Recording Studios Without Walls: |
Geographically Unrestricted Music Collaboration |
Nyssim Lefford |
Abstract |
Music
production fuses the technical requirements of the recording process with the
aesthetic imperative of music creation and performance. The producer is an
advocate for both technical and artistic excellence. It is the collaboration, or co-performance, of the recording
engineer, producer and performer that generates music recordings and it is
the role of the producer to intermediate between the worlds of technology and
art. The psychological and social details of the interaction between these
collaborators are numerous and complex and they are essential to the
production process. |
Music
producers and recording musicians move from city to city and one recording
facility to another in order to expand the their options for collaboration
with other musicians or technicians. This examines the development of an
Internet-based, music recording system that will enlarge the pool of
potential collaborators without requiring physically movement from location
to location. The Internet provides a medium through which recorded
performances can be transmitted from performer to producer in (near) real-time
over great distances. This research investigates the design of a system that
will make optimal use of available bandwidth during transmission while
retaining the artistic dialogue between collaborators that is central to the
music production process.
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To
envision an expanded music production paradigm that takes advantage of the
opportunities presented by networked collaboration it is necessary to
thoroughly comprehend the production process. Production can be analyzed as a
set of tasks that support collaboration. These tasks can be examined
independently of the technology that supports them. This thesis begins with a
detailed analysis of the cognitive, psychological and social aspects of
artistic collaboration that underpin the behaviors observed during the
production process. This foundation provides the basis for the design
criteria of a networked collaborative system presented later in this thesis.
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Readers
who are interested only in the specifics of the proposed system may wish to
skip the introductory material. However, the later material presumes a deep
understanding of music production process, and the system s design is
integrally hinged on the elements of production process essential to music
collaboration.
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