With apologies for cross-posting:
You are warmly invited to the following 'Directions in Musical Research' seminar this Thursday
25 October (Senate House, Room NG 14), 5-6.30pm
Francis Rumsey (Institute of Recorded Sound, University of Surrey)
Chair: Mark Levy (QMUL)
'The Talking Wonder will talk, sing, laugh, crow, whistle, repeat cornet solos...': evolving notions of fidelity in reproduced sound
Abstract
Many assume that sound recordings should provide a listening experience that is as close as possible to that of natural listening - perhaps to the 'concert hall' experience. Absolute fidelity to the natural or original environment, however, is rarely - if ever - achieved and may not even be desirable. Listening experiences afforded by reproduced music are potentially different from those in natural environments and could even be experienced as better or hyper-real. Furthermore, most commercially recorded music has no natural reference against which to compare it, since it has been created from scratch in a studio. In some contexts live performance is expected to be faithful to recorded music, rather than the other way around, and there is increasing use of interactive systems in which the user can influence the nature and quality of what is heard. Is there any longer a need for the idea of fidelity in reproduced sound? How should one judge the quality of a recording?
Francis Rumsey is Professor and Director of Research at the Institute of Sound Recording, University of Surrey. He runs an interdisciplinary research group that specialises in the psychoacoustics of sound quality and has led a number of EPSRC funded projects concerned with the evaluation and prediction of spatial sound quality. He is currently research advisor in psychoacoustics to NHK Science and Technology Research Centre in Tokyo. Aside from his scientific research, he is an organist, accompanist and choral singer.
Those of you interested in recordings might also like to note the AHRC-funded 'Research Training in Music' sessions on 29 October, for which places are still available (with travel expenses available for Music students attending from institutions outside London).
Monday 29 October
Research Training in Music (Senate House, Room N336)
11 - 1 Archives, Databases and Collections Paul Banks (RCM), Lisa Colton (Huddersfield)
2.15 - 4.15 Finding Recordings Timothy Day (KCL)
Open to postgraduate students in Music. Free of charge. Advance booking required
Booking form at www.music.sas.ac.uk or email Valerie James [log in to unmask]
Nearest tubes: Russell Square, Goodge Street, King's Cross, Tottenhman Court Road
Directions to individual seminar rooms are posted on the homepage at www.music.sas.ac.uk
Prof. Katharine Ellis
Institute of Musical Research
School of Advanced Study
University of London
Senate House
Malet Street
London WC1E 7HU
Tel: 020 7664 4866 (direct)
[log in to unmask]
|