Sound Affects

Sound Affects: A User’s Guide is a collection of sonically-charged concepts ranging from those felt, ‘heard’ and repeated (silence, the oriental riff, shuffle), to the vocal (whispers, sing, the disembodied voice), to sounds at the threshold (tin/ny, thump, buzz) to sounds beyond the limits of audibility (inaudible tremors, distortion, sub-bass). Sound Affects invites the reader to reflect on the ways that sounds produce affects and the ways that affects can operate as sound.

Each of the entries develops a particular perspective on sound and affect through a close analysis of audiovisual and/or sonic objects. The objects chosen not only illustrate the concept in question but also demonstrate how the object encourages us to rethink the relationships between sounds and affects. Influenced by the sound theory of Eugenie Brinkema (2011), the concepts of Sound Affects plot the shift in volume from silence that opens up a space to be heard to the audibly near, from the audibly near to sounds beyond the limits of audibility. Sound Affects is an intellectual adventure for those who theorize and listen. The book can also be enjoyed as a narrative of sounds, its absences and its shifting intensities.

We live in a saturated sonic envirornment. Noise is everywhere; and even at the extreme of absence, "silence is a rhythm too" (as the Slits once sang). Yet we rarely pay attention to the soundscape that accompanies us at all times. Sound Affects rectifies this omission, with seventeen essays about sound and how it touches and moves us. Topics range from rapping by Kanye West, to the noises made by urban traffic, to electronic distortions broadcast through gigantic speakers, to the barely audible squishes of worms crawling through the soil. All in all, this book brings us back to a heightened awareness of those aspects of existence that we tend, all too easily, to tune out. Steven Shaviro, DeRoy Professor of English, Wayne State University, USA
As it heeds paradoxical challenges in addressing sensorial – or even "sensaural" – experiences that defy conventional representation and meaning, Sound Affects embraces multiple approaches to sound, affect and sound affect through its volume of rich and varied voices. Vitally, Sound Affects promotes an ethics of listening that fundamentally and ontologically examines our too human world. Nadine Boljkovac, Screen Theorist and Assistant Professor in Film Studies, University of Colorado, Colorado Springs, USA

Sharon Jane Mee is Adjunct Lecturer in Film Studies at the University of New South Wales, Australia.
Luke Robinson is a PhD candidate and a casual academic in the School of Arts and Media, University of New South Wales, Australia.

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