Creativity and collaboration in the recording studio

An investigation into the systems model of creativity and creative conflict in group collaboration within the production process of making a record.

Abstract

Creativity is one of the most important issues surrounding music production, however, it is underexplored, and though its significance is repeatedly talked of its rarely been subject to critical investigation. Instead as McIntyre (2008), Negus & Pickering (2002) have noted, its value is usually taken for granted in music studies becoming that of an unquestioned commonplace. The purpose of this study is to investigate the theoretical models currently used for creativity in music production and the important factors that are shown to be constructive or deconstructive in creative group collaboration providing a case study example of Hitsville U.S.A recording studio, which has been chosen for its association with creative group collaboration (Fitzgerald,​ 1995).

'Critical interrogation of creativity should be central to any understanding of musical production' (Hesmondhalgh & Negus 2002: 147)

Introduction

In western society, creativity has been viewed from a romantic perspective since in the 18th-century romantics gave genius its modern meaning: someone with special powers or a divine ability (​brooklyn, 2016).​ Today this notion still holds apparent in the media with famous, musicians, record producers, and engineers often being positioned at the centre of the creative process. On closer inspection, however, the Romantic or Inspirationist perspective is not regarded as being critically sound. Consequently, a rationalistic view on creativity now dominates research according to (Sawyer, 2006: 40) at least since A.P. Guildford's address to the American Psychological Association in the 1950's. This perspective contrary to the evidence has had to grapple with the romantic view of creativity where unfortunately the majority's assumption lies and as Margaret Boden has suggested these views:

'are believed by many to be literally true. But they are rarely critically examined. They are not theories, so much as myths: imaginative constructions, whose function is to express the values, assuage the fears, and endorse the practices of the community that celebrates them' (Boden, 2004: 14)

When inspecting the literature it is clear the evidence does not support these common assumptions on creativity, rather a confluence of factors are present in order for novelty to manifest, for example: Mihaly Csikszentmilahyi and Kieth Swayer have both argued that in fact: cultural and social factors play equal terms with the individual as evidence points towards all three factors being necessary components for creativity to emerge (Csikszentmilahyi, 1996, Sawyer, 2012).

Literature Review/Main Body

Csikszentmilahyi developed a model for creativity that suggests creativity results from the dynamic workings of a system providing three combined elements: 'A culture that contains symbolic rules, a person who brings novelty into the domain, and a field of experts who recognize and validate innovation' (Csikszentmilahyi, 1997: 6, cited McIntyre, 2008) He also suggests that within the system there is no required starting point or finish, instead a dynamic circular causality of interactions and dynamic links between each element (Ibid). However the model has had its critics most notably (Weisberg 2007, Pope 2005, Gauntlett, 200)

Image: (Csikszentmihalyi 1999: 315)

The domain consists of the knowledge, conventions, and codes of practice one will have to be immersed in to produce novel variations. As a result, the person needs to have a vast knowledge of past codes of practice within the domain, concurrently with the history of works as they have already been accepted by the domain (Sawyer, 2006: 125) (Cited Mclntyre, 2008). Pierre Bourdieu describes these in redolent terms to Csikszentmilahyi as noted by Jason Toynbee (2000), using the term 'field of works' which are separated from fields themselves. Pierre Bourdieu describes field of works as the following: 'heritage accumulated by collective work presents itself to each agent as a space of possibilities, that is an ensemble of probable constraints which are the condition and the counterpart of a set of possible uses' (ibid) A producer or other specialized roles in the studio such as guitarist, singer etc have required their knowledge from the domain through listening and studying the body of songs previously placed there. They use this to inform their decision making in the production of a record, it's also suggested by Philip Mclntyre (2008) that the more in depth the person's knowledge is the greater their ability will be to perform in the recording studio.

The field is the social organisation of people involved in the domain according to Sawyer and

Csikszentmilahyi these range from different experts and groups who can influence and provide feedback (Csikszentmilahyi, 1997) (Sawyer, 2006) In the production process of making a record these most notably attain to Record producers, session musicians, singers, and engineers. One could stretch the influences further to A&R, managers, and other business entities such as record labels, and publishing companies who can have an impact on the creative process. Sawyer also writes that the audience is part of the field as throughout the creative process the audience is in mind for how the work will be received contributing to affect the outcome (Sawyer, 2006) (Negus, 1996) (Mclntrye, 2008).

However in his early development of the systems model for creativity pointed out his arguments are not a betrayal of the psychology in favour of historical, or sociological approaches. Instead, he feels that to understand the complex nature that people operate within will enhance the understanding of what the individual can do and is responsible for. Further suggesting the Ptolemaic view on creativity, which is the view that for individual is the centre of everything, and be replaced by a more Copernican model where the individual is part of a larger interchangeable system of mutual influences and information (Csikszentmilahyi, 1988, p 336) (cited Mcintyre, 2006)

Flow

Csikszentmilahyi (1999) coined the term Flow when describing a particular state of heightened consciousness. Through observation, he discovered that extremely creative people are at their peak when they experience continues flowing from one moment to the next where one feels in full control of their actions where there is little distinction between self and environment, and between stimulus and response, or between past present and future (ibid). He discovered these same attributes from observing artists, scientists, and athletes, and suggests for a person to move into Flow four distinct characteristics are needed to be present: firstly their skills need to match the challenge presented, secondly when there is a particular goal set that one’s working towards, thirdly there needs to be constant and immediate feedback to inform the person how close they are to achieving that goal, and fourthly the person needs to be in an environment where they can be fully focused on the task without any distractions (Sawyer, 2007) (Morrow, 2012)

'We're drawn to the image of the lone genius whose mystical moment of insight changes the world. But the lone genius is a myth; instead, its group genius that generates breakthrough innovation ' (Sawyer, 2007, p37).

Group Flow

Sawyer (2007) who was the student of Csikszentmilahyi poised the question: could there be such a thing as group flow, when a group of people reach the same flowing state as described by Csikszentmilahyi (1998) on an individual basis. He discovered that indeed improvising groups attain a collective state of mind where a peak experience is generated when a group is performing at its top level of ability. He stated that the group needs a goal that provides focus for the team to work towards where members of the team can tell when they are moving towards a solution, but also one that provides enough flexibility for problem-solving to emerge (ibid) Concluding the importance of decentralised decision-making, so the groups able to set aside to the developing flow of the group.

He noticed that for collaborators to enter group flow they must share tacit knowledge and comparable skills, however, if they were too familiar and comfortable with one another the session can become less challenging resulting in the group flow state fading (Mcintyre, 2006) He suggests the way the group can avoid this is by adding more diversity within the group's collaborators. He refers to this as introducing heterogeneity so that the group does not enter groupthink which reduces the manifestation of novel ideas (Sawyer, 2007) In the recording studio the producer, musicians, and artists need to have the comparable skill set and knowledge, but also a range of diverse ideas which can bring multiple ideas and opinions driving collaboration to more original, and complex work. This conflict is evident in reducing groupthink which is documented being harmful to novelty (ibid), however, there may be difficulty in controlling conflict productively as it could become destructive and interfere with creativity.

Creative conflict in Group collaboration (Case study of Hitsville Studio Motown)

The studio production process Berry Gordy imagined and facilitated undeniably 'worked' achieving a total of, sixty top fifteen, pop chart positions between 1964 and 1967 (Fitzgerald, 1995) (Whitburn, 1987)​, and has been chosen for this essay because of the creative conflict that has been associated with driving the studio's success. ​Berry Gordy in a interview for a youth workshop at the Whitehouse on the history of Motown (see interview section in bibliography) replies to the interviewer's question: How was Motown so consistent in making so many great songs: In which he replies: “the Motown sound was done through love and competition”

Berry Gordy stated in an interview: “it was survival of the fittest, so to speak, that was when the real fun started and the real competition, and of course the real hit records came out of that, it had to be great to get out of that meeting alive” (Oprah, 2013).

Quality control meetings, would take place, where they listen to the songs that had been recorded and scrutinise them to see if they would stand up to be a hit. He States in an interview: 'The quality control was so high: 'It was survival of the fittest' (Dahl, 2001) (Oprah, 2013). Competition manifested between producers and songwriters wanting their record to be the next release. Smokey Robinson in an interview adds to this point in explaining how the competition was so stiff which is why Motown created so many hit records. He goes on to say that nobody had a lock on an artist, any producer or songwriter could approach any artist with a song, and any producer would help another producer on their record even if they themselves were working with that artist at the time. He quotes Berry Gordy had a saying “Competition breeds success'. (Robinson, 2013) This competition and the innovation of creativity between songwriters and producers could be seen to stem from this unfamiliar heterogeneous state of the environment not knowing who's song would be making the cut. Diversity in ideas and opinions makes the teams more creative because of the friction that results from multiple opinions drives the team to more original and complex work. (Morrow, 2012)

As stated Csikszentmihalyi's (1996) systems model of creativity, in addition to the immediate social context, will include indirect involvement from managers, record labels, and other business entities surrounding the music production project causing conflict, such as seen in Hitsville studio. As Csikszentmihalyi suggests creativity is located in a highly complex multi-dimensional space that incorporates the person, field, and domain in circular causality (Sayer, 2007, Morrow, 2012, Mcintyre, 2006)

Conclusion

This investigation researched the current theoretical frameworks used for viewing our process in the production of creating music and the influences that shape and contribute to the finished artefact. Creativity and collaboration are the backbones of music production and its complexity is further installed by the evidence of Csikszentmihalyi's system model which takes into account the influences and contributions that may not be in one's immediate peripheral vision, but do nevertheless share one's thoughts and ultimately one's actions inside the recording studio/or working on music anywhere. Creativity is complex and understanding how one can be open to creating the environments more likely to enhance productivity and novel ideas have more probability in doing so. Sawyer stated that conflict is needed to avoid the groupthink phenomenon associated with damaging creativity and looking into the example of Motown’s recording studio Hitsville U.S.A it suggests this was a consistent factor in their success.

Sawyer claims in order to understand creativity and novelty are to understand that webs of collaborators are more than important than creative individuals. He considers that most action occurs this way in today's economy, where everyone's power of creativity increases because the whole sum of the web is greater than the sum parts. 'To realise your full potential, you must move beyond the linear creativity mindset and tap into the power of collaborative webs. (Sawyer, 2007: 185) (Cited Morrow, 2012)

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