This book, accompanied by 285 tracks on 3 CDs of examples is a unique and indispensable resource work for all those interested in electroacoustic music. Examples by Parmegiani, Henry, Bayle, Xenakis, Luc Ferrari etc. illustrate Pierre Schaeffer's text. This was originally designed to accompany Schaeffer's seminal work Traite des Objets Musicaux, but is a wonderful and enlightening tutorial in its own right.
Le Solfège de l’Objet Sonore (Music Theory of the Sound Object.), a sound recording that accompanied Traité des Objets Musicaux (Treatise on Musical Objects) by Pierre Schaeffer, was issued by ORTF (French Broadcasting Authority) as a long-playing record in 1967. The recording quality of these records was excellent for the time and enabled work that was originally recorded on tape to be faithfully reproduced.
When we listened to the original tapes thirty years later, we were pleased to notice that they had not lost much of their original quality. But in the intervening years our listening requirements had altered. Given the quality required by the CD format, it was impossible to use the original tapes. Now that we are used to flawless recordings, various problems leapt out at us: background noise, acoustical changes, jumps in recording levels, audible splicing and post echo.

These imperfections went unnoticed on long-playing records as they were covered by the noises made by the recording medium itself, but they are now unacceptable in the era of digital sound. Meticulous work was undertaken to eliminate the flaws produced by the recording medium and the uneven balance between the spoken sections and the musical examples. Jean Schwarz did a magnificent job of meticulously re-editing the original tapes that were then digitally processed to eliminate background noise and also to increase the presence and enhance the warmth of Pierre Schaeffer’s voice. Background noise was reduced using Audio Clean software that was developed by the GRM(Groupe de Recherches Musicales - Musical Research Group) and the Audio Library of the INA (Institut National de l’Audiovisuel - National Audio-Visual Institute).

Jean-Fran cois Ponteftact, who led the audio restoration work at the INA Audio Library, provided invaluable help in perfrcting the techniques for correcting Pierre Schaeffer’s voice. The final work of reinserting the musical examples, that were not restored in order to keep the original sound, was made by Jean Schwarz. He was also responsible for overall balance and the flawless sequencing of the 282 tracks that make up the 3 CDs.