Overview of the Course

Welcome to the School of Visual and Media Art’s (SVMA) introductory Sound Production & Design course, MART 245.

This course is intended as a foundation course to create shared terminology, skill sets, aesthetics, and techniques for students to utilize as they take additional sonic art, sound, or audio courses within the School of Visual and Media Arts (SVMA) or larger College of the Arts and Media (CAM). This course includes the study of notable examples in sound art, music, intermedia, design, and installation. Starting with Deep Listening, students will examine the practices and innovations that led to the most current ideas about Sound Production & Design, and from here develop contemporary analytical methods for exploring Sound Production & Design. Additionally, students will apply this knowledge to the creation of their own sonic art works.

This course will involve a mix of;

critical listening and deep listening
analysis of sonic art works
discussions of articles and readings relevant to weekly topics
writing about sonic art
studying of the science of sound, hearing, and psychoacoustics
creation of sonic art works utilizing readily available tools and techniques
acquisition of technical knowledge and experience with tools and technology

Assessment of students will be conducted through written analyzes of artworks and readings, in-class discussions, and the creation of unique sonic artworks.

Objectives

Through this course, students are expected to demonstrate an ability to:

Exhibit basic literacy in the aesthetics and techniques of sonic arts.
Demonstrate an understanding and basic ability to utilize common ideas and vocabulary from the field of sonic art through writing and discussion.
Identify and understand the scientific principles underlying sound, hearing, and psychoacoustics.
Describe sonic arts in broader historical and cultural frameworks.
Create original sonic art works using common tools for production and analysis.

What to Expect

This course will force you to learn and adapt to new technologies, while also thinking about design, and content creation. Some weeks will lean more technical in nature, while others will be more creative-based.

Just as the content focus will shift, so to will the work amount per week. Some weeks, especially those when new topics are being introduced, have a heavier workload. The goal of this is to make you practice with these new technologies and techniques. Other weeks will slow down and allow you to practice at a more exploratory pace.

You should plan;

3 hours a week to work through the course website content (what you are doing now).
3-9 hours a week to work on concepts, technical skills, studying, and practicing.

Overview the Rest of This Week

The rest of this week will introduce the following;

Information about instructors
Syllabus