Noise for Airports

Vibrations and how they get to your ears.

Noise for airports is a blog about culture, sound, music, and technology.

You can filter the posts to see just things I wrote or made.

Updated (sometimes) by Nick Seaver.

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“The fact that applause was removed from recordings of live music suggests another factor in the transformation of the concert ritual: habits acquired through listening at home. Seated before the wireless or the gramophone, we grew accustomed to those brief bands of silence between movements. Perhaps this explains why resistance to the suppression of applause seemed to subside rather quickly in the thirties and forties.”

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Alex Ross just posted a PDF of a wonderful lecture on applause he gave at the Royal Philharmonic Society. If you’re interested in performance norms, public social discipline, or stories about Barack and Michelle, then you should read it. The social history of classical music performance is super interesting, especially for me in the ways it intersects with how people think of “live” music.

(via The Rest Is Noise)

Top Ten Glissandos

Sorry about the couple photo-less posts in a row, but you have to hear this: Alex Ross’s “Top Ten Glissandos.”

For maximum effect, press all the buttons in quick succession.

(via Unquiet Thoughts)