Sound, dispositif and power: sound formations in pop music

Abstract

ABSTRACT Sound as a medium of music is pre-structured in the social context in which it circulates, representing an aesthetic meta-level of the musical. As a socially pertinent concept, “sound” implies different references to the sonic material, including different ways of listening. The result of a cultural formatting process, sound manifests in formations that audibly and conceptually correspond to the processes through which societies in which they are anchored organise themselves. Although this has been present in all societies and cultures at all times, it is particularly evident in the technical shaping of sound in recording studios. Every recording is based on a sound design determined by the technical setup prior to the recording process. The concept of the dispositif developed by Michel Foucault offers a way of relating the meta-aesthetic, cultural pre-structuring of sonic material within the dominant sound formation and the resulting sound design to fundamental processes of social reproduction, cultural power relations, modes of subjectivation and subject forms. The productivity dispositif, the identity dispositif and the creativity dispositif describe three fundamental constellations within the framework of modern capitalism. The corresponding sound design is analysed on the basis of pop music productions from the 1950s to the 1980s.