Creative conceptualisation: Nurturing creative practice through the popular music pedagogy of live recording production

Abstract

Record production is a major aspect of many tertiary-based popular music education programs. It is a practice that involves the capturing of an artist's vision and is realised when that vision draws an emotional response from the listener. In professional practice there are many techniques the producer learns via experience to accomplish this, but as technology develops, processes of past eras risk being brushed aside by technological advancement. The capturing of a live performance was the practical framework used by popular music pioneers and the creative results of this process have particular characteristics that are difficult to achieve by contrasting methods. This article outlines the importance of an education in live recording frameworks to tertiary popular music students; it presents learning and teaching practices that accomplish this and concludes with a case study of a live recording workshop that nurtures the students' developing creative practice.