For my final project, I composed eight songs using the PreSonus program known as Notion, and then, using Adobe Premiere Pro, I added everyday sounds to them that I recorded myself, as well as royalty-free sound effects found on YouTube. The folder containing the album can be accessed by clicking on the button below. All rights reserved. Enjoy!

This course, overall, was one tremendous experience for me, in both educational and ​entertainment purposes. For starters, I definitely did learn a lot, and my knowledge on sound media as a whole is much higher now than it was prior to taking this course. For starters, I learned a lot about how complicated the world's philosophy on sound is, and how it can be viewed through so many different perspectives. Specifically, I learned so much about soundwalks, podcasting, the sound of films, user interfaces, and sound design.

Furthermore, I intend to apply many of the concepts learned in this course for my future projects, courses, and endeavours. For example, if I ever decide to do a podcast or a talk show, I will definitely make sure to apply at least some of the concepts I learned in this course on the subject to it. For example, I would definitely aspire to do one like the one starring Whitney Cummings, Good for You. I learned from her how a talk show host can be informative and funny simultaneously, as well as how they can have the joke be on their guests but still make them laugh. She taught me a lot about how one can display satirical humour that's funny, and at the same time, does not offend people, which is an excellent skill for one to have. In addition, if I were ever designing the soundtrack for a film that I or someone else were making, I would definitely follow Randy Thom's philosophy on "designing the film on the basis of the sound." I think that advice is excellent, and I further agree with him that the scores of the Star Wars films by John Williams are just brilliant, and I, too, wish that all filmmakers aspired to make soundtracks like those. These are the main concepts that I intend to apply to my future courses, endeavours, and projects.

The content of this course tied into my program and area of study in many different ways. For starters, my program is RTA New Media, and this course is an RTA core elective, so it already was right up my alley just for being one of the core electives of my program. In addition, I have always had a tremendous interest in sound as a whole, so I realized that studying the media of it would intrigue me deeply. In addition, because RTA104: Intro to Sound Production is one of the mandatory courses for all RTA students who are in first year, it is unanimous that sound is meant to play a big part in my program. I guess you could say that one key difference between this course and my program is that this program focuses a lot on journalism, and while journalism is part of FCAD, it is a whole different department than RTA, and in fact, the students in RTA and Journalism share a friendly rivalry, so there definitely is a difference between both departments. These are all the commonalities, intersections, similarities, and differences between this course and my program/area of study.

Lastly, there are a few key takeaways ​from this course that are key for me to remember overall. First of all, there are the ones that I previously mentioned above. Secondly, there are the ones that were stated by R. Murray Schafer and Pierre Schaeffer in their books known as The Soundscape: Our Sonic Environment, along with the book that was written about Pierre by Brian Kane, known as Sound Unseen: Acousmatic Sound in Theory and Practice. ​While these two gentlemen may take a much more philosophical approach to sound media than other people like Randy Thom, their theories are stil brilliant, especially Schafer's theory philosophy on the sound disturbances that the industrial revolution brought to this planet, along with Schaeffer having an ultraconservative diagnosis on modern music. These are pretty much all the key takeaways from this course.

Contributing to this blog has been one amazing experience for me, and it is disappointing that it must now come to an end. However, if I ever end up having the time in the future, I could potentially start it up again, and maybe write about things that the public requests. Thank you, and I wish everyone luck on their future endeavours for sound media and more!
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Work Cited:

1. Cummings, Whitney. “Ep #1: DAN LEVY | Good For You Podcast with Whitney Cummings.” Whitney Cummings: Good for You, Royal Oak Music Theatre, 6 Nov. 2019. 

2. Kane, Brian. Sound Unseen: Acousmatic Sound in Theory and Practice. Oxford University Press, 2016.

3. Williams, John. Lucas, George. Star Wars; Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment: United States, 1977. 

The audio mood board that I created was done by combining some royalty-free music with some royalty-free sound effects. The royalty-free song I used is called Monkey Spinning Monkeys, by Kevin MacLeod, and the sound effects I used came from a YouTube channel called Think Media. The reason I chose to do this is that while others may not see this, I feel this mood is quite actiony, which comes from the fact that a day in the life of me involves me thinking of songs in my head in order to survive the chaos my mind has from all the disturbing sound effects out in the street. That is why this audio mood board reminds me of that Super Mario Bros. emulator. Here is a button below that leads to my mood board. Enjoy!

Sound Design: The Expressive Power of Music, Voice, and Sound Effects in Cinema, written by David Sonnenschein, is one very well-written article. It not only explains how sound and images coincide with each other through a very special interaction, but it also gives us visual references on what, specifically, Sonnenschein is telling us regarding what is going  on in our heads as we are exposed to them both.
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​The first main point of the article that truly stood out to me is that when we're watching a film, and we dive in to its storytelling, the film's soundtrack and sound effects tell us, the audience, what is going on inside or outside the main character's world, where the dialogue, effects, and music are coupled with the image. This is a very important factoid, especially since David makes the case of how the space and time of the film are determined by the combination of audio and visuals in the film, along with the bridging and breaking of the scenes. It is also fascinating how David Sonnenschein makes the point that we usually expect the sound and image in a film to be within sync, but at the same time, this can very well be manipulated into servicing the story, seeing as there could be more than one definition of a scene where these audiovisual properties are displayed in ways that are very purposeful. These are all the reasons why this point made by Sonnenschein is a truly valuable one that should be recognized by all the readers of this story.

The second main point of the article that should be seen is the table that David Sonnenschein made to show us the exact measurements at which our eyes and ears perceive sound and visuals such as frequency sensitivity, wavelength sensitivity, and the speed of light and sound. He also makes the case of how our eyes and ears operate when distinguishing ratios, our brains are primarily processing, are focused, are open or closed, in the environment of a habitat, and how they handle transmission. In this regard, he also mentions how while a very broad electromagnetic spectrum does exist on the subject of physics (radio, micro, infrared, visible, UV, x, and gamma rays), an unknown reason has caused our eyes to narrow down what light is functional, based on our own personal visual reception. When comparing the eyes to the ears of the human body, the ears have a humongous range of perception when it comes to the sensitivity of frequencies. This point is extremely important, as it definitely changes how us humans interpret how our brains respond to sound and visuals, which most of us would not have considered prior to reading this article.

The third main point of this reading is how humans interpret sounds that are "nondiegetic," which basically means that they are not sounds that would be heard by any of the characters in the film, or it could also be a sound that is not emitted from any sound event that occurs during the film's story. The most typical examples of nondiagetic sounds that occur in a film are incidental music and voiceover narrations. In addition, it is interesting to think about how recently, sound design has been slightly more creative than it previously was, in that it has incorporated ambiences that have been stylized, along with sound effects that are not expected which are changed with content that is emotional. A very good example of this is how the sound of a wolf howling could potentially pierce the redlight district of downtown. Another example is how the sound of an exaggerated clock ticking could possibly tower over an office worker who is under a heavy timeline with a rather strict deadline. Generally speaking, nondiegetic sounds function as interpretive elements, and they guide those listening to them towards certain feelings, and these feelings are subjectively beyond the visual elements in the person's brain.

I could go on for a long time about why this article is so incredible, but these are all the main highlights of what makes it so great. All in all, I thoroughly enjoyed reading this article for all of these reasons, and would highly recommend it to anyone who is interested in learning more about how our brains interpret sound and visuals, or anyone who is interested in learning more about sound and visual knowledge in general. Nobody who reads this article will ever regret it in any possible way.

Designing a Movie for Sound, ​written by Randy Thom, was another phenomenal article to read. There are many reasons for this, but even the introductory sentence on its own is incredible. It states the following message: "The biggest myth about composing and sound designing is that they are about creating great sounds. Not true, or at least not true enough." What's so great about this introductory statement is that it captures the main message that Randy Thom is trying to convey in this article, where he says that there is a big myth circulating in this world where people believe that composing and designing sound is all about inventing great sounds, but on the contrary side, that is actually not ​what it is all about. This is just the beginning, though, and it gets even better as the article continues. Like the previous article, there are three main points that make it really catch a person's eye, and I will list them below.

The first main point of this article is that Thom states how the definition of "great sound" nowadays is merely just sound that is loud, which is the case far too often than it should be. Randy makes the case of how these sounds include high-fideilty recordings of explosions and gunshots, as well as alien vocalizations that are very well-fabricated. Randy Thom makes the case that while people may hold these sounds in very high regards, they do not count as being part of great sound design. He also feels that while well-orchestrated and recorded pieces are much better, they have minimal value if they are not integrated into the film as wholes. He also believes that giving the film characters many things to say in every single scene does not necessarily do a favour for the actors or film as a whole, because sound and music have value when they are part of a continuum, where they change over time, have dynamics, and resonate with other sounds and with other sensory experiences. This point is substantial, as I'm sure most of us would not have been very spoken about the soundtracks of films prior to having read this.

The second main point of this article is how Randy Thom feels a filmmaker should take advantage of sound to make it achieve its maximum potential. He feels a filmmaker should not simply make it possible to record good sound on the film's set, nor should they hire a talented sound designer/composer to fabricate sounds, but rather, they should actually design the film while having sound in mind, in order to allow the contributions of sound to influence the creative decisions in the other crafts that are part of the process of making a movie. Randy mentions how films like Citizen Kane, Star Wars, Raging Bull, The Elephant Man, Eraserhead, Once Upon a Time in the West, and Never Cry Wolf are all films that were thoroughly sound designed, despite no sound designer being credited on most of them. Thom also points out how while not every film needs to be like the ones mentioned above, at the same time, many films could benefit from those models. I think this is an excellent point because I, too, agree that if a film's soundtrack is not good, it wrecks the film tremendously.

The third and final main point made in this article is how Randy Thom feels that there are many film directors in this world who like to think  that they appreciate sound, but at the same time, they still have a very shallow mindset in regards to the potential into which the sound used in storytelling can be tapped. He explains how the view that is generally accepted among directors is that it is useful to have sound that is described as "good," with the intention of enhancing the film's visuals and root its images in a type of reality that is temporal. The problem with this is that it is not a collaboration; it is slavery. On top of that, the product that it yields is guaranteed to be not as complex or interesting than it would be, were the sound to somehow be set free as an active player in the process. He also makes the case that it is only when each craft influences every other craft that the movie does, indeed, begin to take on a life that is considered its own. I love hearing how Randy feels directors could improve their ways, as I totally agree with him.

These are all the reasons why this article is a tremendous learning material, and I would highly recommend it to anyone who is interested in learning how the soundtracks of films should be executed.

Work Cited:

1. Sound Design: the Expressive Power of Music, Voice, and Sound Effects in Cinema, by David Sonnenschein, Michael Wiese Productions, 2009, pp. 151–171.

2. Thom, Randy. Desigining a Movie for Sound, 23 June 1999. 

 


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This week, I read the scholarly articles titled ​Pounds Off Digitally Study: A Randomized Podcasting Weight-Loss Intervention and Exploring Podcasting in Heredity and Evolution Teaching​. Both of these articles examine podcasting and health, which are two topics that intrigue me deeply. For the first article, a study was conducted that showed that in the United States of America, sixty-six point three percent of the adults who live there are either obese or overweight. The  study showed that these people are at a significantly higher risk of catching many different chronic diseases. In addition, it is stated that the main remedies for being obese and overweight are increasing physical activity, making changes to one's diet, and other modifications to one's behaviour. Most importantly, this is relevant to podcasting, as many researchers have been using the internet to deliver online podcast interventions. Lastly, this study is explained as  being broken into seven different sections. The first was the background, which is specified as being all about the following statement: "As obesity rates rise, new weight-loss methods are needed. Little is known about podcasting to promote weight loss, despite its growing popularity." The second was the design, which was that a twelve-week RCT was executed. The third were the setting/participants, where the study samples consisted of overweight women and men, who were from North Carolina, between the areas of Raleigh and Durham. The fourth was the intervention, where in 2008, the participants of this study were randomly chosen for 24 episodes of a weight-loss podcast that was available for a duration of twelve weeks. The fifth were the main outcome measures, wherein the weight of the participants was measured using a digital scale on a baseline and a follow-up afterwards. Both groups also filled out questionnaires that assessed demographic points, food intakes, physical activeness, and SCT constructs at both the beginning of the study and the meetings that occurred over the period of twelve weeks. The sixth were the results, in which the data collection and analysis happened in 2008, and an intention-to-treat was put to use. It was discovered that enhanced group participants had a greater decrease in their weight. Lastly, the seventh was the conclusion, which stated that the results of the study suggested that the use of behavioural, theory-based podcasting could very well be an effective way to promote losing weight.

The second article was slightly different than the first one I read. The main difference is that while this  article, just like the former, involves human health, but focuses more so on how people respond to podcasts, as opposed to podcasting to study a different subject. This article investigates the podcasts that were first produced by the University of Minho during the first semester of 2008, made for the course of Heredity and Evolution, which was from the Biology and Geology Degree Program. This study was conducted for the following purposes: A) to introduce podcasts as pedagogical tools, B) to explore different podcast types and their lengths in teaching, and C) to evaluate the reception of students to the use of podcasts while learning. The way data was gathered was by using two different questionnaires that had previously been developed, which are known as the Digital Literacy Questionnaire (DLQ) and the Option Questionnaire (OQ). 8 podcasts were produced in total, where 5 were labelled as "informative," and the other 3 were labelled as podcasts with "feedback." All of the episodes were distributed to the students as audio files, and most of them had a rather short length of under five minutes. They were recorded either in a formal or informal style. After the episodes were produced, they were delivered to the students using the learning management system known as Blackboard. Results of this study showed that the podcasts the students felt were the best were the ones with summaries. While this article did not entertain me as much as the previous one, I still found it extremely enjoyable, nonetheless.

Reading both of these articles made me learn a tremendous amount about podcasting, and my knowledge on it is substantially higher than it was before. For example, I learned that audiences use podcasting in many different ways than the ways they use other media. For starters, they tend to use podcasting for educational purposes whereas they use other media solely for entertainment purposes. The medium states that podcasts have thrived because of how they deliver something that the internet and other forms of modern technology have not been particularly good at providing, and that is intimacy. Podcasts are very well-suited to cater to the personal preferences of listeners, and have made them continuously learn new things that no other medium has ever managed to make them accomplish. The only possible disadvantage is someone not having any kind of internet connection, but that is very rare, rendering this point somewhat moot. In addition, the particular kind of content that tends to be typical in podcasting is non-fictional information. Because of this, the particular kind of audience that tends to be drawn to podcasts involves people who are looking to learn new valuable factoids.  Podcasts generate income for producers through the money that is generated through streaming services, and it is usually only a sustainable business model if the podcast turns out to be very popular and generates many streams from the general population. Lastly, podcasting is used for education and public information by being broadcast to people who are both studying and looking to learn useful information that can improve both their book smarts and street smarts. Overall, doing this research was an extremely useful endeavour that was both stimulating and enjoyable for me, and I would do it again in a heartbeat.

Work Cited:

1. Almeida-Aguiar, Cristina, and Ana Amélia Carvalho. “Exploring Podcasting in Heredity and Evolution Teaching.” Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Education, vol. 44, no. 5, 2016, pp. 429–432., doi:10.1002/bmb.20965.

2. Seale, Shelley. “How Podcasts Became a Popular Medium.” State of Digital Publishing, State of Digital Publishing, 10 May 2019, www.stateofdigitalpublishing.com/content-strategy/podcasts-one-of-the-most-popular-mediums/.
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​3. Sullivan, John L. “The Platforms of Podcasting: Past and Present.” Social Media + Society, vol. 5, no. 4, 12 Dec. 2019, pp. 1–12., doi:10.1177/2056305119880002. 

While listening to all of my assigned podcasts, I learned a lot about how many different podcasts are done in many different ways. Moonface, for example, demonstrated extremely creative forms of storytelling that proved how effective storytelling can be with just voices and no pictures, if the correct approaches are taken. The tone of the storyteller, the music and audio effects, and overall structure are incredibly well-executed, and make the listener feel as though they are actually present as the story is happening. While the main theme from The Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy ​may be a rather cheerful theme in real life, in this podcast, the way it is cleverly integrated into the story makes it seem not as cheerful, especially when it is mentioned that the storyteller was having nightmares that involved it. In addition, the song, at one point, plays in slow motion and in a lower pitch, which really adds to the "spookiness" theme of the story, and makes the theme feel quite haunted, unlike the forms of it that we're used to hearing. These are all reasons why Moonface is such a tremendous podcast, and what I've learned about podcasts after listening to it.

Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard was another tremendous podcast to hear. The difference between this one and the one I previously mentioned is that unlike the other one, this one is completely non-fictional. In addition, this episode, specifically, was in the form of a talk show, seeing as Shepard had a female guest star in this episode who happened to be his interviewer. I can safely say that this episode did not feature any special effects, which was not really that big a surprise to me, seeing as talk shows don't usually have them. Nevertheless, this episode was still tremendously done, especially since Shepard told the story of when his father was dying and mentioned all the health issues he was facing, which really made me feel empathetic towards him, seeing as it was made clear as day how hard this was for him. Shepard also mentioned the health issues such as smoking that he was facing during this time, which really stressed the emphasis on what can happen to people when they are experiencing the trauma of their parents dying. These are all the reasons why this podcast was also very educational to me, and why I would recommend it to everyone.

Whitney Cummings, Good for You was yet another fantastic listening experience for me. I watched the first episode of this podcast, which featured Dan Levy as a guest star. This podcast had a similar structure to the previous one, seeing as it, too, was in the structure of a talk show. However,  I can safely say that I enjoyed this one way more than the former. The main reason for this is that Cummings is way more jocular than Shepard, which made my listening experience to her talk show far more enjoyable. I also love how she is a fan of satirical humour, like me, and proves that you can make fun of your own neurological condition in a way that makes people laugh with you, but at the same time, not make you be the figure of ridicule for having it. She and Dan Levy are both mentioned as having dyslexia, but they both laugh with each other's jokes and make it clear that they are both very intelligent and comedic people, despite their neurological conditions. Plus, even though Cummings roasted Levy a few times, he did not get offended, as her wording was very clever, and he just had to laugh. That is why I would recommend this to anyone learning about comedy.

Work Cited:

1. Cummings, Whitney. “Ep #1: DAN LEVY | Good For You Podcast with Whitney Cummings.” Whitney Cummings: Good for You, Royal Oak Music Theatre, 6 Nov. 2019. 
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2. Kim, James. “Moonface.” MOONFACE Productions, MOONFACE Productions, 28 Sept. 2018.

3. Shepard, Dax. Armchair Expert With Dax Shepard, Season 1, episode 7, Warner Bros., 25 Sept. 2020. 

On Thursday, October 1st, I went on a night walk in the southwest area of Scarborough near Warden Subway Station. The walk started in the residential area just south of St. Clair Avenue East and east of Warden Avenue. I then got onto Birchmount Road, and walked south to the Tim Hortons at the corner of Birchmount and Danforth Road. I then stayed in there for a little bit, drank my medium early grey tea that I ordered, and walked away. Since the whole journey was approximately an hour long in total, I heard many different sounds while I was  on this walk, and all of them varied. I suppose one keynote I heard on this walk was the harpsicord notification chime on my Samsung Galaxy Note 8, which I have set as the default sound, meaning that it is the most common chime that my phone makes when notifications from various platforms come in. A sound signal that heard while I was on this walk would be the horns of the various cars that drove past me while I was walking. These were mainly heard at the intersection of Birchmount and Danforth, as it is very rare for someone to honk in a residential neighbourhood, especially at night.

A soundmark that I heard while on this trip was the sound of TTC buses driving in and out of the bus yard across the street from the Tim's there. The reason this sound is unique and possesses qualities that make it specifically noticed by the people in that community is that there are not many TTC bus yards in the city, especially around residential and commercial facilities like this one is, which is what makes it stand out to the people who live and shop in that area of town. Because the sounds of this walk varied, they were both LoFi and ​HiFi, as R. Murray Schafer would say. One thing I learned while I was on this walk regarding the way I make meaning of the world around me is that even if not a lot is going on at night when you take a walk in a sleepy neighbourhood, it still can be very peaceful and eventful in your mind.
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As for the lenses that I employed while listening to the sounds on my walk, they definitely excluded political, but they definitely included cultural, aesthetic, and environmental. There are a few reasons why I employed these lenses. To start off, the culture piece comes from the fact that all Scarboroughnians have their own unique form of living, with everything from their homes to their neighbourhood to their forms of transportation and their community. What I saw obviously contributed to aesthetic piece, and what I saw, felt, and heard contributed to the environmental piece. They didn't really change my perception of what I was hearing, as while I do not live in Scarborough, I have visited this part of town many times, and have grasped its enviro ment tremendously, especially in the southwest area of it. One way that I interacted with the environment while I was walking was by keeping all my senses on high alert so that I could see, hear, feel, and smell everything that was around me, which meant that I was always up to date with the environment in terms of my interactions with it. Lastly, if everyone practiced listening this closely to their environment, I feel the impact it would have on the world would be that it would make people learn to appreciate the environment around them and take better care of it. Overall, this walk was a tremendous experience, and I would do it again in a heartbeat.

The two articles on which I will focus this week are ones that were written by authors Francisco Lopez and Brian Kane. They are called "Schizophionia vs l'objet sonore: soundscapes and artistic freedom" (Lopez) and "Sound Unseen: Acousmatic Sound in Theory and Practice, about Pierre Schaeffer" (Kane). Both of these articles are very unique and intriguing in their individual ways. In the essay written by Lopez, R. Murray Schafer's main piece of music on which he focuses is called "The Tuning of the World." Lopez mentions that many people consider this piece to be a "bible on soundscapes," due to the way it presents a detailed alternate vision on many of the real sound areas on this planet, and provides a very informative, visional, and believable stance on the analysis of this scenario, including advice regarding what should be done. Lopez's philosophy on Schafer's piece and how it relates to "acoustic ecology" is just plain brilliant, and anyone who is interested in the history of sound media should give this essay a reading without a doubt.

..Now for my thoughts on the fifth chapter of the article written by Kane. Kane first mentions Pierre Schaeffer on the seventh page of this chapter, right after mentioning a quote from the late famous English philosopher, Roger Scruton. The quote is the following wording:

"The person who listens to sounds, and hears them as music, is not seeking in
them for information about their cause, or for clues as to what is happening.
On the contrary, he is hearing the sounds apart from the material world. "They
are detached in his perception, and understood in terms of their experienced
order. . . . What we understand, in understanding music, is not the material world,
but the intentional object: the organization that can be heard in the experience."

Kane mentions that the way this quote relates to Pierre Schaeffer's philosophy on sound is that in this quote, Scruton mentions that Schaeffer is a true thinker on this stance, and affirmatively cites this. Kane mentions that because Scruton had an ultraconservative diagnosis on modern music, it was surprising how he affirmatively cited Schaeffer as thinking this. Overall, both Schafer and Schaeffer have extremely detailed and intriguing philosophies on sound, and while they may be different, they are both worth learning without a doubt. There is a key main difference between the philosophies of these two gentlemen:

One of R Murray Schafer's main focuses was the preservation of the acoustic ecology as seen through his World Soundscape Project. Pierre Schaeffer, on the other hand, came from a background of broadcast engineering and acoustician work, which developed his theories of the sound object and acousmatic listening. Both these gentlemen still were, nevertheless, very knowledgeable pupils, and left a huge impact on earth during their time alive.

Work Cited:

1. Kane, Brian. Sound Unseen: Acousmatic Sound in Theory and Practice. Oxford University Press, 2016. 

2. López, Francisco. “Schizophionia vs L'objet Sonore: Soundscapes and Artistic Freedom’ (Lopez) and ‘Sound Unseen: Acousmatic Sound in Theory and Practice, about Pierre Schaeffer.” Schizophonia vs l’Objet Sonore: Soundscapes and Artistic Freedom, 1997.

3. Orondesounds. “Schafer Vs. Schaeffer.” Oronde's Sounds, 18 Apr. 2016, orondesounds.wordpress.com/2016/02/07/schafer-vs-schaeffer/. 

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While I was at the Starbucks in Bloor West Village here in Toronto, I noticed many different sounds from many different sources around me. Above me, I heard the sound of music coming out of the ceiling speakers. Below me, I heard the sound of the coffee machines downstairs, seeing as I was sitting on the second floor of the place. The sound that moved from the left to right and vice-versa was the sound of footsteps when people would come and go, as well as the sound of the sink running and toilet flushing in the nearby washroom. The sound that had a repetitive rhythm was the sound from the speakers, the loudest sound I heard was from the construction that was happening outside, and the quietest one I heard was the sound of other people talking quietly at the other tables. The sounds of movement, machines, and music were present pretty much the whole time I was there, and I heard a chair get knocked over only once. The sounds that started off quiet and then got louder were the sounds of the subways beneath the building. They were heard every few minutes because of how frequently the subways run. The most pleasant sound I heard would have to be the sound of other people's keyboards clicking as they worked, seeing as I love the sound of other people taking their work as seriously as I do. This is how my listening experience went here that day.

The Soundscape: Our Sonic Environment and the Tuning of the World, written by R. Murray Schafer, is one thrilling reading. I, myself, am a huge fan of the Industrial Revolution, and the way Schafer describes it reflects it from a lens that most of us have never previously considered. While we all know that the industrial revolution was a period in which many new inventions were brought to earth, I'm sure none of us have ever thought of the disturbances it brought in the process in terms of everyone's peace, in that it suffered with sound congestion. Furthermore, it brings to light how while it may have been unpleasant back in the day, it is nothing compared to the overpopulation of sounds that we face today, due to the world's population expanding more rapidly than ever before. Another intriguing point Schafer mentions in this article is that this historian by the name of Oswald Spengler separates social development into two different categories. These include the "cultural phase" and the "civilization phase." The "cultural phase" is specified to be when the main ideas of something are still maturing, while the "civilization phase," which is when the main ideas of the innovation have improved and have become legalized and transmitted. The last interesting point from this article that I feel should be brought to light is the fact that the industrial revolution brought in something called "the flat line in sound." The reason I especially like this one is that I find the way sound-waves travel extremely fascinating, so it's beyond intriguing for me to visualize how ventilators have straight lines that are just slightly bumpy, an axe chopping wood has a very bumpy line pattern, etc. Overall, this whole article inspired me tremendously, and I would recommend it to any historian, sound media enthusiast, and anyone who is just looking for a little fascination to have in their life.

Work Cited:

1. Schafer, Raymond Murray. The Soundscape: Our Sonic Environment and the Tuning of the World. Destiny Books, 2006.