Journal Articles by Amandine Pras
5th edition of Tracking the Creative Process in Music (TCPM) proceedings, 2019
Despite violent economic challenges and the near absence of audio education in Bamako, Mali, arra... more Despite violent economic challenges and the near absence of audio education in Bamako, Mali, arrangers/engineers master the recording studio as a compositional and improvisation tool to produce popular music. In 2018, most Bamako studios are built around Cubase 5, an outdated Digital Audio Workstation (DAW) that requires a basic computer and sound interface to intermediate between recorded audio, MIDI programing using banks of virtual instruments commonly named samples, and signal processing through equalizers, compressors, delays and other effects referred to as VST for Virtual Studio Technology plugins by the younger generations including all the participants of our ethnography. This paper highlights how this technology transcends the artistic hierarchy between stage performers and studio technicians by enhancing improvisation and collaborative processes in the studio. I will illustrate this effect of globalized digital audio through the analysis of a seven-hours Reggae Mandingue production whose process was entirely documented from recording to mastering with two video cameras, computer screen captures, and a high-fidelity stereo microphone placed just behind the ears of the arranger/engineer.
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Audio Engineering Society Convention 147, 2019
Bamako, economic capital of Mali in West Africa, saw the recent multiplication of digital studios... more Bamako, economic capital of Mali in West Africa, saw the recent multiplication of digital studios based on Cubase 5, FL Studio, cracked plugins, a MIDI keyboard, and a small cabin with a cheap condenser microphone and a pop-filter. From videos and screen captures of recording sessions in three of these studios, we analyzed the creative process of four DAW practitioners from the beginning of the beat production to the mastering of the track. We also examined their interaction with the singers and rappers. Our analyses showed that young Malian DAW practitioners constantly revisit their MIDI arrangement and vocal recordings with advanced editing techniques. Locally successful, they have quickly developed a notoriety that enables them to be directive with their clients.
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When musicians improvise freely together—not following any sort of script, predetermined harmonic... more When musicians improvise freely together—not following any sort of script, predetermined harmonic structure, or “referent”—to what extent do they understand what they are doing in the same way as each other? And to what extent is their understanding privileged relative to outside listeners with similar levels of performing experience in free improvisation? In this exploratory case study, a saxophonist and a pianist of international renown who knew each other's work but who had never performed together before were recorded while improvising freely for 40 min. Immediately afterwards the performers were interviewed separately about the just-completed improvisation, first from memory and then while listening to two 5 min excerpts of the recording in order to prompt specific and detailed commentary. Two commenting listeners from the same performance community (a saxophonist and drummer) listened to, and were interviewed about, these excerpts. Some months later, all four participants rated the extent to which they endorsed 302 statements that had been extracted from the four interviews and anonymized. The findings demonstrate that these free jazz improvisers characterized the improvisation quite differently, selecting different moments to comment about and with little overlap in the content of their characterizations. The performers were not more likely to endorse statements by their performing partner than by a commenting listener from the same performance community, and their patterns of agreement with each other (endorsing or dissenting with statements) across multiple ratings—their interrater reliability as measured with Cohen's kappa—was only moderate, and not consistently higher than their agreement with the commenting listeners. These performers were more likely to endorse statements about performers' thoughts and actions than statements about the music itself, and more likely to endorse evaluatively positive than negative statements. But these kinds of statements were polarizing; the performers were more likely to agree with each other in their ratings of statements about the music itself and negative statements. As in Schober and Spiro (2014), the evidence supports a view that fully shared understanding is not needed for joint improvisation by professional musicians in this genre and that performing partners can agree with an outside listener more than with each other.
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Cette enquête sur la pratique de la composition improvisée a été menée auprès de 12 musiciens pro... more Cette enquête sur la pratique de la composition improvisée a été menée auprès de 12 musiciens professionnels vivant à New York et menant une carrière internationale en tant qu’improvisateurs. Ces musiciens ont été sélectionnés pour la puissance et le caractère unique de leur voix artistique, aussi pour représenter autant que possible les diversités culturelles et générationnelles qui caractérisent cette scène. Après une introduction situant leurs pratiques vis à vis de l’improvisation libre et du free jazz tels que définis dans la littérature, l’article est basé sur des citations issues d’entretiens individuels de ces musiciens, suivant un protocole de recueil et d’analyse rigoureux. Les citations sont organisées selon trois thèmes : leur définition de la composition improvisée ; leurs différentes approches artistiques ; et les liens entre leur pratique musicale et leur philosophie de vie, incluant d’éventuelles connexions politiques et/ou spirituelles.
Cette analyse est illustrée d’extraits vidéo de ces musiciens à partir d’enregistrements réalisés au sein d’un projet de recherche et création plus large, qui fait appel à plusieurs approches méthodologiques pour analyser la pratique de la composition improvisée à New York. Les entretiens individuels à la base de cet article représentent la première partie de ce projet qui découle de l’expérience de terrain de l’auteure en temps que réalisatrice d’enregistrements musicaux professionnels au sein de la scène musicale étudiée.
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Dans cet article, nous rapportons une étude expérimentale qui a amené deux instigateurs du free j... more Dans cet article, nous rapportons une étude expérimentale qui a amené deux instigateurs du free jazz, le batteur Todd Capp et le multi-instrumentiste Daniel Carter, à rencontrer musicalement Mikey Holmes, un jeune artiste de la scène noise à New York en mai 2014. À travers une analyse du processus d’improvisation de ces trois musiciens, l’étude traite de la continuité tant sociale qu’artistique entre différents genres et différentes générations de l’improvisation. Les deux rencontres musicales ont été filmées et enregistrées pour provoquer l’auto-évaluation de la part des musiciens entre chacune des improvisations. Nous incluons deux vidéos dans le présent article pour partager le résultat musical de ces rencontres avec le lecteur. En s’appuyant sur les citations des musiciens, nous abordons les thèmes du temps de la performance et de l’enregistrement, de l’utilisation de sons contextuels, de la trans-musicalité, de l’improvisation libre et des liens entre musique et politique à New York entre les géants du jazz de la fin des années 50 et la musique improvisée d’aujourd’hui. À travers ces thèmes, nous établissons une relation entre la subversivité d’une musique et sa résistance au temps, et nous supposons qu’il existe un lien entre la pérennité des productions musicales enregistrées et leurs conditions de réalisation en studio.
Grâce à cette approche méthodologique interdisciplinaire, nous confrontons l’art d’échantillonner à la performance improvisée et nous interrogeons le caractère social et politique contenu à l’intérieur d’une improvisation.
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Journal of New Music Research, 42(4), 381-395, Dec 16, 2013
"Record producers interact with musicians to obtain the best artistic results from recording sess... more "Record producers interact with musicians to obtain the best artistic results from recording sessions. Commonly described as professionals without well-defined skills, the producers’ role has received scant attention. In this paper, we report a qualitative investigation of the producers’ tacit knowledge, skills and competences involved in making successful recordings, and we develop a model of artistic direction for studio sessions, extending Hennion (1989)’s concept of ‘intermediary between production and consumption’.
We interviewed six world-renowned record producers about their mission, their methods of production and their contribution to the creative process of musical recordings. We first analysed their responses using content analysis. We then investigated emerging concepts using linguistic analysis with an emphasis on the producer’s artistic involvement during recording sessions.
This combination of qualitative methods used in the Social Sciences (Grounded Theory) and in Linguistics allowed us to investigate in depth best practices for studio recording. Through this inductive analysis, we identified and described various levels of a producer’s artistic involvement during recording sessions, namely From context to situation, Intermediary role, Verbal communication, Management and Artistic collaboration. We also present inter-personal skills shared amongst interviewees to help musicians complete their recording project in the best possible conditions."
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Journal of Music, Technology & Education, 6(1), 81–101
The choice of recording technologies always transforms musicians’ perception of their performance... more The choice of recording technologies always transforms musicians’ perception of their performance when playing in the studio. In many cases, during recording sessions, musicians repeat the same musical composition over and over again without the presence of an audience. We hypothesize that comments from an external record producer and/or self-evaluation after listening to the takes in the control room address the challenges of studio recording by helping musicians improve from one recorded take to another. We conduct a field experiment with 25 jazz players, grouped into five ensembles, participating in recording sessions with four record producers. The musicians are invited to record four compositions, one in each of four experimental conditions. To create these conditions, we independently manipulate two types of feedback between takes: with or without comments from the record producer and with or without musicians’ self-evaluation (after listening to the takes in the control room). Our results show that both external comments and self-evaluation provide objectivity by giving the ensemble a common ground. Specifically, listening to the first take enhances creativity while external comments positively impact a takes’ evolution throughout the session.
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Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology, 64(3), 612–626, 2013, Jan 16, 2013
Since the invention of sound reproduction in the late 19th century, studio practices in musical r... more Since the invention of sound reproduction in the late 19th century, studio practices in musical recording evolved in parallel with technological improvements. Recently, digital technology and Internet file sharing led to the delocalization of professional recording studios and the decline of traditional record companies. A direct consequence of this new paradigm is that studio professions found themselves in a transitional phase, needing to be reinvented. To understand the scope of these recent technological advances, we first offer an overview of musical recording culture and history and show how studio recordings became a sophisticated form of musical artwork that differed from concert representations. We then trace the economic evolution of the recording industry through technological advances and present positive and negative impacts of the decline of the traditional business model on studio practices and professions. Finally, we report findings from interviews with six world-renowned record producers reflecting on their recording approaches, the impact of recent technological advances on their careers, and the future of their profession. Interviewees appreciate working on a wider variety of projects than they have in the past, but they all discuss trade-offs between artistic expectations and budget constraints in the current paradigm. Our investigations converge to show that studio professionals have adjusted their working settings to the new economic situation, although they still rely on the same aesthetic approaches as in the traditional business model to produce musical recordings.
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Musicae Scientiae, 15(1), 73– 95, 2011
As a result of recent technological advances, musicians tend to produce their music themselves in... more As a result of recent technological advances, musicians tend to produce their music themselves in home studios, without necessarily collaborating with a professional producer or a sound engineer. To understand how this new paradigm affects musical recordings, we need to study the context of recording sessions involving a producer and a sound engineer. In this article we investigate the role of producers and sound engineers, as perceived by young professionals actively involved in recording sessions. We collected verbal data from 16 musicians and 6 sound engineers, from different countries and backgrounds. Participants were asked to freely define in their own words the role of an ideal producer and an ideal sound engineer. Then, we invited them to describe positive or negative experiences they had previously encountered in the studio. We classified their spontaneous descriptions into emerging themes using the constant comparison method. The three main categories referred to mission, skills, and interaction. A consensus emerged regarding the respective missions of producers and sound engineers. While the producer is responsible for the artistic direction of the project, the sound engineer has to make appropriate sound choices by taking into consideration the musicians’ requests. The primary skills reported for the ideal producer were communication and interpersonal skills. The ideal sound engineer, paradoxically, was described as minimally interacting with musicians during sessions. To conclude, we discuss future directions to clarify the relationships between the missions and skills producers and sound engineers are expected to exhibit, and to further investigate the level of the producer’s artistic involvement.
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Editorial by Amandine Pras
This bilingual issue is a testimony to current improvisation practices that confront traditions, ... more This bilingual issue is a testimony to current improvisation practices that confront traditions, idioms and individualities in
different locations and throughout several artists’ careers. It brings together academic papers by Amandine Pras, Tom Arthurs and Leila Adu-Gilmore; an interview of Nora Sirmoria by Caroline Cance and Vanesa Garcia; a portrait of Jim Black by Gilles Cloiseau and Caroline Cance; and texts by Michael Attias and Jonathan Kay. Ce numéro bilingue témoigne de pratiques d'improvisation contemporaines qui confrontent traditions, idiomes et individualités dans différents lieux et à travers plusieurs parcours d'artistes. Il regroupe des articles académiques d'Amandine Pras, Tom Arthurs et Leila Adu-Gilmore; un entretien de Nora Sirmoria de Caroline Cance et Vanesa Garcia; un portrait de Jim Black par Gilles Cloiseau et Caroline Cance; des textes de Michael Attias et de Jonathan Kay.
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Book Chapters by Amandine Pras
During recording sessions, record producers and sound engineers play the role of cultural interme... more During recording sessions, record producers and sound engineers play the role of cultural intermediaries between musicians and their future audience. Their role differs from that of artistic leaders, such as film directors, who express their own ideas through a collective creative process. Studio professionals aim to achieve the best possible representation of a given musical project, similarly to photographers, whose goal is to capture the most significant image of their models.
Recently, the delocalisation of well-equipped studios to home studios, combined with the collapse of the traditional business model of record companies, has led musicians to produce their recordings without necessarily hiring studio professionals. And when hired by musicians, producers and engineers often take on both roles at once. This client relationship without the intermediary of record companies modifies the collaborative aspects of the production process. In such a do-it-yourself context, studio professionals need to reinvent their job while musicians need to learn the art of recording and define their expectations when collaborating with studio professionals.
This chapter is based on my professional and teaching experience, as well as five research studies conducted with professional producers, engineers, and musicians. In three sections, it highlights the best practices in conducting recording sessions from the perspectives of musicians and studio professionals coming from different musical backgrounds, countries, and generations. The first section focuses on the preparation of studio sessions to produce successful musical recordings. The second discusses record producers' and sound engineers' skills, as well as the mission and specificities of each profession. The third addresses the myths of artistic direction by making explicit the impact of producers ' comments on musical performance.
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vs. Interpretation: An Anthology on Improvisation, Jun 24, 2015
This paper reports on a project that investigates the creative process of improvising within the ... more This paper reports on a project that investigates the creative process of improvising within the practice of professional musicians. This research and creation project primarily involves twelve improvisers of international renown based in New York City, namely Tony Malaby (tenor and soprano saxophones), Angelica Sanchez (piano), Tom Rainey (drums), Daniel Carter (tenor, alto and soprano saxophones, flute, clarinet, and trumpet), Ingrid Laubrock (tenor and soprano saxophones), Mary Halvorson (guitar), John Hébert (bass), Michaël Attias (alto saxophone), Satoshi Takeishi (drums, percussions and electronics), Jim Black (drums and electronics), Todd Capp (drums) and Matthew Shipp (piano). Through several studies, it aims to analyze these artists’ musicianship in depth, to distinguish between the individual and collective aspects of their practice to examine how they react musically to unprecedented situations, and to give them opportunities to record their music in good conditions. This multi-disciplinary project primarily contributes to two recent research fields, Analysis of Creative Processes in Music (Donin & Theureau, 2007) and Critical Studies in Improvisation (Lewis & Piekut, forthcoming).
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Conference Proceedings by Amandine Pras
Audio Engineering Society Convention 144, 2018
While sound mixers of popular music may share common principles across cultures, different engine... more While sound mixers of popular music may share common principles across cultures, different engineers produce different mixes, and different listeners judge a mix differently. We designed a mixed-methods approach to examine this highly multidimensional problem in both style and perceived quality. Five student sound engineers from the Paris Conservatoire mixed the multitrack source of two pop songs and fully documented their mixing process. The resulting mixes were then used as stimuli for a blind, multi-stimulus listening test in a high-quality listening room, that 13 students and one faculty member commented on and rated in terms of preference. Our outcomes highlight cultural and generational mixing specificities and offer a better understanding of the artistic side of the practice.
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Audio Engineering Society Convention 144, 2018
This study uses binaural technology for headphone monitoring in world music, jazz and free improv... more This study uses binaural technology for headphone monitoring in world music, jazz and free improvisation recording sessions. We first conducted an online survey with twelve musicians to identify the challenges they face when performing in studio with wearable monitoring devices. Then, to investigate musicians' perceived differences between binaural and stereo monitoring, we carried out three comparative tests followed by semi-directed focus groups. The survey analysis highlighted the main challenges of coping with an unusual performance situation and a lack of realism and sound quality of the auditory scene. Tests showed that binaural monitoring improved the perceived sound quality and realism, musicians' comfort and pleasure, and encouraged better musical performances and more creativity in the studio.
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Audio Engineering Society Convention 142, 2017
Conductors face challenges when conducting the orchestra with headphones to synchronize with a so... more Conductors face challenges when conducting the orchestra with headphones to synchronize with a soundtrack or a click track. We sent a survey to 12 international conductors to identify and classify those challenges. They primarily reported on balance issues, aggressive click tracks, and the difficulty of hearing the acoustic sound of the orchestra, leading 70% of them to remove one ear out of the headphones. A solution using augmented reality monitoring through binaural rendering and head tracking was tested in various situations and showed that it could successfully reproduce the acoustic sound of the orchestra into the headphones. Another perceptual experiment evaluated the potential of realism of this solution when merging two binaural auditory scenes recorded in the same acoustic space together. Results encourage us to further develop immersive monitoring systems for conductors, with the soundtrack integrated in the real acoustic space.
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Audio Engineering Society Convention 141, 2016
This pilot study examines a common belief in written classical music that a live recording convey... more This pilot study examines a common belief in written classical music that a live recording conveys a more expressive musical performance than a technically flawless studio production. Two tonmeister students of the Paris Conservatoire recorded a six-dance baroque suite and a four-movement romantic sonata in concert and in studio sessions, with the same microphone techniques and in the same venue for both conditions. Twenty listeners completed an online survey to rate three versions of the dances and movements, i.e. the concert performance, the 1 st studio take, and the edited version. Results show that listeners preferred the edited versions (44%) more often than the 1 st studio takes (29%) and the concert performances (27%).
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Audio Engineering Society Convention 140, 2016
We evaluate the efficiency of a 3D spatialization software named Transpan in the context of mixin... more We evaluate the efficiency of a 3D spatialization software named Transpan in the context of mixing acoustic recordings on a 5.1 reproduction system. The study aims to investigate if the use of the binaural with cross-talk cancellation (XTC) processing implemented in Transpan can improve the localization of lateral sources and their stability through listeners' movements. We administered a listening test to 22 expert listeners in Paris and in Berlin. The test consisted in comparisons among two mixes with and without binaural/XTC panning, for four classical music excerpts under five listening conditions, i.e., at the sweet spot and while performing specific movements. Quantitative analysis of multiple choice questions showed that Transpan can enlarge the 5.1 sweet spot area toward the rear speakers. From qualitative analysis of participants' feedback emerged five main categories of comments, namely Localization stability; Precise localization accuracy; Vague localization accuracy; Timbral and spectral artifacts; and Spatial differences. Together the results show that Transpan allows for better source lateralization in 5.1 mixing.
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This case study investigated free jazz musicians’ creative processes and the extent and nature o... more This case study investigated free jazz musicians’ creative processes and the extent and nature of shared understanding when they improvised together for the first time. It also observed the extent to which other free jazz musicians within the same community agreed with the performers’ characterizations when listening to their recorded performance.
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Proceedings of the 10th International Symposium on Computer Music Multidisciplinary Research
Digital Music Instruments (DMIs) have become popular in research labs and the physical computing ... more Digital Music Instruments (DMIs) have become popular in research labs and the physical computing community, and lately among performers of experimental music. Nevertheless, lacking the historical background enjoyed by acoustic instruments, it is dicult to compare and evaluate DMIs. In this paper, we detail a user study that aims to explore a unique DMI called the \Ballagumi" and to compare 2 distinct mappings designed for its interface. Our study benets from the participants' musical expertise and qualitative analysis of verbal descriptions collected after replication tasks and improvisations to gain valuable insights on musical interactions with DMIs. The study also helps to demon-strate the role of mapping in musical interactions.
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Journal Articles by Amandine Pras
Cette analyse est illustrée d’extraits vidéo de ces musiciens à partir d’enregistrements réalisés au sein d’un projet de recherche et création plus large, qui fait appel à plusieurs approches méthodologiques pour analyser la pratique de la composition improvisée à New York. Les entretiens individuels à la base de cet article représentent la première partie de ce projet qui découle de l’expérience de terrain de l’auteure en temps que réalisatrice d’enregistrements musicaux professionnels au sein de la scène musicale étudiée.
Grâce à cette approche méthodologique interdisciplinaire, nous confrontons l’art d’échantillonner à la performance improvisée et nous interrogeons le caractère social et politique contenu à l’intérieur d’une improvisation.
We interviewed six world-renowned record producers about their mission, their methods of production and their contribution to the creative process of musical recordings. We first analysed their responses using content analysis. We then investigated emerging concepts using linguistic analysis with an emphasis on the producer’s artistic involvement during recording sessions.
This combination of qualitative methods used in the Social Sciences (Grounded Theory) and in Linguistics allowed us to investigate in depth best practices for studio recording. Through this inductive analysis, we identified and described various levels of a producer’s artistic involvement during recording sessions, namely From context to situation, Intermediary role, Verbal communication, Management and Artistic collaboration. We also present inter-personal skills shared amongst interviewees to help musicians complete their recording project in the best possible conditions."
Editorial by Amandine Pras
different locations and throughout several artists’ careers. It brings together academic papers by Amandine Pras, Tom Arthurs and Leila Adu-Gilmore; an interview of Nora Sirmoria by Caroline Cance and Vanesa Garcia; a portrait of Jim Black by Gilles Cloiseau and Caroline Cance; and texts by Michael Attias and Jonathan Kay. Ce numéro bilingue témoigne de pratiques d'improvisation contemporaines qui confrontent traditions, idiomes et individualités dans différents lieux et à travers plusieurs parcours d'artistes. Il regroupe des articles académiques d'Amandine Pras, Tom Arthurs et Leila Adu-Gilmore; un entretien de Nora Sirmoria de Caroline Cance et Vanesa Garcia; un portrait de Jim Black par Gilles Cloiseau et Caroline Cance; des textes de Michael Attias et de Jonathan Kay.
Book Chapters by Amandine Pras
Recently, the delocalisation of well-equipped studios to home studios, combined with the collapse of the traditional business model of record companies, has led musicians to produce their recordings without necessarily hiring studio professionals. And when hired by musicians, producers and engineers often take on both roles at once. This client relationship without the intermediary of record companies modifies the collaborative aspects of the production process. In such a do-it-yourself context, studio professionals need to reinvent their job while musicians need to learn the art of recording and define their expectations when collaborating with studio professionals.
This chapter is based on my professional and teaching experience, as well as five research studies conducted with professional producers, engineers, and musicians. In three sections, it highlights the best practices in conducting recording sessions from the perspectives of musicians and studio professionals coming from different musical backgrounds, countries, and generations. The first section focuses on the preparation of studio sessions to produce successful musical recordings. The second discusses record producers' and sound engineers' skills, as well as the mission and specificities of each profession. The third addresses the myths of artistic direction by making explicit the impact of producers ' comments on musical performance.
Conference Proceedings by Amandine Pras
Cette analyse est illustrée d’extraits vidéo de ces musiciens à partir d’enregistrements réalisés au sein d’un projet de recherche et création plus large, qui fait appel à plusieurs approches méthodologiques pour analyser la pratique de la composition improvisée à New York. Les entretiens individuels à la base de cet article représentent la première partie de ce projet qui découle de l’expérience de terrain de l’auteure en temps que réalisatrice d’enregistrements musicaux professionnels au sein de la scène musicale étudiée.
Grâce à cette approche méthodologique interdisciplinaire, nous confrontons l’art d’échantillonner à la performance improvisée et nous interrogeons le caractère social et politique contenu à l’intérieur d’une improvisation.
We interviewed six world-renowned record producers about their mission, their methods of production and their contribution to the creative process of musical recordings. We first analysed their responses using content analysis. We then investigated emerging concepts using linguistic analysis with an emphasis on the producer’s artistic involvement during recording sessions.
This combination of qualitative methods used in the Social Sciences (Grounded Theory) and in Linguistics allowed us to investigate in depth best practices for studio recording. Through this inductive analysis, we identified and described various levels of a producer’s artistic involvement during recording sessions, namely From context to situation, Intermediary role, Verbal communication, Management and Artistic collaboration. We also present inter-personal skills shared amongst interviewees to help musicians complete their recording project in the best possible conditions."
different locations and throughout several artists’ careers. It brings together academic papers by Amandine Pras, Tom Arthurs and Leila Adu-Gilmore; an interview of Nora Sirmoria by Caroline Cance and Vanesa Garcia; a portrait of Jim Black by Gilles Cloiseau and Caroline Cance; and texts by Michael Attias and Jonathan Kay. Ce numéro bilingue témoigne de pratiques d'improvisation contemporaines qui confrontent traditions, idiomes et individualités dans différents lieux et à travers plusieurs parcours d'artistes. Il regroupe des articles académiques d'Amandine Pras, Tom Arthurs et Leila Adu-Gilmore; un entretien de Nora Sirmoria de Caroline Cance et Vanesa Garcia; un portrait de Jim Black par Gilles Cloiseau et Caroline Cance; des textes de Michael Attias et de Jonathan Kay.
Recently, the delocalisation of well-equipped studios to home studios, combined with the collapse of the traditional business model of record companies, has led musicians to produce their recordings without necessarily hiring studio professionals. And when hired by musicians, producers and engineers often take on both roles at once. This client relationship without the intermediary of record companies modifies the collaborative aspects of the production process. In such a do-it-yourself context, studio professionals need to reinvent their job while musicians need to learn the art of recording and define their expectations when collaborating with studio professionals.
This chapter is based on my professional and teaching experience, as well as five research studies conducted with professional producers, engineers, and musicians. In three sections, it highlights the best practices in conducting recording sessions from the perspectives of musicians and studio professionals coming from different musical backgrounds, countries, and generations. The first section focuses on the preparation of studio sessions to produce successful musical recordings. The second discusses record producers' and sound engineers' skills, as well as the mission and specificities of each profession. The third addresses the myths of artistic direction by making explicit the impact of producers ' comments on musical performance.
However, as Oliveros stated, “Improvisation developed in parallel with radio broadcast and recording technology. [...] Recording is the memory and documentation of improvisation” (2008, p.120). Moreover, audio playback frees improvisers from performance habits and help them to reach their voice (Pras & Lavergne, 2015), as John Coltrane explained, “I mainly work with a tape recorder, which allows me to control my research” (Delorme, 2011, p.62, our translation).
I designed a production approach that requires sharing ideas collaboratively and equally between musicians and studio professionals. This approach allows for deep experimentation that treats the studio as a laboratory and goes beyond taking performance risks: the session flow includes the use of audio playback and creative editing to transcend improvised performances. Moreover, mixing gestures incorporating improvisation processes give rise to innovative outcomes, sonically and musically. I will illustrate this approach through excerpts of The Constant by Jim Black Trio (Intakt Records, 2016), produced after the completion of a two-year field research and creation project within the alternative jazz scene of New York City (Pras, 2015).
The experiment consisted of four Jazz-Hindustani duo meetings, followed by a quartet session and a concert. The duo procedure alternated a first 30-minute free improvisation, listening and individual interviews, a second 30-minute free improvisation, and a collective discussion. This approach builds on previous case studies that investigated the level of shared-understanding between improvisers who played together for the first time (Pras & Lavergne, 2015; Schober & Spiro, 2014). All improvisations and collective discussions were filmed with two cameras and recorded with professional sound equipment. The individual interviews were audio recorded and synchronized on the corresponding duo improvisations, thus allowing for multidisciplinary and complementary analyses (Pras et al., 2015).
The oral communication will include a 5-minute presentation of the experiment and a 15-minute video, edited as a result of musicological and verbal data analyses. The video highlights unexpected musical moments, potential misinterpretations of each other’s musical gestures, and interesting cultural differences regarding musicians’ approaches to concentration and relationship with the audience. It constitutes an excerpt of a documentary and web application that will feature the collaboration between the author and the Kay brothers in a larger scale.
To study improvisers’ effective and accompanying gestures (Delalande, 1988), we edited the filming of their performances with four cameras according to an analysis method of action modalities (de France, 1989). In order to collect improvisers’ self-evaluation on the musical result, we filmed their reactions and recorded their descriptions when they were watching their performance (Theureau, 2003). We also asked them to explain their choice of electronic setup, use of sampling, and sound treatment. This experimental procedure was inspired by Guido Lukoschek's film about the Wayne Shorter Quartet.
In keeping with the different levels of our methodological approach, our results include video excerpts from the performances, feedback sessions and interviews, and an analysis of the improvisers’ approaches to electronics in improvisation. For all three sessions, we observed that the improvisations were developed through an accumulation of different temporalities generated by the use of pre-recorded sounds, loops and immediate sound treatments. Specifically, Satoshi Takeishi discussed gestural challenges of performing with electronic controllers for an audience; Jim Black explained his need to extend the sonic possibilities of a drum set with an interface that would give him access to melodic and harmonic expression; Todd Capp expressed interest in reacting to electronic sounds that are generated randomly by other performers or by the audience and Mickey Holmes shared his affective relationship with his sounds and electronic devices that he assembled together for this specific session.
This interdisciplinary approach allows researchers 1) to generate outstanding performances, 2) to realize films from these performances, 3) to reveal details on musical gestures when performances are brought into being, and 4) to enhance observations with instantaneous feedback from the musicians.
Les professions d’ingénieur du son et de réalisateur d’enregistrements nécessitent des aptitudes d’écoute particulières qui placent le professionnel entre les musiciens et leur public (Hennion 1981). Quand l’ingénieur agit sur la façon dont le son est transmis aux auditeurs, le réalisateur prend en charge l’adéquation entre les choix sonores et l’esthétique du projet, la direction artistique des séances, ainsi que les doutes et les difficultés psychologiques des musiciens (Pras et al 2013). Pour apprendre ces compétences, il y a l’école européenne de Tonmeister inspirée par Schoënberg qui est très adaptée à la musique classique (Borwick 1973), il est aussi possible d’étudier les productions qui ont marqué l’histoire comme celles de Glenn Gould (Gracyk 1997), Miles Davis (Kahn 2007), ou encore les Beatles (Emerik 2007). L’auteure préconise surtout l’expérience des étudiants à travers les différents rôles autant techniques qu’artistiques pour comprendre les enjeux de chaque profession et leur potentiel créatif. Pour illustrer cette communication, des extraits musicaux issus de ses cours seront joués au fil de la présentation.
We will present a multi-layer analysis of these verbal interactions. Our methods combine discourse and interaction analysis (Mondada & Dubois, 1995; Sawyer 2001) with semantic-prosodic analysis (Cloiseau, 2007). In addition to shedding light on joint improvisation in music, this linguistic and cognitive approach also investigates joint improvisation in discourse.
We will illustrate our analysis with examples where the trios (re)build what happened during the performance based on their individual memory and through recurrent collective listening. We will focus both on deep interpersonal synchronization moments and on problematic moments where the improvisers identified discrepancies between their interpretations of each one’s actions on stage and their retrospective understanding of the musical event.
To involve musicians in group discussions building on a playback of their own performance allows us to draw out collaborative reconstructions of their experience (Clark & Wilkes-Gibbs, 1986), and thus contributes to a better understanding of verbal and musical improvisation processes. This study takes place in a wider research and creation project that involves outstanding free improvisers from the jazz scene of New York City (Pras, 2015). It extends a first study based on individual interviews about free improvisation practices, for which we have developed the multi-layer analysis that we present here (Cance et al., 2014).
Suivant une approche multidisciplinaire, nous explorons la rencontre de deux scènes d’improvisation musicale, l’une issue de la tradition du jazz aux États-Unis et l’autre de la musique classique au Nord de l’Inde dite musique Hindustani. À l’intersection des disciplines de l’ethnomusicologie, de l’anthropologie et de la linguistique cognitive, cette étude transculturelle découle d’un travail ethnographique au sein de la scène d’improvisation libre new-yorkaise réalisé à partir d’analyses d’entretiens et de séances d’écoute suite à des enregistrements en concert et en studio (Cance & Cloiseau, 2015 ; Pras, en révision). En janvier 2015 au Bengale, deux des musiciens qui ont activement participé à cette ethnographie, le batteur Jim Black et le saxophoniste Michaël Attias, ont improvisé pour la première fois avec deux maîtres indiens, le joueur de tablas Subhajyoti Guha et le joueur de sarod Sougata Roy Choudhurym, tout deux habitués à improviser dans des contextes musicaux qui sortent du cadre de la tradition Hindustani. Ces rencontres visent principalement à examiner l’adaptation de ces improvisateurs exceptionnels à une situation à laquelle ils n’ont jamais été confrontés auparavant.
In our paper we will present the different improvisation processes that we identified through the analysis of our interviews, with an emphasis on the similarities and disparities among the interviewees’ artistic approaches. We will describe the procedure of our feedback sessions that we adapted according to each ensemble or soloist and we will focus on i) special moments for which the musicians reported intense feelings when they were performing and ii) musical moments that were selected when listening back to the improvisations. The descriptions of these moments will be illustrated by video excerpts of the concerts.
This paper contributes to designing new methods for analysis of improvisational practices by triangulating semi-directed interviews conducted within a phenomenological approach (Vermersch, 2009), observations in concerts, and self-confrontational interview methods in feedback sessions (Theureau, 2003). Our research takes place in the recent field of Tracking Creative Processes in Music (Donin & Theureau, 2007) that gives greater importance to the practitioners’ voice rather than the analysis of musical elements from recording transcriptions. By adapting the procedure of the feedback sessions to the specificities of each ensemble, we address the complexity of investigating this social practice based on creativity and idiosyncrasy.
Bibliography
Donin, N., & Theureau, J. (2007). Theoretical and methodological issues related to long term creative cognition: the case of musical composition. Cognition, Technology & Work, 9(4), 233-251.
Theureau, J. (2003). Course-of-action analysis and course-of-action centered design. Handbook of cognitive task design, 55-81.
Vermersch, P. (2009). Describing the Practice of Introspection. Journal of Consciousness Studies, 16(10-1), 20‑57.
In this paper we investigate the different creative concepts and artistic intentions of improvisers who perform on the same scene in New York. Our ethnographic study involves twelve New-York-based professional improvisers having more than fifteen years of international career. Between 30 and 70 years old, these musicians grew up in different countries such as France, Germany, Japan, and USA, with African-American, European, Moroccan, Israeli and Mexican origins. They were formally trained in straight-the-head jazz or classical music, and/or informally learned on the job by playing pop-rock covers or Latin music.
Our qualitative methods combine individual interviews and group listening sessions of concert recordings with the musicians. We will present the improvisers’ verbal descriptions of their own definition of free improvisation; their experience when they are improvising; and the possible connections between their practice of free improvisation and their personal life, political convictions and spiritual practices. We will illustrate our presentation with excerpts of concert recordings.
Artistic freedom has been defined in the individual interviews with contrary opinions. We have observed strong differences among the improvisers’ creative processes, ranging from the avoidance of thinking to intense thought activity. While all mention the interdependence between their improvisation practice and their personal life, political and/or spiritual connections remain strictly individual and vary in their degree of significance. Although these diverse approaches to free improvisation are influenced by different cultural traditions, they do not prevent musicians from performing together.
These findings allow us to grasp the complexities of personal expression as opposed to artistic traditions. A discussion between these findings and a literature review on the different approaches to free improvisation will contribute to our understanding of how musicians with diverse cultural backgrounds improvise with each other.
We interviewed twelve New-York-based musicians with diverse social and cultural backgrounds, all recognized as professional improvisers with more than fifteen years' experience. Our semi-structured interview guide combined i) questions about the inside of the practice, e.g. personal motivations, feelings related to a specific performance; and ii) questions about the outside of the practice, e.g. solo versus ensemble playing, free improvisation versus other musical genres. As we did not want to rely on musicians’ memory and capacity to share their experience only through discourse, we also recorded them in concert and then collected their feedback while listening to their performances.
We analyzed all the free-format data following three approaches: i) identifying emergent concepts by using the constant comparison technique of Grounded Theory (Corbin and Strauss, 2008); ii) isolating idiosyncratic representations from consensual knowledge in musicians’ discourses by tracking various linguistic cues such as the use of personal pronouns (Dubois, 2008); and iii) detecting linguistic creativity such as metaphors, lexical creations and unexpected variation in prosody (Cloiseau, 2007). We focus the presentation of our findings on the connections between the musicians’ practice of free improvisation and their identity; the musicians’ relationship with their instrument; and the possible synaesthesia between sounds and textures, kinaesthesia or visualizations.
To investigate the practice of free improvisation that can be either personal and/or collective, our approach conceives of language as a practice that contributes to express, share and therefore construct individual representations and consensual knowledge. In keeping with this approach, language participates to the co-construction of subjectivity and intersubjectivity. Furthermore, tracking creativity in musicians’ discourse allows us to highlight the interdependence of their personality and their artistic practice. In this interdisciplinary research we thus develop new methods to address the link between representations and practices in order to investigate the musicians’ perspective on their own experience of free improvisation.
Bibliography
Bailey, D. (1993). Improvisation: Its Nature And Practice In Music. Boston, MA: Da Capo Press.
Cloiseau, G. (2007). Une redéfinition de la métaphoricité à l’oral:Mise en place d’outils d’analyse par une approche de corpus contrastive. PhD Dissertation, Université d’Orléans.
Corbin, J. M., & Strauss, A. L. (2008). Basics of qualitative research: Techniques and procedures for developing grounded theory. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, Inc.
Dubois D (2008) Sens communs et sens commun : Expériences sensibles, connaissance (s) ou doxa ? Langages, 170(2): 41-53.
Magerko, B., Manzoul, W., Riedl, M., Baumer, A., Fuller, D., Luther, K., & Pearce, C. (2009). An Empirical Study of Cognition and Theatrical Improvisation. In Proceedings of the Seventh ACM Conference on Creativity and Cognition (p. 117–126). New York, NY, USA: ACM.
Nakano, Y., & Okada, T. (s. d.). Process of Improvisational Contemporary Dance. In Proceedings of Cogsci 2012, Sapporo. URL: http://mindmodeling.org/cogsci2012/papers/0362/index.html, consulted on 12/16/13.
Il existe différentes sortes d’improvisations musicales [7], et pour cette première étude nous nous intéressons à l’improvisation non idiomatique, connue sous les noms d’improvisation libre, d’improvisation totale, ou encore d’improvisation générative, dont la mission des musiciens consiste à maintenir leur liberté et à exprimer pleinement leur identité [1]. De nos jours, l’improvisation libre fait partie de la scène expérimentale et avant-garde (scène connue sous le nom de musique actuelle au Québec). Toutefois, ses origines socioculturelles sont diverses. Lewis [6] a identifié deux traditions nord-américaines issues de l’après seconde guerre mondiale : 1) la tradition désignée par free jazz, soit une extension du jazz qui est motivée, à l’origine, par un combat collectif pour les droits de la communauté afro-américaine [4] ; 2) la tradition influencée par la scène européenne qui prend sa source dans les concepts de création du futurisme et dans les philosophies orientales, par exemple le zen bouddhiste pour John Cage. Dans notre investigation sur ce que les musiciens expriment à travers l’improvisation libre, nous prendrons en compte les différentes cultures et traditions des improvisateurs, dans le but d’apprécier en quelle mesure leur expression se rapporte à des fondements individuels ou collectifs, et à quel point elle s’articule de façon consciente ou inconsciente.
Nous allons recruter des improvisateurs professionnels reconnus dans la scène internationale de l’improvisation libre et sélectionnés pour représenter différentes cultures et générations à New York, ville qui englobe la plus nombreuse et active communauté d’improvisateurs au monde. De plus, les deux traditions explicitées par Lewis [6] y sont équitablement représentées, leur côtoiement géographique tendant à rapprocher ces deux concepts de création. Notre étude comportera des entretiens semi dirigés, des séances d’enregistrement et des séances d’écoute commentée de ces enregistrements pour permettre aux improvisateurs de décrire leur pratique selon différentes perspectives. Aussi, des extraits de ces enregistrements donneront aux participants du colloque l’occasion d’établir un lien entre les descriptions verbales et l’identité musicale des improvisateurs.
En ce qui concerne les entretiens, nous reprenons la méthodologie utilisée pour investiguer le processus créatif de direction artistique des séances d’enregistrements [8] (étude présentée au 1er colloque Analyser les Processus de Création Musicale en 2011), soit une méthodologie basée sur l’analyse des descriptions verbales d’experts dans le domaine étudié. Le guide d’entretiens inclut des questions générales sur les motivations des musiciens à improviser librement, combinées avec des questions de situation telles que « Pensez à l’une de vos improvisations récentes particulièrement authentique, décrivez comment vous vous sentiez pendant et juste après la prestation. » Dans un deuxième temps, nous enregistrerons les improvisateurs en solo puis nous organiserons des séances d’écoute quelques semaines plus tard pendant lesquelles nous leur demanderons de sélectionner les passages qu’ils considèrent authentiques et de nous expliquer comment ils effectuent cette sélection. Les entretiens semi dirigés et les séances d’écoute commentée seront enregistrés et entièrement transcrits pour êtres analysés selon la technique de comparaison constante de la théorie Grounded [3] qui permet 1) d’identifier les concepts émergents dans l’analyse des descriptions verbales, 2) d’expliciter d’éventuels consensus entre les improvisateurs, et 3) d’établir des relations entre les résultats des différentes parties de l’étude, par exemple entre les données des entretiens et des séances d’écoute commentée.
Lors de la communication, nous présenterons la première partie de cette étude qui est effectuée à l’université Columbia de New York sous la supervision de Prof. Georges Lewis avec le financement de stage postdoctoral du Fonds Quebecois pour la Recherche en Société et Culture. Elle comprendra 3 entretiens individuels, enregistrements et séances d’écoute commentée. Les résultats de ces premiers entretiens nous permettront de discuter la méthodologie choisie pour rendre compte de l’expérience émotionnelle et spirituelle des musiciens lorsqu’ils improvisent une musique qu’ils considèrent authentique, et au besoin d’adapter notre guide d’entretiens afin de poursuivre notre étude avec plus d’improvisateurs. La suite de cette étude visera à établir un lien entre l’expression des musiciens et l’appréciation de la musique par les auditeurs pour mieux comprendre ce qui est communiqué lors d’une prestation musicale. Dans son ensemble, cette investigation auprès d’improvisateurs renommés fournira des informations utiles pour les professeurs de musique et pour les professionnels de la thérapie par l’art qui utilisent couramment l’improvisation dans leur pratique.
[1] Bailey, D. (1993). Improvisation: Its Nature And Practice In Music. Boston, MA: Da Capo Press.
[2] Clarke, E. F. (2005). Creativity in performance. Musicae Scientiae, 9(1), 157.
[3] Corbin, J. M., & Strauss, A. L. (2008). Basics of qualitative research: Techniques and procedures for developing grounded theory. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, Inc.
[4] Cox, C., & Warner, D. (2004). Audio Culture: Readings in Modern Music. New York, NY: Continuum.
[5] Gingras, B., Lagrandeur-Ponce, T., Giordano, B. L., & McAdams, S. (2011). Perceiving musical individuality: Performer identification is dependent on performer expertise and expressiveness, but not on listener expertise. Perception, 40(10), 1206 – 1220.
[6] Lewis, G. E. (1996). Improvised music after 1950: Afrological and Eurological perspectives. Black Music Research Journal, 16(1), 91–122.
[7] Pétard, A. (2010). L’improvisation musicale: enjeux et contrainte sociale. Paris: L’Harmattan.
[8] Pras, A., & Guastavino, C. (2011). Diriger l’écoute afin d'enregistrer la meilleure performance possible. Actes du colloque Analyser les processus de création musicale, Sept. 29 - Oct. 1, Lille, France.
Our presentation is a case study of the studio recording of the Bird on a Wire 2: Flocking Patterns project, which comprised eight pieces for recorders and electronics, composed by eight composers. We will offer three specific examples to illustrate the various challenges we encountered in the process of this recording in both stereo and 5.0.
• La Huppe by Robert Normandeau [1]: integrating electronics with a renaissance contrabass recorder – whose sound is very soft – without the amplification it uses in concert, we recorded the live sound and the real-time electronics using headphones. Then, the diffusion of the recording of the electronics was recorded separately in the same hall (to conserve its acoustic properties).
• Time Goes Awry by Jenny Olivia Johnson [2]: the very characteristic reverb used in the fixed media led us to add an artificial reverberation on the soprano and alto recorders that had been close-miked, to create a homogeneous texture.
• First Beginning by Dan Blake [3]: in preproduction, we decided to create an idealized version of the electronics part (which is usually created by launching soundfiles in real-time according to a specific score), in terms of timing and spatialisation, to use them as a “tape” for the purposes of recording.
These examples show that the live and recorded performances are really two different yet complementary versions of these works. Recording captures a single possible interpretation of the work, and in the case of mixed music, it often brings new perspectives and even a possible “recomposition” of the piece: its performance is a continuity of the collaborative process of interpretation [4] and shows aesthetic choices that transcend certain aspects of the works that cannot emerge as well in a concert situation.
Discography
Bird on a Wire II Flocking Patterns (BoW, 2012), recording by Amandine Pras at Salle Claude Champagne, Université de Montréal, with the support of CIRMMT and OICRM:
[6] La Huppe by Robert Normandeau, interpreted par Terri Hron (recorder)
[7] Time Goes Awry (Koli, Summer 2010) by Jenny Olivia Johnson, interpreted by Terri Hron (recorder)
[8] First Beginning by Daniel Blake, interpreted by Terri Hron (recorder)
Bibliography
[9] Landy, Leigh. (2006). La Zététique: Musique mixte créée en collaboration. In Battier, M., Bossis, B. and Veitl, A. eds. Musique, Instruments, Machines: Autour Des Musiques Électroacoustiques. Paris: MINT/OMF/ Universite de Paris IV-Sorbonne: pp. 69-79.
[10] Patmore, D., & Clarke, E. (2007). Making and hearing virtual worlds: John Culshaw and the art of record production. In Musicae Scientiae, 11(2), 269-293.
Nous présenterons l’analyse d’une série d’entretiens semi directifs réalisés auprès de six directeurs artistiques d’enregistrements avec un portfolio d’exception et plus de 20 ans d’expérience en Europe et Amérique du Nord. Le guide d’entretien aborde la mission et la contribution du réalisateur dans les processus de la création artistique. Plus spécifiquement, nous avons interrogé les professionnels sur leurs méthodes de gestion des séances d'enregistrement, en prenant comme exemple des situations de stress ou encore la discussion entre deux prises d’une même composition.
Dans cette analyse, nous mettrons tout d’abord en évidence les analogies avec les processus créatifs dans d’autres professions ainsi que les consensus dans la description du rôle du directeur artistique. Nous développerons ensuite la notion d’intermédiaire entre les artistes et leur futur public, introduite par Hennion (1989) et largement explicitée par les professionnels interrogés. Cela nous amènera à détailler les différentes méthodes d’écoute mises en œuvre par les directeurs artistiques afin de diriger une séance de studio et d’obtenir la meilleure prestation possible en usant d’un savant mélange de sensibilités humaine et musicale. Après avoir explicité les qualités artistiques d’une performance musicale, nous décrirons quelques techniques élaborées par ces maîtres du son pour remettre en question les interprètes ou leur redonner confiance. "