Sound studies

Listening to Cybernetics: Music, Machines, and Nervous Systems, 1950-1980

by Christina Dunbar-Hester

Scholars have explored the influence of the field of cybernetics on scientific thought and disciplines. However, from... more Scholars have explored the influence of the field of cybernetics on scientific thought and disciplines. However, from the inception of the field, ‘‘cyberneticians’’ had explicitly envisioned applications reaching beyond the purview of scientific disciplines; cybernetics was remarkable for its portability and potential application in a wide variety of contexts. This article explores connections between cybernetics and experimental music from 1950-1980, which was a period of experimentation with electronic techniques in recording, composition, and sound production and manipulation. Examples include musicians, engineers, instrument builders, composers, and scientists in collaboration with musicians who invoked cybernetic themes in their work. These uses of cybernetics were more diverse than accounts of cybernetics within the sciences suggest, presenting a major difficulty in addressing cybernetics as a homogeneous or monolithic discourse. In particular, cybernetic discourse in music often exhibited themes of openness and indeterminacy, rather than the ‘‘command and control’’ of the ‘‘closed world.’’

Revolution Sacrilege! Examining the Technological Divide among Record Producers in the Late 1980s

by Dr. Samantha Bennett

Presented at the 2008 Art of Record Production Conference, University of Massachussettes, Lowell.

Article published in the Journal on the Art of Record Production: www.arpjournal.com

Die Klanglandschaft als ethnographisches Feld

by Fritz Schlüter

Master thesis submitted in April 2012

Die Arbeit beschäftigt sich mit der Rolle, die Klänge und Geräusche in unserem Alltag spielen und stellt verschiedene... more Die Arbeit beschäftigt sich mit der Rolle, die Klänge und Geräusche in unserem Alltag spielen und stellt verschiedene Ansätze für die ethnographische Klangforschung vor.

Wie beeinflusst und prägt die alltägliche (urbane) Geräuschkulisse – verstanden als „sinnliche“ oder „affektive“ Geographie – unsere Lebenswelt und unser Verhalten? Inwiefern sind „Soundscapes“ (Schafer 1977) oder „Klanglandschaften“ regional spezifisch? Welche kulturellen Unterschiede sind bezüglich der Produktions- und Wahrnehmungsweisen von Klängen und Geräuschen auszumachen? Welche akustischen Praktiken und Strategien tragen zur kollektiven Orchestrierung von Klanglandschaften bei?

Der Ethnologie kommt im Kontext dieser Fragen, die den nicht nur wissenschaftlich, sondern auch experimentell und künstlerisch arbeitenden Forschungszweig der Sound Studies schon seit den 1960er Jahren beschäftigen, zweifellos eine Schlüsselposition zu. Dennoch ist der explizite Bezug auf die akustischen Dimensionen kultureller Praxis in der ethnographischen Forschung noch immer unterrepräsentiert. Die vorliegende Arbeit versucht, diese Lücke zu schließen, indem einige der verstreut vorliegenden theoretischen und forschungspraktischen Ansätze zusammengetragen werden, die gemeinsam den aktuellen Forschungsstand konturieren. Insbesondere werden das europäische Klangforschungsprojekt Acoustic Environments in Change um Helmi Järviluoma, Heikki Uimonen und Noora Vikman (zwischen 1999 und 2011), die akustisch-ethnographischen Arbeiten von Steven Feld (zwischen 1982 und 2011) sowie Rowlands Atkinsons Entwurf einer sozial und politisch relevanten „sonic ecology“ der Stadt (zwischen 2006 und 2011) ausführlich vorgestellt und einer Kritik unterzogen. Aussagekräftige Hörbeispiele ergänzen den Text.

Die Klangforschung stärker als bisher in der Ethnologie zu berücksichtigen, würde sich in dreifacher Hinsicht lohnen – thematisch würde die Klangforschung eine Erweiterung möglicher Untersuchungsfelder bedeuten (1), methodisch eine Weiterentwicklung der ethnographischen Empirie (2) und hinsichtlich der Repräsentation der Forschungsergebnisse den Zugewinn eines bislang unterschätzten Mediums (3).

Die Arbeit verschafft somit einen Überblick über ethnographische und sozialwissenschaftliche Ansätze im interdisziplinären Feld der Sound Studies, die es ermöglichen, die Klanglandschaft als eine sozial relevante „akustische Textur“ des Alltags zu lesen und zu verstehen.

"Role-Playing toward a Virtual Musical Democracy in The Lord of the Rings Online," Ethnomusicology 56:1 (2012), 31-62.

by William Cheng

Archives du projet En dedans et dehors du studio

by Andra McCartney

Archive d'un projet de recherche avec quelques liens sonores

Archives du projet En dedans et dehors du studio

En dedans et dehors du studio était un projet de recherche... more Archives du projet En dedans et dehors du studio

En dedans et dehors du studio était un projet de recherche multi-universitaire basé à l'université Concordia et financé par le CRSH. Le projet, réalisé durant les années 2000 à 2005, avait comme objectif d'observer et de documenter les méthodes de travail d'un nombre de productrices sonores issues de disciplines diverses. Les participantes ont pris part au projet à travers la tenue d'ateliers et d'entrevues, ainsi qu'en soumettant des extraits de compositions sonores. Ce document fait donc office d'archive du site web associé au projet de recherche, et sur lequel on retrouvait les différentes méthodes et philosophies des productrices sonores dans le but de les rendre accessible à d'autres productrices, ainsi qu'aux chercheurs et chercheuses en études féminines. On y retrouve aussi de un certain nombre de liens conduisant aux différents matériaux sonores recueillis durant le projet.

Le projet En dedans et dehors du studio, supervisé par Dr Andra McCartney de l'université Concordia (Montréal, Québec, Canada), a exploré les relations entre genre, technologies musicales, performance et processus créatifs des artistes sonores et compositrices. L'équipe de recherche était composée de Dr Beverly Diamond, Dr Kip Pegley, Dr Ellen Waterman, Dr Owen Chapman, Anne-Marie Ennis ainsi que Lisa Gasior. Les participantes au projet qu'on retrouve dans ce document incluent Hildegard Westerkamp, Hélène Prévost, Nancy Tobin, Marian van der Zon, Shelley Craig, Diane Leboeuf, Susan Frykberg, Pascale Trudel, Diane Labrosse, Sarah Peebles, Monique Jean et Claire Piché.

Visibly audible. The radio dial as mediating interface

by Andreas Fickers

Published in: Trevor Pinch / Karin Bijsterveld (Ed.), The Oxford Handbook of Sound Studies. Oxford University Press: Oxford (2012), pp. 411-439.

This chapter considers the radio receiver and, more specifically, the radio dial as a mediating interface. Usually the... more This chapter considers the radio receiver and, more specifically, the radio dial as a mediating interface. Usually the radio dial is thought of as mediating between the operator—the listener—and the radio stations tuned in by turning the dial. Here we look at mediation in a wider sense—between a European regulatory regime of frequency allocation and the imagined European broadcasting landscape of the listener. My argument thus develops a triangular relationship between the rise of a European regime of frequency regulation, the materiality of the radio set, and the symbolic appropriation of the European broadcasting landscape. This approach requires an analysis of the material, institutional, and symbolic dimensions of a concrete technical innovation: the calibrated radio station scale. In analyzing the iconological and semantic meanings of this technical artifact, I emphasize the importance of material objects as sources for a cultural history of technology in general and of radio listening in particular.

In and Out of the Sound Studio conference on gender and technology

by Andra McCartney

Report on the In and Out of the Sound Studio conference, held at Concordia University in July 2005. Includes bio, abstracts and discussion. Some abstracts in English, some French. Mike Alleyne | Michele Anderson | Diane Ballon | Wende Bartley | Katherine
Binns | Hannah Bosma | Éveline Boudreau | David Cecchetto | Owen
Chapman | Sylvie Chenard | Andrea-jane Cornell | Shelley Craig | Elizabeth
Curry | Stacy Denton | Marcelle Deschenes | Beverley Diamond | Shona
Dietz | Chantal Dumas | Jennifer Eisler | AnneMarie Ennis | Victoria Fenner |
Chantal Francoeur | Michelle Frey | Anna Friz | Lisa Gasior | Mark Harris |
Mara Helmuth | Randolph Jordan | Kathy Kennedy | Lara Kohl | Jessica
Landry | Chantal Laplante | Diane Leboeuf | Charity Marsh | Andra
McCartney | Cherie F Moses | Michelle Nagai | Kip Pegley | Claire Piché |
Hélène Prévost | Sam Routley | Anna Rubin | Jacky Sawatzky | Karen
Sunabacka | Charlotte Scott | Oana Spinu | Rae Staseson | Nancy Tobin |
Barry Truax | Karen Vanderborght | Marian van der Zon | Doug van Nort |
Ellen Waterman | Hildegard Westerkamp | Airi Yoshioka | Andrea Young

In and out of the sound studio conference

In and Out of the Studio took place at Concordia University in... more In and out of the sound studio conference

In and Out of the Studio took place at Concordia University in Montreal, Quebec from July 25-29, 2005. The conference brought together independent artists, professors and students from across Canada, the United States and beyond to deliver papers, give lectures and perform their work. The event included a number of concerts featuring the participants, as well as a keynote address by Hannah Bosma, a researcher of women and electrovocal music in the Netherlands. The conference was part of the In and Out of the Sound Studio multimedia project, headed by Concordia professor Dr. Andra McCartney.

The In and Out of the Sound Studio project aimed to establish a greater sense of community among women sound producers separated by geographic space, occupation or disciplinary boundaries, and aimed to make the working methods and philosophies of women sound producers accessible to emerging and established artists, as well as scholars in the fields of communication studies, women's studies, cultural studies, media studies, and music. The conference was held in cooperation with SSHRC, the NFB, CIAM, Studio XX, CKUT, and the SAT.

Rules for Listening to Time: Hours of Infinity

by John Kannenberg

Artist statement for three projects: "One Hundred Hours of Infinity," "Twelve Hours of Infinity: Amduat," and "An Hour of Infinity – the exhibitions and performance comprising my MFA thesis project "Hours of Infinity."

The solitary acts of drawing and listening are inextricably linked; they both observe and record each other.
more The solitary acts of drawing and listening are inextricably linked; they both observe and record each other.

The three projects comprising Hours of Infinity are based upon an imprecise drawing method that causes mistakes to be embedded within the work by separating the creator from the physical act of drawing, all the while maintaining focused attention on the sonic aspects of the experience – the sound of the pencil against the paper, and its merging with other sounds within the surrounding space. The visual symbols I have chosen to depict with this process have represented infinity within various cultures over long spans of time; thus there is a calculated contradiction inherent within the small size and impermanent materials of these drawings, between their own ephemerality and the eternity they represent. Incorporating in their construction elements of classical Egyptian and Greek philosophies, mindful meditation, and proofs from mathematical theory, these works investigate the timelessly beautiful imperfection inherent within the human experience of the Infinite. The drawings themselves are weightless objects, etched documents, their grooves and lines indicative of the sounds of specific durations of time: imperfect, absurd, fragile symbols for something believed to be symmetrical, profound and everlasting.

Etnografía, imagen y sonido en el Norte Grande de Chile

by Gerardo Mora Rivera

Autor: Gerardo Mora
Revista Nómadas, N°35, pp. 167-181 (2011)
Universidad Central
Bogotá, Colombia

Este artículo revisa la presencia de la imagen y el sonido en el lugar etnográfico tradicional denominado “Norte... more Este artículo revisa la presencia de la imagen y el sonido en el lugar etnográfico tradicional denominado “Norte Grande de Chile”. Dicha presencia está condicionada por la concepción del Norte como árido, su visualización como un “paisaje sin sujeto” y el privilegio del pasado étnico como tema de interés. Para cerrar, enfatiza la pertinencia de incorporar etnografías en sonido en la antropología, a partir del análisis de una serie de producciones fonográficas, en algunas de las cuales participó el autor.

Neste artigo analisa a presença de imagem e som no lugar tradicional etnográfico chamado "Norte Grande de Chile". Tal presença é condicionada pela concepção do norte como árido, sua visualização como um "paisagem sem sujeito" e o privilégio do passado étnico como seu tema principal. Para fechar, enfatiza a relevância de incorporar etnografias em som em antropologia a partir da análise de uma série de produções fonográficas, alguns dos quais envolvem o autor.

This article reviews the presence of image and sound in the traditional ethnographic place called "Norte Grande de Chile". Such a presence is conditioned by the conception of that North as arid, its visualization as a "landscape without subject” and the privilege of ethnic past as its main topic. Finally, it emphasizes the relevance of incorporating ethnographies in sound in anthropology from the analysis of a serie of phonographic productions, some of which involved the author.

“Krigens lyd, krigens musik. Nye dimensioner til krigens kulturanalyse”, in: Passage 65 (2011), 99–106

by Linda Maria Koldau

Review: ‘James Tobias, Sync: Stylistics of Hieroglyphic Time.’

by Andy Birtwistle

published in Screen, vol. 52, no. 4 Winter (2011),pp.528-531.

The role of music producers and sound engineers in the current recording context, as perceived by young professionals

by Amandine Pras

Co-authored with Catherine Guastavino, published in Musicae Scientiae, 2011

As a result of recent technological advances, musicians tend to produce their music themselves in home studios,... more As a result of recent technological advances, musicians tend to produce their music themselves in home studios, without necessarily collaborating with a professional producer or a sound engineer. To understand how this new paradigm affects musical recordings, we need to study the context of recording sessions involving a producer and a sound engineer. In this article we investigate the role of producers and sound engineers, as perceived by young professionals actively involved in recording sessions. We collected verbal data from 16 musicians and 6 sound engineers, from different countries and backgrounds. Participants were asked to freely define in their own words the role of an ideal producer and an ideal sound engineer. Then, we invited them to describe positive or negative experiences they had previously encountered in the studio. We classified their spontaneous descriptions into emerging themes using the constant comparison method. The three main categories referred to mission, skills, and interaction. A consensus emerged regarding the respective missions of producers and sound engineers. While the producer is responsible for the artistic direction of the project, the sound engineer has to make appropriate sound choices by taking into consideration the musicians’ requests. The primary skills reported for the ideal producer were communication and interpersonal skills. The ideal sound engineer, paradoxically, was described as minimally interacting with musicians during sessions. To conclude, we discuss future directions to clarify the relationships between the missions and skills producers and sound engineers are expected to exhibit, and to further investigate the level of the producer’s artistic involvement.

(Dissertation abstract) Audio-Visual Stress: Cognitive Approaches to the Perceptual Performativity of William Forsythe and Ensemble

by Freya Vass-Rhee

Radiokonst Enligt Svensk Modell

by Colin Black

Nutida Musik, # 2, 2011. ISSN: 1652-6082. Nutida Musik is a journal that is published by the Swedish section of the ISCM (International Society for Contemporary Music). This article was translated into Swedish by Andreas Engström.

Voices from the Dark / An Audience of Performers: Subversive Sound in the Workerʼs Movement of the 1930s U.S.A.

by Jeremy Woodruff

Voices from the Dark / An Audience of Performers: Subversive Sound in the Workerʼs Movement of the 1930s U.S.A.more Voices from the Dark / An Audience of Performers: Subversive Sound in the Workerʼs Movement of the 1930s U.S.A.

The dynamics of theater in the music, and vice versa, in the 1930s labor movement were pushed to extremes in order to “engulf” the audience and to try to get them caught up in a spirit of revolt along side the performers. New technology of the day: radio, film and public sound amplification were often crucial to the immersive effect in these events. These theatrical media dynamics were also transferred to the public stage in labor battles. The powerful opportunity for spatializing sound posed by a mass of protesters was used adroitly to challenge the status quo in rural as well as urban settings. Spaces were occupied with sound in radical experimental ways in order to obtain victory through subverting or parodying normative performative situations.

Confrontational sound used by labor organizers and singers on picket lines in the 1930s in the flash points of the North Carolina Mills and later in the General Motors plants in Flint, Michigan were directly related to innovations in theater and music of the time; from agit-prop groups like the Shock Troupe to the invention of method acting by the Group Theater, from the sound scenery of the Living Newspapers to the songs and plays of the labor schools which were a cradle of the American civil rights movement; the success of these trans- disciplinary sounds of protest, blurring the edges of art and life, comprised the most formidable tactics for societal change in laborʼs arsenal during this tumultuous period, and are one of the most inspiring stories in American history.

‘Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star’ as an Ambient Poem; a Study of a Dialectical Image; with Some Remarks on Coleridge and Wordsworth

by Tim Morton

Published in James McKusick, ed., “Romanticism and Ecology,” Romantic Praxis (November, 2001).

Jane Taylor's globally known poem offers ways to think past certain deadlocks in environmentalist criticism. Jane Taylor's globally known poem offers ways to think past certain deadlocks in environmentalist criticism.

Socrates in earpods: the ipodification of education

by Tara Brabazon

Fast Capitalism, Vol. 2, No. 1, July 2006

Sounds Like Teen Spirit: ITunes U, Podcasting and a Sonic Education

by Tara Brabazon

Interactions:  Studies in Communication and Culture, Vol. 1, No. 1, 2009, pp. 71-89

Ethical questions about working with soundscapes

by Andra McCartney

Keynote presentation at World Forum for Acoustic Ecology conference in Koli, Finland, June 2010. A shorter version of this paper has been published in the Soundscape Journal.

When soundscape composers, documentarians and artists work with soundscapes, they are expressing relationships to the... more When soundscape composers, documentarians and artists work with soundscapes, they are expressing relationships to the place of work and its inhabitants and visitors, to the sounds listened to, recorded from or projected into the place, and to the audience of the work. Each time a soundscape composer designs a soundwalk or a theatre piece, an installation or broadcast work, relationships with the world are expressed through how the maker treats the place, the sounds and the audience. Does the maker want to reveal particular sonic aspects of the place as it is, as it used to be, as it might be? Does the composer want to create an ideal place through sound and if so, what are the characteristics of this imaginary place and what ideas and values inform this utopic creation? How does the composer treat the sounds? How prominent are the composer’s treatments in relation to the sounds originally heard in that place, and what are the characteristics of this electroacoustic ecology? What are the dominant and masked sounds in the piece and how do they interact? What connections are there in the work between what is heard in the piece and the place of recording? Does the maker imagine the audience as deafened into numbness and needing to be awakened to true listening by the composer or soundwalk leader’s approach to the soundscape? Do we imagine the listener is ignorant and needing enlightenment? Do we think of the listener as possessed of original and unusual ways of listening, contributing to an expanded awareness of how to work with soundscapes? What are the ethics of this expression, and how are these ethics informed by underlying ideologies of sound, of sound production, and of sound ecology?

Behind the Beat: Technical and Practical Aspects of Instrumental Hip-Hop Composition

by Mike D'Errico

MA Thesis, Tufts University 2011
Faculty Advisor: Joseph Auner

From DJ Premier's beat productions in the early '90s to Kanye West's live performance at the 2010 Video Music Awards,... more From DJ Premier's beat productions in the early '90s to Kanye West's live performance at the 2010 Video Music Awards, the Akai MPC has long been considered standard sampling technology in any hip-hop production studio. Expanding upon the various techniques developed by pioneering hip-hop DJs--including beat-juggling, cutting, and mixing--the MPC introduced a much wider range of possibilities regarding not only the manipulation of individual samples, but their assemblage into a musical composition as well. Furthermore, the expansion of the machine has coincided with the musical development of the hip-hop tradition, as producers have responded and reacted to changing technological trends with increasingly innovative trends in performance practice.

Through analyses of several tracks by DJ Shadow, Madlib, and Flying Lotus, this paper will fill a major gap in hip-hop scholarship by exploring both the technical aspects of the music's construction as well as how these producers have responded and reacted to the changing characteristics of the MPC throughout its development. In exposing diverse technical and musical trends that have received little attention from scholars, this paper hopes to provide a missing link to the way we analyze hip-hop music and culture.