"This book not only changes the way you think about music; it changes the way you hear. Spellbinding, ear-opening, and impossible to put down, Sounds as They Are is a groundbreaking exploration of our capacity to listen unconditionally. In a field dominated by extraction and exclusion, Beaudoin compels us to imagine an expansive musical ecosystem in which composers, interpreters, sound engineers, and listeners are all cocreators in a radically transformed experience of hearing and appreciating music. Every musician should read this book." — Claire Chase, Professor of the Practice, Harvard University
"Sounds as They Are helped me remember how I used to listen to music, how to apply that same child-like joy to my performances, and how to (rather literally!) breathe life into my listening. Fearlessly written, a new mode of deep listening emerges from this book, which addresses performers, audio engineers, theorists, musicologists, and everyone who loves recordings." — Dashon Burton, Assistant Professor of Voice, Blair School of Music, Vanderbilt University
"Groundbreaking in its pursuit of equal recognition for all recorded sounds, Sounds as They Are unlocks the latent potential of 'unwritten music.' Beaudoin exposes biases in our perception of classical music recordings, enriching our auditory experience and inspiring innovative scholarly contemplation. His lucid mapping and inventive typology will become standard tools for analyzing sounds that have long been overlooked." — Yves Balmer, Professor of Music Analysis, Paris Conservatoire