Uploaded June 2019 | Updated September 2026, 1 hour ago
crosstowntraffic2018.wordpress.com
This presentation took place as part of the conference Crosstown Traffic: Popular Music Theory and Practice, which was hosted by The University of Huddersfield from September 3 - 5 2018. This event combined the IASPM UK&Ireland Biennial Conference, the 13th Art of Record Production Conference (ARP), an ISMMS conference, and the additional participation of Dancecult.
A recurrent theme within popular music studies has been discussion of how the field can integrate different disciplines and professions, for example exploring both music and its context; involving both practitioners and researchers; and encouraging interdisciplinary and collaborative work. Many different issues make such approaches challenging, and various different popular music focused subject organisations have developed somewhat independently of one another. This conference brought four such groups together, to exchange knowledge, collaborate, and encourage crosstalk.
/// SUPPORT
Popular Music Studies Research Group (PMSRG), University of Huddersfield research.hud.ac.uk/pmsrg/#
Centre for Music, Culture and Identity (CMCI), University of Huddersfield
research.hud.ac.uk/institutes-centres/cmci
The International Association for the Study of Popular Music UK and Ireland Branch (IASPM UK & Ireland)
iaspm.org.uk
Association for the Study of the Art of Record Production (ASARP)
artofrecordproduction.com
Dancecult Research Network (DRN) studies into electronic dance music culture
dancecult-research.net
International Society for Metal Music Studies (ISMMS)
metalstudies.org
/// ORGANIZERS
IASPM UK&I: Rupert Till
ARP: Katia Isakoff, Shara Rambarran
ISMMS: Karl Spracklen
Dancecult: Graham St. John
University of Huddersfield: Jan Herbst, Austin Moore, Lisa Colton, Toby Martin, Catherine Haworth, Mark Mynett
/// CREDITS
This online project was edited, collated, and made available online by Chris McConnell, Jack Zissell, and Colin Frank.
/// PRESENTATION DETAILS
Heaviness in Three Dimensions: The Use of Sonic Space in Contemporary Metal Music Production
Mark Mynett - University of Huddersfield
Email: m.j.mynett@hud.ac.uk
/// ABSTRACT
Distinct challenges are posed when conveying contemporary metal music’s sounds and performance perspectives within a recorded and mixed form. Alongside harmonically distorted guitars, contemporary metal music often features down tuned, fast and frequently complex subdivisions, as well as highly synchronized instrumentation. The combination of these elements results in a significant concentration of dense musical sound usually referred to as “heaviness.”
This paper considers heaviness mainly within the secondary, rather than primary domain. Primary domains are concerned with tempo, meter, rhythm, melody and harmony. Secondary domains, which “shape” these primary domains, involve texture, timbre and location (Moore 2012, 29). Within secondary domains, heaviness is considered from the perspective of the three dimensions in which the music appears to take place, explaining how this style of music production utilizes this space for maximum sonic impact. In the same way that we use two eyes to perceive three dimensions, human hearing also perceives sound as existing in three dimensions. This is especially the case when listening to music involving performing musicians, rather than synthetic based sounds. In this paper, the degree of proximity/foregrounding and ambient characteristics is referred to as the ‘depth dimension’, the way that sounds and their frequency content are perceived as occupying space on the vertical plane is the ‘height dimension’, and the placement of sound sources within the panorama of the stereo field is the ‘width dimension’.
crosstowntraffic2018.wordpress.com
This presentation took place as part of the conference Crosstown Traffic: Popular Music Theory and Practice, which was hosted by The University of Huddersfield from September 3 - 5 2018. This event combined the IASPM UK&Ireland Biennial Conference, the 13th Art of Record Production Conference (ARP), an ISMMS conference, and the additional participation of Dancecult.
A recurrent theme within popular music studies has been discussion of how the field can integrate different disciplines and professions, for example exploring both music and its context; involving both practitioners and researchers; and encouraging interdisciplinary and collaborative work. Many different issues make such approaches challenging, and various different popular music focused subject organisations have developed somewhat independently of one another. This conference brought four such groups together, to exchange knowledge, collaborate, and encourage crosstalk.
/// SUPPORT
Popular Music Studies Research Group (PMSRG), University of Huddersfield research.hud.ac.uk/pmsrg/#
Centre for Music, Culture and Identity (CMCI), University of Huddersfield
research.hud.ac.uk/institutes-centres/cmci
The International Association for the Study of Popular Music UK and Ireland Branch (IASPM UK & Ireland)
iaspm.org.uk
Association for the Study of the Art of Record Production (ASARP)
artofrecordproduction.com
Dancecult Research Network (DRN) studies into electronic dance music culture
dancecult-research.net
International Society for Metal Music Studies (ISMMS)
metalstudies.org
/// ORGANIZERS
IASPM UK&I: Rupert Till
ARP: Katia Isakoff, Shara Rambarran
ISMMS: Karl Spracklen
Dancecult: Graham St. John
University of Huddersfield: Jan Herbst, Austin Moore, Lisa Colton, Toby Martin, Catherine Haworth, Mark Mynett
/// CREDITS
This online project was edited, collated, and made available online by Chris McConnell, Jack Zissell, and Colin Frank.
/// PRESENTATION DETAILS
Heaviness in Three Dimensions: The Use of Sonic Space in Contemporary Metal Music Production
Mark Mynett - University of Huddersfield
Email: m.j.mynett@hud.ac.uk
/// ABSTRACT
Distinct challenges are posed when conveying contemporary metal music’s sounds and performance perspectives within a recorded and mixed form. Alongside harmonically distorted guitars, contemporary metal music often features down tuned, fast and frequently complex subdivisions, as well as highly synchronized instrumentation. The combination of these elements results in a significant concentration of dense musical sound usually referred to as “heaviness.”
This paper considers heaviness mainly within the secondary, rather than primary domain. Primary domains are concerned with tempo, meter, rhythm, melody and harmony. Secondary domains, which “shape” these primary domains, involve texture, timbre and location (Moore 2012, 29). Within secondary domains, heaviness is considered from the perspective of the three dimensions in which the music appears to take place, explaining how this style of music production utilizes this space for maximum sonic impact. In the same way that we use two eyes to perceive three dimensions, human hearing also perceives sound as existing in three dimensions. This is especially the case when listening to music involving performing musicians, rather than synthetic based sounds. In this paper, the degree of proximity/foregrounding and ambient characteristics is referred to as the ‘depth dimension’, the way that sounds and their frequency content are perceived as occupying space on the vertical plane is the ‘height dimension’, and the placement of sound sources within the panorama of the stereo field is the ‘width dimension’.
