Also, I should have pushed her to be more aggressive, if only to hear if it worked or not. As it was, her performance was slightly more aggressive than the other version, and definitely more intense, but listening back afterwards, I feel there was a lot more that could have been explored emotionally.
Having said that, I am pretty happy with the performances I got from her.
Recording the Story: Exploring the Relationship Between Music Production and Narrative 277
19/4/18
Strings
Today I recorded strings for both Casimir Pulaski Day and I Heard Love Is Blind
(soft). I hired two strings players, Tim on cello and Kelly on violin. The idea was to record multiple takes of each section and overlay them to try and fake a string quartet.
I set up a few different microphones so that I could choose between different sounds for each take. Used C414s for close mics, a U87 and R121 for Mid/Side, and a pair of KM184s as a near-coincident pair. Balancing these different mics in different ways can give a tight, clear, very present sound, or a more distant, more roomy sound, so this can be altered depending on how prominent I want the strings to appear.
Began with Casimir Pulaski Day. As with previous sessions, we went through the song one melody at a time, capturing multiple takes of each. At first, I gave the players minimal direction, was just after different intensities (soft, moderate, loud).
I also captured takes with both players playing together, and takes with each instrument individually. I then had them play certain melodies as ‘lonely’ and ‘sad’ as possible, with lots of legato and vibrato. Again, had takes with both instruments and takes with each instrument separately. The cellist also provided some harmony takes that will be very useful if I decide to layer up extra takes to get a really thick texture.
Next was I Heard Love Is Blind (soft). The parts were originally written for horns and played with a lot of intensity, but I instructed the strings players to play the parts soft and gently. The narrative of this song is about regret and guilt and apologies, so
I wanted all the takes to be emotionally charged, with swells and vibrato. Once again,
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I recorded takes with both cello and violin together, and takes where they played separately.
Overall, the session ran fairly smoothly. The players were receptive to the direction
I gave them, and only made minor mistakes that were quickly fixed. The cellist was particularly helpful by providing harmony lines that I had not written for him, and being willing to do many takes of each melody in order to capture as much variation as possible.
Listening back after the players had left, I was a little concerned about the strings blending in with the rest of the instruments. I had been monitoring with the strings quite loud, so I could hear minor mistakes, but I hadn’t really listened with the strings situated appropriately within the mix. However, I think a bit more editing and mixing, and perhaps some reverb will help balance everything out. Also, I will be layering multiple takes, so that should smooth things over somewhat.
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22/4/18
Horns
Horns were recorded today. It was a similar situation to the strings session, where I had two players, tenor saxophone (Yori) and trombone (Griffin), playing multiple takes in order to construct a fake horn section in the mix. However, the tenor sax player also brought an alto sax, and the trombone player brought a trumpet, so that allowed for much more variation between takes. The songs we worked on were
Casimir Pulaski Day and I Heard Love Is Blind (loud). Used a very similar microphone setup as I used for the strings: C414s for close mics, U87 and R121 for a Mid/Side, and KM184s in a near-coincident pair.
Began the session with Casimir Pulaski Day. I followed the same procedure as with the strings players and other musicians: moving through the song one melody at a time, capturing multiple takes of each, with both instruments playing, as well as separately. Both players were happy to also provide harmony lines, as well as takes on their alternate instruments (alto sax and trumpet). As with the strings, I initially gave little direction beyond intensity (soft, moderate, loud), but then had them play takes that were ‘sad’ and ‘full of grief’. I wanted a ‘Last Post’ style take on the trumpet for a couple of the takes, but the trombonist wasn’t a confident trumpet player, so wasn’t able to provide exactly what I was after. Otherwise, I was quite happy with their performances.
The next song we worked on was I Heard Love Is Blind (loud). The horn parts for this song are quite similar to the original recording, but I directed them to play even more intensely, with aggression and anger. They put in a lot of energy, which suits
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the song well. Again, they played multiple takes with harmony parts and different instruments.
I also wanted to have flute playing in the bridge of I Heard Love Is Blind, as the sax player mentioned he played a bit of flute. However, after a few attempts, he decided that the part was too complex for his intermediate flautist skills, so we left that part alone.
Was generally quite happy with the overall session. There were a few ideas that didn’t pan out, but I was able to capture the bulk of what I had planned.
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B – Musician Briefs
‘I Heard Love Is Blind (Apology)’
Drums and Bass
This song is meant to be gentle and intimate. I’d like the rhythm section to have some groove, but not be too busy or intense. Keep a laid-back feel, and keep things simple, possibly a little behind the beat.
Guitars and Keys
This song is about regret and apologies. I want to give the vocal a lot of room to breathe, so I don’t want anything too busy from the other instruments. Lots of long, sustained chords, and mellow tones. Keep things gentle and sparse, with only the occasional ornamentation. The keys and guitar should support the vocal, but not too much.
Strings
The string parts were originally written for brass and woodwind and played with a certain amount of intensity, but this version of the song is a lot quieter and more intimate, so I’d like the parts to be soft and gentle. Treat everything as if it is played with legato, and disregard the precise ending of phrases, rather, sustain the final notes slightly into the next bar. Everything should be smooth and emotional, perhaps with a touch of vibrato here and there.
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Vocals
While the lyrics in the song depict the singer acting as if she has done nothing wrong,
I’d like you to interpret those lyrics as if she is sincerely apologetic and regretful about her actions and is trying to minimise the damage she is inflicting on her partner by framing her actions as if they are less significant than they appear. She is afraid of the consequences of what she has done and is emotionally vulnerable. She is pleading with her partner and on the verge of breaking. The vocal performance should be intimate and emotional, and less intense than the original version.
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‘I Heard Love Is Blind (Angry)’
Drums and Bass
The louder version of the song is a lot more intense and aggressive than the soft version. There is an anger behind the song, so while the basic groove should remain similar, it should be a lot more intense, with extra fills and more staccato in the syncopated sections. Don’t be afraid to play hard when the song calls for it.
Guitars and Keys
This version needs to be a lot harder and more intense. This is meant to be an angry performance of the song, so I want more dirty, crunchy tone, played with a lot more intensity. I don’t want excessive distortion, but play it hard.
Horns
This song is meant to be aggressive, so don’t be afraid to play loud. The sections that the horns play in are moments of intensity, so I want to hear that in your performance.
Also, ignore the ends of each phrase, hold the notes into the next bar.
Vocals
This version of the song adopts a more straightforward interpretation of the song’s lyrics. The singer is in denial and angry about having to justify her actions. She is in denial and aggressively attempts to deflect blame. I want this to sound as if the singer is shouting across the room at her partner, so take a step back from the microphone and belt it out. I don’t mind if there are minor mistakes, the intensity is the important thing.
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‘Casimir Pulaski Day’
Drums and Bass
For this song, I will be editing together different versions after the fact, so what I need for the recording is just a few different variations on the rhythm section. The focal point of this song is the vocal and other melodic instruments, so I just need a number of takes with different intensities and slightly different grooves. First of all, a few variations on a comfortable, moderate intensity beat, then some soft variations of those grooves, plus a couple of takes with just some light cymbals. Then, can you play some louder, more energetic beats, and finally play some different drum fills and bass runs.
Guitar and Keys
The purpose of this recording is to capture a few variations of the chord progression and melodies in order to edit together a couple of different versions of the song. I’d like to have a few takes with moderate intensity strumming/chords, some softer takes, some louder takes, and a few with single, sustained chords. With the keys, I also want some takes with the various melodies incorporated into the chord progression, and some with just the melody in isolation. I’d also like a take of melody #2 on keys, and a take of single chords on guitar, to sound as sad and lonely as possible. I would like to record both keyboard and piano for this song.
Strings
This song will need some different variations on each melody. I would like a few takes of each melody with different intensities (soft, moderate, loud). I would also like a number of takes with both violin and cello, as well as recordings of each instrument individually. A couple of the performances should also be particularly
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emotional, with lots of legato and vibrato to create a ‘lonely’ feel. Melody #2 will also require an extra take where the melody is repeated continuously.
Horns
This song will need some different variations on each melody. I would like a few takes of each melody with different intensities (soft, moderate, loud). I would also like a number of takes with both saxophone and trombone, as well as recordings of each instrument individually (including both alto and tenor saxophone, trombone, and trumpet). Melody #2 will also require an extra take where the melody is repeated continuously.
Vocals
This song will be edited into two slightly different versions, so there will be some minor variations in the vocal delivery. For the first version, the purpose of the vocals is to merely recount a series of events. For this, I’d like a fairly neutral vocal performance, where there is little emotion. For the other version, the purpose of the vocals is to demonstrate the emotional state and journey of the song’s narrator as they deal with the sickness and death of their friend. In this rendition of the song, verses that depict particularly emotional moments will need to be performed with a sense of loss, grief, or anger. In addition, verses where the narrator’s friend is present will require harmony lines to be sung.
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‘Love Vigilantes (Dead)’
Drums and Bass
The soft version of Love Vigilantes requires very minimal drums and bass. The bass is only required to play long, sustained notes. The drums should be light and lazy, and a little undefined. It might be worth trying brushes. The beat should be fairly consistent throughout the song with only minor embellishments or fills.
Guitar and Keys
This song is meant to be ethereal and spacey, and the guitar and keys tones should reflect this. One of the primary themes in this version of Love Vigilantes is death, so
I’d like the keys to use an organ tone that is reminiscent of funerals. The guitar should contain heavy amounts of reverb and delay. Both guitar and keys should be played with a soft attack and focus on long, sustained chords. I’d also like the keys to play the melodic phrases present in the song’s introduction and chorus.
Vocals
In this interpretation of Love Vigilantes, the singer is deceased throughout the entire song and exists as a ghost/spirit. The vocal delivery should reflect this disembodied persona and focus on soft, drawn out melodies. Emotionally, the song should remain fairly consistent, but focus on yearning and loss. The vocals will have significant levels of reverberation applied during the mix.
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‘Love Vigilantes (Alive)’
Drums and Bass
The louder version of Love Vigilantes is very rock-focused but still fairly simple.
The bass should use constant 8th notes to drive the song, while the drums should play a straightforward rock beat, perhaps with a double kick pattern reminiscent of a heartbeat. In this song, there will be minor distinctions between the verses and choruses in terms of intensity, with the choruses being louder than the verses. Verse
3 will be quieter than the first two verses.
Guitar and Keys
The guitar for this song will be a fairly standard distorted rock tone. The guitar should be played energetically, but not aggressively. The rhythm parts should be mainly power chords, with slight variations in intensity between the verses and choruses.
For the keys, I want a bright, electric piano tone, with lots of pulses on each chord.
Vocals
For this interpretation of Love Vigilantes, the narrator is alive. The first few verses and choruses should be performed with a feeling of hopefulness. This should turn to grief in the third verse, where the narrator finds their wife dead, and the final few choruses should be tinged with regret and grief. To get a sense of the life within the voice, sing close to the microphone so that the breaths are clearly audible.
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C – Song Lyrics
‘I Heard Love Is Blind’ – Amy Winehouse
Verse 1 –
I couldn't resist him His eyes were like yours His hair was exactly the shade of brown He's just not as tall, but I couldn't tell It was dark and I was lying down
Verse 2 –
You are everything He means nothing to me I can't even remember his name Why're you so upset? Baby, you weren't there and I was thinking of you when I came
Bridge –
What do you expect? You left me here alone; I drank so much and needed to touch Don't overreact ' I pretended he was you You wouldn't want me to be lonely
Verse 3 –
How can I put it so you understand? I didn't let him hold my hand But he looked like you; I guess he looked like you No he wasn't you But you can still trust me, this ain't infidelity It's not cheating; you were on my mind
Coda –
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Yes he looked like you But I heard love is blind
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‘Casimir Pulaski Day’ – Sufjan Stevens
1 - Goldenrod and the 4H stone The things I brought you When I found out you had cancer of the bone
2 - Your father cried on the telephone And he drove his car into the navy yard Just to prove that he was sorry
3 - In the morning, through the window shade When the light pressed up against your shoulder blade I could see what you were reading
4 - All the glory that the Lord has made And the complications you could do without When I kissed you on the mouth
5 - Tuesday night at the Bible study We lift our hands and pray over your body But nothing ever happens
6 - I remember at Michael's house In the living room when you kissed my neck And I almost touched your blouse
7 - In the morning at the top of the stairs When your father found out what we did that night And you told me you were scared
8 - All the glory when you ran outside With your shirt tucked in and your shoes untied And you told me not to follow you
9 - Sunday night when I cleaned the house I find the card where you wrote it out With the pictures of you mother
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10 - On the floor at the great divide With my shirt tucked in and my shoes untied I am crying in the bathroom
11 - In the morning when you finally go And the nurse runs in with her head hung low And the cardinal hits the window
12 - In the morning in the winter shade On the 1st of March on the holiday I thought I saw you breathing
13 - All the glory that the Lord has made And the complications when I see His face In the morning in the window
14 - All the glory when he took our place But he took my shoulders and he shook my face And he takes and he takes and he takes
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‘Love Vigilantes’ – New Order
Verse 1 –
Oh I've just come from the land of the sun From a war that must be won In the name of truth With our soldiers so brave Your freedom we will save With our rifles and grenades And some help from god
Chorus 1 –
I want to see my family My wife and child waiting for me I've got to go home I've been so alone, you see
Verse 2 –
You just can't believe The joy I did receive When I finally got my leave And I was going home Oh I flew through the sky My convictions could not lie For my country I would die And I will see it soon
Chorus 2 –
I want to see my family My wife and child waiting for me I've got to go home I've been so alone, you see
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Verse 3 –
When I walked through the door My wife she lay upon the floor And with tears her eyes were sore I did not know why Then I looked into her hand And then I saw the telegram Said that I was a brave, brave man But that I was dead
Chorus 3 –
I want to see my family My wife and child waiting for me I've got to go home I've been so alone, you see
I want to see my family My wife and child waiting for me I've got to go home I've been so alone, you see
I want to see my family My wife and child waiting for me I've got to go home I've been so alone, you see
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‘Where the Wild Roses Grow’ – Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds feat. Kylie
Minogue
Chorus 1 –
They call me The Wild Rose But my name was Elisa Day Why they call me it I do not know For my name was Elisa Day
Verse 1 –
From the first day I saw her I knew she was the one As she stared in my eyes and smiled For her lips were the colour of the roses They grew down the river, all bloody and wild
Verse 2 –
When he knocked on my door and entered the room My trembling subsided in his sure embrace He would be my first man, and with a careful hand He wiped the tears that ran down my face
Chorus 2 –
They call me The Wild Rose But my name was Elisa Day Why they call me it I do not know For my name was Elisa Day
Verse 3 –
On the second day I brought her a flower She was more beautiful than any woman I'd seen I said, 'Do you know where the wild roses grow So sweet and scarlet and free?'
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Verse 4 –
On the second day he came with a single rose Said: 'Will you give me your loss and your sorrow?' I nodded my head, as I laid on the bed He said, 'If I show you the roses will you follow?'
Chorus 3 –
They call me The Wild Rose But my name was Elisa Day Why they call me it I do not know For my name was Elisa Day
Verse 5 –
On the third day he took me to the river He showed me the roses and we kissed And the last thing I heard was a muttered word As he stood smiling above me with a rock in his fist
Verse 6 –
On the last day I took her where the wild roses grow And she lay on the bank, the wind light as a thief As I kissed her goodbye, I said, 'All beauty must die' And lent down and planted a rose between her teeth
Chorus 4 –
They call me The Wild Rose But my name was Elisa Day Why they call me it I do not know For my name was Elisa Day
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‘Space Oddity’ – David Bowie
Verse 1 –
Ground Control to Major Tom Ground Control to Major Tom Take your protein pills and put your helmet on
Verse 2 –
Ground Control to Major Tom (ten, nine, eight, seven, six) Commencing countdown, engines on (five, four, three) Check ignition and may God's love be with you (two, one, liftoff)
Verse 3 –
This is Ground Control to Major Tom You've really made the grade And the papers want to know whose shirts you wear Now it's time to leave the capsule if you dare
Verse 4 –
"This is Major Tom to Ground Control I'm stepping through the door And I'm floating in a most peculiar way And the stars look very different today
Chorus 1 –
For here Am I sitting in a tin can Far above the world Planet Earth is blue And there's nothing I can do
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Verse 5 –
Though I'm past one hundred thousand miles I'm feeling very still And I think my spaceship knows which way to go Tell my wife I love her very much she knows
Bridge 1 –
Ground Control to Major Tom Your circuit's dead, there's something wrong Can you hear me, Major Tom? Can you hear me, Major Tom? Can you hear me, Major Tom?
Chorus 2 –
Can you "Here am I floating 'round my tin can Far above the moon Planet Earth is blue And there's nothing I can do"
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‘Sarah’ – Kate Miller-Heidke
Verse 1 –
1997 Livid Festival Me and Sarah my best friend Stripy tights and fairy wings As safe as safe can be
Verse 2 –
We drank the gin we'd snuck in Danced to Ben Folds Five I turned around to Sarah Couldn't see her anywhere As safe as safe can be
Chorus 1 –
Oh Sarah, I didn't mean to let you down But you left me on my own, Sarah Why didn't you scream?
Verse 3 –
I went to all the stages And to the St John's stand The man said 'you just missed her Stay - maybe she'll come back again' I sat and watched the crowds
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Verse 4 –
My father came at midnight We searched 'til half-past four I was half hysterical My father wasn't sure He called for the police
Chorus 2 –
Oh Sarah, I didn't mean to let you down But you left me on my own, Sarah Why didn't you scream? Why didn't you shout? Sarah, I hate it that I let you down But you left me on my own, Sarah Why didn't you scream? Why didn't you shout? Why didn't you shout?
Verse 5 –
The next day the sergeant Found her blue dress in the creek Her parents were so angry They put the blame on me
Verse 6 –
Then a fortnight later Sarah knocked upon their door Her mother asked her 'Where've you been?' And she said
Bridge 1 –
'I don't know, I don't know, I'm not sure I'm not sure, I can't remember anything at all'
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Chorus 3 –
Oh Sarah, I didn't mean to let you down But you left me on my own, Sarah Why didn't you scream? Why didn't you shout? Sarah, I hate it that I let you down But you left me on my own, Sarah Why didn't you scream? Why didn't you shout?
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‘Stan’ – Eminem
Chorus 1 –
My tea's gone cold I'm wondering why I Got out of bed at all The morning rain clouds up my window And I can't see at all And even if I could it'll all be gray Put your picture on my wall It reminds me, that it's not so bad It's not so bad
Chorus 2 –
My tea's gone cold I'm wondering why I Got out of bed at all The morning rain clouds up my window And I can't see at all And even if I could it'll all be gray Put your picture on my wall It reminds me, that it's not so bad It's not so bad
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Verse 1 –
Dear Slim, I wrote you but still ain't callin' I left my cell, my pager, and my home phone at the bottom I sent two letters back in autumn, you must not-a got 'em There probably was a problem at the post office or somethin' Sometimes I scribble addresses too sloppy when I jot 'em But anyways, fuck it, what's been up? Man how's your daughter? My girlfriend's pregnant too, I'm bout to be a father If I have a daughter, guess what I'm a call her? I'm a name her Bonnie I read about your Uncle Ronnie too I'm sorry I had a friend kill himself over some bitch who didn't want him I know you probably hear this everyday, but I'm your biggest fan I even got the underground shit that you did with Skam I got a room full of your posters and your pictures man I like the shit you did with Rawkus too, that shit was fat Anyways, I hope you get this man, hit me back Just to chat, truly yours, your biggest fan This is Stan
Chorus 3 –
My tea's gone cold I'm wondering why I Got out of bed at all The morning rain clouds up my window And I can't see at all And even if I could it'll all be gray Put your picture on my wall It reminds me, that it's not so bad It's not so bad
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Verse 2 –
Dear Slim, you still ain't called or wrote, I hope you have a chance I ain't mad, I just think it's fucked up you don't answer fans If you didn't wanna talk to me outside your concert You didn't have to, but you coulda signed an autograph for Matthew That's my little brother man, he's only six years old We waited in the blistering cold for you, For four hours and you just said, "No." That's pretty shitty man, you're like his fuckin' idol He wants to be just like you man, he likes you more than I do I ain't that mad though, I just don't like bein' lied to Remember when we met in Denver, you said if I'd write you you would write back See I'm just like you in a way I never knew my father neither He used to always cheat on my mom and beat her I can relate to what you're saying in your songs So when I have a shitty day, I drift away and put 'em on 'Cause I don't really got shit else so that shit helps when I'm depressed I even got a tattoo of your name across the chest Sometimes I even cut myself to see how much it bleeds It's like adrenaline, the pain is such a sudden rush for me See everything you say is real, and I respect you cause you tell it My girlfriend's jealous 'cause I talk about you 24/7 But she don't know you like I know you Slim, no one does She don't know what it was like for people like us growin' up, you gotta call me man I'll be the biggest fan you'll ever lose Sincerely yours, Stan, P.S. we should be together too
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Chorus 4 –
My tea's gone cold I'm wondering why I Got out of bed at all The morning rain clouds up my window And I can't see at all And even if I could it'll all be gray Put your picture on my wall It reminds me, that it's not so bad It's not so bad
Verse 3 –
Dear Mister "I'm Too Good To Call Or Write My Fans" This will be the last package I ever send your ass It's been six months and still no word, I don't deserve it? I know you got my last two letters, I wrote the addresses on 'em perfect So this is my cassette I'm sending you, I hope you hear it I'm in the car right now, I'm doing 90 on the freeway Hey Slim, I drank a fifth of vodka You dare me to drive? You know the song by Phil Collins, "In the Air of the Night" About that guy who could a saved that other guy from drowning But didn't, then Phil saw it all, then at a a show he found him? That's kinda how this is, you could a rescued me from drowning Now it's too late, I'm on a thousand downers now, I'm drowsy And all I wanted was a lousy letter or a call I hope you know I ripped all of your pictures off the wall I love you Slim, we coulda been together, think about it You ruined it now, I hope you can't sleep and you dream about it And when you dream I hope you can't sleep and you scream about it I hope your conscience eats at you and you can't breathe without me See Slim, shut up bitch! I'm tryin' to talk! Hey Slim, that's my girlfriend screamin' in the trunk But I didn't slit her throat, I just tied her up, see I ain't like you 'Cause if she suffocates she'll suffer more, and then she'll die too Recording the Story: Exploring the Relationship Between Music Production and Narrative 305
Well, gotta go, I'm almost at the bridge now Oh shit, I forgot, how am I supposed to send this shit out?
Chorus 5 –
My tea's gone cold I'm wondering why I Got out of bed at all The morning rain clouds up my window And I can't see at all And even if I could it'll all be gray Put your picture on my wall It reminds me, that it's not so bad It's not so bad
Verse 4 –
Dear Stan, I meant to write you sooner but I just been busy You said your girlfriend's pregnant now, how far along is she? Look, I'm really flattered you would call your daughter that And here's an autograph for your brother I wrote it on the Starter cap I'm sorry I didn't see you at the show, I must of missed you Don't think I did that shit intentionally just to diss you But what's this shit you said about you like to cut your wrists too? I say that shit just clownin' dog, come on, how fucked up is you? You got some issues Stan, I think you need some counseling To help your ass from bouncing off the walls when you get down some And what's this shit about us meant to be together? That type of shit will make me not want us to meet each other I really think you and your girlfriend need each other Or maybe you just need to treat her better I hope you get to read this letter, I just hope it reaches you in time Before you hurt yourself, I think that you'll be doin' just fine If you relax a little, I'm glad I inspire you but Stan Why are you so mad? Try to understand, that I do want you as a fan I just don't want you to do some crazy shit 306 Recording the Story: Exploring the Relationship Between Music Production and Narrative
I seen this one shit on the news a couple weeks ago that made me sick Some dude was drunk and drove his car over a bridge And had his girlfriend in the trunk, and she was pregnant with his kid And in the car they found a tape, but they didn't say who it was to Come to think about, his name was, it was you Damn!
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‘Save the Life of My Child’ – Simon & Garfunkel
Verse 1 –
"Good God! Don't jump!" A boy sat on the ledge. An old man who had fainted was revived. And everyone agreed it would be a miracle indeed If the boy survived.
Chorus 1 –
"Save the life of my child!" Cried the desperate mother.
Verse 2 –
The woman from the supermarket Ran to call the cops. "He must be high on something, " someone said. Though it never made The New York Times. In The Daily News, the caption read,
Chorus 2 –
"Save the life of my child!" Cried the desperate mother.
Verse 3 –
A patrol car passing by Halted to a stop. Said officer MacDougal in dismay: "The force can't do a decent job 'Cause the kids got no respect For the law today (and blah blah blah)."
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D – Charts
I Heard Love Is Blind
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Casimir Pulaski Day
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Love Vigilantes
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