Stereo is everywhere. The whole culture and industry of music and sound became organized around the principle of stereophony during the twentieth century. But nothing about this-not the invention or acceptance or ubiquity of stereo-was inevitable. Nor did the aesthetic conventions, technological objects, and listening practices required to make sense of stereo emerge fully formed, out of the blue.This groundbreaking book uncovers the vast amount of work that has been required to make stereo seem natural, and which has been necessary to maintain stereo's place as a dominant mode of sound reproduction for over half a century. The essays contained within this book are thematically grouped under (Audio) Positions, Listening Cultures, and Multichannel Sound and Screen Media; the cumulative effect is to advance research in music, sound, and media studies and to build new bridges between the fields.With contributions from leading scholars across several disciplines, Living Stereo re-tells the history of twentieth-century aural and musical culture through the lens of stereophonic sound.

Table of Contents List of Illustrations Acknowledgements Introduction: Living Stereo (Paul Théberge, Kyle Devine and Tom Everrett) (AUDIO) POSITIONS 1. The "Sweet Spot": The Technology of Stereo and the Field of Auditorship (Tony Grajeda) 2. The Stereophonic Spaces of Soundscape (Jonathan Sterne) 3. Sonar and the Channelization of the Ocean (John Shiga) LISTENING CULTURES 4. Training the Listener: Stereo Demonstration Discs in an Emerging Consumer Market (Tim J. Anderson) 5. Mono in the Stereo Age (Eric Barry) 6. Looking Past the Stereo Loudspeakers: From the Home to the Amplified Concert Hall (Jonathan Tee) 7. Recorded British Folk Song (Allan F. Moore) MULTICHANNEL SOUND and SCREEN MEDIA 8. Television: Now with Two Channels of Audio (David Sedman) 9. The Grandeur(s) of CinemaScope (Matthew Malsky) 10. Atmos Now: Dolby Laboratories, Mixing Ideology and Hollywood Sound Production (Benjamin Wright) 11. A Symphony of Sound: Surround Sound in Formula One Racing Games (Ruth Dockwray and Karen Collins) List of Contributors Index