Sample magic: (Conjuring) phonographic ghosts and meta-illusions in contemporary hip-hop production

Sampling has been criticised as “a mixture of time-travel and seance”, “the musical art of ghost co-ordination and ghost arrangement”, and a process that “doubles (recording’s) inherent supernaturalism” (Reynolds 2012, pp. 313-314). Yet out of all the sample-based music forms, hip-hop receives the lion’s share of attention in popular music literature; critics are puzzled by its appeal, scholars identify a plethora of problems in its function, and practitioners and audiences alike are mesmerised by its effect. Rap producers attribute an inherent ‘magic’ to working with past phonographic samples and fans appear spellbound by the resulting ‘supernatural’ collage. The author examines the music’s unique recipe of phonographic juxtaposition, exploring the conditions of this ascribed ‘magic’, investigating gaps in perception (Lehrer 2009) between emotional and intellectual effect, and deciphering parallels in the practice and vocabulary mobilised against a range of genres in performance magic

Sonic diegesis: reality and the expressive potential of sound in narrative film

Perspectives and approaches from electroacoustic music are applied to support a phenomenological understanding of the role of sound in film, whereby all sounds are presented as potential drivers of cinematic diegesis. Building upon notions of the non-diegetic fallacy (Winters 2010, Kassabian 2008) and extending these concepts from film music into an examination of all sound, conventional classifications of sound into binary (diegetic / non-diegetic) and tripartite (Voice / Music / Sound Effects) divisions are challenged. Such divisions are argued as limiting to an understanding of the full expressive potentials of sound, failing to reflect the filmic experience, by assigning limited functional roles to specific types of sound. Notions of “reality” are core to this exposition, with existing analytical distinctions operating in relation to an assumed objective reality, a transparent mimesis, which fails to take into consideration the subjectivity of the audience nor the diegetic potential of mimetic sounds. However, with reference to specific examples drawn from mainstream cinema – Gravity [2013], Dunkirk [2017] – and creative practice research ¬– coccolith [2016] – the expressive potential of sound is demonstrated to be embodied by all sound types, with the apparent realism of mimetic sounds belying their significant diegetic power. Indeed, the illusory realism of mimetic sounds is argued as core to their communicative action and affect, extending audiences’ own experiences of sonic phenomena. Approaches to the analysis of sound within narrative film contexts are demonstrated and posited as affording deeper and more nuanced readings of the role of all sound in the construction of filmic diegesis

Reimagining the ‘phonographic’ in sample-based hip-hop production: making records within records

‘Reimagining the ‘phonographic’ in sample-based hip-hop production: Making records within records’, deals with the poetics of hip-hop record production making use of originally constructed sample material, rather than previously released phonographic content.¹ The idea behind the research project was borne out of a practical conundrum during the author’s record-label tenure with EMI Music (Greece) as an artist/producer. The national/major-label profile highlighted issues in sample-based music-making in an acute way, illuminating a tangible gap between underground beat-making and mainstream hip-hop practice: the majority of creators who find themselves between the two extremes appear starved of access to raw phonographic sources, with some seeking innovative ways to practice the artform whilst avoiding licensing implications related to copyrighted sample use.² Inspired by the author’s parallel academic career, the examination of the phenomenon has taken the form of a practice-based doctoral research project, grounded in the musicology of record production, and accompanied by an independent instrumental album-creation process, which supplies the applied investigative context. The largely autoethnographic approach relates the personal in creative practice to the larger cultural (aesthetic) phenomenon, and the research is further supported by interviews with expert practitioners, as well as phonographic (aural) and literary analysis. The theoretical and practical findings drawn out of the research illuminate an unexamined practice with profound impact upon popular music culture. The research narrative is therefore capable of reshaping our understanding of creative beat-making in the flux of a shifting legal and pragmatic landscape. Furthermore, the non-linear, juxtaposed, and arguably metamodern dimensions of the practice readdress current/historical debates about Hip Hop, putting sonic materiality at the forefront of the discussion, and challenging the methodological strategies deployed thus far for the study of contemporary, electronic, and Afrological music forms. As such, there is an identifiable need for a thorough exploration of, and theorising upon, this form of record production practice. From Dr. Dre, through to De La Soul, J.U.S.T.I.C.E. League, Boards of Canada, Statik Selektah, Marco Polo, Griselda Records, and Frank Dukes, sample-based hip-hop producers have creatively renegotiated the landscape surrounding sample use through alternative production approaches. These techniques deploy the creation of interim sampling content for subsequent use in what can be described as a form of ‘meta’ phonographic process: an innovative phenomenon with important creative implications powering some of today’s biggest hits and—arguably—an evolutionary strategy facilitating the future development of the genre (and sample-based music as a whole). In the aesthetic pursuit of what makes a newly created source ‘phonographic’ in the context of sample�based Hip Hop, the project addresses the way in which we consider how the sonic past interacts with the music present, and extrapolates upon the way in which such a musical practice may mirror a metamodern zeitgeist in other arts, and culture as a whole