CSI presents: Compression and the Informatics of Film Sound Recording

The compressor, a commonplace element of contemporary sound recording, appeared in cinema as a tool for limiting the output volume of a sound signal. The device reduces the peak (or loudest) part of a sound signal, allowing an engineer to increase the overall sound level of a recording. In this talk, I explore how information, film style, and recording technology can be read together through the shared history of film sound and mid-20th-century cybernetic theory. Through a case study of RKO’s late-1930s musicals starring opera singer Lily Pons, I argue that the contemporary, familiar aesthetic use of this device is entangled with Hollywood’s adoption of compression in the late 1930s. I examine technical documents written by sound personnel through the lens of signal processing and cybernetic theories of information, positioning the compressor as a site for Hollywood audio engineers to experiment with different concepts of information.

Joel Sutherland’s research interrogates noise in cinema through formal, philosophical, and technological frameworks. The project draws together threads from post-humanist thought, trade publications, and a wide variety of films to explore an under-discussed category of sound that often obscures, and challenges conventional forms of cinematic meaning-making.