Leigh Landy: Understanding the Art of Sound Organization (2007)

The art of sound organization, also known as electroacoustic music, uses sounds not available to traditional music making, including pre-recorded, synthesized, and processed sounds. The body of work of such sound-based music (which includes electroacoustic art music, turntable composition, computer games, and acoustic and digital sound installations) has developed more rapidly than its musicology. Understanding the Art of Sound Organization proposes the first general foundational framework for the study of the art of sound organization, defining terms, discussing relevant forms of music, categorizing works, and setting sound-based music in interdisciplinary contexts.

Leigh Landy’s goal in this book is not only to create a theoretical framework but also to make sound-based music more accessible—to give a listener what he terms “something to hold on to,” for example, by connecting elements in a work to everyday experience. Landy considers the difficulties of categorizing works and discusses such types of works as sonic art and electroacoustic music, pointing out where they overlap and how they are distinctive. He proposes a “sound-based music paradigm” that transcends such traditional categories as art and pop music. Landy defines patterns that suggest a general framework and places the study of sound-based music in interdisciplinary contexts, from acoustics to semiotics, proposing a holistic research approach that considers the interconnectedness of a given work’s history, theory, technological aspects, and social impact.

The author’s ElectroAcoustic Resource Site (EARS, www.ears.dmu.ac.uk), the architecture of which parallels this book’s structure, offers updated bibliographic resource abstracts and related information.

Publisher MIT Press, 2007
ISBN 0262122928, 9780262122924
303 pages

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PDF (updated on 2012-8-3)

Michel Chion: Guide To Sound Objects: Pierre Schaeffer and Musical Research (1983–) [FR, EN]

This work is an introductory guide to the monumental Traité des objets musicaux. An index lists each Schaeferian term. Discussions of each of the terms include a combination of Pierre Schaeffer’s key ideas, includinga short definition, and the inclusion of reference pages within the Traité des objets musicaux.

Publisher Buchet/Chastel, Paris, and Institut National de l’Audiovisuel, Bry-sur-Marne, 1983/1995
ISBN 2702014399
187 pages

English edition
Translated by John Dack and Christine North
London, 2009
212 pages

More information

Guide des objets sonores: Pierre Schaeffer et la recherche musicale (French, 1983/1995, added on 2014-3-8)
Guide To Sound Objects: Pierre Schaeffer and Musical Research (English, trans. John Dack and Christine North, updated on 2012-8-3), Chapters (on EARS, added on 2014-11-16), Scribd (updated on 2012-8-3)

Peter Manning: Electronic and Computer Music (1985–)

“Peter Manning’s classic text Electronic and Computer Music deals with the development of the medium from its birth to the 21st century. The first section of the book covers electroacoustic music from its beginning at the turn of the century to 1945, the development of post-1945 ‘classical’ studios, development of voltage-controlled technology, and its commercial exploitation in tape works, live electronic music, and the early use of electronics in rock and pop music. Section two, Computer Music, treats the digital revolution from the early experiments during the late 1950s and early 1960s to the advanced systems of today. Emphasizing the functional characteristics of emerging digital technologies and their influence on the creative development of the medium, Manning covers key developments in both commercial and the non-commercial sectors.”

First published by Oxford University Press, New York, 1985.

Third, revised and updated edition
Publisher Oxford University Press, New York, 2004
ISBN 0195144848, 9780195144840
x+474 pages

Key terms:
empreints DIGITALes, electronic music, IRCAM, MIDI, musique concrete, Wergo, CSOUND, timbre, personal computer, MUSICn, computer music, digital-to-analog converter, Apple Macintosh, music workstation, Synclavier, Yamaha, analog synthesizer, ring modulator, Synket, CCRMA

Publisher

Third edition (2004, 30 MB, updated on 2021-4-8)
Fourth edition (2013, added on 2021-4-8)