The Rhetorical Work of

Composing with Audio

SLCC Publication Center

What’s rhetorical about writing with sound?

Rhetoric is about directing audience attention in specific ways.

When we compose with sound, we use sounds to call attention to

things for our audiences and thus move them to experience our

texts in specific ways.

Questions for composers: What scenes, actions, and people do we

want our audiences to see, feel, or experience? And, how can we use

sound to achieve these effects?

Key terms for reading audio texts

• Soundscape: A context -- social, cultural, geographical, etc. – or scene characterized by a particular set of sounds

• Voiceover: Audio commentary, narration, explanation, or interpretation added by composers

• Signals: Foregrounded sounds given direct attention, those made prominent by composers

• Keynotes: Additional sounds that orient audiences to context and a text’s overall meaning

• Fade In/Out: Gradual increase or decrease in the volume of sounds that signal transitions

*Terms taken from Selfe’s Multimodal Composition: Resources for Teachers

Practice with key terms

• How would you describe or explain the soundscapes of these texts?

• How does voiceover direct the listener’s attention, and what is its role in creating the soundscapes?

• How do signals direct the listener’s attention, and what are their roles in creating the soundscapes?

• Are there keynotes, and how do they contribute to the soundscapes?

• Are there fade ins/outs, and what kinds of transitions do they signal?