Capturing sound

There is more to sound recording than just recording sound. Far from being simply a tool for the preservation of music, the technology is a catalyst. This is the clear message of Capturing Sound, a wide-ranging, deeply informative, consistently entertaining history of recording's profound impact on the musical life of the past century, from Edison to the Internet. In a series of case studies, Mark Katz explores how recording technology has encouraged new ways of listening to music, led performers to change their practices, and allowed entirely new musical genres to come into existence [Publisher description]

Katz (musicology, Peabody Conservatory of The Johns Hopkins U.) provides a history of the effects of recording technology on the ways that people listen to, perform, and compose music. Following an overview of the nature of sound recording and the qualities that make the phonographic experience unique, Katz presents seven case studies, progressing more or less chronologically from the early-20th century to the early-21st century, investigating specific phonographic effects. The accompanying CD contains 13 tracks, from Chopin to Public Enemy, to enable readers to hear the concepts covered in the text. Academic but accessible to the general reader.