The Balance Metaphor in Music Production

Balance is one of the most central conceptual representations in the art of music and sound production. A sound engineer may, for instance, refer to ‘dynamic balance,’ ‘spectral balance,’ ‘color balance’, ‘wet/dry balance’ or ‘pan balance’ when describing sonic qualities of a mix. However, few attempts have been made to understand how the concept of balance functions at the level of thought as an aesthetic ideal, and how one may respond meaningfully to an imbalanced mix.
In this presentation conceptual metaphor theory and corpus linguistics serve as a theoretical framework to understand the relation between how music producers and sound engineers imagine their mix, how they conceptualize it, and the operations they perform to achieve it. The concept of balance is treated as an embodied cognitive structure that gives rise to concrete actions in the act of recording, mixing, and mastering music.
Previous studies have tested intuitive bodily responses to auditory balance. These studies have shown a link between body movements and perceived balanced/unbalanced audio stimuli. This suggests a relationship between physical structures of balance and more abstract notions of auditory balance. This study is based on an exploration of a specialized linguistic corpus of sound engineering literature. Using this corpus I show how balanced is typically conceptualized. I conclude by suggesting how linguistic corpus data may contribute to better understand the relation between embodied patterns of experience and hands-on interaction with sound.