Interface Aesthetics: Sound, Software, and the Ecology of Digital Audio Production

313 Pages·2016·31.08 MB·English

UCLA
UCLA Electronic Theses and Dissertations
Title
Interface Aesthetics: Sound, Software, and the Ecology of Digital Audio Production
Permalink
https://escholarship.org/uc/item/0mv9v64c
Author
D'Errico, Michael
Publication Date
2016

Peer reviewed|Thesis/dissertation
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University of California
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA

Los Angeles

Interface Aesthetics:

Sound, Software, and the Ecology of Digital Audio Production

A dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree
Doctor of Philosophy in Musicology

by

Michael Anthony D’Errico

2016
© Copyright by

Michael Anthony D’Errico

2016
ABSTRACT OF THE DISSERTATION

Interface Aesthetics: Sound, Software, and the Ecology of Digital Audio Production

by

Michael Anthony D’Errico

Doctor of Philosophy in Musicology

University of California, Los Angeles, 2016

Professor Nina Eidsheim, Chair

This dissertation investigates the ways in which the composition and production of electronic
music is influenced by software and digital instrument design. Through my research, I found that
musicians, sound designers, and multimedia artists are not only creative agents, but must also
balance aesthetic preferences with the affordances and constraints of audio software. My inquiry
combines multiple research methods. Ethnographic data gathered from participant observation
and interviews with software developers, interaction designers, and electronic musicians in
Southern California has revealed the extent to which digital producers increasingly borrow the
tools and techniques of artists working across media platforms. Close readings and technical
analyses of specific software have allowed me trace new genealogies in the evolution of music
technology. Finally—influenced by the praxis-based approach of digital humanities—the
creation of original software and digital applications has made it possible for me to bridge the
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gap between theoretical and technical perspectives on music and media production. By applying
the techniques of media theory, computer science, design, and digital humanities to critical
practices in media art in the twenty-first century, the project brings to bear shifting
understandings of cultural objects as they increasingly converge with computational processes.

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The dissertation of Michael Anthony D’Errico is approved.
Robert W. Fink
Peter B. Lunenfeld
Timothy D. Taylor
Nina Eidsheim, Committee Chair

University of California, Los Angeles
2016

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To Bess, for your strength and patience.

In loving memory of Gary D’Errico.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

List of Figures, Tables, and Equations ....................................................................................... viii
Acknowledgements ........................................................................................................................ xi
Vita .............................................................................................................................................. xv

Introduction Interface Aesthetics .................................................................................. 1
Overview ........................................................................................ 4
Background .................................................................................... 9
Methodology ................................................................................ 16
Chapter Organization ................................................................... 21

Section I: Sonic Architectures

Chapter 1 Plugin Cultures:
The Digital Audio Workstation as Maximal Interface ....................... 31
Instrumental Design in Ableton Live ........................................... 34
Computational Design in Live ..................................................... 43
Live as Software Environment ..................................................... 50
Maximalism as Cultural Practice ................................................. 59

Chapter 2 Programming Sound:
Computational Thinking and Electronic Music ................................. 74
Digital Literacy and Cultural Practice ......................................... 77
Computational Thinking and Proceduralism ............................... 90
Procedural Listening .................................................................... 96
Invisible Computers and the Philosophy of “Natural” Design .. 100
Music Software and the Terminal Interface ............................... 107
Procedural Listening and the Max Paradigm ............................. 114
Procedural Listening and Cultural Praxis .................................. 126

Section II: When Software Becomes Hardware

Chapter 3 “Diggin’ in the Carts”:
Technologies of Play in Hip-Hop Production and Performance ..... 130
From Turntablism to Controllerism ........................................... 132
Controllerism and the Materiality of Software .......................... 142
“Liveness,” Performance, and Electronic Music ....................... 146
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Controller Design for Gaming ................................................... 156
Controller Design for Music-Making ........................................ 162
Failure as Evidence of Liveness ................................................ 173

Chapter 4 Ubiquitous Production: Making Music with the iPhone .................. 176
“Democratization” in Music Technology and Computing ........ 178
Apps and the Design of Everyday Interaction ........................... 188
Ubiquitous Computing as Controlled Consumption .................. 207

Section III: Listening to Software

Chapter 5 Worlds of Sound:
Indie Games, Proceduralism, and Emergent Aesthetics .................. 225
Indie Games and Emergent Aesthetics ...................................... 227
Current Understandings of Sound and Game Design ................ 236
Situating Game Sound Within Generative Aesthetics ............... 240
Emergence as a New Model for Understanding Game Sound .. 243
Fract OSC as Procedural Interface ............................................ 246

Conclusion Interface Futures .................................................................................. 259

Bibliography ............................................................................................................................. 266

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LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 1.1 Opcode, Studio Vision (1990) .............................................................................. 32
Figure 1.2 Ableton Live, version 1.5 (2002) ......................................................................... 35
Figure 1.3 Virtual Studio Instrument (VSTi) plugins ........................................................... 39
Figure 1.4 Live version 9 (2015), Arrangement View .......................................................... 40
Figure 1.5 Design metaphors in Live ..................................................................................... 42
Figure 1.6 Live 9, Session View ............................................................................................ 45
Figure 1.7 Promotional material – Live 9 as real-time instrument ........................................ 46
Figure 1.8 Automation curves in Live 9 ................................................................................ 47
Figure 1.9 Drag-and-drop capabilities in Live 9 .................................................................... 48
Figure 1.10 Promotional material – modular architecture of Live 9 interface ........................ 54
Figure 1.11 Using ReWire with Live 9 and Pro Tools 12 ....................................................... 54
Figure 1.12 Stretching and warping an audio file in Live 9 and Pro Tools 12 ........................ 56
Figure 1.13 Machinedrum in his bedroom studio ................................................................... 61
Figure 1.14 Promotional material – software as community .................................................. 68
Figure 1.15 Promotional material – Dubspot certificate in Live ............................................. 69

Figure 2.1 Miller Puckette installing Pure Data on a Raspberry Pi ...................................... 75
Figure 2.2 Coding session with President Barack Obama (2014) ......................................... 79
Figure 2.3 Paris Maker Faire (2015) ..................................................................................... 82
Figure 2.4 Live coding session (2012) .................................................................................. 83
Figure 2.5 Max patch – original IRCAM prototype (1988) .................................................. 86
Figure 2.6 Max patch – MLRv 2.2 (2011) ............................................................................ 88
Figure 2.7 Promotional material – Skube .............................................................................. 89
Figure 2.8 Operational diagram for Brian Eno’s Discreet Music (1975) .............................. 98
Figure 2.9 Pro Tools version 12 (2015), recording timeline ............................................... 108
Figure 2.10 Terminal interfaces ............................................................................................ 110
Figure 2.11 Max version 7 (2014), object browser ............................................................... 112
Figure 2.12 Max patch – random note generator ................................................................... 113
Figure 2.13 Max patch – random triad generator .................................................................. 118
Figure 2.14 Swift “playground” ............................................................................................. 119
Figure 2.15 Max patch – light threshold ................................................................................ 122
Figure 2.16 “Noteout” options in Max 7 ............................................................................... 123

Figure 3.1 Technics SL-1200 turntable (1972) and Apple iPad (2010) .............................. 136
Figure 3.2 Grid-based MIDI controllers .............................................................................. 142
Figure 3.3 Monome “grid” controller (2015) ...................................................................... 144
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