Audio Engineers: Sound Weavers

Abstract:: In this lesson, students are introduced to audio engineers. They discover in what type of an environment audio engineers work and exactly what they do on a day-to-day basis. Students come to realize that audio engineers help produce their favorite music and movies.

Composing with Computers I (Electronic Music Composition), Spring 2008

Abstract:: A series of progressive composition projects, culminating in a large final projecting, using various types of music hardware and software. Instruction in recording, editing, synthesis, sampling, digital sound processing, sequencing, and interactive systems. Close listening to computer and electronic music from various genres including Varese, Cage, Schaeffer, Xenakis, Lansky, Stockhausen, Tcherepnin, Barlow, Gunter, and Eno. Subject focuses on using the computer as a means of musical creativity and intuition.

Read the Fine Print

Abstract:: Students are introduced to the concept of the image of music. They draw the image of a song after listening to it by deciding where different musical instruments were placed during recording. Finally, students further investigate audio engineering by modeling the position of microphones over a drum set to create a desired musical image.

Read the Fine Print

Abstract:: Students learn the connections between the science of sound waves and engineering design for sound environments. Through three lessons, students come to better understand sound waves, including how they change with distance, travel through different mediums, and are enhanced or mitigated in designed sound environments. Students are introduced to audio engineers who use their expert scientific knowledge to manipulate sound for the production of music and film. They learn how the invention of the telephone pioneered communications engineering, leading to today's long-range communication industry and its worldwide impact. Students analyze materials for their sound properties used in acoustic design, learning about the varied environments created by acoustical engineers. Hands-on activities include modeling the placement of microphones to create a specific musical image, modeling and analyzing a string telephone, and using what they've learned about sound waves and materials to model a room to serve as a controlled sound environment.