Topics in Convergent Media: Sound, Fall 200
SOUNDSCAPES
RTF 331T unique #07275 and RTF 393Q unique #07630, Wednesday 11-2 in the ACTLab Sandy Stone, Instructor - phone 471-8489 sandy@actlab.us
Sound and its concomitant, noise, define our spaces of interaction and creation, provide clues to social roles, enhance or inhibit sensuality, produce and modulate emotion. Sound can not only define spaces of action but can create plausible worlds. This semester we will study a broad range of topics under the general rubric of sound, but we will focus on using sound as a machine for creating active space, sonic environments through which one physically moves, which may change in response to human presence and action, and which evoke emotional response. We will use computers, sensors, and objects we make as means to achieve this. You will learn to think in 3-d; these aural spaces are analogous to the environments you would create if you chose sound design for film as your work.
The illustration above is an example, though an extreme one: a sketch of conductor Pierre Boulezıs sound installation Répons, which uses live instruments, a computer, and six loudspeakers. I include it here because itıs one of the best graphic representations of an interactive sound space. The light and dark bands are not physical objects, but indicate the relationships between the loudspeakers. This is a highly sophisticated example, so donıt panic -- your project doesnıt have to take this form; in fact, it probably shouldnıt. If you already have some skills with computers, so much the better, but I assume no prior knowledge on your part. And a fair amount of our work will not be with computers but with physical objects that make sounds, including the human voice.
The course is in studio format. For the first part of class we will discuss assigned readings. For the remainder of the time (i.e., most of class time) you will make stuff. What you make and how you make it will emerge from our interactions in class. You will produce a project every other week -- a few simple ones, a few more complex ones, and a final project that sums up what you have learned during the semester. All will involve sound (or noise) in some form. You may team up for the final project providing it is sufficiently complex to represent a semesterıs work for each team member and provided that I can clearly tell who did what. You will have four weeks to construct the final project. Final presentations will be open to the public. There are no written exams. We will take some field trips. I will show some films and play a lot of recordings. After a bit, so will you.
After the first class meeting:
If you are admitted, sign up for the class mailing list by surfing to http://actlab.us/mailman/listinfo/sound . In late summer Iıll contact you via the list.
Read the additional material posted at http://sandystone.com/sound .
Things youıll need:
A recorder of some sort. Cassette, tape, minidisk, laptop, anything.
A cheap microphone. If youıre a slacker musician and have the skill, any kind of sound pickup will do.
Something soft to lie on. The second class day weıll be lying on the floor in the dark listening to surround sounds. The ACTLab floor is a cement slab, so be prepared. Bring a blanket or camping mattress.
What to expect: Unconventional attitudes. I donıt lecture. Well, hardly ever. I donıt give written tests. I donıt tell you what you have to do to get an A. The object of the adventure is to find out. Participate, risk, make. If you need more structure to feel comfortable, please drop the course. Youıll be sorry if you donıt. Hardware and software tutorials. These are generally given outside class time. Use em. Long, hard work at the end of the semester. Unless you are Superman, I advise against taking this course if you are also taking an intensive film or video production course. You will be doing as much work as, or more work than, an intensive production course. There arenıt that many hours in the day. Fair warning. Grading: As with all Convergent Media classes, grading is subjective, which is the flipside of the lack of written exams, the actlabıs freewheeling style, and our emphasis on your willingness to experiment, to take risks, and to adventure into Convergent Mediaıs modes of learning. If you were to break it down, it might look something like this: Class participation 30% Journals 25% Final project 45% Questions? Email me at sandy@actlab.us More Info:
In addition to your project you must submit documentation, i.e., a thorough, articulate description, photographic record, and sound files of the project, in web-ready form, so we can link it to the ACTLab web page. Donıt slight this step, because a spectacular web page significantly raises your visibility as a Convergent Media professional, and I take notice of that. No grade will be issued until this requirement is satisfied.
Journal:
During the semester that cheap little recorder will be your constant companion, your best friend, worst enemy, husband, wife, and lover. Talk to it, mutter to it, whisper to it, point it at interesting or commonplace or weird events; wrap it in watertight plastic and dunk it in water; tie it to your bumper and drive poorly in traffic; throw it and let your dog retrieve it... Use what you capture on it as raw source material, think-pieces, suggestions, notes...
In addition to the recorder you will keep a physical journal of such notes, thoughts on theory, ideas, diagrams of projects, etc, that work better on paper than aurally. You turn it in at the end of the semester. Your physical journal gives me some sense of how you think about the course and how your ideas evolve over the semester. The method is simple: If you have an idea or a sketch or drawing that doesnıt express well aurally, note it down. If you find a useful idea or photo or a saying from a magazine, paste it in. At the beginning of the semester Iıll show you my workbooks to give you a sense of what Iım looking for.
Texts: Douglas Kahn: Noise, Water, Meat: A History of Sound in the Arts(Get this first) John Cage: Silence Mark Prendergast: The Ambient Century: From Mahler to Trance: The Evolution of Sound in the Electronic Age Paul Theberge: Any Sound You Can Imagine: Making Music/Consuming Technology Jacques Attali: Noise: The Political Economy of Music (Get this last) Re-read ³What to expect². Particularly the part in italics. Schedule (subject to change):
Aug 29 First-day biz; intro to the course (buy Noise, Water, Meat afterward)
Sep 5 Mythic aural spaces 1: early synthesis (Telharmonium; ; Clara Rockmore and Leon Theremin; Louis and Bebe Barron, Forbidden Planet); noise pieces. Intro to the equipment. Workshop. Exercise: Make a short (30 second) noise piece. Try for a narrative arc if possible.
Sep 12 Mythic aural spaces 2: Adiegetic sound. The Mummy Returns. Pierre Schafer, John Cage, Edgard Varése; other early experiments. Film. Discussion: Continue to read Kahn. Workshop: Exercise: Begin with a set of random sounds (use your recorder for source material). Over 30 seconds, coalesce them into a coherent something -- rhythmically or tonally or both or something else.
Sep 19 Mythic aural spaces 3: Sounds heard only via technology. The Dawn Chorus; Sandycat. Dry ice, sawblades, Slinky. Discussion: Any Sound You Can Imagine. Workshop. Exercise: record a sound only heard via technology; Loop and move it around in the stereo field. Record the panning motion so you can loop the pan too. Bring heavy gloves if you have them.
Sep 26 Limits of audibility: Spectral sounds, haunted recordings, haunted rooms. Nearly legible language, oneirics, twilight speech. Luciano Berioıs Visage, etc. Reading: Silence. Workshop. Exercise: Make a short (30 second) sound piece using voice and multiple loops... whispers or nonsense syllables or intelligible or near-intelligible speech (example: ³Visage² with voice only).
Oct 3 Repetition, sampling and looping: the archaic sensibility. Pink Album. Percussion loops. Hypnotic motion in the stereo field. Morton Subotnick, Steve Reich, Joji Yuasa, Holger Czukay. Workshop. Exercise: Use motion in the spacial field as an element of rhythm (example: Pink Album).
Oct 10 Technologies of memory: Sound, vision, voice and place. Evocative objects. The ethnographic dimension. Sound as location and evocation. John Chowning, Robert Ashley, Charles Dodge. The political dimension. Discussion: Noise. Workshop. Exercise: Make a physical object that triggers sound events when approached, moved, touched, bumped, kicked, talked to, shouted at...
Oct 17 Making sounds out of stuff. Field trip: Junkyard. LHPO and other heroic-scale projects. Elephant Keyboard. Harry Partch and kin. Einsturzende Neuebauten. Exercise: Make a physical, sculptural sound instrument that is capable of producing sound with and without amplification (example: Wind Organ, Pianoharp, Long Tape Instrument; Harry Partchıs instruments). Assorted tools required.
Oct 24 Sound, light, and motion 1. Big physical transducers and sculpture. Introduction to BigEye. Max and kin. Workshop. Exercise: Make a physical object that triggers sound events when illuminated, darkened, projected on... and another one that triggers sound events when walked on, danced on, rolled on...
Oct 31 Sound, light and motion 2: Complexification. Using sculptural transducers to create active space. Reading: The Ambient Century. Workshop. Exercise: Using your materials from last week, make two more complex versions that interactively trigger a series of events; one when the interactor is in motion and one when the interactor holds perfectly still (example: Simon Pennyıs crickets; ³Little Peepers²).
Nov 7 Audio architecture: creating physical and virtual interactive structures in 3-D space. Begin Final Project.
Nov 14-28 Final project workshops and studio time.
Final Presentations: Open to the public. Date to be announced.
End of semester cleanup. You leave the ACTLab in the same condition in which you found it at the beginning of the semester. No grades will be issued until this requirement is fulfilled. If one person doesnıt do their job, no one gets a grade -- i.e., all classes are responsible for the workspace and you are responsible for each other.
The Fine Print:
Regarding Scholastic Dishonesty: The University defines academic dishonesty as cheating, plagiarism, unauthorized collaboration, falsifying academic records, and any act designed to avoid participating honestly in the learning process. Scholastic dishonesty also includes, but is not limited to, providing false or misleading information to receive a postponement or an extension on a test, quiz, or other assignment, and submission of essentially the same written assignment for two courses without the prior permission of the instructor. By accepting this syllabus, you have agreed to these guidelines and must adhere to them. Scholastic dishonest damages both the student's learning experience and readiness for the future demands of a work-career. Students who violate University rules on scholastic dishonesty are subject to disciplinary penalties, including the possibility of failure in the course and/or dismissal from the University. For more information on scholastic dishonesty, please visit the Student Judicial services Web site at http://www.utexas.edu/depts/dos/sjs/.
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