0000000000248035
AUTHOR
Zack Bresler
‘A Swarm of Sound’
Author's accepted manuscript. This article explores the idea of audiovisual immersion through the portal of the virtual reality music video. Our focus falls on a close reading of Björk’s video, ‘Family’, which addresses questions of immersion in relation to user-experience, staging, and technological innovation. This article draws on the authors’ responses to the video by considering the implications of VR immersion in a new generation of music video productions. As part of the methodology on offer, a model for music analysis is devised for conceptualising virtual audiovisual space (VAVS) and the inextricable relationships between production and compositional design.
Immersed in Pop
In 2019, Dolby Atmos Music launched on Tidal HiFi and Amazon Prime Music HD, integrating 3D sound with music streaming services for the first time. This is one of several recent incursions by popular music into immersive and interactive mediums, which also includes technologies such as virtual reality and 360-degree video. As immersive productions become more normal in popular music, they are increasingly critical to examine. How are aesthetic features of pop compositions altered or maintained in these productions? And how do these different spatial mediums affect compositional design, subject positioning, artists’ performativity, and staging? This article aims to address these questions by…
Immersed in Pop!: Excursions into Compositional Design
Recent changes in consumer audio and music technology and distribution - for example the addition of 3D audio formats such as Dolby Atmos to music streaming services, the recent release of “Spatial Audio” on Apple and Beats products, the proliferation of musical content in virtual reality and 360º videos, etc. - have reignited a public discourse on concepts of immersion and interactivity in popular music and media. This raises questions and necessitates a deepening of popular musicological discourse in these areas. This thesis thus asks: what is the relationship between so-called immersive media and immersive experience? How are immersive and interactive experiences of audiovisual popular m…