COM307: Audio Communication in the Media

The soundscapes for Fall 2009 are in. This time, I've tried to group them by location/theme. The most popular location this semester is clearly the library, which makes sense because it is a "high fidelity" recording environment (as close to a recording studio as you'll find outside of one). The more chaotic Memorial Union was a close second as a favorite recording spot--in general, places to eat were very popular this time around. In addition to common soundscapes, there are also some uncommon ones: including sounds from outside orchestra rehearsal and a composite of public waterways.

In case this week's tour of some of the worst heavy metal ever recorded wasn't awful enough for you, try this "scientific" attempt to create the worst song ever. Using the same method, they also tried to make the best song ever and, ironically, it's arguably worse than the worst song. If nothing else, these illustrate why one should not replace record producers with audience surveys.

To understand more artificial, mediated audio environments, it's first necessary to understand (and attempt to mediate) the sounds of the natural world. For our next project, we'll be reading material from the World Soundscape Project and using their concepts to produce our own soundscapes. A soundscape is, basically, like an audio landscape. Unlike landscapes, however, they are often overlooked. For example, in the recent PBS series on National Parks nothing was mentioned about acoustic ecology, or the need to preserve the sound of the natural environment (fortunately, the National Parks Service officially recognizes this goal).

The oldest surviving audio recording. Thanks to the fact it could not be played-back until 2008, it has survived. Find out more from FirstSounds: http://www.firstsounds.org/.