Table Of Contenti
Re-Making Sound
ii
ii
iii
Re-Making Sound
An Experiential Approach
to Sound Studies
Thomas Porcello and
JusTin PaTch
iv
BLOOMSBURY ACADEMIC
Bloomsbury Publishing Inc
1385 Broadway, New York, NY 10018, USA
50 Bedford Square, London, WC1B 3DP, UK
29 Earlsfort Terrace, Dublin 2, Ireland
BLOOMSBURY, BLOOMSBURY ACADEMIC and the Diana logo are trademarks of
Bloomsbury Publishing Plc
First published in the United States of America 2022
Copyright © Thomas Porcello and Justin Patch, 2022
For legal purposes the Acknowledgments on p. xi constitute an extension
of this copyright page.
Cover design by Louise Dugdale
Cover image © Pablo Andrs Carvajal / EyeEm / Getty Images.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted
in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying,
recording, or any information storage or retrieval system, without prior permission
in writing from the publishers.
Bloomsbury Publishing Inc does not have any control over, or responsibility for,
any third-party websites referred to or in this book. All internet addresses given in this
book were correct at the time of going to press. The author and publisher regret any
inconvenience caused if addresses have changed or sites have ceased to exist,
but can accept no responsibility for any such changes.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Porcello, Thomas, author. | Patch, Justin, author.
Title: Re-making sound : an experiential approach to sound studies / Thomas Porcello and
Justin Patch. Description: New York : Bloomsbury Academic, 2022. |
Includes bibliographical references and index. |
Summary: “The first authored textbook on sound studies; teaches students about sound
in society through readings about and exercises in media making
and sound editing”– Provided by publisher.
Identifiers: LCCN 2021046652 (print) | LCCN 2021046653 (ebook) |
ISBN 9781501354748 (hardback) | ISBN 9781501354731 (paperback) |
ISBN 9781501354755 (epub) | ISBN 9781501354762 (pdf) |
ISBN 9781501354779 (ebook other)
Subjects: LCSH: Sounds–Social aspects–Textbooks. |
Sound–Recording and reproducing–Textbooks.
Classification: LCC CB472 .P67 2022 (print) | LCC CB472 (ebook) |
DDC 909.82/5–dc23/eng/20211029
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2021046652
LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2021046653
ISBN: HB: 978-1-5013-5474-8
PB: 978-1-5013-5473-1
ePDF: 978-1-5013-5476-2
eBook: 978-1-5013-5475-5
Typeset by Newgen KnowledgeWorks Pvt. Ltd., Chennai, India
To find out more about our authors and books visit www.bloomsbury.com
and sign up for our newsletters.
v
Contents
List of Figures vii
Preface ix
Acknowledgments xi
Introduction 1
1 Soundscape: Sound, Space, and Listening 19
2 Noise: From the Everyday to the Exceptional 41
3 Voice: Hearing and Ascribing Individual and Social Identity 65
4 Sound on the Page: Echoes and Resonances in Writing 91
5 Sound Design/Designing Sounds: Intentionally Crafted
Sonic Worlds 121
6 Sound Art: What Is Sound Art? Debates and Examples 145
Concluding Project: Putting the Pieces Together through
Audio Narratives 171
Author Biographies 179
Index 181
vi
vi
vii
Figures
1 From David Weisner, Mr. Wuffles. 93
Used by permission of the author
2 From David Weisner, Mr. Wuffles. 94
Used by permission of the author
3 Screenshot from the ACLEW project 101
Used by permission from Max Planck Institute
4 From Gareth Hinds, Poe: Stories and Poems. 114
Used by permission of the author
viii
viii
ix
Preface
Re-Making Sound provides six ways of conceptualizing sound and its
connections to other social phenomena: soundscapes; noise; sound
and semiotics of the voice; sound and/through/in text; sound design; and
sound art. Concise presentations of research and theory from these different
scholarly bodies lead to an accompanying exercise for each. These sound
collection, editing, curating, and manipulation projects are meant to be a part
of classroom activities, to foster experiential leaning, and to act as a tool for
discussion and reflection. The choice to format the book in this way was made
because we believe that experiential learning is essential for understanding
the character, power, and potential of sound in social life. The assignments are
designed to allow students to make and share digital sound projects, to learn
basic digital audio manipulation, and to have the opportunity to apply theories
and concepts about sound that deepen their knowledge beyond what reading
alone provides.
The substantive chapters are designed to be modular and nonsequential
so that instructors can use them in any order, or distribute them throughout a
semester, in whatever sequence works best for their particular course design.
The conclusion consists of a podcast exercise, which is cumulative of all six
areas the book covers. The chapters contain multiple footnotes: some are
simply citational or provide clarification, but many are designed to be used by
the instructor (and students) as springboards into further reading and research,
or into discussions of related areas of study, theory, or methods.
As we discuss in the introduction, this book is not an exhaustive overview
of all areas of inquiry, methods of investigation, or disciplinary approaches to
sound studies. We foreground topics and approaches from the humanistic
social sciences, with examples that focus on music, language, voice, sound
art, text, and soundscape. We do so because, in our opinion, these topics and
approaches best open the doors to experiential learning without imposing a
burden on students or instructors. And we do not dwell on methodological
differences, as they might cloud the presentation of substantive issues. At
the end of the introduction, however, we provide pointers to literature from
science and technology studies, history, communications, and media studies
