Keenan, Fiona orcid.org/0000-0003-2046-9036 (2024) Knowing Sonic Impressionism:The Design of Theatre Sound Effects. Sound Studies. ISSN 2055-1959
Abstract
What historical theatre practitioners knew about sound and its affective potential has not been examined in the context of a long history of creative soundmaking. As I argue here, our present-day practices in sound design do not necessarily originate with the introduction of sound recording technology in the twentieth century but can be traced back further to theatrical approaches. To deepen our understanding of sound effects practice, I draw together a variety of sources from the late nineteenth and early twentieth century and place them within the framework of Cross’ designerly ways of knowing (2006, 29) with the aim of exploring the knowledge at the heart of practitioners’ soundmaking. Historical practitioners faced the challenges of working with acoustic materials and mechanisms to design sound in much the same way as present-day sound designers; by considering the material of sound itself not just as a way to provoke recognition in the listener, but also emotion and mood. My approach evidences that theatre practitioners were concerned with aspects such as sync or spatialisation that we would usually trace back to the evolution of film soundtrack techniques and had a deep understanding of sound as effect (Brown 2020, 14).
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © 2024 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group. This is an author-produced version of the published paper. Uploaded in accordance with the University’s Research Publications and Open Access policy. |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of York |
Academic Units: | The University of York > Faculty of Arts and Humanities (York) > Theatre, Film, TV and Interactive Media (York) |
Depositing User: | Pure (York) |
Date Deposited: | 19 Jan 2024 11:50 |
Last Modified: | 25 Mar 2025 00:14 |
Published Version: | https://doi.org/10.1080/20551940.2024.2304968 |
Status: | Published online |
Refereed: | Yes |
Identification Number: | 10.1080/20551940.2024.2304968 |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:208007 |
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