TY - JOUR
T1 - The master of mystery
T2 - Technology, legitimacy and status in audio mastering
AU - O’Grady, P. A.T.
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2019 by the International Association for the Study of Popular Music, U.S. Branch (IASPM-US). All rights reserved.
PY - 2019/6/2
Y1 - 2019/6/2
N2 - Over the past twenty years, the field of popular music studies has significantly enhanced our understanding of pop music production. Studies have drawn from a range of industry discussions to explore, for example, the ways in which emergent technologies have led to distinctive production techniques and the important role that recording technologies play in shaping the sound of pop music. Whereas many industry discussions have provided productive sites of analysis, they can also obstruct research in some respects. This article focuses on an area of music production where such industrial discussions tend to hinder, rather than enhance, an understanding of its practices. It examines the ways in which industry discussions position the process of mastering as “mysterious.” This article argues representations of mastering as “mysterious” work to reinforce the importance of this practice and also safeguard it from new technologies that might challenge its dominance. These representations can function to reproduce and secure social hierarchies within the field.
AB - Over the past twenty years, the field of popular music studies has significantly enhanced our understanding of pop music production. Studies have drawn from a range of industry discussions to explore, for example, the ways in which emergent technologies have led to distinctive production techniques and the important role that recording technologies play in shaping the sound of pop music. Whereas many industry discussions have provided productive sites of analysis, they can also obstruct research in some respects. This article focuses on an area of music production where such industrial discussions tend to hinder, rather than enhance, an understanding of its practices. It examines the ways in which industry discussions position the process of mastering as “mysterious.” This article argues representations of mastering as “mysterious” work to reinforce the importance of this practice and also safeguard it from new technologies that might challenge its dominance. These representations can function to reproduce and secure social hierarchies within the field.
KW - Analogue technologies
KW - Cultural production
KW - Mastering
KW - Music production
KW - Recording technologies
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85077193762&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1525/jpms.2019.312012
DO - 10.1525/jpms.2019.312012
M3 - Article
SN - 1524-2226
VL - 31
SP - 147
EP - 164
JO - Journal of Popular Music Studies
JF - Journal of Popular Music Studies
IS - 2
ER -