The Music That's Not There: -

The chapter takes its point of departure in a discussion of the relationship between music as an aesthetic gestalt and sound as physical matter revealing music's fundamental status as a virtual auditory phenomenon. This is partly carried out through a reflection on music's traditional acoustic semblance. But it is also a discussion about the experience of space that music provides through traditional analog sound production and the intensification of this experience that occurs in consequence of the introduction of modern digital production methods. It is the chapter's thesis that recorded music represents, and is experienced in, a space that is not there; music is essentially transitory and virtual and this is exemplified through an analysis of the instrumentation and production techniques of two songs from Suzanne Vega's 1992 album 99.9˚