50819 Composing with Sound
Warning: The information on this page is indicative. The subject outline for a
particular session, location and mode of offering is the authoritative source
of all information about the subject for that offering. Required texts, recommended texts and references in particular are likely to change. Students will be provided with a subject outline once they enrol in the subject.
Subject handbook information prior to 2024 is available in the Archives.
Credit points: 8 cp
Result type: Grade and marks
Requisite(s): (((32 credit points of completed study in spk(s): MAJ10062 80cp Music and Sound Design Major OR 32 credit points of completed study in spk(s): MAJ10063 80cp Music and Sound Design Major)) OR 50817 Audio and Music Production )
These requisites may not apply to students in certain courses. See access conditions.
Anti-requisite(s): 50843 Live Sound AND 50856 Live Sound
Description
This subject introduces the principles of sound creation and composition using electronic and digital processes. It provides a foundation for computational approaches to sound manipulation enabling students to explore innovative approaches to sound synthesis, interactive systems, algorithmic and data-driven sound composition. Issues and current practices at the intersection of art, music and sound design are investigated providing a context for students to develop their own creative sound works within the subject.
Subject learning objectives (SLOs)
| a. | Create novel sound compositions using dataflow programming |
|---|---|
| b. | Apply computational approaches to creative audio practice |
| c. | Relate technical and compositional concepts from historical and contemporary sound practice to new works |
| d. | Design, plan, and realise digital music and sound design projects |
Course intended learning outcomes (CILOs)
This subject engages with the following Course Intended Learning Outcomes (CILOs), which are tailored to the Graduate Attributes set for all graduates of the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences:
- Graduates possess a well-developed awareness of culture and professional practice of music and sound in the context of the technological and creative industries (1.1)
- Graduates are able to present, explain and evaluate their own and others' work in independent and collaborative contexts (1.2)
- Graduates possess reflective and analytical skills enabling them to synthesise ideas from a diverse range of sources and communicate effectively to different audiences using appropriate media and modes (6.1)
- Graduates possess the technical and creative skills to express themselves in multi-platform contexts (6.2)
Teaching and learning strategies
The subject is delivered through a combination of lectures, lab-based tutorials and weekly online modules. Lectures will incorporate a range of teaching and learning strategies including short presentations, videos, demonstrations, discussion of readings and listening lists, case studies and student group work. Lab-based tutorials offer hands-on tuition in which students work in small teams to sequentially develop their own creative work and engage in group sound-making activities. Weekly online quizzes help students engage in online materials, maintain progress and offer opportunities for feedback on learning. Assessment tasks promote cumulative skills development, integration of sound design and composition theory, and refinement of the final composition. The subject focuses on the music programming platform Max (Cycling74).
Assessment
Assessment task 1: Online Quizzes
| Objective(s): | a, b and c | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Weight: | 28% | ||||||||
| Length: | 7 x 4 question weekly quizzes | ||||||||
| Criteria linkages: |
SLOs: subject learning objectives CILOs: course intended learning outcomes |
Assessment task 2: Preliminary Instrument Design
| Objective(s): | a, b, c and d | ||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Weight: | 27% | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Length: | Single annotated Max patch file, 1 minute improvisation, 1 minute in-class discussion of sound morphology and synthesis method. | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Criteria linkages: |
SLOs: subject learning objectives CILOs: course intended learning outcomes |
Assessment task 3: Sound Composition
| Objective(s): | a, b, c and d | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Weight: | 45% | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Length: | 3 minute composition (or demonstration for interactive systems) and associated patch file plus an individual 1000 word report. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Criteria linkages: |
SLOs: subject learning objectives CILOs: course intended learning outcomes |
Minimum requirements
Attendance at classes is essential in this subject. Classes are based on a collaborative approach that involves essential workshopping and interchange of ideas with other students and the tutor to build capacities towards meeting the subject learning objectives. A roll will be taken at each class (whether on campus or online). Students who have more than two absences from class will be refused marking of their final assessment (see Rule 3.8).
Recommended texts
It is recommended that students purchase a copy of Max 8. An Academic Annual Subscription license is available from Cycling '74 here:
https://cycling74.com/shop.
The following text is highly recommended:
Cipriani, A. & Giri, M. 2010, Electronic music and sound design: theory and practice with Max/MSP. Vol. 1, ConTempoNet, Rome.
References
Bandt, R. 2001, Sound Sculpture, Fine Art Publishing, Sydney. <http://find.lib.uts.edu.au/?R=OPAC_b1430650>
Blum, F. 2007, Digital interactive installations: programming interactive installations using the software package Max/MSP/Jitter, VDM Verlag Dr. Mueller, Saarbrucken, Germany.
Cobussen, M., Meelberg, V. & Truax, B. 2017, The Routledge companion to sounding art, Routledge, New York, NY. <http://find.lib.uts.edu.au/?R=OPAC_b3841773>
Cipriani, A. & Giri, M. 2016, Electronic music and sound design: theory and practice with Max/MSP. Vol. 1, 3rdEdn, ConTempoNet, Rome. <http://find.lib.uts.edu.au/?R=OPAC_b2586579>
Cipriani, A. & Giri, M. 2014, Electronic music and sound design : theory and practice with Max/MSP. Vol. 2, ConTempoNet, Rome.
d'Escrivan, J. & Collins, N. (eds) 2017, The Cambridge Companion to Electronic Music, Cambridge University Press Cambridge, UK. <(http://find.lib.uts.edu.au/?R=OPAC_b3624860)>
Dodge, C.J., T.A 1997, Computer Music, Synthesis, Composition and Performance, Schirmer Books 2nd Edition, New York.
Elsea, P. 2013, The Art and Technique of Electroacoustic Music, A-R Editions, Middleton WI. <http://find.lib.uts.edu.au/?R=OPAC_b3592376>
Emmerson, S. 2007, Living electronic music, Ashgate, Aldershot, Hants, England. <http://find.lib.uts.edu.au/?R=OPAC_b3536885>
Farnell, A. 2010, Designing sound, MIT Press, Cambridge, Mass. <http://find.lib.uts.edu.au/?R=OPAC_b3600801>
Licht, A. 2007, Sound Art: Beyond Music, Between Categories., HarCom Edition, Rizzoli.
Manzo, V.J. 2011, Max/MSP/Jitter for music: a practical guide to developing interactive music systems for education and more, Oxford University Press, New York. <http://find.lib.uts.edu.au/?R=OPAC_b2752819>
Miranda, E.R. 1998, Computer Sound Synthesis for the Electronic Musician, Butterworth-Heinemann, Oxford.
Miranda, E.R. 2001, Composing Music with Computers, Butterworth-Heinemann, Oxford. <http://find.lib.uts.edu.au/?R=OPAC_b3786788>
Miranda, E.R. & Biles, A. 2007, Evolutionary computer music, Springer, London.
Moore, F.R. 1990, Elements of computer music, Prentice Hall, Englewood Cliffs, N.J.
Puckette, M. 2007, The theory and technique of electronic music, World Scientific Publishing Co., Hackensack, NJ.
Puckette, M. 2002, 'Max at Seventeen', Computer Music Journal, vol. 26, no. 4,pp. 31 - 43.
Roads, C. (ed.) 1996, The Computer Music Tutorial 2nd Ed., The MIT Press, Massachusetts.
Roads, C. 2001, Microsound, MIT Press, Cambridge, Mass.
Roads, C. 2015, Composing electronic music a new aesthetic, Oxford University Press, Oxford.
Rowe, R. 2001, Machine Musicianship, The MIT Press, Massachusetts.
Smalley, D. 1996, 'The listening imagination: Listening in the electroacoustic era', Contemporary Music Review, vol. 13, no. 2,pp. 77-107.
Smalley, D. 1997, 'Spectromorphology: Explaining sound-shapes', Organised Sound, vol. 2, no. 2,pp. 107-26.
Smalley, D. 2007, 'Space-form and the acousmatic image', Organised Sound, vol. 12, no. 01,p. 35.
Taube, H. 2004, Notes from the metalevel: introduction to algorithmic music composition, Taylor & Francis Group, New York.
Winkler, T. 1998, Composing Interactive Music, Techniques and Ideas Using Max, The MIT Press, Massachusetts.
Schaeffer, P. 2017, Treatise on Musical Objects: An Essay across Disciplines, trans. C. North & J. Dack, University of California Press, Berkeley.
Winkler, T. 1998, Composing Interactive Music, Techniques and Ideas Using Max, The MIT Press, Massachusetts.
Wishart, T. 1996, On Sonic Art, Harwood Publishing, Philadelphia