A musical choice in a production context is the induced change from one state to a new state of the recording. What is driving the musical choices in the creative studio setting? How, and on what premises are these choices taken? Are these choices really driven only by aesthetic considerations? The democratization of music technology renders endless possibilities for musicians, songwriters and producers. Still, record production today, as it always has, is centered around a series of choices within a creative process. Thus, reflecting upon such choices is essential to grow as artist, songwriter or industry professional.
Bennet (2013) argues that although there is no template method for songwriting, there might be commonalties at the decision-making processes at macro level. Howlett (2012) argues that the producer role is a creative one and is centered around choices. McIntyre (2007) confronts the romantic view of creativity, using Csikszentmihalyi’s system theory.
Through my experience as a songwriter, vocalist, producer and mixer, I have implemented an interdisciplinary approach and deduced a theoretic framework to understand key aspects of what drives the choices in the studio setting.
The paper illustrates how any musical choice can be understood as a three-part process: the creation of options to choose from, the selection between these options and the evaluation of the selection. The paper will focus on how the creative organism is critically listening to its own art in order to assess its potential for listener interaction.