ENGL 392
Section S24N01
(January 8, 2024 – April 15, 2024)
Professor Paul Watkins
Email: Paul.Watkins@viu.ca
Office Hours: Tuesdays and Thursdays 2-3 pm or by appointment
Class: 345.208, 4-5:10 pm

“Sound is to people what the sun is to light.” 

—Ornette Coleman 

In thinking through sound and digital humanities, Johnathan Sterne defines “sound studies” as “a name for the interdisciplinary ferment in the human sciences that takes sound as its analytical point of departure or arrival.” Sterne’s open definition asks us to think sonically about the crucial role that sound plays in our experiences of culture, media, and life. ENGL 392 delves into the foundational nature of sound through the exploration of audio archives, the acquisition of soundwriting skills, the analysis and remixing of audio, and the creation of audio projects tailored to your interests in sound, music, and literature.

Required Text:

  • Soundwriting: A Guide to Making Audio Projects by Rodrique and Stedman (paperback or eBook)
  • Other Readings are free and on VIULearn or the course blog
  • A recording device (even a phone) and Audacity (or similar)

Evaluation:

  • Participation 10%
  • Remixes (x5) 10%
  • Short Sound Project 10%
  • Annotated Bibliography 10%
  • Presentation 20%
  • Final Project/ Reflexive Essay 40%

See the course outline on VIULearn for a detailed breakdown of assignments.

Useful Websites, Sound Effects, Links:

Music

Tutorials/Other Resources

ENGL 392 Playlist
Student Mix

Proposed Schedule

This schedule is subject to change. Please complete any readings before class. Other than the textbook, most readings are on VIULearn unless noted. 

I. Intro to Digital Humanities and Sound Studies

Jan 9, Course Intro

  • Intro to Digital Humanities, Sound Studies, and Remix
  • REMIX: Field Recording and Sharing (in-class)

Jan 11, Sound Studies

  • Readings: Sterne, “Sonic Imaginations,” Watkins, “A Digital Humanities Remix Essay,” and Ceraso, “Sound Practices for Digital Humanities” 
  • Intro to Audacity (part one) [online help]; bring a computer
  • A Tale of Two Soundscapes
  • Sharon Daniel, Public Secrets

Jan 16, Music is History

  • Readings: Sterne, “The Audible Past” (excerpt) and Questlove, “Music is History” (excerpt) 
  • Intro to Audacity (part two) [training videos]; bring a computer

Project: Re-orienting Sound Studies’ Aural Fixation: Christine Sun Kim’s “Subjective Loudness”

Jan 18, Sound, Surveillance, and Public Space

II. Soundwriting: Practical Applications

Jan 23, Soundwriting

  • Reading: Chapter One: “Sound, Soundwriting, and Rhetoric”
  • REMIX 1: sound effects (do activity 1.2 on page 24 at home before class, upload to VIULearn)
  • Radiolab, “Nina“
  • Discussion of Short Sound Project

Jan 25, Soundwriting

Jan 30, Soundwriting

  • Reading: Chapter Three: “A Toolbox of Choices” (89-107); See “Machine-Aided Close Listening” (blog)
  • REMIX 2: Recording Voice (do activities 3.1 OR 3.2 on pp. 98-99 at home before class, upload to VIULearn)

Feb 1, Soundwriting

  • Reading: Chapter Three continued: “A Toolbox of Choices” (107-133)
  • REMIX 3: Choose one—Playing with Sound Effects (3.5, pp.113-114, choose any lyrics from a poem or song) or Playing with Silence (3.7, 121-122). Upload one to VIULearn.
  • Video Clip: No Country for Old Men

Feb 6, Soundwriting

  • Reading: Chapter Four: “Planning and Gathering Sounds”
  • Remix 4: “Writing a Pitch” (4.8, 151, submit your pitch for the short sound project, upload to VIULearn). 

Feb 8, Soundwriting

  • Reading: Chapter Five: “Editing, Revising, and Sharing” 
  • Remix 5: 1-2 min clip from your project (must be layered and edited). Upload to VIULearn.

Feb 13, Soundwriting Projects

  • Class project time (bring a computer)

Feb 15, Soundwriting Projects

  • Submission and Sharing of Sound Projects

Feb 20 and 22, Week 7: No Class, Reading Week

III. From the Archive to the Living Remix

Feb 27, Critical Ethnography and Archives 

  • Reading: Beasley, “Performing Zora” and Bradley, “Becoming OutKasted”
  • Discussion of Presentations and Projects

Feb 29, Gender and Sound

  • Reading: Carson, “The Gender of Sound”; L’Abbè poems, “VIII,” “XCIII,” “CXXVII” 
  • How a Poem Moves

March 5, Sound of Metal

  • Reading, Murch, “Womb Tone” and Friedner and Helmreich, “Sound Studies Meet Deaf Studies”
  • Introduce and start Marder, Sound of Metal

March 7, Sound of Metal

  • Screening: Marder, Sound of Metal

March 12, Sound of Metal

  • Finish and Discuss: Marder, Sound of Metal

March 14, Mechanical Reproduction

March 19, Time Remixed 

  • Reading: Dilla Time (excerpt), DJ Spooky, Rhythm Science (excerpt), Jones, “The Year in ‘Re-’”
  • REMIX: Mix two unlikely sources—visual or audio (part of participation grade)

March 21 (signup for presentations), 26, 28, and April 2: Project Time 

April 4, Presentations

April 9, Presentations

April 11, Presentations

  • Project and Paper due on VIULearn by April 12 at 11:59 pm