This thesis discusses how power, status, and performance practices play out between performers of tabla (North Indian hand drums) and audio engineers. To do so, I analyze engineer, performer, and music critic discourse surrounding tabla performances and technology to place it within a broader scholarly debate regarding recording technology, cultural/technological capital, technological determinism, and agency. I extend Christopher Scales’s (2012) concept of “recording culture” to “live sound culture,” or the behaviors, power struggles, and labor surrounding tabla mic’ing and amplification. I argue that audio technology separates the artist’s sound into several domains of control (stage, hall, recording, playback), each controlled by various human and non-human actors. These multiple sound fields produce various disruptions in collaboration between performers and engineers but also the opportunity for co-construction of sound and meaning.
","abstract_html":"<p>This thesis discusses how power, status, and performance practices play out between performers of <em>tabla</em> (North Indian hand drums) and audio engineers. To do so, I analyze engineer, performer, and music critic discourse surrounding <em>tabla</em> performances and technology to place it within a broader scholarly debate regarding recording technology, cultural/technological capital, technological determinism, and agency. I extend Christopher Scales’s (2012) concept of “recording culture” to “live sound culture,” or the behaviors, power struggles, and labor surrounding <em>tabla</em> mic’ing and amplification. I argue that audio technology separates the artist’s sound into several domains of control (stage, hall, recording, playback), each controlled by various human and non-human actors. These multiple sound fields produce various disruptions in collaboration between performers and engineers but also the opportunity for co-construction of sound and meaning.</p>","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Thom, Tyler"],"institution":null,"degree_name":"M.A. in Music","degree_level":"Masters Thesis","degree_discipline":null,"degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":["Sarah Morelli","Jack Sheinbaum","Aaron Schneider","Dheepa Sundaram","Aleysia Whitmore"],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2024,"date_issued":"2024-06-15T07:00:00Z","date_published":"2024-06-15T07:00:00Z","updated_at":"2026-07-24T02:01:48Z","subjects":["Amplification","Audio","Hindustani","Live sound","Tabla","Technology","Arts and Humanities","History of Art, Architecture, and Archaeology","Music","Other History of Art, Architecture, and Archaeology","Other Music"],"languages":["English (eng)"],"rights":["Copyright is held by the author. User is responsible for all copyright compliance.
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"],"dc:subject":["Amplification","Audio","Hindustani","Live sound","Tabla","Technology","Arts and Humanities","History of Art, Architecture, and Archaeology","Music","Other History of Art, Architecture, and Archaeology","Other Music"],"dc:title":["The Elephant in the Baithak: Tabla and Audio Technological Discourse"],"thesis:degree_level":["Masters Thesis"],"thesis:degree_name":["M.A. in Music"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-24T02:01:48Z"}