Journal articles by Jan Herbst
Metal Music Studies, 2023
Since its inception, metal music has been on a quest for greater heaviness. However, despite its ... more Since its inception, metal music has been on a quest for greater heaviness. However, despite its fundamental relevance to the genre, what actually makes metal music perceptually 'heavy' is still poorly understood. This article examines the musical, performative and production features that contribute to the heaviness of Lorna Shore's 'To the Hellfire', Loudwire magazine's metal song of the year 2021. The musicological analysis is supported by rich data from the provider Nail the Mix (NTM): the song's original multi-track recordings; a Q&A and live mix session with the EP's producer, Josh Schroeder, and community discussion in NTM's Facebook group. The findings suggest that the song's heaviness is mainly provided as a result of sonic weight, harmonic distortion, hyperreal performances, disruption and unpredictability, contrast and dynamic development towards a climax. Musically, blending metal subgenres to increase heaviness is deemed beneficial, and concerning production, automated and dynamic processing responsive to musical structures and performances is highlighted.
Metal Music Studies, 2023
This article investigates whether and how five of the major metal subgenres differ in their harmo... more This article investigates whether and how five of the major metal subgenres differ in their harmonic practices in the 21 st century. One hundred metal tracks-twenty from each of the five subgenres of power metal, black metal, metalcore, melodic death metal and progressive metal-released since 2000 were analysed, capturing their chord progressions and modulation techniques. Tonal analysis indicated that although each subgenre seems to adopt the techniques used by the early heavy metal bands of the 1970s and 1980s, individual signature styles contribute to the desired sonic aesthetic. The study found pronounced harmonic practices in most subgenres, yet the most distinctive in power metal and black metal. While black metal focused on non-diatonic minor chords for a dark atmosphere and dissonant aesthetic, power metal emphasised the brighter Dorian mode and employed baroque and classically influenced secondary dominants and diminished seventh chords to add colour to progressions and brighten the sound.
el oído pensante, 2023
Metal music is a genre defined by transgression, usually with the musical pursuit of heaviness. I... more Metal music is a genre defined by transgression, usually with the musical pursuit of heaviness. Interestingly, this commonly accepted genre-defining criterion, which can be considered as involving progress, conflicts with recent suggestions that the production of metal music is becoming more and more standardized, potentially hindering metal music's musical evolution. Based on interviews with eight leading metal producers, this study investigates the professionals' mixing approaches to determine whether they match the presumed standardization. The study finds common mixing approaches that result from the technical requirements of engineering fast, complex, and sonically dense music. However, there are significant alternatives between which producers choose to achieve the desired aesthetic outcomes. A multifaceted genre like metal with its diverse subgenres requires more than one production approach, and the unique combination and nuanced implementation of these approaches facilitate original results. With this in mind, the various production approaches, processes, and techniques appear to be evolving alongside the sub-genres and musical styles, supporting the genre's quest for transgression and heaviness.
Metal Music Studies, 2022
This article explores reasons for the proliferation of dissonance in metal music. It asks why met... more This article explores reasons for the proliferation of dissonance in metal music. It asks why metal musicians compose dissonant songs and what sociocultural functions dissonance may have for metal as a community. The findings suggest that exploring ways to further utilise dissonance is crucial to the genre's development and continued transgression, especially in progressive and extreme subgenres, and that fans derive pleasure and meaning from dissonance in the music. Dissonance is not only present in many metal compositions, but its prominence suggests that dissonance is one of the genre's central aesthetic features, at least in its more extreme subgenres. This is a subversion of the typical values in mainstream popular music, where dissonant features are fleeting points of tension. The article argues that dissonance is valued for its congruence with an aesthetic that transcends the genre through its overall transgressive traits. Such an aesthetic is appealing because it facilitates the exploration of negative emotions and ideas in safety, both individually and communally.
Popular Music and Society, 2022
Metal music studies defines "heaviness" as the genre's sonic signature but has rarely explored th... more Metal music studies defines "heaviness" as the genre's sonic signature but has rarely explored the sonics or the related discourse. This study analyzes message boards to determine how music producers and musicians use the "heavy" metaphor in their discussions. Practitioners' strategies employed to achieve heaviness are scrutinized to learn about what considerations influence their decisions. The findings suggest that while heaviness is based on a core set of musical features, it is open to appropriation, modification, and development. Heaviness has become a suitable impetus for the genre's evolution and iconically represents what metal music stands for to its community.
Rock Music Studies, 2022
"Heaviness" has been one of metal music's defining features in three decades of metal scholarship... more "Heaviness" has been one of metal music's defining features in three decades of metal scholarship. Research acknowledged its essential quality, but no comprehensive definition of musical heaviness was developed. This article, therefore, elaborates a preliminary framework of musical heaviness by identifying its constituent production, performance, and compositional components, including their relationships. The findings suggest that while structural and performative components provide the necessary foundation for heaviness, metal has been increasingly driven by its production. Since musicians reach limits, technology has become one of the primary means to produce ever heavier metal music in the genredefining quest for greater heaviness.
Metal Music Studies, 2021
Viking metal, Teutonic metal, Mesopotamian metal-labels of this kind are common in fan discourse,... more Viking metal, Teutonic metal, Mesopotamian metal-labels of this kind are common in fan discourse, media and academia. Whereas some research has investigated such labels and related them to the artist's stage presentation, music videos, artwork and lyrics, there is still a lack from the perspectives of music production and performance as to how such culturally and geographically associated labels differ musically. This article explores culture-specific production and performance characteristics of Teutonic metal, focusing on how metal from Germany differed from British and US-American productions in the 1980s and 1990s, during which time metal spread to Continental Europe and German speed metal achieved an international reputation for its original interpretation of metal. The study is based on a qualitative interview design with three record producers who were crucial for the rise of German metal labels
Metal Music Studies, 2017
'Shredding', the fast and virtuous guitar playing, is a central stylistic element of many rock an... more 'Shredding', the fast and virtuous guitar playing, is a central stylistic element of many rock and metal genres. A recent empirical study by Slaven and Krout (2016) reported metal guitar solos having become faster over the last six decades, thus indicating that shredding still is common in metal guitar, as argued in earlier literature in rock and metal studies (Walser 1993; Waksman 2003; Weinstein 2000). The present study extends such research by experimentally investigating the effects of distortion on playability, virtuosity and expressiveness based on a multi-methodical analysis from musicology, acoustics and music informatics. The findings contribute to acoustic-based evidence of distortion's simplifying effect that increases the electric guitar's "potential as a virtuoso solo instrument" (Walser 1993: 50). Yet, the results also highlight challenges of distorted guitar playing less commonly considered in research, journalism and performance practice. The article closes by advocating greater acknowledgement of the skills required for distorted metal guitar playing.
die hochschullehre, 2016
Vorlesungen stehen in der hochschuldidaktischen Diskussion in der Kritik, eine vergleichsweise in... more Vorlesungen stehen in der hochschuldidaktischen Diskussion in der Kritik, eine vergleichsweise ineffiziente Form der Lehre zu sein. Die vorliegende Studie unternimmt ausgehend von einem sozialkonstruktivistischen Lernverständnis den Versuch, der passiven Rolle der Studierenden mit kommunikationsanregenden Methoden in einer zweisemestrigen Vorlesung zur "Geschichte populärer Musik" (1./2. Semester B.A. Populäre Musik und Medien) entgegenzuwirken. Es wird angenommen, dass insbesondere Kommunikation unter den Studierenden den Wissenserwerb begünstigt. Acht kommunikationsanregende Lehrmethoden wurden durch einen Fragebogen mit geschlossenen Antwortmöglichkeiten evaluiert. Die Ergebnisse aus 209 Antworten zeigen, dass sich die Lehrmethoden hinsichtlich ihrer Funktion deutlich unterscheiden. Obwohl die Ergebnisse tendenziell nahelegen, dass der Lernerfolg mit einer höheren kommunikativen Beteiligung zunimmt, werden interaktive Aufgaben mit den Sitznachbarn oder in Kleingruppen von den Studierenden nicht positiver als Lehrgespräche im Plenum empfunden. Insgesamt ist der Einsatz von Lehrmethoden in einer Vorlesung eine sinnvolle Ergänzung, der den systematischen Vortrag jedoch nicht ersetzen kann.
Popular Music and Society, 2021
This article explores how the proliferation of affordable digital tools and the availability of s... more This article explores how the proliferation of affordable digital tools and the availability of specialist knowledge have affected the mixing stage of metal music productions, asking whether a standard methodology is apparent in producers’ use of templates and presets, processing of audio, and choice of tools. Analyzing fifty professional metal mixes on the platform Nail The Mix, the findings suggest that although producers follow a vaguely defined standard methodology for technical reasons, they have leeway for individuality and creativity. Producers freely give insight into their mixing approaches, which likely inspires exploration of new approaches in the metal producer community.
Metal Music Studies, 2017
The sound of the distorted electric guitar is particularly important for many metal music genres.... more The sound of the distorted electric guitar is particularly important for many metal music genres. It contributes to the music’s perception of heaviness, serves as a distinguishing marker, and is crucial for the power of productions. This article aims at extending the research on the distorted metal guitar and on metal music production by combining both fields of interest. By the means of isolated guitar tracks of original metal recordings, ten tracks in each of the last five decades served as sample for a historical analysis of metal guitar aesthetics including the aspects tuning, loudness, layering and spectral composition. Building upon this insight, an experimental analysis of 287 guitar recordings explored the effectiveness and effect of metal guitar production techniques. The article attempts to provide an empirical ground of the acoustics of metal guitar production in order to extend the still rare practice-based research and metal-oriented production manuals.
Journal of Music, Technology and Education, 2017
This article examines learning opportunities of music production tasks by an exemplary unit on du... more This article examines learning opportunities of music production tasks by an exemplary unit on dub reggae following an action research approach. It addresses the educational areas of sound design, musical knowledge, analysis and listening skills, taking the sound of dub reggae as starting point for learner-centred activity. The main premise is to advocate music production technology as an effective tool for music learning allowing students to experience techniques of music production first hand, vividly illustrating creative approaches of remote musical cultures, their successive influence on popular music, and aesthetic experiences special to technologically created sound. The overall goal is to facilitate a higher awareness and a more detailed understanding of produced sound, and practical competences of integrating technological sound into musical action. The study took place within two vocational college courses for social and health (N = 10; 7 women, 3 men; average age 21 years...
IASPM Journal, 2018
Among the professional roles in the recording industry, studio musicians have received relatively... more Among the professional roles in the recording industry, studio musicians have received relatively little academic attention. The present study explores the work realities of professional studio musicians in Germany, one of the largest music industries in the world, and is based on interviews with six pop musicians; guitarists, bassists, keyboardists and drummers who are between 27 and 66 years old. The findings show how changes in the recording industry - most notably dwindling budgets, the rise of project studios and virtual collaboration - have affected working practices, skill requirements and business models. The findings indicate that in Germany it is hardly possible to make a living from studio work as a professional musician. This is true even for leading session players. Sinking fees and the lack of access to royalties pose a problem that is not tackled due to fierce competition and the risk of damaging one’s reputation.
Etnomusikologian vuosikirja, 2018
Among the professional roles in the recording industry, studio musicians have received relatively... more Among the professional roles in the recording industry, studio musicians have received relatively little academic attention. Who has played on a record and who has developed the rhythms, melodies and fills are secrets that remain hidden behind closed studio doors. Since the little public media available mainly recollects memories of past stars or musical developments from more than twenty years ago, little is known about more recent biographies, individual skills and working practices of average studio musicians from different parts of the world. Against this backdrop, the present study explored the skillset of studio musicians in Germany’s popular music recording industry. The interviewees provided rare insights into their careers, expressed their views on technological developments and depicted their economic realities. With increasing power and affordability of music production resources, new business models for studio musicians were developing along with a change of skills. For a long time, the successful studio musician had incredible playing skills, stylistic flexibility and was an excellent sight-reader. These requirements seem to have shifted; today’s musicians must have a broader skillset and be experts beyond their instruments. A repertoire of ideas and sounds to be offered spontaneously in a recording session are highly valuable next to empathy, social skills and a likeable and humble personality. The musicians must be both unique and flexible to serve a project and compete with the many fellow musicians and programmers of computer instruments.
Music Perception, 2019
Research on rock harmony accords with common practice in guitar playing in that power chords (fif... more Research on rock harmony accords with common practice in guitar playing in that power chords (fifth interval) with an indeterminate chord quality as well as major chords are preferred to more complex chords when played with a distorted tone. This study explored the interrelated effects of distortion and harmonic structure on acoustic features and perceived pleasantness of electric guitar chords. Extracting psychoacoustic parameters from guitar tones with Music Information Retrieval technology revealed that the level of distortion and the complexity of interval relations affects sensorial pleasantness. A listening test demonstrated power and major chords being perceived as significantly more pleasant than minor and altered dominant chords when being played with an overdriven or distorted guitar tone. This result accords with musical practice within rock genres. Rather clean rock styles such as blues or classic rock use major chords frequently, whereas subgenres with more distorted guitars such as heavy metal largely prefer power chords. Considering individual differences, electric guitar players rated overdriven and distorted chords as significantly more pleasant. Results were ambiguous in terms of gender but indicated that women perceive distorted guitar tones as less pleasant than men. Rock music listeners were more tolerant of sensorial unpleasant sounds.
Metal Music Studies, 2018
This empirical study explores the guitar profiling technology and its consequences for metal musi... more This empirical study explores the guitar profiling technology and its consequences for metal music production. After briefly introducing this technology, the article investigates its public reception in reviews and online discussion boards to explore the subjective perspectives. A subsequent acoustic experiment tests the capability of the technology. The findings show that many guitar players and producers have been highly sceptical of digital amplification technology because of tonal shortcomings. However, meanwhile many musicians seem convinced of profiling technology due to its good sound quality that has been confirmed by the experiment too. Since for most metal music genres the sound quality of the electric guitar is very important, the creative practices and economic conditions of its production may likely be hugely affected by this technology. The article concludes by discussing the consequences of profiling technology regarding issues such as democratization of production tools, changes in professional services, creative potentials and future applications of the technology that may radically change metal music production.
Metal Music Studies, 2019
Despite being one of the oldest and largest metal nations, little research on metal music from Ge... more Despite being one of the oldest and largest metal nations, little research on metal music from Germany exists. This article focuses on the formation of the West German power metal scene. This subgenre was one of the first to be played in Germany, and bands such as Helloween, Running Wild, Gamma Ray and Blind Guardian produced a characteristic German sound that was to become famous worldwide. Based on interviews with music producers, musicians, journalists and academics, this study analyses stylistic musical features of (German) power metal, the artists’ influences and their different aspirations for international success. The findings suggest that a characteristic German power metal sound emerged in the 1980s and 1990s that might be called ‘Teutonic’. Germany was amongst the first countries to burst out countless successful power metal bands before the genre spread to other parts of the world. No standards existed in those days, and production resources were limited and individual. This restricted infrastructure – the unique characteristics of a few recording studios along with the small circle of professional musicians, engineers and producers – has shaped the classic German power metal sound. With standardization of production resources, new techniques and consequences of globalization such as internationally operating record labels, American culture in public media and increased English language skills, these national characteristics gradually diminished.
Metal Music Studies, 2018
In metal music studies, ‘heaviness’ has been acknowledged as an essential element of the genre. C... more In metal music studies, ‘heaviness’ has been acknowledged as an essential element of the genre. Commonly associated with the distorted guitar, most work on heaviness has concentrated on the instrument’s sound. If respective research considered structural aspects of the guitar riff, it did so with a special focus on tempo, rhythm, tonality and form. This article analyses the interaction between distortion and harmonic structures on the electric guitar. Operationalizing heaviness with a psychoacoustic model of sensory consonance, an acoustic experiment explores how guitar distortion affects acoustic features of harmonic structures. Since acoustic studies are limited in predicting perception, a listening test investigates distortion’s influence on listener perception. The findings indicate that both increasing distortion level and harmonic complexity reduce sensory consonance, especially when acting together. Acoustically, distortion has a slightly stronger effect than structure; perceptually, the ratio is dependent on person-specific characteristics. Metalheads seem to be only marginally affected by sensory dissonance.
Metal Music Studies, 2020
Throughout the centuries, German popular music has caused various foreign reactions from admirati... more Throughout the centuries, German popular music has caused various foreign reactions from admiration to outright rejection. Sometimes, international audiences perceived it as too ‘Teutonic’; other times, this was exactly the reason for its appeal. This article traces ‘Teutonic’ features in 400 years of German popular music history, seeking to identify the emergence and development of ‘Teutonic’ stereotypes as well as their perception inland and abroad. The metal discourse was analysed based on a corpus of nearly 200,000 pages from magazines such as the British Kerrang! and the German Metal Hammer, Rock Hard and Deaf Forever. Stereotypes such as perfectionism, precision and rigidity seem to stem from historical roots, yet their projection onto ‘Teutonic metal’ is over-simplified and often out of context. History suggests that German metal bands were most successful when they exaggerated Germanness. Occasionally, bands became successful because their German features made them sound unique, even though they did not promote their heritage proactively. More often, though, bands that were unintentionally perceived as typically German were less appealing to a foreign audience. In the magazines, discussion of Teutonic attributes almost vanished in the twenty-first century. Global production practices needing to conform to international expectations of ever faster, tighter and heavier records likely made metal artists around the world adopt qualities that previously defined ‘Teutonic music’. It will therefore be interesting to see if or how German stereotypes in metal music will live on.
Metal Music Studies, 2019
Innovations in music technology have the potential to change practices of music making and to con... more Innovations in music technology have the potential to change practices of music making and to contribute to the development of new forms of music. In 2011, a ‘profiling’ technology was released, capable of copying any valve guitar amplifier and shaping every detail of its sound. Many rock and metal guitarists and producers embraced this new technology, and the renowned producer Michael Wagener even claimed it to be ‘the biggest innovation for recording at least for the last fifteen years’. Building on an initial study on the quality and public reception of profiling technology in a metal music context, this article explores the attitudes of metal music producers towards new guitar amplification technologies, their uses thereof, and their conceptions of future music including the role of technological inventions. The findings indicate that although most producers experiment with modern technologies, they regard these as special effects or backup solutions. Traditional guitar sounds and engineering practices are still preferred, partly as a strategy to retain distinction between their established businesses and new enterprises. Developments in music technology are viewed sceptically regarding its positive contribution to future music.
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Journal articles by Jan Herbst