Soundbytes

What is sound? According to the folks at dictionary.com sound is defined as:

“vibrations transmitted through an elastic solid or a liquid or gas, with frequencies in the approximate range of 20 to 20,000 hertz, capable of being detected by human organs of hearing”

I don’t think anyone could have put it so succinctly.

I speak now of sounds because…well, because they’re amazing really. Just the whole concept of it and all the things that affect it like acoustics and reverb and all that jazz. Especially if you start thinking in that whole “we’re in the Matrix” point of view; which I gotta say, is really fun to do every now and then. I mean there are some things that sound so beautiful to me and are just so priceless. They don’t even last very long. I’m talking about things like the sound of the cue stick at the instant it strikes the cue ball with a perfectly executed bottom spin. sigh. I can see it now; and it is beautiful. Or the sound of an ice-cold glass bottle of Coca-Cola. But just for those very short seconds when you pop open the lid and hear the cool steam flow out of its bottley lair. Or the melting and boiling of butter in a pan as you toss a slab of beef on it and hear that sizzle and bubbly sound that makes your mouth water just as much as the smell itself. Mmmmm…beeeeeef.

By the same token, there are some sounds that feel like a knife being jammed straight through your heart. Alright, so that may be a hyperbole, but it gets the point across. And to keep with the pool hall example: there are very few sounds more painful than the crackle of a miscue. There is almost a millisecond before it happens where you know it’s gonna happen before it does. And when it does…it sucks. Or that constant high pitched sound that TVs emit when they’re on but on mute. That is a killer, especially when you’re in the middle of a test and no one around you seems to be able to hear it. And then you ask the teacher if you can turn the TV off and she denies that it’s even on until you convince her to allow you to get up and turn it off, at which point you do. And then proudly return to your seat to complete the examination at hand.

I like sounds. Don’t you?

...Silly Caucasian girl likes to play with Samurai swords