Recording consciousness

Recording consciousnessas described by Bennett (1980, p. 114) is the consequence of "a society which is literally wired for sound" in which, according to Middleton (1990, p. 88) "this consciousness defines the social reality ofpopular music."

Overview

"Acoustic instrumentsand unamplified, 'pure'-tone singing can now not be heard except as contrasts to more recent kinds of sounds, just asliveperformances are inevitably 'checked' against memories of recordings, "and" live performances have to try to approximate the sounds which inhabit this consciousness. "

"Similarly, musicians learn to play, and learn specific songs, from records, and so 'recording consciousness' helps to explain the ubiquity of non-literatecompositionmethods: 'sheet musicis just for people who can't hear' (musician quoted in Bennett 1980, p. 139) The structure of this consciousness has been produced by various elements, among them experience of editing techniques,reverberationandecho,use of equalization to altertimbre,high decibel levels, both in general and in particular parts of thetexture(notably, strongbass-lines), and the 'polyvocality' created by multi-mike ormulti-channel recording.Mi xing different 'earpoints' produces a 'way of hearing [that] is an acoustic expectation for anyone who listens to contemporary recordings. It cannot be achieved without the aid of electronic devices. It has never before existed on earth' (ibid, p. 119). "(Middleton 1990, p. 88)

See also

• Recording studio as an instrument

References

• Bennett, H. Stith,On Becoming a Rock Musician,Amherst:University of Massachusetts Press,1980.ISBN0-87023-311-4

• Middleton, Richard(1990/2002).Studying Popular Music.Philadelphia: Open University Press.ISBN0-335-15275-9.

Further reading

• Milner, Greg,"Perfecting Sound Forever: An Aural History of Recorded Music",Faber & Faber; 1 edition (June 9, 2009)ISBN978-0-571-21165-4.Cf. p. 14 on H. Stith Bennett and "recording consciousness".