Sound Theory - The Practice of Sound

W. Ong in 1971 wrote that "the world of sound is an event world while the world of sight is an object world." He was interested in orality within cultures and the sounds that connect us to our own. Even in the world of 'VJ', sound makes the best visuals.

Sound The Forgotten Medium


Because sound is developed prenatally, it is easily taken for granted and not appreciated for the fundamental effect it has on each one of us and our culture. To reflect upon Sound and what it does we can think about these questions.   


1. What is Sound?
2. How do we hear Sound?
3. How does sound imbue meaning?
4. How do we confront it in everyday life?
5. What can be done with it?


It seems that emotional intensity can increase hearing. 
Sound designer W. Murch talks about the opening scene of Apocalypse Now (1979) 

"You're looking at a character whose head is enveloped in flames, and then at slow-motion helicopter blades slicing through his body, superimposed upon a whirling ceiling fan, and strange sounds and music intermingling from different sources; you're probably aware you're watching a film, not an imitation of real life.




 Even dreams, despite their odd surreality, don't look quite like that. Inevitably, the superimposed images in Apocalypse Now betray a self-consciousness because they come at the very beginning and are intended to expose and explore Willard's inner state of mind. If there had been no resonance between that scene and the film as a whole, the opening would have been a meaningless exercise, empty virtuosity."




Another film that effectively manipulates sound for greater effect is 'Saving Private Ryan.' 

Gary Rydstrom - Since we hear all around us, while seeing only to the front, sounds have long been used to alert us to danger. In Steven Spielberg’s Saving Private Ryan, the battle scenes are shot from the shaky, glancing, and claustrophobic point of view of a soldier on the ground. There are no sweeping vistas, only the chaos of fighting as it is experienced. The sound for this movie, therefore, had to set the full stage of battle, while putting us squarely in the middle of it. I can honestly say that this film could not have been made in the same way if it were not for the possibilities of theatrical surround sound. If sound could not have expressed the scale, orientation, and emotion of a soldier’s experience, the camera would have had to show more. Yet it is a point of the movie to show how disorienting the visual experience was. Sound becomes a key storyteller.




The Art of Foley is the creation of sound that is not real but it reproduces rich sound that sounds realistic. This effect is used in many other films and indeed in the creation of the sound in this film 'Saving Private Ryan.' Most people remember the sound of the tanks which was recreated using Foley. Foley artist Jana Vance dislocated three ribs while lugging heavy gear and military boots for a scene's sound effects.


Sound is:

• Vibration
• Context
• Changes in Pressure

Sound Qualities:

• It is 'immersive'
• Pervasive
• Depth
• No Directionality
• Cannot be frozen like an image

Sound as materiality:

• Body and mind are not easily dichotomised
• Sound is physical - eg. dubbing.
• The physiological and the physical cannot be separated

see."Discographies"by J Gilbert and Ewan Pearson and their research on 'fabrique' night-club.


Sound and Perspective:

• Figure   -   represents the voice as historically the most important sound

• Ground -   represents the melody  

• Field      -   the bass as the physical world around the listener

Clubland music ruins this perspective order as in this example of D'n'B music, the bass is the predominant sound and because this is like a corruption of the norm this explains the hypnotic feeling that is induced when listening.

Sound and Distance:

• Intimate / Distant
• Personal / Impersonal
• Formal / Informal

Sound Semiotics:

Marcel Duchamp himself made Sculpture musical  which avant garde composition was randomly generated,  a technique that would return 40 years later.

In 1952 John Cage give birth to an idea. The idea that sound could be conceptualised , that we can establish a relationship to sound. Although this event was very provocative, it helped the development of ideas applied to sound and noise. He wanted to provoke thoughts about our expectations of sound. That sounds should be loved for what they are.

Barthes semiotics apply to sound and noise -

                                        SIGNIFIER  >  SIGNIFIED  >  SIGN

Forrester notes that sound is important and special to us all as sound is the trigger that prompts our memories.