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Sound Object
Students will create a sound object — a musical or sound art composition, a soundscape, a podcast, a mash-up, a supercut—by semester’s end. In-class sessions will provide guidance on digital audio workstations, mixing, studio use. An aspirational goal of the class will be to create an album we can post on Bandcamp.
For further detail, click on the links below.
Session 6 assignment (Paper 1): Students will write a short (1500 words) paper on any aspect of the readings up through that date that have inspired them and that may inflect the making of their class sound object.
Session 13 assignment (Paper 2): A final paper (1500 words or so) should accompany the sound object, pointing to readings that have been useful, to the object’s intent, and more.
Student Examples
Students created an album of sound objects, “AnthropologyOfSound2022,” which has been posted on Bandcamp.
One of the sound objects, “Paradigm Shifts,” also has an accompanying “Final Paper.” (PDF)
These examples attempt to think, across their four parts, about:
- the mundanity of sound
- the contrast between unadorned versus technologically souped-up sound
- the tactility of sound
- the vibratory realm that might unite hearing and deaf apprehension of sound
Note: Student examples appear courtesy of MIT students and are anonymous unless otherwise requested.
[C] Session taught by Prof. Ian Condry
[H] Session taught by Prof. Stefan Helmreich
Session 1: Introduction to the Course [C & H]
Session 2: Soundscapes, Acoustemologies, Space, Culture [H]
Sound/video examples and excerpts in class
- Voices Of The Rainforest: A Day In The Life Of The Kaluli People. Steven Feld. Rykodisc, 1991.
- “The Roaring Twenties: An Interactive Exploration of the Historical Soundscape of New York City.” Emily Thompson, Scott Mahoy, and Ben Johnston. 2019.
- “Alvin Lucier - I Am Sitting In A Room.” 1969. YouTube.
- “I Am Sitting in a Zoom.” Tim Shaw and John Bowers. 2020. Bandcamp.
- “Here We All Are (Lucier Mix).” Cathy Lane. 2020. Bandcamp.
- “Convolution Reverb.” Advertised and explained by Ableton.
- “Sound System Outernational 2, 2nd July 2016.” Vimeo.
- Lovers Rock. Directed by Steve McQueen. Color, 70 min. 2020.
- “TCI IRL: Quarantine Supercut: The Creative Independent." Assembled and produced by Drew Daniel. 2020. Soundcloud.
Session 3: Make a Beat to Share in Class [C]
Guest: Toshiya Ueno, author, DJ, professor from Japan.
Assignment due: Beat sharing due (See Assignments section for further detail.)
Session 4: Listening Machines [H]
Guest: Dr. Beth Semel, MIT Department of Anthropology.
Sound/video examples and excerpts in class
- “Au Clair de la Lune” phonautogram. Éduoard-Léon Scott de Martinville. 1860, audified in 2008. Bandcamp.
- “Human Speech From a Piano…” (Speech spectrogram transformed to MIDI to activate “speaking” player piano.) Ledgernote.
- “Pianos Can Emulate Human Voices, Apparently.” (Spectrogram of Bee Gees’ “Stayin’ Alive” transformed to MIDI to activate player piano.) Kill Screen.
- “telharmonium documental 1.mp4.” (Magic Music from the Telharmonium. Reynold Weidenaar. Magnetic Music, 2006.) YouTube.
- “CYMATICS: Science Vs. Music - Nigel Stanford.” 2014. YouTube.
- “What do cochlear implants sound like? - 2: music.” (Simulation of Ludwig van Beethoven’s “Kreutzer Sonata,” through cochlear implant.) Auditory Neuroscience.
- “Synapse: Robin Fox and the Bionic Ear.” YouTube.
- “D-PAN Interview: Christine Sun Kim - Sound Artist.” YouTube.
Session 5: Propose the Sound Object You Will Work on this Term; Bring a Clip to Demo Ideas [C]
Assignment due: Sound object proposal due (See Assignments section for further detail.)
Session 6: Phonograph Records, Tape, Compact Discs, MP3s, Algorithmic Streaming [H]
Sound/video examples and excerpts in class
- “1903 Edison Phonograph Recording Demo | Maker Faire Detroit.” (Clara Deck, Henry Ford Museum conservator demonstrates Edison phonograph.) YouTube.
- “Raymond Cass Audio - 1.” (Raymond Cass on electronic voice phenomena.) YouTube.
- “Led Zeppelin - Backward Masking 1983 (Televangelist).” (Televangelists play Led Zeppelin backward on Trinity Broadcasting Network, 1983.) YouTube.
- “The Loudness War.” YouTube.
- “How a Suzanne Vega Song Helped Create the MP3.” YouTube.
- Iron Maiden’s “The Number of the Beast,” compressed 666 times. Cory Arcangel.
Film in class
- Scratch. Directed by Doug Pray. Color, 92 min. 2001.
Assignment due: Paper 1 due (See Assignments section for further detail.)
Session 7: Mid-Term Sharing of Sound Object Project [C]
See Assignments section for further detail.
Session 8: Sound, Culture, Technology, Property [C & H]
Sound/video examples and excerpts in class
- “8 Led Zeppelin Songs That ‘Rip Off’ Other Songs.” 2021. YouTube.
- “Copyright Criminals - Trailer.” 2010. YouTube.
- “U2: How Negativland Exposed U2’s Hypocrisy.” 2020. YouTube.
- “Negativland - Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For (Special Edit Radio Mix).” 1991. YouTube.
- “Madonna - What the F*ck Do You Think You’re Doing?” 2003. YouTube.
- Xerophonics: Copying Machine Music. Stefan Helmreich. 2003. Spotify.
- “The Harley-Davidson Sound Trademark.” Smit & Van Wyk.
- “DJ /rupture - Gold Teeth Thief.” 2001. YouTube.
- Boone, Christine. “Gendered Power Relationships in Mashups.” Music Theory Online 24, no. 1 (2018).
Session 9: Mixing, EQ, Compression, Other Effects [C]
See Assignments section for further detail.
Session 10: Sonic Privacy, Sonic Publics [H]
Sound/video examples and excerpts in class
- “Beats by Dre - Hear What You Want / Colin Kaepernick.” 2015. YouTube.
- “HELL YOU TALMBOUT - Janelle Monae f. Wondaland Records (video).” 2015. YouTube.
- “Janelle Monáe - Say Her Name (Hell You Talmbout) (feat. Various Artists) [Official Lyric Video].” 2021. YouTube.
- “Nina Simone: Mississippi Goddam.” 1965. YouTube.
- Chen, Shawna. “Yellow Pearl: Soundtrack of the Asian American Movement.” May 19, 2021. The Yappie.
Film in class
- Everybody In The Place: An Incomplete History of Britain, 1984–1992. Directed by Jeremy Deller. Color, 60 min. 2019. Vimeo.
Online lecture to be excerpted in class
- “Maria Sonevytsky, “Understanding the War on Ukraine through Its Musical Culture.” (Online lecture at Bard College, February 2022.) YouTube.
Session 11: Mastering vs. Spatializing for Final Mixes [C]
See Assignments section for further detail.
Session 12: The Sounds of Science [H]
Session 13: Discussion and reflection on final recording projects, processes of learning, and participant-observation in music and technology [C & H]
Assignment due: Sound object and Paper 2 due (See Assignments section for further detail.)
[C] Session taught by Prof. Ian Condry
[H] Session taught by Prof. Stefan Helmreich
Session 1: Introduction to the Course [C & H]
No readings assigned.
Session 2: Soundscapes, Acoustemologies, Space, Culture [H]
Schafer, R. Murray. “Introduction.” In The Soundscape: Our Sonic Environment and the Tuning of the World. Destiny Books, 1993. ISBN: 9780892814558. [Preview with Google Books]
Feld, Steven. “A Rainforest Acoustemology.” Chapter 12 in The Auditory Culture Reader. 1st ed. Edited by Michael Bull and Les Back. Berg Publishers, 2004. ISBN: 9781859736180.
Thompson, Emily. “Introduction: Sound, Modernity and History,” and“The Origins of Modern Acoustics.” Chapter 1 and excerpts from Chapter 2 in The Soundscape of Modernity: Architectural Acoustics and the Culture of Listening in America, 1900–1933. MIT Press, 2004. ISBN: 9780262701068. [Preview with Google Books] (If you’re interested, there is a lecture version of parts of Chapter 2 here.)
Henriques, Julian. “Sonic Diaspora, Vibrations, and Rhythm: Thinking through the Sounding of the Jamaican Dancehall Session.” African and Black Diaspora: An International Journal 1, no. 2 (2008): 215–36.
Scott, Sarah Mayberry. “Sonic Lessons of the Covid-19 Soundscape.” August 2, 2021. Sounding Out!
Session 3: Make a Beat to Share in Class [C]
Ueno, Toshiya. “Resilience through Rituals.” The Bulletin of the Faculty of Representational Studies 14 (2014): 41–51.
Session 4: Listening Machines [H]
Sterne, Jonathan. “Machines to Hear for Them.” Chapter 1 in The Audible Past: Cultural Origins of Sound Reproduction. Duke University Press, 2003. ISBN: 9780822330134. [Preview with Google Books]
Behrendt, Frauke. “Telephones, Music and History: From the Invention Era to the Early Smartphone Days.” Convergence: The International Journal of Research into New Media Technologies 27, no. 6 (2021): 1678–95.
Friedner, Michele, and Stefan Helmreich. “Sound Studies Meets Deaf Studies.” Senses and Society 7, no. 1 (2012): 72–86.
Semel, Beth M. “Listening Like a Computer: Attentional Tensions and Mechanized Care in Psychiatric Digital Phenotyping.” Science, Technology & Human Values 47, no. 2 (2022): 266–90.
Session 5: Propose the Sound Object You Will Work on this Term; Bring a Clip to Demo Ideas [C]
No readings assigned.
Session 6: Phonograph Records, Tape, Compact Discs, MP3s, Algorithmic Streaming [H]
Davis, Erik. “Recording Angels: The Esoteric Origins of the Phonograph.” In Undercurrents: The Hidden Wiring of Modern Music. Edited by Rob Young. Continuum, 2002. ISBN: 9780826464507. [Preview with Google Books]
Bohlman, Andrea F., and Peter McMurray. “Tape: Or, Rewinding the Phonographic Regime.” Twentieth-Century Music 14, no. 1 (2017): 3–24.
Downes, Kieran. “‘Perfect Sound Forever’ - Innovation, Aesthetics, and the Remaking of Compact Disc Playback.” Technology and Culture 15, no. 2 (2010): 305–31.
Sterne, Jonathan. “The MP3 as Cultural Artifact.” New Media and Society 8, no. 5 (2006): 825–42.
Seaver, Nick. “Captivating Algorithms: Recommender Systems as Traps.” Journal of Material Culture 24, no. 4 (2019): 421–36.
Session 7: Mid-Term Sharing of Sound Object Project [C]
No readings assigned.
Session 8: Sound, Culture, Technology, Property [C & H]
Feld, Steven. “Pygmy POP: A Genealogy of Schizophonic Mimesis.” Yearbook for Traditional Music 28 (1996): 1–35.
Clayton, Jace (aka DJ Rupture). “Confessions of a DJ.” Chapter 1 in Uproot: Travels in 21st-Century Music and Digital Culture. FSG Originals, 2016. ISBN: 9780374533427. [Preview with Google Books]
Condry, Ian. “Cultures of Music Piracy: An Ethnographic Comparison of the US and Japan.” International Journal of Cultural Studies 7, no. 3 (2004): 343–63.
Marshall, Wayne. “Mashup Poetics as Pedagogical Practice.” Chapter 16 in Pop-Culture Pedagogy in the Music Classroom: Teaching Tools from American Idol to YouTube. Edited by Nicole Biamonte. Scarecrow Press, 2010. ISBN: 9780810876637. [Preview with Google Books]
Thaemlitz, Terre. “Social Media Content Removal Fail.” September 24, 2013. Comatonse Recordings.
“What the Hell is Terre’s Problem?!!” Comatonse Recordings.
Session 9: Mixing, EQ, Compression, Other Effects [C]
No readings assigned.
Session 10: Sonic Privacy, Sonic Publics [H]
Hsieh, Jennifer C. “Piano Transductions: Music, Sound and Noise in Urban Taiwan.” Sound Studies: An Interdisciplinary Journal 5, no. 1 (2019): 4–21.
Hagood, Mack. “Beats by Dre: Race and the Sonic Interface.” Chapter 6 in Hush: Media and Self Control. Duke University Press Books, 2019. ISBN: 9781478003809. [Preview with Google Books]
McDaniel, Byrd. “A New Age of Protest Music.” Boston Review, June 22, 2020.
Session 11: Mastering vs. Spatializing for Final Mixes [C]
No readings assigned.
Session 12: The Sounds of Silence [H]
Helmreich, Stefan. “An Anthropologist Underwater: Immersive Soundscapes, Submarine Cyborgs, and Transductive Ethnography.” American Ethnologist 34, no. 4 (2007): 621–41.
———. “Gravity’s Reverb: Listening to Space-Time, or Articulating the Sounds of Gravitational Wave Detection.” Cultural Anthropology 31, no. 4 (2016): 464–92.
Supper, Alexandra. “Lobbying for the Ear, Listening with the Whole Body: The (Anti-) Visual Culture of Sonification.” Sound Studies: An Interdisciplinary Journal 2, no. 1 (2016): 69–80.
Listening
- Heard Laboratories. Ernst Karel. and/OAR, 2009. Bandcamp.
- Sonic Antarctica. Andrea Polli. Gruenrekorder, 2009.
- Spring Bloom in the Marginal Ice Zone. Jana Winderen. 2018. Bandcamp.
- Sound Samples, SoSH Project: Sonification of Solar Harmonics. Stanford Solar Center.
- Voyager: The Golden Record. Jet Propulsion Library, California Institue of Technology.
- Scrambles of Earth: The Voyager Interstellar Record, Remixed by Extraterrestrials. SETI-X. Seeland, 2010. Spotify.
- Various music made with Artificial Intelligence:
- AAI. Mouse on Mars. 2021. Bandcamp.
- “Deep Time and Intelligence panel presentation at MIT: 2021 ‘Unfolding Intelligence’ Symposium.” (Holly Hernon presentation.) YouTube.
- Murray, Eoin. “Recognise: Debit.” DJ Mag, February 2, 2022.
Session 13: Discussion and reflection on final recording projects, processes of learning, and participant-observation in music and technology [C & H]
No readings assigned.
Preparing your file for spatial mixing + mix down to stereo
Please prepare your musical project for spatial mixing during session 12. There are a few options:
- If possible, please prepare your composition so that different parts are in different tracks. In the Lab, during class, we will map those tracks to positions in space using the d&b Soundscape technology.
- Please also prepare a stereo version of your track (i.e., mixed down to two tracks, right and left). In Live, you can do this by using File > Export Audio/Video. There are many possible settings here. I encourage you to Encode PCM using WAV or AIFF. We can use this version to test the quad splitter circuit board in the Lab. How do the decisions made by the circuit board differ from separating our compositions by instrument or sample?
- Use the panning knobs for each track to create different kinds of spatialized mixes. Some of the reverb and delay tools offer various spatialization techniques as well, such as ping pong or reverberating cave effects. Can you find any interesting effects to giving your sounds more of a sense of space?
- For a more advanced experience, try using Envelop for Live spatial mixing tools for your multichannel track. You can listen using headphones, and experiment with placing your tracks in different locations in 360-degree space.
Here’s a brief guide including download links and video tutorial for Envelop for Live.
More detailed guidance for the E4L (Envelop for Live) tools is here.
The short version is this:
- Download Envelop for Live tools.
- Add an E4L Master Bus to an audio track. This is where you designate the spatial mix (stereo, binaural, quad, octo, etc). Use binaural for headphone monitoring.
- To each audio track of your composition, add the E4L Source Panner. If you have other effects, such as reverb or compression, please add the Source Panner at the end of your effects chains (right-most position in the effects window). Now you can pan that particular audio track in 360-degrees. Experiment with locating different tracks, different sounds in different locations in space. Use the Azim knob to rotate sounds. Changing the radius will make the sound louder and more central. Keep the radius at 1 (all the way outside) for more pronounced spatial mixing.
- If you like, you can also experiment with other Envelop for Live tools, such as the multi delay or spatial slicer.
- If you don’t get too far with the spatialization, that’s OK. Keep working your composition, your mix, your effects, and your process.
Remember the Tomo Fujita rules for music learning: Don’t worry. Don’t compare. Don’t expect too fast. Be kind to yourself.
Good luck, and see you during session 12.
Please make a beat and come prepared to share it with the class.
I encourage people to download a (free) trial version of Ableton Live. If you prefer to use a different DAW (digital audio workstation), I’m open, but let’s discuss.
Requirements: It should be between two and 16 measures long (longer if you like). Please be prepared to share about 30 seconds of your audio in class. We’ll be curious to hear about your process, and about your observations around learning, improvising, evaluating your different attempts.
You may use a combination of samples, but I encourage working with the MIDI “piano roll” approach described in the first video below in the Resources section.
If you have time, I encourage you to experiment with different kinds of beats and audio sources. Best is to try to make several examples, and then choose your favorite to demo.
Resources
Please start here, so we have some shared knowledge. Afterwards, exploring beyond is fine.
“Making your first beat - Ableton Live for beginners (2020).” YouTube.
Get Started Making Music at Ableton Live. You do not need to do the entire course. Start with drums.
Top 10 Beats for Music Producers, a comparison of different genres and styles. fineArtsMatter.
Optional, for more advanced users
“Made in Ableton Live: Eomac on designing drums and bass from field recordings and more.” YouTube.
Please bring a short sample of music you made to share in class: rhythm + melody, or chords, or bass, or some other sounds
For a nice overview of concepts, music knowledge, approaches, and examples, please visit Get Started Making Music at Ableton.
If you’re already familiar with the music theory, you can skip to the “Bass lines” section.
If you’d like to experiment with different genres of rhythms, this tutorial is useful:
“How to make drum patterns - rhythms every producer SHOULD know (FREE MIDI)| Splice.” YouTube.
Proposal for your final project
Please write one paragraph (less than a page, double spaced.) Your project can be vague and aspirational. Please choose a direction that helps you explore some skills you might be interested in learning.
Some possible sound objects:
- a musical composition of any kind
- a soundscape that evokes a social setting or particular place
- a podcast composed of multiple voices and perspectives
- a dramatic narrative of some sort (audio play?) of your own making
- a supercut, mashup or other sample-based composition
- or something you propose
Some goals
Practice audio composition in a DAW (digital audio workstation, such as Ableton Live, Reaper, or other); make rhythms and add melody; practice mixing and arranging; extend our use of audio effects (e.g., reverb, compression, warping, etc.); and prepare your audio for distribution (mastering, audio formats). If time, we will also try some mixing for spatial audio.
We will keep developing our sound objects during the entire class, and then share with everyone at the end of the term. Our goal is to prepare the sound objects so that they can be uploaded as an album on Bandcamp (and possibly the streaming services), but this is optional, and you can decide whether or not to share your work.
The goal is to practice and to experiment with recording, mixing, adding effects, editing, and transforming sounds. Ideally, we will get to the point where we can experiment with using surround sound mixing in the Spatial Sound Lab as well.
Mid-Term Sharing of Sound Object Project (brief demo of progress)
Please come to class prepared to share a sample of your work so far on your sound object, duration of roughly 1 1/2 to 4 minutes long. The length is flexible.
Please consider the goals of the sound object production too, and try to incorporate various combinations of sampling, recording, MIDI, mixing, adding effects, spatializing and so on.
Please also come ready to discuss your process, the skills you’ve learned or worked on, some of your discoveries, and some of your outstanding questions and concerns.
This is about making a sound object, but it’s also about reflecting on the learning process, how we adapt to uncertainty, and the complex experience of “making something for ourselves” alongside “sharing with others.”
I plan to give everyone some small amount of feedback on your progress, and I hope our classmates will share ideas and be generous in supporting each others’ efforts.
One focus of this class will be on using audio effects. Here’s an introduction to using audio effects in Ableton Live. Please note, this video works from Live 10, though most of us are now using Live 11. The main difference is that Live 11 has reorganized the folders that contain audio effects. Otherwise, this shows the basics of how to add audio effects to adjust the sound of a track. Also, it’s worth noting that effects operate on an entire track, not individual sound samples. So that anything playing in a vertical strip (session view) or horizontal strip (arrangement view) will be affected by the audio effect in that track.
“Ableton Live 10 for Beginners - How to use Audio Effects.” YouTube.
Using EQ and Compression for Mastering Your Mix
Please bring the current version of your sound project to share with the class.
For this class, please continue to work on your sound project in whatever directions you feel are useful.
Please remember the Tomo Fujita tips for learning to make music: Don’t worry. Don’t compare. Don’t expect too fast. Be kind to yourself.
In addition this week, I also ask you to experiment with EQ and Compression.
In Ableton Live, I recommend trying the EQ8 (or the EQ3) audio effect to adjust the mix of frequencies in your mix. I also recommend trying the Glue Compressor to adjust the loudness profile. Remember to try a lot of A/B testing to see if you can learn to hear what these different audio effects do.
How would you describe the differences in sound that you experience using these tools?
Here are a couple of tutorials on using Ableton Live for Mastering:
“Mastering in Ableton Live - A Step by Step Tutorial.” YouTube.
How to use Compression:
Delaney, Martin. “Compression and Limiting Demystified in Ableton Live.” February 11, 2019. MusicTech.
If possible, prepare a “Mastered” version of your track and an “Unmastered” version, so we can try to hear the difference too.
In class, we will share our projects, have a discussion, do some more experimenting with Mastering tools.
Course Meeting Times
Lectures: 1 session / week, 3 hours / session
Prerequisites
There are no prerequisites for this course.
Course Description
Examines the ways people experience the realm of sound and how perceptions and technologies of sound emerge from cultural, economic, and historical worlds. It considers how sound/noise/music boundaries have been imagined, created, and modeled across sociocultural and historical contexts. Students will learn how environmental, linguistic, and musical sounds are construed cross-culturally, about the rise of telephony, architectural acoustics, and sound recording, as well as about the globalized travel of these technologies. Questions of ownership, property, authorship, remix, and copyright in the digital age are also addressed. A major concern will be with how the sound/noise boundary has been imagined, created, and modeled across diverse sociocultural and scientific contexts. Auditory examples—sound art, environmental recordings, music—will be provided and invited throughout the term.
Requirements
Students will read assigned texts in advance of each of the class sessions for which texts are listed and contribute short comments (3–4 sentences) just prior to these meetings. These comments will serve as jumping off points
for class discussion.
Sound Object
Students will create a sound object — a musical or sound art composition, a soundscape, a podcast, a mash-up, a supercut—by semester’s end. In-class sessions will provide guidance on digital audio workstations, mixing, studio use. An aspirational goal of the class will be to create an album we can post on Bandcamp.
Papers
Students will write a short (1500 words) paper due during Session 6, on any aspect of the readings up through that date that have inspired them and that may inflect the making of their class sound object. A final paper (also 1500 words or so) should accompany the sound object, pointing to readings that have been useful, to the object’s intent, and more. Details to be discussed in class.