Obstruent Obstruent An obstruent is a speech sound such as , , or that is formed by "obstructing" airflow. Obstruents contrast with sonorants, which have no such obstruction and so resonate. All obstruents are consonants, but sonorants include both vowels and consonants. Obstruents are subdivided into plosives (oral stops), such as , with complete occlusion of the vocal tract, often followed by a release burst; fricatives, such as , with limited closure, not stopping airflow but making it turbulent; and affricates, which begin with complete occlusion but then release into a fricative-like release, such as . Obstruents are prototypically voiceless, but
So Beautiful or So What were Simon's favorite to record with for the album. In using bells to augment the sound, Simon put them behind certain guitar notes to “highlight” the sound, as he wanted the recordings to be devoid of echo; he found that using bells created only a slight echo, with an odd, atmospheric tone that he preferred. Drummer Jim Oblon placed towels over each drums to emphasize the higher-frequency percussive instruments. The songs on "So Beautiful or So What" touch on subjects such as love, mortality, and faith. In terms of songwriting, Simon did not approach each new song with a theme;