ABSTRACT
This chapter reviews research into the relationship between live and recorded music, as well as discusses the constraints that pertain to acousmatic listening—that is, listening to sound without a visible source. It focuses on two perceptual mechanisms that are at work when one experiences recorded or acousmatic sound. The first of these mechanisms concerns the perceptual disconnect that can arise when people compare music to a historically and culturally deep-rooted notion of music as source bonded. The second mechanism concerns processes of naturalization, or the continuous "tuning of the ear." What we mean by this is that new musical expressions, made possible by recording technology, eventually become naturalized, transforming one's reference and starting point for new listening experiences. A more contemporary example of distorting the relationship between the sound and its source is the use of digital pitch manipulation in popular music production, which affects the attack as well as the sustain phase of the sound.
