Introduction

Both of this book’s authors have dedicated their academic careers to writing about the production process, and from many different angles. We have published research written from our perspective as producers and engineers (What Is Music Production—Focal Press), as instructors and audio engineering pedagogues (Practical Mastering—Focal Press), and as analysts of record production and recorded musical communication at large (Understanding Recordings—Continuum; Representing Sound—Wilfrid Laurier Press). Moreover, we have spent considerable time working to establish music production itself as a viable field of academic study, namely, the field lately called “music production studies.” The results of this effort can be read in the continuing series we edit for Routledge, Perspectives on Music Production (Routledge), and it can be witnessed first-hand in our biannual conference, Innovation in Music (www.musicinnovation.co.uk).