Ambitious research agenda for new five-year Amplification Project
An ambitious five-year research project to chart the past, present and future of the technology behind amplified sound has begun at the University of Huddersfield, with the backing of a Leverhulme International Professorship grant from the prestigious Leverhulme Trust.
Leading the Amplification Project is Professor Steve Waksman, one of the world’s leading scholars in the study of music technology, instruments and live music. Previously the Elsie Irwin Sweeney Professor of Music and Professor of American Studies at Smith College in Massachusetts, Prof Waksman will head up a team of six post-doctoral researchers and 12 PhD studentships.
Despite amplified sound being an integral part of everyday life – from delivering music via mobile devices to the huge sound systems that will be used at this summer’s outdoor shows and festivals in the UK – there has been little study of it as a subject.
“The team have been brainstorming a pretty ambitious agenda to produce a package studying the history and cultural impact of amplification technologies and amplified sound,” says Professor Waksman.
“We are looking at the evolution of amplified sound - at the rise of basic technologies like the amplifier, the microphone, or the loudspeaker. How they evolved, when they evolved, who produced them and how they took the shape that they have. None of this is well documented.
“There is a huge hole around this major facet of life of anybody who listens to or makes music.”
Books, journals and conferences planned
Outputs planned for the project include at least four books as well as journal articles from the research team, as well as conferences and events in Huddersfield.
“Another strand is the interplay between amplification and instruments, because amplification changed the interface between musicians and their instruments, as well as the way we listen to those instruments,” adds Prof Waksman.
“There is also a theme bubbling up around the way in which amplification affects our experience of space, like being in a live music venue. I find the question of how music venues are put together and designed and how sound is produced within them to be endlessly fascinating. My most recent book, Live Music in America, covers this subject in detail, and it’s something I’m excited to take in a new direction here.”
Linking project to respected amplifier experts
Prof Waksman, who hails from California, plans to link the project with some of the UK’s long list of specialist amplification companies such as Marshall, and he has already visited one company with a long-standing reputation in the music industry that is based near the university.
Matamp have been specialists in making guitar amplifiers for over sixty years, with clients including Led Zeppelin’s Jimmy Page and Peter Green from the earliest incarnation of Fleetwood Mac, and Prof Waksman was delighted to discover they are based a few miles from campus in Meltham.
“I’ve met Jeff Lewis, the owner of Matamp, and he was really pleased to share his knowledge. In fact, he filled my head with all kinds of amazing information, and they are right on our doorstep.
“Telling those stories about amplification is really important because when we talk about popular music history, we so often just get hung up on these artists who are the big stars that we hook our desire onto. There is much happening behind the scenes, and out of our sight and out of our hearing that we usually don't know anything about. It's a secret history of popular music, and telling the story of amplification to me is on some level telling that story.
"There is a lot of stuff that's put into place so that the artist can do what they do in the first place. This means that the audience can have the kind of experience that they're supposed to have when they go to a concert, or even listen to music on headphones through their smartphone. It all comes down to amplification.
“There’s a wealth of musical history around here, and the university has an excellent reputation around many aspects of music so it’s a delight to be here.”