A video on composing with sound.

1. The Rhetorical Work of
Composing with Audio
SLCC Publication Center

2. 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?

3. 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

4. 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?