This course is designed for students with no previous experience in music. This course introduces students to the fundamentals of audio engineering and modern music production techniques. Students will use several Digital Audio Workstation software programs, recording equipment, and the school’s recording studio to create a variety of music projects.
Each student station includes the following hardware and software, all of which are used throughout the course:
Projects
Great Speech Song – Students will take a recording of a famous speech from history and cut it into small samples. They’ll then use those samples and combine them with music loops in Garage Band (beginner audio software) to create a full song. Through this project students will learn their way around the basic controls and uses for a Digital Audio Workstation (DAW), as well as the use of MIDI Virtual Instruments played with a keyboard.
Podcasting – Students will work in pairs to record multiple episodes of a podcast. They will choose a topic and name for their podcast, record themselves doing the podcast on C-1 mics, and then editing the raw audio down to a final product. This will involve learning how to use microphones, interfaces, and basic editing functions in Reaper, a pro-level DAW.
Recording and Mixing – This will be a series of projects where students learn about industry mixing techniques like Equalization (EQ), Reverb, Stereo Imaging, and Compression. Beginning with pre-recorded raw audio from professional recording sessions, then moving up in complexity, this unit will culminate with students setting up a real recording session for guest professional musicians, running the session, and then editing the session audio into a final product. Past guest musicians have included Malin Carta, Kelly Ann Kerr, and Tim Maynard.
Film Audio – For the final project, students will choose a scene from a movie and delete all of the audio so it’s silent. They will then use the skills they’ve learned throughout the semester to recreate their own audio for the scene including music, dialogue, foley, and sound effects. This unit will dig into some of the intricacies of film scoring as well as the audio processes for video content of all kinds.