A Hermeneutics of Spatialization for Recorded Song

Abstract

This article is one of a series exploring the spatialization of sound sources in recorded songs and how they may be understood (see also 'The Virtual Performance Space in Rock', twentieth-century music 5/2). Its theoretical basis is multi-faceted, utilizing notions of ecological perception, of the sound-box, of the singer's persona, and of interpersonal distance in communication, as well as further concepts from cognitive science. It focuses particularly on image schemata and proxemics, exemplifying them across a range of genres, while also addressing them critically, for instance from a feminist perspective. Finally, it explores how this theoretical basis helps us not only to understand the contribution of spatialization to the interpretation of songs and their meanings, but also to shed light on the role of other musical domains.

Social distance and the multimodal construction of the Other in sectarian song

“…In as far as this provides four categories for theorising the social distance it is useful for the analysis of prejudice in multimodal texts. His work has been extended in popular music studies to examine the spatial construction of intimacy in popular music (Moore et al 2009;Dockwray and Moore 2010;Dibben 2012). Doyle (2005) has also made a study of the auditory space in the American popular music of the early to mid-twentieth century.…”

Space within Space: Artificial Reverb and the Detachable Echo

“…Drawing on anthropologist Edward Hall's notion of proxemics, British music scholars Allan Moore, Patricia Schmidt, and Ruth Dockway argue that sounds that feel close to the listener are construed as particularly intimate, portending physical and emotional intimacy, connections between two peoples and the possibility of touch. 24 Following their line of reasoning, echolessness is not simply a pure condition but carries with it an affect, one that closes in on the listener. The current popularity of ASMR ("Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response") videos on YouTube also follows this pattern.…”

Narrative, vocal staging and masculinity in the ‘Outlaw’ country music of Waylon Jennings

“…By challenging the commonly held understanding of the recording artist or producer as auteur , this approach raises questions about the appropriateness of mapping artist biographies and a belief in the sincerity of a singer's emotions onto the characters presented in and the character of a vocal recording. Moore, Schmidt and Dockwray have further developed a hermeneutics of spatialisation for popular song using image schemata and proxemics to consider ‘the ways in which spatialisation and references to spatial location create meaning within the context of the recorded song or track’ (Moore et al 2009, p. 83). As a predominantly voice-centred genre, country music offers a particularly rich field for the study of the effects of vocal staging in popular music, permitting an exploration of the ways in which songs, arrangements, performances and recording practices converge in the final recording (Lacasse 2000, p. 18; Zak 2001, p. 24; Moore et al 2009) and, perhaps more importantly, how recordings mediate the experiences of listeners and artists alike.…”

“…Michael Chanan has observed that the advent of the multi-track recording and the mixing board created 'new musical possibilities; the new mode of production therefore begins to turn the recording engineerthe mixerinto a musical creator of a new kind' (Chanan 1997, p. 147; see also Kealy 1979Kealy /1990Zak 2009, pp. As a predominantly voice-centred genre, country music offers a particularly rich field for the study of the effects of vocal staging in popular music, permitting an exploration of the ways in which songs, arrangements, performances and recording practices converge in the final recording (Lacasse 2000, p. 18;Zak 2001, p. 24;Moore et al 2009) and, perhaps more importantly, how recordings mediate the experiences of listeners and artists alike. By challenging the commonly held understanding of the recording artist or producer as auteur, this approach raises questions about the appropriateness of mapping artist biographies and a belief in the sincerity of a singer's emotions onto the characters presented in and the character of a vocal recording.…”