Archive
IJMSTA - Vol. 8 - Issue 2 - July 2026
ISSN 2612-2146
Pages: 16
Metaphor as Translation in Record Production: The SCAN Framework
Authors: YongJu Lee
Categories: Journal
Abstract - Metaphorical descriptors such as punchy, warm, gritty, and heavy are central to communication in music production, yet they remain difficult to analyse because they do not correspond directly to fixed technical operations. This paper introduces SCAN (Sonic Characteristic Adaptation Network) as a theoretical framework for explaining how such vague metaphorical descriptions are translated into recorded sonic outcomes. SCAN argues that these descriptors should not be treated as imprecise ornaments of studio discourse, but as translational scripts that connect embodied perception, socio-technical mediation, and sonic stylization. The framework integrates three complementary perspectives: the Ecological Approach to Perception (EAP), Actor-Network Theory (ANT), and Sonic Cartoon Theory (SCT). EAP accounts for the perceptual grounding of metaphor in embodied listening and invariant acoustic properties; ANT explains how human and non-human actants are aligned within studio practice to materialize these perceptual targets; and SCT clarifies why the resulting sounds often emerge as schematic, exaggerated, and hyperreal sonic constructions rather than naturalistic reproductions. Taken together, these perspectives provide a unified account of how metaphor becomes operational in record production. As an introductory theory paper, this article defines the conceptual scope of SCAN and proposes it as a new analytical framework for examining the relationship between language, perception, technology, and recorded sound.
Keywords: Record production, Metaphor, Timbre, Studio discourse, Actor-network theory, Sonic cartoon theory
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