Living Stereo

Stereo is everywhere. The whole culture and industry of music and sound became organized around the principle of stereophony during the twentieth century. But nothing about this—not the invention or acceptance or ubiquity of stereo—was inevitable. Nor did the aesthetic conventions, technological objects, and listening practices required to make sense of stereo emerge fully formed, out of the blue.

This groundbreaking book uncovers the vast amount of work that has been required to make stereo seem natural, and which has been necessary to maintain stereo’s place as a dominant mode of sound reproduction for over half a century. The essays contained within this book are thematically grouped under (Audio) Positions, Listening Cultures, and Multichannel Sound and Screen Media; the cumulative effect is to advance research in music, sound, and media studies and to build new bridges between the fields.

With contributions from leading scholars across several disciplines, Living Stereo re-tells the history of twentieth-century aural and musical culture through the lens of stereophonic sound.

Author Biography

Paul Theberge is a Professor cross-appointed to the Institute for Comparative Studies in Literature, Art and Culture (where he was formerly Canada Research Chair and Director) and to the School for Studies in Art and Culture (Music) at Carleton University, Canada.

Kyle Devine is Lecturer in Music at City University London, and a research associate with the Music and Digitisation Research Group at the University of Oxford.

Tom Everrett is an instructor in the School of Journalism and Communication and member of the Hypertext and Hypermedia digital humanities research centre at Carleton University, Canada.