Recorded Sound

Individual Projects In Computer Music - Terry Pender

G6630, call # 97748

email: tmp17@columbia.edu

3 Credits

Mondays 1 to 4

Room 317, Prentis Hall

Course Description

As music moves into the next millennium, we are continually confronted by the pervasive use of new music technologies. The world of music is changing rapidly as these technologies open and close doorways of possibility. An appreciation of this shifting technological environment is necessary for active listeners seeking a profound understanding of how music functions in our society. Furthermore, understanding how these technologies function is now almost essential for contemporary composers and theorists working to build an intellectual context for the creation of new musical art.

This class will make use of the Columbia University Digital Recording Facility for all of the course work.

Class attendance is mandatory - you must attend class; there will be no make up sessions if you miss a day. Missing three classes will lower your final grade by one grade level.

Assignments will be due when noted in this syllabus. Lecture notes will be available on the Web through Courseworks.

You will be responsible for one final project due on 05/05/08. Submit your final project on CD. In addition, the class will work together on a re-creation of one classic Beatles recording.

TENTATIVE SYLLABUS

Week 1 - 01/28/08 – Introduction to the studio, signing up for studio time online, backing up files. History of record production part 1: The early days of recording - Les Paul and the art of innovation.

Discussion – Final Projects.

Listening: Les Paul – Chicken Reel, Lover, How High The Moon. Bill Haley – Rock Around The Clock

Week 2 – 02/04/08- Recording audio. History of record production, part 2: Elvis Presley and Sun Studio.

Listening: Elvis Presley at Sun – Mystery Train, Blue Moon of Kentucky, That’s All Right, Elvis at RCA – Heartbreak Hotel.

Assignment 1 - Record several (4-5) vocal samples to be processed and used in a short text-based composition. Assignment due 02/11/08.

Week 3 – 02/11/08 – Recording audio, MIDI, using Reason and Digital Performer with Rewire, using plug-ins. History of record production part 3: Buddy Holly and the Crickets.

Assignment 2 - Create a composition using the text you recorded during week 2. Assignment due 2/25/08.

Listening: Buddy Holly – Peggy Sue, Maybe Baby, Oh Boy

Week 4 – 02/18/08 - Basic mixing techniques. Audio editing. Recording the voice and the guitar. Mono vs. Stereo recording.

Discussion - The use of text in an electronic composition.

Listening: Paul Lansky - Idle Chatter, Charles Dodge - Speech Songs I

Assignment 3 – Proposal for Final Project - Proposal due on 02/25/08.

Week 5 – 02/25/08 - CMC's microphones, basic mic technique, condensor vs. dynamic and microphone characteristics. Working the "Sweet Spot.” Synthesis Workshop – the basic methods of synthesis and how to use them in Reason. Automating Reason’s synths.

Listening: John Chowning – Stria

Assignment 4 – Synthesis Assignment - due 03/03/08. Record several synth samples that are dynamic and change over time to be used in Assignment 5.

Week 6 – 03/03/08 - Introduction to EQ, common EQ settings. Microphones, part 2, transients, proximity effect and microphone placement. History of record production, part 4: Phil Spector and The Wall of Sound, Brian Wilson, Teenage Symphonies.

Listening: Ben E. King, The Ronettes, The Crystals, The Righteous Brothers, Tina Turner, The Beatles, The Beach Boys.

Week 7 – 03/10/08 - Mechanical music systems move into the digital age. Loop-based music production. Creating drum loops, beat slicing with Recycle, extracting grooves, and sample CDs.

Assignment 5 - Create 2 compositions using your collection of samples. One piece will be loop-based, mechanical, rhythmic, and quirky. The second composition will be a slow, subtle, ambient piece that could use phase vocoding, comb filtering, reverb, delay, chorus, and your synth samples from Assignment 4. Once again, assemble the piece in Performer. Assignment due 03/24/08. Rhythmic assignment should be exactly 2 minutes long and the ambient composition should be exactly 3 minutes and 30 seconds.

Timing needs to be exact, so be careful. You may have to go back and do more editing of your final mix if it is too long or two short. You must take your final mixes and create a two track CD with those two compositions. Final editing should be done in Peak.

Listening: Brian Eno – Music For Airports, Robert Fripp – various selections, Maurice Ravel – Bolero, Mike Oldfield – Tubular Bells, Steve Reich – Come Out

Week 8 – 03/17/08 No Class – Winter Break

Week 9 – 03/24/08 – Importing QuickTime Movies into Performer. Six Elements of a Film Mix.

Viewing: Stan Brackhage and Robert Breer, Brian Eno – 77 Million Pintings. David Byrne – Envisioning Emotional Epistemological Information

Assignment 6 – Create a Sound Design and mix a scene for a QuickTime movie. A scene will be given in class, but you are free to score to your own video if you are able to create it elsewhere and convert to the QuickTime format. Assignment Due - 04/05/04.

Week 10 – 03/31/08 – How the Beatles changed pop songwriting. Introduction to compression. Common compression settings.

Listening: The Beatles, Radiohead – Faust: Arp

Week 11 – 04/07/08 - New Traditions: Defining an aural sense of space, creating a virtual sonic world. Introduction to reverb and spatial effects. Creating a larger than life performance. Using Auto-Tune to correct pitch. Make it bigger, fuller, and louder with EQ, reverb, doubling, and compression.

Listening - Slapback echo: Elvis – Mystery Train, Santana – She’s Not There, Steve Miller – Abracadabra. Flanging: Small Faces – Itchycoo Park. Compression: Gary U.S. Bond – Quarter To Three and New Orleans. Chorus: Paul Lansky – Night Traffic. Feedback: Beatles – I Feel Fine.

Discussion - The Power of Place: spatial placement, sonic sculptures, the aural environment. Constructing a sense of space: spatial time and placement. Reverberation and filtering techniques. Creating a mixing strategy. Creating a style based on timbre. 

Week 12 – 04/14/08 – Mastering techniques in Digital Performer, the Waves Plugins. The Art of the Re-mix. 3 re-mix styles.

Listening: Paul Lansky and Radiohead - Idioteque, Fatboy Slim – Take Yo Praise, Camille Yarbrough - Praise You, Beth Orton and the Chemcal Brothers – Where Do I Begin, Public Enemy – Fight The Power.

Assignment 7 – Motown remix using tracks provided in class. Assignment due 04//26/08.

Week 13 – 04/21/08 - History of Record Production, pt.5 - George Martin and the Beatles. More Beatles studio and songwriting techniques. Working in odd meters.

Listening - The Beatles – Norwegian Wood, I’m Fixing a Hole, Happiness Is a Warm Gun, Across The Universe, etc., Pink Floyd - Money, Peter Gabriel – Solsbury Hill.

Week 14 – 04/28/08 – Mastering your final stereo mix. Flexible time to cover any last minute problems.

Discussion: How to get heard in an iPod society. Ideas on making money and getting exposure.

Final Exam – 05/05/08 - Final projects due. We will listen to all final projects in class.