Postgraduate Course: Sonic Structures (ARCH11009)
Course Outline
| School | Edinburgh College of Art |
College | College of Humanities and Social Science |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 11 (Postgraduate) |
Availability | Available to all students |
| SCQF Credits | 20 |
ECTS Credits | 10 |
| Summary | On this course students study how to shape sound over time, and learn methods of controlling the form of sound in changing contexts.
Sound designers are often commissioned to produce fixed audio that is custom-fit to picture or play but there is a growing need to expand on this technique and provide audio that can quickly be configured for dynamic contexts.
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| Course description |
This course allows students to explore sound-based interaction methods in the context of digital media and to a lesser degree, product and prototype design.
Lectures cover a range of areas based on the development of interactive software systems for manipulating, sampling and synthesising sound in real-time. Students will investigate processes and contexts for the use of sound in areas such as sonic branding, industrial sound design, sonification, sound therapy, audio-visual performance, network-based multi-user applications and immersive simulation environments.
Student projects will be developed using the software programming language Pure Data.
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Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
| Pre-requisites |
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Co-requisites | |
| Prohibited Combinations | |
Other requirements | Experience of using sound recording technologies (microphones, recording equipment etc.)
Experience of using sound editing tools such as DAWs and wave editors, mixing tools, digital or analogue
Interest in computer programming and its application to sound design
Interest in industrial audio and context aware sound design.
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Information for Visiting Students
| Pre-requisites | None |
| High Demand Course? |
Yes |
Course Delivery Information
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| Academic year 2017/18, Available to all students (SV1)
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Quota: 28 |
| Course Start |
Semester 1 |
Timetable |
Timetable |
| Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info) |
Total Hours:
200
(
Lecture Hours 24,
Seminar/Tutorial Hours 12,
Supervised Practical/Workshop/Studio Hours 3,
Online Activities 12,
Feedback/Feedforward Hours 1,
Other Study Hours 24,
Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 4,
Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours
120 )
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| Assessment (Further Info) |
Written Exam
0 %,
Coursework
100 %,
Practical Exam
0 %
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| Additional Information (Assessment) |
Submission 1: research and software prototype 40%
Submission 2: completed sound design with software and documentation 60%
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| Feedback |
Formal feedback is provided as part of assessment of each submission, with the feedback for the first submission provided in good time to help your work on finished project. Additionally, formative feedback will be available throughout the course through tutorials, and through preview presentations of your work-in-progress. |
| No Exam Information |
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
- Develop skills in programming interactive sound environments, i.e. a detailed knowledge of the Pure Data programming language ((https://puredata.info/)
- Understand issues around interaction raised in complex multimedia environments
- Articulate the usefulness of multiple audio components in a media or object-based environment (e.g. music, sound effects, soundscape)
- Translate adventurous design ideas into a plausible end product
- Communicate a complex project idea to a varied audience
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Reading List
Dan Gärdenfors ¿ Auditory Interfaces (Essay)
www.jld.se/dsounds/auditoryinterfaces.pdf
William Gaver ¿ Auditory Interfaces (Chapter)
www.gold.ac.uk/media/19gaver.auditory%20Interfaces.97.pdf
William Gaver ¿ Synthesizing Auditory Icons (Paper) (NB Need to be on Uni Network)
portal.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=169184&coll=portal&dl=ACM
Seminar reading includes;
Bussemakers, M., & De Haan, A. (2000). When it Sounds like a Duck and it Looks like a Dog¿ Auditory icons vs. Earcons in Multimedia Environments in
PROCEEDINGS OF THE INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON AUDITORY DISPLAY (ICAD, 184¿189. Retrieved from citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.24.4053
You can download it here; www.icad.org/websiteV2.0/Conferences/ICAD2000/PSs/Bussemakers.ps
You will also be expected to learn the Sound Design programming system MaxMSP; http://www.cycling74.com |
Additional Information
| Course URL |
http://digital.eca.ed.ac.uk/sdhandbook/2008/08/sonicstructures-coursedescription/ |
| Graduate Attributes and Skills |
Skills in programming interactive sound environments, i.e. A detailed knowledge of the Pure Data programming language ((https://puredata.info/)
Understanding of issues of interaction raised in complex multimedia environments
Ability to articulate the usefulness of multiple audio components in a media or object-based environment (e.g. music, sound effects, soundscape)
Ability to translate adventurous design ideas into a plausible end product.
Ability to communicate a complex project idea to a varied audience |
| Additional Class Delivery Information |
This course explores sonic structure and encourages its students to develop sound design that changes according to context.
Sound designers are often commissioned to produce fixed audio that is custom-fit to picture or play but there is a growing need to expand on this technique and provide audio that can be quickly configured for dynamic contexts. Control over the form and structure of the sound is therefore required. This course allows students to explore sound-based interaction methods in the context of digital media, live performance and to a lesser degree, product and prototype design. Lectures cover a range of areas based on the development of interactive software systems for manipulating, sampling and synthesising sound in real-time. Students will investigate processes and contexts for the use of sound in areas such as real-time Foley, sound synchronization, performing sound design and to a lesser extent, sonic branding, industrial sound design, sonification, sound therapy, audio-visual performance, network-based multi-user applications and immersive simulation environments.
Your projects will be developed using the software programming language Pure Data. In this course you'll study how to shape sound over time, and learn methods of controlling the shape of sound in real-time and changing contexts. |
| Keywords | Industrial sound design,procedural audio,computer sound processing,real-time audio,MaxMSP |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Mr Owen Green
Tel:
Email: |
Course secretary | Mrs Lyndsay Hagon
Tel: (0131 6)51 5735
Email: |
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