Author: Keith Kothman

I’ve prepared a short-answer set of questions that deal with topics and issues raised by our first set of readings. Download the word document, insert your answers into the document, and email your answers back to me by the beginning class next Tuesday (9/11). Please use my @bsu account, and a subject of “reading assignment…

For those of you wanting a fairly good audio editor for free, that works on either Mac or Windows (and even Linux, for the propellerheads among you), I suggest checking out Audacity. We will actually do some of our classroom editing on Audacity, as it comes with a built-in noise reduction process. Audacity is open…

Analog and digital recording describe the different ways that energy is transduced (changed from one from into another) and ultimately stored. Analog Recording With analog recording, the energy that results from each transduction fluctuates in an analogous way to the prior fluctuation of energy. Consider the analog recording and playback chain: sound waves (air pressure) -> microphone…

Two more reading assignments from Audio Culture to complete our first unit. Morton Feldman: “Sound, Noise, Varèse, Boulez” (AC, pp. 15 – 16) Henry Cowell: “The Joys of Noise” (AC, pp. 22 – 24)

Understanding the properties of sound involves separating the physical properties from the perceptual properties. Physical properties are things we can measure. Perceptual properties describe how humans perceive specific physical properties. In general, human perception is exponentially related to physical properties. Frequency and Pitch Frequency is the measurement of the rate of sound vibrations, measure in cycles per…

Read for Thursday, 8/30: Jacques Attali, “Noise and Politics” (AC, pp. 7 – 9) R. Murray Schafer, “The Music of the Environment” (AC, pp. 29 – 39) The Schafer is longer, but contains very timely philosophy behind our environmental listening and recording activities. Be warned that I will give you an assignment (take-home) with questions…

Due Sept. 6. The Handbook for Acoustic Ecology defines a soundwalk as follows: A form of active participation in the soundscape. Though the variations are many, the essential purpose of the soundwalk is to encourage the participant to listen discriminatively, and moreover, to make critical judgements about the sounds heard and their contribution to the balance…

Just a reminder, everyone needs to join Google+ (it’s in the syllabus). We will use Google+ to discuss certain readings and topics, and more importantly, to handle checking out and handing off the field recorders for our next project. Each of you needs to join, then either send me an email with your username, or…

I forgot to give the next reading assignment in class. I’ve scanned in these two excerpts (assuming that not all of you have the book yet) so that you can also read the introductions that provide important context for the articles. Tuesday I will give you some questions to answer at home. (These files are…

At its most simple level, sound is a rapidly fluctuating change in some medium – typically, air. Hosken says “sound is caused by vibrations in the air,” but this only describes one medium. Generation Vibrations in the air need to be initiated in some way. Some action has to initiate, or start this fluctuation in…