NS6.1.art_hendy_sd_15.10.15.pdf (250.51 kB)
Distant echoes: evoking the soundscapes of the past in the radio documentary series Noise: a human history
journal contribution
posted on 2023-06-08, 22:51 authored by David HendyThis article asks whether radio can ever successfully evoke an accurate sense of the sound of the past. It does so through a reflective critical analysis of the 2013 BBC Radio 4 documentary series, Noise: A Human History, by its own writer and presenter. It explores how the ‘sound design’ of the series met the challenge of providing a longue durée history of sound without having recourse to authentic sound archive recordings for most of the period being covered. Through an analysis of key sequences, and by highlighting the significance of the broader context of production, it argues that it is possible for epistemologically valuable history to emerge, even via a medium that treats sound more as a device for evoking the imagination than as something possessing evidential status in itself. The article does this by invoking the series as a practical example of ‘historical acoustemology’, and by suggesting that in radio notions of subjectivity and perceptual mimesis are key to understanding the medium's success. In doing so, the article calls for a redefinition of the notion of the radiogenic – arguing for a move away from seeing ‘raw’ sound as the key ingredient of sound design, and towards greater attention to the influence of radio's other characteristics as a time-based, institutionally-produced mass medium.
History
Publication status
- Published
File Version
- Accepted version
Journal
The New SoundtrackISSN
2042-8855Publisher
Edinburgh University PressExternal DOI
Issue
1Volume
6Page range
29-49Department affiliated with
- Media and Film Publications
Full text available
- Yes
Peer reviewed?
- Yes
Legacy Posted Date
2015-10-20First Open Access (FOA) Date
2016-04-19First Compliant Deposit (FCD) Date
2015-10-20Usage metrics
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