The sonic trace: A photographic approach to recorded sound in electroacoustic music

Abstract This article proposes a framework for considering recorded sounds in electroacoustic music, focusing specifically on their physical connection to real-world sources. This is achieved through an intermedial model, whereby ontological discussions from the field of photography are transposed to the sonic arts. It analyses the concepts of indexicality and the trace – fundamental to the writings of photographic theorists including Bazin, Barthes and Gunning – and applies them to the medium of recorded sound. The discussion establishes a means of considering source sounds primarily based on physical causality rather than resemblance and metaphor. By framing the recording process as a direct indexical link to the source equivalent to the photographic image, the article offers a novel way to analyse and compose abstract electroacoustic works that retain a tangible connection to reality.