Shows
Phantom PowerCassette Theory: A Mixtape (Eleanor Patterson, Rob Drew, and Andrew Simon)Today we present a cassette theory mixtape. Three excellent scholars help us understand consumer-focused magnetic tape and its history as a medium for the masses:Eleanor Patterson, Associate Professor of Media Studies at Auburn, whose new book just won the 2025 Broadcast Education Association (BEA) Book Award and a 2025 International Association for Media and History Book Award. It’s called Bootlegging the Airwaves: Alternative Histories of Radio and Television distribution (Illinois Press, 2024). Rob Drew, Professor of Communication at Saginaw Valley State University and a fantastic interpreter of pop culture like graffiti and karaoke. His new book is...2025-04-2600 min
New Books NetworkTinnitus StoriesToday Mack talks about one of his oldest companions, the tinnitus that lives rent-free in his head. Tinnitus can be annoying, for sure–and for some people it’s much worse than annoying–but it also has a lot to say of interest, if we’re willing to listen: “Tinnitus has been my guide in sound studies, my Virgil, leading me through a shadow world of sound. It’s taught me how high the stakes can be when it comes to the perception and control of sound and it’s given me new ways to think about how and why we use med...2025-04-1442 min
New Books in Sound StudiesTinnitus StoriesToday Mack talks about one of his oldest companions, the tinnitus that lives rent-free in his head. Tinnitus can be annoying, for sure–and for some people it’s much worse than annoying–but it also has a lot to say of interest, if we’re willing to listen: “Tinnitus has been my guide in sound studies, my Virgil, leading me through a shadow world of sound. It’s taught me how high the stakes can be when it comes to the perception and control of sound and it’s given me new ways to think about how and why we use med...2025-04-1442 minNew Books NetworkWarren Zanes: Rockstar BiographerWarren Zanes is a “rockstar biographer” in more ways than one: he has experienced life as a rockstar, a biographer, and a biographer of rockstars. When Mack first met Warren in New Orleans sometime in the late 80s or early 90s, Zanes was then emerging from the wreckage of meteoric success. He’d been the teenage guitarist in critically acclaimed band The Del Fuegos, who briefly broke into the national popular consciousness—and then just plain broke up. But in the years since, Zanes remade himself into one of our most erudite and entertaining public scholars of popular music. Among othe...2025-04-071h 15
New Books in MusicWarren Zanes: Rockstar BiographerWarren Zanes is a “rockstar biographer” in more ways than one: he has experienced life as a rockstar, a biographer, and a biographer of rockstars. When Mack first met Warren in New Orleans sometime in the late 80s or early 90s, Zanes was then emerging from the wreckage of meteoric success. He’d been the teenage guitarist in critically acclaimed band The Del Fuegos, who briefly broke into the national popular consciousness—and then just plain broke up. But in the years since, Zanes remade himself into one of our most erudite and entertaining public scholars of popular music. Among othe...2025-04-071h 15New Books in Sound StudiesWarren Zanes: Rockstar BiographerWarren Zanes is a “rockstar biographer” in more ways than one: he has experienced life as a rockstar, a biographer, and a biographer of rockstars. When Mack first met Warren in New Orleans sometime in the late 80s or early 90s, Zanes was then emerging from the wreckage of meteoric success. He’d been the teenage guitarist in critically acclaimed band The Del Fuegos, who briefly broke into the national popular consciousness—and then just plain broke up. But in the years since, Zanes remade himself into one of our most erudite and entertaining public scholars of popular music. Among othe...2025-04-071h 15
Phantom PowerHow Music Became an Instrument of War (David Suisman)University of Delaware historian David Suisman is known for his research on music and capitalism, particularly his excellent book Selling Sounds: The Commercial Revolution in American Music (Harvard UP, 2009), which won numerous awards and accolades. Suisman’s new book, Instrument of War: Music and the Making of America’s Soldiers (U Chicago Press, 2024), brings that same erudition to the subject of music in the military. It is the most comprehensive look at military music to date, full of fascinating historical anecdotes and insights on what music does for military states and their soldiers. Our conversation explores music as a mart...2025-03-2853 min
Phantom PowerRemembering Jonathan Sterne (1970-2025)The sound studies community is reeling from the death of Jonathan Sterne this past Thursday. Jonathan’s presence and work were–and are–incredibly influential on the intellectual and ethical commitments of our field. He was a generous mentor to so many, including me. Do you know those “WWJD?” bracelets? I’ve been wearing one in my mind for about 15 years: “What Would Jonathan Do?” In this short, impromptu episode, I share a few thoughts about what he meant to me and to sound studies. If you want to spend some time with Jonathan’s voice, we were lucky to feat...2025-03-2305 minNew Books in Sound StudiesJohn Cage: Echoes of the AnechoicToday we explore the mythology around John Cage’s visit to the anechoic chamber. The chamber was designed to completely eliminate echoes. Ironically, the tale of Cage’s experience in that space has echoed through history, affecting our understanding of silence, sound, and the self. But what do we really know about what happened there? And what could we ever know about such an event? In this audio essay, based on a piece that first appeared in the Australian Humanities Review, Mack Hagood explores the relationship between sound, self, and meaning-making. To use a term Cage loved, the truth is ind...2025-03-1029 minNew Books in MusicJohn Cage: Echoes of the AnechoicToday we explore the mythology around John Cage’s visit to the anechoic chamber. The chamber was designed to completely eliminate echoes. Ironically, the tale of Cage’s experience in that space has echoed through history, affecting our understanding of silence, sound, and the self. But what do we really know about what happened there? And what could we ever know about such an event? In this audio essay, based on a piece that first appeared in the Australian Humanities Review, Mack Hagood explores the relationship between sound, self, and meaning-making. To use a term Cage loved, the truth is ind...2025-03-1029 minPhantom PowerHow Spotify Dulls the Musical Mind (Liz Pelly)Liz Pelly is our foremost journalist/critic on the Spotify beat. Her byline has appeared at the Baffler, Guardian, NPR, and many other outlets. She is also an adjunct instructor at NYU Tisch School of the Arts. Liz is also been making the media rounds lately, talking about her new book Mood Machine: The Rise of Spotify and the Costs of the Perfect Playlist (One Signal Publishers).The book is both a history of Spotify and an argument that Spotify is not, in fact, a music company, but rather an advertising company focused on manipulating user behavior...2025-02-2849 minNew Books in MusicHildegard Westerkamp: A Life in Soundscape CompositionToday we speak to Hildegard Westerkamp, the pioneering composer, radio artist and sound ecologist. The centerpiece of all of her work is a close attention to the sonic environment and its relation to culture. We will listen to excerpts of six soundscape compositions made between 1975 and 2005, all of which reward the close listener–conceptually and aesthetically–with a deeper relationship to the sonic environment. Mack Hagood interviewed Westerkamp shortly after the death of R. Murray Schafer in late 2021. Westerkamp worked closely with Schafer in the early 1970s and she graciously agreed to talk about him despite the grief b...2025-02-1044 minNew Books in Sound StudiesHildegard Westerkamp: A Life in Soundscape CompositionToday we speak to Hildegard Westerkamp, the pioneering composer, radio artist and sound ecologist. The centerpiece of all of her work is a close attention to the sonic environment and its relation to culture. We will listen to excerpts of six soundscape compositions made between 1975 and 2005, all of which reward the close listener–conceptually and aesthetically–with a deeper relationship to the sonic environment. Mack Hagood interviewed Westerkamp shortly after the death of R. Murray Schafer in late 2021. Westerkamp worked closely with Schafer in the early 1970s and she graciously agreed to talk about him despite the grief b...2025-02-1044 min
New Books in ArtHildegard Westerkamp: A Life in Soundscape CompositionToday we speak to Hildegard Westerkamp, the pioneering composer, radio artist and sound ecologist. The centerpiece of all of her work is a close attention to the sonic environment and its relation to culture. We will listen to excerpts of six soundscape compositions made between 1975 and 2005, all of which reward the close listener–conceptually and aesthetically–with a deeper relationship to the sonic environment. Mack Hagood interviewed Westerkamp shortly after the death of R. Murray Schafer in late 2021. Westerkamp worked closely with Schafer in the early 1970s and she graciously agreed to talk about him despite the grief b...2025-02-1044 minPhantom PowerAre AI art and music really just noise? (Eryk Salvaggio)In this episode, host Mack Hagood dives into the world of AI-generated music and art with digital artist and theorist Eryk Salvaggio. The conversation explores technical and philosophical aspects of AI art, its impact on culture, and the ‘age of noise’ it has ushered in. AI dissolves sounds and images into literal noise, subsequently reversing the process to create new “hypothetical” sounds and images. The kinds of cultural specificities that archivists struggle to preserve are stripped away when we treat human culture as data in this way. Eryk also shares insights into his works like ‘Swim’ and ‘Sounds Like Mus...2025-01-291h 08New Books in Sound StudiesHow Our Sonic Sausage Gets MadeThis episode, we take you behind the scenes of Phantom Power. Producer/host Mack Hagood was invited by Dario Llinares and Lori Beckstead to be a guest on their show, The Podcast Studies Podcast. As you may or may not know, there are a lot of academics out there not only making podcast themselves but also studying podcasts and podcasting as a genre and an industry–and Dario and Lori are in that camp. Their podcast is a tremendous resource for those who want to understand this emerging academic field.In the interview, Dario prompted Mack to go pret...2024-11-251h 04New Books in Sound StudiesThe World According to SoundThe World According to Sound is the brainchild of two rogue audionauts who rebelled against the NPR mothership: Chris Hoff and Sam Harnett. It began as a micro podcast that held one unique sound under the microscope for 90 seconds each episode. Then it became something much more ambitious: a live sonic Odyssey in 8-channel surround sound. Starting January, Harnett and Hoff bring their realtime soundtrips direct to your home headphones via the internet in their winter listening series.We are sure that Phantom Power listeners will love this experience. And right now, you can buy tickets for 25% off w...2024-11-1847 min
New Work in Digital HumanitiesThe World According to SoundThe World According to Sound is the brainchild of two rogue audionauts who rebelled against the NPR mothership: Chris Hoff and Sam Harnett. It began as a micro podcast that held one unique sound under the microscope for 90 seconds each episode. Then it became something much more ambitious: a live sonic Odyssey in 8-channel surround sound. Starting January, Harnett and Hoff bring their realtime soundtrips direct to your home headphones via the internet in their winter listening series.We are sure that Phantom Power listeners will love this experience. And right now, you can buy tickets for 25% off w...2024-11-1847 min
New Books in CommunicationsThe World According to SoundThe World According to Sound is the brainchild of two rogue audionauts who rebelled against the NPR mothership: Chris Hoff and Sam Harnett. It began as a micro podcast that held one unique sound under the microscope for 90 seconds each episode. Then it became something much more ambitious: a live sonic Odyssey in 8-channel surround sound. Starting January, Harnett and Hoff bring their realtime soundtrips direct to your home headphones via the internet in their winter listening series.We are sure that Phantom Power listeners will love this experience. And right now, you can buy tickets for 25% off w...2024-11-1847 minNew Books in CommunicationsEmotional RescueWhat can sound technologies tell us about our relationship to media as a whole? This is one of the central questions in the research of Phantom Power‘s host, Mack Hagood. To find its answer, he studies devices that get little attention from media scholars: noise-cancelling headphones, white noise machines, apps that make nature sounds, tinnitus maskers–even musical pillows. The story these media tell is rather different from the standard narrative, in which media are conveyors of information and entertainment. In his book Hush: Media and Sonic Self-Control, Mack argues that media are the way we control how–and how mu...2024-10-2135 minNew Books in Sound StudiesEmotional RescueWhat can sound technologies tell us about our relationship to media as a whole? This is one of the central questions in the research of Phantom Power‘s host, Mack Hagood. To find its answer, he studies devices that get little attention from media scholars: noise-cancelling headphones, white noise machines, apps that make nature sounds, tinnitus maskers–even musical pillows. The story these media tell is rather different from the standard narrative, in which media are conveyors of information and entertainment. In his book Hush: Media and Sonic Self-Control, Mack argues that media are the way we control how–and how mu...2024-10-2135 min
New Books in Science, Technology, and SocietyEmotional RescueWhat can sound technologies tell us about our relationship to media as a whole? This is one of the central questions in the research of Phantom Power‘s host, Mack Hagood. To find its answer, he studies devices that get little attention from media scholars: noise-cancelling headphones, white noise machines, apps that make nature sounds, tinnitus maskers–even musical pillows. The story these media tell is rather different from the standard narrative, in which media are conveyors of information and entertainment. In his book Hush: Media and Sonic Self-Control, Mack argues that media are the way we control how–and how mu...2024-10-2135 min
New Books in TechnologyEmotional RescueWhat can sound technologies tell us about our relationship to media as a whole? This is one of the central questions in the research of Phantom Power‘s host, Mack Hagood. To find its answer, he studies devices that get little attention from media scholars: noise-cancelling headphones, white noise machines, apps that make nature sounds, tinnitus maskers–even musical pillows. The story these media tell is rather different from the standard narrative, in which media are conveyors of information and entertainment. In his book Hush: Media and Sonic Self-Control, Mack argues that media are the way we control how–and how mu...2024-10-2135 minNew Books in Science, Technology, and SocietyHey, Robot!Today, we’re playing with voice assistants and thinking about the role of voices in gaming with our guest, game designer and NYU professor Frank Lantz. Over the past nightmare year of the coronavirus, many of us have been hunkered down, trying to figure out how to pass the time with our families. Board game sales on Amazon were up 4,000% percent in March, when Americans began sheltering in place. And, of course, we’ve also spent way more time interacting with digital technology. These two things have come together in a weird and delightful way in Lantz’s game H...2024-09-1628 minNew Books in TechnologyHey, Robot!Today, we’re playing with voice assistants and thinking about the role of voices in gaming with our guest, game designer and NYU professor Frank Lantz. Over the past nightmare year of the coronavirus, many of us have been hunkered down, trying to figure out how to pass the time with our families. Board game sales on Amazon were up 4,000% percent in March, when Americans began sheltering in place. And, of course, we’ve also spent way more time interacting with digital technology. These two things have come together in a weird and delightful way in Lantz’s game H...2024-09-1628 minNew Books in Sound StudiesHey, Robot!Today, we’re playing with voice assistants and thinking about the role of voices in gaming with our guest, game designer and NYU professor Frank Lantz. Over the past nightmare year of the coronavirus, many of us have been hunkered down, trying to figure out how to pass the time with our families. Board game sales on Amazon were up 4,000% percent in March, when Americans began sheltering in place. And, of course, we’ve also spent way more time interacting with digital technology. These two things have come together in a weird and delightful way in Lantz’s game H...2024-09-1628 min
New Books in Game StudiesHey, Robot!Today, we’re playing with voice assistants and thinking about the role of voices in gaming with our guest, game designer and NYU professor Frank Lantz. Over the past nightmare year of the coronavirus, many of us have been hunkered down, trying to figure out how to pass the time with our families. Board game sales on Amazon were up 4,000% percent in March, when Americans began sheltering in place. And, of course, we’ve also spent way more time interacting with digital technology. These two things have come together in a weird and delightful way in Lantz’s game H...2024-09-1628 minNew Books in MusicA Life Based on an ExperimentEpisode 21 presents a portrait of Iranian experimental composer Siavash Amini. His music, which moves seamlessly between contemplative ambience, menacing dissonance, and spacious melodicism, has been released on experimental imprints such as Umor Rex and Room40. His latest, A Mimesis of Nothingness, just came out on the Swiss label Hallow Ground.Siavash tells host Mack Hagood that his entire life is based on an experiment and he doesn’t yet know what its outcome will be. This episode traces the contours of that story, from his boyhood as a metalhead in a small Iranian port town to his role in...2024-09-0951 minNew Books in Sound StudiesA Life Based on an ExperimentEpisode 21 presents a portrait of Iranian experimental composer Siavash Amini. His music, which moves seamlessly between contemplative ambience, menacing dissonance, and spacious melodicism, has been released on experimental imprints such as Umor Rex and Room40. His latest, A Mimesis of Nothingness, just came out on the Swiss label Hallow Ground.Siavash tells host Mack Hagood that his entire life is based on an experiment and he doesn’t yet know what its outcome will be. This episode traces the contours of that story, from his boyhood as a metalhead in a small Iranian port town to his role in...2024-09-0951 minNew Books in Sound StudiesGoth DissWith My Gothic Dissertation, University of Iowa PhD Anna M. Williams has transformed the dreary diss into a This American Life-style podcast. Williams’ witty writing and compelling audio production allow her the double move of making a critical intervention into the study of the gothic novel, while also making an entertaining and thought-provoking series for non-experts. Williams uses famed novels by authors such as Anne Radcliffe and Mary Shelly as an entry point for a critique of graduate school itself—a Medieval institution of shadowy corners, arcane rituals, and a feudal power structure. The result is a first-of-its-kind work that serv...2024-08-051h 01New Work in Digital HumanitiesGoth DissWith My Gothic Dissertation, University of Iowa PhD Anna M. Williams has transformed the dreary diss into a This American Life-style podcast. Williams’ witty writing and compelling audio production allow her the double move of making a critical intervention into the study of the gothic novel, while also making an entertaining and thought-provoking series for non-experts. Williams uses famed novels by authors such as Anne Radcliffe and Mary Shelly as an entry point for a critique of graduate school itself—a Medieval institution of shadowy corners, arcane rituals, and a feudal power structure. The result is a first-of-its-kind work that serv...2024-08-051h 01
New Books in the History of ScienceResonant GrainsIn the 1950s, a schoolteacher named Carleen Hutchins attempted a revolution in how concert violins are made. In this episode, Craig Eley of the Field Noise podcast tells us how this amateur outsider used 18th century science to disrupt the all-male guild tradition of violin luthiers. Would the myth of the never-equaled Stradivarius violin prove to be true or could a science teacher with a woodshop use an old idea to make new violins better than ever?We also learn about the mysterious beauty of Chladni patterns, the 18th century technique of using tiny particles to reveal how sound...2024-07-2944 minNew Books in Sound StudiesResonant GrainsIn the 1950s, a schoolteacher named Carleen Hutchins attempted a revolution in how concert violins are made. In this episode, Craig Eley of the Field Noise podcast tells us how this amateur outsider used 18th century science to disrupt the all-male guild tradition of violin luthiers. Would the myth of the never-equaled Stradivarius violin prove to be true or could a science teacher with a woodshop use an old idea to make new violins better than ever?We also learn about the mysterious beauty of Chladni patterns, the 18th century technique of using tiny particles to reveal how sound...2024-07-2944 minNew Books in MusicResonant GrainsIn the 1950s, a schoolteacher named Carleen Hutchins attempted a revolution in how concert violins are made. In this episode, Craig Eley of the Field Noise podcast tells us how this amateur outsider used 18th century science to disrupt the all-male guild tradition of violin luthiers. Would the myth of the never-equaled Stradivarius violin prove to be true or could a science teacher with a woodshop use an old idea to make new violins better than ever?We also learn about the mysterious beauty of Chladni patterns, the 18th century technique of using tiny particles to reveal how sound...2024-07-2944 minNew Books in Sound StudiesTest SubjectsSeason Two erupts in our ears with a film-noir soundscape—an eerie voice utters strange and disjointed phrases and echoing footsteps lead to sirens and gunshots. What on Earth are we listening to? We unravel the mystery with NYU media professor Mara Mills who studies the historical relationship between disability and media technologies.In Episode 8, “Test Subjects,” we examine the strange and obscure history of sound’s use as a psychological diagnostic tool. In the late 20th century, while many disabilities were eliminated through medical interventions, a host of new disabilities were invented, especially within the realm of psycholo...2024-06-1741 minNew Books in the History of ScienceTest SubjectsSeason Two erupts in our ears with a film-noir soundscape—an eerie voice utters strange and disjointed phrases and echoing footsteps lead to sirens and gunshots. What on Earth are we listening to? We unravel the mystery with NYU media professor Mara Mills who studies the historical relationship between disability and media technologies.In Episode 8, “Test Subjects,” we examine the strange and obscure history of sound’s use as a psychological diagnostic tool. In the late 20th century, while many disabilities were eliminated through medical interventions, a host of new disabilities were invented, especially within the realm of psycholo...2024-06-1741 min
New Books in PsychologyTest SubjectsSeason Two erupts in our ears with a film-noir soundscape—an eerie voice utters strange and disjointed phrases and echoing footsteps lead to sirens and gunshots. What on Earth are we listening to? We unravel the mystery with NYU media professor Mara Mills who studies the historical relationship between disability and media technologies.In Episode 8, “Test Subjects,” we examine the strange and obscure history of sound’s use as a psychological diagnostic tool. In the late 20th century, while many disabilities were eliminated through medical interventions, a host of new disabilities were invented, especially within the realm of psycholo...2024-06-1741 min
New Books in Disability StudiesTest SubjectsSeason Two erupts in our ears with a film-noir soundscape—an eerie voice utters strange and disjointed phrases and echoing footsteps lead to sirens and gunshots. What on Earth are we listening to? We unravel the mystery with NYU media professor Mara Mills who studies the historical relationship between disability and media technologies.In Episode 8, “Test Subjects,” we examine the strange and obscure history of sound’s use as a psychological diagnostic tool. In the late 20th century, while many disabilities were eliminated through medical interventions, a host of new disabilities were invented, especially within the realm of psycholo...2024-06-1741 min
Phantom PowerPodcasting’s Obsession with Obsession (Neil Verma)Today we discuss how narrative podcasts work, the role they’ve played in American culture and how they’ve shaped our understanding of podcasting as a genre and an industry. Neil Verma’s new book, Narrative Podcasting in an Age of Obsession, offers a rich analysis of the recent so-called golden age of podcasting. Verma studied around 300 podcasts and listened to several thousand episodes from between the fall of 2014 when Serial became a huge hit to the start of the Covid pandemic and early 2020. It was a period when podcasts—and especially genres like narrative nonfiction and true crime—were one of...2024-05-2452 minPhantom PowerSecond Line: Footwork in New Orleans (Lowlines by Petra Barran)Today we feature the first episode of a new podcast called Lowlines, which follows host Petra Barran as she travels solo through the Americas, meeting people with profound connections to the places they’re from.This episode takes place in New Orleans and focuses on Second Line, the brass band tradition that comes out of Black funeral processions and social clubs and is known not only for the power of the music but the for the amazing dancing known as footwork that goes on as the people parade down the street. Petra also talks to Jarrad DeGruy a...2024-05-1032 minNew Books in Science, Technology, and SocietyDead AirOn our first episode of Phantom Power, we ponder those moments when the air remains unmoved. Whether fostered by design or meteorological conditions or technological glitch, the absence of sound sometimes affects us more profoundly than the audible. We begin with author John Biguenet discussing his book Silence (Bloomsbury, 2015) and the relationship between quietude, reading, writing, and the self. Next, we speak to poet and hurricane responder Rodrigo Toscano, who takes us into the foreboding silence in eye of a storm. Finally, our own co-host and poet cris cheek ponders the many contradictory experiences of “dead air” in an age of changing...2024-05-0639 minNew Books in CommunicationsDead AirOn our first episode of Phantom Power, we ponder those moments when the air remains unmoved. Whether fostered by design or meteorological conditions or technological glitch, the absence of sound sometimes affects us more profoundly than the audible. We begin with author John Biguenet discussing his book Silence (Bloomsbury, 2015) and the relationship between quietude, reading, writing, and the self. Next, we speak to poet and hurricane responder Rodrigo Toscano, who takes us into the foreboding silence in eye of a storm. Finally, our own co-host and poet cris cheek ponders the many contradictory experiences of “dead air” in an age of changing...2024-05-0639 minNew Books in Sound StudiesDead AirOn our first episode of Phantom Power, we ponder those moments when the air remains unmoved. Whether fostered by design or meteorological conditions or technological glitch, the absence of sound sometimes affects us more profoundly than the audible. We begin with author John Biguenet discussing his book Silence (Bloomsbury, 2015) and the relationship between quietude, reading, writing, and the self. Next, we speak to poet and hurricane responder Rodrigo Toscano, who takes us into the foreboding silence in eye of a storm. Finally, our own co-host and poet cris cheek ponders the many contradictory experiences of “dead air” in an age of changing...2024-05-0639 min
Phantom PowerBeyond Listening: The Hidden Ways Sound Affects Us (Michael Heller)There are sonic experiences that can’t be contained by the word “listening.” Moments when sound overpowers us. When sound is sensed more in our bodies than in our ears. When sound engages in crosstalk with our other senses. Or when it affects us by being inaudible. Dr. Michael Heller’s new book Just Beyond Listening: Essays of Sonic Encounter (2023, U of California Press) uses affect theory to open up these moments. In this conclusion to our miniseries on sound and affect, we explore topics such as the measurement and perception of loudness, the invention of sonar and the anechoic...2024-04-261h 00Phantom PowerNoise and Affect Theory (Marie Thompson)Feminist sound scholar and musician Marie Thompson is a theorist of noise. She has also been one of the key thinkers in integrating the study of sound with the study of affect. Dr. Thompson is Senior Lecturer in Popular Music at the Open University in the UK. She is the author of Beyond Unwanted Sound: Noise, Affect, and Aesthetic Moralism (Bloomsbury, 2017) and the co-editor of Sound, Music, Affect: Theorizing Sonic Experience (Bloomsbury, 2013). She has developed Open University courses on topics such as Dolly Parton and Dub sound systems.For Part 2 of this interview, which focuses on tinnitus...2024-04-1248 minPhantom PowerFrom HAL to SIRI: How Computers Learned to Speak (Benjamin Lindquist)Today we learn how computers learned to talk with Benjamin Lindquist, a postdoctoral researcher at Northwestern University’s Science in Human Culture program. Ben is the author “The Art of Text to Speech,” which recently appeared in Critical Inquiry, and he’s currently writing a history of text-to-speech computing. In this conversation, we explore: the fascinating backstory to HAL 9000, the speaking computer in Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: a Space Odyssey
2001’s strong influence on computer science and the cultural reception of computers
the weird technology of the first talking computers and their relationship to optical film soundtracks
Louis Gerstman...2024-03-2950 minPhantom PowerPublishing for Nonfiction Authors (Jane Von Mehren)Jane Von Mehren, Senior Partner at Aevitas Creative Management and a former Senior Vice President at Random House, explains how to find a literary agent, how to write a query letter to an agent, and how to craft a book proposal that your agent can shop to publishers. Continue reading →
The post Publishing for Nonfiction Authors (Jane Von Mehren) appeared first on Phantom Power.2024-03-151h 06Phantom PowerNoise and Information in the Office (Joseph L. Clarke)Ever wonder who's to blame for the noise and distraction of the open office? Architectural historian Joseph L. Clarke has answers! Theories of acoustic communication accidentally inspired the sonic disaster of the open plan. Continue reading →
The post Noise and Information in the Office (Joseph L. Clarke) appeared first on Phantom Power.2024-03-011h 08
Phantom PowerRobin Miles: Talking Books
Today we bring you a master class in audiobook narration and acting with acclaimed actor, casting director, audiobook narrator and audiobook director, Robin Miles. Beyond technique, we talk about the audiobook industry and the politics of vocal representation. Continue reading →
The post Robin Miles: Talking Books appeared first on Phantom Power.2024-02-171h 10
Phantom PowerRadiophilia (Carolyn Birdsall)Sound and radio scholar Carolyn Birdsall discusses her award-winning book Nazi Soundscapes (AUP, 2012) and her new book, Radiophilia (Bloomsbury, 2023). Continue reading →
The post Radiophilia (Carolyn Birdsall) appeared first on Phantom Power.2024-01-261h 06Phantom PowerCosmic Visions in SoundToday we share a podcast episode on the visual epistemology of astronomy by our friends at The World According to Sound. What kind of knowledge do we really gain when we look at images from space? Continue reading →
The post Cosmic Visions in Sound appeared first on Phantom Power.2024-01-1221 minPhantom PowerTinnitus StoriesTinnitus can be annoying, for sure--and for some people it's much worse than annoying--but it also has a lot to say of interest, if we're willing to listen: "Tinnitus has been my guide in sound studies, my Virgil, leading me through a shadow world of sound. It's taught me how high the stakes can be when it comes to the perception and control of sound and it's given me new ways to think about how and why we use media devices." Continue reading →
The post Tinnitus Stories appeared first on Phantom Power.2023-12-1638 minPhantom PowerWarren Zanes: Rockstar BiographerWarren Zanes talks life as a rocker and writer, his new book on Springsteen's Nebraska, how to weave theory into a great story, and why he narrates his own audiobooks. Continue reading →
The post Warren Zanes: Rockstar Biographer appeared first on Phantom Power.2023-12-011h 11Phantom PowerMaking Radio History (Elena Razlogova)Elena Razlogova discusses U.S. radio history, audience research, music recommendation and recognition algorithms, and her current book project, which centers on freeform radio station WFMU and the rise of online music. We also talk about Elena’s research strategies as a historian working in the digital age. Continue reading →
The post Making Radio History (Elena Razlogova) appeared first on Phantom Power.2023-11-171h 03Phantom PowerThe Audiobook’s Century-Long Overnight Success (Matthew Rubery)Today we present the first episode of a miniseries on audiobooks by getting into the history and theory of the medium. Audiobooks are having a moment—and it only took them over a century to get here. Dr. Matthew Rubery, a Harvard PhD and Professor of Modern Literature at Queen Mary University of London, pioneered the study of the audiobook, its history, and its affordances in literature. Continue reading →
The post The Audiobook’s Century-Long Overnight Success (Matthew Rubery) appeared first on Phantom Power.2023-11-0347 min
The Grey Lit Café'Quality blogs', with Giovanni Salucci: innovation in scientific and research communicationYou can wait a long time for ambitious innovations in the communication of science and research - and then two come along together.In our previous episode, Scholarly Podcasts, Mack Hagood articulated his thinking behind a novel approach to podcasting.Now we're delighted to publish our interview with Prof. Giovanni Salucci (University of Florence) and Dr Erika Paoletti on a novel approach to blogging.Blogging, of course, is no longer new to the field of scientific and scholarly communication. But in this interview Giovanni and Erika introduce a bold innovation - the notion...2023-10-2618 minPhantom PowerGoing PublicIn this brief opener for Season Six of Phantom Power, Mack discusses his new project of writing a trade press book, funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities. Continue reading →
The post Going Public appeared first on Phantom Power.2023-10-1919 min
The Grey Lit CaféScholarly podcasts, with Mack HagoodAnthony Haynes writes: Nobody could accuse The Grey Lit Café of ignoring innovation in the communication of science and research! In fact, we're delighted to showcase innovative thinking, as in such episodes as Innovation in research dissemination: Cora Cole on GreyLitOnline lecturing: Bart Hallmark on pitfalls and good practiceUnderstanding preprints with Jonny Coates- and shortly we'll be publishing an interview with Giovanni Salucci on his notion of 'the quality blog'. Here, in an episode fizzing with intellectual excitement, Mack Hagood develops some innovative thinking on podcasting.This episodeWhy...2023-10-0526 minPhantom PowerA Philosophy of Echoes with Amit PinchevskiAmit Pinchevski challenges the notion that echo is mere repetition. Instead, echo is a generative medium. Just as a baby first learns to speak by repeating the sounds of others, a philosophy of echoes reminds us that our own agency and creativity reside in repetitions that respond to the past. Continue reading →
The post A Philosophy of Echoes with Amit Pinchevski appeared first on Phantom Power.2023-05-2458 minPhantom PowerJohn Cage: Echoes of the AnechoicToday we explore the mythology around John Cage’s visit to the anechoic chamber. The chamber was designed to completely eliminate echoes. Ironically, the tale of Cage’s experience in that space has echoed through history, affecting our understanding of silence, sound, and the self. But what do we really know about what happened there? Continue reading →
The post John Cage: Echoes of the Anechoic appeared first on Phantom Power.2023-04-2826 minPhantom PowerSonic AI: Steph Ceraso & Hussein BoonToday we hear two scholars reading their recent work on artificial intelligence. Steph Ceraso studies the technology of “voice donation,” which provides AI-created custom voices for people with vocal disabilities. Hussein Boon contemplates the future of AI in music via some very short and thought-provoking fiction tales. And we start off the show with Mack reflecting on how hard the post-shutdown adjustment has been for many of us and how that might be feeding into the current AI hype. Continue reading →
The post Sonic AI: Steph Ceraso & Hussein Boon appeared first on Phantom Power.2023-04-1734 minPhantom PowerWords and Silences: The Thomas Merton Hermitage TapesMusician and sound artist Brian Harnetty breathes new, musical life into the analog meditations of 60s Catholic mystic Thomas Merton. Continue reading →
The post Words and Silences: The Thomas Merton Hermitage Tapes appeared first on Phantom Power.2023-03-1444 minPhantom PowerWesterkamp: The Unedited Interview [excerpt]Here is a preview of Mack Hagood’s full one hour and forty minute interview with soundscape composer Hildegard Westerkamp, which includes many details and stories we couldn’t fit into the three public episodes we featured her in. If you’re a … Continue reading →
The post Westerkamp: The Unedited Interview [excerpt] appeared first on Phantom Power.2023-02-1706 minPhantom PowerThe Sound World of Harriet TubmanJust in time for Black History Month, we share an episode we've been excitedly working on for a number of months now. Ethnomusicologist Maya Cunningham brings us “The Sound World of Harriet Tubman.” Maya Cunningham is an activist and jazz singer currently completing a Ph.D. at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, in Afro-American studies with a concentration in ethnomusicology. Continue reading →
The post The Sound World of Harriet Tubman appeared first on Phantom Power.2023-02-0141 minPhantom PowerHildegard Westerkamp: A Life in Soundscape CompositionHildegard Westerkamp is a pioneering composer, radio artist and sound ecologist. Today we speak to her about her career and listen to excerpts of six soundscape compositions. Continue reading →
The post Hildegard Westerkamp: A Life in Soundscape Composition appeared first on Phantom Power.2023-01-0940 minPhantom PowerBonus Episode: Jonathan Sterne [excerpt]Today we feature an excerpt from our nearly 2-hour bonus episode for Patrons. In the full interview from last season's episode "Dork-o-Phonics," Jonathan Sterne discusses topics such as the early days of sound studies, how his upbringing and a music school rejection led him to sound, his illness and vocal impairment, and a lot of fascinating ideas about voice, media, disability, and more. Continue reading →
The post Bonus Episode: Jonathan Sterne [excerpt] appeared first on Phantom Power.2022-11-1824 minPhantom PowerSpacing Out with Dallas Taylor of 20,000 HzToday we talk to Dallas Taylor, host of the most popular sound podcast on the planet, 20,000 Hertz. He provides an anatomy of his episode "Space." Continue reading →
The post Spacing Out with Dallas Taylor of 20,000 Hz appeared first on Phantom Power.2022-11-0145 minPhantom PowerListening in the Afterlife of Data (David Cecchetto)David Cecchetto is a media theorist, artist, and musician who creates strange sonic experiments for understanding our computer-driven lives. Continue reading →
The post Listening in the Afterlife of Data (David Cecchetto) appeared first on Phantom Power.2022-10-171h 17Phantom Power(Re)Making Radio with Shortwave CollectiveThe Shortwave Collective--an international group of feminist radio artists--teach you how to make your own radio with found materials! We talk about play, experimentation, failure, community, and open listening in their feminist radio practice. Continue reading →
The post (Re)Making Radio with Shortwave Collective appeared first on Phantom Power.2022-10-0353 minPhantom PowerIn One Ear, Out The Other (Jacob Danson Faraday On Cirque du Soleil)On today’s show, we address a performer’s nightmare—the nightmare of not being able to hear yourself onstage. My guest is ethnomusicologist Jacob Danson Faraday, who takes us behind the scenes of the famed Cirque du Soleil to learn how even … Continue reading →
The post In One Ear, Out The Other (Jacob Danson Faraday On Cirque du Soleil) appeared first on Phantom Power.2022-09-1543 minPhantom PowerSeason Four TrailerGet ready for Season Four of Phantom Power, where we study sound in the arts, music, and culture! On Phantom Power, we’ve got an ear to the ground—listening to the subterranean rats of New York… We’ve got an ear on … Continue reading →
The post Season Four Trailer appeared first on Phantom Power.2022-09-0101 min
Love is the Message: Dance, Music and CountercultureLITM Extra - Phantom Power Podcast Episode Swap: 'Screwed and Chopped'As listeners will know, we've come to the end of our series on Afro-Psychedelia. Tim and Jeremy will be back soon with a whole new series, but in the meantime Love Is The Message is very happy to share 'Screwed and Chopped', an episode from the archive of the Phantom Power Podcast.
Phantom Power is an excellent podcast about sound, sound art, music, and the scholarship that surrounds it. It's beautifully put together and is a real treat for the mind and the ears. Host Mack Hagood was kind enough to share an episode of ours with...2022-09-0134 minPhantom PowerFela Kuti and the Black Atlantic (Tim Lawrence and Jeremy Gilbert)This month, we are preparing for the launch of Season Four of the podcast in September. Lots of fascinating topics on deck, as we double our output with a semi-monthly format. We are also about to officially launch a Patreon … Continue reading →
The post Fela Kuti and the Black Atlantic (Tim Lawrence and Jeremy Gilbert) appeared first on Phantom Power.2022-08-161h 17Phantom PowerAwfully Viral (Paula Harper on Will Robin’s Sound Expertise)Will Robin interviews Dr. Paula Harper about her work on viral music videos and taste, specifically that terrible Rebecca Black video "Friday" that's probably still rattling around in some dark recess of your brain. Continue reading →
The post Awfully Viral (Paula Harper on Will Robin’s Sound Expertise) appeared first on Phantom Power.2022-07-2350 minPhantom PowerEp. 37 | Awfully Viral (Paula Harper on Will Robin’s Sound Expertise)It’s summer and we are busy working on episodes for our fourth season. We’ve also rebuilt our website–check out the the fabulous new phantompod.org. There’s other great stuff in store for the podcast, so stay tuned!
But today, I want to share one of my favorite podcasts with you: Will Robin’s Sound Expertise. For those of you into musicology or popular music studies, there’s a great chance you’re already a subscribe. That’s because Will’s show is fantastic and I personally know many music scholars who are devoted fans of this show...2022-07-1339 min
EklektikOrfik MedyaBu bölümde, Mack Hagood tarafından çok yakın bir zamanda yaratılmış olan orphic media kavramını temel düzeyde irdeliyorum. Kamusal alanlar, istiflenmişlik, sonik mekân ve benzeri şeylere odaklanarak ilerliyor ve Deleuze&Guattari, Lefebvre ve Baudrillard gibi kanonların fikirleriyle duş alıyorum.Ben kimim: https://linktr.ee/bahadirhankocerNemo's Dreamscapes: https://www.youtube.com/c/NemosDreamscapesHush: https://www.amazon.com/Hush-Media-Self-Control-Storage-Transmission/dp/14780038042022-05-2941 minPhantom PowerVoices Pt. 3: Dork-o-phonics (Jonathan Sterne)Jonathan Sterne is one of the most influential scholars working on sound and listening. His 2003 book, The Audible Past: Cultural Origins of Sound Reproduction, had a formative influence on the then-nascent field of sound studies. His 2012 book, MP3: The Meaning of a Format, was both a fascinating cultural history and a deep meditation… Continue reading →
The post Voices Pt. 3: Dork-o-phonics (Jonathan Sterne) appeared first on Phantom Power.2022-04-1339 minPhantom PowerVoices Pt. 2: The Sound of My Voice (Stacey Copeland)In part two of our three-part series “Voices,” we feature an exciting new voice in the world of sound studies, Stacey Copeland. In part one last month, we examined the role voices play in professional sports and unpacked some of … Continue reading →
The post Voices Pt. 2: The Sound of My Voice (Stacey Copeland) appeared first on Phantom Power.2022-03-1051 minPhantom PowerVoices Part 1: Hut-hut-hike! (Travis Vogan, Jonathan Sterne)In this first episode of a three-part series called Voices, we’re listening to the sound of American football—specifically the role of voices in the NFL. We start with a rather quirky story from NFL history that speaks to how the voice … Continue reading →
The post Voices Part 1: Hut-hut-hike! (Travis Vogan, Jonathan Sterne) appeared first on Phantom Power.2022-02-1028 minPhantom PowerHow Our Sonic Sausage Gets Made (Mack Hagood w/ Dario Llinares & Lori Beckstead)This episode, we take you behind the scenes of Phantom Power. Producer/host Mack Hagood was invited by Dario Llinares and Lori Beckstead to be a guest on their show, The Podcast Studies Podcast. As you may or may not know, … Continue reading →
The post How Our Sonic Sausage Gets Made (Mack Hagood w/ Dario Llinares & Lori Beckstead) appeared first on Phantom Power.2022-01-111h 02
The Podcast Studies PodcastMack Hagood of Phantom Power: Sound Studies & Scholarly PodcastingProf. Mack Hagood, author of Hush: Media and Sonic Self Control and producer of Phantom Power, joins Dario to discuss sound studies and scholarly podcasting. Phantom Power is a benchmark academic podcast in terms of acoustic form and scholarly depth. Its focus is on the sonic arts and humanities and the show utilises all the myriad affordances of sound to explore scholarship and sound art. Mack and Dario unpack the joys and labors of academic podcasting, discussing the production process and the relationship between theory and practice which leads to discussion of Mack's chapter "The Scholarly Podcast: Form and F...2021-12-171h 08Phantom PowerThe World According to Sound (Chris Hoff and Sam Harnett)The World According to Sound is the brainchild of two rogue audionauts who rebelled against the NPR mothership: Chris Hoff and Sam Harnett. It began as a micro podcast that held one unique sound under the microscope for 90 seconds … Continue reading →
The post The World According to Sound (Chris Hoff and Sam Harnett) appeared first on Phantom Power.2021-12-1443 min
The Podcast Studies PodcastPeer Review Podcasting Part 2: reflectionsHow well do podcasts work as a medium for scholarly peer review? In the previous episode, Hannah McGregor and Ian M. Cook provided peer review on Lori Beckstead's draft chapter Context is King: Podcast Packaging and Paratexts. Now we're following up to discuss how well we think this method went. Dario Llinares leads us in a discussion about the affordances and limitations of doing scholarly peer review in the context of a podcast. Jess is also here with recommendations for a peer reviewed and a scholarly podcast.
Be sure to listen to Peer Review Podcasting Part 1 on...2021-12-041h 01Phantom PowerAnimal Control (Mandy-Suzanne Wong, Robbie Judkins, Colleen Plumb) [Re-Cast]In this re-cast, we examine the sounds humans make in order to monitor, repel, and control beasts. Author Mandy-Suzanne Wong’s Listen, We All Bleed is a creative nonfiction book that explores the human-animal relationship through animal-centered sound art. When we … Continue reading →
The post Animal Control (Mandy-Suzanne Wong, Robbie Judkins, Colleen Plumb) [Re-Cast] appeared first on Phantom Power.2021-11-1936 minPhantom PowerR. Murray Schafer Pt. 2: Critiques & ContradictionsHow to think about the contradictory figure of R. Murray Schafer? A renegade scholar who used sound technology to create an entirely new field of study, even as he devalued the very tools of its trade. A gifted composer who … Continue reading →
The post R. Murray Schafer Pt. 2: Critiques & Contradictions appeared first on Phantom Power.2021-10-2946 minPhantom PowerR. Murray Schafer (1933-2021) Pt.1R. Murray Schafer recently passed away on August 14th 2021. If you’re someone who works with sound or enjoys sound art or experimental music–or you’ve just thrown around the word “soundscape”–you’ve probably engaged with his intellectual legacy. Schafer was one of … Continue reading →
The post R. Murray Schafer (1933-2021) Pt.1 appeared first on Phantom Power.2021-09-2834 min
Twenty Thousand HertzSonic Bubbles: Escaping noise, but at what cost?For over a century, humans have been using technology to shape our sonic environment. White noise machines, nature recordings, noise canceling headphones and high-tech hearables all allow us to create an auditory safe space we can escape into. But is it possible to have too much control over what you hear? Featuring media studies professor Mack Hagood.Follow Dallas on Instagram, TikTok, YouTube and LinkedIn.Join our community on Reddit and follow us on Facebook.Become a monthly contributor at 20k.org/donate.If you know what this wee...2021-09-0129 minPhantom Power“On Listening In” ft. Lawrence English (Re-cast)Today, in honor of World Listening Day, we rebroadcast our story on renowned Australian sound composer, media artist and curator Lawrence English. This episode of gets deep into English’s own listening practices as an artist, specifically a technique he calls … Continue reading →
The post “On Listening In” ft. Lawrence English (Re-cast) appeared first on Phantom Power.2021-07-1336 minPhantom PowerEmotional Rescue (Mack Hagood)What can sound technologies tell us about our relationship to media as a whole? This is one of the central questions in the research of Phantom Power‘s host, Mack Hagood. To find its answer, he studies devices that get little … Continue reading →
The post Emotional Rescue (Mack Hagood) appeared first on Phantom Power.2021-06-1432 minPhantom PowerLightning Birds (Jacob Smith)Today we present the first episode of Jacob Smith’s new eco-critical audiobook, Lightning Birds: An Aeroecology of the Airwaves. In this audio-only book, Smith uses expert production to craft a wildly original argument about the relations between radio and bird … Continue reading →
The post Lightning Birds (Jacob Smith) appeared first on Phantom Power.2021-05-1138 min
Medium RotationOmniaudience: Holy Ghosts, with Harmony HolidayHarmony Holiday, a writer, dancer, and archivist, joins Nikita Gale and Alexander Provan to speak about Black performers whose songs and struggles reflect the ongoing trauma of the “African holocaust.” They discuss the pressure to pander to white audiences as well as the impulse to seek a form of expression (and of being) that is chosen and not imposed by force. They listen to songs written and recorded by Holiday’s father, the soul singer Jimmy Holiday, as well as to Albert Ayler, Thelonious Monk, Billie Holiday, Amiri Baraka, and Kanye West.Holiday's essay “The Black Catatonic Scream,”...2021-04-2939 minPhantom PowerFor Some Odd Reason (Kate Carr)Today’s guest, Kate Carr, is an accomplished sound artist and field recordist whose recent work grapples with issues of communication and longing—themes we can all relate to in the Covid era. In part one of the show, we mark Phantom Power’s three-year … Continue reading →
The post For Some Odd Reason (Kate Carr) appeared first on Phantom Power.2021-04-1335 min
ASHA VoicesPortrayals of Hearing Loss on the Big ScreenThe Academy Award nominations are in, and one of this year’s contenders examines the emotional toll of sudden hearing loss. On this episode of ASHA Voices, we discuss how the movie “Sound of Metal” fits into a long history of hearing loss and tinnitus portrayals on the silver screen -- and what this can tell us about societal views.
Joining our panel are audiologists Peter Ivory and Michelle Hu, and author and media scholar Mack Hagood. The trio discuss past films and performances featuring people with hearing loss, and a sudden increase in on-screen tinnitus portrayals in the...2021-03-1832 minPhantom PowerVoice of Yoko (Amy Skjerseth on Yoko Ono)Today, Phantom Power‘s Amy Skjerseth brings us the story of perhaps the most famous vocal performance artist and avant-garde musician whose actual work probably doesn’t get the attention it deserves: Yoko Ono. Collaborator with the Fluxus group in the early … Continue reading →
The post Voice of Yoko (Amy Skjerseth on Yoko Ono) appeared first on Phantom Power.2021-03-1034 minPhantom PowerForest Listening Rooms (Brian Harnetty)What would happen if you took red state rural voters on a walk into the woods with left-wing environmental activists and experimental music fans? Our guest this episode knows the answer. BRIAN HARNETTY is a composer and an interdisciplinary artist … Continue reading →
The post Forest Listening Rooms (Brian Harnetty) appeared first on Phantom Power.2021-02-0937 minPhantom PowerHEY, ROBOT! (Frank Lantz)Today, we’re playing with voice assistants and thinking about the role of voices in gaming with our guest, game designer and NYU professor Frank Lantz. Over the past nightmare year of the coronavirus, many of us have been hunkered down, … Continue reading →
The post HEY, ROBOT! (Frank Lantz) appeared first on Phantom Power.2021-01-0825 minNew Books in MusicMack Hagood, "Hush: Media and Sonic Self-Control" (Duke UP, 2019)How have we used twentieth- and twenty-first-century sound technologies to carve out sonic space out of the hustle and bustle of contemporary life?In search for an answer, in this episode I speak with Mack Hagood, Blayney Associate Professor of Comparative Media Studies at Miami University, writer, and podcaster about his book, Hush: Media and Sonic Self-Control (Duke University Press, 2011).In Hush, Hagood examines a variety of twentieth- and twenty-first-century technologies of sonic self-control that includes nature recordings, clinical audiometric tools, and “sound conditioners” through to top-selling white noise apps and the noise-canceling headphones offered unde...2020-08-121h 21New Books in Sound StudiesMack Hagood, "Hush: Media and Sonic Self-Control" (Duke UP, 2019)How have we used twentieth- and twenty-first-century sound technologies to carve out sonic space out of the hustle and bustle of contemporary life?In search for an answer, in this episode I speak with Mack Hagood, Blayney Associate Professor of Comparative Media Studies at Miami University, writer, and podcaster about his book, Hush: Media and Sonic Self-Control (Duke University Press, 2011).In Hush, Hagood examines a variety of twentieth- and twenty-first-century technologies of sonic self-control that includes nature recordings, clinical audiometric tools, and “sound conditioners” through to top-selling white noise apps and the noise-canceling headphones offered unde...2020-08-121h 21New Books in Science, Technology, and SocietyMack Hagood, "Hush: Media and Sonic Self-Control" (Duke UP, 2019)How have we used twentieth- and twenty-first-century sound technologies to carve out sonic space out of the hustle and bustle of contemporary life?
In search for an answer, in this episode I speak with Mack Hagood, Blayney Associate Professor of Comparative Media Studies at Miami University, writer, and podcaster about his book, Hush: Media and Sonic Self-Control (Duke University Press, 2011).
In Hush, Hagood examines a variety of twentieth- and twenty-first-century technologies of sonic self-control that includes nature recordings, clinical audiometric tools, and “sound conditioners” through to top-selling white noise apps and the noise-canceling headphones offered under the commercially succesfull Bose and...2020-08-121h 21