“Over” by Neil Ollivierra

DETROITSOUND4

DETROIT SOUND DESIGN:
Preservation and Innovation

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 9, 2017 at DC3 Taubman Center

Click here for tickets.

DETROITSOUND4 will present a single day conference including panels, presentations, and an exclusive performance on the Blue Blue Inn jazz stage.

The presenters take their point of departure from the struggles to preserve sonic spaces like United Sound Systems Recording Studios (a ten minute walk from the conference venue) and the Blue Bird Inn (a seven minute drive away) against the Federal highway expansion of I-94 and foreclosure crisis respectively.

The spectre that drives the conference is this: how can two of the most sonically advanced places of modern culture face such legally sanctioned and economically determined sonic devastation and apocalypse? In order to respond to this situation, panelists will draw from the City’s rich history of designing, producing, and innovating soundscapes, both architectural and musical, in order to better understand, question, and expand Detroit’s “City of Design” designation.

What could happen if we listened for design instead of merely looked for it? What might change if we prioritized the sonic—in our cars, highways, workplaces, homes, studios, relationships?

In that spirit, specific topics will include the preservation and interpretation of sound impulse responses in abandoned African American bars, the preservation and restoration of historic speaker systems in historically gay clubs, the branding and aesthetics of corporate soundscapes, and the sonic dynamics of racial discrimination.

The conference will also feature an exclusive discussion entitled “Sonic Apocalypse” surrounding the devastation of Detroit’s sonic histories as well as a variety of multimedia presentations and films that will foreground the need for innovation and imagination moving forward.

For more information, including sponsorship opportunities, please contact our director via email at director@detroitsound.org or call at 313-757-5082

To follow this year’s event see #DETROITSOUND4

Schedule

Schedule and Speakers Subject to Change

Musical soundtrack for day provided by Shorelights, Summer Cottage Soundcapses. Learn more here.

8:30 AM – 9:30 AM
Registration Opens and Breakfast

9:00 AM – 9:30 AM
Welcome and Thanks

9:30 AM – 10:30 AM
Detroit Sound Design: Theory and Practice

Rebecca Binno Savage – Kraemer Design Group
Zackery Belanger – Arcgeometer
Margo Jones – University of Michigan Taubman College of Architecture & Urban Planning
Joe Philips – Another Country Detroit
Jay Scott – Another Country Detroit

10:30 AM – 11:30 AM
Sonic Histories: Before and After Motown

Alex Alexander – Detroit Sound Conservancy
Christian Matijas-Mecca – University of Michigan School of Music, Theater & Dance
Steven Reaume – Voom
D.Wynn

11:30 AM – 12:30 PM
Designing a Music City: Are We Ready?

Virginia Benson – Party Store Productions
Bryce Detroit – Detroit Afrikan Music Institution
Lauren Hood – Live6 Detroit
Steven Reaume – BLDG01
Dameon Gabriel – Gabriel Hall
Nicholas J. Schroeck – Transnational Environmental Law Clinic
Adrian Tonon – City of Detroit

12:30 PM – 1:30 PM
LUNCH

1:30 PM – 2:30 PM
Preservation and Innovation: Club Heaven Sound System

Damon Percy – Detroit Sound Conservancy
Mike Fotias – Audio Rescue Team
Curtis Lipscomb – LGBT Detroit
Maurice “Pirahnahead” Herd – Whasdat

2:30 PM – 3:30 PM
Preservation and Innovation: Blue Bird Inn

Sound Impulse Team – Detroit Sound Conservancy
Daniel Rayzel – Michigan State University School of Journalism
De’Sean Jones

3:30 PM – 4:30 PM
Sonic Apocalypse: What’s at Risk and Our Vision Forward

Carleton S. Gholz – Detroit Sound Conservancy
Lauren Hood – Live6 Detroit
Jennifer Reinhardt – Michigan Historic Preservation Network

4:30 PM – 5:00 PM
Break and Move Downstairs

5:00 PM – 6:00 PM
Blue Bird Activation De’Sean Jones Trio

De’Sean Jones and his trio live on the Blue Bird Inn Stage sponsored by Appart.

Sponsors

Updated 11 September 2017