Sound Affects

de Sharon Jane Mee, Bernd Herzogenrath, Luke Robinson, Patricia Pisters

"Sound Affects: A User's Guide is a collection of sonically charged concepts ranging from the vocal (whispers, sing, disembodied voice), to sounds at the threshold (knocking, thump, buzz), to sounds beyond the limits of audibility (tremors, distortion, sub-bass). Taking Yve-Alain Bois and Rosalind E. Krauss's Formless: A User's Guide (1997) as a model, Sound Affects invites the reader to reflect on the ways that sounds produce affects and the ways that affects can operate as sound. Each of the essays develop a particular perspective on sound and affect through a close analysis of audio-visual and/or sonic objects. The objects chosen not only illustrate the concept in question but also demonstrate how the object encourages us to rethink the relationships between sounds and affects. Influenced by the sound theory of Eugenie Brinkema (2011), the concepts of Sound Affects plot the shift in volume from silence that opens up a space to be heard to the audibly near, from the audibly near to sounds beyond the limits of audibility. Sound Affects is an intellectual adventure for those who theorize and listen. The book can also be enjoyed as a narrative of sounds, its absences, and its shifting intensities."--