The Cambridge Companion to Recorded Music

by Nicholas Cook, Eric Clarke, Daniel Leech-Wilkinson, John Rink

Overview

From the cylinder to the download, the practice of music has been radically transformed by the development of recording and playback technologies. This Companion provides a detailed overview of the transformation, encompassing both classical and popular music. Topics covered include the history of recording technology and the businesses built on it; the impact of recording on performance styles; studio practices, viewed from the perspectives of performer, producer and engineer; and approaches to the study of recordings. The main chapters are interspersed by 'short takes' - short contributions by different practitioners, ranging from classical or pop producers and performers to record collectors. Combining basic information with a variety of perspectives on records and recordings, this book will appeal not only to students in a range of subjects from music to the media, but also to general readers interested in a fundamental yet insufficiently understood dimension of musical culture.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780521684613
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
Publication date:	11/26/2009
Series:	Cambridge Companions to Music
Pages:	380
Product dimensions:	6.80(w) x 9.60(h) x 0.90(d)

About the Author

Eric Clarke is Heather Professor of Music at the University of Oxford.

Nicholas Cook is Professor of Music at Cambridge University.

Daniel Leech-Wilkinson is Professor of Music at King's College London.

John Rink is Professor of Music at Royal Holloway, University of London.

Table of Contents

Introduction Eric Clarke, Nicholas Cook, Daniel Leech-Wilkinson and John Rink; Personal takes: learning to live with recording Susan Tomes; A short take in praise of long takes Peter Hill; 1. Performing for (and against) the microphone Donald Greig; Personal takes: producing a credible voice Mike Howlett; 'It could have happened': the evolution of music construction Steve Savage; 2. Recording practices and the role of the producer Andrew Blake; Personal takes: still small voices Jonathan Freeman-Attwood; Broadening horizons: 'performance' in the studio Michael Haas; 3. Getting sounds: the art of sound engineering Albin Zak; Personal takes: limitations and creativity in recording and performance Martyn Ware; Records and recordings in post-punk England, 1978–80 Richard Witts; 4. The politics of the recording studio Louise Meintjes; Personal take: from Lanza to Lassus Tully Potter; 5. From wind-up to iPod: techno-cultures of listening Arild Bergh and Tia DeNora; Personal take: a matter of circumstance: on experiencing recordings Martin Elste; 6. Selling sounds: recordings and the music business David Patmore; Personal take: revisiting concert life in mid-century: the survival of acetate discs Lewis Foreman; 7. The development of recording technologies George Brock-Nannestad; Personal takes: raiders of the lost archive Roger Beardsley; The original cast recording of West Side Story Nigel Simeone; 8. The recorded document: interpretation and discography Simon Trezise; Personal takes: one man's approach to remastering Ted Kendall; Technology, the studio, music Nick Mason; Reminder: a recording is not a performance Roger Heaton; 9. Methods for analysing recordings Nicholas Cook; 10. Recordings and histories of performance style Daniel Leech-Wilkinson; Personal take: recreating history: a clarinettist's perspective Colin Lawson; 11. Going critical. Writing about recordings Simon Frith; Personal take: something in the air Chris Watson; 12. Afterword: from reproduction to representation to remediation Georgina Born; Global bibliography; Global discography.

Editorial Reviews

'… the contributors (some 35 of them, counting the editors) form a lively company of writers and have the agreeable art of expressing opinions without seeming opinionated.' Gramophone

'Effortlessly embracing the worlds of popular and classical music, what results is something really rather dazzling in its scope and scale.' Classical Music

'This collection of essays offers many useful insights for both musicologists studying Western art music and scholars working within popular music studies. The book covers a wide range of topics within the remit of an exploration of recorded music, an area of study that has seen some noteworthy publications in the last decade.' The Journal of Popular Music

From the Publisher