Berklee College of Music

Atomic Age: A Minimalist Approach to
Music Production

Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Degree of Master of Music Production, Technology,
and Innovation
Supervisor: Pablo Munguia

by Kate Ellwanger

Valencia Campus, Spain
July 2019

Table of Contents
Acknowledgements
Abstract
1. Introduction
2. Review of the State of the Art
3. Description
4. Innovative Aspects
5. New Skills Acquired
6. Challenges
7. Future Ramifications
8. Conclusion
9. Bibliography

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Acknowledgements

First and foremost, I would like to thank my family for their unwavering support of my
music and career. Without their guidance and faith in this work, none of this music would have
been possible. I would also like to thank Cody Farwell for his friendship, inspiration, and
musical contribution on track ten of the album. Many thanks to Kenny Segal for adding some
beautiful Omnichord playing on track twelve, and to Jared Leopard for co-mastering this record
with me.
Deep bows of gratitude to the women of Unspeakable Records for the collective support
throughout our individual musical journeys, and to my brothers in Team Supreme for always
pushing me to be my best, even from thousands of miles away.
Last but not least, thank you to the Berklee Community and Faculty for all of the
guidance, friendship, collaborations, and words of wisdom offered throughout this past year. This
program has been an unforgettable experience that I will cherish for the rest of my life.

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Abstract

Atomic Age is an electronic album that offers listeners a maximal sonic experience
through the use of minimal resources. Created with a portable production set up during two years
of transcontinental travel, this body of work breaks the perceived limitations of consumer-quality
hardware and software by demonstrating what is possible when an artist sets out to share their
story using affordable technologies. Through forward-thinking songwriting, unique sound
design, and lyrical storytelling, Atomic Age seeks to inspire creators and listeners to honor the
resources they have at any given time or place, and remind our society that much can be
accomplished with very few resources.

Keywords: digital music technology, album, music production, independent music.

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1. Introduction
Throughout the history of music technology, any advancement in recording tools,
software, or new types of instruments have been met with great resistance. Now in the digital
age, one of the most common criticisms of digital music is that it is cheapening the quality of our
music and over-saturating the market. With music production now being more affordable and
accessible than ever before, many complain that anyone could create and share low-quality work,
and it’s diminishing our culture by lowering the standards of our music traditions. While this
perspective could have some validity, Atomic Age offers an alternative way of looking at these
advancements in music technology and social media marketing.
Having widespread access to low-cost technologies and communications benefits our
society on many levels, and music is no exception to this. Like many other art forms with high
costs of entry, the privilege of creating records and videos was historically reserved for the
wealthy elite and larger companies that could afford to cover the high costs of recording and
distributing music. With these financial barriers removed, independent artists have more power
than ever to create and share their work freely, without the pressure of making music that is
intended for commercial use or suited for the ears of the masses. It gives rise to niche genres, and
greater participation in music-making from people of color, women, and non-binary artists.1
Affordable music technology is not to blame for degrading the quality or evolution of modern

Smith, Ebonie. "Ebonie Smith: Why Are Female Music Producers Everywhere, Yet So
Invisible?
1

Guest Column)." Billboard. March 01, 2018. Accessed October 31, 2018. https:
www.billboard.com/articles/business/8221814/ebonie-smith-female-music-producers
everywhere-guest-column.
1

music, rather, it promotes diversity and allows the art form to flourish in ways that were not
previously possible.
Through the writing, production, and marketing of a 12-track album that uses the latest
tools in digital music technology, Atomic Age serves as a modern example of what artists are
capable of creating with minimal resources and maximal ideas in 2019.
2. Review of the State of the Art
This project is inspired by the works of many forward-thinking artists including Herbie
Hancock with his album Possibilities, Miles Davis with his early uses of electronic instruments
in jazz on his album Filles de Kilimanjaro, Delia Derbyshire’s work at The BBC Radiophonic
Workshop (fig. 1), and Flying Lotus with his use of unique production techniques on 1983 and
Los Angeles. Each of these artists are early adapters of the latest advancements in music
technology and instruments of their respective eras, and their work paved the way for future
generations of musicians to use these tools as extensions of human expression rather than devices
that increase production at the sacrifice of emotional depth.

Figure 1. Delia Derbyshire at the BBC Radiophonic Workshop, 1965.

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While followers of Karl Marx’s theories on technology and capitalism would argue that
developments in music tech cause a decrease in value of goods and services,2 the previously
mentioned works are proof that technological advancement can serve to heighten artistic
expression when mindfully used. In his research and essay on independent music production,
Daniel Waltzer notes that “improvements in digital music production underscore a pre-existing
fascination with creating artificial sounds and thus have cultural and social implications. The
suggestion here is that modern technology (over the past decade in particular) has moved
creativity forward—recording music is no longer confined to a small percentage of interested
stakeholders.”3 Making music technology affordable and the sharing of music open to anyone
promotes immense creativity and growth. It gives a voice to those who might otherwise be silent,
and opens up music to a new era of sounds and styles.4
Albums with similar messages as Atomic Age have certainly been released in the past,
this particular perspective on music technology will be uniquely shared through the personal lens
of the producer as she uses the latest tools in digital technology to have freedom of location
while writing and recording.

2

Marx, Karl, Friedrich Engels, Samuel Moore, Edward B. Aveling, and Ernest

Untermann. Capital: A Critical Analysis of Capitalist Production. Ware, Hertfordshire:
Wordsworth Classics of World Literature, 2013.
3

Walzer, Daniel. (2016). Independent Music Production: How Individuality, Technology, and

Creative Entrepreneurship Influence Contemporary Music Industry Practices. Creative
Industries Journal.
4

Hu, Cherie. "Unbundling The Song: Inside The Next Wave Of Recorded Music's Disruption.”

Forbes. May 13, 2018. Accessed October 31, 2018. https://www.forbes.com/sites
cheriehu/2018/05/13/unbundling-the-song-inside-the-next-wave-of-recorded-musics
disruption/
3

3. Description
Atomic Age is a 12-track album that is written, performed, recorded, produced, and mixed
using as few resources as possible in order to prioritize freedom of location, and to offset the
costs of what an average independent album would cost if recorded in a traditional studio. The
gear used for the production of each of the songs includes a 2015 MacBook Pro, with Ableton
Live Suite and Max used as the main software to record, synthesize, and arrange all sounds and
visual content. Additional plug-ins were used to supplement Ableton’s built-in synthesizers and
audio effects, including software by Native Instruments, Goodhertz, Waves, FabFilter, Output,
and Soundtoys. Ableton’s Push 2 was used as the main control surface because of it’s portability
and ease of integration with the software, and the Apollo Twin interface by Universal Audio was
the primary recording interface used for vocals and guitar, and was chosen because of its
compact size and extremely high quality converters relative to its cost. Similarly, the Baby Bottle
microphone by Blue was chosen for vocals because of its quality and affordability.
Exploring new locations and cultures was a high priority for the artist during the writing
and production process, so a Zoom H4N Pro was used to capture field recordings while traveling
across the US, Canada, Europe, and Africa. These recordings were then used as the sonic
foundation of the record, as beds of ambient sound from multiple cities and natural landscapes
can be heard throughout most of the tracks. Smaller samples of these recordings were also
transformed into melodic synths and percussion elements, so in many cases the original source is
no longer recognizable, but still embedded into the essence of the song. Rather than using premade drum samples and/or synthesizer presets, this process of careful audio manipulation was

4

used in order to create a more original sound of the album, as well as to tie each of the songs
together on a level beyond genre or music style.
4. Innovative Aspects
This album is unique in that it relies heavily on sound-design to create a relationship
between each of the individual songs, rather than following a more traditional genre path or
storyline. Songs on Atomic Age can be categorized or defined as being pop, electronic, cinematic,
dance, RnB, and indie-rock, and while this wide-sweeping approach could make the album
sound scattered, the careful attention to detailed design and repeated use of similar sounds across
multiple styles helps glue the album together in a non-traditional way.
5. New Skills Acquired
As this was the producer’s first introduction to Max, one of the biggest skills she
developed was the creation of abstract visuals using Vizzie. This resulted from many hours of
experimenting and studying the relationships between sight and sound, and also led to the
development of new synthesizer patches that were inspired by these visuals.
Recording engineering and mixing was another huge area of growth that occurred
through the production of the album and studying with Daniel Castelar. Previous work from the
producer was lacking in the quality of the vocal production, and simple shifts in volume, EQ,
compression, and creative panning all served to improve the overall quality of the vocal mixes on
Atomic Age.
6. Challenges
While there was much improvement made in these areas, mixing and recording
engineering proved to be two of the biggest technical challenges of this project, because the
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producer was not settled in a consistent studio environment. That being said, having the
limitation of mixing on a laptop and headphones placed an even greater emphasis on ear-training
and listening skills. The songwriting, sound-design, and fundamentals of the mix all had to be as
strong as possible since there was so little gear to hide behind.
Another huge challenge the producer faced this year was project management. As the
producer was working on Atomic Age, writing and production was also underway for eight
different artists’s records while working remotely, while also juggling the day-to-day tasks of
running an independent record label and artist development programs. Ultimately, this particular
time constraint and battle for focus was one of the biggest blessings of the process, because it
forced the producer to be extremely present and deliberate with each moment available for
writing.
7. Future Ramifications
Atomic Age is set to be released on Unspeakable Records through Seed Distribution on
June 28th, 2019. In addition to running a social media campaign that features the album’s
artwork (fig. 2) and audiovisual previews, music videos and abstract visualizers will also be
released for each song on the album, and will use film that was shot in each of the recording
locations that were used during the music production. This video content will be hosted on the
label’s YouTube Channel, as well as the producer’s website.

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Figure 2. Atomic Age Artwork by Kate Ellwanger

8. Conclusion
As Rick Rubin aptly summarizes his relationship to gear, “art isn’t in the tools, material,
equipment you use. It’s in the way you see the world.” No time, no budget, no resources — these
are common excuses used to procrastinate, stay safe, and stay small. But creative, high-quality
work is not hindered by lack of resources. Instead, it is a lack of resourcefulness that often stunts
the growth of any artist or creator. 5 Atomic Age brings this philosophy to life by showing what is
possible with a small budget, huge creative drive, and expansive imagination.

5

Byrne, David. How Music Works. New York: Three Rivers Press, an Imprint of the Crown

Publishing Group, a Division of Penguin Random House LLC, 2017.
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9. Bibliography
Bryant, Taylor. "8 Game-Changing Female Music Producers You Should Know." NYLON.
March 13, 2018. Accessed October 31, 2018.
https://nylon.com/articles/female-music-producers-interviews.
Byrne, David. How Music Works. New York: Three Rivers Press, an Imprint of the Crown
Publishing Group, a Division of Penguin Random House LLC, 2017.
Cole, Bill. Miles Davis. New York: Da Capo Press, 1994.
Davis, Miles. Filles de Kilimanjaro. Colombia Records, 1969, vinyl.
Donoughue, Paul. "We Don't Play Guitars: How Bedroom Producers Came to Dominate the
Airwaves." ABC News. July 21, 2017. Accessed July 04, 2019. https://www.abc.net.au
news/2017-07-22/the-bedroom-producers-best-friend-ableton-electronic-music/8655236.
Hancock, Herbie. Possibilities. Vector/Hear Music, 2005, compact disc.
Hancock, Herbie, and Lisa Dickey. Herbie Hancock: Possibilities. NY, NY: Viking, 2015.
Flying Lotus. 1983. Plug Research, PLG 76, 2006, compact disc.
Flying Lotus. Los Angeles. Warp Records, 2008, compact disc.
Hu, Cherie. "Unbundling The Song: Inside The Next Wave Of Recorded Music's Disruption.”
Forbes. May 13, 2018. Accessed October 31, 2018. https://www.forbes.com/sites
cheriehu/2018/05/13/unbundling-the-song-inside-the-next-wave-of-recorded-musics
disruption/
"Journal on the Art of Record Production." Journal on the Art of Record Production » The
Discourse of Home Recording: Authority of "Pros" and the Sovereignty of the Big
Studios. Accessed October 31, 2018. http://www.arpjournal.com/asarpwp/the-discourse
of-home-recording-authority-of-“pros”-and-the-sovereignty-of-the-big-studios/.
Manzo, V. J. Foundations of Music Technology. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2016.
Marx, Karl, Friedrich Engels, Samuel Moore, Edward B. Aveling, and Ernest
Untermann. Capital: A Critical Analysis of Capitalist Production. Ware, Hertfordshire:
Wordsworth Classics of World Literature, 2013.

8

Smith, Ebonie. "Ebonie Smith: Why Are Female Music Producers Everywhere, Yet So Invisible?
Guest Column)." Billboard. March 01, 2018. Accessed October 31, 2018. https:
www.billboard.com/articles/business/8221814/ebonie-smith-female-music-producers
everywhere-guest-column.
Walzer, Daniel. (2016). Independent Music Production: How Individuality, Technology, and
Creative Entrepreneurship Influence Contemporary Music Industry Practices. Creative
Industries Journal.

9