Limit this search to....

Echo and Reverb: Fabricating Space in Popular Music Recording, 1900-1960
Contributor(s): Doyle, Peter (Author)
ISBN: 0819567949     ISBN-13: 9780819567949
Publisher: Wesleyan University Press
OUR PRICE:   $25.60  
Product Type: Paperback - Other Formats
Published: December 2005
Qty:
Annotation: Echo and Reverb is the first history of acoustically imagined space in popular music recording. The book documents how acoustic effects--reverberation, room ambience, and echo--have been used in recordings since the 1920s to create virtual sonic architectures and landscapes. Author Peter Doyle traces the development of these acoustically-created worlds from the ancient Greek myth of Echo and Narcissus to the dramatic acoustic architectures of the medieval cathedral, the grand concert halls of the 19th century, and those created by the humble parlor phonograph of the early 20th century, and finally, the revolutionary age of rock 'n' roll.
Citing recordings ranging from Gene Austin's 'My Blue Heaven' to Elvis Presley's 'Mystery Train, ' Doyle illustrates how non-musical sound constructs, with all their rich and contradictory baggage, became a central feature of recorded music. The book traces various imagined worlds created with synthetic echo and reverb--the heroic landscapes of the cowboy west, the twilight shores of south sea islands, the uncanny alleys of dark cityscapes, the weird mindspaces of horror movies, the private and collective spaces of teen experience, and the funky juke-joints of the mind.
Additional Information
BISAC Categories:
- Music | Genres & Styles - Pop Vocal
- Music | Recording & Reproduction
Dewey: 781.641
LCCN: 2005013310
Series: Music/Culture
Physical Information: 0.93" H x 6.1" W x 9.02" (1.01 lbs) 304 pages
Themes:
- Chronological Period - 20th Century
 
Descriptions, Reviews, Etc.
Publisher Description:
The untold story of acoustic effects in popular music.

Winner of the Association for Recorded Sound Collections' (ARSC) Award for Excellence in Historical Recorded Sound Research (2006)

Echo and Reverb is the first history of acoustically imagined space in popular music recording. The book documents how acoustic effects--reverberation, room ambience, and echo--have been used in recordings since the 1920s to create virtual sonic architectures and landscapes. Author Peter Doyle traces the development of these acoustically-created worlds from the ancient Greek myth of Echo and Narcissus to the dramatic acoustic architectures of the medieval cathedral, the grand concert halls of the 19th century, and those created by the humble parlor phonograph of the early 20th century, and finally, the revolutionary age of rock 'n' roll.

Citing recordings ranging from Gene Austin's 'My Blue Heaven' to Elvis Presley's 'Mystery Train, ' Doyle illustrates how non-musical sound constructs, with all their rich and contradictory baggage, became a central feature of recorded music. The book traces various imagined worlds created with synthetic echo and reverb--the heroic landscapes of the cowboy west, the twilight shores of south sea islands, the uncanny alleys of dark cityscapes, the weird mindspaces of horror movies, the private and collective spaces of teen experience, and the funky juke-joints of the mind.