Field Recording
MUSC 226
Fall 2023
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01
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Behind every sound we hear while listening to music, watching television, playing games, or browsing the internet, an incredible amount of thought went into how to best capture and reproduce it. There are so many amazing sounds, and having the skillful ingenuity to capture those moments, often outside the convenience of a studio, is key to ensuring the ephemeral sonic elements in our world are incorporated into the lives of anyone who wants to listen. The practices discussed in this course will be focused on both the flexibility and practical considerations of creating from a home studio in the 21st century, and framed to fit a range of artistic and professional endeavors such as album production, broadcasting, ethnographic documentation, and sound recording for visual media. This course will illuminate every step of that process, from choosing equipment for making a particular recording, to editing, cleaning up, and mastering the deliverable result, while also touching on specific historical and technical elements of recording technology. By the conclusion of this course, students will have the foundations to share the sounds they hear--in the way they want them to be heard--with the world. |
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| Credit: .5 |
Gen Ed Area Dept:
HA DDC |
| Course Format: Lecture / Discussion | Grading Mode: Student Option |
| Level: UGRD |
Prerequisites: None |
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Fulfills a Major Requirement for: (MUSC) |
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Past Enrollment Probability: Not Available |
| SECTION 01 - 1st Quarter |
Major Readings: Wesleyan RJ Julia Bookstore
No textbook required. The major readings will be Susan Schmidt Horning¿s 2004 article
¿Engineering the Performance: Recording Engineers, Tacit Knowledge and the Art of Controlling
Sound¿ to gain insight into the history and philosophy of audio recording. Other readings will
include three short technical documents for audio equipment, a brief article on concert hall
acoustics, and the documentation regarding audio submission guidelines/specifications for
Apple Music, Netflix and PBS.
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Examinations and Assignments:
There will be three assignments and a final project. The assignments will be simple exercises in 1.)
Setting up equipment and recording audio into a computer, 2.) Mixing a multitrack recording,
applying basic effects and editing it, and 3.) Applying noise-reduction and loudness standards to a
recording. The final project will be an open-ended recording project which will have multiple
versions to conform to the delivery standards of several major distributors.
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Additional Requirements and/or Comments:
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| Instructor(s): Praznik,James John Times: .M.W... 04:20PM-05:50PM; Location: TBA |
| Total Enrollment Limit: 14 | | SR major: 2 | JR major: 2 | | |
| Seats Available: -1 | GRAD: 4 | SR non-major: 2 | JR non-major: 2 | SO: 2 | FR: X |
| Drop/Add Enrollment Requests | | | | | |
| Total Submitted Requests: 0 | 1st Ranked: 0 | 2nd Ranked: 0 | 3rd Ranked: 0 | 4th Ranked: 0 | Unranked: 0 |
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