The Poetics of Rock: Cutting Tracks, Making RecordsAfter a hundred years of recording, the process of making records is still mysterious to most people who listen to them. Records hold a fundamental place in the dynamics of modern musical life, but what do they represent? Are they documents? Snapshots? Artworks? Fetishes? Commodities? Conveniences? The Poetics of Rock is a fascinating exploration of recording consciousness and compositional process from the perspective of those who make records. In it, Albin Zak examines the crucial roles played by recording technologies in the construction of rock music and shows how songwriters, musicians, engineers, and producers contribute to the creative project, and how they all leave their mark on the finished work. Zak shapes an image of the compositional milieu by exploring its elements and discussing the issues and concerns faced by artists. Using their testimony to illuminate the nature of record making and of records themselves, he shows that the art of making rock records is a collaborative compositional process that includes many skills and sensibilities not traditionally associated with musical composition. Zak connects all the topics--whether technical, conceptual, aesthetic, or historical--with specific artists and recordings and illustrates them with citations from artists and with musical examples. In lively and engaging prose, The Poetics of Rock brilliantly illustrates how the musical energy from a moment of human expression translates into a musical work wrought in sound. |
Contents
Tracks | 24 |
Sound as Form | 48 |
Places and Tools | 97 |
Tracking and Mixing | 128 |
Engineers and Producers | 163 |
Resonance | 184 |
Notes | 199 |
Glossary | 221 |
Recordings Cited | 237 |
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Common terms and phrases
acoustic guitar aesthetic album ambience ambient image arrangement artists associations Atlantic aural band basic bass Beatles Brian Brian Eno Capitol capture character Columbia compositional compression compressor configuration console create creative Daniel Lanois demos develop distortion drum sound dynamic echo effect electric electronic elements example frequency George Martin groove Ibid idea instruments interaction Jackson Jerry Wexler Karl Wallinger layer Lennon listener live performance machine McCartney ments microphone Mitchell Froom musical performance musicians overall overdubbing particular Paul Pet Sounds Peter Gabriel Phil Spector play range recording process Recording Sessions recordists relationships resonant rhetorical rhythm rhythmic Rick Rick Rubin rock and roll rock records Rolling Stones Sam Phillips says sense shape signal simply song song’s songwriting sonic sound recording space stereo Steve studio style stylistic tape techniques textural thing timbral timbre tion track vocal voice Warner Bros Wexler York