Future of Spaces and
"Modern Sound"
One of the first things we talked about was how Smith was able to put together information “from architectural acoustics, linguistics, and psycho-acoustics [to conclude] that scripts written by Shakespeare and other writers for the outdoor amphitheaters were designed to capitalize on those spaces’ distinctive sound qualities” (Smith 24). In the 1800s, a bell “helped to create a territorial identity for individuals living in range of its sound”. Sound was what rooted people to a certain environment and was a part of the identity of the people who lived there (Corbin 117). The sounds of the early times were dependent on the spaces. People couldn’t really manipulate sound how we are able to manipulate the environment.
For over 100 years after this, sounds were still dependent on the space in which they would be heard. Fast forward to New York in the 1900s. The Radio City Music Hall opened and this was revolutionary to modern sound. One of the biggest differences about this sound was that when listening to something in the Hall you weren’t hearing the peoples’ natural voices, you were hearing “their reproduction as rendered by loudspeakers” (Thompson 231). Sound wasn’t dependent solely on the space because technology enabled this transformation of sound.
Over the course of the 1920s, electrically amplified phonographs and radio loudspeakers became popular for in-home entertainment. Thompson said that “Radios, electrically amplified phonographs, public address systems, and sound motion pictures transformed the sound scape by introducing auditors not only to electrically reproduced sound but also to new ways of listening” (233). Koss stereo headphones introduced in the 1950s added another way of listening.
The stereo headphones were the next step in the evolution of modern sound. You didn't need a big space (like a music hall) that was designed for listening. While the headphones were designed for a certain kind of listening in their own right, you didn't need an entire building that was designed to hear the music through them. They were revolutionary because they only depended on themselves and a music player which a lot of people were staring to have in their homes anyways.
With the introduction of the headphones, music was no longer something you had to share with others. After Koss' stereo headphones, competitors caught on and today we have more headphones to choose from than we could possibly use.
For over 100 years after this, sounds were still dependent on the space in which they would be heard. Fast forward to New York in the 1900s. The Radio City Music Hall opened and this was revolutionary to modern sound. One of the biggest differences about this sound was that when listening to something in the Hall you weren’t hearing the peoples’ natural voices, you were hearing “their reproduction as rendered by loudspeakers” (Thompson 231). Sound wasn’t dependent solely on the space because technology enabled this transformation of sound.
Over the course of the 1920s, electrically amplified phonographs and radio loudspeakers became popular for in-home entertainment. Thompson said that “Radios, electrically amplified phonographs, public address systems, and sound motion pictures transformed the sound scape by introducing auditors not only to electrically reproduced sound but also to new ways of listening” (233). Koss stereo headphones introduced in the 1950s added another way of listening.
The stereo headphones were the next step in the evolution of modern sound. You didn't need a big space (like a music hall) that was designed for listening. While the headphones were designed for a certain kind of listening in their own right, you didn't need an entire building that was designed to hear the music through them. They were revolutionary because they only depended on themselves and a music player which a lot of people were staring to have in their homes anyways.
With the introduction of the headphones, music was no longer something you had to share with others. After Koss' stereo headphones, competitors caught on and today we have more headphones to choose from than we could possibly use.