Smithsonian Magazine published an excerpt from David Byrne's new book "How Music Works." According to Amazon, the book delves into how recording technology has changed the way we play, perform, and listen to music.

From the excerpt, it seems like a fascinating read, if you're interested in the anthropology of music and how it affects the brain. Anyway, his take on silence struck a cord with me, as I get really fed up with the constant, crappy, background noise that is a part of suburban life now.

"Technology has altered the way music sounds, how it’s composed and how we experience it. It has also flooded the world with music. The world is awash with (mostly) recorded sounds. We used to have to pay for music or make it ourselves; playing, hearing and experiencing it was exceptional, a rare and special experience. Now hearing it is ubiquitous, and silence is the rarity that we pay for and savor."
"In 1969, Unesco passed a resolution outlining a human right that doesn’t get talked about much—the right to silence. I think they’re referring to what happens if a noisy factory gets built beside your house, or a shooting range, or if a disco opens downstairs. They don’t mean you can demand that a restaurant turn off the classic rock tunes it’s playing, or that you can muzzle the guy next to you on the train yelling into his cellphone. It’s a nice thought though—despite our innate dread of absolute silence, we should have the right to take an occasional aural break, to experience, however briefly, a moment or two of sonic fresh air. To have a meditative moment, a head-clearing space, is a nice idea for a human right."


Lots of other good stuff there, he's obviously a very bright guy.



[www.smithsonianmag.com]

There is great value in silence....

It's a fascinating book, especially the chapter on the music business breaking down how much is made from record sales (not much) and so forth.

Like the old-time jazzers would say, You find the silence between each musical note.

But if the silence is recorded digitally is it a less quality of silence than that which was recorded analog or "not played" live? Can you tell the difference between silence recorded onto fatass 2 inch 2 track analog tape and the silence in an mp3 recording?

True silence can actually be terribly unnerving and unsettling. I have been in specially designed rooms which have 3 foot pyramids of foam on all the walls and ceiling and the lack of minute reflections (breathing ,etc) and perceived total silence make for a wierd aural experience.

Give me breaking waves, birdsong, crickets chirping and wind through the trees. This is the type of natural silence I find myself missing after a couple days in Manhattan. It all seems pretty relative to me.

Sounds like an interesting book in any case. peace

Amazon UK has a long excerpt available on "Look Inside":

[www.amazon.co.uk]

Looks like an interesting read: I think I'll splash out a fiver on the Kindle version.

Give me breaking waves, birdsong, crickets chirping and wind through the trees. This is

....sounds like you need those Wingless Angels albums Naturalust



ROCKMAN

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Naturalust
But if the silence is recorded digitally is it a less quality of silence than that which was recorded analog or "not played" live? Can you tell the difference between silence recorded onto fatass 2 inch 2 track analog tape and the silence in an mp3 recording?

True silence can actually be terribly unnerving and unsettling. I have been in specially designed rooms which have 3 foot pyramids of foam on all the walls and ceiling and the lack of minute reflections (breathing ,etc) and perceived total silence make for a wierd aural experience.

Give me breaking waves, birdsong, crickets chirping and wind through the trees. This is the type of natural silence I find myself missing after a couple days in Manhattan. It all seems pretty relative to me.

Sounds like an interesting book in any case. peace

Byrne references John Cage's experience in a sound proof room to address exactly what you're talking about Naturalust. Cage writes in his book "Silence" that after a while in the room he was able to hear the sound of his own heartbeat and central nervous system...

"he realized then that for human beings there was no such thing as true silence, and this anecdote became a way of explaining that he decided that rather than fighting to shut out the sounds of the world, to compartmentalize music as something outside of the noisy, uncontrollable world of sounds, he’d let them in: “Let sounds be themselves rather than vehicles for manmade theories or expressions of human sentiments.” Conceptually at least, the entire world now became music."


I quess that's where Cage's experimental music comes from but it ain't my cup of tea, I need a bit more structure than that.

I wish Byrne would learn how to work with the Talking Heads again.

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ChrisM
There is great value in silence....

Yes.

Please note: this is NOT aimed at any poster on iorr!

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Edith Grove
I wish Byrne would learn how to work with the Talking Heads again.

And me.

Last tour was the next best thing, doing some of the old songs.

Thanks for the tip, latebloomer. I really enjoyed Byrne's "Bicycle Diaries" and so I'm looking forward to reading this one.

Drew

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latebloomer
Cage writes in his book "Silence" that after a while in the room he was able to hear the sound of his own heartbeat and central nervous system...

.

I imagine if you could hear your body so intimately you could probably control it, change it and even heal it much quicker. There are some potentially useful medical and psychological methodologies that could come of such awareness. We all have something inside that needs fixin'.

Thanks bloomer. Facinating stuff for those of us driven by ear function. peace

I have always enjoyed The sounds of silence

There's this guy I know who is an awful guitar player. Just terrible.
I asked him if he could play Far Away.

True silence sounds much warmer on vinyl.



"As we say in England, it can get a bit trainspottery"

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Deltics
True silence sounds much warmer on vinyl.

And the representation of that silence (hiss, 33 1/3 rpm clicks, and even the EQ and other subtle differences that occur the first song to the last on that side of a spinning vinyl disk) have been marketed as Plug In's for many recording and listening platforms. You can even get an App to effect your listening on iPhones and mp3 players (they sound terrible to my ear).

The problem may be that only 5% of the information get to us in .mp3 format anyway so of course our ear is looking for something to be added.

I don't agree with Mr. Brrn that the technology will implode on itself where music is concerned, it's here to stay and part of the fabric, imho.

The innovation will come someday to put the true analog mack in digital music and it will be like Hendrix has just arrived or the first time you heard Gimme Shelter or CYHMK intros at proper volume. peace