Was macht (Metal) Music heavy? Empirische Studien im Schnittfeld von Praxisforschung, Netnographie und Musikanalyse

Description

What makes (metal) music heavy? Empirical studies at the intersection of practice research, netnography and music analysis

Popular music genres can be defined by certain characteristics that bundle sonic, ideological, emotional, and associative qualities. One of these genres is heavy metal, where “heavy” is both the namesake and one of the most important quality criteria. However, despite the relevance of heaviness to heavy metal (or metal music more broadly), what constitutes heaviness is not currently well understood. This session, designed as a mixture of presentation and joint discussion, aims to identify the (primarily musical) components that make metal music heavy. Based on the practice-led research project “Heaviness in Metal Music Production” (www.himmp.net), the session draws on different approaches and methodologies to study heaviness: 1) online research on practitioners’ understandings of heaviness (netnography); 2) case studies of songs/productions; 3) practice-based research with record producers. The latter is at the centre of the research; the research team wrote a song going through various metal subgenres and took it to leading metal music producers for mixing and mastering. The various tracks, production documentation, and video interviews of the producers about their notion of heaviness and how they craft it vividly illustrate different forms of heaviness and approaches to its creation.

Period	21 Nov 2023
Event title	Lecture series Music winter term 2023/24
Event type	Seminar
Location	Vienna, AustriaShow on map
Degree of Recognition	International