2026-09-18T20:53:44Zhttps://dspace.mit.edu/server/oai/requestoai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/1298932026-06-16T18:55:32Zcom_1721.1_7582com_1721.1_7581col_1721.1_131022
Tod Machover.
Bloomberg, Benjamin Arthur Philips.
Program in Media Arts and Sciences (Massachusetts Institute of Technology)
Program in Media Arts and Sciences (Massachusetts Institute of Technology)
2021-02-19T20:43:08Z
2021-02-19T20:43:08Z
2020
2020
https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/129893
1237635730
Thesis: Ph. D., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, School of Architecture and Planning, Program in Media Arts and Sciences, February, 2020
Cataloged from student-submitted PDF of thesis.
Includes bibliographical references (pages 277-285).
Fifty-two years ago, Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band redefined what it meant to make a record album. The Beatles revolutionized the recording process using technology to achieve completely unprecedented sounds and arrangements. Until then, popular music recordings were simply faithful reproductions of a live performance. Over the past fifty years, recording and production techniques have advanced so far that another challenge has arisen: it is now very difficult for performing artists to give a live performance that has the same impact, complexity and nuance as a produced studio recording. Live performance production technology is now used almost exclusively to recreate studio albums exactly as they were recorded. Recently, this approach has dominated the entertainment industry. In an attempt to reach superhuman levels of perfection and complexity, many elements that make live performances emotionally meaningful for audiences have been given less priority --
or lost altogether. The mission of the work described in this dissertation is to reverse this trend by investigating methods of integrating technology and live music performance in such a way that the technology allows for flexible musical expression, sound and connection to the audience, while still enabling exciting, sophisticated and "magical" production values. This dissertation identifies six objectives for the human-centric design and integration of technology in musical performance, and a methodology to support each objective. These have been developed, refined and tested with artists and performers through a series of ten large-scale projects and approximately 300 individual performances. Through this work, I demonstrate that it is possible to combine high-value production with interactive musical performance.
We are now on the cusp of redefining live musical performance production as an art form just as Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band redefined studio album production as an art form fifty years ago.
by Benjamin Arthur Philips Bloomberg.
Ph.D.
Ph.D. Massachusetts Institute of Technology, School of Architecture and Planning, Program in Media Arts and Sciences
290 pages
eng
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
MIT theses may be protected by copyright. Please reuse MIT thesis content according to the MIT Libraries Permissions Policy, which is available through the URL provided.
http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582
Program in Media Arts and Sciences
Making musical magic live : inventing modern production technology for human-centric music performance
Inventing modern production technology for human-centric music performance
Thesis
application/pdf
2021-02-19T20:42:37Z
Publication
Doctoral
Media
unknown
unknown
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