Syllabus: CU 346 Audio Production and Performance.
Winter Term 2000

Instructor: John K Muir
Office: B-115 Reade House (phn 748 1779)
  office hours: Thursday 2-4pm or by appointment
  748 1777wk
  745 3247hm
  Email: jkmuir@trentu.ca
Cultural Studies Programme Secretary:  Manuela Lefranc (phn: 748 1771)

During the fall term the emphasis was on composition and performance,
including improvisation and listening skills.  The winter term will be devoted
to technical aspects of audio production, including radio and recording.
Student will have an opportunity to work on individual and collaborative
projects derived from their sonic interests.  Attendance is mandatory

Weekly meetings will provide an opportunity for; Talks and demonstrations on
    historical and current audio technical  practice with a view to fostering
    discussions on methods and selecting suitable technologies.  This will
    include very  basic information on how prepare an audio piece.

    Discussions and demonstrations of what equipment is available from the
    course, "show and tell" of what gear students  have of their own, and, of
    that, what they are willing to share.

    Student led and observed pre-production and production meetings.

    Student presentations of their work as well as "backstory" (see below)
    explanations of their pieces.

    Coordinating shared resources.

Students may also avail themselves of an audio production studio at Trent Radio.
For a detail description of the equipment available see below.

Attendance Policy: Following Professor Waterman's lead, it is proposed that
student be allowed one missed class with no penalty. After that there will be
a grade reduction of 5% for each class missed without a doctor's note or a
similarly compelling reason. Attendance in class, tutorials and scheduled
studio sessions in mandatory. "There is no art without commitment".

There are no required texts for this term. There are some suggested resources
(see below),

Grading scheme:
Participation                           20%
Short Radio Art Project
        /w 500 word description 15% due Friday, 03 Mar 00
Final Project - student's own
desired  project, /w backstory  15% a) "backstory" due Friday, 17 Mar 00
                                                        b) finished project due Friday, 31 Mar 00

Grading policy: Those needing an extension must clear it in advance. Late
submissions may be subject to a penalty of 1/2 to a full grade.

Plagiarism: "Plagiarism is an extremely serious academic offence and carries
penalties varying from failure in an assignment to debarment from the
University", (from Trent University Academic Regulations 1999/2000 calendar).


Suggested Texts:
Texts and links available at; http://www.trentu.ca/culturalstudies/cu346/

Strauss, Neil, ed. Radiotext(e). New York: Semiotext(e), 1993. An excellent,
  wide-ranging anthology dedicated to expanding the  concept of radio.
  "...radio is a box that needs to be opened. Radiotext(e) is one way to pry
  off the lid, to dump the  contents of your radio set onto the floor and
  discover you're no longer able to put them back together". -Neil Strauss.
  Covers topics from propaganda, pirate radio, natural radio phenomena
  (sferics) to communication with the dead.  Authors include Hakim Bey,
  Bertolt Brecht, Tetsuo Kogawa, Christof Migone, Muzak (!), Negativland,
  George Orwell,  R. Murray Schafer, Kurt Schwitters, Helen Thorington, Jeff
  Zilm and more.


Milam, Lorenzo W. The Radio Papers: From KRAB to KCHU (Essays on the Art and
  Practice of Radio Transmission), San Diego; MHO, 1986.

    The earliest writings of the noted radio nutcase and broadcasting pioneer,
    Lorenzo Wilson Milam.

    These essays first appeared in the program guides of KRAB (Seattle), KDNA
    (St. Louis), KTAO (Los Gatos), and  KCHU (Dallas).

    These are revealing descriptions of the pleasure and pain of running a
    broadcast operation for the community.  Included are chapters on
    volunteers, listeners, ratings (or "anti-ratings"), music, and the sheer,
    glorious poetry of being  involved in a broadcast station that has a
    spirit of joy, rather than greed.

    Illustrated with many early photographs of the pioneering days of radio.


What is a Backstory?
A "backstory" provides the reader the why and wherefore of a planned production
piece. In film making, it is employed to help "pitch" a production project to a potential
financial backer, and often includes the following elements;

  A Synopsis of the Project - not more than 100 words

  Background - How do you come to make the piece?

  Intent - What do you hope to communicate?  If you do not wish to declare
    your intent explain why.

  How the making of the piece will aid in your development as an artist.

  The Treatment, which contains;
    The Format - a description of the physical end medium (e.g. stereo
    cassette tape, MP3 on CD-ROM, wax on toilet roll,  radio transmission, &c.)

    The Audio Overview - the type and provenance of the music, the sounds and
    the words to be used.

    The Outline - how it starts, then what happens next, then what happens
    after that. and then, and so on to the end.


Trent Radio Production Studio:
It is anticipated that this facility will be made available four times a week,
in three hours block at set times, for the use of the course. Student will
have intermittent access to the instructor during these times, although it is
contemplated that after some initial training and orientation, students will
work primarily on their own.

Subject to negotiation, the studio will be open Tuesday, Wednesday and
Thursday mornings from 8 a.m. to 11 a.m., and one weekday evening from 7 p.m.
to 10 p.m. for production of student projects.  Over a twelve week period this
will provide a total of 144 hours of studio time.

Studio equipment includes;
  One Mackie CR1604 audio mixer
  One Marantz PMD 510 dual well cassette deck
  One Technics SP1200 phonograph turntable
  Two Sennheiser 421 Microphones
  One Gentner 1A Telephone coupler
  One Daytron VHS Hi-Fi VCR
  Two Electrovoice Studio monitor speakers and provision for either 1/4" or
    1/8" headphone monitoring (students should bring their own headphones)

One Computer /w AMD k6(3) 350Mhz cpu, 128Megabytes RAM, 20Gigabytes hard
  disk space, Ricoh CDR & CDRW burner, Digital Audio Labs CardD two channel
  sound card, and cable modem Internet access.

  Computer Audio software includes;
        Cool Edit Pro 1.2  (editor)
        Sound Forge for Windows 4.5a  (editor)
        Fast EdDit Version 1.00 (editor)
        Winamp 2.5e (MP3, WAV and multi format audio player)
        Dart Pro 32 Version 1.14 for Windows  (noise reduction)
        AudioGrabber Version 1.31  (CD ripper)
        mp3Trim version 1.14 jN 1999
        AudioCatalyst 2.0 (CD ripper)

It is highly recommend that students equipment themselves with a reusable CDRW
(Compact Disk Re-Writable media) for storing audio between studio sessions,
and a sturdy pair of headphones.

[end]
Post Script Notes:

 -  All written work s/b submitted by plain text email
 -  Encourage more formal submission for Backstory assignment
 -  Final audio piece should be handed in on CD (ie. not 'left' on the
    Studio B computer)