Assignment:

Create a cassette (Dolby C, Type II) or CDR which contains a three to five minute stereo composition based entirely on musique concret style manipulations of source material and/or synthesized sounds from the Putney.

Format/Presentation:

Project will start on Side 1 immediately after the leader. Use a type II cassette with Dolby "C". Label the box and the cassette with your name and the project number. If using a CDR, project track number must be clearly indicated,

Procedures:

Using techniques developed from previous assignments create a three to five minute composition. As this is a stereo piece, you need to consider stereo placement and panning during the final mix. To make life simpler we strongly suggest that you work in mono until close to the final mix. Keeping pairs of tracks together throughout the composition process can be tedious and unnecessary. In addition to panning, you will need to consider reverberation, equalization or other external signal processing during the mix as well.

Marking:

Based on presentation, craft, lack of distortion, extraneous clicks, etc., the placement of sounds in stereo field and/or foreground/background, musical or other structural elements, use of layers, wit, and overall quality of sounds. This is not meant to be a major work but rather an exercise in composing with these techniques.

Hints:

Think in layers: perhaps a loop as background with other material as additional layers. Think about frequency ranges of various sounds as well as density (number of different sounds at any given time plus their frequency ranges). Plan out the structure, the macro envelope and the kinds of sounds you wish to use. Take care in the mixing: the dynamic shape can have a great impact upon the success of your work. Do your best to make clean recordings: the quality of the timbres is the heart of the work.
All assignments are due no later than April 7th, 12:30pm in Arne's office