50 I M PS E . O R G
Sound and
the Sensation
of Film
BY JAVIER QUESADA MPSE
Part 1 of a 5-Part Series about five key
functions of sound in cinema
"Sound provides the most forceful stimulus that human beings
experience, and the most evanescent."
–Bruce R. Smith
Frame from Sound of Metal (2020)
Cinema is a vibrating medium. Not only in a figurative sense but in a literal sense. Since
films became audiovisual in 1927, they became an event of vibration, whether this vibration
or sound was produced live or from a playback system reproducing a synchronized
recording. The nuance, clarity, and potency of film soundtracks have vastly improved, and so
has our understanding of vibration. Our relationship with vibration doesn't exactly begin at
20 Hz and ends at 20 kHz.
