My initial ideas to focus the essay on Drum n’ Bass evolved slightly at first, with my broad research in terms of finding sources focusing on UK rave culture in general, as well as A.I within music and how that might influence rave culture in the future. I felt that the topic of ‘A.I in rave music’ or something along those lines was way too broad, so I refined the subject area to focus on drum n’ bass and its link to the cyberpunk ideology. In more precise terms, I have found a few sources that highlight the entanglement between producer and technology in drum n’ bass/jungle music, which really piqued my interest because a lot of my personal artistic work outside of University has been centred around the idea of man and machine colliding, and depicting myself as some sort of cyborg.
With the intensely rapid tempo of drum n’ bass comes an artificiality in that it isn’t humanly possible to construct such quickfire, fractured breakbeats and patterns without the need for a computer. I feel as though drum n’ bass is a great example of a cross-section between human ingenuity and technological advancement, and it excites me to dive into different viewpoints and reasonings as to why drum n’ bass has evolved how it has, and what it represents. As I mentioned I have found a few strong sources that I can start with, and my hope is that I continue to direct my research and perhaps find something even more specific to base a discussion around.
In terms of my sound piece element for this unit, focusing on the relationship between human and machine could be really interesting to explore through sound in the context of drum n’ bass, because I am very familiar with how the genre is produced and what the process is like. I feel that this will allow me to blur the lines a bit and explore in detail what is possible when reconstructing a breakbeat with the current technology at my disposal. Contemporary drum n’ bass producers are experimenting more and more with pushing the computer to the edge of it’s capabilities, and I think I can produce a fresh take on what the genre could be in the next few years. My aim is still to keep it sound art focused and make sure to avoid just making a drum n’ bass track, but going a little deeper and exploring how the relationship between my control as a producer and the tools at my disposal can redirect a breakbeat.