Developing the formal structures of artistic practice-as-research

In this article I discuss a topic that is emerging as a valuable paradigm for creative practitioners - practice-as-research. There is some controversy over this term that, I believe, goes to the heart of our understanding of the nature of knowledge. The controversy relates to the idea that practice and research are two inherently different types of activity and therefore that it impossible to engage in one ‘as’ the other. Tim Ingold’s (2011) work on the anthropology of knowledge and skill alongside a broader stream of work on cognition and perception (see for example Lakoff & Johnson 2003 and Gibson 1979) suggests that both artistic practice and academic research involve ‘puzzle-solving… carried on within the context of involvement in a real world of persons, objects and relations.’ (Ingold 2011, p.419). The argument revolves around the notion that there is no such thing as disembodied or abstract knowledge and that all knowledge is both embodied and personally related to the world one inhabits. As such, the written word provides a schematic system for representing the much richer communication processes of speech and bodily experience. The written word, however, can only be understood through reference to our lived experience. Lave (1990, p.310) has termed this ‘understanding in practice’ as a knowledge ‘based on rich expectations generated over time about its shape’ (Lave 1990, p.323). Scholarly research outputs and their modes of publication are still firmly entrenched in the printed word. I will explore strategies for communicating the non-verbal knowledge that forms the basis of much practice-as-research

Creating a rubato layer cake: performing and producing overdubs with expressive timing on a classical recording for 'solo' piano

This paper reports on some of the outcomes from a larger UK Arts and Humanities Research Council funded project on Classical Music ‘Hyper-Production’ And Practice As Research – a project that sought to create radical reinterpretations of the classical repertoire through record production. In this example, the two authors of this paper, Emilie Capulet and Simon Zagorski-Thomas, were acting as pianist and producer respectively with a third researcher, Andrew Bourbon, working as engineer. The world of classical music has, in the vast majority of cases, sought to emulate the sound of the concert hall on recordings. In this case study from our project, a pianist and a record producer (both also academics) sought to explore the creative possibilities of transferring techniques from popular music to the production of classical recordings. Through the use of Actor Network Theory (Latour 2005; Law 2007; Callon 1986) as a method of analysis and Practice As Research (see for example Borgdorff 2006) as a mode of experimentation, we examined how both performer and producer explored the conceptualisation and practice of creating recorded music. The pre-production and recording sessions were either filmed or recorded and excerpts from these were used to examine the development of various performance techniques through this process of experimentation and discussion. For example, on pieces involving rubato, we explored a variety of techniques for synchronising multiple overdubbed performances where individual lines or parts from a piece for solo piano were staged or processed differently to others. This involved experiments working ‘by ear’, working with a guide track and with click tracks constructed in a variety of ways, and ‘by sight’, working with a video of the guide performer’s hands. The article begins with a description of the theoretical background to the study, examining the creative possibilities of this approach, discusses the ramifications that this has for performers, discusses the practical problems and then draws some conclusions and suggests some possible future work

Sonic cartoons and semantic audio processing: using invariant properties to create schematic representations of acoustic phenomena

The history of recording is often characterized as a history of improving audio quality whereas the notion of sonic cartoons requires us to re-think it as a history of clarity and the creation of schematic representations. Using the ecological approach to perception and embodied cognition, we will consider the invariant properties of various acoustic phenomena as a way of developing a range of strategies for semantic audio processing. In this context, semantic audio processing refers to plug-ins that utilize semantic descriptors to control multiple parameters. An example of this might be Waves’ Tony Maserati Signature Series which provide controls with labels such as ‘thump’ and ‘snap’. The notion of sonic cartoons provides a framework for a much more nuanced application of this approach

The ecological approach to mixing audio: agency, activity and environment in the process of audio staging

This paper reports on some of the outcomes from a larger research project on Classical Music ‘Hyper-Production’ And Practice As Research – a UK Arts and Humanities Research Council funded project that seeks to create radical reinterpretations of the classical repertoire through record production. Our approach to mixing audio for this project is based on a theoretical model that explores the links between the perception and cognition of recorded music, our musicological analyses of the pieces and how that translates into staging and processing decisions. While taking into account Schaeffer’s theories about the ‘Objet Sonore’ (Schaeffer 1966 and Dack 2001) and Smalley’s (1986 and 1997) work on spectromorphology, we are utilizing the ecological approach to perception (Gibson 1979; Clarke 2005; Zagorski-Thomas 2014) and the neural theory of language and metaphor (Lakoff & Johnson 2003; Feldman 2008) to examine mix decisions in terms of agency, activity and environment. Examples from the research project, which include ensemble pieces and layered, overdubbed solo performances, will be deconstructed from a musicological perspective. This will involve foreground and background, thematic material, contrapuntal lines and other musical features being discussed in terms of the number and type of perceived agents, the types of activity in which they are involved and the nature of the environment within which the activity occurs. This will be explored through both literal and metaphorical interpretations of the musical activity. These analyses will then be used to explain the decisions that were made during the mix process. Placing the perceived agents on different parts of the sound stage, highlighting or inhibiting various aspects of the energy expenditure involved in the perceived activity and determining the type and character of the environment within which this activity occurs will be further deconstructed in terms of the specific processing decisions that were made in different instances

Audio processing

This chapter initiates the discussion of post-production through an exploration of the ‘state of the art’ in both the practice and our theoretical understanding of audio processing, echoing the underlying pursuit the handbook stated in the introduction – that is, the bridging of dichotomies between the theoretical and the practical (the ‘how’ and the ‘why’) in/behind record production processes and outcomes. In some ways, this is also reflected in the tone and examples offered by the two authors, contributing both practice-based/phonographic illustrations, as well as surveys of relevant theorizations from other disciplines. In attempting to provide a theoretical map/ping between musical - sonic objectives, technological/processual actualization and pursued aesthetics (personal/stylistic sonic signatures in record production), we examine four domains of sonic characteristics, and ensuing tools and processes devised for their manipulation – namely ‘pitch’, ‘amplitude’, ‘spectrum and timbre’ and ‘time and space’

Stable developmental patterns of gene expression without morphogen gradients

Gene expression patterns are established by cross-regulating target genes that interpret morphogen gradients. However, as development progresses, morphogen activity is reduced, leaving the emergent pattern without stabilizing positional cues. The pattern then can be deteriorated by the intrinsically noisy biochemical processes acting at the cellular level. But remarkably, the established gene expression patterns remain spatially and temporally stable in many biological systems. Here we combine spatial-stochastic simulations with an enhanced sampling method and a recently developed stability theory to address how spatiotemporal integrity of a gene expression pattern is maintained in developing tissue lacking morphogen gradients. Using a minimal embryo model consisting of spatially coupled biochemical reactor volumes, we study a stripe pattern in which weak cross-repression between nearest neighbor domians alternates with strong repression between next-nearest neighbor domains, inspired by the gap gene system in the Drosophila embryo. We find that fine-tuning of the weak repressive interactions to an optimal level can significantly increase temporal stability of the expression patterns, allowing for stable patterns over developmentally relevant times in the absence of morphogen gradients. The numerically determined optimal parameters closely agree with the predictions of the stability theory. By analizing the dynamics of factors characterizing pattern integrity, we trace back the stability enhancement to the emergence of restoring forces, maintaining the pattern in a meta-stable basin. Altogether our results demonstrate that metastable attractors can emerge as a property of stochastic gene expression patterns even without system-wide positional cues, provided that the gene regulatory interactions shaping the pattern are optimally tuned

Valuing the Surplus: Perspectives on Julian Horton's Article ‘On the Musicological Necessity of Music Analysis’, Musical Quarterly, 3/i–ii, pp. 62–104

This Critical Forum has been developed from a round table discussion of Julian Horton’s 2020 article. The original discussion was convened by Ian Pace to conclude the Music in the University conference held at City, University of London in 2022. Representing different perspectives and preoccupations, yet sharing some common concerns, the original participants are joined here by Kofi Agawu and Gurminder Bhogal. It has been my privilege to collate these materials, aiming to retain something of the informal yet considered character of the original event. Together, these reflective pieces offer a multi-faceted response to Horton’s seminal contribution, as is appropriate given that – just as in a Picasso cubist realisation, say The Girl with the Mandolin (1910) – there can be no single or simple view taken of the many issues he raises. This forum commences with a synopsis of the original article by Ian Pace(approved by Horton), followed by the seven commissioned responses. Horton then responds to those contributions, and Jonathan Dunsby, the chair of the conference round table and founding editor of this journal, has the last word. Music Analysis has a distinguished history of debate through Letters to the Editor. Readers are encouraged to add their views to those expressed here

Production Perspectives of Heavy Metal Record Producers

The study of the recorded artefact from a musicological perspective continues to unfold through contemporary research. Whilst an understanding of the scientific elements of recorded sound is well documented, the exploration of the production and the artistic nature of this endeavour is still developing. This article explores phenomenological aspects of producing heavy metal music from the perspective of seven renowned producers working within the genre. Through a series of interviews and subsequent in-depth analysis, particular sonic qualities are identified as key within the production of this work: Impact; energy; precision; and extremity. A conceptual framework is then put forward for understanding the production methodology of recorded heavy metal music, and how developing technology has influenced the production of the genre