TEch 201: Syllabus
CONTACT INFORMATION
Professor: Eli Stine
Contact: estine@oberlin.edu
Office Location: Bibbins Hall Basement – TIMARA Studio 007 (and on Zoom @ zoom.us/my/elistine)
Office Hours: By appointment in office/remotely. You may schedule a meeting at calendly.com/elistine.
TA: Jack Hamill
Contact: jhamill@oberlin.edu
TA Office Hours: Tuesdays @ 5PM + Wednesdays @ 4PM (in TIMARA Lobby)
MEETING TIME AND LOCATION
Class Meeting Times: Tuesday and Thursday 1:30PM – 2:45PM
Class Location: TIMARA Studio 2 (Recording Studio)
COURSE OVERVIEW
TECH 201 builds skills needed to create electroacoustic music within a studio environment. These skills including listening, recording (real-world sounds, instruments, and performance gestures), analysis (writing about the experience of listening to sound), discussion (practicing how to talk about your own and others’ music), absorbing repertoire from a diverse canon of electroacoustic music, and composition (the applied act of creation that incorporates all of the above). Additionally, technical skills related to both hardware and software, including how to use studio equipment (microphones, synthesizers, effects units) and compose music using a Digital Audio Workstation (DAW), will be taught and tested.
COURSE OUTCOMES
This course builds skills in at least three areas: the artistic (or compositional), the technical (or technological), and the analytical (or investigative). Each of these is intimately intertwined and—ideally—inseparable. Upon completion of this course you will have done the following:
COMPOSITIONAL:
Composing etudes of original electroacoustic music
Reading, listening, and otherwise engaging with a diverse set of historical materials
TECHNOLOGICAL:
Recording field recordings, synthesizers, instruments, and gestural information
Software skills, including working with DAWs, effects, virtual instruments, and automation
Hardware skills, including microphone and recording techniques, mixers, and synthesizer basics
ANALYTICAL:
Developing personal listening skills, within the historical canon and in the real world
Written analysis of your own and others music, and your daily soundscape
Discussion with peers of your own, their own, and others music
COURSE MATERIALS + TOOLS
There is no textbook for this course. Readings, listening, and viewings will be distributed as PDFs, MP3 files, and Vimeo/YouTube links via this website (see Schedule). We will primarily use the following softwares:
REAPER
Free 60 Days, $60 after | All Operating Systems | Digital Audio Workstation
Having accessibility to the above softwares is required. This means that they are either downloaded and accessible on your personal computer OR that you access them through a computer in the TIMARA studios.
In addition to having software access, the following tools are also required:
Personal headphones that may be plugged into your computer. (If you’d like a headphone recommendation, let me know your budget and I’ll give you a list of my favorites!)
An external hard drive and/or access to a cloud-based storage account with sufficient storage to back up your projects (such as Oberlin’s free Box account: oberlin.edu/cit/box). Audio files are large (and projects using them can get very big!) so at least 50GB of space is recommended.
(Save early and often, and consider backing up in at least two locations (on your computer, your external hard drive, AND on Dropbox, for example). Loss of data (AKA “the digital dog ate my homework”) is NOT an acceptable excuse for a late assignment.)
ATTENDANCE + LATE SUBMISSION POLICY
Attendance is a mandatory component of this course, and will be taken at each class.
2 classes may be missed, for any reason, and not adversely affect your grade, but missed work must be made up in its entirety.
Missing 3 classes = third letter grade deduction (3.3%) off of course grade
Missing 4 classes = half letter grade deduction (5%) off of course grade
Missing 5 classes = full letter grade deduction (10%) off of course grade
Missing 6 classes = automatic failure of the course (no exceptions)
2 impartial attendances (arriving in class more than 5 minutes after the start of the class or leaving class more than 5 minutes early) will be counted as a missed class. An impartial attendance that involves arriving more than 30 minutes late or leaving 30 minutes early will be counted as an absence.
All assignments should be submitted no later than the assignment due date. Late assignments will be graded based on a sliding letter grade penalty:
Submitted a day late (up to 24 hours after the assignment due date) = full letter grade deduction (10%)
Submitted two days late (more than 24 hours and up to 48 hours after due date) = two letter grade deduction (20%)
Submitted three days late (more than 48 hours and up to 72 hours after due date) = three letter grade deduction (30%)
Submitted more than three days late (more than 72 hours after due date) = automatic 0% on the assignment (no exceptions)
GRADING OVERVIEW
The grading for this course is based on four different types of assignments:
QUIZZES (10%)
Two quizzes (5% each) will be given during the the course to test comprehension and retention of concepts covered in class.
written assignments (10%)
Short written assignments will be used to help students organize their thoughts on the history of electronic music in preparation for quizzes and exams.
studio assignments (15%)
In-class assignments using technology in the studio will be used to help students acquire the technical skills necessary to successfully operate the studio and compose their etudes.
etudes (25%)
You will be asked to compose two etudes (10% for the first, 15% for the second) during the course to get hands-on experience with the studio techniques we will discuss.
exams (25%)
A mid-term (10%) and final examination (15%) will be used to assess retention of important historical trends and successful immersion in repertoire. These two exams are closed book and may include hands-on technical components to test student aptitude with technology
attendance + participation (15%)
A large portion of this class involves reading texts concerning electroacoustic music composition and listening to assigned electroacoustic compositions, and additionally actively engaging with those materials in in-class discussions. Please see the attendance policy above for more details on the attendance aspect of the class.
For more details on assignments, see the TECH 201: Studio Techniques Assignments page.
CLASSROOM RULES
Arrive on time to class and do not leave early (unless a specific exemption is made with me beforehand).
Lectures are laptop free (except during in-class composition assignments) and phone-free (at all times). Take notes using paper + pen/pencil.
Do not work on assignments for other classes during our class time.
During many class sessions, compositions will be presented and discussed. Please be courteous, respectful, and supportive of one another: each person in the course is coming from a different background and has different strengths. Disrespectful, disruptive behavior, or inattention during these time periods will be reflected in your class participation and peer feedback grades.
CLASSROOM ENVIRONMENT + GENDER PRONOUNS
At all times during this course, the classroom, professor’s office, and TA’s space will be locales where you will be welcomed and treated with dignity and respect. People of all ages, backgrounds, beliefs, ethnicities, genders, gender identities and expressions, sexual orientations, national origins, religious affiliations, abilities, and other visible and nonvisible differences are welcome. All members of this course are expected to behave in a manner that nurtures this environment. The course roster includes student’s full legal names; please let me know your preferred name and/or gender pronouns early in the semester.
INDIVIDUALIZED LEARNING NEEDS
The College makes reasonable accommodations for persons with disabilities. Students should notify the Office of Disability Services located in Peters G-27/G-28 and the instructor of this course of any disability related needs. For more information, see http://new.oberlin.edu/office/disability-services/index.dot.
If you are eligible for and need academic adjustments or accommodations because of a disability (including non-visible disabilities such as chronic diseases, learning disabilities, head injury, attention deficit/hyperactive disorder, or psychiatric disabilities) please speak with me early in the semester.
OBERLIN HONOR CODE
Students are expected to adhere to the Oberlin College Honor Code. Any violations will be reported to the Honor Code Committee.
Examples of actions taken in this course that follow the OC Honor Code:
A classmate asks you which effect was discussed in class and you tell them and briefly demonstrate how to use it.
You listen to a classmate’s work and suggest certain techniques they could use or artistic changes they could make.
You and another student in the class make recordings (instruments, found sounds, etc.), and each use them individually in your projects, crediting each other as co-recorders.
Examples of actions taken in this course that DO NOT follow the OC Honor Code:
A creative composition assignment is due tonight but you don’t have much time to complete it. You ask a friend in the course to send you their composition, which you then re-arrange (so as to not be too close to the other student’s assignment) and turn it in as your own work.
You download a set of loops from a website and cut and paste and arrange them and turn this in as your own work, without crediting your sources.
If you have any questions about what is permitted and what is not, please feel free to ask your TA or myself.
For every assignment, students must indicate whether they followed the Honor Code in completing the assignment. If so, students should end each assignment by writing and signing:
I have adhered to the Honor Code in this assignment.