Media & Methods: Sound explores the aural dimension of media culture, reflecting on the technologies of sound production and practices of media consumption. Students will reflect on the boundaries and definitions of organized sounds and noise and the cultural basis of sound perception. They will explore technological strategies for producing, extending, storing, and replaying sound, and consider the role of sound in spatial construction, narrative, and characterization across media. Issues such as synaesthesia and the expression of sound in non-aural media (poetry, comic books, painting) will be addressed as will the relationship between sound and its listener, whether for the formation of mass audiences or the isolation of the individual. The course will culminate in the production of a sound-based project that explores and deepens the theoretical, cross-cultural and historical themes of the course. The course goals are multiple and will be approached by reading, listening, discussion and the production of sound experiments:

• generating an awareness of the cultural basis of sound’s intelligibility (by comparing both definitions and sound examples drawn from different cultures and times);

• developing a descriptive language and comparative framework for thinking about sound (by analyzing historical soundscapes, cross-cultural sound effects, and various technologies for sound reproduction);

• comparing the cultural framing and transportation of sound over time and space (by exploring the history of various sound technologies, notation systems, and the global circulation of musical forms).

• reflecting on the many functions of sound (mobilization through alarms and anthems; identity through taste hierarchies; narrativity with film accompaniment and radio soundtracks; etc);

• exploring the relationship between sound and its listeners.

(Note: This class will meet with 21A.360 during the Fall 2009 semester. Credit cannot be received for both classes.)