David Waldecker

This project explores the processes of music making in a recording studio while attempting a reconstruction of Theodor W. Adorno’s music sociology. This is done via two ethnographic case studies of recording sessions of a jazz ensemble and a hardcore band. It includes a discussion of the benefits and challenges that Actor Network Theory and ethnomethological approaches pose for “micrological” social research as proposed by Adorno.

As indicated by books by Tia DeNora and Robert Witkin, Adorno is still relevant for music sociology. A discussion of the rereading of Adorno by authors of the praxeological turn is followed by a reconstruction of Adorno’s music sociology focusing on his discussion of the relationship of music, space and technology. This includes posthumously published material – e.g., Current of Music.

Adorno’s texts on the methodology of social science research are linked to ongoing discussions in qualitative research and ethnography in particular. The research into popular music that Adorno called for is presented in the ethnography of two recording sessions. Here, the research focuses on the appropriation of technology and space by the participants for the creation of specific musical effects. It also looks at the discussions of these effects among musicians and technicians. Thus, it portrays the actual use of modern means of production and the talk about the proper musical aesthetics related to said use among musicians, technicians and producers.