Thor Magnusson: Sonic Writing: Technologies of Material, Symbolic, and Signal Inscriptions (2019)
Filed under book | Tags: · artificial intelligence, computer music, machine learning, media, media technology, media theory, music, musical instruments, notation, phonograph, sound, sound recording, writing
“Sonic Writing explores how contemporary music technologies trace their ancestry to previous forms of instruments and media. Studying the domains of instrument design, musical notation, and sound recording under the rubrics of material, symbolic, and signal inscriptions of sound, the book describes how these historical techniques of sonic writing are implemented in new digital music technologies. With a scope ranging from ancient Greek music theory, medieval notation, early modern scientific instrumentation to contemporary multimedia and artificial intelligence, it provides a theoretical grounding for further study and development of technologies of musical expression. The book draws a bespoke affinity and similarity between current musical practices and those from before the advent of notation and recording, stressing the importance of instrument design in the study of new music and projecting how new computational technologies, including machine learning, will transform our musical practices.
Sonic Writing offers a richly illustrated study of contemporary musical media, where interactivity, artificial intelligence, and networked devices disclose new possibilities for musical expression. Thor Magnusson provides a conceptual framework for the creation and analysis of this new musical work, arguing that contemporary sonic writing becomes a new form of material and symbolic design–one that is bound to be ephemeral, a system of fluid objects where technologies are continually redesigned in a fast cycle of innovation.”
Publisher Bloomsbury Academic, New York & London, 2019
ISBN 9781501313851, 1501313851
xiv+290 pages
Reviews: Gregory Taylor (Cycling ’74, 2019), Diana Chester (Interference, 2019).
Author’s research blog
Publisher
WorldCat
Joel Chadabe: Electric Sound: The Past and Promise of Electronic Music (1997)
Filed under book | Tags: · computer music, electronic music, music, music criticism, music history, musical instruments, sound, sound synthesis
A classic of electronic music history based on 150 interviews by an active participant in the northeast American scene.
Publisher Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle River, NJ, 1997
ISBN 0133032310, 9780133032314
xiv+370 pages
via x
Reviews: Marc Battiq Ircam (Leonardo Music Journal, 1997), Anna Laura Arpel (Computer Music Journal, 1997), Warren Burt (Computer Music Journal, 1998), Rebecca Coyle (Convergence, 1999), Darwin Grosse (Cycling74, 2018), Jay Williston (Synthmuseum, n.d.).
PDF (44 MB)
Comment (0)Frode Weium, Tim Boon (eds.): Material Culture and Electronic Sound (2013)
Filed under book | Tags: · electronic music, media technology, music, musical instruments, science, sound, technology
“This eighth volume of the Artefacts series explores how material culture has affected music and sound. Technological innovations in music that were originally created to solve existing problems have ended up expanding the range of what can be done musically and changing the landscape of music. Boon and Weium present a collection of essays exploring technological innovations and their effects on musical culture. Contributors include composers, performers, musicologists, and scientists, providing diverse insights into the nature of music.”
Foreword by Brian Eno
Publisher Smithsonian Institution Scholarly Press, Washington, DC, 2013
Artefacts: Studies in the History of Science and Technology series, 8
ISBN 1944466088, 9781944466084
xvii+293 pages
PDF (30 MB)
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