Photo of Paul Théberge

Paul Théberge

Phone:613-520-2600 x 2546
Email:paul.theberge@carleton.ca
Office:201G St. Patrick's Building

Paul Théberge is a Professor and former Canada Research Chair in Music and Interdisciplinary Studies and is cross appointed to the Institute for Comparative Studies in Literature, Art and Culture and to the School for Studies in Art and Culture (Music). He teaches courses on the technologies of culture (in the Ph.D. program in Cultural Mediations), on sound in film and television (Film Studies program), and on sound studies (Music program).

Prof. Théberge’s research interests include issues relating to music, technology and culture, music and the Internet, and the uses of sound in visual media. His publications have appeared in numerous anthologies and in journals such as Cultural Studies, Social Studies of Science, and the Canadian Journal of Communication; he has also produced, for Sony Classical International, a 2-disc set of experimental recordings by Glenn Gould.

Selected Publications

Living Stereo cover image Book cover for Any Sound You Can Imagine CD cover for Glenn Gould: The Acoustic Orchestrations, Works by Scriabin and Sibelius

Living Stereo: Histories and Cultures of Multichannel Sound. Paul Théberge, Kyle Devine & Tom Everrett, eds. New York: Bloomsbury Academic, 2015.

Glenn Gould: The Acoustic Orchestrations – Works by Scriabin and Sibelius. (2-CD set). Produced, edited and mixed by Paul Théberge. Sony Classical International, 2012.

Any Sound You Can Imagine: Making Music / Consuming Technology. Hanover, NH: Wesleyan University Press, 1997.

YouTube screeshot

Click to listen to Gould Scriabin Sonata No. 5 Acoustic Orchestration on YouTube.

Book Awards

International Association for the Study of Popular Music (US branch, 1998); Society for Ethnomusicology (2000).

Selected Book Chapters, Journal Articles and Recordings

“Love and Business: Taylor Swift as Celebrity, Businesswoman, and Advocate.” Contemporary Music Review (Mary Fogarty & Gina Arnold, special issue eds.), 40 (1), 2021, pp. 41–59.

“Maqām,” music composition for chamber ensemble, recorded by Eight Strings & a Whistle, NYC, on …and nothing remains the same…, Ravello Records/PARMA Recordings, 2021.

“Transitions: The History of Recording Technology from 1970 to the Present.” in Bourbon, Andrew & Simon Zagorski-Thomas (eds), The Bloomsbury Handbook of Music Production, New York: Bloomsbury Academic, 2020, pp. 69–87.

Book cover for the Auditory Culture Reader CD cover for And Nothing Remains the Same Book cover for The Bloomsbury Handbook of Music Production

“The Sound of Nowhere: Reverb and the Construction of Sonic Space.” in The Relentless Pursuit of Tone: Timbre and Popular Music, Fink, Robert, Latour, M. & Wallmark, Z. (eds.), Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2018, pp. 323–344.

“Musical Instruments as Assemblage.” in Bovermann, Till, de Campo, A., Egermann, H., Hardjowirogo, S-I. & Weinsierl, S. (eds), Musical Instruments in the 21st Century: Identities, Configurations, Practices, Berlin: Springer, 2017, pp. 59–66.

“Listening as Gesture and Movement.” in Papenburg, Jens Gerrit and Shulze, Holger. (eds), Sound as Popular Culture: A Research Companion, Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2016, pp. 243–249.

“Click / Beat / Body: Thoughts on the Materiality of Time and Tempo.” in Bull, M. and Back, L. (eds.), The Auditory Culture Reader (2nd, revised edition), London: Routledge, 2016, pp. 341–348.

Book cover for The Relentless Pursuit of Tone Book cover for Sound as Popular Culture Book cover for Musical Instruments in the 21st Century

“Jomo,” music composition for trombone, percussion and electronics, recorded by Dale Sorensen and Steven Wassmansdorf, Toronto, on Harambee: Canadian Music for Trombone, Pine Grove Music, 2015.

“Digitalization.” in Shepherd, J. & Devine K. (eds), The Routledge Reader on The Sociology of Music. London: Routledge, 2015, pp. 329–338.

“The End of the World as We Know It: The Changing Role of the Studio in the Age of the Internet.” in Frith, S. & Zagorski-Thomas, S. (eds.), The Art of Record Production – An Introductory Reader for a New Academic Field. Farnham, Surrey, UK: Ashgate, 2012, pp. 77–90.

“Almost Silent: The Interplay of Sound and Silence in Contemporary Cinema and Television.” in Beck, J. & Grajeda, A. (eds.), Lowering the Boom: Critical Studies in Film Sound. Champaign, IL: University of Illinois Press, 2008, pp 51–67.

Routledge Sociology of Music cover image Art of Record Production cover image

“Everyday Fandom: Fan Clubs, Blogging, and the Quotidian Rhythms of the Internet.” Canadian Journal of Communication, Special Issue: Life on Line, 30 (4), 2005, pp. 1–18.

“Sound Maps: Music and Sound in Cybercartography,” in Taylor, D.R. Fraser (ed.), Cybercartography: Theory and Practice. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 2005, pp. 389–411.

“The Network Studio: Historical and Technological Paths to a New Ideal in Music Making.” Social Studies of Science Special Double Issue: ‘Technology and Music,’ 34 (5) October, 2004, pp. 759–781.

“These Are My Nightmares: Music and Sound in the Films of David Cronenberg,” in Hayward, Philip (ed.), Off The Planet: Music, Sound and Science Fiction Cinema. London: John Libbey, 2004, pp. 129–148.

Lowering the Boom cover image CJC cover image

“Technology, Creative Practice and Copyright,” in Frith, Simon & Marshall, Lee (eds.), Music and Copyright (2nd Ed.), Edinburgh: University of Edinburgh Press, 2004, pp. 139–156.

“‘Ethnic Sounds’: The Economy and Discourse of World Music Sampling,” in Lysloff, René & Gay, Leslie (eds.), Music and Technoculture. Hanover, NH: Wesleyan University Press, 2003, pp. 93–108.

“‘Plugged In’: Technology and Popular Music,” in Frith, Simon, Straw, Will, and Street, John (eds.), The Cambridge Companion to Pop and Rock. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2001, pp. 3–25.