"Demystifying the Sound Studio" as part of a panel presentation on Archiving the past-related present in the interests of the future: a transmedia history of Glasgow

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"Demystifying the Sound Studio" as part of a panel presentation on Archiving the past-related present in the interests of the future: a transmedia history of Glasgow

Breslin, Ronan, Argo, Jessica, Archibald, David and Anderson, Robert (2024) "Demystifying the Sound Studio" as part of a panel presentation on Archiving the past-related present in the interests of the future: a transmedia history of Glasgow. In: Radical Film Network Conference, June 19 to 22, 2024, Madrid, Spain.

One of three videos submitted to the conference

Creators/Authors:

Breslin, Ronan, Argo, Jessica, Archibald, David and Anderson, Robert

Abstract:

A joint panel presentation at The Radical Film Network Conference, 2024, June 19th to June 22. Ronan Breslin's contribution was delivered via pre-recorded videos due to family bereavement.

These videos offer insight into the milieu of a operational sound studio and its relationship with those who work and record in it. Invoking Foucault's concept of heterotopia to describe spaces that are strange or ambivalent places – places that defy the normal logic of ordering. I explore why a recording studio’s functional processes are shrouded in technological mysticism and have become a source of fascination to all music-lovers but also a place guarded by inscrutable gate-keepers. I also explore the ideas of Goldman et.al. “A Connected History and Geography of Studios” and their concept of the studio as a a shrine to the real, imagined or mythological past and I conclude their position to be entirely misanthropic further postulating that to be relevant a recording studio must be a place of action with its operational processes existing in the present.

Official URL:

https://radicalfilmnetwork.com/conference/madrid/

Output Type:

Conference or Workshop Item (Paper)

Additional Information:

The output narrative is based on the text of my second video. I hope that I succeeded in achieving my fundamental goal of describing the studio processes that resulted in the final output that constituted the debut Tenementals album. Michel Foucault postulated the concept of heterotopia to describe spaces that are strange or ambivalent places – places that defy the normal logic of ordering. Perhaps the recording studio can be considered as one of these spaces. A recording studio’s functional processes are shrouded in technological mysticism – a source of fascination to all music-lovers but also a place guarded by inscrutable gate-keepers. To quote from Goldman et.al. “A Connected History and Geography of Studios”. Like museums and libraries, studios often exhibit a will to ‘enclose in one place all times, all epochs, all forms, all tastes’, or in other words, to constitute ‘a place of all times that is itself outside of time and inaccessible to its ravages’. Goldman et. al continue in the same vein stating that these spaces of creativity and production could be considered as platforms of inquiry and subsequently archival platforms. Perhaps, I quote “becoming an archive, an educational space, or even a shrine to the real, imagined or mythological past is part of the life-cycle of a studio”. I find this to be an interesting position on the function of a recording studio but I also consider this position to be entirely misanthropic. A recording studio is a place of action and its processes exist entirely in the present. A song recorded in a studio is a malleable artefact that can be continuously revisited, reimagined and, if necessary, completely re-recorded. A song, or a piece of music is a living thing that evolves and requires nurturing. The recording studio is its nursery. This is the approach we have adopted for the Tenementals debut album. Basic blueprints for songs with lyrics, melody and chords have been rehearsed, their bare bones deconstructed and reconstructed and then deconstructed again if the collective deem it necessary. The studio sessions have been defined by an iterative process of reflective listening and constant evolution. The studio became a “laboratory of the arts” (Hennion, 1989) but a laboratory that did not exclude the non-technical and which recognised the fluid boundaries between the technician and the artist.

Uncontrolled Keywords:

sound studio practice, recording studio practice, radical music, philosophy of sound recording

Schools and Departments:

School of Innovation and Technology

Dates: