Constructing audio. A renewed analogy

Abstract

Our relationship with music changed radically throughout the past century. Once a fleeting and unrepeatable experience, it was captured by modern technology— sounds have become commodities ever since. The music of today is conceived as such: the production chain of modern soundscapes extends into the increasingly technological realm of recording, mixing, and mastering. Design, rendering, and execution are closely interwoven in the broader creative process. A new analogy emerges— one between sonic and tectonic production. Constructing Audio revolves around this subject matter: rather than indulging in the cosmic links between music and architecture as regards their composition, one further step is taken into the contemporary realm of the process. Being neither the account of some abstract relationship between spatial and sonic composition, nor any kind of literal juxtaposition of theirs (e.g. architectural acoustics), it aims but to call the attention to the affinities between the production of a soundscape and the construction of an architectural episode. By means of comparison and contrast, the linkage between the two is exposed first and foremost, an parallel forms of thinking are speculated thereafter. The narratives established in the theoretical part are only sparingly translated into demonstrations in the ensuing practical chapter, and intentionally so; the focal point of this thesis is a specific mindset that permeates the creative process as a whole, and not applied principles. It is only expected for its manifestations to be tacit in nature— their inherent qualities lie therein.