Books, Resources, Projects & Grading

Required reading

There is nothing you are required to purchase. All readings will be available online or provided in class.

Other reading suggestions

Reas, C. and B. Fry. Processing: A Programming Handbook  for Visual Designers and Artists. Cambridge: MIT Press, 2007.
Sanger, George. The Fat Man on Game Audio: Tasty Morsels of Audio Goodness. Indianapolis: New Riders, 2003.
Brandon, Alexander. Audio for Games: Planning, Process, and Production. Berkeley: New Riders, 2005.
Sonnenschein, David. Sound Design: the expressive power of music, voice, and sound effects in cinema. California: Michael Wiese Productions, 2001.
Viers, Ric. Sound Design Bible. California: Michael Wiese Productions, 2008.
Collins, Karen. From Pac-Man to Pop Music: Digital Interactive Audio in Games and New Media. London: Ashgate, 2008.
Collins, Karen. Game Sound : an introduction to the history, theory, and practice of video game music and sound design. Cambridge: MIT Press, 2008.
Cox, Christoph, and Daniel Warner, eds. Audio Culture: Readings in Modern Music. New York: Continuum Books, 2004.
Chion, Michel. Audio-vision: sound on screen. New York: Columbia University Press. 1994. Also at Google Books
Puckette, Miller. The Theory and Technique of Electronic Music. URL: http://crca.ucsd.edu/~msp/techniques.htm
Farnell, Andy. Designing Sound. London: Applied Scientific Press. 2008. URL: http://aspress.co.uk/ds

Internet and print resources: www.gamasutra.com, www.iasig.org, www.sonify.org, www.rhizome.org, www.audiogang.org, www.createdigitalmusic.com; Electronic Musician magazine, THE WIRE magazine, Game Developer magazine.

Software tutorials

Lynda.com video tutorials

Lynda.com (by Lynda Weinman) offers an Online Training Library. As IU students and faculty we have access to the entire collection. You will find tutorials for Pro Tools and other related audio software.

  1. Start at http://ittraining.iu.edu/lynda
  2. Click Go to Lynda.com and log in with your IU credentials
  3. Wait a minute to be re-directed...
  4. When the site is loaded use the Learn by menu to find the lessons that interest you.

Useful software for this course

Adobe Audition & Flash CS 5.5 (available from IUware)
Wwise by Audiokinetic
FMOD by Firelight Technologies
Nodal by CEMA Research
Noatikl by Intermorphic
Pure Data (aka pd) by Miller Puckette
GameSalad app development with no coding

Sound resources

Sound Snap
OLPC free sound samples
FreeSound.org

Zoom recorders (H4n):

Marantz recorders (PMD670—use only if there are no Zoom recorders available):

Equipment checkout:

Projects (large scale)

You will work on five projects and three assignments over the course of the semester:

Forced Marriage project
Choose a scene from a film or TV show (approx. 2-4 minutes in length) that has not yet been discussed in class. Analyze that scene with the "Forced Marriage" exercise using 3 distinctly different musical clips.

You will turn in the video and audio files you analyzed with a thorough written analysis on the sound + image relationship (2000-3000 words). Be sure to note the starting times of your video and audio files if your analysis starts elsewhere than the beginning of each.

While this is primarily an analysis based on your own conclusions, you should draw ideas from the chapters we read in Chion's "Audio Vision." Also remember to keep in mind that this is an analysis of what you hear and not an attempt to find the "right" soundtrack for a video clip.

Sound state project
Use sound to communicate "state" or "situation" relative to one's interactions with a device, interface, or environment.

Ambient/Generative/Soundscape (AGS) project
Create a sound piece that conveys "place." Procedural or generative techniques can be used to tailor this for continuous or extended listening.

Contemporary works project
Make a 15 minute presentation on a contemporary art or media work that relates to the theme and topics of this course. Your presentation will be delivered during class this semester. It is expected that you have both audio and visual examples of the work you will discuss.

Final project
Open topic based on your interests

Assignments (small scale)

The three assignments are smaller in nature, and will ask you to explore the topics:

Final grades will also be based on a student's overall participation, including contributions to class discussions and critiques.

Grading

Projects will be evaluated as follows:
0 failing; little to no effort on the part of the student
check— passing but needs improvement
check passing at acceptable quality
check+ passing; very good work

Letter grades are assigned at the end of the semester. Students earn letter grades through their performance on individual projects and assignments, and overall participation in the course. The following grade descriptions have been adapted from the grade definitions set by student and faculty members of the Committee on Improvement of Instruction.

Grade Description
A+ Amazing performance; rarely ever happens.
A Superior performance; student work goes far above and beyond requirements of the course; demonstrates a command of course material through an innovative and creative application of concepts; far exceeds course expectations.
A- Excellent performance; student work goes far above and beyond requirements of the course; demonstrates a command of course material through an innovative and creative application of concepts.
B+ Very good performance; student work meets requirements and demonstrates creative or thoughtful application of course material; exceeds course expectations.
B Solid work; student performance meets requirements and demonstrates a good understanding of course material.
B- Above average; work that meets requirements and demonstrates better than average understanding of course material.
C+ Work that meets requirements and shows promise.
C Work that meets all basic requirements.
C- Work that meets requirements but is not especially polished or thoughtful.
D+ Below average work.
D Below average work.
D- Below average work.
F Failing.