Perspectives on Music Production – Producing Music

Call for chapters

Deadline for proposals: 3rd October 2016

During the last two decades the field of music production has attracted considerable interest from the academic community, more recently becoming established as an important and flourishing research discipline in its own right. In addition, the academic study of music production within educational institutions has become the norm alongside training in the technical aspects of the practice. Our intention for the proposed second volume of the Routledge Perspectives on Music Production series is both to strengthen and broaden the range of the discipline as it currently stands. In particular we will welcome proposals for chapters in the following areas:

• Ontological Issues: Key questions regarding the nature of the producer and the ontology of production. What does it mean to ‘produce music’? What is a music producer? What concepts inform the production of music? What are the criteria for defining and discussing music production? How might the notion of the music production be defined in the future?
• Aesthetics. How has the art of producing music evolved? What constitutes ‘creativity’, ‘innovation’ within this field?
• The Role of Technologies in Music Production. These might be discussed in terms of their historical development, for example, the association of a certain technology with a particular era of music production. Alternatively a more recent technology (such as the DAW) might be analysed from the point of view of its particular characteristics and the role these play in conditioning production techniques and working approaches (for example, normative uses vs ‘creative abuse’). We are also interested in chapters that speculate on the ways in which emerging technologies will inform the practice of producing music in the future.
• Case Studies & Interviews. Discussions of, or with, individual figures who have played a pivotal role in evolving the art of music production – examples range from iconic figures such as Phil Spector, George Martin, Brian Wilson, Rudy Van Gelder and Brian Eno to recent innovators including Timbaland, Mark Ronson and Max Martin. In addition technologists and innovators can be considered here. Discussions of production styles of particular eras might also feature in this context.
• Musicological Perspectives. This could include critical theory-informed readings of particular recordings; hermeneutic approaches involving the application of particular methodologies (such as semiotics) to the study of production gestures; interdisciplinary analyses which bring wider discourses to bear upon the meaning of recordings. Contributions proposing particular analytical models for interrogating the production fingerprints of recordings would also be of interest here.
• Perspectives on The Music Industry on what constitutes ‘producing music’ in the current climate. How should producers be trained in the future? What are the challenges that the producers should expect to face in an increasingly uncertain economic environment?

This book will be aimed at professionals working within the field, undergraduate and MA level music production programmes as well as general audiences. Introductory information on the first book in the series can be viewed at https://www.routledge.com/Perspectives-on-Music-Production/book-series/MUSICPROD.

Timetable:

• 250-300 word abstracts/proposals for chapters of around 5-6,000 words should be returned by 3rd October 2016 to [email protected]
• Responses will returned to successful contributors by 1st November 2016
• Chapter Deadline 1st September 2017 (TBC)