Author Archives: ajbean

Coming home to Sonic Dominance

 

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Home is a place in which everything is familiar to oneself. This familiarity is applicable to all senses. From the sight of where all the furniture is placed, to the distinctive smell of the kitchen, to the taste of the water, everything is familiar, but the most important in this case is the sounds one hears when they are present in their house. The soundscape looked at in this case is my home in Massachusetts. The idea of sonic dominance was coined by the author Julian Henriques. Sonic dominance is when sound that is listened to transcends the power of the senses resulting in a divine like experience where one loses thought of their body and surroundings, and ultimately becomes connected with the sound. The “homey” feeling one feels when they are home is actually a result of the sonic dominance of the soundscape of the home.

In the soundscape of my house one hears many sounds, from birds chirping, to wind blowing, to the dishwasher working. These are all examples of keynote sounds, which are extremely important to achieving sonic dominance in the house. R. Murray Schafer created the idea of a keynote sound. These are the sounds that are in the background of a soundscape. They may not be noticed or heard, but are noticed when absent. Keynote sounds are key in making the home attain that “homey” feeling. Every home has different keynote sounds, but without them the home becomes unoriginal and is unable to capture those within it in its sonic dominance. The sonic dominance one feels is also like a keynote sound. One feels different when they are home or have that “homey” feeling. Nothing is able to alter one’s feelings and they feel separated from the rest of the world, yet it is not obvious and only is noticed once one is not present within their home. The keynote sounds like the birds chirping or the dishwasher washing are extremely important to the soundscape as they both give identity to the soundscape of my house, and allow for the subtle sonic dominance to take place.

Each of the sounds heard in the soundscape recording are vitally important in retaining the identity of the house. The signals (sounds one consciously hears and are in the foreground) also play an important role in identifying the soundscape. The signals of the soundscape are the parts of sound that carry the meaning. The dog barking, the people talking, and the truck door slamming can all be looked at as just loud sounds in the foreground. In actuality, they all carry meaning that allows one in the home to obtain the “homey” feeling or sense of sonic dominance. Each sound although not necessarily original in nature (in the sense of never hearing a sound like it), but is original in the context of the soundscape. My dog barking in the soundscape of my house allows me to think of memories of her, such as the day I first got her. If I did not hear the dog bark in the soundscape of my home, these memories or meanings may not be accessed as easily. This is an example of how in context these signals within the soundscape create meanings.

The combination of both the keynote sounds and the signals creates a “grain” that is only obtainable within the home. This “grain” causes the sonic dominance within the home to occur. The “grain” is an idea created by Barthes which is when music and the voice coexist creating a sound that cannot be described through the uses of adjectives. In this case it is not music and voice, but actually keynote sound and signal. The combination of both the subtleties of the keynote and the meanings of the signal create a perfect harmony in which the distinctive sounds of a home is created, and those who live in the home experience this “grain” as sonic dominance. The quote, “There is no place like home” embodies this idea because there is truly no other place like home where one can experience sonic dominance solely by standing in it.

Sonic Dominance: The Sound of God

https://youtu.be/R6iVI2UolUU

By Asher Bean and Emily Downing

 

BIBLIOGRAPHY:

 

Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan Bibliography

 

Deep, Aman. Alaap by Ustad Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan in Movie The Last Temptation of

    Christ. YouTube. YouTube, 8 June 2013. Web. 10 Nov. 2015.

    .

 

Ganapathy, Subbu. Vedic Chanting from South India Part 1. YouTube.com. YouTube,

    11 Jan. 2009. Web. 13 Nov. 2015. <https://www.youtube.com/

    watch?v=0tZv9utp-oc>.

 

Khan, Nusrat Fateh Ali. Interview by Andy Carvin. 1993.

 

Mast, Raho. Amir Khusro Sufi Kalam. YouTube. YouTube, 19 Mar. 2011. Web. 10 Nov.

  1. .

 

O’Neil, Susi. “Qawwali: Music of the Sufis.” Pilot Guides. N.p., n.d. Web. 10

    Nov. 2015. <http://www.pilotguides.com/articles/

    qawwali-music-of-the-sufis/>.

 

Rashid, Hussein. “Qawwali and the Art of Devotional Singing.” Worldwide

    Locations. Asia Society, 2007. Web. 13 Nov. 2015.

    .

 

Web, Desi. Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan in Central Park New York Full Concert.

    YouTube.com. YouTube, 12 Mar. 2012. Web. 13 Nov. 2015.

    .

 

Wijeratne, Dinuk. “Velvet Fire.” WIJERATNEWORKS (2013): n. pag. Print.

 

Pictures:

http://blog.uvm.edu/vlbrenna-sound2015/2015/10/20/sonic-dominance-and-the-reggae-sound-system-session/

http://www.neontommy.com/news/2014/11/why-sufi-best-genre-music

http://www.shiamultimedia.com/qawwali2.html

http://kunzum.com/2010/11/17/delhi-enjoy-the-weekly-qawwalis-at-nizamuddin-dargah/

http://www.pri.org/stories/2014-11-03/pakistani-musician-brought-sufi-music-mainstream

http://www2.ljworld.com/photos/2006/may/13/97639/

https://dontforgetthesongs365.wordpress.com/2012/11/11/eddie-vedder-featuring-nusrat-fateh-ali-khan-the-face-of-love/

https://cultureatkamelia.wordpress.com/tag/hindu-wake-singing/

http://www.patheos.com/blogs/whitehindu/2013/11/mantra-v-s-prayer-whats-the-difference/

http://www.carmel.lib.in.us/blog/blog.cfm?id=418

The Technology of the Listening

Asher Bean

Sound and Society

10/4/15

Professor Brennan

The Technology of Listening

   The ear is a technology used by the brain to hear and process sounds. The podcast “The Technology of the Listening” reflects this idea through the sounds of recorded in my everyday life. The first sounds, “Roses” by Outkast, is not only my alarm in the morning but also an mp3. An mp3 is a form of sound that is compressed and emptied, creating a smaller file size. Jonathan Sterne states, “An mp3 takes an existing CD-quality digital audio file and removes as much data content as possible, relying on listeners’ bodies and brains to make up the difference” (Sterne 832). This implies the ear notices the emptiness within the mp3 and signals the brain to produce the missing sounds or the ear amplifies the surrounding noises making it possible to miss these certain sounds.

   The following sounds heard in the podcast, “Roses” , the shower, the zipper, the water fountain, the falling of the weights, the second shower, the clicking of keys, FIFA, and even the light switch all are sounds produced by technology. However, this only demonstrates nine sounds, indicating that one sound is missing; talking while eating at restaurant. Although this is not produced by modern technology, it is perceived differently based on the technology that is ears, and produced by the technology that is our voices. In the article, The Energetic Ear by A.J. Hudspeth, Hudspeth talks about the physiological way our ear is able to listen. The ear is composed of multiple different elements. The most important part of the ear to signal translation is the small hair-like structures located inside of the ear, known as the cilia. When a sound wave enters the ear, the cilia stand up in specific quantities based on the amplitude of the noise. In more simple terms, the more cilia stand up, the louder the initial sound is. When the cilia stand up they open pathways for electrical signals to enter allowing the brain to process the waves providing us with hearing (Hudspeth). The ear is composed of several intricate parts working together to accomplish a specific function, in this case hearing. This concept can also be applied to the production of the voice. Ultimately, Hudspeth’s view of the ear from a physiological perspective supports the idea that the final sound of the voices in a restaurant was actually produced by technology, just as the other sounds were.

   The sounds produced in the “The Technology of the Listening” also contribute to Hudspeth’s idea of listening being an active process. Hudspeth states, “As discussed above the active process is an example of positive feedback. Moreover, like many manmade feedback systems, the active process exhibits gain control: it can be turned up or down as circumstances dictate,” (Hudspeth 50). Hudspeth claims that the ear is able to amplify certain sounds and decrease others depending on the situation. This is exemplified in all of the sounds listened to but is most evident during the sound clip of me at the restaurant. In a normal situation when talking to someone at a restaurant, the conversation one is involved in is amplified while the surrounding conversations and noises are decreased. Through recording, the process in which these sounds are amplified or decreased is changed. Since the microphone can’t necessarily filter the same ways an ear can, the sounds at the restaurant are heard differently due to the lack of filtering.

   The “The Technology of the Listening” follows the themes of technology and how the ear itself is technology all while taking the listener through the sounds of an average day for me. By looking at the ear as a form of technology it can provide humans a new way to view the world and the sound within it.

 

Bibliography:

  • Hudspeth, A.J. “The Energetic Ear.” Daedalus, The Journal of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences(2015), 42–52.
  • Sterne, Jonathan. “The mp3 as Cultural Artifact .” New Media And Society(2006), 824–42.
  • Big Boi. Andre 3000. Roses. Outkast. © 2004 by Sony Music Entertainment. mp3.