Delocalization of Sound Recording and the Development of Transnational Networks: Music Production in the Post-COVID Era

Abstract

The recording studio traditionally constitutes a part of a network which helps to define the concept of the music scene. The digital revolution has caused the definitive uprooting of the physical device, providing a concept of space in which new creative scenarios are generated within a virtual community. The global pandemic has forced people to work “in the box” a term we associate with performing the mixing and mastering processes inside the computer and without the use of any external processing device, using network connections, even among the most sceptical professionals. This fact poses a paradigm shift in the relationships (both on a professional and human level) between producer, sound engineer, and artist, definitively modifying the traditional methods of music production. The main objective of this research is to analyse, using a non-experimental descriptive methodology based on non-participant systematic observation, the influence of the digital development of music production, and the resignification of the recording studio and the concept of scene from the new reality that is generated in the professional environment of music production by the impact of COVID-19.