Bedroom Production & My EP
Scrolling through TikTok’s or Spotify’s discover pages, you will find artist after artist recording music in their bedroom with a laptop, headphones, microphone, and preamp. Social media, technology, and lack of access to the traditional music industry have pushed bedroom production to the forefront of popular music creation especially among Millennials and Gen-Z. As one researches bedroom pop as a genre, you will find that so many of these artists are women, often queer women. In my Capstone project for my B.A. in Music Performance from Case Western Reserve University, I argued that the growth of bedroom production is a direct result of women, particularly those that also belong to underrepresented groups, like people of color and the LGBTQ+ community, wanting to create a safe space to release and produce music and to find ways into the male dominated music industry. In combination with my research paper, I also created an EP, at the end of random road, using bedroom production techniques and released it in 2023. This project earned me honors for my degree, receiving the The Charles E. Clemens Prize from the university.
In this section I will summarize my research and present my EP.
01
What is Bedroom Production?
First in my research, I worked to create a definition of bedroom production by discovering four of its key characteristics which were that it should (1) be done in a home environment, (2) create a professional quality sound, (3) be cheaper than professional studios, and (4) be done mainly alone or at least without the help of a professional sound engineer or major label. Secondarily, I found that there are strong ties between bedroom production and the internet and social media and that the music made using this method often expresses the identity of the artist with an intimate and personal sound.
02
​Advancements in Music Technology and Social Media
03
The Music Industry: Major Labels Versus Independent Artists
I then addressed how advancements in music technology led to the existence bedroom production. DAWs allowed for music production to be a solitary experience needing less equipment. MP3s made it possible for music to be quickly and easily downloaded on ‘narrow band’ internet connections. Lastly social media allowed artists to find their own audience and community to share and create their music.
Then, I looked at the more social political aspects of the music industry looking at the history of recording labels. The 1942 recording ban made space for smaller labels to record new varieties of music including ukuleles, harmonicas, a cappella music, and bebop music. Much later, file sharing networks allowed artists to distribute their music in new ways outside of major labels and how independent labels, often started by women, allowed musicians to keep the rights to their music and make music from anywhere.
04
Women, the Home, and the Music Industry
The next section of my research addressed history of women making music at home and women in music production. I began by looking at early modern Europe to understand how women have made music at home for generations whether it be by choice or out of necessity. Then as technology changed and advanced, women were able to push for their place in the music world. Continuing into the modern day, women have had to fight to be in the studio using their skills to record more diverse genres and voices including their own.
“The ratio of male to female music producers is estimated to be 47 to 1”
(Brereton, Jude et al. 2020, 219)
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In 2015 in the UK women made up only 12% of Music Technology students in higher education (223)
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As of 2016 it was estimated that only 7% of the Audio Engineering Society (AES) members were not male (223)
Some key statistics found to the left showed that women are still underrepresented in music technology and production. Both music and technology have separately existed as heavily masculine spaces where women have often been unwelcome. Though each space has grown individually, the intersection between those two spaces, music technology and production, has not grown to be as inclusive as it exists as an even more securely masculine space.
Lastly for this section, I addressed that women have a history of self production. Women often produce themselves to have control over their own sound. This is connected to the concept from Virgina Woolf (1929) that women need time and space on their own to develop their skills and understand their world outside of men and the pressures of a male dominated society particularly in fields and spaces controlled by men.
05
Effect of Bedroom Production on Music and Artist
This section addressed how bedroom music production can affect both the sound of the music and the artists themselves. Starting with the positives, the bedroom can foster intimacy and creativity in the music in comparison to traditional studios. For women particularly we saw that this self production can empower them and give them confidence in their own production choices. Some of the negative aspects include how it can lead to difficult work life balance. This can be exacerbated for women as the home is already often a space of work with the majority of household chores and childcare being given to women.
06
Case Studies
In order to fully understand bedroom production and women, particularly those of intersectional identities, it is important to look at some examples of women in bedroom production as case studies. In this section, I took a look at artists including girl in red, mxmtoon, Clairo, UMI, and dodie to see how bedroom production has affected their music, life, and career. Particularly, this section looked to highlight how these artist's identities and vulnerabilities come through in their work as these aspects are hallmarks of the bedroom production sound and key to showing how these artists may not have been able to create their work without bedroom production. Some of these artists have moved away from bedroom production as they signed to labels but are still influenced by their origins in both their music style and fanbase.
07
My EP: at the end of random road
In order to best understand bedroom production, I recorded 4 of my songs in my apartment bedroom. I used Studio One by Presonus, Scarlett a 2i2, my Casio CDP-S110 Compact Digital Piano, sE’s X1 A microphone, and my ukulele. Though I have evolved as a sound engineer and improved my mixing and mastering techniques during my Master's program, I still am proud of the time I spent learning how to produce in this style alone in my room. I think the songs "ocean"and "goodnight" particularly captured the feeling of bedroom production.
08
Conclusion
At the beginning of my reserach paper, I stated that the growth of bedroom production is a direct result of women, particularly those that also belong to underrepresented groups like people of color and the LGBTQ+ community wanting to create a safe space to release and produce music and to find ways into the male dominated music industry. Tying together all that we have learned about women and bedroom production, I believe that we can clearly see that women have a long history of using self production methods to grow their skills and share their perspectives in male dominated spaces. The bedroom can be the perfect space to empower women to tell their own stories and develop their skills. Through the case studies, there are direct examples of queer identities and mixed race identities being placed in the forefront of some of the most prominent artists in bedroom production today. Women will continue to push this technique forward as they continue to break into the male dominated music technology industry gaining confidence in their skills and self along the way.