Paul Harkins’ book is a welcome addition to the growing number of studies concerned with the historical contexualisation of technologically situated musical practices, sitting comfortably within the discourses established by writers such as Théberge (Reference Théberge1997), Pinch and Trocco (Reference Pinch and Trocco2004) and Warner (Reference Warner2003). At the same time, in its engagement with matters pertaining to technology and musical aesthetics, both in reference to sampling practice and the digital mediation of sound more generally, Harkins also does much to further the groundwork laid by commentators such as Goodwin (Reference Goodwin1988), Katz (Reference Katz2004), Schloss (Reference Schloss2004), Brøvig-Hanssen and Danielsen (Reference Brøvig-Hanssen and Danielsen2016) and Strachan (Reference Strachan2017). Another key strength of the book is its utilisation of a significant quantity of newly generated interview material which forms the basis of a number of the book's practitioner-focused discussions.
The principal historical focus of Digital Sampling is on the design and development of the Fairlight CMI series and Emu Emulator I/II, Drumulator and SP-12 sampling technologies, with a particular emphasis on the processes by which they became incorporated into popular music production practice in the 1980s. In his discussions of these various devices in the book's first three chapters, Harkins covers much territory, dealing with matters which, for the most part, have only been documented in a fragmentary and sporadic fashion in preceding historical surveys of record production (see for example, Cunningham Reference Cunningham1998, Milner Reference Milner2010 and Burgess Reference Burgess2014). In particular there is in-depth consideration of early users’ interactions with the technologies, foregrounding the tensions between emerging principles of digital recording and the preceding tape-based approaches as well as between traditional instrumental performance practice and the ‘performance’ of sampled instrumental sound. Harkins balances these aspects with aesthetic concerns, invoking, for example, the discourses concerning the questionable ‘realism’ of the digitally sampled sound vs. the later fetishisation of the ‘lower fidelity’ sound as a sought-after property for recordings. Regarding the Fairlight CMI, Harkins provides an informative survey of its experimental uses in the work of Kate Bush (exploring the use of found sounds) and the BBC Radiophonic Workshop (creating new sounds from ‘unusual juxtapositions’) in the UK. This is contrasted with the approach taken by Afrika Bambaataa and Arthur Baker in the US in recording Planet Rock, which was instead focused upon the instrument's onboard sample libraries, most notably the instantly recognisable (and later often maligned) orchestral hit (ORCH2) sample. In reference to the later sequencer-based incarnations of the Fairlight (CMI Series II, IIx and III), Harkins's discussion of J.J. Jeczalik's work with Trevor Horn and the Art of Noise (supported by new interview material) also does much to clarify the thought processes and experiments that lay behind the creation of some of the most definitive British pop recordings of the early 1980s. The chapter focused on the development of the Emu Emulator is similarly enlightening, particularly in its dealing with the misconceptions concerning the use of digital technologies by hip hop artists during this period, who remained committed to analogue contexts of production (disc and tape based approaches) for longer than might be imagined. This gives rise to an important observation which holds that just because a particular technology is available this does not necessarily mean that it is immediately and widely adopted by practitioners – rather, there is a more gradual process of ‘socio-musical change’. Harkins's accounts of the evolution of the Fairlight and the Emulator also take into consideration the ‘suburban’ and ‘domestic’ environmental contexts of their development and design, which contrast with the university situations that have often informed the development of new technologies (as was the case with the RCA Mk 1 Synthesizer, for example). In addition, the book gives much attention to the manner in which the new technologies were publicised, including numerous (frequently hilarious) examples of their representation in advertisements.
Underlying Harkins's commentary in the first part of the book are a number of theoretical perspectives and discourses deriving from the field of Science and Technology Studies, including Social Construction of Technology (SCOT), Actor Network Theory and affordance theory. While Harkins is clearly addressing an audience that knows (and expects to encounter) such frameworks, it is not necessary to be fully conversant with them to follow his arguments as their meaning and application are clearly communicated in the discussion points being made. This is likely to make the book attractive to a student new to the field and enable it to capture a wide general readership outside the academic community. The primary focus of Harkins's commentary is on the individual ‘user’ experience of sampling technology in a range of contexts of practice. Among the key themes that emerge are technological constraints and their impact upon users’ creative approaches (such as as the limits of minimal sample time), and their individual responses which are not necessarily in accord with the ‘scripts’ of their designers. Harkins is also concerned with the processes by which ‘networks’ of practice begin to congregate around new technologies as users explore their possibilities, invoking the term ‘interpretative flexibility’ (derived from SCOT) in reference to the phase in which a tool's potential application exists in state of fluidity before becoming crystallised as standard use. In addition, he draws attention to the ways in which emerging technological forms give rise to the new types of practitioner, such as the ‘programmer’. In exploring such areas, the author is very much in tune with strategies of the more recent literature concerned with interrogating the impact of contemporary digital technologies upon creative practice, such as Robert Strachan's book Sonic Technologies (2017).
Following a brief interlude focused upon methodological frameworks, the second part of the book, headlined ‘Users’, brings the study up to date by focusing on the work of a range of contemporary practitioners. Here the author offers in-depth consideration of four case studies of contrasting areas of sampling practice, with a view to exploring a central question, ‘What is sampling?’, as well as highlighting the ways in which sampling can be understood in terms of individual ‘locally situated practices’. The first is concerned with the techniques of ‘microsampling’ in reference to the work of microhouse producers Marc Leclair (aka Akufen) and the ‘godfather of UK Garage’, Todd Edwards. The second charts the evolution of sampling practice in the work of the Edinburgh-based collective, Found, including particular focus on use of the Akai MPC2000. The third case study focuses on the music of Kenny Anderson, better known as King Creosote, offering a contrasting perspective on sampling with loop pedal technology, while the fourth examines the often-controversial output of ‘auteur’ sampler, Matthew Herbert. In the course of these discussions, which are frequently enriched by the author's own interviews with the individuals concerned, the book's earlier themes are revisited. A recurrent motif, for example, concerns resistance to given technological paradigms, as illustrated by Anderson's practice, which highlights the tensions between the aesthetics of sampling and the traditional folk music genre context within which he situates his output. In particular Anderson's work is characterised by an ambivalence towards digital technologies, manifested in a desire to side-step prescribed approaches and foster unpredictable creative outcomes. Also foregrounded are artists’ strategies for the avoidance of the trite and the cliched. The importance of the ‘manipulation’ of the sample, by obscuring its origins (in the case of microsampling), and the establishment of highly personalised inventories of found sounds (in the case of Herbert), for example, are shown to be among the prerequisites for creativity and authenticity in sampling practice. Harkins's study of Matthew Herbert's work also affords him the opportunity to raise a thought-provoking discussion concerning the ethics of sampling, here in reference to the often-disturbing sources of Herbert's audio material, including the sounds of bones being ground up in a local crematorium and Israeli gunfire during the Palestinian conflict. Herbert's predilection for weaponising found sounds in the service of his activism calls to mind the earlier equally controversial experiments of the ‘industrial’ collectives Throbbing Gristle and Cabaret Voltaire in the 1970s, in whose work one can discern the seeds of ‘politicized’ sound art in the British context. Another extra-musical perspective that emerges from the case study section concerns the oft-invoked analogy between sampling practice and visual art. This appears, for example, in the commentary on Found's work in reference to ‘painting with sound’, conflated (appropriately) with the art-school trained Eno's idea of the ‘additive’ recording process (see Eno Reference Eno1983), and in reference to Anderson's notion of the sample as a ‘colouristic’ element to be added to a recording. Harkins's case studies are also informed by focused commentary on specific recordings by his chosen artists, providing valuable listening pointers for the reader who wishes to explore further, as well as useful models for the discussion of sample-based music.
In conclusion, this is a stimulating, well written and concisely structured book, whose marriage of meticulously researched historical accounts of the evolution of sampling technologies with focused discussions of both earlier and contemporary musical practices is unique in the literature dealing with this field. The book is highly recommended both for the generally interested reader and the immersed specialist.
