Hidden Music
The Composer's Guide to Sonification

This Element reveals the what, how, and why of sonification – the translation of data into sound.

Milton Mermikides (Author)

9781009500319, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 30 January 2025

82 pages
23.5 x 15.9 x 1.1 cm, 0.27 kg

'An intensely personal and insightful guide to how music can help us unlock the humanism within the data and systems of everyday life. Bringing together a lifetime of thought and creativity, Milton Mermikides leads the reader on an adventure into the music of the world around us.' Dominic Broomfield-McHugh, Professor in Musicology, University of Sheffield

This book explores the intersection of data sonification (the systematic translation of data into sound) and musical composition. Section 1 engages with existing discourse and offers an original model (the sonification continuum) which provides perspectives on the practice of sonification for composers, science communicators and those interested in this rapidly emerging field. Section 2 engages with the sonification process itself, exploring techniques, models of translation, data fidelity, analogic and symbolic data mapping, temporality and the listener experience. In Section 3 these concepts and techniques are all made concrete in the context of a selection of the author's projects (2004–2023). Finally, some reasons are offered on how sonification as a practice might enrich composition, communication, collaboration, and a sense of connection.

1. The sonification continuum
2. The sonification process
3. The sonification experience
References.

Subject Areas: Music [AV]