Thesis Format

Monograph

A Musicology of Record Production - Research Creation, Gender, and Creative Reflective Practice in Project-Paradigm Music Production

Author

Lydia WiltonFollow

Degree

Doctor of Philosophy

Program

Music

Supervisor

Hodgson, Jay.

2nd Supervisor

Toft, Robert.

Abstract

This research-creation project elucidates the “methodology” of producing records. As an artist-researcher, I investigate how a record producer uses the recording studio as a “musical instrument”. My primary research goal is to answer two fundamental questions about record producing that have yet to be addressed and which cannot be explored successfully by other means: “Does the record producer’s creative agency have musical consequences?”, and “If so, what are they?” Through the creative practices I adopted for this project’s artefact - an album of nine tracks, called Blasphemy, that I produced for the London, Ontario-based rock band Nameless Friends - I establish a taxonomy of the creative agency of record producing, which considers the way producers musically influence the production process. This taxonomy confirms that the producer’s role in making records is a relational activity with straightforward musical consequences, a sort of performance practice in which the producer acts through musicians and recording engineers to execute a sonic vision for the finished product. Put simply, I contend that record-production practice is musical practice.

Further, I argue that the practice of record production is a unique, creative agency made manifest by the leadership role producers assume, exemplified by household names such as Rick Rubin, Sylvia Massey, and George Martin. While these producers have distinct approaches to production, they share a practice of using social power to achieve musical goals. The shared nature of this practice suggests that one producer’s creative agency offers knowledge relevant to the work of (many) others, even though a detailed investigation of these practices has yet to be undertaken. To fill this lacuna, the project focuses on my own record producing practices to provide new knowledge about the nature of record production that is transferable to the work of others. I demonstrate how the tangible outcomes of one producer’s creative agency can enhance understanding of artefacts generated by a diverse group of producers.

Summary for Lay Audience

This project studies how record producers make music. Specifically, this dissertation is a case study of how I, a young female music producer, produced a nine track album called Blasphemy for London, Ontario-based rock band Nameless Friends from 2021-2023. This study is about leadership, gender, creative agency, and vision, and it offers an insider account of one of the most powerful, mysterious specialities in modern music.

There is a void of formal study about how music producers actually do their jobs, largely because it’s difficult to study music recording without listening to recordings. So this dissertation offers two contributions to that knowledge gap. First, this paper is the written guide for a long playlist of recordings, which survey my Blasphemy production process from demo to release. Readers can listen to the playlist to literally hear how I built the album, and this paper explains why I made the choices I did. Second, though I am a mere indie producer from Canada, I produce records with many of the same tools and approaches as big name producers. This project unpacks how I used those tools and approaches musically, and in doing so, offers insight into the practices of anyone else who also uses them.

Recommended Citation

Wilton, Lydia, "A Musicology of Record Production - Research Creation, Gender, and Creative Reflective Practice in Project-Paradigm Music Production" (2024). Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository. 9999.
https://ir.lib.uwo.ca/etd/9999

Creative Commons License

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