Research Dossier
Task: Conduct primary and secondary audience research/market research into the
viability of your concept and present findings on your blog post under the post
title 'Research Dossier' and using the three subheadings below:
1. Secondary Research
As shown in an article by Business Insider[1], Kendrick Lamar’s beat, in the song “Pride” (found on Lamar’s triple platinum album “Damn”), produced by Steve Lacy, was actually made on an iPhone using GarageBand. The technological world of the music industry has made it so everybody has their own studio right in their pockets.
[2]The 19th Century gave to an exponential growth of technology within the music industry. In this era; recorded music became a popular means of production, whilst listening methods switched from live performances to at home listening. People needed actual places to record music, so music studios became the hub for all musicians. This allowed a plethora of creativity within music, as people weren’t bound to instruments and could manipulate sound through technology. It granted musicians, such as The Beatles and Pink Floyd, to make their mark in shaping the way music is today.
Now, as home computing has become a development that the West can take an advantage of, studio recording has become less of a norm for music production.
This is for many reasons.
1. Recording Studios Are Expensive
As shown in an article by Business Insider[1], Kendrick Lamar’s beat, in the song “Pride” (found on Lamar’s triple platinum album “Damn”), produced by Steve Lacy, was actually made on an iPhone using GarageBand. The technological world of the music industry has made it so everybody has their own studio right in their pockets.
[2]The 19th Century gave to an exponential growth of technology within the music industry. In this era; recorded music became a popular means of production, whilst listening methods switched from live performances to at home listening. People needed actual places to record music, so music studios became the hub for all musicians. This allowed a plethora of creativity within music, as people weren’t bound to instruments and could manipulate sound through technology. It granted musicians, such as The Beatles and Pink Floyd, to make their mark in shaping the way music is today.
Now, as home computing has become a development that the West can take an advantage of, studio recording has become less of a norm for music production.
This is for many reasons.
1. Recording Studios Are Expensive
In even just one example we can see that the price for a recording studio
can be quite a lot, especially if you’re a young budding artist who either;
works part time or doesn’t work at all. On average it costs around £70-£80 to
hire a studio to record your music at Sound Gallery Studios. Additionally,
according to recordingconnection.com[3],
hiring a studio can cost you anywhere from $50-$500 an hour.
On the other hand, GarageBand, the recording service made by Apple, is free for all iOS and Mac users, with only extra instruments costing $4.99 which you can keep forever. Additionally, there are, also, other recording services such as iMPC which only costs £4.99 on the AppStore and it stays on your phone for as long as you want it, in addition to Remixlive (free) and Launchpad (free).
On the other hand, GarageBand, the recording service made by Apple, is free for all iOS and Mac users, with only extra instruments costing $4.99 which you can keep forever. Additionally, there are, also, other recording services such as iMPC which only costs £4.99 on the AppStore and it stays on your phone for as long as you want it, in addition to Remixlive (free) and Launchpad (free).
Figure 2: Locations of Recording studios near me
2. At-Home
Recording is More Accessible
We live in a time where everyone has a mobile phone or computer at home but not everyone has access to a recording studio. There may be more within a city, however, as shown in Figure 2, when you look at more rural areas; recording studios are hard to come by.
We live in a time where everyone has a mobile phone or computer at home but not everyone has access to a recording studio. There may be more within a city, however, as shown in Figure 2, when you look at more rural areas; recording studios are hard to come by.
Additionally, music isn’t bound to certain times and it can
make it easier for musicians to record music wherever they are. For example, in
an interview with Wired Steve Lacy (who wrote Kendrick Lamar’s song “Pride”) explains
that "I like to make music wherever I am,"[4].
3. Time Constraints With Recording Studios
If you are able to finally get a recording studio then you
only have a limited amount of time in there (unless you hire one out for the
day). Usually, a recording studio will charge hourly to use. This means that
you’ll only have a couple of hours to be able to get down and record as much as
you can. When you have a recording device at home you have all the time in the
world to create as much music as you want to without any time constraints.
Additionally, if a musician lives far away from the recording studio then they have to spend extra time and money on travel.
Additionally, if a musician lives far away from the recording studio then they have to spend extra time and money on travel.
2. Primary Research
For my primary research I decided to interview my uncle, Nigel Godrich, who is the producer of Radiohead. I contacted him over the phone on the first day of my planning to see if he would do it and when he was available. I told him I wanted to know his thoughts of the music industry now, what he’s seen change and whether he thought that the change was good or bad and he agreed to do the interview with me.
When conducting the interview, I wrote down some questions that I would ask him.
1. When you started, what equipment did you use?
2. What kind of equipment do you use now?
3. In your opinion, what’s better?
4. Are you seeing a change in the way music is being produced?
For my primary research I decided to interview my uncle, Nigel Godrich, who is the producer of Radiohead. I contacted him over the phone on the first day of my planning to see if he would do it and when he was available. I told him I wanted to know his thoughts of the music industry now, what he’s seen change and whether he thought that the change was good or bad and he agreed to do the interview with me.
When conducting the interview, I wrote down some questions that I would ask him.
1. When you started, what equipment did you use?
2. What kind of equipment do you use now?
3. In your opinion, what’s better?
4. Are you seeing a change in the way music is being produced?
However, whilst in the interview, I asked different
questions that reflected what he was saying. This made the interview more
casual, but also more authentic, because it was like a conversation.
Additionally, I didn’t feel I needed to ask him too much because when he started speaking about music, he got quite passionate and said things I, maybe, couldn’t have got out of him if it were a rigid interview.
Additionally, I didn’t feel I needed to ask him too much because when he started speaking about music, he got quite passionate and said things I, maybe, couldn’t have got out of him if it were a rigid interview.
[1] Leswing,
K. (2019). One of Kendrick Lamar's producers makes beats on his iPhone — but he
has a problem with the iPhone 7. [online] Business Insider. Available at: https://www.businessinsider.com/kendrick-lamar-damn-producer-steve-lacy-iphone-beats-garageband-2017-4?r=US&IR=T
[Accessed 27 Jun. 2019].
[2] Dixon,
A. (2019). How Has The Recording Studio Affected The Ways In Which Music Is Created?
| Classic Album Sundays. [online] Classic Album Sundays. Available at: https://classicalbumsundays.com/how-has-the-recording-studio-affected-the-ways-in-which-music-is-created/
[Accessed 27 Jun. 2019].
[3] Petulla,
J. (2019). How Much Does A Good Music Studio Cost To Use? | Recording
Connection. [online] Recording Connection Audio Institute. Available at: https://www.recordingconnection.com/reference-library/recording-entrepreneurs/how-much-do-music-studios-cost/
[Accessed 27 Jun. 2019].
[4] Pierce,
D., Goode, L., Kelly, C., Baker-Whitcomb, A., Goode, L., So, A. and Rubin, P.
(2019). The Guy Who Produced Kendrick Lamar’s Best New Track Did It All on His
iPhone. [online] WIRED. Available at: https://www.wired.com/2017/04/steve-lacy-iphone-producer/
[Accessed 27 Jun. 2019].
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