African Resonances
J. S. Lee
Spring 2000
Duke University
3:55 -6:25pm Wednesdays - - 103 Carr and Labs(tba)
Telephone: 962-4963(w), 682-5853(h)
E-mail: jimlee@email.unc.eduA Preliminary Listing of Readings, Resources, and Exercises
Online texts (Free): General Audio References:
Perhaps a good place to begin an exploration of audio matters is with the vocabulary. Barry Truax's Handbook for Acoustic Ecology is at the very least an excellent annotated dictionary of audio related terms. It should be used as a beginnng point for any new territory of exploration. You can search the text by theme or by alphabet. Many audio examples are included in the site.Yuri's Radiodramatists Lexicon is another good review of terms related to audio production. It is not limited to terms related to drama. Take a look at the Rane Professional Audio Reference, an online dictionary of audio and audio-related terms. Bookmark this one for future reference.Listening:
Another site (You should consider this one required reading) that can enhance your sense of production in audio is the Noise site. Noise is a five part series of programs that ". . . will listen to these noises, and try to evoke the new modes of hearing being formed in response to the omnipresence and insistence of noise." An important part of this course is to help you develop an appreciation of the difference between hearing and listening. Read about the Common Misconceptions about Sound and Hearing. Some more sophistication in understanding listening as opposed to hearing can be found in Garry Fearington's essay, "Keep Your Ear-lids Open."Acoustics and Perception of Sound
There are several other good online sources for the physics and phycho-acoustics of sound. One good page on the physical basics of sound is hosted by the UCSC Experimental music program. In fact they have a number of very good, easy to understand technical essays on sound and recording. Please read the online Physics Text that deals with Sound Waves and Music. Modules 37-45 in the Cybercollege online Television Production Text deal with audio. Review that material. Another online text is in the "Classroom" of the Internet Sound Institute. Be sure and check out their Technical Talks Library as well. This is a commercial site whose business is primarily in the area of sound reinforcement in churches and auditoriums. So you have to take the "free" textbook with a grain of salt and a rememberance of that old professor you once had who always spoke of the universal lack of a cost free noon time repast.Radio Journalism:
Radio College is a developing site that may be useful for persons considering working in Public Radio. The technical tips are basic fare, useful but not overly detailed. It is site that has some potential and is certainly worth a visit from time to time to track additions. There are several articles of interest in the section devoted to Radio Journalists. The Legacies Handbook is a very concise summary document outlining the production process. It is certainly worth the read. The NPR Online Style and Ethics Guide is a comprehensive handbook for public radio journalists. Even if your main interests lie in features or documentaries, the Guide will prove very useful. The "Writing for Radio" site is geared mainly toward those people interested in commercial news broadcasting. Nevertheless, it is well written and very basic . . . worth a scan. NPR actually archives most of the segments from Morining Edition and All Things Considered on the Web.Radio Documentary:
Documentary production is a more specialized area. Producing Historical Documentaries for Broadcast and Internet Radio is a course offered at the University at Albany-SUNY. The site contains some interesting examples of documentaries using RealAudio. The site also contains many useful links to other audio production sites. Bookmark it. Read the notes on a new documentary about Robben Island. It is a tantalizing glimpse into some of the exciting documentary possibilities that exist in Africa. Trek is documentary about two friends, one black, one white, traveling is South Africa. It was a a segment on This American Life. The work is available online via RealAudio. Dr Lucy is a documentary about a French Canadian doctor in Uganda who is dying from AIDS. It is part of the work of Sound Print, a documentary production center. Another Sound Print project is "A Second Language," a documentary about a diverse group of South Africans trying to write a play in English. "Laugh, My Rainbow" is another of the Sound Print presentations. This one is something of a different approach to documentary. Sound Portraits is an internet site that features the recorded voices of ordinary people. It is a specialized kind of documentary site. A model, perhaps, for some possibilities in this course? Sonic Sanctuary is Claude Rallins' collection of audio on the net. There are some good examples of documentary work on this site. John Couper's "Voices from an African Village" provides good examples of using local sound to tell the story. Common Ground Productions has a couple of documentaries on line. Worth a listen.Nature Recording:
Interested in nature recording? Steven L. Hoop has a good resource page dealing with nature recording and some of the equipment and software required for recording and analysis. There are techniques in use by nature recordists that certainly apply to documentarians and journalists.Radio Drama:
Radio drama? Listening to Radio Plays: Fictional Soundscapes, is Alan Beck's overview of the elements of construction in radio drama. His analysis is really limited to the earliest established conventions (which still work even if they offend us in their simplicity) or radio drama. These conventions, like all such conventions, grew out of a lack of a grammar of dramatic construction in radio. Beck also supplies us with, Is radio blind or invisible? A call for a wider debate on listening-in. In this essay he examines the limiting effects that viewing radio as a blind medium has on the way we use the medium, create for it, theorize it, and listen to it. While the work of a Journalist is never to fictionalize the news, it is certainly to tell the story. Perhaps there is something to be learned about story telling from the work of radio drama.Radio Art:
Arnte's Sound Site is a good general site for sound matters. Rolf Langenbartels has an interesting site called Soundbag in which he presents a new sound art related image every week. The opening page is accompanied by a delightful and peaceful composition by Eric Satie. Not particularly useful for this course but fun anyway.Personal Recorders:
You will also need access to a good quality portable cassette, MiniDisc, or DAT recorder. The Department may have a few recorders available for checkout. Still, it is advisable that you develop some other options for doing field recordings. I strongly recommend that you consider the MiniDisc format if you are thinking about buying a portable recorder of your own.For more information on MiniDiscs check out the MiniDisc Community Page. This is an incredibly comprehensive site covering any and everything related to MD technology. If you are even mildly interested in MD, go to this page but do not expect to make a quick exit.Microphones:
Of course you will need a microphone if you are doing field recording. The possiblities are endless and range from the useless to the exquisite. Your final decision in this matter will depend on what you intend to do in the field. There are a number of online sources of information that can get you started in the research process. Shure has a site with some interesting technical details regarding microphones. One value of the site is the explosion of some microphone myths. The Shure FAQ page is also helpful.Headphones:
I do recommend (actually, I insist) that you invest in a pair of good quality headphones. They can make production work much more precise and clean. They are absolutely essential for work in public computer labs even if the workstations do have speakers associated with them. Buy real headphones! Not the little things you stick in your ears to listen to your Walkperson. We can discuss some of your options in class but in the interim, do some research.The Headwize page has a good overview of headphone technology. as well as a FAQ page that answers questions about which headphones to buy. You may want to spend some time "listening" to what other people have to say about headphones but ultimately your choice will turn on your own preferences for comfort, acoustic isolation, price, and performance. Headroom is another site that deals with headphones. It is a bit slicker and has a somewhat different approach. One of the more comprehensive sites for head mounted speakers is hosted by Michael Hoffman. It deals with both earbuds and headphones.
Most of the work in the Computer Labs will be done using headphones or the small tabletop speakers. Headphones are problematic in some ways. Please read the Art of Monitoring and Mixing with Headphones for a good discussion of some of the important considerations. A somewhat more technical discussion is in Thoughts . . Mixing with Headphones.
Personal Software:
If you have reasonably recent vintage PC with a sound card, you can turn it into a very powerful audio workstation with the installation of some inexpensive audio software (shareware). Consider this if getting to on-campus labs is problematic for you. Check out the following sites and download one or more of the demonstration versions. The fully functional trial versions are free.Gold Wave http://www.goldwave.com/
Cool Edit http://www.syntrillium.com/cooledit/index.htmlMore Generalized Audio Information:
Much of the material on this resource sheet comes from the syllabus for my Advanced Audio Production course at UNC. If you want to know more about audio art in general, take a look at the syllabus for my Audio Aesthetics, Criticism, and Theory course.General Africa Resources:
Start with Africa News for the most current information on Africa. Here is a list of links to items related to Africa South of the Sahara (a demarcation that should be called to question). Digital Librarian has a very nice list of Africa-related links.