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DTSTART:20251102T020000
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DTSTART:20260308T020000
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UID:calendar.3439.events_uoft_date.0@www.cinema.utoronto.ca
CREATED:20251216T164237Z
DESCRIPTION:\nWhen and Where: \nThursday, February 05, 2026 3:00 pm to 5:
 00 pm \n IN-222E \n I\nis College \n 2 Sussex Avenue, Toronto, ON M5S 1J
 5 \n\nSpeakers \nJoel Sutherland (University of Chicago) \n\nDescription: 
 \nThe compressor, a commonplace element of contemporary sound recording,
  appeared in cinema as a tool for limiting the output volume of a sound si
 gnal. The device reduces the peak (or loudest) part of a sound signal, al
 lowing an engineer to increase the overall sound level of a recording. In 
 this talk, I explore how information, film style, and recording technol
 ogy 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 m
 usicals starring opera singer Lily Pons, I argue that the contemporary, 
 familiar aesthetic use of this device is entangled with Hollywood’s adopti
 on of compression in the late 1930s. I examine technical documents written
  by sound personnel through the lens of signal processing and cybernetic t
 heories of information, positioning the compressor as a site for Hollywoo
 d audio engineers to experiment with different concepts of information.Joe
 l Sutherland is a PhD candidate and Hannah Holborn Gray Fellow at the Univ
 ersity of Chicago. His dissertation, 'Sound in Signal: The Emergence of E
 lectronic Recording in the 20th Century,' explores the assemblage of audi
 o engineering techniques, following diverse histories of recording techno
 logies to theorize a genealogy of sound grounded in electronic signal proc
 essing. His publications include a forthcoming chapter on 32 Short Films a
 bout Gle\n Gould in Revisiting the Golden Era: Canadian Cinema of the 1980
 s and 90s (McGill-Queens University Press). Joel's current teaching covers
  film and moving-image history, popular music in cinema, and media theor
 y. \n\nContact Information: \n Denise Ing cinema.studies@utoronto.ca \n\nS
 ponsors \nCinema Studies Institute, I\nis College \n2 Sussex Avenue, Tor
 onto, ON M5S 1J5 \n\nCategories \n LecturesResearch \n\nAudiences \n Alum
 ni and FriendsCommunityFacultyGraduate StudentsUndergraduate Students
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20260205T150000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20260205T170000
LAST-MODIFIED:20260202T150343Z
LOCATION:2 Sussex Avenue, Toronto, ON M5S 1J5
SUMMARY:Compression and the Informatics of Film Sound Recording
URL;TYPE=URI:https://www.cinema.utoronto.ca/events/compression-and-informat
 ics-film-sound-recording
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