Sonic Phantoms: Composition with Auditory Phantasmatic Presence, Barbara Ellison, Thomas Bey William Bailey

In this book, Barbara Ellison and Thomas B. W. Bailey lay out and explore the
mystifying and evanescent musical territory of sonic phantoms: auditory illusions
within the musical material that convey a phantasmatic presence. Structured
around a large body of compositional work developed by Ellison over the past
decade, sonic phantoms are revealed and illustrated as they arise through a
diverse array of musical sources, materials, techniques, and compositional tools:
voices (real and synthetic), field recordings, instrument manipulation, object
amplification, improvisation, and recording studio techniques. Their larger musical
context is also outlined, as sonic phantoms are indeed present in a considerable
number of disparate musical traditions (Western and non-Western), techno-
historical moments (from ancient/archaic to electronic/computer-age techniques),
cultural frameworks (from serious to popular), and fields of interest/expertise
(from the psychological to the musical). Somehow inherent in all music--and
perhaps in all sound--sonic phantoms lurk and stalk with the promise of mystery
and elevation. We just need to conjure them.