Music and technology: sound design

Lectures: 2 sessions / week, 1.5 hours / session

In this course, you will learn how to build sounds and sound effects from scratch, using the open-source graphical programming environment Pure Data (Pd). You will learn how to analyze and synthesize everyday sounds and encapsulate them in dynamic sound objects that can be embedded into computer games, animations, movies, virtual environments, sound installations, and theater productions. Our work will be guided by Andy Farnell's book Designing Sound.

Students who successfully complete this course will be able to:

There are no specific prerequisites for this course. Prior programming experience is not required.

Because the course has a cap on maximum enrollment, students are selected for admission into the course via a questionnaire (PDF).

You must have reliable access to additional audio editing hardware and software to work on your assignments. Please see the Tools page for details.

Ensure you have access to this hardware and software by Session 4! By that date, you should also have completed and tested the installation of all software packages.

Farnell, Andy. Designing Sound. MIT Press, 2010. ISBN: 9780262014410. (Book and accompanying Pd example files.)

I strongly recommend that you invest in a printed copy of this fantastic book, which you will most likely enjoy long after the end of this course.

Additional required readings and a schedule of reading assignments are listed on the Readings and Assignments page.

The following assessment items will count towards your final grade.

You need to complete all assignments and quizzes in order to pass this course, and you are expected to submit all assignments on time. Late submissions will incur a penalty of usually one letter grade per 24 hours.

There is no final exam for this course.

This is a 12-unit class, which means you should expect to invest about 9 hours of work per week beyond the 3 class hours.

You are expected to attend all class meetings in this course.

If you have a laptop, please bring it along to all class meetings that are marked accordingly in the calendar. The use of laptops is only permitted for actual coursework, and I will announce when this is the case. The use of cellphones in class is not permitted.

EX1 out

RD1 due

EX1 due

RD2 due

PD1 out

RD3 due

PD2 out

PD1 due

WR out

PD2 due

PD3 out

WR due

ED out

PD3 due

FP1 out

Quiz 1 in class

EX2 out

ED due

FP2 out

EX2 due

EX3 out

FP2 due

FP3 out

EX3 due

FP4 out

FP3 due

Final Project: FP4 Presentations

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