[microsound] Sonic Reality?

[Boris Klompus]

Hello All,

I've just started reading Sonic Warfare by Steve Goodman. In the first
chapter he references a quote by Kodwo Eshun, from his book *More Brilliant
Than the Sun*, (pg2 Sonic Warfare Goodman quoting Eshun) " 'Sonic fiction,
phono-fictions generate a landscape extending out into possibility space
... an engine ... [to] people the world with audio hallucinations.' " The
passage/chapter is about Afrofuturism, and Black music and counter-culture
as a means of breaking out of marginalization.

The term, however, sonic fiction, and how it is defined led me to think
about the idea of immersion and escapism/fantasy through the use of not
only music but sound in general, and listening specifically. It made me
wonder about what "Sonic Reality" may be in this case, or if such a thing
could exist.

Would, in the case of phonography, sonic reality exist outside/amidst a
microphone, and sonic fiction be the recording/playback? Or is the acoustic
ecology and geography as experienced in real time and spontaneously (i.e.
not the playback of a recording) by someone the same listening act when
listening back to a recording of it? The brain providing the filter and
coloring to the sounds of the live events as opposed to the microphone,
recording and playback technology, and eventually the brain when listening
back to it?

Taking the listener into account in any given acoustic action, is there
ever a time when listening cannot be categorized as this sonic fiction?

Appreciate any thoughts, insights or links to further reading!

Thanks,
Boris
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