A Book Series by Michael JanJason

Sonic
Dissections

Each volume opens an artist's sound to the bone — the signature tunings, chord voicings, and sonic instincts that make their music unmistakably theirs. Music written and felt deeply, examined with equal depth.

Explore the Series Become a Co-Author
Sonic Dissections oscilloscope logo

About the Series

What makes a sound
unmistakably theirs?

Sonic Dissections is a book series built on a single, obsessive question: what is it about an artist's music that makes it instantly recognizable — even from the first few notes?

Each volume focuses on one artist or band, tracing the sonic DNA that defines their work. Tunings, chord voicings, production textures, rhythm — and the cultural moment they arrived into. How the music imprinted itself on the people who heard it, and why it endures.

These are not biographies. They are dissections. Precise, passionate, and written by people who love the music as much as they understand it.

View the Series

What We Cover

The anatomy
of a sonic signature.

01

Sonic Identity

The tunings, tones, and timbres that define an artist's palette — the choices, conscious or instinctive, that made their sound impossible to mistake for anyone else.

02

Album Architecture

How records are built — sequencing, dynamics, recurring motifs and production signatures that make a catalog cohere into something larger than any single track.

03

Cultural Landscape

The world the music arrived into. The moment, the movements, the scene — and how that context shaped the art and the way it was received and remembered.

04

Personal Resonance

The unquantifiable: why this artist, this album changed something for the people who heard it. Memory, identity, and the music that marked a before and after.

05

Lasting Legacy

Where the influence went — the artists shaped by this artist, the genres shifted, the sonic ideas that spread forward through decades of music that followed.

06

The Craft Itself

Chord progressions, rhythm patterns, harmonic frameworks — the technical architecture behind the emotional impact, examined with precision and without pretense.

Books in Print

The Series

Pitch a Volume
VOLUME 01 // FILE: PJ.VEDDERROOT NOTE PUBLISHING

PEARL JAM

The Vedder Frequency

[FREQUENCY ARCHIVE: 1991 – 2009]
[MODAL PROFILE: D DORIAN / E MINOR]
[TONAL ANCHOR: OPEN TUNINGS & DROP D]

Michael JanJason

Sonic Dissections · Vol.01

Pearl Jam

1991–2024

In Development
VOLUME 02 // FILE: NIR.COBAINROOT NOTE PUBLISHING

NIRVANA

Signal Decay & Distortion

[FREQUENCY ARCHIVE: 1989 – 1994]
[MODAL PROFILE: F MIXOLYDIAN / E AEOLIAN]
[TONAL ANCHOR: DETUNED POWER CHORDS]

Michael JanJason

Sonic Dissections · Vol.02

Nirvana

1989–1994

In Development
VOLUME 03 // FILE: TBDROOT NOTE PUBLISHING

COMING SOON

Volume 03

[FREQUENCY ARCHIVE: TBD]
[MODAL PROFILE: TBD]
[TONAL ANCHOR: TBD]

Michael JanJason

Sonic Dissections · Vol.03

Coming Soon

Upcoming
VOLUME 04 // FILE: TBDROOT NOTE PUBLISHING

COMING SOON

Volume 04

[FREQUENCY ARCHIVE: TBD]
[MODAL PROFILE: TBD]
[TONAL ANCHOR: TBD]

Michael JanJason

Sonic Dissections · Vol.04

Coming Soon

Upcoming

Co-Authors

Write a Volume.

Sonic Dissections is built on collaboration. Each volume is co-authored with someone who brings their own expertise, their own voice, and their own relationship with the music.

We are not looking for commentators or fans. We are looking for writers with a real personal history with the artist — people for whom the music left a mark. Partners who come with their own platform and readers, creating natural synergies that expand the series into new audiences.

The right partner is as invested in selling this volume as they are in writing it. They carry their own marketing weight. They have a voice, a story, and an audience that trusts them.

Ideal Partner Profile

  • Deep personal connection to the artist — the music changed something for you
  • A credible writing voice with an existing audience or platform
  • Able to drive your own marketing and sales around the volume
  • Creates natural audience synergies that extend the series' reach
  • Understands that writing about music means being both precise and personal

Step 01

Pitch Your Volume

Submit a pitch — which artist you want to cover, why the music matters to you, and what your voice brings to the subject.

Step 02

Develop Together

We align on the artist, the editorial angle, and the book's scope. Every detail is agreed on before writing begins.

Step 03

Shape the Text

We provide the core analytical framework and main text. You bring your knowledge, perspective, and personal relationship to the music into the manuscript.

Step 04

Write & Publish

You write the introduction, album intros and concluding summary section. Along with an additional commentary you'd like to drop in the main text we will provide. These can focus on how the work impacted you personally or take a wide-angle view on its lasting effects, as well as the cultural landscape that they were released onto.

Submit a Pitch

Pitch
the Series.

If you have a volume in mind — an artist whose work you know deeply, a story you've been carrying for years — this is where you put it on the table.

We're building volumes and finding credible writing partners who have an audience of their own. If that's you, tell us about the artist, what you bring to the page, and who's already listening to you.

Co-author pitches only.
We do not respond to reader questions
or general correspondence.