---
title: "Playing with Sound – Adding Downbeat Tempo to a Discourse on Shakespeare"
date: 2008-06-02
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# Playing with Sound – Adding Downbeat Tempo to a Discourse on Shakespeare

**Listen here:**

[Audio](https://www.podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3?https://s3.us-west-1.wasabisys.com/idbwmedia.com/podcasts/diglossia.mp3)

[![](https://s3.us-west-1.wasabisys.com/idbwmedia.com/images/apple_podcasts.png)](https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/id-rather-be-writing-podcast/id277365275) [![](https://s3.us-west-1.wasabisys.com/idbwmedia.com/images/watchonyoutubeblack.png)](https://www.youtube.com/@idratherbewriting) [![](https://s3.us-west-1.wasabisys.com/idbwmedia.com/images/spotify.png)](https://open.spotify.com/show/4HeOZfPGMMfViOhVS40QBD)

A strange thing happens when you take an audio file of someone speaking and set it to music -- the two separate tracks combine such that the result is greater than the sum of the parts. For example, listen to the 3 minute track below that combines a 1981 speech by Shakespearean English scholar [Arthur Henry King](http://www.ldsvoices.com/index.php?id=977) with [Kiln's Fyrepond](http://mysteriousuniverse.org/2008/04/12/episode-93-mu-music/#more-2121).

I have not altered either track in any way. I simply layered them together. Listening to both the speech and music brought together this way gives more depth to both.