What is the difference between “sound design” and “sonic design”? This is one of the many questions I have pondered while preparing the International Seminar on Sonic Design the last half year.
My idea with using the term “sonic design” for the seminar was inspired by Professor Rolf Inge Godøy, my former supervisor, mentor, colleague and friend, to whom the seminar was dedicated. With his background in music performance and composition, he always talked about how musicians and composers “shape” sound through their practice. They “design” sound with their bodies.
The term “sound” is typically used to describe vibrations that travel through air. “Sonic”, on the other hand, is metaphorical, describing anything related to sound. Thus, sound design can be thought of as designing (and producing) sounding sounds, while sonic design could also embrace designing and understanding sonic experiences.
The aim for the seminar was, in the spirit of Rolf Inge, to bring together art and science, practicioners and researchers. Then it also felt right to use “sonic design” as a unifying term that includes both artistic and scientific approaches to creating and studying (musical) sound.
Here is a photo of Rolf Inge and me at the end of the seminar:
