Here's a list of podcast series and episodes that feature interesting topics and thinkers in the field of sound studies:

• On Being: Krista Tippett hosts a spacious conversation featuring contemplatives from all fields (poets, writers, physicists, musicians, artists, activists). Recommend episodes:
  • Gordon Hempton: An acoustic ecologist who believes silence is "an endangered species." 
  • Alice Parker: A 90-year old song-leader who believes "singing is the most companionable of arts"
  • Katy Payne: A student of whales and elephants, Katy and her husband Roger Payne discovered whale song!
• Twenty Thousand Hertz: An excellent podcast about all things sound-related. I highly encourage you explore this one. Some great episodes include:
  • Vroom Vroom: An episode all about the sounds of cars (and sports cars).
  • Hear Here: An episode about the history of acoustics + architecture.
• 99% Invisible: A podcast about all things design+architecture. The episodes below center on sound design:
  • Sound and Cities: This episode touches on sonic branding, and the health impacts of noise in cities -- featuring Erica Walker, a professor at Boston University!
  • Sound and Health: Hospitals
  • The Laugh Track
  • All Rings Considered
  • Sounds Natural -- But it was made artificially...
  • Reverb: the Evolution of Architectural Acoustics

Chapter 2 of Turino's book "Music as Social Life: The politics of participation"

Focus on Sounds

Looking at Site-Specific Compositions & Experimental Noise.

Echolocations (Watch Video) 

"Recorded in the Coyote Gulch canyons of Utah, Echolocations: Canyon is first in a series of short films and recordings which document site specific compositions performed by Andrew Bird and filmed by Tyler Manson in exceptional natural and urban environments. Bird says: "Ever since I was a child I would test different spaces with my voice or whistle or violin. Whatever sound you make it's like a giant limb that can reach beyond your fingers and grope the corners of the room.  Now when I'm on tour playing a different theater every night we "tune" the room, hunting down the bass traps and the standing waves to give the listener the most even and wide spectrum of sound. There are certain frequencies that resonate while others are lifeless. Sometimes the room refuses to yield and I have to consider playing different songs that will work in that room. It's a challenge but I enjoy the moments when I must yield to the environment. So I thought it would be interesting to take all this outside where the reflections off the landscape are triggering countless inferences and steering the conversation."

(Published on Feb 26, 2015 - Excerpt from AndrewBirdMusic)

Sonic Arboretum Dec 6–31, 2011 A collection of horned speakers made from compressed, recycled newsprint and dryer lint, created by sculptor and instrument-maker Ian Schneller and composer/violinist Andrew Bird, are installed in the MCA's atrium to create a unique sound garden. Bird records the initial compositions on-site at the MCA and sends musical information to different groups of horns via multiple loops. He then layers and changes the compositions throughout the remainder of the installation off-site via computer technology.

After being diagnosed with a rare, potentially fatal brain condition known as Moyamoya, Jennifer Lee was forced to face her own mortality and consider the things in life she held most precious. For the electronic producer known as TOKiMONSTA, that was music. The artist came up in the L.A. music scene collaborating with the likes of Anderson .Paak and Flying Lotus, and has released music through Brainfeeder. But, two brain surgeries later, she had lost her ability to understand music. The brain trauma had morphed sound into noise. Through recovery, she discovered a new approach to life, and with time, hope and perseverance, music found its way back to her. Now, Lee is back with her Grammy-nominated album “Lune Rouge.” This is the fascinating story of the power of music and the power of the mind, and one woman’s inspiring tale of triumph over adversity.

"Something sounds fishy about this. But, thanks to a revolutionary Sushi-go-round in Japan, and an experimental sound system that can detect colored sushi plates and play a specific sound, you CAN technically make music with sushi. Still wonder how? Watch TOKiMONSTA give some Japanese locals a fish-fueled DJ set with the revolutionary system

Focus on Sounds

Looking at Site-Specific Compositions & Experimental Noise.

Echolocations (Watch Video) 

"Recorded in the Coyote Gulch canyons of Utah, Echolocations: Canyon is first in a series of short films and recordings which document site specific compositions performed by Andrew Bird and filmed by Tyler Manson in exceptional natural and urban environments. Bird says: "Ever since I was a child I would test different spaces with my voice or whistle or violin. Whatever sound you make it's like a giant limb that can reach beyond your fingers and grope the corners of the room.  Now when I'm on tour playing a different theater every night we "tune" the room, hunting down the bass traps and the standing waves to give the listener the most even and wide spectrum of sound. There are certain frequencies that resonate while others are lifeless. Sometimes the room refuses to yield and I have to consider playing different songs that will work in that room. It's a challenge but I enjoy the moments when I must yield to the environment. So I thought it would be interesting to take all this outside where the reflections off the landscape are triggering countless inferences and steering the conversation."

(Published on Feb 26, 2015 - Excerpt from AndrewBirdMusic)