Abstract
A system’s perspective sees the individual or agent as only one part of a system and underlines that creativity arises from the dynamic interaction between the agent and the system’s other elements: a domain and field. Systems are not isolated however, they are connected to, and dependent upon, other systems (Skyttner in General Systems Theory: Problems, Perspectives, Practice, World Scientific, River Edge, NJ, 2006). Their connections are so intricate and multi-layered that: ‘a system in one perspective is a subsystem in another’ (Laszlo in The Systems View of the World: The Natural Philosophy of the New Developments in the Sciences, George Braziller, New York, 1972, p. 14). Consequently, within the creative system of commercial record production, there are a series of multi-layered, vertical, horizontal and diagonally interconnected systems. In particular, the creative systems of songwriting, performing, engineering and producing can be seen to directly contribute to the production of the final recording (Zak in The Poetics of Rock: Cutting Tracks, Making Records, University of California Press, London, 2001). This chapter introduces the history, traditions and function of these distinct but interconnected systems beginning first with the creative system of songwriting.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.
Buying options
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Learn about institutional subscriptionsReferences
Barber, S. (2016). Will You Love Me Tomorrow: The Brill Building and the Creative Labor of the Professional Songwriter. In J. Williams & K. Williams (Eds.), The Cambridge Companion to the Singer-Songwriter. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Becker, H. S. (1982). Art Worlds. Los Angeles: University of California Press.
Beer, D. (2014). The Precarious Double Life of the Recording Engineer. Journal for Cultural Research, 18(3), 189–202.
Blier-Carruthers, A. (2013, April 6). The Performer’s Place in the Process and Product of Recording. Presented at the CMPCP Performance Studies Network International Conference, University of Cambridge.
Burgess, R. (2013). The Art of Music Production: The Theory and Practice. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Doyle, P. (2004). From ‘Blue Heaven’ to ‘Race with the Devil’: Echo, Reverb and (Dis)ordered Space in Early Popular Music Recording. Popular Music, 23(1), 31–49.
Erlewine, M., Thomas, S., & Woodstra, C. (1995). All Music Guide to Rock: The Definitive Guide to Rock, Pop and Soul. San Francsico: Miller Freeman Books.
Feld, S. (1994). From Schizophrenia to Schitzmogenisis: On the Discourses and Commodification Practices of ‘World Music’ and ‘World Beat’. In C. Keil & S. Feld (Eds.), Music Grooves. Chicago: Chicago University Press.
Fitzgerald, J. (1995). Motown Crossover Hits 1963–1966 and the Creative Process. Popular Music, 14(1), 1–11.
Foucault, M. (1979). Discipline and Punish: The Birth of the Prison. New York: Vintage Books.
Grammy.org. (2008). Producer Grammy® Award Eligibility, Crediting Definitions. Available from: http://www.grammy.org/files/pages/Producer_Definitions.pdf. Last accessed June 2018.
Greig, D. (2009). Performing for (and Against) the Microphone. In N. Cook, E. Clarke, D. Leech Wilkinson, & J. Rink (Eds.), The Cambridge Companion to Recorded Music (pp. 16–29). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Hayward, K. (2013). Tin Pan Alley: The Rise of Elton John. London: Soundcheck Books.
Hennion, A. (1990). The Production of Success: An Anti-musicology of the Pop Song. In S. Frith & A. Goodwin (Eds.), On Record: Rock, Pop and the Written Word (pp. 185–206). London: Routledge.
Horning, S. S. (2004). Engineering the Performance: Recording Engineers, Knowledge and the Art of Controlling Sound. Social Studies of Science, 34(5), 703–773.
Howlett, M. (2012, June). The Record Producer as Nexus. Journal on the Art of Record Production (6). Available from: http://arpjournal.com/the-record-producer-as-nexus/. Last accessed February 2015.
Inglis, I. (2003). “Some Kind of Wonderful”: The Creative Legacy of the Brill Building. American Music, 21(2), 214–235.
Jasen, D. A. (2003). Tin Pan Alley: An Encyclopedia of the Golden Age of American Song. London: Routledge.
Katz, M. (2004). Capturing Sound: How Technology Has Changed Music. Berkeley: University of California Press.
Kealy, E. R. (1990). From Craft to Art: The Case of Sound Mixers and Popular Music. In S. Frith & A. Goodwin (Eds.), On Record: Rock, Pop and the Written Word (pp. 207–220). London: Routledge.
Koestler, A. (1975). The Act of Creation (2nd ed.). New York: Dell.
Laing, D. (1969). The Sound of Our Time. Chicago: Quadrangle.
Laszlo, E. (1972). The Systems View of the World: The Natural Philosophy of the New Developments in the Sciences. New York: George Braziller.
Longhurst, B. (1995). Popular Music and Society. Cambridge: Polity Press.
Long Lingo, E., & O’Mahony, S. (2010). Nexus Work: Brokerage on Creative Projects. Administrative Science Quarterly, 5, 47–81.
McIntyre, P. (2008, November). The Systems Model of Creativity: Analyzing the Distribution of Power in the Studio. Journal on the Art of Record Production (3). Available from: http://arpjournal.com/686/the-systems-model-of-creativity-analyzing-the-distribution-of-power-in-the-studio/. Last accessed Oct 2018.
McIntyre, P. (2012). Creativity and Cultural Production: Issues for Media Practice. Basingstoke, UK: Palgrave Macmillan.
McIntyre, P. (2013). Creativity as a System in Action. In K. Thomas & J. Chan (Eds.), Handbook of Research on Creativity (pp. 84–97). Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar.
Moorefield, V. (2005). The Producer as Composer: Shaping the Sounds of Popular Music. London: MIT Press.
Neuenfeldt, K. (2004). ‘An Australian Case Study of Producing “World Music” Recordings’. In P. Greene & T. Porcello (Eds.), Wired for Sound: Engineering and Technologies in Sonic Cultures, pp. 84–102. Hanover NH: Wesleyan Press.
Palmer, R. (1995). Rock and Roll: An Unruly History. New York: Harmony.
Potter, J. (1998). Vocal Authority: Singing Style and Ideology. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Potter, J. (2000). The Cambridge Companion to Singing. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Seabrook, J. (2015). The Song Machine, Inside the Hit Factory. London: Jonathan Cape/Vintage Publishing.
Shuker, R. (1994). Understanding Popular Music. London: Routledge.
Shuker, R. (2006). Understanding Popular Music Culture (2nd ed.). London: Routledge.
Skyttner, L. (2006). General Systems Theory: Problems, Perspectives, Practice (2nd ed.). River Edge, NJ: World Scientific.
Till, R. (2016). Singer-Songwriter Authenticity, the Unconscious and Emotions (Feat. Adele’s “Someone Like You”). In K. Williams & J. A. Williams (Eds.), The Cambridge Companion to the Singer-Songwriter (pp. 291–304). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Tingen, P. (2005). Steve Albini: Sound Engineer Extraordinaire. Available from: https://www.soundonsound.com/people/steve-albini. Last accessed May 2018.
Williams, A. (2010, December 3–4). Celluloid Heroes: Fictional Truths of Recording Studio Practice on Film. In Proceedings of the 2010 Art of Record Production Conference. Leeds, UK: Leeds Metropolitan University. Available from: http://arpjournal.com/1412/celluloid-heroes-fictional-truths-of-recording-studio-practice-on-film/. Last accessed Feb 2015.
Zagorski-Thomas, S. (2006). “We Don’t Write Songs. We Write Records”: a compositional methodology based on late 20th century popular music. In Proceedings of the International Computer Music Association Conference (Vol. 2006, pp. 585–592). Available from: https://quod.lib.umich.edu/i/icmc/bbp2372.2006.121/1. Last accessed Oct 2018.
Zagorski-Thomas, S. (2012, December 2–4). Towards a Typology of Issues Affecting Performance in the Recording Studio. In Proceedings of the 2011 Art of Record Production Conference. San Francisco, CA: San Francisco State University.
Zak, A. (2001). The Poetics of Rock: Cutting Tracks, Making Records. London: University of California Press.
Zak, A. (2013). I Don’t Sound Like Nobody: Remaking Music in 1950s America. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.
Recordings Cited
Bowie, David. (1974). Diamond Dogs. RCA.
Clarkson, Kelly. (2004). Breakaway. Walt Disney/RCA.
Dr Ross. (1954). Boogie Disease. Sun Records.
Frankie Goes to Hollywood. (1984). Welcome to the Pleasuredome. ZTT.
Jackson, Michael. (1982). Thriller. Epic/CBS.
Lennon, John. (1971). John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band. Apple.
Little Walter. (1952). “Juke”. Chess Records.
Perry, Katy. (2010). California Gurls. Capitol.
Presley, Elvis. (1955). Mystery Train. Sun Records.
Spears, Britney. (2001). Cinderella. Jive.
U2. (1987). ‘Running to Stand Still’, The Joshua Tree. Island.
West, Kanye. (2004). ‘Breath In, Breath Out’. The College Dropout. Roc-A-Fella/Def Jam.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2019 The Author(s)
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Thompson, P. (2019). The Creative System of Commercial Record Production. In: Creativity in the Recording Studio. Leisure Studies in a Global Era. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-01650-0_3
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-01650-0_3
Published:
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-030-01649-4
Online ISBN: 978-3-030-01650-0
eBook Packages: Social SciencesSocial Sciences (R0)