A Philosophy of Ambient Sound

Materiality, Technology, Art and the Sonic Environment
2023
ISBN: 978-981-99-1754-9
Verlag: Springer Nature Singapore

Buch, Englisch, 291 Seiten, Format (B × H): 153 mm x 216 mm, Gewicht: 513 g

Reihe: Palgrave Studies in Sound

This book presents the first book-length study of ambient sound as a key issue in sound studies and sonic philosophy. Taking a broad, media-philosophical approach, it explores ambient sound as a basic dimension of the sonic environment, sonic technologies, sonic arts and the material staging of listening.

Through analyses of key concepts such as surroundability, mediatization, immanence, synthetization and continuous variation, the book elucidates how ambient aspects of sound influence our conceptions of what sound is and how it affects us by exposing sound’s relation to basic categories such as space, time, environment, medium and materiality. It also illuminates how the strategic production of ambient sound constitutes a leading aesthetic paradigm that has been a decisive factor in the shaping of the modern sonic environment – from key developments in experimental and popular music, sound art and cinematic sound design to the architectural-technological construction of listening spaces in concert halls and theaters and in current streaming infrastructures, digital surround sound and the everyday aesthetics of headphone listening.

Zielgruppe

Research

Autoren/Hrsg.

Schmidt, Ulrik

Fachgebiete

• Sozialwissenschaften Soziologie | Soziale Arbeit Soziologie Allgemein
• Geisteswissenschaften Musikwissenschaft Musikwissenschaft Allgemein
• Sozialwissenschaften Soziologie | Soziale Arbeit Spezielle Soziologie Kultursoziologie
• Sozialwissenschaften Soziologie | Soziale Arbeit Spezielle Soziologie Wissenssoziologie, Wissenschaftssoziologie, Techniksoziologie

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Introduction.- PART 1: FIELDS.- Effects of Being-in.- Environmental and Surrounding Sounds.- Field Effects.- PART 2: STRATEGIES.- Sonic Mediatization.- Synthetic Strategies.- Ambient Sound Design.- PART 3: FRAMES.- Staging Ambient Listening.- Architectures of Acoustic Immanence.- Amplified Surrounds.- Mobile Infrastructures of Everyday Listening.- Epilogue. Generic, Inattentive, Asocial.

Über Autor(innen)

Ulrik Schmidt is Associate Professor in media and communication at Roskilde University, Denmark. Working in the intersection between sound studies, media philosophy, contemporary art and audiovisual aesthetics, he explores the material, technological and environmental conditions for communication, art and the production of subjectivity in modern and contemporary culture.