Sound Works: A Cultural Theory of Sound Design

Description

What is sound design? What is its function in the early twenty-first century and into the future? Sound Works examines these questions in four parts: Part 1, "Why That Sound?", presents an overview of the modern history of sound design. Part 2 is highly visual and provides a glance onto a sound designer's workbench and the current state of "Sonic Labor." Part 3 uses cultural analysis to explore our contemporary "Living with Sounds." The final and fourth part then proposes a series of anthropological and political interpretations of how”Sound Works” today. This book is not a manual on sound design; it instead argues for a cultural theory of sound design for sound designers and sound artists, for clients who commission a sound design and for researchers in the fields of sound studies, design research, and cultural studies. Cover Half Title Title Copyright Content Preface Acknowledgements PART 1 Why That Sound?Excitement by Design 1 Working 2 Consuming 3 Suffering 4 Joy PART 2 Sonic Labor: Statements, Situations, and CasesWith illustrations by Julia Krause 5 Location and Apparatus 6 Skills and Habits 7 Conflicts and Heuristics 8 Portfolio and Presentation PART 3 Living With Sound: The Semiotics and Mediology ofSonic Signs Written in collaboration with Carla J. Maier 9 Signifying Sounds 10 Situated Signaling 11 Transmitting Sounds 12 Transcultural Aurality PART 4 Sound Works: A Cultural Theory of Sound Design 13 The Silencing Dispositive 14 The Economy of Sound 15 The Panacoustic Society 16 The Sonic Capital References Index