Soundscape [Paperback]

Larry Sider (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 15, 2003

The School of Sound is a unique annual event exploring the use of sound in film, which has attracted practitioners, academics and artists from around the world. Soundscape is the first compendium of the event's presentations that investigate the modern soundtrack and the ways sound combines with image in both art and entertainment. The many contributors include directors David Lynch and Mike Figgis; Oscar-winning sound designer Walter Murch (Apocalypse Now); composer Carter Burwell (Coen Brothers); theorists Laura Mulvey and Michel Chion; critic Peter Wollen; film-makers Mani Kaul and Peter Kubelka; music producer Manfred Eicher and poet Tom Paulin.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Larry Sider is Director of the School of Sound and Head of Production at the National Film and Television School (UK). He has been a film editor and sound designer for 25 years and has contributed to Filmwaves, Framework, Vertigo and several professional periodicals.

Product Details

• Paperback: 224 pages
• Publisher: Wallflower Press (May 15, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1903364590
• ISBN-13: 978-1903364598
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.7 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,536,190 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Lots of Sound Ideas, September 23, 2003

By 

Thomas Dukich (Spokane, WA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Soundscape (Paperback)

I would guess that if you are a "sound professional" you will likely be familiar with much of the content in this book, or at least will have well-developed opinions about what's discussed. For non-professionals like me, this book provided a wealth of theories, ideas, explanations, suggestions, and examples--something I thought didn't exist until I ran across a reference to it in the art magazine, Modern Painters. It's not a "how-to book". Even so, it's a book that gave and will continue to give me plenty of ideas about different ways of integrating sound and SILENCE into my video projects. Even if you don't intent to make videos or movies yourself, this book will give you clearer notions about sound theory that will help crystallize what you might have already grasped intuitively but couldn't put into words, e.g., the notion that music is a vector. It's also about how the sound track for some well know movies was developed, Apocalypse Now, for example, and how the movie business works with regard to sound and the music score.

There are chapters by David Lynch, Walter Murch, Randy Thom and other accomplished editors, directors, and sound designers. Just the chapters by Murch, Lynch, and Thom are worth the cost of the book! There are a couple of pretentious chapter authors but they are quickly discovered within the first few pages of reading and can then be easily skipped without consequence. Similar to silence, these dud chapters stand out all the more because they're in the context of such outstanding ones.

Here are a few of the conclusions I came away with after reading the book. Silence can exist only to the extent that the possibility of sound is present. Silence is a metaphor for thought and can also induce thought in the viewer. Music sound loops can be disconcerting because they don't lead us anywhere. It's not just my hearing, many Hollywood movies have poorly produced sound tracks! Sound is 50% (or more) of a movie. Sound can determine what you see and vice versa. Dialog needs to be understood even if it's not important for the story.

If you are making videos or movies of any kind or are an artist interested in incorporating sound into you work, this book is a real find. The same is true if you are just interested in film or if you are a movie reviewer. It's one of those books that caused me to both see and hear movies, and the world for that matter, in a different and more enchanting way. What more could a person ask of any book.