How Music Works
by David Byrne · first published 2012
76% recommend24% neutral
Why HN recommends it
Readable, well-informed account of how technology, venues, and the music industry shape how music is made and heard, mixing history, anthropology, memoir, and sound physics. Suits curious non-musicians and tech people.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
The Rock-and-Roll Hall of Fame inductee and co-founder of Talking Heads presents a celebration of music that offers insight into the roles of time, place, and recording technology, discussing how evolutionary patterns of adaptations and responses to cultural and physical contexts have influenced music expression throughout history and culminated in the 20th century's transformative practices.
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…looking at the world has changed the way I think and act completely on the inside, yet it's probably hardly noticable on the outside. An amazingly easy book to read, couldn't recommend it highly enough. How Music Works - David Byrne A unique and refreshing take on creating music that can be applied to the creation of anything. Byrne leaves the mysterious & ethereal world of 'creativity' for dead, and looks at how he…
on “Ask HN: Best books you read in 2012” ↗…unemployed engineer who has had no luck on the job market. I've taken to writing a lot of poetry lately as a way to process my feelings and it has been very helpful. I actually recently read the book How Music Works by David Byrne and I enjoyed reading his account of one of his creative processes. He said that he often begins by coming up with a vocalization, grunts or hums or breaths, that fits into a certain rhythmic…
on “Why poetry is good for the rational mind” ↗Smart guy. It's interesting to see him on HN. I highly recommend his captivating book on music, How music works [1]. It's part an anthropological study and part an autobiography and but he goes into how music has evolved with regards to technology and the music industry in general. He's been touring a lot lately.…
on “David Byrne Curates a Playlist of Great Protest Songs” ↗David Byrne’s book “How Music Works” has an interesting bit about how the common contemporary way of recording recording (recording different tracks separately) can feel very unnatural for bands that are used to playing live, in an actual…
on “Open Source Tools and Data for Music Source Separation” ↗How Music Works by David Byrne http://www.amazon.com/dp/1936365537 Feeding Back: Conversations with Alternative Guitarists from Proto-Punk to Post-Rock by David Todd http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/161374059X Rise…
on “Ask HN: Best books you read in 2012” ↗…articles about influential albums or genres. If you are interested in the "why" behind some of the history, David Byrne (formerly of the Talking Heads) wrote a phenomenal book on the subject called "How Music Works", that explains a lot of important shifts in the mediums history. [1] https://4chanmusic.fandom.com/wiki/Essential_Charts
on “Ask HN: How to Become a Music Buff?” ↗Listening habits has always shaped how music is made. David Byrne explains that quite well in "How Music Works", his take on the history of how music is made and how it sounds being correlated how it was usually played is quite interesting. Tribal music could be more beat/drum focused as those are played in open…
on “80% of musicians earn less than £200 a year from streaming” ↗I try to broaden my horizons and get out of my tech bubble, so I like to learn how artists think. I don't think I could do any better than David Byrne "How Music Works" which is surprisingly and satisfyingly technical, along with musical, and Patti Smith's "Just Kids" about her time in New York City starting out with artist Robert Mapplethorpe at the Chelsea Hotel.…
on “Ask HN: What's the best book you read in 2021?” ↗David Byrne's book, "How Music Works", is an incredibly well-written, well-informed book on music. It opened up whole new avenues of music appreciation for me. Prior to reading it, I had never truly considered things like how the space…
on “‘Stop Making Sense’ Is Back, and Talking Heads Have More to Say” ↗I've always found stuff about how technological/sociological advances beget changes in music really interesting. David Byrne's book 'How Music Works' covers this exact point about quantisation and much more. I would argue that there's probably a lot more nuance here when you look at how economics of music have changed in the last 50 years - it's…
on “What Is Gridifcation” ↗I've recently read _How Music Works_. http://www.amazon.co.uk/How-Music-Works-listener%C2%92s-harmony/dp/1846143152/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1290710570&sr=8-1 Covers the physics of sound and harmonics as well. Recommend.
on “Mathematical explanation of music and white/black notes in a piano” ↗…their dreams. Supporting them but making sure they stay in school, etc. lessons if you can, go see a variety of concerts of all kinds with them if you can. And David Byrnes (of the Talking Heads) book “How Music Works” (unless they only like classical music, though perhpaps even then).
on “The Loneliness of the Long Distance Rocker” ↗For those who haven't he has two pretty interesting books, Bicycle Diaries and How Music Works
on “David Byrne Radio” ↗After reading "How Music Works" by David Byrne, it seem like FLAC is solving the wrong problem. No one needs over 4 billion discrete levels.
on “FLAC 1.4.0 released – added support for 32-bit audio” ↗…is "Absolutely". And I'm also guessing that if somebody can do both services effectively enough, the two parties would happily pay a fair amount for that service. I'm currently reading David Byrne's "How Music Works" and he's quite clearly talking about the need/opportunity for startups to plug the distribution gap for low volume indie musicians, and I don't see that the indie movie world is a great deal different…
on “Killing Your Startup on a Thursday Night” ↗