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Research at Leeds Beckett
Dr Paul Thompson
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Contact Details
Dr Paul Thompson
Reader
School of Film, Music & Performing Arts
0113 81 27563 P.A.Thompson@leedsbeckett.ac.ukAbout Dr Paul Thompson
Paul has worked as a professional recording engineer for over 10 years, in and around Liverpool. His work has been played on BBC6 Music, BBC Radio 2, BBC Radio 4 and on independent radio stations across Europe and the USA. Paul has worked with local, national and international artists including Ellen and the Escapades, Stephen Langstaff, Marcus Bonfanti, Lights that Change and Tammy Rochelle. His most recent work includes engineering on ‘Compañeros’, the latest studio album from Ian Prowse for Learpholl Recordings (2015).
He currently teaches music technology in the community, studio production and acoustics on the BSc Music Technology, BSc Audio Engineering and BA Music Production programmes. His doctoral research investigated creativity and collaboration inside the recording studio and his on-going research interests include popular music and audio education, informal music learning practices, creativity and cultural production in popular music. He is a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy, an associate member of the Institute of Acoustics and a member of the Music Producer’s Guild.
Current Teaching
Paul currently teaches:
- Acoustics and Critical Listening
- Acoustics and Psychoacoustics
- Acoustics for Music Production
- Audio Recording Techniques
- Studio Production Practice
- Music Technology in the Community.
Research Interests
Paul's most recent research focuses on creativity in record production using the framework of the creative system (Csikszentmihalyi, 1988, 1997 and 1999; Kerrigan, 2013). Ethnographic methods such as participant-observation, video and sound recording were used to observe the interaction between the performing musicians, the engineer and the record producer as they collaborated during the recording process. This helped to reveal the complex interaction between the participants and the creative system’s main elements during the creative tasks of performing, engineering and producing. Importantly, it helped to show for the first time that this interaction occurred on both an individual level and a group level, and highlighted how a creative-systems approach can be used to gain a more detailed and in-depth understanding of musical creativity more generally.
Selected Publications
Journal articles (6)
- Lashua BD; Thompson PA (2016), Producing Music, Producing Myth? Creativity in Recording Studios. IASPM@Journal, vol. 6 (2)
https://doi.org/10.5429/2079-3871
View Repository Record - Thompson PA; Stevenson A (2015), Exploring the experiences, perceptions and reflections of popular electronic musicians at UK higher education institutions. Journal of Music, Technology & Education, vol. 8 (2), p. 199-217.
https://doi.org/10.1386/jmte.8.2.199_1
View Repository Record - Davis R; Thompson PA; Parker S (2014), Preparing the Music Technology Toolbox: Addressing the Education-Industry Dilemma. Journal of Music, Technology & Education
https://doi.org/10.1386/jmte.7.3.313_1
View Repository Record - Thompson P; Lashua BD (2014), Getting it on record: Issues and strategies for contemporary ethnographic practice in recording studios. Journal of Contemporary Ethnography: a journal of ethnographic research
https://doi.org/10.1177/0891241614530158
View Repository Record - Thompson PA; McIntyre P (2013), Rethinking Creativity in Record Production Education: Addressing the field. Journal on the Art of Record Production
- Thompson PA (2012), An empirical study into the learning practices and enculturation of DJs, turntablists, hip hop and dance music producers. Journal of Music, Technology & Education, vol. 5 (1), p. 43-58.
https://doi.org/10.1386/jmte.5.1.43_1
View Repository Record
Journal articles (7)
- Lefford N; Thompson PA (2018), Naturalistic Artistic Decision-making and Metacognition in the Music
Studio. Cognition, Technology and Work
https://doi.org/10.1007/s10111-018-0497-8
View Repository Record - Lashua BD; Thompson PA (2016), Producing Music, Producing Myth? Creativity in Recording Studios. IASPM@Journal, vol. 6 (2)
https://doi.org/10.5429/2079-3871
View Repository Record - Thompson PA; Stevenson A (2015), Exploring the experiences, perceptions and reflections of popular electronic musicians at UK higher education institutions. Journal of Music, Technology & Education, vol. 8 (2), p. 199-217.
https://doi.org/10.1386/jmte.8.2.199_1
View Repository Record - Davis R; Thompson PA; Parker S (2014), Preparing the Music Technology Toolbox: Addressing the Education-Industry Dilemma. Journal of Music, Technology & Education
https://doi.org/10.1386/jmte.7.3.313_1
View Repository Record - Thompson P; Lashua BD (2014), Getting it on record: Issues and strategies for contemporary ethnographic practice in recording studios. Journal of Contemporary Ethnography: a journal of ethnographic research
https://doi.org/10.1177/0891241614530158
View Repository Record - Thompson PA; McIntyre P (2013), Rethinking Creativity in Record Production Education: Addressing the field. Journal on the Art of Record Production
- Thompson PA (2012), An empirical study into the learning practices and enculturation of DJs, turntablists, hip hop and dance music producers. Journal of Music, Technology & Education, vol. 5 (1), p. 43-58.
https://doi.org/10.1386/jmte.5.1.43_1
View Repository Record
Books (1)
- Thompson P (2019) Creativity in the Recording Studio Alternative Takes. . Palgrave Macmillan.
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-01650-0
Chapters (3)
- McNally K; Seay T; Thompson PA (2019) What the Masters Teach Us: Multitrack Audio Archives and Popular Music Education. In: McNally K; Seay T; Thompson PA The Bloomsbury Handbook of Popular Music Education Perspectives and Practices. London: Bloomsbury, pp. 113-126.
View Repository Record - Thompson PA; Stevenson A (2017) Missing a Beat: Exploring Experiences, Perceptions and Reflections of Popular Electronic Musicians in UK Higher Education Institutions. In: Thompson PA; Stevenson A The Ashgate Research Companion to Popular Music Education. London: Routledge, pp. 203-216.
- Thompson PA (2016) Scalability of the Creative System in the Recording Studio. In: Thompson PA The Creative System in Action: Understanding Cultural Production and Practice. London: Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 74-86.
Conference contributions (19)
- Thompson PA; McIntyre P (2018) Creative Practice in the Recording Studio: Engineering Michael Jackson's Off the Wall (1979) University of Huddersfield 20180903. : .
- Thompson P; Harding P (2018) Collective Creativity: A 'Service' Model of Contemporary Commercial Pop Music University of Huddersfield 20180903. : .
- McIntyre P; Thompson P; Scott K (2017) Back to Mono: A Study of the Transition from Mono to Stereo as a Creative System in Action The Royal College of Music, Stockholm, Sweden 20171201. : .
- Thompson PA; Lefford N; Blier-Carruthers A; Danielson A; Porcello T (2017) Methodologies in Record Production The 12th Art of Record Production Conference, Mono: Stereo: Multi, The Royal College of Music, Stockholm, Sweden, . : .
- Thompson PA; McNally K; Seay T (2017) Another Take: Teaching Music Production Using Multitrack Recordings Royal College of Music, Stockholm, Sweden 20171201. : .
- Thompson PA; Harding P (2017) Collective Creativity: A 'Service' Model of Creativity in Commercial Pop Music at PWL in the 1980s University of Westminster 20170906. : .
- Nicholls S; Thompson P; Lashua B; Bell S (2017) Collaboration on the UK Live Music Census in Leeds and extended project Leeds Beckett University 20170705. : .
- Thompson PA; McNally K; Seay T (2017) The sound of the Masters: Using Multi-track Recordings in Popular Music Education York St John University 20170629. : .
- Thompson PA; Lefford N (2016) Deciding How to Decide: The Record Producer's Creative Decisions in the Recording Studio Aalborg University, Denmark 20161202. : .
- Thompson PA; Schwabe R (2016) Let the Track Mix itself: Creativity and Intuition inside the Recording Studio Aalborg University, Denmark 20161202. : .
- Thompson PA; Lashua B (2016) Producing, Reproducing and Exposing the Myths of Creativity Inside the Recording Studio Brighton, UK 20160908. : .
- Thompson P; Mosley BJ (2015) Audio Education: Its purpose and place in formal education and the creative industries Glasgow University, Scotland 20150826. : .
View Repository Record - Davis R; Thompson PA; Parker S (2014) Preparing the Music Technology Toolbox: Addressing the Education-Industry Dilemma International Music Education Research Centre (iMerc); Institute of Education University of London 20140403. : .
- Thompson PA; McIntyre P (2014) Engineering: Creativity and Collaboration in the Recording Studio University of Oslo, Norway 20141204. : .
- Mosley BJ; Thompson P (2014) Setting the tone: Considerations for educating the next generation of sound reproduction professionals NEC, Birmingham, UK 20140914. : .
View Repository Record - Thompson PA; McIntyre P (2013) Rethinking Creativity in Record Production Education: Addressing the field Université Laval, Québec, Canada 20130712. : .
- Thompson PA; Lashua B (2012) Get it on Record: Issues and Strategies for Contemporary Ethnographic Practice in Recording Studios University of Waikato, Hamilton, New Zealand 20121121. : .
- Thompson PA (2012) Represent not Reprazent the City: Urban Imagery and Spatial Geography in the Rap Music of Nas' Media City UK, University of Salford 20120905. University of Salford: .
- McIntyre P; Thompson PA (2011) Performing Creativity: Paul McCartney's Practice in the Recording Studio San Francisco State University, San Francisco, USA 20111202. : .
Conference proceedings (peer reviewed) (2)
- Thompson PA; Corbett I; Rakhmanova N (2019) Mix It! Are There Best Mixing Practices?. In: Audio Engineering Society Dublin 20190319. : , pp. .
- Thompson P; Mosley B; Ward M (2013) Critical listening and acoustics as an essential part of the audio production and sound technology curriculum.. In: 50th International Conference: Audio Education (July 2013) Murfreesboro, TN, USA 20130725. : , pp. .
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