“Tones from out of Nowhere”: Rudolph Pfenninger and the Archaeology of Synthetic Sound (PDF)

In this essay from New Media, Old Media [2006], (originally published in Grey Room) Levin proposes an alternative history that takes into account underexamined developments in synthetic sound reproduction. While contemporary accounts of new media make it sound like threats to “real” or indexical sound only come with digitization, Levin explores well-documented events in the history of sythentic or “hand-written” sound by analog means.

Press Here To Download The PDF: Tones From Nowhere