The playback of recordings is the primary means of experiencing music in contemporary society, and in recent years 'classical' musicologists and popular music theorists have begun to examine the ways in which the production of recordings affects not just the sound of the final product but also musical aesthetics more generally. Record production can, indeed, be treated as part of the creative process of composition. At the same time, training in the use of these forms of technology has moved from an apprentice-based system into university education. Musical education and music research are thus intersecting to produce a new academic field: the history and analysis of the production of recorded music. This book is designed as a general introductory reader, a text book for undergraduate degree courses studying the creative processes involved in the production of recorded music. The aim is to introduce students to the variety of approaches and methodologies that are currently being employed by scholars in this field. The book is divided into three sections covering historical approaches, theoretical approaches and case studies and practice. There are also three interludes of commentary on the academic contributions from leading record producers and other industry professionals. This collection gives students and scholars a broad overview of the way in which academics from the analytical and practice-based areas of the university system can be brought together with industry professionals to explore the ways in which this new academic field should progress.

Table of Contents:
Preface: A Quebecer Pioneer of Music Recording - André Perry and Gérald Côté, Introduction - Simon Zagorski-Thomas, Katia Isakoff, Sophie Stévance and Serge Lacasse Part 1 – The Creative Use Of Technology 1. Tanya Tagaq: A Cosmopolitan Artist in the Studio - Sophie Stévance and Serge Lacasse 2. Moving at High Speed Into the Future: Notes on British Postpunk Record Production - Albin Zak 3. Mixing with Quotation Marks: Restrictive Mashups and Contextual Transformation - Ragnhild Brøvig-Hanssen 4. Heaviness in Three Dimensions: The Use of Sonic Space in Contemporary Metal Music Production - Mark Mynett Part 2 – The Social Interactions Of Production Activity 5. Who’s the Producer? - Mike Howlett 6. Random Access Changed Everything - Richard James Burgess 7. The "Virtual" producer in the Recording Studio: Media Networks in Long Distance Peripheral Performances - Isabel Campelo Part 3 – Forms Of Theoretical Analysis 8. The Systems Approach to Creative Practice: The Case of Supersonic 2003–2004 - Phillip McIntyre 9. What is a Jazz Record Anyway? Lennie Tristano and the Use of Extended Studio Techniques in Jazz - Marian Jago 10. Sound Engineering in the Recording Studio as Creative Practice - Paul Thompson and Phillip McIntyre 11. Studio Recording and World Music Making in Central America: The Case of the Garifuna Paranda, From Local Revival to Internationalization - Ons Barnat 12. Haydn in Modern Dress: Applying Experimental Contemporary Production Techniques to the Classical Repertoire - Simon Zagorski-Thomas