Sound Design and Interactive Music 2011

Description

This is an introduction course for the students to get familiar with the uses of computers in designing and processing sounds for interactive music performances/installations/compositions. Course gives opportunity to students to learn how to process and organize sounds in digital environment throughout different sonic experimentation strategies. Course focuses on very practical and everyday branch of physics and acoustics where students incorporate their everyday observations into the process of learning how physics and sound works. It also introduces digitizing and fundamentals of digital audio. Within the digital sound synthesis concept, the course explores several related topics; computer music basics (sampling and additive synthesis, multiple wave table, granular synthesis, subtractive synthesis), sonification process (transformation of information into sounds), mapping strategies, the spatial sound and music, digital instrument design as well as defining a method for basic and abstract analysis of input data. Sound Design and Interactive Music course is a project-based course. At the end of the course, students will submit and present their projects.

The course consists of lectures, exercises, reading materials, tutoring individual or group works. If it will be possible with the schedule, there will be a public performance organized for the students to perform and exhibit their course works.

Final Project

Sound Design and Interactive Music course is a project-based course. At the end of the course, students will submit and present their projects.

Grading

  • 20% class participation
  • 10% assignments
  • 70% final project

Schedule:

Week 1

  • 15.03.2011 9:00 – 12:00 – Introduction
    • Course Overview
    • Basic Principles of Sound
    • Fundamentals of Digital Audio
    • hands on exercises – scratch, sampling

  • 16.03.2011 9:00 – 12:00 – Synthesis
    • hands on exercises – sampling, additive/subtractive synthesis multiple wavetable, granular synthesis

  • 17.03.2011 9:00 – 12:00 – FFT Abstractions
    • hands on exercises – FFT, ringmodanalysis

  • 18.03.2011 9:00 – 12:00 – One and Multiple Voices
    • hands on exercises – onenote, poly, voices, timbre, xvoices
    • Assignment #1 -Project descriptions

Week 2

  • 22.03.2011 9:00 – 12:00 – Grains and Particles
    • hands on exercises – granular ( play – repitch – correlations)
    • Project Work and Tutoring

  • 23.03.2011 9:00 – 12:00 – Spatial Sound
    • hands on exercises
    • Project Work and Tutoring

  • 24.03.2011 9:00 – 12:00 – Mapping Strategies
    • Audio Feature extractions
    • Mapping Strategies
    • hands on exercises
    • Project Work and Tutoring

  • 25.03.2011 9:00 – 12:00 – Project Work and Tutoring

Week 3

  • 29.03.2011 9:00 – 13:00 – Project Work and Tutoring
  • 30.03.2011 9:00 – 13:00 – Project Work and Tutoring
  • 31.03.2011 9:00 – 13:00 – Project Work and Tutoring
  • 01.04.2011 9:00 – 13:00 – Final project presentations

Recommended Course Books

  • The Theory and Techniques of Electronic Music by Miller Puckette
  • Designing Sound by Andy Farnell
  • The Computer Music Tutorial by Curtis Roads
  • Machine Musicianship by Robert Rowe
  • Handmade Electronic Music: The art of Hardware Hacking
    by Nicolas Collins

List of Students:

  • Moisio-Eloranta Outi Annina
  • Poutanen Iréne Terése
  • Haaja Tapio Johannes
  • Jalanka Helena Maria
  • Niinimäki Matti Tapani
  • Magica Reina
  • Discioglu Reha
  • Menon Ranjit Gopakumar
  • Sonawane Dipti
  • Mukhopadhyay Palash
  • Vänttinen Tero Veikko Olavi
  • Sillanpää Heikki Pentti Eemil
  • Jokinen Kalle Pekka Johannes
  • Dromey Benjamin Liam
  • Lai Chi-Hsia