Transformed Sound as Personal Construct

Abstract

To better understand the function of sound within electronic music it is inevitable to consider the way composers and performers talk about such sound and its different qualities. An attempt to classify sound is a logical consequence of the desire to orient oneself in a vast field of possibilities. It remains difficult, however, to relate such a classification to the intuitive way we talk about sound. Heavily influenced by our individual upbringing, cultural and musical environment and, perhaps most strongly, by our peers in the creation and performance of music, words verbalised in relation to sound and music invite a systematic investigation. This article exemplifies such an investigation, attempting the elicitation and structuring of a vocabulary from eight musically trained individuals in a two-stage experiment. The words examined here are concerned with sounds created by transformation of acoustic sources through electronic processing methods.