Truax: The Acoustic Community
“ … may be defined as any soundscape in which
acoustic information plays a pervasive role in the lives of the inhabitants (no
matter how the commonality of such people is understood). Therefore the
boundary of the community is arbitrary and may be as small as a room of people,
a home or building, or as large as an urban community, a broadcast area, or any
other system of electroacoustic communication. In short, it is any system
within which acoustic information is exchanged.” (Acoustic Communication, 2nd ed. p. 66)
Micro/Local
Level
Processes:
-
electrification
-
amplification
-
recording
Characteristics:
-
standardization,
exact repetition
-
domination
of space; inequality of power; tool of authority
-
larger/smaller
than life (human scale)
-
embedding
in space/time
-
surrogate
environment (background music); accompaniment medium
o
reduces
acoustic definition/difference
o
imposes
its own mood
o
suppresses
local styles
Macro/Global Level
Processes:
-
broadcasting
-
commercial
distribution of audio products and services
-
web/internet
(“virtual community”)
Characteristics:
-
fragmentation,
specialization
-
economic
participation (exchange value)
-
global
scale
-
information/data;
absence of sound as a carrier; exact duplication (no “original”)
-
mainstream/margins
redefined along market lines
Discussion Questions: (Acoustic
Communication, 2nd
ed. p. 207)
What
will be the implications of the loss of sound as a physical, sensory, and
corporeal vehicle for communication in the communities of the future?
If
urban environments are increasingly isolated and sealed off from the natural
environment, if speech and face-to-face communication is progressively replaced
by electronically mediated forms that do not depend on acoustic communication,
will sound function at all positively in defining human society?
Home
entertainment and information systems may supplant other forms, but can they
satisfy the human need for social gatherings, the sense of belonging and
control over one’s environment?
Will
the increasing prevalence of technological sound put a premium on purely
acoustic experiences in compensation, if only nostalgically?
Will
the decline of importance of verbal communication and the soundscape as a
source of information result in a greater emphasis on music as a replacement
for both?
Popular Music as a Case Study (after P.
Théberge)
-
recording
as document vs recording as interpretation; creating a “sound”
-
rationalization
of every stage of production (overdubbing, multi-track)
-
fragmentation
of space/time
-
image/myth
of the “group” as a microcosm of the global market as “community”