CS640K-Sound, Aurality, and Power: An Introduction to Sound Studies

When talking about sound reproduction, I found the concepts of stereo listening and the aural blindspot extremely interesting. I really enjoyed the ways the  Krukowski  discusses these topics as they explain things that occur to us everyday but don't often think of. We unconsciously engage in these activities everyday but don't think twice about how or why they occur. Particularly, with stereo listening, localization provides humans with the ability differentiate what we hear through each ear. This allows us to locate sounds and focus on a particular sound out of many. This concept brought me back to a particular type of music that was popular at a time when I was younger. As I know now, it is called 8D audio in which you are prompted to put on your headphones and hear the music through each ear. What makes this particular type of audio so special is that it takes a certain sound track and manipulates it so that certain sounds of the track a particular sound at a particular ti...

The discussions around soundscape kept me thinking about how difference and diversity can make us feel entire places strange or near to us. In another blog post, I commented how weird it felt to be in Canada and not hear any sound on the streets. The peace and quietness that a person from Bogotá, Colombia, felt almost depressing in the first days.  Steingo (2017) was right when he said that soundscape experiences are totally different worldwide, and definitively, some vibrations can make us feel powerfully close to what we know. In Bogotá and other places in Colombia, 'noise' as most people have named it, is crucial to understand the aural public sphere (Ochoa, 2012). There are street vendors, street musicians, people talking loudly, and all kinds of sounds that immediately can transport me to my home country.  I found a video on Youtube that shows how diverse the range of sounds is in one street in Bogotá. To me is familiar, but as some authors have noted, it could be strange...

      While I was reading Paul Jasen on the 'sonic bodies,' I remembered the process of doing my thesis in my undergrad years. I remember I was so excited to work with music. I have been surrounded by music my entire life, and in those years, independent bands and groups were growing all around Bogotá. It was pretty exciting to see how these collectives and clusters started to grow as an invitation to challenge the 'majors' and the corporate dynamics behind the music and its creative process.  I look back and wish I had discovered Jasen's reading before. My research question was focused on the reasons behind the rapid growth in this independent dynamics while in Colombia, and specifically, in Bogotá, it was very challenging to afford a living while making music. Some people took it as a creative outlet, but most of them believed they could make it and keep far from the corporate stuff.  While doing my research and going to all kinds of venues, concerts, and 'toq...

Our discussions related to Henriques and Jasen’s work on ‘sonic bodies’ caused me to reflect on my own sonic body experience that I endure frequently as a bartender at ‘The Drink’ in Uptown Waterloo. Anisha’s blog post called Sonic Dominance and her reflection on Waterloo nightlife in relation to DJs and music inspired me to write this post.  Jasen and Henriques emphasize how bass and frequency affect our physical responses and emotional state through a transitory, corporeal, and irreplicable sonic experience. Specifically, Henriques emphasis on the sonic body experience of dancehall sessions created by the sound crew and voicing techniques of the emcees caused me to think about the power this holds in the nightclub scene in terms of bringing in and retaining guests each night.  One of the most recent additions we have added to The Drink experience is live instrument performances and dancers that work in tandem with our DJs and emcees. The initial reason why we added these ad...

 One reoccurring theme we've talked about and analyzed throughout the course of the semester is that of nostalgia and the feelings and memories a particular piece of music can ignite within us. For example, in Anthony's blog post "Sound Ability to Enhance Entertainment,"  he discusses how he recently experienced going to a live sports event since the lockdowns lifted and how this experience and the sounds of a live sporting event triggered fond memories of other live sporting events he's attended. Similarly, in Anisha's blog post "Sonic Dominance"  she discusses a song she listened to while at a dancehall senssion and that ever since, whenever she hears that song play it triggers good feelings and memories of that night.  I know for myself personally there are many songs and sounds that trigger different feelings and remind me of different memories to the point where I've created different playlists on my Spotify to trigger specific moods and to ...

    In Henriques' writing about sonic bodies, one of the concepts I found most compelling was of sonic dominance. As I was reading his descriptions of the examples of sonic dominance, I could almost feel it myself. I felt that I have been in so many situations where I have experienced sonic dominance but never had the word for it. It was also extremely interesting to see it from the point of view of Dancehall.      The first thing that came to mind for me was of an experience I had in Cuba during a dancehall session. I remember actually being able to feel the vibrations throughout my body; actually moving through me and making me dance to the frequencies. This was something I had never experienced before and made me feel things through sound that I didn't really know were possible. It was an unreal experience that lived on with me and one that I often go back to as such an immersive experience. The song that was playing during this particular moment was called "...