A Statement on Sound Studies : (with apologies to Sergei Eisenstein, Vsevolod Pudovkin, and Grigori Alexandrov)

Abstract

Our cherished dreams of a robust field of sound studies are being realised. Musicology, having developed some of the earliest techniques for studying audio material, is now broadening its reach, applying its expertise to aural issues in film, pop music, television, and elsewhere. Cultural studies, likewise, is bringing its insights on reception, use, and audiences to sound-based concerns. With new journals (including this one) training their focus on sound, academic publishers releasing more audio-oriented research, and a burgeoning group of scholars from previously distinct fields mingling and sharing insights, sound studies may at last have found its voice.Those of us who work in film sound studies recognise that, given the long history of visually-oriented film scholarship, it is necessary and appropriate that much recent work in film sound has drawn as much (or more) on models originating outside cinema studies as it has on filmspecific theory. Historically, academic institutions have tended to privilege work from established fields; in the case of cinema sound, this has meant that approaches drawn from music, cultural studies, and elsewhere have provided the predominant analytical models. Indeed, we owe a great debt to the many scholars who have productively deployed the approaches from their own disciplines onto cinematic sound.At the same time, this is an opportune moment to make a statement on a number of theoretical principles about film sound, particularly as current scholarly work that relies solely on models from outside cinema may be hindering the development and improvement of a truly filmic model of sound studies.Here I offer four areas deserving consideration by scholars - whatever their nominal discipline - engaging with cinema and cinema sound. All of these issues would benefit greatly from the attention of researchers in musicology and/or cultural studies, but fall far enough outside the 'usual' boundaries of those fields to be frequently left out of work addressing film sound from these perspectives, potentially limiting that work's reach. These areas concern surround sound, production practices, the relationship between 'sound' and 'music', and the soundtrack as a unified object.Multi-channel SoundWhile 35mm film has remained a constant in the visual aspect of motion picture distribution, sound exhibition technologies have evolved significantly since the 1920s. Probably most noticeable among these is the introduction of the multi-channel soundtrack, which first appeared in the 1940s and has gone through several incarnations since then. Much work on film sound has treated 'the soundtrack' as a single element emanating from the screen, yet this approach has its limitations, particularly when studying movies with carefully constructed multi-channel soundscapes. Modern film soundtracks increasingly rely on multi-channel techniques to convey important spatial information, and on some occasions surround mixing strategies are even used to convey important plot information that goes unnoticed when played back in a monophonic or twochannel stereo environment. Just as it would be difficult to write about cinematography in The Wizard of Oz after watching it on a black-andwhite television, any analysis of a recent film soundtrack based on hearing the movie on a non-surround-equipped system will necessarily remain incomplete.This avenue of study offers huge potential, including research questions such as how the various audio channels work together and/or in conflict within the same movie; how surround sound changes the audience's experience of a movie; and why some people concern themselves with hearing movies in their intended soundtrack configuration while others do not (just as customer preferences differ on 'widescreen' versus 'fullscreen' image presentation). These last two questions, in particular, ought to be examined from a cultural studies perspective. Moreover, multi-channel sound is just one of several technological elements of film sound deserving study; other innovations - including recent changes like the rise of home theatre and increased viewing of movies on computers and portable media players - also beg analysis through lenses that incorporate both film theory and cultural studies. …