About
Eamonn Bell holds a doctorate in music theory from Columbia University (2019), where he wrote a dissertation on the early history of computing in the analysis of musical scores, under the supervision of Joseph Dubiel. At Columbia, he designed and taught a course on the critique of digital music (2018), and instructed the undergraduate sections in history of Western music for non-musicians (2018) and the fundamentals of music theory (2017). His research interests include: the history of technology as it relates to musical production and consumption in the twentieth century, with a focus on the first digital computers; the applied use of mathematical and contemporary computational techniques to solve problems in musicology and music theory; visualizations of musical data; and, lately, the cultural history of optical sound-recording media. He also holds a bachelor’s degree in Music and Mathematics from Trinity College, Dublin (2013). Education
- Ph.D., Music Theory, Columbia University (2019)
- B.A. (Mod.), Music and Mathematics, Trinity College, Dublin (2013)
- Undergraduate thesis: “The consort fantasias of William Byrd: The application of a new quantitative technique to describe fuga subject deformation” (Supervisor: Andrew Johnstone)
Blog Posts
-
Working Group meeting 1: Loughridge (Northeastern), “Automaton Encounters”
(TAXIS – A group blog on sound and technology,
2021-09-27)
-
Reading 16: Noise control / August 13th @ 10:00 a.m. (Eastern) / 3:00 p.m. (London) / 4:00pm (Paris)
(TAXIS – A group blog on sound and technology,
2021-08-05)
-
Readings 13 – The Treatise (Moten) – Next meeting, Friday May 14th 2020 @ 1 p.m. (Eastern) / 6 p.m. (Dublin)
(TAXIS – A group blog on sound and technology,
2021-05-05)
-
Readings 12 – Empiricism(s) (Tkaczyk, Mills and Hui (eds.); Volmar) – Next meeting, Friday April 9th 2020 @ 1 p.m. (Eastern) / 6 p.m. (Dublin)
(TAXIS – A group blog on sound and technology,
2021-03-16)
-
Readings 11 – Non-anthropocentric histories of sound and technology (Mundy, Born) – Next meeting, Friday March 12th 2020 @ 1 p.m. (Eastern) / 6 p.m. (Dublin)
(TAXIS – A group blog on sound and technology,
2021-02-20)
Projects
Opening the “Red Book”: The digital Audio CD format from the viewpoint between musicology and media studies (2019–2021)
This two-year project explores how the once-ubiquitous Compact Disc (CD) audio format was designed, subverted, reproduced and domesticated for musical ends. It charts the international research and development effort that culminated in the first standardised functional specification of the CD: IEC 60908, also known as the “Red Book”, whose contents was finalised in 1980.
Funding Agency
Irish Research Council
Uses, reuses and abuses of the compact disc at 40: an obsolete format and/or a new opportunity for critical digital media literacy? (2020–2021)
In the “Red Book” standard of 1980, Sony and Philips offered a blueprint for a high-fidelity digital audio format that transformed how we consume music: the audio compact disc (CD). The R&D effort leading to the CD was an intensive, multi-year collaboration on a high-tech consumer product that had significant economic and ecological consequences. On the fortieth anniversary of this standard, the project will stage an event for the general public featuring researchers representing the arts and sciences as well an academic-led “critical making” workshop exploring these aspects of the CD’s history.
Funding Agency
Irish Research Council
