This Is What It Sounds Like: A Legendary Producer Turned Neuroscientist on Finding Yourself Through Music
Susan Rogers
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This Is What It Sounds Like: A Legendary Producer Turned Neuroscientist on Finding Yourself Through Music
Susan Rogers
This Is What It Sounds Like is a journey into the science and soul of music that reveals the secrets of why your favorite songs move you. But it’s also a story of a musical trailblazer who began as a humble audio tech in Los Angeles to became Prince’s chief engineer for Purple Rain, and then create other No. 1 hits (including Barenaked Ladies' "One Week") as one of the most successful female record producers of all time. Now an award-winning professor of cognitive neuroscience, Susan Rogers leads readers to musical self-awareness. She explains that we each possess a unique “listener profile” based on our brain’s natural response to seven key dimensions of any song. Are you someone who prefers lyrics or melody? Do you like music “above the neck” (intellectually stimulating), or “below the neck” (instinctual and rhythmic)? Whether your taste is esoteric or mainstream, Rogers guides readers to recognize their musical personality, and offers language to describe one's own unique taste. Like most of us, Rogers is not a musician, but she shows that all of us can be musical—simply by being an active, passionate listener. While exploring the science of music and the brain, Rogers also takes us behind the scenes of record-making, using her insider’s ear to illuminate the music of Prince, Frank Sinatra, Kanye West, Lana Del Rey, and many others. She shares records that changed her life, contrasts them with those that appeal to her coauthor and students, and encourages you to think about the records that define your own identity. Told in a lively and inclusive style, This Is What It Sounds Like will refresh your playlists, deepen your connection to your favorite artists, and change the way you listen to music.
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3.5 stars
This Is What It Sounds Like is really more about discovering your preferences in music specifically rather than discovering yourself through music but it's an interesting exploration nonetheless. The authors structure the book by examining seven different dimensions through which you can examine music to figure out a "listener profile" that guides what you enjoy. There is certainly some exploration of the neuroscience involved in how music affects us and I appreciated as a non-science geek how easy it was to wrap my brain around what was being described so I think it works really well for a general audience.
Despite being a pretty short nonfiction book, it takes awhile to work your way through it as there are a lot of moments where the authors mention specific songs to go listen to in order to illustrate the point or dimension they're talking about. It's well worth actually making this effort, I don't think I would have gotten nearly as much out of it without that level of listening and analyzing the elements in question.
I suspect that folks with a stronger musical background or who have previously studied different genres of music might already be familiar with some of the concepts, though I think there's at least a little for everyone. As someone who learned a musical instrument as a teen but never made it past tolerable amateur, I appreciated the level of detail and that it made me think about the elements of a song in a way that I never really had before. I also appreciated the emphasis on how liking one type of music is not superior as I've previously had to deal with folks who thought their love of classical music made them more intellectual than my metal loving self. And it challenged me on finding things I enjoyed even in genres of music I would normally avoid.
If you're interested in music or want to learn more about what might draw you to particular songs or genres, this was an interesting exploration with lots of links to research for deeper dives if you're so inclined. Some of the sections, especially the chapter on the producer's perspective, had a little more of a memoir feel and lost me a little bit but it was still a valuable experience for me overall and one I'd recommend.
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