Project-Based Music Technology
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This document outlines a proposed curriculum for a project-based introductory college course on music technology. The course uses a creative, culturally relevant approach where students learn technical concepts through creating their own music projects. It covers topics like digital audio workstations, sound design, recording, mixing, sampling, remixing, and live performance. Rather than presenting concepts linearly from basic to advanced, it begins with familiar concepts like MP3s and works towards more technical topics. The goal is for students to both produce original works and critically engage with electronic music, preparing them for careers in today's music industry.
Project-Based Music Technology
- 1. Project-Based Music Technology A proposed introductory- level college text using a creative and culturally relevant approach Ethan Hein
- 2. • The digital studio combines composition, performance, recording, editing and mixing into a single act • The formerly separate jobs of composer, musician and engineer are encompassed by the role of the producer • The word “producer” is also significant as an antonym for “consumer” Producers
- 3. • Students learn technical concepts best in the context of creating music according to their own sensibilities and tastes • By both producing and engaging critically with recorded and electronic music, students prepare to participate in a post- performance culture Project-based learning
- 4. • I do not present the most “basic” or “fundamental” concepts first; instead, I begin with the most familiar, accessible and practical concepts • For example, MP3s are complex but familiar, while binary code is simple but abstract and difficult to understand; therefore I begin with MP3s and work toward binary code Structure
- 5. • Getting Started • Listening like a Producer • Loops, Form, and Structure • MIDI and Software Instruments • Synthesizers and Sound Design • Drum Programming • Audio Recording • Mixing and Effects • Sampling • Remixing • Mobile Music • Live Performance • Playing the Studio Chapters
- 6. Getting Started • Software: digital audio workstations, plugins, and utilities • Hardware: interfaces, headphones, speakers and microphones • Online: portfolio and sharing tools • Warmup: favorite song, least favorite song
- 7. Listening like a Producer • The musical surface and listening past it • Technomusicology: how does technology affect musical creativity and culture? • Recorded music as an art form: the song, the arrangement, and the track • Critical listening exercises
- 8. Loops, Form, and Structure • Placing, repeating, and editing loops • From loops to tracks: song forms and musical structure • Joy in repetition: balancing predictability and novelty
- 9. MIDI and Software Instruments • The MIDI piano roll and music notation • Keyboards, grid controllers, and other interfaces • Musical typing and the aQWERTYon • Quantizing vs humanizing
- 10. Drum Programming • Drum machines and time-unit box systems • The Groove Pizza and rhythm visualization • Syncopation, swing, and groove • Planet Funk and other building blocks
- 11. Synthesizers • The electric guitar amp as an analog synth • Sound design with Helm • Synthesis methods: additive, subtractive, sampling, granular, and wavetable
- 12. Audio Recording • Physics of sound • Microphones and mic technique • Analog to digital conversion • File formats and compression schemes • DIY recording environments
- 13. Mixing and Effects • Gain, decibels, and loudness (actual vs perceptual) • Equalization and the frequency spectrum • Compression and dynamics • Musical space: panning, reverb, and delay • The vocoder and Auto-Tune • Guitar effects and psychedelia
- 14. Sampling • Digging the crates: recorded music as raw material for new expression • Samplers and slicing • Iconic sounds: the Amen Break, Apache, the Levee Break, Fresh, ORCH5, Woo Yeah, and Take Me To The Mardi Gras • Copyright, clearances, Fair Use, and civil disobedience
- 15. Remixing • Club culture: extended dance mixes and whitelabels • Arranging, remixing, and re-editing • Stem remixes • Self-remixing, peer remixing, and Musical Shares • Everything is a remix: originality and influence
- 16. Mobile Music • Affordances and constraints of the touchscreen • Recommended apps • Working with young children, seniors, and people with special needs
- 17. Live Performance • DJs and turntablism • Controllerism • Live looping • Improvisation • The problem of mapping gesture to sound
- 18. Playing the Studio • Workflows and approaches • Editing improvisation, improvisational editing: Miles Davis, Teo Macero, Lee “Scratch” Perry, and Brian Eno • The Song Machine: collaborative songwriting in the digital studio • The Disquiet Junto and the freedom of constraints