MUST 121
Robert Willey
Spring, 2017
School of Music
Ball State University
Study Guide for Musique concrète étude
| Overview of Week 1 | Outcomes:
Bring these materials to every class meeting:
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| Objectives for Project I | 1-2 minute étude using Audacity demonstrating musique concrète techniques of reversal, pitch and time change, and layering. The source sound must recorded at a adequate amplitude level and should be "interesting" so that it has a direction and can be manipulated. Finish and install your project by 7:00 p.m. on February 6th. |
| Concert Review | Attend one of the performances of PENDULUM this Friday or Saturday at 6:30 or 8:00 pm in the Brown Planetarium. In you logbook, write a short review answering the following questions by Tuesday, January 17 (3 points):
In your table of contents on the first page of your logbook, make an entry for "Pendulum Concert Review" and add the page number that your review appears on |
| Homework for Week 1 | This week:
For Thursday, Jan 12:
For Tuesday, Jan 17:
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| The Liberation of Sound | Read this article by Edgard Varèse for Tuesday with ideas from Varèse. |
| Syllabus notes | Lecture notes while reviewing syllabus |
| Introduction to Acoustics | Lecture notes |
| Lab Logbook format | Write your name and "MUST 121 Logbook" on the cover of your notebook. On the first page, space out the headings evenly to fill the page, leaving space for future additions between them: Module I - Musique concrète Module II - Sampling Module III - MIDI Module IV - Free On the next page write "Module 1" and leave two pages blank for the definition of vocabulary words over the course of the next 4 weeks. Number the first 30 pages at the top of each page |
| Panoramic pictures of the class |
| Overview of Week 2 | Demonstrations
Objectives:
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| Homework for Week 2 | This week:
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| Audacity Effects Presentation | Lecture notes |
| Thursday Work Session | Objective: Try all the classic transformations presented in class on your source sound What was accomplished: (export each transformed sound, list filenames in logbook)
Questions or problems: What to do next time: organize sounds and mix |
| Template for Google Doc Portfolio Page | MUST 121 Portfolio Link Page { centered, formatted at Title } [ your Name ] { centered, formatted as Heading 1 } Box Portfolio folder MODULE I - Musique concrète étude { formatted as Heading 1 } [ title ] (min:sec) [ name of sound ] Sound source on freesound.org recorded with [ name of partner ] [ screenshot of all tracks and time in Audacity ] { centered } [ screenshot of annotated mix in eAnalysis ] { centered } Write short paragraph on how the source sound was organized into the structure/form of the piece .wav file of étude on Box étude on SoundCloud Describe your partner's étude, and any different uses they made of the same source sound that you used. |
| Sonic Visualiser Comparison | The first image is a representation of the original source material. The second is a representation of the filtering processing that was demonstrated in class. This image depicts the audio created by playing two tracks at the same time. One track is processed with a high pass filter at a cutoff frequency of 2341Hz and a rolloff of -48dB. The other track is processed with a low pass filter at a cutoff frequency of 501Hz and a rolloff of -48dB. Notice how this combined sound has considerably less energy than the original in the frequency bands that were omitted by both filters, 501Hz - 2341Hz. Get comfortable using the terminology and the represented concepts. Also take note of how I labeled the files. The title tells me clearly what I did - I applied a high pass filter with cutoff at 2341Hz and a low pass filter with cutoff at 501 Hz, both had a rolloff of -48dB (I like to put the minus sign before numbers that indicate cuts in signal because with other types of processors it is possible to boost dB and this tells me at a glance what I was doing). |
| Overview of Week 3 | Goals:
Assignment:
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| Review Sheet for Quiz 1 | Take Quiz 1 next week in one of the Respondus Computer Labs on: Vocab: vibration, pressure wave, waveform, sine wave, frequency, Hertz (Hz), amplitude, decibels (dB), musique concrète, noise, étude, and organized sound, clipping, layering, complexity, form, Mixing and balancing tracks, avoiding clipping Panning in the stereo field Signal path: how to get sound from your computer's AudioBox audio interface or laptop straight into the Mackie mixer in the lab Varèse's idea of "organized sound." Control of complexity as an organizing principle in composition. Arch and Buildup forms. Difference in features between eAnalysis and Sonic Visualizer. Classic musique concrète techniques:
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| Audacity Effects 2, and Form | Lecture notes |
| Creativity and 3D Mixing | Lecture notes |
| Clipping | Picture showing how a playback level meter indicating clipping Be aware of clipping when combining (aka summing or mixing down) a group of individual tracks to a single (master) track or file. The Playback Level Meter (located in the toolbar) will indicate if the audio has clipped. Notice the two vertical red lines in the attached png file. If clipping occurs the amplitudes of the individual tracks will need to be reduced. This can be a bit of a cumbersome and complicated process but the results will be worth the effort. There isn’t a “one size fits all” type of solution as best approaches will vary depending on the circumstances so read through all of what’s below before beginning to work. Begin by simultaneously playing all of the tracks that will be included in the mix down. Monitor the Playback Level Meter to determine how much clipping there is in the mix down. If the meter is mostly or often in the red, it’s best to reduce the level throughout the entire length of the composition on all of the tracks. This can be done by selecting everything and applying the Amplify effect. Reduce in small increments (-1 or -2 dB). Then play the audio again to see if most of the clipping has been eliminated. If clipping still occurs in many locations then continue with this procedure until clipping only occurs in a few isolated locations. When clipping only occurs in a few locations then select all of the tracks from a point a little before clipping occurs to a point a little after it (being attentive to when the Playback Level Meter goes into the red will reveal the approximate location of the clipping) and again use Amplify to reduce the amplitude in small increments. Repeat this until all clipping is eliminated. The reason for reducing in small increments is to reduce amplitude only by the amount necessary to remove the clipping while keeping as high an audio level as possible. If the “nuke it” option is used and everything is reduced by a large amount all at once, for example -40dB, then all of the clipping will be eliminated in one shot but this will also kill the audio. Also, using the incremental reduction procedure will better maintain the relative level balance between the individual tracks (as discussed in class, it is not aesthetically appealing to have all of the tracks at the same level throughout a composition). Something to be aware of: Doing a visual inspection of the waveforms may be useful in some cases. Big amplitude spikes in the waveform are indicative of a large amount of acoustic energy at that given point. If a visual inspection reveals large spikes on one or perhaps a few tracks in places corresponding to clipping as indicated in the Playback Level Meter, then reducing the amplitude on just these tracks may eliminate the clipping at that point and the other tracks do not need to be modified. Here’s something that may be helpful: In some cases it could be helpful to first export all of the tracks that will be used in the mix down as a stereo file (as discussed in class, anything exported after panning assignments are made will be automatically rendered as a stereo file). When doing this, make sure all of the necessary tracks are included and also make sure no extra tracks are included. If there are any unused tracks in your Audacity project, then the best way to do this is to select all of the desired tracks and then choose “Export Selected Audio” from the file menu. Take note of where the file is being exported to. In this case it will be easiest to export it to the desktop. Once the export is done, drag the exported file back into Audacity. Now there will be a stereo version of the mix down in your Audacity project. Then go to the view menu and select “Show Clipping”. Now all of the areas where clipping occurs will be visible as they will be colored in red (remember the demonstration in class where I purposely raised the amplitude of a track so that all of it would be clipped and after I did that the waveform was displayed as a solid red bar). Something else to be aware of: When an audio file is dragged into Audacity, the file will be positioned so that its beginning will be at the 0 point on the timeline. If your Audacity project is organized in such a way that you are starting the playback of the individual tracks you are mixing down from the 0 point on the timeline, then the stereo file you imported will align with the individual tracks. The imported stereo file can then be used in helping to visualize exactly where the clipping occurs and the individual tracks can be modified accordingly. Another thought: A general rule of thumb is to remove issues like clipping as early in the process as possible. This allows for more flexibility as work continues on the composition. If the effort was put into removing the clipping from the mix down track instead of the individual tracks creating the mix down, then this would have to be repeated every time a new mix down was made. It is better to keep open as many options as possible until the composition reaches its final stage. The other side of it: The audio level can also be too low and if this is the case it should be corrected by raising the amplitude. It is completely acceptable to have levels in the yellow at certain points. Use the Playback Level Meter to determine what needs to be done. |
| Overview of Week 4 | Take Quiz 1 in Respondus Computer Lab by 7:00 p.m. on Monday, February 6th (5 points). Finish and install your musique concrète étude by 7:00 p.m. on Monday, February 6th (16 points). Your Google doc Portfolio page should include this content and links:
Remember that you are required to attend and review the EM | 3 concert in Sursa Hall on Monday, February 6th at 7:30 p.m. The program and bios are included below. |
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| Rubric for Musique concrète étude | Here is the grading rubric for the final version of your musique concrète étude, which can also be accessed by itself here:
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| Jean-Claude Risset lecture on perception | Jean-Claude Risset - Music is meant to be heard: Perception is central in (my) computer music A recording of Songs on YouTube |
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| Questions for review of EM|3 electronic music concert | Attend the EM | 3 concert on Monday, February 6th in Sursa starting at 7:30 p.m. Write a review of the concert legibly in your logbook before Tuesday night while your memories are still fresh. Include answers to the following questions (3 points).
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