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Outputs (6)

‘Keeping the Machines Alive’: Repairing and Maintaining the Fairlight CMI. (2023)
Presentation / Conference Contribution
Harkins, P. (2023, June). ‘Keeping the Machines Alive’: Repairing and Maintaining the Fairlight CMI. Paper presented at Innovation In Music Conference 2023, Edinburgh, UK

The story of the Fairlight CMI is a story of misuse. Designed primarily as a digital synthesizer for the imitation of acoustic instruments, it was used in the worlds of popular music to sample the sounds of everyday life and pre-existing recordings.... Read More about ‘Keeping the Machines Alive’: Repairing and Maintaining the Fairlight CMI..

Crisis? What Crisis? Carbonism, Solutionism, and the (Un)sustainability of Music (2023)
Presentation / Conference Contribution
Harkins, P. (2023, June). Crisis? What Crisis? Carbonism, Solutionism, and the (Un)sustainability of Music. Paper presented at XXII Biennial IASPM International Conference, Minneapolis, Minnesota, US

In June 2021, the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research published ‘Super-Low Carbon Live Music: a roadmap for the UK live music sector to play its part in tackling the climate crisis’. Commissioned by the Bristol trip-hop group, Massive Attack,... Read More about Crisis? What Crisis? Carbonism, Solutionism, and the (Un)sustainability of Music.

Beyond Sustainability: The Music Industries Declare Emergency on Planet Earth – or do they? (2022)
Presentation / Conference Contribution
Harkins, P. (2022, August). Beyond Sustainability: The Music Industries Declare Emergency on Planet Earth – or do they?. Paper presented at IASPM UK and Ireland Conference, University of Liverpool

In December last year, a number of record labels based in the UK signed the Music Climate Pact in which they committed to reducing the emission of greenhouse gases by 50% by 2030 and achieving net zero by 2050. Signatories of the pact included the th... Read More about Beyond Sustainability: The Music Industries Declare Emergency on Planet Earth – or do they?.

Questioning the Digital Revolution: Continuity and Change in the Design and Use of Music Technologies (2017)
Presentation / Conference Contribution
Harkins, P. (2017, June). Questioning the Digital Revolution: Continuity and Change in the Design and Use of Music Technologies. Paper presented at 19th Biennial Conference of the International Association for the Study of Popular Music

The use of digital technologies since the 1980s have changed the way in which music is stored, distributed, and consumed. The use of digital technologies has also reshaped the processes of musical production. This paper, though, challenges the view t... Read More about Questioning the Digital Revolution: Continuity and Change in the Design and Use of Music Technologies.

Todd Edwards & the microsample: speed & spirituality in UK Garage. (2007)
Presentation / Conference Contribution
Harkins, P. (2007, October). Todd Edwards & the microsample: speed & spirituality in UK Garage. Paper presented at Mediation, Movement and Microrhythm in Groove-Based Music Workshop, University of Oslo, Norway

My paper will examine the role of New Jersey producer Todd Edwards within the development of UK Garage by focussing on his use of microsamples which Simon Reynolds describes as a “technique of cross-hatching brief snatches of vocals into a melodic-pe... Read More about Todd Edwards & the microsample: speed & spirituality in UK Garage..