Reasonably Sound

Mike explores the sonic aspects of fireworks: What is an explosion, and why do they sound the way they do? These questions lead to a breakdown of combustion versus detonation; low explosives versus high explosives; the phrase “the boom is sort of like a pop with a diploma;” and a fascinating tangent about trying to learn card tricks in the ’90s. Plus: The joys of taping a ref’s whistle to the hood of your car. -- SOURCES -- Celebrate the independence of your country by blowing up a small part of it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uqfxmWbelcQ SkunkBear on Fireworks http://skunkbear.tumblr.com/post/90696652324/boom-awww SkyLighter on the new Dragon’s Egg recipe http://www.skylighter.com/fireworks/how-to-make/bismuth-subcarbonate-dragon-eggs.asp NOVA on the construction (incl Sound Charges) of Fireworks http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/fireworks/anat_nf.html A Fireworks Manual about sound I couldn’t buy if I wanted to, it seems http://www.skylighter.com/mall/product-details.asp?id=463 -- A previous version of this episode contained the following MUSIC -- Intro/Outro: Explosion Alarm by Mark McGuire from A Young Person’s Guide to Mark McGuire Break #1: Firework of Echoes by Motion Sickness of Time Travel from Slow Architecture Break #2: Firework (Jump Smokers Remix) by Katy Perry and Jump Smokers from SoundCloud https://soundcloud.com/jumpsmokers/katy-perry-firework-jump-smokers-remix Break #3: Whistle Tip (Remix) by Doo Bachary on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jpl_ey5cVnk

It’s the ice cream truck jingle. Even Mike’s hated Mr. Softee one. Mike provides the secret origin of the jingle, touching on the Great Depression, the growth of the American middle class, the Good Humor Man, refrigeration, and bobsled bells. -- Sources -- Ice Cream: A Global History by Laura B. Weiss http://www.amazon.com/Ice-Cream-Global-History-Reaktion/dp/1861897928 Ding, Ding!: The Commodity Aesthetic of Ice Cream Truck Music by Daniel T Neely http://www.oxfordhandbooks.com/view/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199913657.001.0001/oxfordhb-9780199913657-e-005 The real song of the summer: a brief history of ice cream truck music http://music.cbc.ca/#!/blogs/2013/7/The-real-song-of-the-summer-a-brief-history-of-ice-cream-truck-music A Brief History of the Ice Cream Truck http://mentalfloss.com/article/52281/brief-history-ice-cream-truck Nichols Electronics Co http://www.nicholselectronicsco.com/ Putting the ‘Mr.’ in Soft Ice Cream http://www.nytimes.com/2002/05/19/nyregion/putting-the-mr-in-soft-ice-cream.html Racist History of “Turkey in the Straw”: Recall That Ice Cream Truck Song? We Have Unpleasant News For You http://www.npr.org/sections/codeswitch/2014/05/11/310708342/recall-that-ice-cream-truck-song-we-have-unpleasant-news-for-you That Viral Story About the Racist Ice Cream Song Is Wrong http://www.newrepublic.com/article/117792/racist-ice-cream-song-story-nprcom-wrong -- A previous version of this episode contained the following music -- Intro: Ice Cream Man by Tom Waits from Closing Time Break #1: Shut Up And Drive (Far Away) by the Deftons from Around the Fur Break #2: Star Spangled Banner, Rock Version

Echoic memory, how it differs from other kinds of memory, and the definition of sound itself, all on this episode of Reasonably Sound. Plus: Jamiroquai.

Mike and Molly (not the TV show) take a road trip and consider Spotify, MTV2, and how we discover music now. (Also: Cover versions, N.W.A., and the undeniable perfection of Pony.)

That part in dance music, where the music builds and builds and builds and BUILDS before the tension finally, FINALLY, gets relieved? That’s “the drop.” Mike talks about its origin, construction, and application, and tells you what P.L.U.R. means. -- Sources -- Stefan Sagmeister on Storytellers (VIDEO) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UlkIVIau1Nk “Waiting for the Bass to Drop” by Ragnhild Torvanger Solberg https://dj.dancecult.net/index.php/dancecult/article/view/451 “Detecting Drops in Electronic Dance Music” by Yadati, et al http://www.terasoft.com.tw/conf/ismir2014/proceedings/T026_297_Paper.pdf The Year in Black Erasure on Pitchfork http://pitchfork.com/thepitch/615-the-year-in-black-erasure/ Metaphors We Live By on UChicago.edu http://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/M/bo3637992.html -- A previous version of this episode contained the following music -- Intro: Rhythm Variation 02 by Aoki Takamasa RV8 Break #1: Not Butter byDillon Francis Break #2: Boss Mode by Knife party Break #2: Summertime Sadness by LDR, Cedric Gervais Remix

Misophonia is, literally, “the hatred of sound.” Molly Templeton has it, and talks to Mike about the noises that trigger it. -- Molly Online -- twitter.com/mememolly instagram.com/mememolly -- Sources -- “Misophonia: Diagnostic Criteria for a New Psychiatric Disorder” by Arjan Schröder, Nienke Vulink, Damiaan Denys. PLOSOne. “Decreased Sound Tolerance and Tinnitus Retraining Therapy” by Margaret M. Jastreboff AND Pawel J. Jastreboff. The Australian And New Zealnd Journal Of Audiology, Vol 24 #2. Nov. 2002 pp. 74-84 “Misophonia: Incidence, Phenomenology, and Clinical Correlates in an Undergraduate Student Sample” by Monica S. Wu, Adam B. Lewin, Tanya K. Murphy, and Eric A. Storch. Journal Of Clinical Psychology, Vol. 70(10), 994–1007 (2014) “Misophonia: An Overview” by Diane F. Duddy, Au.D. and Kristi A.M. Oeding, Au.D. Seminars In Hearing/Volume 35, # 2 2014 Music -- A previous version of this episode contained music by -- Intro: Is That Revolution Sad? by Contemporary Noise Sextet from The Wire Tapper Volume 26 Break #1: Small Talk Stinks by Bauhaus from In The Flat Field Outro: The Longest Distance by Talkboy Arcade from Chiptunes = WIN: Volume 2

How much is a song worth? How do you even calculate it? And what do DJ Shadow, Tom Waits, and the Wu-Tang Clan have to do with it? Mike Rugnetta answers these and other questions. -- Sources -- The Spotify Calculator http://time.com/3590670/spotify-calculator/ That Chevy Ad with the DJ Shadow track https://www.ispot.tv/ad/7sTc/chevrolet-attract-attention-song-by-dj-shadow Tom Waits on musicians allowing their work to be used in commercials http://dangerousminds.net/comments/tom_waits_on_musicians_allowing_their_work Tom Waits: Not a Jingle Writer http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4633751 NYT CD Cost Breakdown http://www.nytimes.com/1995/07/05/arts/pennies-that-add-up-to-16.98-why-cd-s-cost-so-much.html Wal•Mart Wants $10 CDs http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/wal-mart-wants-10-cds-20041012 How Much Do Artists Earn Online – 2012 http://www.themusicvoid.com/2012/08/infographic-how-much-do-artists-earn-online-2012/ The New Economy of the Music Industry http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/the-new-economics-of-the-music-industry-20111025?page=3 Zoë Keatings 2013 Earnings https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AkasqHkVRM1OdHg2eWZRYVp1YmgyUDFvbWtwLWNCN0E#gid=0 The Wu – Once Upon a Time in Shaolin http://wu-ha.wutangclan.com/the-secret/ -- a previous version of this episode contained the following music -- Intro: Talking about Money by Wye Oak. From The Knot. Break #1 – Building Steam… by DJ Shadow. From Endtroducing. Break #2 – C.R.E.A.M. by The Wu-Tang Clan. From Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers).

Mike explains how pigeon-lovers Arno Penzius and Robert Wilson found evidence to prove the Big Bang. Find out about hisses, #starstuff, photons, poop, and more to get a full picture of what the universe actually sounds like. -- Universe Sounds -- Big Bang Hiss https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pu7nKWa8hSM Dawn Chorus http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/rbsp/news/emfisis-chorus.html#.VQj9FhDF880 Black hole http://heasarc.nasa.gov/docs/xte/learning_center/listen.html Sound of the Big Bang http://faculty.washington.edu/jcramer/BBSound_2013.html -- Sources -- You Can Still Hear the Hiss of the Big Bang http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/new_scientist/2014/03/big_bang_you_can_hear_the_afterglow_hiss_on_robert_wilson_s_cellphone.html Listen to A Black Hole http://heasarc.nasa.gov/docs/xte/learning_center/listen.html Listening to the Big Bang – in high fidelity http://www.washington.edu/news/2013/04/04/listening-to-the-big-bang-in-high-fidelity-audio/ Black Hole Sound Waves http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2003/09sep_blackholesounds/ The Nobel Prize in Physics 1978 http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/1978/ Sounds of Space: New ‘Chorus’ Recording By RBSP’s EMFISIS Instrument http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/rbsp/news/emfisis-chorus.html#.VQrq-xDF_lN Nobel-prize winning accidents http://www.physics.org/featuredetail.asp?id=71 Big Hiss Missed by Others http://cosmictimes.gsfc.nasa.gov/online_edition/1965Cosmic/hiss.html The Sound of the Big Bang http://www.analogsf.com/0404/altview.shtml Interpreting the ‘Song’ Of a Distant Black Hole http://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/universe/black_hole_sound.html The Sound of the Big Bang – Planck Version (2013) http://faculty.washington.edu/jcramer/BBSound_2013.html NASA Posts a Huge Library of Space Sounds, And You’re Free To Use Them http://createdigitalmusic.com/2014/10/nasa-posts-huge-library-space-sounds-youre-free-use/ -- A previous version of this episode contained the following music -- Intro Music: Cosmos, Zu & Eugene Chadbourne, The Zu Side of the Chadbourne Break #1: Ultime Cosmos, Lucien Dubuis Trio & Marc Ribot, Ultime Cosmos Break #2: Three Modal Pieces: A Cosmos, Laurie Spiegel , Obsolete Systems Break #3: Another Space Song, Failure, Fantastic Planet

Mike navigates the streets, subways, and pizza shops of NYC, and as you listen, ponder whether listening to this episode makes you an active listener, an eavesdropper, or a spy.

On this installment of Reasonably Sound, Mike Rugnetta covers subliminal messages and their (lack of) effectiveness with help from BrainCraft’s Vanessa Hill. Chandler Bing is referenced. -- Find Vanessa -- youtube.com/braincraft twitter.com/brain_craft twitter.com/nessyhill -- Sources -- Is there an effect of subliminal messages in music on choice behavior? by Hauke Egermann, Reinhard Kopiez, Christoph Reuter.Journal of Articles in Support of the Null Hypothesis Vol. 4, No. 2 Subliminal Auditory Messages: An Evaluation by Philip M. Merikle. Psychology & Marketing Vol. 5(4): 355-372 (Winter 1988) Subliminal speech perception and auditory streaming by Emmanuel Dupoux *, Vincent de Gardelle, Sid Kouider. doi:10.1016/j.cognition.2008.06.012 The Electronic Revolution by William Burroughs The Influence of Auditory Subliminals on Behavior: A Series of Investigations by Myra J. Staum Melissa Brotons. Journal of Music Therapy, XXIX (3), 1992, 130-185 -- A previous version of this episode contained the following music -- Permanently Liminal by Menace Ruin Please Be Patient With Me by Wilco Nothing by Daniel Romano

When an animal makes a sound, does that sound have meaning? Mike talks to Dr. Joe Hanson, a biology expert and curator/host of It's Okay To Be Smart, and you’ll get a glimpse into the world of animals, sound, and semiotics. -- SOURCES -- The semiome: From genetic to semiotic scaffolding http://philpapers.org/rec/HOFTSF -- Find Joe at -- http://youtube.com/itsokaytobesmart twitter.com/jtotheizzoe twitter.com/okaytobesmart

Mike takes you on a tour of the most commonly heard sound effects. And fair warning, when you hear them on this episode, you’ll start hearing them EVERYWHERE. Plus, Mike tells you why sides of beef and planks of wood were integral to the making of the Rocky movies. -- Sources-- Audio-Vision by Michel Chion In Search of a Concrete Music by Pierre Schaeffer The Wilhelm Scream by Elena Passarello 10 Ridiculously Overused Movie Sound Effects http://whatculture.com/film/10-ridiculously-overused-movie-sound-effects.php * The Creaky Gate * What is this sound effect I keep hearing? http://ask.metafilter.com/150543/What-is-this-sound-effect-I-keep-hearing Stock Sound Effects on TV Tropes http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/StockSoundEffects Where Else Have I Heard That? http://ask.metafilter.com/125872/Where-else-have-I-heard-that * Police Dispatcher * Why do movies & TV use this police radio clip over and over? http://movies.stackexchange.com/questions/19768/why-do-movies-tv-use-this-police-radio-clip-over-and-over Stock Sounds: Police Station from SimCity 3000 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dklA4-ACN4k&t=26 * The Diddy Laugh * Diddy Kong Racing Intro http://diddy%20kong%20racing%20intro/ Steve Pagets Diddy Laugh YouTube Playlist https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLvs58Hl92VaqqJwxaSzF6A2m1605VdLaf Steve Paget’s Diddy Laugh Blog http://diddylaugh.blogspot.com/ * The Wilhelm Scream * Wilhelm – YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q3-Y8eTaMZc Where Did the Wilhelm Scream Come From and Why Do So Many Filmmakers Use It? http://mentalfloss.com/article/60236/where-did-wilhelm-scream-come-and-why-do-so-many-filmmakers-use-it Hollywood Lost and Found http://hollywoodlostandfound.net/wilhelm/index.html Way, Way, Way Too Many Wilhelm Screams http://createdigitalmusic.com/2011/04/way-way-way-too-many-wilhelm-screams/ * Castle Thunder * Castle Thunder Compilation on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q79HMmZ4qNc Hollywood Lost and Found http://www.hollywoodlostandfound.net/sound/castlethunder.html Castle Thunder Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castle_thunder_%28sound_effect%29 Frankenstein (1931) Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frankenstein_(1931_film) -- Responses to RS’s Episode on Accents -- “…did you know that the greater diversity in accents in England is a result of a principle in linguistics?” http://mikerugnetta.tumblr.com/post/107612425165/regarding-your-latest-episode-of-reasonably-sound via erherr http://erherr.tumblr.com/ “Fred Armisen Gives Five-Minute Improvised Master Class in NYC Accents” http://gawker.com/fred-armisen-gives-five-minute-improvised-master-class-1662583152 via @sophiebiblio https://twitter.com/sophiebiblio/status/555431319229169665 Sean Monahan’s video on the Pennsylvanian/Mid-Atlantic Accent https://www.youtube.com/user/smonahan09/videos via @sophiebiblio https://twitter.com/sophiebiblio/status/555431110600302592 “Thoughts on Accents! Class! And Self-Presentation! (AKA Fashion! Turn to the Left!)” http://tinyletter.com/TwoBossyDames/letters/weekend-special-errata-addenda-ugh-mea-culpa via Two Bossy Dames http://www.tinyletter.com/TwoBossyDames -- Previous version of this episode contained -- Wilhelms Scream – James Blake Ma Meeshka Mow Skwoz – Mr. Bungle Colony – Mason Android Park Tracks (Tall Bodies) – Chelsea Wolf

What explains the difference between English and American accents? On this episode of Reasonably Sound, Mike Rugnetta explains that this spoken phenomenon starts with the written word. -- On American versus English Spelling -- Why Do Brits and Americans Spell Words Differently? http://www.livescience.com/33844-british-american-word-spelling.html Americanize, Anglicise: Why Do Brits And Yanks Spell Words Differently? http://io9.gizmodo.com/americanize-anglicise-why-do-brits-and-yanks-spell-wo-1671334487 Present Day American Spelling from The Cambridge History of the English Language, Volume 6 https://books.google.com/books?id=ia5tHVtQPn8C&pg=PA352&dq=american+and+english+spelling+differences&hl=en&sa=X&ei=KmWtVNOoEoLksATGpoDgCg&ved=0CCgQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=american%20and%20english%20spelling%20differences&f=false -- Main Sources for this Episode -- A History of the English Language by Elly van Gelderen http://www.historyofenglish.net/ Linguistics for Everyone: An Introduction by Kristin Denham, Anne Lobeck http://www.cengagebrain.com/shop/ISBN/1413015891?cid=GB1 Why Do Americans and Brits Have Different Accents? http://www.livescience.com/33652-americans-brits-accents.html When Did Americans Lose Their British Accents? http://mentalfloss.com/article/29761/when-did-americans-lose-their-british-accents Received Pronunciation http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Received_Pronunciation -- Previous version of this episode contained -- - Hudson Cycle – Nico Muhly - I’m Afraid of Americans (V1) – David Bowie - Americans – Oneohtrix Point Never - Paper Crumpling R – Sesame Street - Messages Received – Cabaret Voltaire

Mike Rugnetta would like to talk with you about auditory illusions (not tricks), specifically the Shepard tone and binaural beats. Use your headphones for this one. (ALSO: art school college story time!) The submarine film soundtrack work Mike mentions is here: https://mikerugnetta.bandcamp.com/track/guitar-shephard-tone Sources: - Demonstration 27 – Circularity in Pitch Judgment http://asa.aip.org/demo27.html - Scelsi: Cello Music (review) http://www.medieval.org/music/modern/scelsi/cello.html

It's a Thanksgiving travelogue with Mike Rugnetta, who, like a bazillion other people, is on the road for the holiday.