Catalogue Search | MBRL
Are you sure you want to remove the book from the shelf?
{{itemTitle}}
8
result(s) for
"Microrhythm."
Sort by:
A Grid in Flux
Researchers have argued that temporal microdeviations from the metric grid, such as those produced by musicians in performance, are crucial to making a musical rhythm groovy and danceable. It is curious, then, that the music currently dominating the dance floor, “electronic dance music” or EDM, is typically characterized by grid-based rhythms. But is such a “mechanistic,” grid-based aesthetic necessarily devoid of microrhythmic nuance? In this article, we aim to show that the microrhythmic component of an engaging groove involves the manipulation of more than simply the onset locations of rhythmic events—the sonic features fundamentally contribute to shaping the groove as well. In particular, we seek to demonstrate that EDM producers, with their preference for a grid-based microtiming aesthetic, are very sensitive to and adept at manipulating such sonic features for expressive effect. Drawing on interviews with EDM producers, we show that producers are often concerned with both sonic and temporal features, as well as their interactions. We argue that sonic features are crucial to shaping groove and feel at the micro level of rhythm. Moreover, such features also tend to introduce an indirect microtiming aspect to the grid-based aesthetic of EDM through the ways in which they shape timing at the perceptual level.
Journal Article
Sound-producing actions in guitar performance of groove-based microrhythm
This paper reports on an experiment that investigated how guitarists signal the intended timing of a rhythmic event in a groove-based context via three different features related to sound-producing motions of impulsive chord strokes (striking velocity, movement duration and fretboard position). 21 expert electric guitarists were instructed to perform a simple rhythmic pattern in three different timing styles—\"laidback,\" \"on-the-beat,\" and \"pushed\"—in tandem with a metronome. Results revealed systematic differences across participants in the striking velocity and movement duration of chords in the different timing styles. In general, laid-back strokes were played with lower striking velocity and longer movement duration relative to on-the-beat and pushed strokes. No differences in the fretboard striking position were found (either closer to the \"bridge\" [bottom] or to the \"neck\" [head]). Correlations with previously-reported audio features of the guitar strokes were also investigated, where lower velocity and longer movement duration generally corresponded with longer acoustic attack duration (signal onset to offset).
Journal Article
Playing It Straight
The most recognizable features of the jazz phrasing style known as “swing” is the articulation of tactus beat subdivisions into long-short patterns (known as “swing eighths”). The subdivisions are traditionally assumed to form a 2:1 beat-upbeat ratio (BUR); however, several smaller case studies have suggested that the 2:1 BUR is a gross oversimplification. Here we offer a more conclusive approach to the issue, offering a corpus analysis of 456 jazz solos using the Weimar Jazz Database. Results indicate that most jazz soloists tend to play with only slightly uneven swing eighths (BUR = 1.3:1), while BURs approaching 2:1 and higher are only used occasionally. High BURs are more likely to be used systematically at slow and moderate tempi and in Postbop and Hardbop styles. Overall, the data suggests that a stable 2:1 swing BUR for solos is a conceptual myth, which may be based on various perceptual effects. We suggest that higher BURs are likely saved for specific effect, since higher BURs may maximize entrainment and the sense of groove at the tactus beat level among listeners and performers. Consequently our results contribute with insights relevant to jazz, groove, and microrhythm studies, practical and historical jazz research, and music perception.
Journal Article
Dynamic Range Processing and Its Influence on Perceived Timing in Electronic Dance Music
In this article, we explore the extent to which dynamic range processing (such as compression and sidechain compression) influences our perception of a sound signal’s temporal placement in music. Because compression reshapes the sound signal’s envelope, scholars have previously noted that certain uses of sidechain compression can produce peculiar rhythmic effects. In this article, we have tried to interrogate and complicate this notion by linking a description of the workings and effects of dynamic range processing to empirical findings on the interaction between sound and perceived timing, and by analyzing multitracks and DAW project files, as well as released audio files, of selected EDM tracks. The analyses of the different EDM tracks demonstrated that sidechain compression affects the music in many possible ways, depending on the settings of the compressors’ parameters, as well as the rhythmic pattern and the sonic complexity of both the trigger signal and the sidechained signal. Dynamic range processing’s impact on groove and perceived timing indicates, in line with previous findings, that sound and timing interact in fundamental ways. Because of this interaction, then, we cannot limit ourselves to technical terms that describe how particular effects are achieved if we want to fully understand the grooves that are characteristic of EDM or other music. We must also consider how listeners experience these effects.
Journal Article
Microrhythmic Measurements in the Count Basie Band: An Analysis of the Eighth-Note Division in 'Basie-Straight Ahead'
This study applies the ideas developed by Matthew Butterfield to the microrhythmic measurements present in Count Basie's recording of \"Basie-Straight Ahead\" to see why this ensemble favored a specific division of the eighth note. Butterfield's research focuses on comparing the length of the downbeat and the upbeat in a series of jazz solos and on the effects caused by the various divisions of the eighth-note pattern. He claims that all \"swung\" eighth notes do not imbue musical passages with the same rhythmic response but that this depends on the length of the downbeat and the upbeat. The values were taken from this Count Basie recording due to the influence that this ensemble had on the rhythmic foundation of the big band canon.
Journal Article
Musical Rhythm in the Age of Digital Reproduction
Musical Rhythm in the Age of Digital Reproduction presents new insights into the study of musical rhythm through investigations of the micro-rhythmic design of groove-based music. The main purpose of the book is to investigate how technological mediation - in the age of digital music production tools - has influenced the design of rhythm at the micro level. Through close readings of technology-driven popular music genres, such as contemporary R&B, hip-hop, trip-hop, electro-pop, electronica, house and techno, as well as played folk music styles, the book sheds light on how investigations of the musical-temporal relationships of groove-based musics might be fruitfully pursued, in particular with regard to their micro-rhythmic features. This book is based on contributions to the project Rhythm in the Age of Digital Reproduction (RADR), a five-year research project running from 2004 to 2009 that was funded by the Norwegian Research Council.
eBook
Why Do Jazz Musicians Swing Their Eighth Notes?
In jazz, the function of durational inequality at the eighth-note level is the production of anacrusis on the offbeats, thereby generating the sense of forward propulsion and drive thought to typify the rhythmic quality known as \"swing.\" The common use of relatively \"straight\" eighth notes by improvising soloists helps to sustain forward momentum, whereas the less even, triplet-like \"swing\" eighth notes used more frequently by drummers facilitate the perception of a quarter-note beat. Varying the Beat-Upbeat Ratio (BUR)—i.e., moving between straight and swing eighth notes—enables jazz musicians to manipulate the flow of motional energy across a phrase in systematic ways in conjunction with other melodic processes. Analyses of melodic phrases by John Coltrane, Lee Konitz, and Sonny Clark reveal the centrality of such aspects of microrhythmic expression to the affective power of jazz improvisation.
Journal Article