AUTUMN 2024

Time: Tuesday and Thursday 2:30pm - 4:20pm

Locations: 

RAITT 205 (lectures and listening sessions)

Raitt Hall is locked after hours. Use this code to enter the building: 430070

RAITT 132 (labs) - you will have a 24 hour access to this lab. Door code: 207319.     

• KEEP DOOR CLOSED AT ALL TIMES.
• Video class  uses room 132 every Mon and Wed 9:30am - 11:20pm - DO NOT INTERRUPT during these times
  
• Login info for computers in Raitt 132:   user name: dxlocal            password: dxlocalword

No eating or drinking in classroom/lab

We recommend that you bring a pair of headphones to each class. 

Class mailing list: dxarts460a_au24@uw.edu

• you must use your UW email to post to the list

NOTE:

• This class fully in person at our facilities in Raitt Hall. 

• Active participation in the class is required and will contribute to your final grade.

Midterm and Final Project Presentations and Critique

You will be required to present your projects to your fellow students and receive/offer critique.  

Course Description

This course is an introduction to electroacoustic and computer music.

It is a project-based course focused on creating electroacoustic sound compositions. Among other things, this introductory course lays down the basic conceptual foundations for working with Digital Sound. These foundations are both technical and aesthetic, including a review of important musical examples, the fundamentals of acoustics, psychoacoustics and digital sound theory and basics of recording techniques. 

A few musical examples of computer music in the Western "Art Music" tradition, available through the UW Library portal:

Student responsibilities

• Attend all lectures, labs and any other sessions.
• If you miss class due to emergency, illness or an established religious holiday, please notify us directly in advance.
• Participate in discussions.
• Complete all homework assignments. Late work will not be accepted, resubmission is allowed. 
• Complete all labs. Late work will not be accepted, resubmission is allowed. 
• Complete all required readings and listening before coming to the class. 
• Complete quizzes. Late work will not be accepted.
• Complete and present a mid-term project. Late work will not be accepted.
• Complete and present a final project. Late work will not be accepted.

Books and software

• Twisted Wave  - waveform editor (for Mac only) or Audacity (all platforms, open source)
• Sonic Visualizer
• Reaper : Digital Audio Workstation
• SuperCollider: Audio Programming Environment and Language
• [additional resources]

Assignments: Projects & Final

See Assignments page. Assignments are a combination of listening critiques, graphic scores and short compositions. Attendance at the midterm and final critique sessions is mandatory.

Grading

The overall class grade will be broken down as follows:

• Assignments: 15% (5% + 10%)
• Labs: 9% (6 * 1.5%)
• Quizzes: 16% ( 6% + 10%)
• Mid-term Project and Presentation: 25% 
• Final Project and Presentation: 35%

Policies

• Back up your data. There is no excuse for losing papers, web documents, images, sound files, etc. 
• If you have a disability you believe may impact your participation in this class, please contact Disability Resources for Students. Every effort will be made to accommodate your needs.

Religious Accommodations Policy

Washington state law requires that UW develop a policy for accommodation of student absences or significant hardship due to reasons of faith or conscience, or for organized religious activities. The UW’s policy, including more information about how to request an accommodation, is available at Religious Accommodations Policy (https://registrar.washington.edu/staffandfaculty/religious-accommodations-policy/). Accommodations must be requested within the first two weeks of this course using the Religious Accommodations Request form (https://registrar.washington.edu/students/religious-accommodations-request/).