ABSTRACT
R. Murray Schafer proposed the term ‘soundscape’ to encompass and account for the complete aural experience within an environment. In analysing the presence of various sounds and sound sources, he made a distinction between sounds emanating from a ‘natural source’, and those that were reproduced apart from their original source, as is the case with sound recordings. Schafer labels this sonic experience as ‘schizophonia’, the separation of sound from sound source, created and replicated at different points in time.1 Recording practice extends the concept of schizophonia into the experience of the mediated present. In order to make this distinction more clear, I wish to modify Shafer’s term to reflect the mediation inherent in the recording process. I posit the term ‘audioscape’ to address the phenomenon of simultaneous multiple aural experiences that result from the use of microphones, loudspeakers, and their cousin, headphones.
