Introducción a la sección especial
The Institute of Sonology
En 1956, a studio for electronic music was opened within the acoustics depart-
ment of Philips Research Laboratories. The productions made in this studio emphasized
functional music for (animated) película, ballet and exhibition areas and “popular” music for
gramophone records.
Philips decided in 1960 that the Research Laboratories could no longer house a studio,
which was becoming more a workplace for composers and less a means of meeting direct
corporate needs. After exploration of the possibilities for continuing the studio with various
organizaciones, it was finally transferred to Utrecht University, where it was housed in a small
portion of the Atlanta building on the Plompetorengracht. Initially, there was significant
influence from Philips and no clear artistic direction.
En 1964, Gottfried Michael Koenig became artistic director of what was originally called Stu-
dio for Electronic Music (STEM). Under his leadership, STEM grew to be a studio complex
that occupied the entire Atlanta building and achieved fame as an institute for production,
education and research.
International attention to the institute increased in 1971 with the arrival of a PDP-15 com-
puter, which was used to develop programs for algorithmic composition and digital sound
synthesis. Computer programs such as Project 1, Proyecto 2 and SSP (by Koenig), PILE (Pablo
Iceberg), MIDIM/VOSIM (Stan Tempelaars/Werner Kaegi) and POD (Barry Truax) are land-
marks in the history of computer music.
In the area of voltage-control technique in the analog studios, The Institute of Sonology
continued to design and build new equipment. This tradition continues today and interfaces
for live electronic music are designed and built in the electronics workshop as well.
En 1986, the Institute of Sonology was incorporated into the Royal Conservatory in the
la Haya. In addition to the 1-year course, a 4-year conservatory major and a 2-year masters
program are offered. The educational program deals with: electronic music production, digi-
tal sound synthesis, algorithmic composition, computer programming, spatial concepts of
sound, field recording, sound installations, voltage control technique, live electronic music,
psychoacoustics, history of electronic music and music theory.
Today the staff of the Institute of Sonology of consists of: Richard Barrett, Justin Bennett,
Paul Berg, Raviv Ganchrow, Johan van Kreij, Peter Pabon, Joel Ryan and Kees Tazelaar [1].
The papers selected here were written by former students of the Sonology Masters program
as part of their final examination. I have selected them on the basis of their quality and origi-
nality, while at the same time intending to present an overview of some of the key elements
of the Sonology curriculum: algorithmic composition, sound synthesis and spatial aspects of
sound and sound reproduction. Particularly of interest to me is the fact that all these writers’
research has great influence on their practical work as artists. It drives them into unknown
territories while at the same time providing them with a framework and criteria to give their
explorations a clear direction instead of amounting to a mere “wandering around.”
I hope that the readers of LMJ will enjoy these papers as much as I have.
Kees Tazelaar
Section Guest Editor
Institute of Sonology
Royal Conservatory
The Hague, Países Bajos
©2009 ISAST
LEONARDO MUSIC JOURNAL, volumen. 19, páginas. 69–70, 2009 69
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Kees Tazelaar (born 27 Julio 1962) studied at the Institute of Sonology and at the Royal Conservatory in The Hague,
graduating in 1993. Since then Tazelaar has taught at the Institute of Sonology, becoming head of the institute in June
2006. His work is dedicated to electronic music for fixed media in various multichannel playback formats and wave field
synthesis. In addition to his own works, he has contributed to music-theater projects by Dick Raaijmakers and Theatergroep
Hollandia. He has also produced reconstructed versions of compositions by Gottfried Michael Koenig, Jan Boerman,
Edgard Varèse, Iannis Xenakis, György Ligeti and Luctor Ponse. During the winter semester of 2005–2006, Tazelaar
filled the Edgard Varèse guest professorship at the Technical University of Berlin. See also
Nota
1. For more information see
70 Special Section Introduction
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a b s t r a c t
The late 1920s yielded the
development and construction
of several large-scale “sound
mirrors,” along the southeastern
coast of Britain, aimed at inter-
cepting sounds of approaching
aircraft outside the visual range.
A central mode in the design
of these long-range listening
devices emphasizes a sonic
paradigm in which frequencies
are considered in terms of cor-
responding physical sizes. Por
examining the case of the sound
mirrors as a formative moment
within the broader reconfigura-
tion of listening habits, el
author attempts to locate a
shift in the grasp of space that
occurs when an optic model
of viewing is replaced with an
acoustic model of listening,
exposing a condition in which
the close-at-hand and the far-off
momentarily coincide.
Architecture’s acoustic focusing
capacities have been known since
the examples of “whispering galler-
ies” from antiquity. Sound transmis-
sion along curvilinear structures at
times converges into focal zones
due to the reflective properties
curved surfaces exert upon fluid dy-
namics. As early as the 1922 edition
of Wallace C. Sabine’s Collected Pa-
pers on Acoustics, it is stated that even
a standard wall surface will reflect,
on average, 96% of the incoming
acoustic energy, in contrast with the
best silvered mirrors, whose reflec-
tion of light rarely exceeds 90% [4]. In the example of a dome,
which approximates a sphere, any source sound that is trans-
mitted from the center will create an echo that will refocus at
the center point almost without energy loss.
Numerous examples of whispering galleries have been
documented as far back as the 4th century BC, when an S-
shaped cavern at Syracuse, Sicily, was said to have been used
as a pan-aural prison [5]. Along the apex of the cave runs
a conical duct leading to a concealed room at the far end
of the cavern, wherein all the reverberating sounds of the
prison could be heard. The surveillance principle echoes
the more familiar example of Jeremy Bentham’s Panopticon
prison yet it is founded upon aural capacities instead of those
of vision. Despite the prospects of intentionally incorporat-
ing such properties in architectural design, most examples of
whispering galleries are thought to be flukes of construction
Higo. 1. acoustic reflective properties of a 20-ft sound mirror at
abbots cliffs. (illustration ©raviv Ganchrow)
s p e c i a l s e c t i o N
Perspectives on Sound-Space:
The Story of Acoustic Defense
Raviv Ganchrow
armatureS of liStening
Today’s epistemologies of listening are not part of a premedi-
tated advancement but rather the results of cultural and social
habits formed in immense fragmentary fields of interaction
[1]. Although it can be said that the physiological capacities
of the ear are for the most part unchanging, the scope of “lis-
tening” remains fundamentally vague. “Listening,” in terms of
attention-to-sounds-heard, inherently expresses the categories
we choose to extract from audible (and inaudible) eventful-
ness. Tuning in to such categories may also reveal the mean-
ings we tend to reversibly invest in matters of vibrations.
A history of listening (if such a history could ever be pal-
pably revealed) would demonstrate the extent to which the
characteristics of our audible worlds are historically and con-
textually constituted [2]. An attempt to decipher the contem-
porary armatures of listening would no doubt unfold along
mellifluous and unpredictable lines, tracing the unintentional
undercurrents set forth in the wake of pragmatic innovation.
It is my hunch that in order to grasp such modalities of “sonic
attention” it is imperative not to separate the cultural and sci-
entific fields in which sonic attitudes are formed but rather to
investigate the eclectic domain of practices, artifacts and pe-
ripheral influences operating upon the malleable structures of
escuchando. The following account of acoustic defense provides
a compelling artifact from our audible past—one in which
particular configurations of listening are created in the devel-
opment of long-range listening devices placed along the south-
eastern coast of Britain. I propose to consider this example as
a solitary instance within much broader reconfigurations of
listening occurring in the late 19th and early 20th century.
acouStic defenSe
During World War I, and in the years leading up to World
Segunda Guerra, Britain was involved in a wide-scale project of acous-
tic defense [3]. The research aimed to locate enemy gunfire
and aircraft movements by way of various listening devices.
In this footnote to military history, there is only a minor role
delegated to electronic technology; en cambio, research focused
on the physical acoustics and reflective properties of rigid sur-
faces. Before the advent of sophisticated radar detection sys-
tems, surveillance was limited to information gathered directly
by way of sight and hearing, and these initial sound-ranging
devices extended the in-built listening capacities of the human
sensory apparatus, at times to the scale of buildings.
Raviv Ganchrow (artist, architect), c/o Kees Tazelaar, Koninklijk Conservatorium, Juliana
van Stolberglaan 1, 2595 CA Den Haag, Los países bajos. Correo electrónico:
This article is an excerpt from “Sound-Space,” the author’s thesis presented at the Institute
of Sonology, Den Haag.
©2009 Raviv Ganchrow
LEONARDO MUSIC JOURNAL, volumen. 19, páginas. 71–75, 2009 71
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funnel, channeling sound through an at-
tached stethoscope (Figs 1 y 3).
Of primary concern for the designers
were the frequency components emitted
by the aircraft. De este modo, the dramatic scale
that these concrete dishes attained was
directly related to the physical size of the
frequencies that the dishes attempted to
detect.
It has long been known that the most pen-
etrating sounds for long distance trans-
mission are the lowest pitched sounds
with the greatest wavelength. Whereas
el 30 ft. mirrors are very efficient for
waves up to 3 ft. más o menos, correspondiente a
the middle of the pianoforte scale, el
sounds we wish to deal with have waves
de 15 a 18 pies, and tend to become
inaudible to the ear. This involves the
extension of mirror surface to about
10 times that hitherto employed. El
other dimensions are to be extended 10
fold. . . . Since for long distance listening
of this type the elevation angle will be
pequeño, the vertical mirror dimensions can
be reduced [8].
In other words, the dish structures
were literally tuned to the physical size
of the enemy aircraft’s fundamental fre-
quencies; these being deep rumble tones
with superior transmission properties. A
effectively pick up these 15- to 18-ft-long
wavelengths, the equivalent of approxi-
mately 60–70 Hz [9], the most ambitious
construction project was undertaken
within the development of sound mir-
rors. En 1929, a 200-ft strip sound mirror,
26 ft high, with a double radius of a cur-
vature of 150 ft and flanked by a sloping
forecourt, was erected at Denge (Higo. 2).
The surface area of this concave wall was
extended to such a size that the swinging
funnel collector and stethoscope used in
previous constructions were replaced by
a patrol of walking listeners.
The forecourt of the strip mirror was
divided into triangular patrol zones cor-
responding to ranges of azimuths, ex-
tending out over the open sea. The focal
point of incoming sounds was deter-
mined to occur along a designated arc at
the front of the structure. Each quadrant
was to be silently patrolled by a trained
listener equipped with rubber shoes and
nonabrasive clothing. Además, a re-
taining wall was constructed at the front
of the forecourt to reduce wind noise.
One report even describes “lateral can-
vas curtains” that were to be placed on
either side of the mirror to further re-
duce incidental noise. No photographic
records support this claim, but one can
only imagine the curious ceremonial ap-
pearance of the fully operational site.
The early 1930s marked the peak of
Higo. 2. 200-ft sound mirror at Denge, Kent coast, REINO UNIDO., 2005. (photo © raviv Ganchrow)
rather than premeditated intentions of
diseño. Even in the case of the “Diony-
sian Ear” mentioned above, the cavern
originally functioned as a quarry and
was only later reputedly converted into a
prison.
En este sentido, Britain’s acoustic defense
project is exemplary of premeditation in
that it constitutes a deliberate attempt to
harness airborne vibrations by means of
construction. In contrast to the case of
whispering galleries, the development
of acoustic sound mirrors incorporated
a refined understanding of sound-wave
propagation and reflection, oriented
toward a narrowly defined subject of re-
ception, a saber, a certain range of wave-
lengths. Two types of listening dishes
were developed over the course of the
proyecto: One was deeper, with parabolic
propiedades; the other shallow, with spheri-
cal curvature [6]. In order for them to
function properly, sounds had to arrive
perpendicular to the opening of the
parabolic dish, while the mirrors based
on spherical sections were able to pick up
sounds traveling obliquely to the surface
of the dish. These defining characteris-
tics led, Por un lado, to the devel-
opment of rotating parabolic dishes,
adjustable to the direction of incoming
signals, and on the other, to the construc-
tion of large fixed dishes called “sound
mirrors.” The first documented fixed
construction sound mirrors in Britain’s
acoustic defense project date to around
1915 [7].
Stationary sound mirrors were con-
ceived as part of an early warning sys-
tema, operating as long-range listening
devices aimed at intercepting sounds of
approaching aircraft outside the visual
range. The problem the project sought
to overcome was that of amplification:
By the time distant aircraft sounds had
reached the coast, the propeller and en-
gine rumble had faded to such an extent
that it was no longer audible to the naked
ear. The solution was somehow to col-
lect the incoming vibrations and refocus
their energy back into audibility. This was
done by means of the reflective proper-
ties of curved surfaces. Waves reflected
off the concave spherical surface of such
a mirror form a hemispherical zone of
wave enhancement midway between the
mirror’s center of curvature and the sur-
face of the dish, called the caustic. Cualquier
incoming signal becomes focused at a
point upon the caustic that sits perpen-
dicular to the incident angle, extending
along a line that passes through the cen-
ter of curvature.
Nearly all the mirrors built along the
narrow stretch of Britain’s coastline,
from Suffolk in the north to Dungeness
in the south, were based on spherical sec-
tion design. Initial attempts at long-range
listening began at Joss Gap, where bowl-
shaped excavations were directly carved
out of the chalk cliffs as early as 1918.
Later efforts were focused at Hythe, Ab-
bots Cliff and then Denge, on the Kent
coast, in what was to become the head-
quarters for the Air Defense Experimen-
tal Establishment. In the marshlands
extending toward the seaside, an assort-
ment of freestanding cast concrete dishes
were constructed and tested, including a
20-ft version and a 30-ft half-sphere “lis-
tener,” complete with a submerged listen-
ing chamber and rotating funnel. De
within the chamber, personnel could
scan the mirror’s caustic by way of the
72 Ganchrow, Perspectives on Sound-Space
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outcome is a reorientation of correspon-
dences between sound, temporality and
perception whereby a “viewer” becomes
a “listener,” signaling a reorientation in
the site of experience.
En tono rimbombante, an idea of space that was
previously deemed to be the outcome of
a network of relations between dispersed
objects within a visual field is foreshad-
owed by the space of the interval it-
self—in other words a registration of the
micro-spacing between successive fluctu-
ations constituting an ongoing pulsation
of appearances. Under the influence of
the mirror, the commonsense Cartesian
framework in which solitary, identifiable
sounds are seen to occupy coordinates
within an otherwise empty “space” sub-
sequently dissolves into a more primary
continuum of pulsating phased-space
[10]. An understanding of sound as a
pre-cognized state of crisscrossing inter-
ference patterns is embedded within the
anatomy of the mirror itself. This trait
of the mirror is established by consider-
ing frequencies in material terms and by
imagining the peaks and troughs of vi-
bration in terms of their corresponding
physical sizes.
The idea of phased-space effectively
opens a portal into an impalpable realm
of acoustic phase interactions where the
patterning of abstract wave undulations
perpetuates a secondary spatiality ema-
nating from coordinated acts of listening
and where the “distant” is foreshadowed
by an immersive space of sonic eventful-
ness. The outcome suggests a loosening
of the meaning-reflex through which
sonic entities seemingly coincide with
their opto-spatialized sources of emission.
In terms of the “site” addressed by the
structure of the mirrors, their technical
functioning also serves to redefine their
own architectonic extents: In this case
the “tectonic limits” are broken open to
include an extensive territory of influ-
ence. In architectural terms, the 200-ft
strip mirror extends well beyond its vis-
ible form by plumbing a malleable space
between the wall and a remote resonat-
ing object. The result is a structure that
relates very precisely to an expanse 84˚
in width (the listening aperture width
for this particular mirror design) y
aproximadamente 128 sec long (the time it
would take an emitted sound from the
furthest possible position in the listening
range to reach the surface of the mirror);
the territory that corresponds to the lis-
tening extent of the 200-ft wall. Semejante
implicit territorializing of a seemingly
“limitless” panoramic expanse is no bet-
ter illustrated than in a map proposing
the coordinated network of strip mirrors
along the southeastern coastline of Brit-
ain (Higo. 4) [11].
materiality of frequencieS
One apparent departure from prevalent
sonic modalities embodied within the
original sound mirrors relates to a spa-
tial materialization of sound. The devel-
opment of sound mirrors could not have
been undertaken without a correspond-
ing shift in thinking about sound outside
of the way sounds are perceived—more
específicamente, toward thinking about fre-
quencies in terms of physical sizes.
Once sound is conceived in its dimen-
sional attributes, this also facilitates the
Higo. 3. 30-ft sound mirror at Denge, Kent coast, REINO UNIDO., 2005. (photo © raviv Ganchrow)
military acoustic research. After the com-
pletion of six large-scale mirrors, a pro-
posal was drafted for an extensive early
warning network, with mirrors placed at
16-mile increments forming a “listening
shield” extending from East Anglia in the
north to Dorset in the south. Sin embargo,
the plan was never realized. De hecho, sound
mirrors never developed beyond the ex-
perimental stage due to the discovery of
a more powerful means of aircraft detec-
ción. En 1936, an airplane flying along
the coast of Norfolk was pinpointed by
means of Radio Direction Finding (RDF)
at a distance that far exceeded the range
attained by the mirrors. This event ef-
fectively sealed the fate of the acoustic
defense project and announced the birth
of radar.
tactile perception
The border occupied by the sound mir-
rors, between whispering galleries and
advanced imaging technologies, argu-
ably demarcates a paradigmatic shift in
perceptual relations. A subtext to the
development of the mirrors is the shift
in observational methods away from the
optic model of the telescope (wherein
the eye is seen to extend into a “stable”
landscape) to the radiant model of inter-
ferometry (wherein a point of observa-
tion becomes the anchor in an otherwise
fluctuant zone of wave fronts). In the
200-ft mirror, knowledge of a distant air-
craft materializes from within the tactile
registration of vibrations literally brush-
ing up against a listener’s ears. To hear a
distant vibration also meant to physically
collide with that same acoustic event at
a specific focal point along the caustic
arc designated in the forecourt of the
mirror, thus conveying a location of
sound that was as much “here” as “out
there.” In this format of localization, un
unmistakable sequencing of perception
occurs—the undulating focal point of
sound itself is primary, engaging the lis-
tener point blank, while at the same time
producing a secondary reference that is
then conceptually (instead of reflexively)
projected back over the horizon toward
a yet-to-be-seen coordinate. One curious
outcome of this condition is the evoca-
tion of coexistent (or superimposed)
spaces where the close-at-hand and the
far-off momentarily coincide.
This condition subtly violates the nor-
mative symmetry hearing maintains in
relation to vision, namely that of appre-
hension at a distance. When confronted
with sound’s physicality, the listener be-
gins to occupy a double position. El
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Ganchrow, Perspectives on Sound-Space 73
maining sound mirrors at Denge were published
in Raviv Ganchrow, “An Improbable Dimension,"
Res: Anthropology and Aesthetics, volumen. 49/50, 204–221
(2006). This research was made possible with the
support of The Netherlands Foundation for Visual
Arts, Design and Architecture.
In the original chapter, I examine a series of for-
mative moments of what might be called “epistemol-
ogies of sound-space” in terms of their implications
for such epistemologies. I emphasize instances in
which ideas of sound overlap with concerns of space
to forge a partnership-in-form. Examples include
Venetian polychoral music, the sonic architecture
of Athanasius Kircher and the 1958 Philips Pavilion,
as well as more recent concerns expressed in the
installations of Bernhard Leitner and the music of
Alvin Lucier and Luigi Nono, among others. I have
selected the rather oblique case of acoustic defense
for its relative obscurity within the history of spatial
acoustics as well as to support my intuition that if a
space-in-sound is to be discerned, it is not located in
an absolute space of propagating waves or the physi-
ological capacities of hearing as much as it is focal-
ized where the body and social contexts intersect
and influenced by myriad peripheral aural practices
extending well beyond commonly accepted borders
of the “cultural.”
2. For instance, an exhaustive account of interre-
lations between technologies of sound, building
practices and the cultures of acoustics in early 20th-
century America can be found in E. Thompson, El
Soundscape of Modernity: Architectural Acoustics and the
Cultures of Listening in America, 1900–1933 (Leva-
puente: CON prensa, 2004). Such historically contextu-
alized accounts of hearing lend compelling evidence
for the malleability of listening.
3. Military research into auditory observation tech-
niques, leading up to Britain’s acoustic defense proj-
ect of the 1930s, dates back to “gun sound ranging”
experiments in the trenches of World War I. A pre-
liminary description of these earlier developments
can be found in N. Richard Scarth, Echoes from the Sky
(Kent: Hythe Civic Society, 1999) páginas. 4–10.
4. W.C. Sabine, Collected Papers on Acoustics (Nueva York:
Dover Publications, 1964) pag. 260.
5. A description of the so-called Ear of Dionysius can
be found in W.C. Sabine, Collected Papers on Acoustics
(Nueva York: Dover Publications, 1964) páginas. 274–276.
6. The early dishes were carved out of the chalk
cliffs or made of plaster. Later ones were made out
of bronze, tin, steel, concrete and even wood (in disc
and not dish form).
7. An early example of a sound mirror carved directly
into the chalk cliffs at Binbury Manor, Kent, can be
viewed in N. Richard Scarth, Echoes from the Sky (Kent:
Hythe Civic Society, 1999) pag. 17.
8. W.S. Tucker, report quoted in Scarth [3] pag. 93.
9. One document concerning the mirrors at Denge
includes a chart of aircraft models analyzed and cali-
brated in terms of their specific acoustic-fingerprint
denoted in cycles per second. The attempt was to
gauge the size of the vibrations produced by the
propeller’s friction with air, combined with the noise
from the exhaust pipes of the aircraft engine. Qué
is important to stress here is a conception of acoustic
vibration in terms of the physical sizes of frequencies.
Long-Distance Listening with Sound Mirrors, Document
AVIA12/132 (Londres, Octubre 1932) pag. 14.
10. I use the term phased-space to assign a nomencla-
ture to the spatial sound field seen from the position
of the wave interactions themselves. It is a category
that encapsulates both space and sound in a single
descripción. Phased-space should not be confused
with the term phase space, from mathematical analy-
hermana. It is my intention to emphasize the phenomenal
underpinnings of phased-space.
11. For information on the coastal mirror network
project see document ref. AIR 16/317, Sound Discs
and Mirror Development 1934 Feb.–1935 Nov. (The Na-
tional Archive, Londres). An acoustic defense map
indicating the location and listening extents of a co-
Higo. 4. acoustic defense map indicating the location and listening extents of a coordinated
coastal network of 200-ft sound mirrors. (photo: the National archive, ref. aire 16/317
[sound Discs and Mirrors Development 1934 Feb.–1935 Nov.])
superposition of an imagined acoustic
terrain back into our observable sur-
roundings. The materialization of fre-
quencies into actual ocular artifacts is
in fact a trend that has played out ex-
tensively over the course of the last half-
siglo, particularly in the development
of visualization apparatuses employing
techniques of wave reception and ra-
diation (such as ultrasonography, radio
astronomy and MRI). It is in this sense
that interferometric techniques may find
their early antecedents with the notable
case of the sound mirrors, wherein the
mechanism of wave reception still plays
out at the scale of the body, y donde
techniques of reception are little more
than a fine-tuning of echoic principles
of reflection.
Admittedly, the more recent radiant
tecnologías (ultrasonography etc.) No
longer directly address the biological ca-
pacities of the human ear, yet nonethe-
less extend the spectral boundaries of
“hearing” (at times bypassing the realm
of acoustics altogether) while altering
the significance of “listening-in.” Such
developments, I would suggest, exert
pressures back onto our epistemologies
of listening, consequently amending
definitions of such categories as “sound,"
“place” and “space” [12].
epilogue
Although in empirical terms the realm
of acoustic fluid dynamics is rather well
comprendido, the notion of a “space-of-
sound” maintains an ambiguous status.
This is particularly the case when ap-
proaching the terms of spatiality from
the position of the listener. It is my cur-
rent assessment that there is no singular
(and certainly no “absolute”) sound-
74 Ganchrow, Perspectives on Sound-Space
espacio. “Hearing space” pertains to mul-
tiple notions of space, where each space
corresponds to an alternate material un-
derstanding of sound [13]; furthermore,
these spatialities do not necessarily sub-
sume one another, let alone correspond
el uno al otro. The same practices that
enlist sound as fundamental tend to
perpetuate and sustain their latent spati-
alities as byproducts of their own imple-
mentation. In that sense sound-space is
as multiple as the defining characteristics
we choose to discern within audible (y
even inaudible) vibration. Achieving an
expressive articulation of spatial sound
is to my view less a matter of innovations
in audio technique and more a question
of various degrees of listening. Sound’s
spatialities are approachable by adopt-
ing attentive attitudes toward those sonic
sediments already in circulation within
the social-cultural environment as well
as by sharpening our own spatial-sonic
definitions and, maybe most crucially,
exercising an intention to significantly
“listen to space.”
references and Notes
1. This article presents an excerpt from “Sound-
Space,” a second degree thesis presented in com-
bination with a multi-channel audio work entitled
Distance at an Unknown Scale. The written portion of
the thesis comprised two sections: primero, an inquiry
into the spatial guise of sound, y segundo, empiri-
cal research I carried out on wave field synthesis and
re-synthesis over a 2-year period at the Institute of
Sonology. While the latter portion of the thesis em-
phasizes a hands-on approach to spatial techniques
of sound, I regard these experiments as directly re-
lated to the underlying theoretical concerns of the
excerpted thesis chapter.
Some adjustments have been made to this excerpt,
most notably revisions to the story of Britain’s acous-
tic defense project based on my research undertaken
at the site of the Denge mirrors in 2005, así como
some additional comments regarding the nature of
hearing in relation to our techniques and practices
of listening. Results from my research into the re-
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ordinated coastal network of 200-ft sound mirrors is
available at The National Archive, ref. AIR 16/317,
Sound discs and mirrors development 1934 Feb.–1935
Nov.
12. An article published in American Scientist describes
attempts at detecting gravitational waves in terms of
“listening.” Although these waves are expansions and
contractions in space-time itself, the article repeat-
edly utilizes the word sound to describe such vibra-
ciones. It would seem that an abundance of methods
for transduction (implemented in devices that can
translate magnetic or electromagnetic fluctuations
into audible signals or vice versa) has thoroughly pre-
pared the way for an expanded notion of sound as an
inclusive term covering the broadband spectrum of
terrestrial vibrations. See C.J. Hogan, “The Sounds
of Spacetime,” American Scientist Volume 94, No. 6
(2006) páginas. 534–541.
13. Ideas and examples in support of this conclu-
sion have recently been developed in Raviv Gan-
chrow, “Hear and There: Notes on the Materiality of
Sound,” Oase 78: Immersed (2009).
Manuscrito recibido 2 Enero 2009.
Raviv Ganchrow completed his architectural
studies at Cooper Union, Nueva York, en 2000,
and received a second degree from the Institute
of Sonology at The Royal Conservatory, El
la Haya, en 2004. His practice focuses on in-
terrelations between sound, place and listener,
aspects of which are explored through sound
installations and writing, as well as the de-
velopment of sound-forming technologies such
as wave field synthesis. Recent installations di-
rectly address contextual acoustics, expressing
a notion of “place” that is constructed by way
of frequency interdependencies. He has been
teaching architectural design in the graduate
program at TU Delft and is currently a faculty
member at the Institute of Sonology.
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Ganchrow, Perspectives on Sound-Space 75
cAll for pAperS
Smart Textiles:
Science and Technology of Textile Art
Leonardo is pleased to announce a new special project in the topic area of Smart Textiles. This project
expands upon Leonardo’s archive of textile art documentation by focusing on textile artists and scientists
around the world who work with smart textiles or the new textiles science and technology.
Artists and researchers interested in writing about their work involving the science and technology of smart
textiles and clothing arts are invited to view the Leonardo Editorial Guidelines and related information at
To view a list of papers published in Leonardo and Leonardo Music Journal on topics related to textile arts,
please see:
This project is supported by the Marjorie Duckworth Malina Fund, which honors the memory of a key longtime supporter of
Leonardo/ISAST. The project recognizes Marjorie’s dedication to the ideals of international cooperation by emphasizing the
participation of artists throughout the world. For information on making a donation to Leonardo/ISAST in memory of Marjorie
Duckworth Malina, please visit
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