Buried Roots...

While remnants of Jamaican culture can be found various forms and various locations across the globe, what is it about this relatively minuscule island nation that has made it stand out amongst the rest for decades?  The People from this nation win olympic events have a strong sense of self, pride, culture and belief and all of this has produced a sound comparatively unique to that of any other sound that has existed. Here in the midwest we have adopted rituals in our listening, playing, and general musicology that pays homage almost entirely to the traditions and practices that have organically and unintentionally lead to the development of reggae music, yet with the diaspora of the Jamaican people there are only few who have ventured this far inland to carry keep a source of authenticity accessible at hand. Here in Colorado if you search hard enough you can still find your buried roots music.

Critical Sound: Music Tech vs Improvisation and Emotion

This course has focused heavily on how technological advances have pushed music in new directions. I believe this to be true, and in my podcast you will hear about the innovations of Les Paul, inventor of sound on sound recording. You will also hear about legendary Led Zeppelin guitarist Jimmy Page and the innovative ideas and techniques that he brought to the Led Zeppelin sound. All of this will be accompanied by phone interview with guitar phenom Zack Wiesinger from Pittsburgh, PA who has grown up pulling his influences from those like Les Paul and Jimmy Page, but also learning a lot of the same lessons they did through trial and error. While all of the technical advances and new innovations have certainly helped push music to places it would have never been capable of prior there are a few things that I feel is more important than any music tech ever....talent, improvisation, and emotion. Truly great music would not exist even with the technology if it were not for talent and emotion. So dive in to this podcast, and learn a little bit about recording history and how it's shaped and affected some of today's talented musicians.

Porno-Groove: The Sweet Sounds of Adult Cinema

This podcast explores the musical sounds of adult cinema from the 1970's and 80's, and the evolution of it's sound, as modes of production and aesthetic styles of of popular music where changing around it. As porno-groove has become dated and obsolete in the adult film industry, it has made a resurgence as prime sampling stock for DJ's, turntablists, and producers. Just as these sounds began anonymously, they shall be carried on and shared anonymously, kept alive by obsessed music junkies and those reminiscent of a larger than life, stylistic era of yesteryear. Is is interesting how once un-appreciated and purposefully ignored music can find its niche in music collectors and enthusiasts generations later.

The Sound of Healing

[photo courtesy of Alex Grey, alexgrey.com]

In various philosophies varying from ancient Hinduism to modern-day String Theory, it's been said that everything is made up of vibrations. As a musician, I understand on a subjective level the effects of music on the soul, and I admit to turning to binaural beat programs when in need of a sleep aid. Whether it’s the placebo effect taking place, I cannot say, but the process of ritual, of tuning into the body’s responses is a genuine and unarguable therapy for a restless mind. But it occurred to me that there may be limitations to how a digital device can transmit acoustic vibrations. It may be necessary to turn to a source of live, on-the-ground vibrational therapy as I explore the applications of sonic healing.

How the multiple culture elements impact with the Chinese music.

This podcast focus on how the multiple culture elements impact with the Chinese music. I use several Chinese singers, like Leehom, Jay Zhou, Lina and so on to illustrate this topic. This Podcast also includes some Chinese,  but I did some translate to let my audiences understand it . In this podcast, I also state the question about what is the future of the current Chinese music.

Glitched Out

Glitched Out is here to take you into the world of glitched vocals. This podcast explores into a sound that loves to be as much as it can. Through the podcast I lay down how these are used. I also delve into some facts about Glitch to give a bearing on where glitched vocals could have come from. It's not everyday you get to listen to a sound originally meant to be a lyric spliced up until it sounds nothing like the original, and then put back together to make a new lyric.

Emo-pop

Sometimes referred to as power pop, emo-pop as a sub-genre of American alternative rock music, distinguishes itself from emo, its predecessor, by embracing the pop aspect of its music and by celebrating their commercial appeal (the emo aspect of emo-pop evident in the similarly expressive, emotive lyrics of emo). Emo-pop's commercial appeal welcomed newer emerging artists on to the music scene, who were once fans of the original emo-pop artists, who created emo-pop music of their own and posted mp3s of their music on MySpace. The movement began in the early 2000s and by the mid-2000s a new wave of emo-pop artists (like BoysLikeGirls) were releasing their first album and joining the movement while using their stylistic abilities to define their own musical identity in the emo-pop genre. 2006 was the year of this peak, in emo-pop music. This lead to a few years of exciting things happening within the genre for both artists and fans; from concerts, to album releases, to online posts, to interviews, to television appearances.It was an exciting time for me to discover music as it was for many other fans. Myspace was and is probably still an exciting place to discover and share music.

World of Classical Techno

By observing and listening to two very different forms of music, while creating this podcast I have put the two forms of music together.  By adding different interviews and views on the subject, I have hoped to capture my personal opinion on this topic, as well as, gain different artists view.  Classical Music and Techno in our culture today, have become a popular sound to mix together and the pure sound of minimal techno was taken back to a "striped down" version, which I believes come from the clean sounds of classical music.  The rhythms of both these forms of music do create an emotional and physical experience as studies show how classical music pinpoints parts of the brain releasing extra doses of serotonin in the brain.  In a couple of different interviews in my podcast they talk about how this may effect the brain and how other forms of music may be involved.

Music For Video Games

From their early days to the present, music and sound have always played a part in video games. But how does they actually function in games? What separates them from other mediums? In this special episode of the Aperture Science PODcast* Testing Initiative, join our latest guest, test subject #1313, otherwise referred to as Mikey, as he attempts to shed light on these questions and more. Will our young test subject succeed in his valiant attempts to explain how music for video games is applied in generative, non-linear manners and how players can interact with and affect how music plays during gameplay, or will he be doomed to suffer a horrible death as his Aperture Science Relaxation Vault and Death Trap tragically collapses all around him? The only way to find out is to click that button down there. The one right below this paragraph. It's just sitting right down there, waiting to be pressed. So, go ahead, press it. What are you waiting for? Do you hate buttons or something? What have they ever done to you? Just press the damn button! Don't make me send over our Aperture Science Military Androids to press that button for you, because trust me, you won't like it!

EDPx3750: Music For Video Games

*Podcast or Die

(Author's Note: It shouldn't happen, but if SoundCloud takes down my podcast due to copyright music, I'll make sure and email my podcast to you, Trace. That way you would still be able to listen to it. Again, it shouldn't happen, but I'll send it later anyway, just in case. Sorry!)

We Are Changed - Podcast on listening, the musicality of language, and the meaning in sound as music

This podcast focuses on listening deeply to the sounds all around us, but specifically to the relationship between music, language, and meaning. I explore the relationship between the structures of language and how they impart meaning, and the structures of music and the meaning implicit in them, as well as the junction of the two in the tonal qualities of the spoken word. Where is the emotion present in a sentence, or a specific sequence of notes and rhythms? Please enjoy this listening experience with a willingness to go where the words suggest and the music takes you. Thank you for listening.

Works sampled

• Anna Moffo - Rachmaninoff Vocalise no. 14
• Swingle Singers - Astor Piazzolla Libertango
• Phil Harris - Terry Gilkyson The Bare Necessities
• Jaap Blonk - Kurt Schwitters Ursonate
• Jaap Blonk - Cheekasynth
• Jaap Blonk - Free Verse at the Walker Art Center
• Bobby McFerrin - Antonio Vivaldi Concerto in g minor for Two Cellos
• Bobby McFerrin - Improvisation on Bach Prelude
• Vladimir Ashkenzay - Frederic Chopin Fantasie Impromptu
• Karlheinz Stockhausen - Gesang der Jungling
• Karlheinz Stockhausen - The British Lectures On Sounds
• Steven Pinker - Linguistics as a Window to Understanding the Brain
• Pablo Casals - Camille Saint-Saens The Swan from Carnival of the Animals
• Sun Ra - Space is the Place
• Lesley Gore - Sunshine, Lollipops, and Rainbows

A Universe Of It's Own Kind

My podcast is called A Universe of its Own Kind.  The podcast is about the culture that follows techno music; the main focus was the culture at live shows.  In the podcast I talk about how the event producers would try to create this alternative world for the audience to enjoy when they are at the event.  This type of world and culture at the event truly is one a kind. The two main festivals I focus on are Sensation and Electric Forest.

Alternative Engagement - A Retrospective

      Join Captain Cummerbund and his robotic automaton Jarvis as they haul the Earth's garbage to the Sun. Considering the current disregard for tangible copies of music, this podcast takes a retrospective look to the present-past from the future regarding alternative music's inventive approaches to engaging audiences through various means in addition to simply selling the recorded forms of their work. It highlights more recent examples of the innovative ways alternative artists are attempting to connect with their audiences. The podcast discusses different modes of production and distribution that have surfaced more recently. Included in this podcast are the pay-what-you-want systems employed by Radiohead, collaborative works by Beck, and musical app development in the case of Bjork. This podcast also illustrates the growing trend for musicians to push the boundaries of engagement to stay relevant in today's fast paced digital world.

Final Podcast: Trailer Music

Trailer music often goes unnoticed to the masses; it's unfortunate, as it's an excellent subgenre of production music. It offers soundscapes that will take you on grand, imaginative adventures that are unparalleled by most other kinds of music. In this podcast, I will briefly overview trailer music. A bit of the reasons why it has only recently received attention, the variety offered within the subgenre and a bit of hypothesizing into what exactly gives trailer music its unique appeal.

ABC's Hearing Voices: The Invisible Intruders

1) The podcast that I chose to review was ABC National Radio's "Hearing Vpices: The Invisible Intruders".
2) The topic of the podcast is essentially people who suffer from psychological conditions that result in them 'hearing' voices of other (or themselves) that aren't really speaking, or even there. This podcast looks deeper into this phenomenon, and humanizes it a bit more, straying away from the traditional view that people who hear voices are inherently crazy. These conditions are related to regular everyday people who wouldn't be seen as insane by most, and instead of being terrifying, they can apparently sometimes be somewhat comforting in times of crisis.
3) This podcast definitely addresses issues of listening and hearing, because its consists of stories and cases of people who one day, began to 'hear' and 'listen' to voices that didn't really exist outside of their minds. This particular podcast doesn't so much deal with the effects of technology as much as it addresses physical people and the extent to which they believe what their minds conjure up internally. These voices are described as initially being very distracting, but after a while become one with these people's everyday lives, becoming even comforting. This can be compared to technology and the extent of which it surrounds us; initially new and distracting but becoming inherent and 'part' of us as we continue with it ingrained in our lives.
4) The theoretical and cultural contexts of this podcast is exploring the case-by-case basis of one's 'imagined' voices, and the hold and effect they have on their creator's everyday lives and interactions. The cases and examples of these afflictions range from being subconsciously comforting to being extremely destructive. The podcast begins to explore how most peoples voices are triggered by a specific instance, usually a traumatic one, and can be traced back to such instances and pinpointed. There are both segments involving people with first person experiences involving voices, to medical and psychological professionals who offer a more objective viewpoint.
5) The podcast doesn't really explore too many audio production techniques, and primarily relies on one or two effects, such as fade outs, layering of sound (voice + music/audio samples), etc. Because this podcast doesn't address music or the business/practice of audio production, we don't hear to much variation other than people's voices and selected accompanying musical tones. The podcast doesn't encourage us to listen as it encourages us to be aware and more introspective.
6) If this was my podcast, one production technique I would apply to more so engage the theme, would be to layer multiple voices and have them wander in and out of our audible existence. No one voice would would be clearly heard, nor would it be very impressionable; but creating an atmosphere with multiple voices could potentially shed some light one what it is actually like to 'hear' voices (your own or someone else's) that aren't really there.

Podcast- musical language

1）Musical Language

2）This podcast focus on what is music and what music is made of .By using languages, physics, brains etc as a guess to prove the elements that consist of music. It’s both interesting and exciting to find out that even a word or a sentence can become a cheerful melody. Especially, how the woman professor saying randomly phase turned into music.

3）This music language podcast address issues of “listening” by lots of examples. In one of those examples, I have heard the host uses my mother language Mandarin as an example to illustrate those four tones of the same word express the different meanings of it. Like “ma”, 1^st tone means mom, 2^nd tone stands for perish, 3^rd tone means horse, 4^th tone stands curse. Technology plays the role of tool which can analysis and invent a new meaning of a simple thing. Like the most impression loop example I have heard, “sometimes become so strangely”. People use the technology to make this phase into a loop, which provide a new meaning of it.

4）Tone language, cultural language. As I have mentioned before, the four different tones of the same word stands for different meaning in Mandarin. In different tone we express the same word show our emotion and mood change. Also the example of touch at a distance, which let also know we can feel the music according to mankind’s brain system. It also explains the reason why we have the feeling of consonance and dissonance.

5）The host uses the audio examples and other guest host speaking to fill the empty in the podcast. They did an extremely good job in getting involved people by keep asking question and let the professor answer the question by their examples. The structure of this podcast is really clear; we know the start, middle and the ending of the podcast.

6）I hold the view that they should do more interviews in the podcast. In that way, listeners like as can know the theme more deeper; and give us a “break time” to think about the issue they have discussed. Also, I like they way they use the technology as a tool to invent new things. Maybe they should show more interesting examples to hook the listeners. 

RadioLab's Musical Language

1)  Musical Language-RadioLab 

      Sonorah Vinyard 

2) Identify the podcast topic and theme in your own words.  What does the podcast

have to tell us that is new, focused and exciting about the topic?

            The topic and theme of this podcast is how the use of tones and variations of tones create a listening experience and can change the perception of the word just by changing the pitch or tone.  By analyzing different backgrounds of children with perfect tone ability and conducting experiments of saying the same words over two different days allowed the podcast to created what would appear to be a loop, even though the words were spoken over two different days.  Also to listen to music like Rite of Spring which challenges the idea of previous perception of music.  One of these questions becomes what is music and how language can easily become music with a shift in tones.  Exposer at a critical period could be the difference of these abilities of human potential explains Diana Deutsch.

3) How does the podcast address issues of “listening” or “hearing”?  According to

the podcast, what role does technology play in listening or hearing?

            This podcast brings attention to how tones and pitches neurologically change how a human hears a particular sound.  How the air and forces are pushed into your ear creating vibrations and voice travels through space and time.  The podcast uses visual sounds to create an effect for each explanation they are trying to capture of how the ear hears sound.  Using bones, vibrations and electricity.  In Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring, begins to create a different between “hearing” and “listening” to music.  The differences between someone sitting and listening to the sounds can be a lot more effective and productive as they are analyzing each tone and pitch.  When someone is simply “hearing” music, there is no analytical productivity.  There is also a memory aspect to music.  When the mind hears a sound or a particular word memories that might have happened before are brought up.  After listening to this podcast for the second time the phrase "they somehow behave so strangely" automatically sounds like a melody even when said normally in the podcast. 

4) What theoretical and cultural contexts are being used to present and discuss the

theme?  Do these contexts go beyond historical and biographical documentary?

            During the podcast the tones tend to change with the topic they are discussing, using the elements of “feeling” and creating emotion and relay the message.   Anne Fernald brings up the fact that “sound is touch at a distance.”  As babies develop they are taught to ear an emphasis on particular tones and pitches to relate how they feel.   The example of the different ways of saying mama could change and with different words they meaning can change throughout different languages.  I also think this tone and pitch is somewhat of a cultural thing.  We were taught to hear those tones and then translate that into how the speaker wants the listener to react.  The reaction of babies’ changes as they hear higher pitched noises.   This idea also coexists with the point I mentioned above about how memory and previous feelings towards a particular song effects how one "listens" or "hears" the music. Why does music make us feel so strongly and how does this electricity from the ear becomes feelings?  This one one of the questions the podcast addresses. 

5) What specific forms of audio production or phenomenon, specific techniques or

styles of production, are demonstrated by the podcast?  How does the podcast

encourage and support us to listen to, compare and/or contrast specific “sonorous

objects”?

            The production of this podcast again reiterates how tones are used to create emotion and by creating a loop with the words they use and creating a musical pitch to sayings, it changes our perception of that section.  The language of the people does affect how tones and music could be perceived.  It is argued through out the podcast, which one was first music or language?  By repeating the section where Diana says, “they somehow behave so strangely” it turned language into a music piece just by changing the production of that piece.  Patterns also become a relative term within this podcast through speaking of the rioting, which happened at the Rite of Springs

Brain wants to put previous experiences into the now experiences.  This last music is putting the listener in a position to not put those previous experiences in it.  Continents and dissentients ears in an internal struggle.  Jonah Lehar 

6) If this were your podcast, what is one production technique you would want to

use in order to more creatively engage the thematic focus?

            The theme in this podcast is fairly precise and manages to stay focused on the theme, which is using tones and pitches to relay a listening and hearing environment.  It could be productive to create a more concise way to hear more examples by altering their speech as Diana does in the first section of the podcast.  Through out the interviews, I do think it makes it a related experience with the listener.  By having a conversation feeling to the podcast allows the listener to stay more engaged instead of someone reading their answers off. 

Spaces of Listening / The Record Shop.

1. I listened to the podcast Spaces of Listening / The Record Shop. http://soundstudiesblog.com/2012/04/19/sounding-out-podcast-episode-6-spaces-of-listening-the-record-shop/

2. The theme of the podcast was to hear varying viewpoints on the consumption of music. The podcast included opinions from music lovers, record storeowners, record store employees, and artist. It is interesting how they compare today’s kids buying and listening to music, to when the speakers themselves were kids, buying and listing to music.  How people buy music has changed so much because of technology. 

3. The podcasts address issues with listening and hearing by giving examples from their own background.  One factor discussed is the way in which technology has impacted the way people listen to music. One person talks about going to the record store and hearing the record over the stores speakers and falling in love with it.  With technology today we have mostly lost the record store listening experience.  

4.  People are using their own experiences to demonstrate the ways the music industry has changed over time.  They are trying to show that most kids today will not have the same experiences they had going to record stores

5. The form of audio production the podcasts uses has one focus, but instead of having one person telling their story they have multiple people telling short stories of their time with record stores.  I the podcast encourages people to listen to different types of music; not to worry about what people think to go out and try to find what music you like. 

6. I would want to use the technique of having multiple people on the podcast. This can keep people focused because it changes so much that people are tying to pay attention and they are trying to keep up with the podcast.   

Shallow Rewards: The Hiding

1.) http://vimeo.com/54523062 2.) The podcast discusses how alternative artists appreciate having enough exposure to have their music enjoyed to its fullest by a specific group of listeners. On the other side of this, some fans of non-mainstream music chose to listen because the music is not mainstream. These teens prefer to keep their music private so that they have a place of belonging that is theirs because they have proven themselves by learning about particular artists on their own and only a small group of people with the same interests would be just like them. Additionally, he says that they chose to listen because they are intending to hide from the music that is mainstream rather than running away from it and because of this they do not want the artists their listening to become mainstream since they will no longer be able to hide. And if an alternative artist ends up being mainstream the fans end up disliking them for it and refer to them as being washed out and/or selling out. Likewise, alternative artists could feel exploited by getting the wrong type of media coverage that does not satisfy them in the way they were exposed. 3.) The podcast addresses issues in listening by exploring the topic of choosing to listen to a particular kind of music from a fan’s perspective. He explains that teens can strongly identify with certain artists because the artists are able to better express for them feelings that they cannot from lack of experience; so much so that teens can view such artists as being part of them which they do not want the artists to change by suddenly widening their fan base to include other people that they cannot identify with because they would be unmotivated to listen. Within this privatization of listening to music, he gives the example of being able to use other technological ways of playing the music as a way that alternative artists allow their fans to put in the effort to explore their music by remaining alternative rather appearing everywhere as mainstream artists which defeats the purpose of needing to make an effort to hear their work. 4.) The theoretical and cultural context being used to present and discuss the theme is idea of being a serious fan of something. He provides examples that he parallels to being a fan of alternative music. He centers this argument on the idea of its seclusion from mainstream music and equates it to fans being consumed in rare pokemon trading cards that are rare because the company generated so few of them. He adds to that by highlighting that in the cases of rare pokemon trading cards because of the artificiality based in the nature of their rarity they are not appraised at the same great value as a rare baseball card would. Rare baseball cards, he highlights, have their rarity based more on historical events rather than what the manufacturer is at present time doing to generate buzz around the item. The context does go beyond a historical and biographical documentary. Not only does he make personal connections to his youth, he parallels them to examples of similar activities that are being engaged in by the youth of a different generation, one of which includes the alternative music scene under discussion and pokemon trading cards. 5.) The video uses effective imagery in the beginning by demonstrating a term commonly coined by fans of alternative music, which is examined at length in the podcast that is to follow. The video sequences a cassette being taken out of its package, played and then put in the dishwasher and taken out all accompanied by a resonating one note sound vibrating in the background to emphasizes the actions being taken. The term he addresses by doing this is when music is “washed out” which happens when musicians make more sales, which is coined as “selling out” and they in turn earn more money and make more fans. The negative connotation that surrounds the terms “selling out” and “washed out” music is one that is based on the fans reactions/perceptions to the music’s gain in popularity. He addresses this perspective by stating that teen fans can so strongly identity with a particular music enough to see it as their own, so much so that they would only want to keep it to themselves and at their level, rather than sharing it with a million more fans which is when it can be over played and lose meaning to their older fans. He criticizing this reaction as being childish but he understands how teens can be so consumed in a particular genre of music as he had in his youth. He encourages his sort of listening, by highlighting the thrills he experienced in his youth of getting a record and privately playing his own music and enjoying it privately as a way to hide his listening interests from mainstream music as a way to curve out his own identity. 6.) I would use examples of clips of alternative music to serve as examples of the type of music he is discussing rather than simply holding up the cassettes that he was referencing. His eye contact throughout was extremely effective in that it exemplified that the topic in the video was of his opinion only and that he is a prime example of who is talking about and his serious expression translated to him wanting to be taken seriously which is all why he was effective. But instead of having the video focus on his eyes, he could have inserted images of what he was talking about in order to create more specific examples of his thematic focus aside from himself.

Ayinde Chong: Sounding Out!

            This pod cast explores idea of the “record store” and how the role it plays in society has changed as our values have changed. From the discussion of issues like childhood experience and seeking mentors and role models to how recording artists being challenged by changes in economic structuring of the music industry the listener is guided through interviews and commentary illustrating a chronological transformation.

             Chronologically we as the listener are firstly given an adequate back grounding on the history of the relationship dynamics between recording artist, record label, and record store, this is very important in the timeline for how things were to be laid out digitally making it much more challenging for record stores to maintain relationships with the record stores.

One of the more engaging features about the design of this particular pod cast was the use of recorded interviews on the subject, where people were able to voice their opinions, concerns, and express themselves. This was particularly effective when thinking about the experience or act of listening and the technology with which we use to do it. On the one hand, in many of the interviews people are describing experiences or anecdotes in which they experienced some sort of interaction (usually human interaction) that helped shape the way they listened or heard material they were interested in or exposed to in these record shops. On the other hand You as the listener are listening to a digital recording that to some extent shows how technology has already made the change they may be speaking of preventing. When speaking of their experiences going into a record shop one interviewee speaks of the clerks disgust with the Compact Disc and another interviewee speaks of how she was dissuaded from buying a record both experiences that will be lost with the disappearance of the record store.

Theoretically this cast is pulling from a vast nostalgic source of a sense of familiarity and commonplace and contextualizing it by foregrounding the importance of a music culture as sound sense. The cultural contexts are already there they are things we can relate too. Someone mentions having a “shop dog” the sense of “independent business” haven’t we all been there at one time or another at this point??

The production on this pod cast was very limiting in terms of the sonorous object as the segment consisted mainly of interviews however there were quite a few moments as with other radio labs where you could hear sonorous objects peek out from behind the vocals such as the wind chime on a doorbell ding or faint murmur of voices as they attempted to paint a picture of a somewhat more active space using audio.

The interviewing technique was incredible and the mastering was impeccably done on it. I was already thinking of using some sort of cacophony type work in my piece to help guide the listener through space and hearing this only made the possibilities that much more exciting!     

Musical Language - Radiolab

1) Musical Language - Radiolab

2) This podcast dealt with topics and concerns regarding music and how the human mind perceives sound.  It dealt with the implications of speech patterns and musical tones on society and mental ability, the differences between those who possess perfect pitch in tonal languages vs. non tonal languages, the theory behind the universal language of sound, dissonant and consonant sounds and their effects at a neurological level, and musical arrangement composed using software.  I thought it was very interesting the way Jad and Robert constructed the argument for music's ability to re-sculpt or restructure the brain and how the brain processes information.  The idea that culture wins out over biology seemed fluid throughout the discussion.

3)  The podcast addressed the issues of "listening" and "hearing" mainly through example.  They spoke about Stravinsky and the Rite of Spring.  The riots that ensued with the first group who "listened" to the composition vs. the praise Stravinsky received with the second group who sat down and tried to "hear" the composition.  Another example would be the music composed by computer.  The people who merely "listened" to it did not appreciate the actual qualities of the sounds and instead focused on how those sounds were produced.  The woman who actually "heard" what sounds were produced, loved the composition made by computer. 
     Both of these instances are also examples of technologies role in "listening" and "hearing."  The first is an example of technique as technology in which brain chemistry and dopamine levels were altered by uncommon musical arrangements resulting in different audience experiences.  The second is an example of technology as tool.  Composer's block lead to the development of software that analyzed musical arrangement in order to create compositions in similar styles to other composers.

4) Theoretical and cultural contexts were initially concerned with the musical components of language.  How universal language exists in tonal structure and the way phrases are organized by sound structure like pitch, volume, and length.  This was further expounded upon by the differences between cultures that use tonal language and their greater ability to possess perfect pitch.  Another example of theoretical and cultural context dealt with sound as touch from a distance.  The idea that music can be felt.  This theory was explained through the use of dissonant and consonant sounds and their impacts on the brain. Another example of theoretical context used in the podcast is the idea of plasticity in the cortical fugal network, the neurological structure by which the brain adjusts biochemically to better hear sounds.  This example was used to explain the riots that occurred during the first performance of Rite of Spring as too much dopamine with its euphoric effects can turn to schizophrenia.

5) This podcast is exceptionally well done.  Through the use of supporting audio examples and small segments of audio clips, the makers of this program are better able to facilitate what is being discussed.  The production has a very polished feel.  They make great use of the stereophonic sound as all areas of the stereo space are employed at any given time.  This helps to keep the audience engaged with the program as there are always interesting things happening aurally.

6) If this were my podcast I think I would want the hosts to engage more with the interview subjects.  At times, it seemed more like they were documenting the experience with their guests and only providing further explanation rather than interacting with them in person.  I think direct connection to the subjects may have enhanced the listening experience a bit further and possibly could have provided a more personal feeling toward the interviews.

Blog Post 2: Record Stores Then and Now

Blog Post 2: Record Stores Then and Now

Sounding Out! Episode 6: Spaces of Listening/The Record Shop

            The primary topic that this podcast revolves around is the concept of the record store as not only a space of listening, but a place where music lovers can gather together to discuss, look for, purchase, and otherwise interact with music in a physical and concrete way. One of the more interesting things that this podcast tries to do is that it doesn’t just talk about how record stores used to be like, but also covers how music stores have been changed or affected in modern times, where digital distribution and consumption is king. One of the things it mentions is that the ability to preview music online plays a part in determining what physical purchases a person would be willing to make at a record store.

An interesting aspect of listening that the podcast covers is the idea that the listening choices of a person become subject to the scrutiny of others in a record store, usually by a record store employee. It is a common stereotype that record store employees are very snobbish about music and won’t hesitate to make judgments about individuals based on their music choices; in turn, this causes people to be more reflective and aware of exactly what they listen to and what it says about them. The podcast also brings up the idea that the content in record stores, primarily CDs and records, and the record store itself encourage people to go out on a limb and try something new, and that if a person takes a chance, they might have a life-changing experience or even just find a new piece of music to enjoy.

            In terms of cultural context, the podcast presents its points in the form of various accounts, recollections, and memories from different people. Each of these people discusses their experiences with record stores and the impact that those experience may have had on their lives. It doesn’t seem to extend much beyond the historical and biographical context, but some of the speakers try to use their experiences as a bridge to discuss characteristics that encompass record stores as a whole, the role they have in people’s musical development, and how these may have changed in the digital age.

An interesting technique that this podcast uses to present its topic and themes is that it cuts between different people, who each have their own insight into what the record store is to them and their experiences in them. Rather than simply having a person make their statements about the topic, then cut to another person who does the same, they cut back and forth between several individuals, cutting back to different statements from previously heard people after others have spoken. One role this might have to play in the podcast is that it is used to retain people’s interest in it, and to keep them listening. Otherwise, the listeners might become bored with it and move on to something else. Another method that the podcast uses is that it tries to group the statements that cover similar topics and themes within the topic together. Doing this keeps the podcast well organized and helps to highlight the similarities and differences between the speakers’ experiences with record stores, giving them more credibility.

            If this were my podcast, one of the things I would try to do is play around with the audio a bit more. I would consider trying to make the podcast sound like an old record that has become slightly damaged and scratched up over the years. To do this, I would maybe have the audio skip on occasion, or sometimes get stuck in a loop before it plays normally again, or add white noise to different parts of the podcast to make them sound fuzzier than the rest. Overall, I would want to mess around with the audio to make it sound like it could be coming from a record crammed into one of the bins in the record stores they talk so much about.

Analyzing Musical Language

Basil Vendryes

Analyzing Musical Language

                The podcast I chose to listen to, RadioLab’s “Musical Language”, discussed the biology, psychology and inherent nature of music and how humans process it. I found it particularly interesting how they shed light on the observation that our language is inherently musical, though this is not readily noticeable (which is part of the charm of the revelation). It’s exciting to realize the underlying musical foundation that’s ingrained into the human mind; now I can pick up on the musical quality in any one person talking, even myself. Saying a word or phrase many times in succession makes it seem less like a word or phrase and more like strange noise, but now it’s also able to be pushed further into a string of notes to create a melody. It may not always flow beautifully like a masterful symphony, but it’s groundbreaking for its concept alone.

                It’s funny too, because listening and hearing make all the difference in realizing things like this. Whereas hearing is simply picking up the audio stimulus and processing it, listening is intensely focusing on and analyzing said stimuli. If I were to have simply “heard the lecture”, it would’ve been a collection of sound that would have not had provoked any analytical thought, nor would it have given me any newly drawn conclusions. But listening allowed me to take in what was said, process it, test some of the theories myself and increase my knowledge base and observational skills. Similarly, when they were on the section explaining differences in musical emphasis used with language, listening played a large part. Mandarin is a language which has a surprising amount of reliance on tonality to convey meaning. Those who grow up speaking it inherently know the system of how these tonalities affect the language; this is something that we in the west highly overlook. It was a grand discovery to realize the “universal melodies” that we convey when speaking towards infants, but this is a common, every day practice in certain parts of the world, such as those that speak mandarin. It is part of their language; something they practice from infancy to old age while it quickly becomes buried during the childhood years in an English speaking country. Where we only hear, they are clearly listening.

                Equally amazing is our brains methodology for interpreting and sorting sounds into types that we like and dislike. RadioLab used the example of Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring as an instance of how humans process music and how it affects our reactions towards it. Rite of Spring was mold-shattering for its dissonant, chaotic chords, irregular and aggressive tones. The 2 different performances of it yielded polar opposite results with the first performance driving people into a maddened craze from the music; whereas the second performance invoked praise and adoration for Stravinsky’s work. RadioLab discusses this phenomenon as the brains ability to eventually make sense of a disturbing, unfamiliar noise. When people were able to properly synthesize this piece into their mind more smoothly, they found it staggeringly beautiful and fresh.

My first introduction to Rite of Spring was via Disney’s Fantasia, and I instantly loved the piece. While this was partially due to my childhood obsession with dinosaurs, there was something that struck me about it as I experienced that segment in the movie. It amazed me how the music and the animation seemed to fit hand in hand. The fact that Disney animators created this rich, imaginative narrative with nothing to go off of but a piece of music was both perplexing and engaging for me. I was bridging the connections between the sounds of the piece and the various aspects of the animation that were clearly inspired by these sounds. The sharp, blasting noises at the beginning were clearly suited for volcanoes. The chaotic, menacing bleats of the middle segment embodied the terror of fleeing from a hungry T-Rex. The absolute cacophony of the end complimented the disorientation of a sudden, apocalyptic combination of natural disasters tearing the earth asunder. But my mind would’ve never come up with the images that now are almost trademark for Rite of Spring. Yet they make sense to me. They synthesized nicely because of that. I wonder if initially hearing it through Fantasia is the reason it clicked with me so nicely. Is it comparable to the second performance of Rite of Spring where those who went in had prior knowledge of what happened the first time around? It’s hard to say. Knowing that the piece is dissonant before listening to it doesn’t make it any less dissonant. I’ll probably never know the answer to that one, but I find it intriguing nonetheless.

In order to bring additional attention towards the subjects they discuss in the podcast, RadioLab employs a lot of direct, contextual editing to their programs. For example, the dangerously catchy phrase-turned-to-song “Sometimes Behave So Strangely” was made as such through a lot of repetition throughout the piece. Through repetition, we experienced (and also internally converted) the repetition’s transfer from language to sound to music. Simply describing it would have not been nearly so effective, as the specific tones and melodies that we would individually create would differ from the singular one that we witness being transformed. It’s also quite likely those who aren’t well versed in musical theory wouldn’t be able to decipher the melodic sequence hidden away in their own voices. The method is very interactive and intuitive and makes for an engaging and clear method of demonstrating their audio concepts.

While it’s hard to think of methods that could be used to improve the already excellent production quality of RadioLab’s podcasts, one possible addition I would make is the inclusion of a few additional sources to illustrate the theories they discuss in their podcast. Rite of Spring is a classical example of a mold-breaking piece that forced those who listened to it to accommodate the strange new audio stimulus; in order for it to have a more pleasant synthesis within their mind, it took extra time and a more open mind to make nice with it. I would have been interested to hear some additional examples of dissonance in music. Perhaps implementing one that I wasn’t already familiar with in order to try and induce me to undergo the rocky synthesis myself. Of course, as a producer of the podcast that would be impossible, but had I been in their scenario, I would find it beneficial to present a piece of music that isn’t quite as well known but also quite dissonant itself. This would continue to push the interactivity and have them learn through a kinesthetic means.

Musical Language - Philippe Moore

1. “Musical Language” - Radiolab
2. Topic and theme, anything new to say? focused and exciting?
1. A search for what makes music music, and what musical elements are present in our daily life. How language and music are related. Science of hearing, cultural ramifications of speech,  hard science behind what is generally pleasant sounding versus what is not pleasant, on the electrical level. Innate appreciation of music on a neurological level. Jad and Robert are always intensely interested in the topics which they explore, which is one reason their podcast is so compelling. The enthusiasm with which they explore the content is engaging in its own right, as is their insightful questioning and occasional disagreement.
3. Issues of “listening” or “hearing” and the role of technology
1. More than just words/spoken language in the podcast, lots of supporting and complementary sounds as examples, etc. a cello playing the musical/language phrases behind the words. Hearing as touch. Listening => rioting! The podcast addresses technology more as a way of understanding how we hear. In the case of the rioting after the Rite of Spring, the difference between the first audience and the second audience is as much a difference between hearing and not being able to listen and hearing and being able to listen. The second group had been conditioned to find the patterns in the music and were thus capable of listening and appreciating the music. Technology is used as a facilitator of musical analysis in the case of David Cope. He used an algorithm to find patterns in compositional style between composers and used those patterns to generate his own music in their styles. This reveals the underlying patterns and structures which we find pleasant or determinist of a specific style. Look to the Shape of Song for a visualization of something similar to this.
4. Theoretical and Cultural contexts beyond historical and biographical documentary?
1. Musical psychology, tone languages, cultural languages, obstetrics (baby language/music), sounds as touch at a distance. Neurology. We touched on topics from several different languages and cultures, as well as various scientific disciplines to form a synthesis of knowledge around the topic of music and language. We came from a linguistics and language-centric place to talk about things sometimes behaving strangely, and also to analyze tone languages in relation to perfect pitch. We then turned to neurology to determine a scientific basis for why certain pitches “feel” different based on consonance or dissonance. This analysis gave us a lens through which to explain the rioting at the Rite of Spring’s first performance. As already discussed, an algorithm was used to find patterns in composition for David Cope to use Emmy to reproduce musical styles (and create completely new ones).
5. Specific audio production/phenomenon, techniques or styles demonstrated. Encourage and support us to listen to, compare and/or contrast specific “sonorous objects.”
1. Radiolab has an excellent technique for maintaining listener presence and awareness. The rhythm and procedure of unravelling each thought or concept is such that we are encouraged to remain on our toes and at attention. Often one or the other of Jad or Rob will interject (whether in post-production or in real-time) with a thought or clarification. As they speak there is often other sounds pervading the atmosphere of the studio space. One feels the thoughts in these other sounds, whether it be examples of David Cope’s Emmy compositions or the tonalities of spoken Mandarin. These primary examples serve to root our thought in a specific context, rather than having to imagine without the fodder for thought. Various post-production techniques--speed manipulation, cuts, overlapping, spatializing effects, etc.-- serve to maintain a presence in the production that maintains our focus.
   The podcast is rife with sonorous objects, encouraging us to listen to the tonal qualities of the spoken word by accompanying it, and other sounds, with a tonal gesture played by a cello. The aforementioned post-production techniques, aside from the maintenance of our attention, also serve to further separate the sound from the source of the sound. Each manipulation, each cut, each stretch and buzz causes the sound to enter into its own space and to be perceived under its own terms. While listening to this podcast in particular, I found myself listening for the musical content in the speech of the narrators and interviewees.  
6. What would I do if this were my podcast?
1. If this were my podcast, there is one thing I would have liked to hear to more clearly illustrate the point. The work of Diana Deutsch in tonal languages could have been explored more thoroughly by playing back tones of spoken phrases from popular sources and having the audience and narrators attempt to discern the content of the speech from the musical qualities of the tones. At least the attempt to do this could illustrate even further the point brought up by Jonah Lehrer’s work on the Rite of Spring and may have provided insight into how David Cope chose lyrics for his Emmy-derived compositions.

Kate Hoyt Podcast Exercise

Welcome to Mars: Other Tongues, Other Flesh

This podcast dealt with science fiction depictions of extra-terrestrial contact and phenomenology as viewed through the socio-cultural lens of the 1950s suburban boom and attitudes towards the Other. As I have read accounts of the CIA-led experiments with LSD, this podcast added a new perspective as the host's knowledge of both the science fiction historical narrative and the concurrent real-world developments on this front were quite extensive, and he had obviously labored in making connections between the two. The remarkable added value of the podcast was lining up developments in scifi books and movies with eerily reflective historical events that were taking place behind the scenes within the CIA and other government endeavors.

The format of the podcast was a mostly one-take recording of the host's unscripted (although, I have to imagine, pre-outlined) monologue on the subject, along with a constant other-wordly, technologized soundtrack in the background. Occasionally, this format would break and insert a sign-of-the-times recording of an advertisement or speech from the era being discussed, but it was mostly constant in terms of the host's voice narrating the historical developments that unfolded and the background soundtrack. What was interesting is that there was no break in format or tone to delineate the difference between discussions of a science fiction book or movie plot and real-life historical occurrences.

The host discussed developments on the scifi front within the context of the 1950s emergence of suburban culture. More specifically it discussed this cultural and historical phenomenon in terms of prominent attitudes towards the Other. For example, while there was much fascination in science fiction culture in contact with beings or experiences from outer worlds, this was paralleled by extreme segregation within the suburbs. The host points out that while suburban culture was fixated on propping up the facade of the "ideal" and the "pure," there was a lot of behind the scenes deviance that occurred (both sexually and in terms of substance use) and this tension may have been a factor in the fascination of the cultural trope of extra-terrestrial contact. So, in making these connections, I would say that the host's analysis went beyond merely outlining biographical and historical developments.

I first noticed the use of sonorous objects with various clicks that echoed within the background soundtrack, which coincided with a significant narrative point being outlined by the host. I believe that, although the soundtrack appeared to have been composed in isolation from the narrative discussion, key sonorous tropes were lined up with key narrative statements for effect. Another sonic technique - although I hesitate to call it a "sonorous object" - was an insertion of an Aunt Jemima advertisement from the 1950s which showcased the prevalent attitudes of the white suburban culture toward African Americans, and historical residue left by slavery. This technique was particularly effective at placing the narrative within a cultural context of subjugation of the Other.

If this were my podcast, I would have used more sonorous techniques to delineate what was being narrated as a plot of a science fiction novel or movie and was was a real-life historical occurrence. The consistency of the soundtrack rendered the narration confusing in terms of which arena the host was referring to. I would have used the background sonic environment to help differentiate these two references. I might have also used more of a cut-up approach in terms of inserting actual sonic footage from the times (such as the Aunt Jemima ad, which was singular in it's insertion and full length).