Here is a link to a fascinating 5-minute film on how records were made in 1937, starring Duke Ellington and his orchestra.
Category Archives: Sound
10 Things About Berlin
I arrived in Berlin having never spent any time in Germany apart from what must add up to a few days in the Frankfurt Airport (sorry “Flughafen”) and knowing almost no German. Here are some incredibly pedestrian insights resulting from that set of circumstances. 1. From outside the U-Bahn, it sounds just like the Washington …
First lecture is ready to go
I awoke inexplicably early this morning, and decided to use my mental freshness to rework my intro lecture to the sound studies seminar. Now I’m totally psyched to teach it and I have to wait 29.5 hours to do it. Oh well. Such is life. I last taught the course 2 years ago in the …
Speaking of School Starting
I’ve finally put the finishing touches on my sound studies syllabus, which is here, for the interested. After messing around with various approaches, I’ve gone back to the required/recommended model, which assures that students can do a reasonable amount of reading in a week, but also points to other stuff that might be essential in …
Complaints Department
They’re doing road construction outside my office at school, which means that I’ve had to take several meetings somewhere else or endure the sound of one of those giant hammer things. Well, now they’re ripping up the street right in front of our place, which is not only insanely loud, but when they hit the …
Placeholder
I know things have been quiet around here recently. Mostly, I’m hunkering down and working around here while we’re inbetween houseguests. I’ve got a pile of other people’s writing I’m working through today as I passively ponder how best to present the material in the chapter I’m currently revising/developing, which of the 1000 readings I …
Hump Day
I woke up this morning intending to write a little bit and catch up on a pile of things to read on my desk. I accomplished neither thing, instead cleaning out my inbox (which is good as a bunch of things had been waiting) and dealing with an avalanche of administrativa (ditto, though today had …