Contact
Jeff Feddersen
email: fed@zaftig.org
url: www.zaftig.org/frameworks
Office hours: Wednesdays, 11:00 - 2:00 by appointment, adjunct office

H79.2436 Frameworks for Interactive Sound
This course introduces the student to an array of critical and practical frameworks for creating technologically-based audio works. Drawing from an inclusive perspective of technology and sound throughout history, the coursework is based on in-depth dissections of specific tools, compositions, instruments and installations. Hands-on work is enriched with an equal component of critical reading and discussion. Outside of class students will maintain an audio "sketchbook" with which they will exhibit working knowledge of a range of concepts through the execution of small, simple exercises. Students are expected to be conversant in at least one digital audio platform such as Max/MSP, csound, pd, JSyn, or equivalent, and to be familiar with fundamentals of digital audio as covered in Digital Sound Lab (H79.2266).

Coursework

Sketchbooks:
The majority of the work in this class will take the form of short, simple audio sketches. Each student will execute over 100 during the course of the semester. A sketch can be as short as a second (or less) of sound. In these exercises we emphasize quantity - the goal is to generate as many ideas as possible, while bypassing our natural tendency to analyze and critique ourselves. The sketches are a way of getting our hands around the concepts that arise in class. Class time and out-of-class channels will focus on the presentation, discussion and analysis of the ideas and sounds generated from the coursework.

The final form of the sketchbook will be in mp3-encoded audio files kept online. For reasons that will become apparent, it is important that a class-wide naming convention be followed. Here it is:

<any_url>/<week#>/<sketch#>.mp3

Where <any_url> is, well, any url you want - the site and file structure where you'll be keeping your journal. I don't care what it is, but once you email me this address (before the second class) that's what it will be for the semester. <week#> is the week in the semester in which the sketch is created: January 20-27 is 1, January 28-February 3 is 2, and so on. <sketch#> is the number of the sketch, starting with 1.

For example: http://www.zaftig.org/thiscouldbeanything/4/7.mp3 would be the 7th sketch done between February 10th and 17th - the week we study modulation synthesis.

Annotated Listening:
Starting the second week students will present listening material for the class. Students will prepare short samples from at least four sources of music or sound art, lasting in total no more than 10 minutes. The material should connect with the general topic of this class, and the student will lead a discussion regarding the material. Don't do lots of research for this - present something that you already know well and from which you think the class may benefit.

Phil Manget's playlist from his presentation last semester is an excellent example:

Hendrix - EXP (analog feedback/distortion/experimentation from 35 years ago)
Aphex Twin - Window Licker (digital distortion/experimentation)
Dire Straits - Lions (musical dynamics)
Led Zep - Immigrant Song (produced, canned)
Lep Zep - Immigrant Song (Live) (energetic, dynamic)
Mazzy Star - Mary of Silence (ambience/production)
Van Halen - Eruption (Brown Sound, not brown noise)
Aphex Twin - untitled (virtuosity - electronic)
John Coltrane - Giant Steps (virtuosity - traditional instrumental)
Mr. Bungle - None of Them Knew They Were Robots (alternative composition/narrative)
Mouse on Mars - Catching Butterflies With Hands (digital emulates/manipulates organic textures)
Outkast - ATLiens (contemporary production leads to visceral expereince of sound)

In-class events:
The semester is divided into thirds. At the end of each section we will stage an in-class audio event/performance/composition.

Finally, I encourage the class to be involved in the ITP Radio Station.

Tools
This class does not focus on the mechanics of specific applications or tools. You should choose an environment that you are comfortable working in and learning about with which to implement the concepts addressed in class. Following are a few of the obvious choices, but anything that can generate audio digitally is fair game in this class and is encouraged. Pretty much any language could do it; even Director or Perl could write data to a text file that could be played as a sound file. Working with the pic or BX could be an interesting challenge - its up to you.

Max/MSP - Graphical programming language from Cycling 74. Probably the best overall package, offering powerful MIDI, digital audio, and video processing, strong support at ITP, extremely easy installation and relative ease of use. Downside is its price tag, compared to the other options, all free, but ITP has a lot of licenses. Newly available for Windows, but most third party objects are probably not yet converted.
http://www.cycling74.com/

JSyn - A Java API for developing audio applications. Cross-platform, and the basics are free; graphical, Max-like GUI editor ("Wire") costs but is available at ITP.
http://www.softsynth.com/jsyn/

Pd - A free, cross-platform program similar to Max/MSP, from its creator Miller Puckette. See ITP's own Hans Steiner for more information.
http://www.pure-data.org
http://crca.ucsd.edu/~msp/software.html

cSound - Text-language similar to C. Orchestras files describe instruments, which can be any digital audio process; score files coordinate instruments into a sequence of events. Compile the orchestra and score and you end up with an audio file. Pretty low level and arcane at times, with an architecture heavily influenced by old-school electronic music terminology. But there's a large community, with lots of online examples and downloads, and its free.
http://www.csounds.com/
The compiler I've been using (for OS X) is CSndX, available here.

portAudio - another free, cross-platform tool, portAudio is a C library that allows you to incorporate real-time digital audio easily into your C projects (pixel-by-pixel, perhaps?). As low as you'll get.
http://www.portaudio.com/

Books and Resources
There are a huge number of resources available on our subject; here are some of the ones I've found. One of the goals of the class will be to develop and expand this list as a group by sharing insights. Class readings will be handed out the week before they are due.

The Computer Music Tutorial, Curtis Roads, MIT Press. This is the best reference I've encountered for technology and audio. Although its quite detailed and deep, material is presented in an accessible way, with extremely thorough diagrams, illustrations, and references. Over 1000 pages long, it could be studied for a lifetime. Many of our readings are drawn from here.

The CSound Book, Richard Boulanger ed., MIT Press. This collection of essays from a number of authors offers many insights and angles for understanding sound. All the examples are in the cSound language, but the text is of general interest due to its broad range and excellent quality.

Musical Instrument Design, Bart Hopkin, See Sharp Press. Although this book in no way addresses digital technology, it is a superb reference for the way sound is made in the physical world, grounded by its purpose as an encyclopedia of instrument design principles. Offers a thorough understanding of the acoustic principles of all major classes of instruments.

New Directions in Music, David Cope, Waveland Press. A comprehensive look at twentieth-century classical music. The author created the Experiments in Musical Intelligence (EMI) program, which several years ago was notorious for imitating the style of classical composers.

The Computer Music Journal and Leonardo Music Journal, MIT Press. Excellent academic journals regarding technology and sound.

Note: These and other journals are available online from Bobst.