Timbre as “Structuring Structure” in Underground Electronic Dance Music
Maria Perevedentseva
Department of Music, Goldsmiths, University of London, UK
INTRODUCTION
This poster offers a multi-modal formal and semiotic analysis of timbre in
Objekt’s 2017 single ‘Theme from Q’ in order to investigate how timbre in
underground electronic dance music (UEDM) functions as a sign, and what
kinds of musical, conceptual and embodied knowledge it activates. I argue
that timbre occupies a central meaning-making site in UEDM, acting as a
distilled signifier of genre and encoding notions of value, authenticity,
public, place and time. The principal aims, therefore, are to explore what can
be gained from attending to timbre in UEDM, and to identify an effective
means of accessing and interpreting its affordances.
RESEARCH BACKGROUND
Why UEDM? Why timbre?
With very few exceptions (e.g. Fales 2005), literature on UEDM has been
curiously silent on the issue of timbre. Tony Langlois’ polemical proclamation
in an early and influential article that UEDM fans ‘are not there to “listen” to
the music’ but to ‘physically feel it’ (1992, p.236) appeared to give scholars
of the genre carte blanche to focus on the sociality and performativity of the
rave at the expense of exploring in detail the sounding reality of the music.
As a result, as recently as 2014, Mark Butler wrote that ‘methodologies and
theoretical frameworks for discussing [UEDM’s] sonic dimensions simply [do]
not exist’ (p.15). For the purposes of this presentation, timbre is loosely
defined as the sound quality of particular instrumental gestures and
constitutes – as discussed below – a key component of the sonic dimension
of UEDM.
Outside the academy, timbre stands out in UEDM discourse as a singularly
important parameter for both producers and fans and, in the case of rock
music, has been shown to perform vital genre- and self-identifying functions
for listeners (Van Elferen 2018a, p.27). UEDM fans – arguably to a greater
extent than other fandoms, enabled by the low cost and accessibility of DJ
and DAW software – are often themselves practitioners (as DJs and
producers), and as such have a heuristic understanding of (at least) the
basics of sound design and the technologically mediated manipulation of
timbre. This, coupled with the cultish, self-referential nature of the genre, in
which techniques and instruments are constantly used and re-used (in part
also the result of the autodidacticism of the fan-cum-practitioner), means
that the UEDM listener is perfectly primed to pick up the meanings and
associations that have come to be embedded within timbre in this scene.
But how can electronic timbre “mean”?
The semiotics of music, let alone timbre, is a notoriously unsettled subject.
The ontology of musical sound straddles a paradox whereby sound (and by
extension timbre) is always both material Object and ineffable Thing, and
has resulted in a conceptual and methodological impasse regarding how
best to treat its surplus of signification. The materialist and idealist schools
remain deadlocked (Van Elferen 2018b). Electronic timbre’s unmooring from
“real world” sound sources and its seemingly limitless potential for creating
hitherto unimagined sounds further complicate the issue. That is to say,
while the acousmatic implies an unstructured infinity of associations,
semiotics relies on structures, systems and boundedness – a(nother) paradox
which can make the quest for the meanings of electronic music appear
futile.
However, even though the universe of existing and potential electronic
sounds may be close to infinite, individual musical traditions can be thought
of as galaxies with their own sets of regulated practices, expectations and
histories. Certain electronic timbres which sound unfamiliar to the alien ear
are perfectly identifiable – or relatable to what is identifiable – to a native of
that musical culture who has learned its local governing codes over time.
Structuring structures?
As mentioned above, UEDM is a close-knit subculture which developed
rapidly and organically within a fairly short time-span. Its entirely recorded
nature means that the actual timbres used by UEDM musicians throughout
its history are available and can be accurately reproduced by others using
the genre’s canonic instruments or VSTs (virtual studio technology). This
reproducibility results in a different set of relations between producer, sound
source and listener in UEDM than in other popular music genres, lending
timbre a greater sense of integrity in this scene and making the histories of
specific timbres distinct, palpable and traceable. For UEDM listeners, these
conditions correspond to what Pierre Bourdieu has theorised as:
Systems of durable, transposable dispositions, structured structures predisposed to
function as structuring structures, that is, as principles which generate and organize
practices and representations that can be objectively adapted to their outcomes.
(1990, p.52)
Framed in this way, the codes active within timbre in UEDM can be seen to
be stable and, to a considerable degree, generalisable. The task that
remains is to decode them.
METHODS
Semiotic Theory – Semiotic Method
One of Charles Sanders Peirce’s many influential contributions to the field of
semiotics was his dissection of the concept of the sign into three categories
– icon, index and symbol – which describe different ways in which a sign
relates to its object (Tagg 2012, p.161). The icon’s relationship to the object
is one of formal and physical resemblance; the index is related to the object
in actuality, via causality or physical proximity; lastly, the symbol is arbitrarily
related to the object by convention (ibid., pp.162-164). Peirce’s sign-type
trichotomy has been widely applied to music but, for the most part, this has
METHODS contd. RESULTS contd.
involved treating individual signs as either icons, indices or symbols. spans the entirety of the normative human hearing range – its timbre is
My methodology in this poster, on the other hand, follows Ben Curry’s audible and recognisable as itself without the need for elite sound systems
adaptation of Peirce’s concept of simultaneous bonds (Curry 2017), or audio formats. This makes the Z1 Bassline 2.4 sound more amenable to
which dictates that in order for a musical sign to generate meaning, it radio transmission or listening through earbuds on personal devices than Z1
must simultaneously signify as all three sign types. Figure 1 Bassline 2.1 – which would require equipment with considerable bass and
schematises this approach. With regards to timbre in UEDM, I ask: sub-bass capabilities – making Z1 Bassline 2.4 more accessible to wider
audiences. The fact that this timbre was a factory preset on the Korg Z1,
• In the iconic mode, what is this timbre? Does it bond to any known, which was released in 1997, further attests to and explains the timbre’s
“real-world” source? What kinds of embodied responses does it popularity in the years that followed, since no extraordinary musical or
elicit? programming skill was required to produce it. See audio examples.
• In the indexical mode, how does this timbre behave in relation to
Taken as a whole, this bassline gesture can be seen to conceptually unite the
its surrounding musical materials? What is its gestural context?
disparate stylistic threads running through TfQ, as well as situating the track
How does it fit into a track’s overall structure?
• In the symbolic mode, in which other genres and contexts has this at a point in UEDM’s historical continuum that allows for this kind of creative
timbre previously appeared? How does its deployment here relate self-reflection and reconstruction. In encapsulating the transformation from
to those past uses? early to late UK Garage (and subsequent UK Bass genres), the Z1 Bassline
Figure 1. Simultaneous Semiotic Modalities of Timbre becomes paired with TfQ’s ‘Main Bassline’ which symbolises the beginnings
of Garage. That the ‘Main Bassline’ in the local context of TfQ “results” in
Objekt – ‘Theme from Q’ accommodate timbre’s dual status as material entity and intangible the Z1 Bassline at the breakdowns highlights this historical shift at the
I take Objekt’s 2017 single ‘Theme from Q’ – voted Mixmag’s track of attribute, as well as the the many cognitive hurdles posed by indexical level.
the year – as a case study with which to explore the above questions. electronic music. It embraces Luke Windsor’s model whereby
The track (hereafter referred to as ‘TfQ’) is notable, though not acousmatic sounds are cognised in relation to a work’s internal In paying attention to the prominent timbral signifiers in TfQ, as well as their
unusual, for its stylistic hybridity, providing the analyst and listener ecology as well as its broader socio-cultural context (2000, p.21), as different simultaneous modes of signification, the track comes to read as a
with plenty to latch on to. Below, I identify the most prominent timbral well as Denis Smalley’s notion of intrinsic-extrinsic threads in which whistle-stop tour through UEDM history, playfully paying homage to the
gestures in TfQ and suggest how they may be interpreted. The main sound events in a particular piece relate to the wider cultural sphere sounds and scenes that influenced its formation and development. As such,
tools in my analytical toolkit are corpus study and close listening, but (1997, p.110). Importantly, this approach takes into account the ‘Theme from Q’ is UEDM ”about” UEDM, with timbral signifiers at both
spectrograms are also used to zoom in on the spectromorphological different meanings associated with particular timbral signs over time - micro and macro levels reinforcing this interpretation and encouraging the
properties of selected timbres. Due to space constraints, I explore the a diachronic semantics – which I, following Smalley, call “historical listener (whom Objekt expects to share this musical knowledge) to think
iconic mode in detail on only one bassline gesture, while the others spectromorphology”, and Tagg elsewhere has called ‘etymophony’ through the diverse traditions associated with the genre and the listener’s
are treated as genre synecdoches and considered predominantly from (2012, p.159). My approach differs from that of Jean-Jacques Nattiez positionality in relation to those traditions.
indexical and symbolic standpoints. Audio clips are available for all in that I do not privilege the poietic (production) aspect of a sign over
musical examples. the esthesic (interpretation), and instead consider both to be evenly
distributed across the iconic, indexical and symbolic modes (Nattiez
It is my conviction that this multi-modal approach can better 1990, pp.12-13). CONCLUSIONS
The idiosyncratic musical and social make-up of underground electronic
RESULTS dance music culture enables timbre to activate certain known and
knowable meanings and affordances, and the methodology in this poster
Timbral Gesture Affiliated Genres Time Periods Table 1 illustrates the variety of timbral gestures in TfQ and the genres and time has suggested some ways in which these meaning structures can be
periods with which they are associated. These associations are both indexical – in accessed and articulated. The ability to draw connections with tangible
Main Riff (organ) House, Deep House, New York c.1990-1998 the sense that they appeared in those genres and were thus connected by timbral (and consequently socio-cultural) histories allows the listener to
Garage (USA) proximity in those instances – and symbolic, because through convention the bypass the original obstacle to cognition of electronic sound (that of
Main Bassline (quasi- Deep House, New York Garage c.1990-1998 timbres have become semiotic short-hand for the audiences, performance
source-bonding to “real” instruments and environments), and instead
acoustic, plucky, (USA) contexts and stylistic practices of those genres as a whole. In the table, the
growly)
penetrate the, by now, highly codified meanings attached to timbre in this
timbres are colour-coded to highlight related genres. In green are early US UEDM scene.
Breakbeats & Jungle, Breakbeat (UK) c.1992-1998
subgenres, in yellow are genres from the UK Bass lineage, and in blue are pre-
Tambourines
UEDM genres which nevertheless made heavy use of synthesisers, were often I have shown that, in attending to timbre in UEDM, the listener and analyst
Second Bassline Speed Garage, Dark Garage, c.1999-2008 played in club contexts, and are widely regarded as being direct stylistic forebears can uncover multiple layers of signification which convey vast amounts of
(hollow, electronic, Bassline, Dubstep, Grime (UK)
to UEDM. The “Eerie pad” stands alone, representing the adoption of the
squelchy) information and mine the listeners’ musical and affective knowledge to
Slap Bass Funk (USA), Boogie (USA) c.1975-85
cumbersome techniques of early “academic” electronic music into “mass” create a holistic and perceptually stable listening experience. In suggesting
contexts (those outside of the university, sound laboratory and concert hall). that timbre’s meaning-making capacity be analysed simultaneously as an
Vibrato Synth Line Funk, Soul, Boogie, Fusion c.1975-85
icon, an index and a symbol, I hope to have made space for the
Depending on their individual musical experiences, this array of genre signifiers
(futuristic, jazzy) (USA) reconciliation of both the material reality of timbre and its more
invites listeners to recognise and attune to different timbral constellations, and to metaphysical, socially and historically constructed dimension.
Eerie Pad (oscillating Sci-fi, incidental music, early c.1950-70
interrogate (whether on a conscious or pre-conscious level) their relation to each
drone) electronic music
other and to the present context of a contemporary club track. In this way, the Due to space constraints, I have not been able to interrogate in any depth
Table 1. Summary of Main Timbral Gestures in TfQ
above genres’ abstract, “virtual” links to UEDM and its history are experienced as the issues surrounding the language used by academics and fans to
live and concrete.
describe timbre but this remains an important avenue for future research.
The ‘Second Bassline’ which appears twice in TfQ is especially interesting and warrants closer scrutiny in the iconic mode. The spectrograms Discourse analysis of this kind would allow for a more nuanced
below, created using Sonic Visualiser, show two stages (1 and 4) of this bassline’s transformation in its second iteration in TfQ. Both images understanding of how timbre structures affective responses and its role in
represent the stem of the bassline (i.e. the bassline alone, separate from other elements in the mixed track) and each lasts 4.2 seconds. These the creation of both real and virtual listening and dancing communities.
sounds were created using a factory preset patch on the Korg Z1 synthesiser (Objekt, personal correspondence with the author 2018) and will
be referred to as “Z1 Bassline” hereafter. As can be seen (and heard) from the frequency distribution, the timbre of the Z1 Bassline in both
instances has been created using FM (frequency modulation) synthesis. Only the odd-numbered harmonic partials are visible, which explains the REFERENCES
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similarly with UK Garage and Bassline around the turn of the new millennium, and with early Dubstep as it
morphed into what came to be derisively known as “Brostep” between c.2006-2010. Interestingly, these
transformations appear to correspond to moments when the genres in question had reached their so-called
“golden era” apex and begun to splinter off into various directions. Similarly, in the indexical mode, these ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS/CONTACT
basslines appear immediately before both breakdowns in TfQ, reinforcing these moments of peak textural
saturation. With thanks to Objekt, Michael Freeman, Dr Stephen Graham and the
Figure 3. Z1 Bassline 2.4
Department of Music at Goldsmiths, University of London.
Both spectrograms: x axis = time; y axis Historically, the “squelchy” timbre of Z1 Bassline 2.4 has appeared more frequently in tracks on the
= frequency (Hz). Colour scale: dBV. mainstream side of the (admittedly problematic) underground-mainstream divide in electronic dance music. Author contact: mpere001@gold.ac.uk /
Window size: 4096 with 87.5% overlap. A potential explanation for this popularity could be that, because of its huge frequency range – which https://goldsmiths.academia.edu/MariaPerevedentseva
All freq. bins displayed on linear scale.