Beat-Mixing Rock Music: Rock and Electronic Dance Music Merge to Create the Manarays
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Beat-mixing Rock Music: Rock and Electronic Dance Music merge to create the Manarays Adrian Dominic Carroll A submission presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements of the Queensland Institute of Technology for the Master of Arts degree Music and Sound Discipline Creative Industries Faculty Queensland University of Technology Brisbane Australia 2012 Adrian Carroll ClubRock “I know my music-—both Rock and Dance—and I have not heard anything of this kind.” (DJ Tim Whiteman, personal communication, January 13, 2012) ii Adrian Carroll ClubRock Abstract Rock music has generally employed a static pop music song structure. Electronic Dance Music (EDM) on the other hand through beat-mixing has created an extended structure. The purpose of this research is to explore the proposition that EDM’s beat-mixing function can be implemented to create immediacy in Rock music. The term used in this thesis to refer to the application of beat-mixing in Rock music is ‘ClubRock’. Through collaboration between a number of DJs and Rock music professionals the research applied the process of beat-mixing to blend Rock tracks to produce a continuous ClubRock set. The outcome is the album the Manarays—Get Lucky. DJ techniques created immediacy in the recordings and transformed static renditions into a fluid creative work. The following research questions provided the means of investigation and the opportunity to validate the effectiveness of the album: How can Rock music implement EDM’s structural fluidity to create an album in the form of a DJ set? How do Rock audiences read the ClubRock set as a Rock album? The inclusion of rhythmic sections at the beginning and end of each song created a ‘DJ friendly’ environment to beat-mix the album. Song structure changed as a result of beat- mixing the album and this divergent structure included the addition of the EDM breakdown to the Rock composition. Transformational learning resulted from the phenomenological study which investigated tempi, vari-speed, beat-mixing and breakdowns in a new context. The hybridisation of the two genres, EDM and Rock, resulted in a contribution to Rock music compositional approaches and the production of a unique Rock album. iii Adrian Carroll ClubRock Contents Abstract iii Contents iv Collaborators vi Definitions vii 1.0 Introduction 1 1.1 Rock structure 1 1.2 EDM structure 2 1.3 Exegesis 3 2.0 Context 4 2.1 Personal background 4 2.2 Professional background 5 2.3 Technical approach 5 2.4 Audio context 6 3.0 Literature and Contextual Review 7 3.1 Compositional structure 7 3.2 Jamaican dancehall tradition and EDM production techniques 8 3.3 Rock music and EDM 10 3.4 The Gap in the field 12 3.5 Purpose statement 12 4.0 Conceptual Framework 13 5.0 Method 14 5.1 Data 14 5.2 Data validation 15 6.0 Data Collection 16 6.1 Recording procedure 16 6.2 Phenomenological themes 18 6.2.1 Tempi 18 6.2.2 Vari-Speed 19 iv Adrian Carroll ClubRock 6.2.3 Beat-mixing 20 6.2.3.1 DJ cut 20 6.2.4 Breakdowns 21 6.2.5 ClubRock set 22 7.0 Data Analysis 24 7.1 Transformational learning 24 7.2 Diagrammatic representation 25 7.3 Tempo matching 26 7.4 Beat-mixing 26 7.5 Schematic expectation 27 7.6 Personal reflection 28 8.0 Conclusion 30 8.1 Future research 31 9.0 Acknowledgements 32 10.0 Statement of Originality 33 11.0 References 34 12.0 Bibliography 37 Appendices Appendix 1 Song Structures 43 Appendix 2 Heuristic Inquiry 44 Appendix 3 Generic Trance Format 45 Appendix 4 ClubRock Lab Book 47 Figures and Tables Figure 1 Proportionate visual representation of song formats 23 Figure 2 Visual representation of a typical structure of a ClubRock track 25 Table 1 Data collection grouped into themes, tool and analysis 15 Table 2 Change in set order and tempo over the project 17 Table 3 Generic Trance Format 45 v Adrian Carroll ClubRock Collaborators Alan Dyer: DJ – Interviewee Alex Smith: Audio professional – interviewee, in-text contributor Ben Ricketts: Teacher – proof reader, external auditor Chris Fletcher: Rock musician – member of the Manarays, composer, vocalist, interviewee Clinton Bell: Audio engineer – audio engineer Dan Sugars: Drummer – member of the Manarays, peer reviewer David Kershaw: Keyboardist – member of the Manarays Dominic McGlinn: DOMC mastering – mastering engineer Dr Colin Webber: Music technology lecturer – peer reviewer Dr Daniel Mafé: Academic – external auditor Edith Burrows: Teacher – proof reader Everett True: Music critic – peer reviewer Ian Taylor: Audio engineer – peer reviewer, interviewee Jet Carroll: Artist – creator of original artwork Josh Jett: Professional DJ – peer reviewer, interviewee Justine Johnson: Musician – vocalist Kenya Carroll: Artist – illustration designer, cover designer Maxine McCabe: Audio engineer – proof reader Monique Davison: Professional DJ – peer reviewer, interviewee Nino Live: Professional DJ – interviewee Ommy Butler: Musician – remix engineer Rita Carroll: Teacher – proof reader Phil Dunlea: Bassist – member of the Manarays Simon Faulkner: Rock vocalist – member of the Manarays Tim Whiteman: Audio engineer – co-researcher, audio engineer, DJ, in-text contributor Supervision Principal Supervisor: Associate Professor Mike Howlett Associate Supervisor: Dr Andy Brader vi Adrian Carroll ClubRock Definitions Beatmatching The adjustment of “the speeds of two different records so they match and their beats are synchronized” (Broughton and Brewster 2003, 280). Beat-mixing The process of cross-fading to blend one track to the next while DJing. BPM The tempo of a particular song measured in beats per minute. Break “… part of a song that features a thinning of the musical texture, with strong emphasis on the rhythmic elements. Breaks are often chosen by DJs to mix with a second record or to peak a dance floor. Also referred to as breakdown” (Fikentscher 2000, 135). Electronic Dance Music “The term ‘Electronic Dance Music,’ or ‘EDM,’ encompasses a broad range of music produced during the last two decades, including styles such as techno, house, drum ‘n’ bass, and trance. Although fans of EDM are very much aware of the differences between these types of music, they still view them as belonging to the same overall category” (Butler 2006, 6). Mix-break The mix-break entails the inclusion of long intros and outros of percussion to give the DJ time to beatmatch and segué into the next track. Loop A musical phrase either sampled or played repeatedly. vii Adrian Carroll ClubRock Pitch-lock Pitch-lock is digital processing that enables the change of tempo or BPM of a track while retaining the original pitch. Rock Music Rock music in this study is derived from classic Rock exemplified by bands such as AC/DC, Cream, Led Zeppelin, The Who, The Easybeats and Zoot. Later examples include bands from the Punk and the Grunge scenes. Traktor Traktor is a DJ software programme that allows the manipulation of music with third party controllers and the storage of this music onto hard drive. Trance Music A sub-genre of EDM usually in a tempo range of 137-145 BPM. viii Adrian Carroll ClubRock 1.0 Introduction When a musical piece is too simple we tend not to like it, finding it trivial. When it is too complex, we tend not to like it, finding it unpredictable—we don’t perceive it to be grounded in anything familiar. Music, or any art form for that matter, has to strike the right balance between simplicity and complexity in order for us to like it. Simplicity and complexity relate to familiarity, and familiarity is just another word for schema (Levitin 2006, 229). This research project proposes that the application of mixing techniques and structures in Electronic Dance Music (EDM) can enhance originality in Rock music by forming divergent song formats. In this project EDM techniques—specifically beat-mixing and breakdowns—are implemented in Rock music to extend the standard album and single formats. The beat-mixing technique from EDM has been deployed to combine original Rock tracks and thereby form a continuous DJ set. I have devised the term ‘ClubRock’ to denote the alteration that allows Rock music to acquire immediacy through beat- mixing. The creative output is a Rock album called Get Lucky performed by Rock musicians as the Manarays and subsequently mixed by DJs to represent the work in a new musical form—the ClubRock set. ClubRock retains the Rock aesthetic and is not Rock music with a dance beat. 1.1 Rock structure One motivation for this research project came from an experience in the studio: While recording a cover version of Loose (The Stooges 1970) with a band called Vocal Lizard I mistakenly recorded thirty-six bars for my guitar solo instead of the usual twelve or sixteen bars. This error turned to the recording’s advantage when the non-traditional solo length built excitement—this became the main contributor to the effectiveness of the track. Even a small break from the traditional rock structure made a significant difference to the perceived originality of the recording. This serendipitous event led to questioning the three-and-a-half minute or ‘radio-friendly’ format and the need to develop a differentiated form. As a composer I became frustrated by the application of predetermined song formulae. 1 Adrian Carroll ClubRock Hit songs are composed using a limited variety of song structures (Blume 1999) and the following example is the most common: “Verse | Bridge | Chorus | Verse | Bridge | Chorus | Middle 8 | Chorus repeated to fade” (Howlett 2009, 45). The replication of this standard song structure contributes to the situation where popular songs can appear to be stereotyped. Song structure in popular music is tied to the history of music replication and is influenced by the manufacturing requirements of the 10” 78 RPM shellac and 7” 45 RPM vinyl disc formats.