This Is What It Sounds Like: What the Music You Love Says About You

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A legendary record-producer-turned-brain-scientist explains why you fall in love with music Despite being unable to play an instrument, Susan Rogers became an extraordinarily successful record producer - and certainly one of the most successful women record producers in history - because of her ability to listen. (She was an engineer on Prince's "When Doves Cry", which inspired the title of the book.) This is What It Sounds Like distils a lifetime's expertise as a producer and an award-winning professor with a PhD in cognitive neuroscience, to present a new theory of listening for everyday music fans. Each person has a unique identity as a listener, she explains, determined by seven influential dimensions of musical listening- authenticity, realism, novelty, melody, lyrics, rhythm and timbre. In helping readers understand and embrace their personal musical identity, Rogers explores the different ways music appeals to our mind and body, how falling in love with a song is a lot like falling in love with a person, and what your preferred music reveals about what you need to feel whole. Told in a lively, empathetic style, with fascinating stories of encounters with musicians from Prince to Miles Davis to David Byrne, This is What it Sounds Like will change your musical life.

Reviews

This Is What It Sounds Like is a revelation... extraordinary insights about music, emotion, and the brain... An instant classic, [it] should be read by anyone who has ever been moved by a piece of music-in other words, everyone -- Dr. Daniel J. Levitin, New York Times bestselling author of This Is Your Brain on Music and The Organized Mind
If you've ever wondered why you love a song and what that says about you this book will help you understand why. Susan is one of the smartest people in the world of music and this book will help you hear music more deeply and more thoughtfully. You can tell why Prince loved working with her -- Tour, author of I Would Die 4 U: Why Prince Became an Icon
A deliciously nerdy resource for music lovers, and for anyone who thinks deeply about music and how it moves them -- Jessica Hopper, author of First Collection of Criticism by a Living Female Rock Critic
Susan Rogers found her superpower in the music world not as a musician, but as a master listener. Rogers' book is a gift to music listeners of all kinds - because in listening, we hear not only the music, we hear the sonic signature of our own soul -- Dan Charnas, New York Times bestselling author of Dilla Time: The Life and Afterlife of J Dilla, the Hip-Hop Producer Who Reinvented Rhythm
Why do we like the music we like With a provocative blend of studio stories and fascinating neuroscience, celebrated producer and engineer Susan Rogers sets out to answer this eternal mystery - and, along the way, just might turn you into a better listener -- Alan Light, music journalist and author of Let's Go Crazy: Prince and the Making of Purple Rain

Author Bio

Susan E Rogers, PhD. is a Professor of Music Cognition at Berklee College of Music in Boston, where she received the Berklee Distinguished Faculty Award, the college's highest teaching honor. Prior to her science career, Rogers was a multi-platinum record producer, recording engineer, and mixer. She is best known for her work with Prince ("Purple Rain") as well as David Byrne, Barenaked Ladies, and many others. Ogi Ogas, PhD is a mathematical neuroscientist and the author of Journey of the Mind- How Thinking Emerged from Chaos. He was a Department of Homeland Security Fellow and a Research Fellow at the Harvard Graduate School of Education.