PROJECTS

All composition projects are due Mondays at 9pm

Submit your assignments on Blackboard with the following content:

  • An MP3 or WAV file labelled with the specified filename

  • Screen shot(s) of your software session

  • Supplementary text describing your process and the sounds you used

Compositions are graded based on technical proficiency (lack of technical errors), following the requirements outlined for each assignment, and musical creativity and imagination

Composition 1: SOUND COLLAGE (5%)

Due 9/30 by 9pm

Collage: an assemblage of diverse elements or fragments in unlikely or unexpected juxtaposition.

Make between 10 and 30 short sounds out of found sound samples. You can use the recordings made during the recorder scavenger hunt, record new sounds, OR use online resources. Use anything *but* drum/percussion samples. For example, you might make your short sounds out of birds, bicycle spokes, carpet scratches, or air conditioning sounds. Use ocenaudio (OR a software you feel more comfortable with) to edit your sounds, BUT limit yourself to the techniques available to old school tape music: changing speed, reversing, cutting, splicing, looping, and/or layering sounds. This means not utilizing digital effects or other processing. Once you have edited your sounds, assemble them into a composition that explores rhythm, texture, and space. You should experiment with possibilities beyond traditional beat-based music. What happens if you abandon pulse? How can editing the left and right channel individually affect the presentation of your sounds? How can density be managed over time?

Requirements: use at least 10 sounds less than 1 second each, create a 30 second composition using those sounds

Label files LastnameFirstname_soundcollage

Composition 2: TIMBRE CLOUDS (7.5%)

Due 10/14 by 9pm

Timbre is the quality of a sound producer independent of its pitch; it allows us to hear the difference between a clarinet and a trumpet playing the same note, for example. This composition should explore timbre changing over time and different musical sections (formal structure).

More specifically, compose a one to one-and-a-half minute piece that consists of three different dense timbre ‘clouds’ which are smoothly transitioned between. Each cloud (A, B, and C) should be smoothly and seamlessly transitioned between (two transitions total). You are welcome to use any sound sources and you can use any effects and sound processing techniques, but make sure that your end result is smooth, dense, and seamless. Experiment with layering audio effects in series and in parallel, changing source sounds significantly (“What sound is that???”), and using automation.

Requirements: three different timbre ‘clouds’, two seamless transitions between them, 1 to 1.5 minutes in duration

Label files LastnameFirstname_timbreclouds

Composition 3: Process / pulse piece (10%)

Due 11/11 by 9pm

For Composition 3, you can pick one of two options:

  • Process: Use a process (Reich’s phasing technique, algorithmic rules, etc) to gradually develop rhythmic or pulse-based material over 2 minutes. End somewhere significantly different from where you began.

  • Pulse: Create a work that explores pulse (perception of rhythm), and has at least two strong “pulse shifts”: moments when the pulse abruptly changes pattern, tempo, or feel. Similar to the second project, think about creating an interesting overall structure through changes in feel, density, and/or timbre.

Regardless of which variant of this project you choose, your piece should focus on (i.e. use mostly) synthesized sound sources, but you may also use recorded materials. You may use any effects and sound processing techniques, but they aren’t the focus of this project. 

Requirements: a work that follows the criteria for “process” or “pulse” projects (outlined above), that uses mostly synthesized sounds, and that is 2 minutes in duration (please double check length using ocenaudio or iTunes, etc.)

Label files LastnameFirstname_process-pulsepiece

Mini-Mix Assignment

Due 11/25 by 9pm

Pick one of the four packages of song stems (unmixed audio tracks) below, each provided free of charge from the “Mixing Secrets for The Small Studio” multitrack library. Note that these tracks may or may not be your artistic aesthetic; the goal of this mixing assignment is to train your ears to listen and also learn skills required in nearly all electroacoustic music practices: the skills you build from mixing any of these may be translated to your own electroacoustic artistic practice.

“JazzTrio” | EXCERPT | DOWNLOAD_FULL_STEMS

“DownPop” | EXCERPT | DOWNLOAD_FULL_STEMS

“WeirdPop” | EXCERPT | DOWNLOAD_FULL_STEMS

“House” | EXCERPT | DOWNLOAD_FULL_STEMS

Import these in to REAPER (or another DAW of your choice), with one stem on each track (some stems may be mono, others stereo (2 channels, left and right)).

Your task is to take these raw stems and end up with a final 30-second long stereo mix (a single 30-second long track which you will upload to BlackBoard). The 30 seconds will be an excerpt from the full song: listen to it and determine which 30 seconds you’d like to mix (a high point, a low point, a chorus, a transition, etc.) and only mix and upload those 30 seconds!

When mixing you will primarily be changing the volumes of tracks, their stereo panning, their dynamics (with compression/gating, etc.), and their equalization. These changes should be made with purpose while listening intently. In addition to those primary means of mixing you might also use other effects such as reverberation units, echo effects, stereo wideners, modulation effects, etc.

How you mix can be chosen within a spectrum from “traditionalism”—creating a mix that is representative of, or idiomatic to, the genre that the recorded musical material situates itself in, where your artistic contributions are nearly transparent—to “experimentalism”—creating a (re)mix where your creative choices are intentionally very audible and foregrounded; for example, through editing of the stems and/or applying effects that transform them nearly beyond recognition.

Your only constraints are to

1) have all of the instruments in the stems present in the final mix (don’t just cut out the guitar, for example), and

2) to refrain from bringing in too many outside materials: while layering on a bunch of drum tracks could be an interesting musical choice, the focus here is on the stems themselves and how you handle them to create a successful final mini-mix.

Requirements: a 30-second mini-mix of the stems from one of the four songs provided

Label files LastnameFirstname_minimix

CONCERT REVIEW (7.5%)

Due 12/2 by 9pm

During the second half of the semester, attend at least one concert or show of electronic music. This can be at any venue, of any genre or style, but a significant portion of the performance must be electronically produced or processed to be considered “electronic” (use one of the concerts listed below or reach out to me if you’re in doubt).

Choose a specific piece or set to focus on rather than the full concert. Write 2 to 3 pages (approximately 750-1000 words) and upload your writing as a .pdf or .docx to Blackboard by 9pm on 12/2. Your review should include the following information:

  1. A summary of the performance, piece, or set that provides context (where? when? who?)

  2. Background information on the artist (via online research, readings, or in-person interview/discussion)

  3. An analysis of the music technologies employed and how they relate to techniques, concepts, and works we have discussed in class

Here’s a short, non-exhaustive list of concerts on campus that could be reviewed:

OINC + EMEWS Guest Concert | 11/7: 7:30pm | Clonick Recording Studio | Free

Black Marble + Automatic | 11/14: 10pm | ‘Sco | Paid

Kaleidosonic Music Festival | 11/16: 7:30pm - 11:30pm | Finney Chapel | Free

TECH201 Showcase | 11/22: 8:30pm-10:00pm | Bike Co-Op | Free

FInal Project (20%)

Due 12/9 by 9pm

The final project for TECH 101 is a self-directed project whose outcome should be a digital audio file (fixed media) or in-class live performance whose duration is from 3 to 5 minutes, in addition to a short supplementary text (~500 words) that contextualizes the final project. This final project is a significant portion of the class grade (20%) and thus should constitute substantial effort and application of skills learned within the course.

Similar to the earlier composition assignments, the final project will be graded based on

  1. adherence to a self-directed definition of the outcome of the final project (determined in the 5-minute meetings you had with me),

  2. electroacoustic technique (no major distortion, not too quiet, .wav or .mp3 submitted, etc.),

  3. and creativity and inventiveness, with an emphasis on an engagement with one’s personal artistic identity.

In addition, a supplementary text (around 500 words or two pages, double-spaced) should be supplied that includes

  1. a textual description of your final project,

  2. a detailing of the process of creating the final project,

  3. and a brief analysis of the historical/technical/artistic areas covered in the course that the final project engages with.

Requirements: submission of a 3 to 5 minute fixed media file OR prepared in-class live performance AND a supplementary text