‘A tale of three cities’: Mapping Italian recording studios in the analogue era

Despite its claustrophobic image, the recording studio is clearly structured as a focus, a central hub that enables and organizes collective activity: the actors involved therein tend to interconnect and form social networks which act as the basis for the creativity systems of record production. By focusing on the Italian recording industry in the analogue era (1965–99) – a crucial period for the renewal of spaces, working methods and professional roles – this research examines the activity of national recording studios, integrating their geo-historical mapping with the methodologies of social network analysis. The diachronic overview reveals the primacy of three ‘music worlds’ revolving around the poles of Milan, Rome and Bologna: three extremely different contexts in dimensional, professional, economic and artistic terms, whose conventions shape their social and creative practices. From these three networks it is possible to trace the dynamic cartography of a scalable and complex system: not a simple snapshot of the analogue era, but rather a perspective through which it is possible to reconsider the cultural, economic and technological processes currently operating inside (and outside) the recording studios.