TECH 201 SCHEDULE
october
10/5
Overview of Topics + Syllabus, introductions
Homework (HW): Complete TIMARA Start-of-Semester Action Items
Read Talbot-Smith Chapter 1 (e-mail me answers to questions 1-3 on page 13, with subject heading “Reading 1”)
Listen to Wire Recorder Piece by Halim El-Dabh and La Vie en Rose performed by Clara Rockmore
10/7
Discuss Talbot Chs. 1 + 2
HW: Respond to the anonymous advice for class compilation by e-mailing me answers to the following:
Are there any aspects of the class that concern you (time management, hardware issues, software issues, etc.)?
Are there aspects of the class that you are really excited about (composing etudes, listening to repertoire, etc.)?
Read Talbot-Smith Chapter 2 (e-mail me answers to questions 1-3 on page 24, with subject heading “Reading 2”)
Listen to Forbidden Planet Overture by Louis and Bebe Barron (with this listening guide) and Pines of Rome by Ottorino Respighi
10/12
Review, Discuss Talbot Chs. 1 + 2 Questions + Listening
HW: Reserve a recorder using the TIMARA Gear Depot system (with help from Abby!)
Read Chapter 1 of How Music Works by David Byrne, take notes on main points (will discuss next class)
Listen to an excerpt of Presque Rien No. 1 by Luc Ferrari and Sound Map of the Hudson River by Annea Lockwood
10/14
Discuss Reading + Listening, History of Electronic Music
HW: After class, check out a portable recorder from the Gear Depot (or use your own).
Using that recorder, please record the following sounds over the weekend:
RECORDER SCAVENGER HUNT SOUND LIST
2 periodic sounds (pitched sounds)2 aperiodic sounds (noisy sounds)1 close sound (near to the mics)1 faraway sound (far from the mics)2 moving sounds (source/mics changing location during recording)2 ‘what the…’ AKA ‘guess the source’ soundsTransfer the recorded files (should be 10 (at least)) to your computer, and then upload them to a folder with your name (e.g. “Eli Stine”) to the Recorder Scavenger Hunt folder in the TECH 201 Box folder.
Read Holmes Chapter 1, and take notes.
10/19 \ Scavenger Hunt Review, Holmes Review, Digital Audio Workstation (DAW) Basics
HW: Import the files you recorded for the scavenger hunt into your DAW of choice. Experiment with the audio files in the timeline. Try overlapping audio files, moving them around. Just play and see what you discover. You are welcome to work with more advanced features, but at least figure out how to do these basic functions:
Can you trim the files (snip off part of the beginning and ending)?
Can you cut / copy / paste sections of the audio files?
Can you fade-in the beginning and fade-out the ending of the files?
When you are finished, take a screenshot of your session and email it to me with the subject “DAW Play,” so I can see what you’ve created. No need to send the sound along yet.
Read Holmes Chapter 1 (Electronic Music Before 1945), and take notes
Listen to Corale by Luigi Russolo and Oskar Sala’s Trautonium TV Report
10/21 \ Intro. to Studio 4, Electronic Music Before 1945 Review
HW: Theremin + Mic Recording Assignment
Reserve an hour of time in Studio 4. Record yourself playing the theremin (play with various controls: explore melody, rhythm, dynamics). Using the SM57 microphone in there, record some voice material (doesn’t matter what you record, can be poetry, singing, babbling, anything). Transfer the recordings to your own device (can use Box, a hard drive, etc.).
Combine the theremin and vocal sounds with the field recordings you made last week. Use only the simplest editing techniques (trim/cut/paste, etc. No effects.). Explore layering the different sounds, creating textures, rhythms, and timbres.
In short, record yourself performing with the theremin and some vocal material, and combine these recordings with your field recordings. Upload a short (< 1 minute) excerpt of your mixture of voice, theremin, and field recordings to the Box folder, which we will listen to on Tuesday.
Read Holmes Chapter 2 (Early Electronic Music in Europe), up until Stockhausen’s Early Work
Listen to Etude Aux Chemins de Fer by Pierre Schaeffer (fun fact: it’s in sonata form)
10/26 \ Quiz 1, Early Electronic Music in Europe Review
HW: Read “Chapter 1: Microphones” by Bobby Owsinski, from The Recording Engineer’s Handbook
Listen to I am sitting in a room by Alvin Lucier (listen to first ~5 minutes, then seek around afterwards) and Gesang Der Juenglinge (Excerpt) by Karlheinz Stockhausen
10/28 \ Musique Concrete + Elektronische Musik
Listen to Studie II by Karlheinz Stockhausen and a video on the Oramics Machine, with Daphne Oram
november
11/2 \ More early electronic music studios, listening review, microphones
HW: Read Chapter 7 of Holmes, “Principles of Analog Synthesis and Voltage Control”
Listen to Bye Bye Butterfly by Pauline Oliveros and Silver Apples of the Moon by Morton Subotnick (replaced from bad link, apologies!)
11/4 \ The ARP + Synthesis Basics | Etude 1 Assigned
HW: Begin Etude 1 (score first)
Read Steve Reich’s Music as a Gradual Process and Brian Eno’s Ambient Music (both very short)
Listen to Donato Wharton’s Puget Sound and whatever you’d like of Aphex Twin’s Selected Ambient Works 85-92
11/9 \ Ambient Music, Effects I, Scoring
HW: Complete preliminary score for Etude 1
Review part I of the Audio Effects HELP SHEET
11/11 \ Effects II | Etude 1 Preliminary Score Due
HW: Read Chapter 14 of Schrader, “Computer Music”
Listen to The Silver Scale by Newman Guttman, Illiac Suite for String Quartet, Mov. 1 by Lejaren Hiller (more info. here), and When I am with you by Charles Dodge
MIDTERM EXAM STUDY GUIDE
16 18 \ Computer Music, Midterm Exam | Etude 1 Due
🍂 THanksgiving break 🍂
11/30 \ Listening to Etude 1
HW: Read “How Digital Audio Works” from the Max v7.3.5 Documentation. First half should be review (“Complex tones” is interesting!), important bit is from “Digital representation of sound” up until “Advantages of digital audio” (no need to read this).
Also check out the How Digital Audio Works Help Sheet
Listen to Unsound Objects by Jonty Harrison (notes here)
December
12/2 \ Unsound Objects Discussion, Automation, Digital Audio | DOWNLOAD SLIDES HERE
HW: This homework has two components: 1) automation and 2) digital audio settings.
First, import any file you’d like into your DAW of choice. Automate at least one parameter of 1) the track the audio is on (for example, panning, volume, mute) AND 2) add at least one effect to the track and automate at least one of its parameters (for example, add a delay effect and automate its delay time). In short, your session should have a single track with some audio on it and at least one effect, and that track should have at least two automated parameters (one that is built-in to the track and one that is related to an effect on the track). You’re very welcome to do more automation, but constrain yourself to a single track and audio file.
Second, select a 10 second (strictly) portion of your sound and export it as an AIFF or WAV, but export it with “unusual” settings (not 44.1kHz sampling rate and 16 bit bit depth): change the sample rate to be, say, 16kHz, and the bit depth (if you can) to something lower or higher. Some DAWs will let you do this to the extremes, others are more constrained, but all should give you some flexibility.
Finally, take a screenshot of your session (making sure your automation is visible) and upload the screenshot and your exported audio to this Box folder, in a folder with your name on it, so the class can see and hear what you’ve created.
12/7 \ Effects III (Spectral Effects with SPEAR, REAPER, and friends)
HW: This homework involves SPEAR, a tool created by Michael Klingbeil (TIMARA alum.) that allows you to directly edit a frequency domain representation of an audio file.
First, import a file into SPEAR. Aim for importing around 10 seconds of material (not much longer, as long files will be VERY slow to analyze). Next, edit the sound in any way you desire: shift it up, shift it down, remove partials, draw them in, stretch them out, truncate them, or all of the above. You may also want to explore the options available in the Edit and Transform menus. Go wild and process the sound in many different ways. For help with using these tools, see the SPEAR Help Sheet or talk to me or Jack.
Once you’re done, take a screenshot of your SPEAR session and then synthesize your work to a new audio file (in the menu bar: Sound -> Synthesize to File). Upload the screenshot and the synthesized audio file to this Box folder, in a folder with your name on it, so the class can see and hear what you’ve created.
12/9 \ MIDI, Software Synthesizers | Etude 2 Assigned | DOWNLOAD SLIDES HERE
HW: Begin Etude 2
Complete Awareness Exercise #3
12/14 \ Review for Quiz, Mixers + Cable-wrapping | QUIZ 2 REVIEW SLIDES
Audio Cable + Mixer Information Handout
12/14 \ Quiz 2, In-class brain-storming: 3 Spaces + A Silence
HW: Continue work on Etude 2
❄️ Winter break ❄️
January
1/4 \ Transitions + Layers Workshop, SPEAR Leftovers
HW: Transitions + Layers Assignment (if you’re tight on time, just do the Transitions portion)
Read The Aesthetics of Failure: Post-Digital Tendencies in Contemporary Computer Music by Kim Cascone and The New Hi Tech Underground by Adam Harper (both short reads)
Continue work on Etude 2
1/6 \ Sonic Crunch: A History and Some Flavors of Distortion | DOWNLOAD SLIDES HERE + Ableton Session Here
HW: Complete Etude 2, upload to Box (by 1:30PM on Tuesday)
1/11 \ Etude 2 Due, Group Listening + Feedback
HW: Prepare for final exam using FINAL EXAM STUDY GUIDE
1/13 \ Final Exam (final class meeting)