This book investigates the manifold existence of sonic articulations in and as time: its explicit tempor(e)alities in the techno-cultural context and its implicit dynamics as object of knowledge. Phenomena ranging from resonance to signalling in recording and transmission technologies can be conceptualized in their temporal essence as inherent sonicity, even if their engineering (such as coding or compression) do not always directly relate to cultures of listening and the audible. The method of research applied here is media archaeology, which closely investigates artifacts and ‘listens’ to the time-critical and chronopoetic conditions (ancient Greek arché) of their operativity. Sonic terminology turns out to be most appropriate for describing such technical temporalities for which historical discourse is no longer sufficient. When sonic communication is not reduced to acoustics in the narrow sense, but understood as signal events (be it continuous ‘analog’ wave forms, be it discrete ‘digital’ impulses), even vibrational events in optical physics can be identified in their processual sonicity. Differentiating between the acoustic, the sonic, and the musical, the aim of this investigation is to apply such notions for a better understanding of the deep epistemological dimensions of media temporalities.

The following arguments result from an ongoing research focus on the affinity and privileged alliance between technological media and musical sound, based on the assumption that their common denominator is temporal processuality. Such investigations on sonic media tempor(e)alities and sonicity in its physical, cultural, and technological sense have been inspired by the unique academic umbrella of otherwise separated disciplines, the Institute of Musicology and Media Studies at Humboldt University, Berlin. I am grateful to my colleagues Peter Wicke and his assistant Jens-Gerrit Papenburg for the initial impulse to explore Das Sonische and ongoing discussions on the subject. Special thanks go to Jussi Parikka for many reasons; it was he who originally suggested composing this monograph in English. Further gratitude goes to Jan-Claas van Treeck for a critical reading of my manuscript, to an anonymous reviewer for concise suggestions, and to Liam Cole Young for helping me to polish my English. All stylistic and argumentative idiosyncrasies, of course, remain my responsibility.