Book chapter
Digging in the Tapes: Multitrack Archives as an Emerging Educational Resource
Innovation in Music, pp 120-129
2025
Abstract
Although multitrack audio recordings are a critical component of nearly every recorded musical work, they have historically been difficult to acquire because of their commercially sensitive nature. However, one example of an emergent archive and collections, that allows researchers to peer into the record company vaults, is the EMI Music Canada Archive at the University of Calgary (UofC) in Canada. This archive holds demo tapes, song lyrics, concert planning documents, promotional material, cover art, correspondence between artists, management, producers and executives in addition to the multitrack tapes of the recordings. The following chapter draws upon materials gathered from the UofC Archives, (that of Canadian Rock band 'Grapes of Wrath' and their album These Days (1991) produced by British Record Producer John Leckie) and describes how researchers at the University of Victoria in British Columbia, Canada, Drexel University in Philadelphia, USA, and Leeds Beckett University in Leeds, UK, designed and delivered a mixing course to students using these materials. Students were asked to reflect on their own learning and experience throughout the project and these reflections helped to show that focusing on telling the story of the record, and using the additional archival materials to do so, did more than just improve students' technical mixing skills. Instead, it helped the students to develop a wider appreciation of the ways in which their creative decisions might be received by the relevant stakeholders such as the band, the producer, etc. and, importantly, helped them better understand their role as a mix engineer within the production process.
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Details
- Title
- Digging in the Tapes
- Creators
- Paul Thompson - Leeds Beckett UniversityToby Seay - Drexel UniversityKirk McNally - University of Victoria
- Publication Details
- Innovation in Music, pp 120-129
- Publisher
- Routledge
- Edition
- 1st
- Number of pages
- 10
- Resource Type
- Book chapter
- Language
- English
- Academic Unit
- Arts and Entertainment Enterprise
- Scopus ID
- 2-s2.0-85212890517
- Other Identifier
- 991022018671904721