Virtual Music: Sound, Music, and Image in the Digital Era

249 Pages·2021·5.607 MB·English

by  Shara Rambarran

Virtual Music
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Rambarran, Shara. Virtual Music : Sound, Music, and Image in the Digital Era, Bloomsbury Academic & Professional, 2021.
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Rambarran, Shara. Virtual Music : Sound, Music, and Image in the Digital Era, Bloomsbury Academic & Professional, 2021.
Virtual Music
Sound, Music, and Image
in the Digital Era
Shara Rambarran
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Rambarran, Shara. Virtual Music : Sound, Music, and Image in the Digital Era, Bloomsbury Academic & Professional, 2021.
BLOOMSBURY ACADEMIC
Bloomsbury Publishing Inc
1385 Broadway, New York, NY 10018, USA
50 Bedford Square, London, WC1B 3DP, UK
29 Earlsfort Terrace, Dublin 2, Ireland
BLOOMSBURY, BLOOMSBURY ACADEMIC and the Diana logo are
trademarks of Bloomsbury Publishing Plc
First published in the United States of America 2021
Copyright © Shara Rambarran, 2021
For legal purposes the Acknowledgments on p. ix constitute an extension
of this copyright page.
Cover design by Alex Robbins
Cover photo by Claire Greenway/Getty Images
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted
in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying,
recording, or any information storage or retrieval system, without prior
permission in writing from the publishers.
Bloomsbury Publishing Inc does not have any control over, or responsibility for, any
third-party websites referred to or in this book. All internet addresses given in
this book were correct at the time of going to press. The author and publisher
regret any inconvenience caused if addresses have changed or sites have
ceased to exist, but can accept no responsibility for any such changes.
Whilst every effort has been made to locate copyright holders the publishers
would be grateful to hear from any person(s) not here acknowledged.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Rambarran, Shara, author.
Title: Virtual music: sound, music, and image in the digital era / Shara Rambarran.
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evre Description: New York City: Bloomsbury Academic, 2021. | Includes
se bibliographical references and index. | Summary: “A survey of key areas related
r sth to digital music and the internet with a focus on how technology impacts
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ir llA the relationship between music and its listeners”– Provided by publisher.
.la Identifers: LCCN 2020039614 | ISBN 9781501333606 (hardback) |
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oissefo Subjects:I SLCBSNH 9:7 M81u5s0ic1 3a3n3d6 t1e3c h(enpoulobg) y|. I|S MBNus 9ic7–8S1o5c0i1a3l 3as3p6e2c0t s(p. d| fM) usic and
rP & the Internet. | Virtual reality. | Mixed reality. | Sound recording industry.
cim Classifcation: LCC ML3916 .R36 2021 | DDC 780.285/65–dc23
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da LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020039614
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yru ISBN: HB: 978-1-5013-3360-6
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sm PB: 978-1-5013-3637-9
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olB ePDF: 978-1-5013-3362-0
.1 eBook: 978-1-5013-3361-3
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© Typeset by Deanta Global Publishing Services, Chennai, India
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Rambarran, Shara. Virtual Music : Sound, Music, and Image in the Digital Era, Bloomsbury Academic & Professional, 2021.
This book is dedicated to Mum and Bobby.
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Rambarran, Shara. Virtual Music : Sound, Music, and Image in the Digital Era, Bloomsbury Academic & Professional, 2021.
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Rambarran, Shara. Virtual Music : Sound, Music, and Image in the Digital Era, Bloomsbury Academic & Professional, 2021.
CONTENTS
List of Figures viii
Acknowledgments ix
Introduction: The Future of Music Has Arrived 1
1 “Blame It on the Machines”: Historical Placings of
Digital Virtual Music 11
2 “Technology Gives You Everything Immediately . . .”:
A Brief Critical Discussion on the Digital Virtual 37
3 “We Are Musical Makers”: The Experimental and
Digital Virtual Trademarks of Genre and Style 45
4 “Give Life Back to Music”: Remixing Music 63
5 “The Game Has Changed”: Video Game Music 77
6 “Living in a Fantasy”: Performers and Identity 93
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r sth Performances, and Audiences 109
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rP & and Virality 145
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eda Conclusion: Rewind or after the Future? 155
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© Index 225
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Rambarran, Shara. Virtual Music : Sound, Music, and Image in the Digital Era, Bloomsbury Academic & Professional, 2021.
FiGURES
1.1 A selection of audio players 25
3.1 Kraftwerk’s Florian Schneider and Ralf Hütter 50
4.1 Django’s leitmotif 73
5.1 Cuphead (artwork for the soundtrack album) 82
6.1 Chris Levine and Grace Jones at the Stillness at the
Speed of Light Exhibition 99
6.2 The Weeknd on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert 106
7.1 Gorillaz, Damon Albarn, and live band 117
8.1 Daisy and the Dark App 139
8.2 Circle mixer 140
8.3 Instrument stem faders 141
8.4 Image of author using the Fantom Mezzanine app 143
9.1 Kendrick Lamar—Damn (album cover) 152
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Rambarran, Shara. Virtual Music : Sound, Music, and Image in the Digital Era, Bloomsbury Academic & Professional, 2021.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
To begin, I want to sincerely thank Bloomsbury, especially Leah Babb-
Rosenfeld for her patience and support, and for the opportunity; Rachel
Moore for her help; the production team; and the peer reviewers of my
book and its original proposal. I am eternally grateful to the following who
have genuinely supported my work for many years, and who would be
very familiar with the discussions that are presented in this book: Derek
B. Scott, Stan Hawkins, Benjamin Halligan, Eirik Askerøi, Andrew Blake,
Mike Dines, Katia Isakoff, Alex Stevenson, Simon Zagorski-Thomas, and
the Art of Record Production family. Special thanks to George McKay,
Richard James Burgess, Gareth Palmer, Timothy Warner, Matt Grimes, Craig
Hamilton, and Tom Attah. I am very grateful to David Sanjek, Jan Fairley,
Nathan Wiseman-Trowse, Stuart Meads, and Sheila Whiteley—even though
they are no longer here, I will never forget how much they supported my
work. I would like to thank the following who knew about this book and
who in their own way have supported me, whether it is assisting with my
enquiries, reading draft chapters, or really encouraging me to “get this book
done!”: Hillegonda Rietveld, D Ferrett, Zoe Bond, Louise Jackson, Pogus
Caesar, Johnny Hopkins, Justin Gagen, Chris Christodoulou, Russ Bestley,
Paul Scott, Gareth Dylan Smith, Mark Whelan, and Paul Gilroy. In addition,
.d I would like to thank Kris Maddigan, Paul Novotny, and Rob Toulson, for
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vre their wonderful conversations regarding this book, and StudioMDHR’s
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r sth Ryan Moldenhauer and Chad Moldenhauer for their help. I would also
gir llA like to thank Bader International Study Centre (Queen’s University), my
.la students, and my friends. My heartfelt thanks to my following friends who
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issefo for image editing and for the naughty giggles, and Lucinda Hawksley for
rP & reading and editing my manuscript, and for always giving me words of
cim encouragement. To my mum and my brother Bobby, thank you so much for
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da your continuous support, patience, and love.
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Rambarran, Shara. Virtual Music : Sound, Music, and Image in the Digital Era, Bloomsbury Academic & Professional, 2021.