Syllabus

Instructors: Dr. David Sebald and Mr. Mark Rubinstein
Office: AR 2-03-24 or the Recording Booth
Contact: email: dsebald@aim-ed.com, phone: 458-5327

Description:
This course covers fundamentals of recording, playback, and sound reinforcement equipment operation.
Topics include physical & perceptual acoustics, basic electricity, analog & digital recording principles, console operation, microphone selection & placement, and sound engineering in live and studio situations. No previous musical background or recording experience required. However, an active interest in digital audio, recording techniques, and sound reinforcement is necessary.

What you should learn in this course:
• Historical background.
• How sound works.
• How digital audio recording works.
• How to choose and use microphones.
• How to do good voice recording & instrument recording.
• How to do effective live recording.
• How to operate several types of console.
• How to edit audio.
• How to use hardware signal processors and software audio plugins.
• How to sync audio, MIDI & video.
• How to use MIDI for control.
• How to create audio for the web.
• How to evaluate audio hardware & software.
• How to evaluate sound studios.
• How to construct various types of studios.
• How professional music production works.
• How to create a red-book audio CD.
• Understanding and working with emerging trends in audio (multi-channel surround, etc.)
• How to operate UTSA's sound recording facilities.

Required Text:
Huber & Runstein. Modern Recording Techniques, 5th ed. Boston. Focal Press.

Supplemental Materials:
Franz, David. Producing in the Home Studio with Pro-Tools. Boston. Berklee Press.
(ISBN 0-634-03221-6)
Moylan, William. The Art of Recording, Understanding and Crafting the Mix. Boston. Focal Press.
(ISBN 0-240-80483-X)
subscriptions to Mix Magazine & Electronic Musician
One 100 Meg Zip disk (not 250 Meg!).
A small stock of data quality CD-R's.
Looseleaf notebook for tutorials and numerous class handouts.
Web access with these plugins: Flash 6, Shockwave 8, Quicktime 6, Acrobat 5.

Graded output: (All grades carry equal weight.)
Numerous short quizzes.
Audio web site.
Numerous graded tutorial products.
1 digital audio editing project.
3 Live recording projects.
2 Major Exams (Midterm & Final Exam - both comprehensive)

Absense policy:
3 absences are allowed for any reason. 4th absence lowers final average one letter grade