The dates given in the Week column are for the Tuesday of the week.
Reading is due at the Tuesday group class. There will be a short quiz about the reading on some Tuesdays.
Listening indicates a piece to which you will listen and respond in Canvas before the Tuesday group class. (You’re not expected to listen to the pieces in Week 1 before class.)
Assignments and Exercises are due at your tutorial time.
| Week | Topic | Reading & Listening | Assignments |
|---|---|---|---|
| Week 1 (8/27) | Overview; scheduling |
Jonty Harrison: [VPN]
Internal Combustion (2006)
Manuella Blackburn: Switched On (2011) |
|
| Week 2 (9/3) | Acoustics 1 (sound, speed of sound, waves, frequency); microphones, recording |
Week 2 Reading in Canvas
Natasha Barrett: “In the Rain,” from Three Fictions (2000) |
Start Assignment 1: Recording. |
| Week 3 (9/10) | Acoustics 2 (amplitude, partials, phase, resonance); creating phrases with audio in DAWs |
Week 3 Reading in Canvas
Panayiotis Kokoras: Construct Synthesis (2010) |
DUE: Assignment 1: Recording
Start Assignment 2: Editing. |
| Week 4 (9/17) | Acoustics 3 (reflection, standing waves, formants, psychoacoustics); pitch-shifting, time-scaling |
Week 4 Reading in Canvas
Katharine Norman: Hard Cash (and small dreams of change) (1997) |
DUE: Assignment 2: Editing
Start Assignment 3: Short Piece. |
| Week 5 (9/24) | Effects (EQ, delay, reverb); mixing; busing |
Week 5 Reading in Canvas
Hildegard Westerkamp: Kits Beach Soundwalk (1989) |
(Work on Assignment 3.) |
| Week 6 (10/1) | Final mixdown/bounce; digital audio theory |
Week 6 Reading in Canvas
Benjamin Broening: Twilight Shift, for flute and electronics (2012) |
(Work on Assignment 3.) |
| Week 7 (10/8) | Review; MIDI in DAWs; virtual instruments |
Week 7 Reading in Canvas
Zack Browning: Network Slammer, for amplified flute and computer-generated tape (1998) |
DUE: Assignment 3: Short Piece |
| Week 8 (10/15) | TEST 1 | Start Assignment 4: MIDI Sequence. | |
| Week 9 (10/22) | MIDI hardware; MIDI protocol; using MIDI cc’s: automation and real-time control | Week 9 Reading in Canvas | [nothing] |
| Week 10 (10/29) | MIDI continued; spatialization and multichannel mixing | Scott Wyatt: On a Roll (2004) |
DUE: Assignment 4: MIDI Sequence
Start Final Project. |
| Week 11 (11/5) | Intro to synthesis (part 1): the voltage-controlled analog synthesis model, waveforms and spectra, envelopes |
Week 11 Reading in Canvas
Morton Subotnick: Silver Apples of the Moon (1967) |
Start Exercise A: Basic Patch. |
| Week 12 (11/12) | Intro to synthesis (part 2): sub-audio rate modulation, more complex patches | Week 12 Reading in Canvas |
DUE:
Exercise A: Basic Patch
Start Exercise B: Modulation. |
| Week 13 (11/19) | Intro to synthesis (part 3): filters | Week 13 Reading in Canvas | DUE: Exercise B: Modulation |
| 11/26 | Thanksgiving Break | ||
| Week 14 (12/3) | TEST 2 | (Work on Final Project.) | |
| Week 15 (12/10) | Dynamics processing (limiter, compressor, gate, expander); side-chain compression; parallel (upward) compression |
Wikipedia compression article
Compression 101, part 1 (Youtube) Compression 101, part 2 (Youtube) Parallel Compression (mainly for Figure 1) |
Complete draft of Final Project. |
| Exam Week (12/17) | Project performances | Final Project (be ready to play Tuesday) | |