Music, Sound and Architecture in Islam, ed. Michael Frishkopf And Federico Spinetti (2018)

Review of: Music, Sound and Architecture in Islam, ed. Michael Frishkopf And Federico Spinetti (2018) Austin: University of Texas Press, 480 pp., 79 b&w illus., ISBN: 9781477312469 (paperback), $29.95 Aural Architecture in Byzantium: Music, Acoustics, and Ritual, ed. Bissera V. Pentcheva (2018) London: Routledge, 258 pp., 87 b&w illus., ISBN: 9781472485151 (hardback), $165; ISBN: 9780367231842 (paperback), $49.95

The Sound Monad: A Philosophical Perspective on Sound Design

This article aims at sketching a philosophical theory of sound based on the perspective of sound designers: unique agents blurring the boundaries between engineering, music, acoustics and sound-based art. After having introduced the general framing in Section 1, focusing on a short history of the theory and practice of sound design, in Section 2 we propose a reading of sound as monad. We derive such intuition from the technology of digital sampling of audio signals, based on the decomposition of complex sound waves in a number of elementary sinusoidal waves. Thus, in Section 3, we attempt at grounding the resulting “sound-atom” on Leibniz’s notion of monad, intended both as a “simple substance without parts” and as a “nucleus of forces in statu possibilitatis.” The insight is resumed and further discussed in Section 4, where we draw our conclusions by demonstrating the fitness of such framing with regards to the standpoint of sound design, while accounting for the work of sound artists Carsten Nicolai and Ryoji Ikeda.

The Music of the Trees: The Blued Trees Symphony and Opera as Environmental Research and Legal Activism

The Blued Trees project is a transdisciplinary thought experiment, physically manifested across miles of the North American continent. It melds ideas about music, acoustics, art and environmental policy. Hundreds of GPS-located individual trees in the path of proposed natural gas pipelines were painted with a sine wave sigil. Each “treenote” contributed to an aerially perceivable composition employing the local terrain. The score is the formal skeleton for systemic changes challenging several laws. A mock trial explored how this project might open new directions in legal activism for Earth rights and contribute to an operatic libretto.

Acoustics of Concert Halls and Rooms

Performance is merely the first step in the way we hear music. Acoustics of concert halls, churches, electronics and recording, or broadcasting all modify the original sounds, often quite dramatically. Even in the best auditoria no two seats will receive identical sounds. Buildings designed for different types of music will rarely perform well across a range of musical performances. Understanding this can help in the choice of seating. For music that is broadcast or played from recordings there are considerable changes from the electronics, recording, transmission, reception, home electronics, and acoustics. This chapter examines many possible situations and the attempts at optimization. Hearing differs considerably between people, and it changes with age and our level of concentration.

Discussion of the Relation between Initial Time Delay Gap (ITDG) and Acoustical Intimacy: Leo Beranek’s Final Thoughts on the Subject, Documented

Current discussions on the objective attributes contributing to concert hall quality started formally in 1962 with the publication of Leo Beranek’s book “Music, Acoustics, and Architecture”. From his consulting work in the late 1950s, Beranek determined that in narrow halls, the short early delay times were an important factor in quality. Needing a measurable acoustical factor, rather than a dimensional one, he chose to define the initial time delay gap (ITDG) for a specific location near the middle of the hall’s main floor. Many acousticians failed to understand the simplicity of this proposal. Beranek had learned that long first delays sounded “arena-like” and “remote”, and, thus, not “intimate”. This bolstered his belief that ITDG was an important objective factor he decided to call “intimacy”. Most acoustical parameters can be directly measured and sensed by the listener, such as reverberation decay, sound strength, clarity. “Intimacy” however is a feeling, and over the past two decades, it has become apparent that it is a multisensory attribute influenced by visual input and perhaps other factors. [J.R. Hyde, Proc. IOA, London, July 2002, Volume 24, Pt. 4, “Acoustical Intimacy in Concert Halls: Does Visual Input affect the Aural Experience”?] Beranek’s paper “Comments on “intimacy” and ITDG concepts in musical performing spaces”, [JASA 115, 2403 (2004)] finally acknowledged the multisensory aspects of “intimacy” and stated this choice of the word “may have been unfortunate”. He further separated the term “intimacy” from ITDG. Documentation of this pronouncement will be provided in the paper.

RENOVASI AKUSTIK GEDUNG KONSER PASCASARJANA INSTITUT SENI INDONESIA (PS-ISI) YOGYAKARTA

This paper reports an acoustical research project conducted as a scientific base for the renovation of the Concert Hall of Postgraduate Program, Indonesia Art Institute, Yogyakarta. The concert hall is intended mostly for classical music performances. The renovation has been limited by the form of the existing building, tight time schedule, budget, material provision as well as low labors’ skill. The research applied digital simulation method using Ecotect 5.5 and CATT v8. Testing conducted after construction process found that the simulation results could be reproduced well in the real world. The sound of the played music instrument fulfills the hall with clear details.Keywords: Classical music, acoustics, concert hall, computer simulationAbstrak: Makalah ini menyajikan hasil penelitian akustik sebagai landasan ilmiah renovasi gedung konser musik klasik Pascasarjana Institut Seni Indonesia Yogyakarta. Renovasi dibatasi oleh bentuk gedung yang sudah ada, waktu, biaya, bahan yang tersedia serta kemampuan dan keterampilan yang dimiliki oleh pekerja lokal. Metoda utama yang dipakai adalah simulasi digital dengan memakai software Ecotect 5.5 dan CATT v8. Uji coba yang dilakukan setelah proses konstruksi selesai menunjukkan bahwa hasil simulasi dapat diaplikasikan pada keadaan nyata dengan baik. Bunyi musik terasa hidup dan detail terdengar dengan baik.Kata kunci: Musik klasik, akustik, gedung konser, simulasi komputer