钢琴声音，作为一种人工物（artefact），是如何在录音室中被生产和建构的？钢琴声音的社会物质性（social materiality）中所蕴含的社会、技术、文化和历史的整体配置是怎样的？这是本研究所要回答的核心问题。 STS的声音研究（Sound Studies）关注乐器和声音设备这类人工物及其所生产的声音的社会物质性。本研究作为STS的声音研究，运用技术的社会建构（SCOT）理论和技术使用者与技术的互构理论，采用田野调查和定性采访的研究方法：深入到录音室（和作为录音室的音乐厅）中，考察钢琴声音生产的社会过程；采访了美国一线钢琴家、声音工程师和钢琴技师，了解技术使用者的个体经验；揭示了隐性技术及其使用者的强大力量（invisible technical power），建构了一个对于钢琴声音生产过程的解释方案。 钢琴的使用者首先是钢琴技师，然后才是作曲家和钢琴家。钢琴技师是长期被忽视的隐性力量，这个行业包括复杂的工种，除调音外，还有修建与再造。很少有人认识到，一架钢琴的声音特征，是钢琴技师根据其物质性特征与之协商的结果。极少数钢琴家会邀请钢琴技师参与到从演奏到录音的全过程中。由于物质性特征的不同，原本为古钢琴写作的古典音乐在现代钢琴上演奏，需要转译和重构。 录音室的使用者是声音工程师，这是被长期忽视的隐性力量。在前期拾音阶段，声音工程师选择拾音设备、搭建拾音装置；在后期制作阶段，经过剪辑和混音，完成声音制作。每一个技术选择，都展现着使用者的艺术理念，并渗透着不同角色力量之间的博弈。而声音工程师、钢琴家与作曲家的冲突与协商，都经由声音工程师的理解和加工，嵌入最终的声音制品。声音技术创造了一种“技术的真实”。录音不仅是记录，更是艺术创作，且从来不是还原。 钢琴声音是由钢琴技师、钢琴家、作曲家和声音工程师共同生产和建构的人工物。隐性技术力量改变并重塑了大众所听到的钢琴声音；声音技术不仅规训了声音工程师，还规训了钢琴家和作曲家，重塑了大众的听觉文化，从而改变了钢琴艺术。 STS的研究为认知声音带来了全新的理解和阐释方案。经过技术加工的声音是一种由技术、社会、文化和艺术相互建构所生产的人工物，并且蕴含着各层技术使用者的社会关系和意识形态。
How is piano sound, as a technical artefact, produced and constructed in the recording studio? What are the whole social, technical, cultural and historical arrangements imbedded in the social materiality of piano sound? These are the core questions to be answered by this research.Sound Studies in STS mainly focuses on the social materiality of sound which is produced by artefacts, such as musical instrument and sound equipment. Applying the theory of Social Construction of Technology (SCOT) and the theory of the role of technology users, this research conducted a one-year fieldwork inside recording studios and concert halls (concert hall can be seen as studio during recording) in Cornell University and Ithaca College to investigate the social producing of piano sound, and conducted qualitative interviews with world-class pianists, sound engineers and piano technician to investigate their personal experiences as technology users. It finds out the great power of hidden technologies and its users and constructs an interpretation scheme for the process of piano sound production.The users of piano are the piano technician at first, then the composer and the pianist. The piano technician is a hidden technical power that has long been overlooked. By the help of the piano technician, the black box of the piano as a technical object, might be opened. This profession includes complex types of work, such as tuning, the most widely known one, and the construction and reconstruction of the fortepiano and the modern piano. Only a few people realize that a specific piano sound is the result of the negotiation and co-production between piano technician and the piano itself, based on the materiality of the piano. Furthermore, very few pianists have the capacity to recognize the importance of piano technician in creating piano sound and invite them to participate in the whole process of performance and recording. In addition, due to the different materiality, the classical music, which was originally written for the fortepiano, needs to be translated and reconstructed for playing on modern pianos.The user of the recording studio and sound technology is the sound engineer, which is a hidden power that has long been ignored. In the first stage, the process of recording, the sound engineer selects different recording devices and sets different ways of recording installation to creatively record pianist’s performance. In the post-production stage, the sound production is completed under the processes of editing and mixing. Each technology selections demonstrates the user’s artistic conception, and permeates the confliction and negotiation among the powers of different roles. The conflict and negotiation among the sound engineer, pianist and composer is all embedded in the final sound product which is finally completed by the understanding and processing of the sound engineer. The highly advanced sound technology creates a “technical truth/reality”. Recording is not only a record, but also an artistic creation, and it has never been a restoration. The piano sound is an artefact which is produced and constructed by piano technicians, pianists, composers and sound engineers. Among these, the intervention of invisible technical powers changes and reconstructs the sound of piano that the public listens. Sound technology disciplines not only sound engineer, but also pianist and composer, and reshapes the auditory culture of public; consequently, it changes the piano art.The research of STS brings new understanding and interpretation scheme towards sound. The sound which is mediated by technology is an artefact that is co-constructed by technology, society, culture and art, and contains the social relations and ideology of technical users at all levels.
