Music 178: Computer Skills for Musicians
Mark Phillips, Professor
 phillipm@ohio.edu

NOTE: Below is a general overview of the course intended for reference by those interested in perhaps enrolling in it, or anyone interested in finding out what the course is about.  Students actually enrolled in the course should consult the Blackboard™ site for the current official syllabus which includes specific details and project due dates.

Taught every quarter; often by a Graduate Teaching Assistant
Mon/Wed 2:10–3:00 p.m.
Music Bldg. Rm. 475A 


Course Outline (lecture topics subject to modification!)

Week 1



Week 2


Week 3

Week 4



Week 5


Week 6



Week 7




Week 8

Week 9



Week 10



Final
 MIDI Lab Workstation Basics: Introduction to MIDI sequencing using MOTU’s Digital Performer 5 software (DP5) — recording simple MIDI sequences using General MIDI presets, adjust playback/record speed, copy, cut, paste, shift, transpose, contextual “Balloon” Help, etc.

More DP5 MIDI sequencing: graphic & notation editing windows, step record, loops,  quantizing; conductor track; other “Region” menu items, mixing board

More DP5 MIDI sequencing; intro to digital audio features, basic file management

More digital audio features in DP4; simple editing, importing digital audio from CD

>>>>> DP4 mini-project <<<<<<

Introduction to software sampling in connection with DP5:  basic file management; simple editing, importing digital audio from CD

Analog-to-digital recording; simple mixing; “on-board” effects;

>>>>> rough draft of  digital audio mini-project due <<<<<<

Introduction to Jazz/Popular Music Production & Education MIDI software — Band-In-A-Box Standard MIDI File Format (importing and exporting Standard MIDI files)

>>>>> digital audio mini-project  <<<<<<

Introduction to Garage Band

>>>>> Band–In-A-Box mini-project due <<<<<<

More on Garage Band  — QUIZ

TBA

>>>>> rough draft of  Final Project due (DP5 &/or Garage Band) 

Final Project due (DP5 &/or Garage Band) due during regularly scheduled exam time
attendance is required at scheduled exam time for in-class presentation of final projects


Grading Policy: Grades will be determined primarily by the quality and timeliness of the mini-projects and especially by the final project. In addition, there will be a 40-point quiz. Attendance will account for part of your grade as well. Academic dishonesty will result in class grade of F.

mini projects: 50 + 60 + 40 = 120 pts.    final project: 70 pts.    quiz: 40 pts.    attendance: 20 pts.
total points: 300 pts. [plus 10 bonus pts. for extra draft submissions]

Mini Project Guidelines
Below are some ideas to use as guidelines for the three mini-projects.  These are designed to encourage experience and minimum competency with three basic types of music software.  Expectations are modest.  Students are not expected to master all of the intricacies and complexities of the software, but merely demonstrate an understanding of the basics of the program. 

Students are encouraged to submit drafts of their work for evaluation and suggestions whenever possible.  You can turn in work after any session where you’ve saved work towards completion of a project.  In addition to receiving extra credit for these draft submissions, they will likely improve your grade on the project.

Mini-Project 1: Digital Performer 5 — MIDI sequencing
•    Create a short multi-timbral General MIDI sequence using DP 4 and the Korg 0/5RW with…
    >at least three tracks (more is better) using multiple instrument timbres, (drums go on MIDI ch. 10)
    >original composition or arrangement is encouraged, but not required
    >use “Default Patch” (or “Insert...Patch Change” in Event window) to set up all your instruments
    >synchronized to click track with effective use of step record, &/or quantization
    >ca. 1-2 min. duration.
    >record audio version of project; export stereo AIFF format, suitable for CD burning.


Mini-Project 2: DP5 — Digital Audio
•    Import some of the audio material from the “Music 178A Folder” on the hard drive.
•    Import or record a small amount of your own audio (no clips longer than 30 sec. w/ prior approval)
•    Make several “edits” (copy/cut/paste, reverse, gain changes, etc.)
• Create several “automated mix” event (i.e. fade in/out, pan, etc.)
•    create a stereo mix of your project (“Bounce to Disk”)
•    Turn in a “working copy” of entire project on CD (see next page for complete instructions)


Mini-Project 3:  Band-in-a-Box
•Create a pop song “lead sheet” or use sheet music or a “fake book” — (do not use an existing song file)
    >enter chord symbols
    >choose appropriate style, set appropriate tempo, set up repeats
    > record melody (optional)
    >Do “Save Song”  (Under File Menu) to save BIAB file of your Project.
    >Do “Save MIDI File” (Under File Menu) to create a Standard MIDI File of your project
•Use DP 4 to “enhance” your project
    > Launch DP5 and Close Untitled (under File menu)
    >Do “Open” (under File menu) and look for the SMF of your project; then save as DP5 file
    >record melody (if you didn’t already do it in BIAB)
    >add 1–2 tracks of additional material in DP5 (improvised solo, background riffs, percussion, etc.)


Final Project:
Choose one of the following: 
1) a DP5 project (an original composition or a transcription/arrangement of existing music)
2) a Garage Band project (an original composition or a transcription/arrangement of existing music)
        Guidelines: (for either version)
        >longer, more elaborate,and more musically developed than mini-project 1 or 2
        >may use Band-in-a-Box to generate some (but not all) of the project
        >must have several tracks with different instruments set up on each track
        >should be well-synchronized to a click track (if appropriate to the style of music)

   
    NOTE:  You may use SMF format to exchange MIDI data from one program to another.

Final “Post-Production” Stage for digital audio class projects:

Follow these steps after completing a digital audio mix of your project — (i.e. ... a “Bounce to Disk” file).  In DP5 (and most other multi-track digital audio programs), audio will have separate files for left and right channels.  You’ll need an “interleaved” stereo file in order to burn an audio CD that will play on a standard CD player.

In DP5, both “Bounce to Disk” and “Normalize” are under the “Audio” menu. The “bounce” feature in Performer has no option for creating a single (interleaved) file.  If all you are doing is recording the output from MIDI synthesizers you may not even need to use the “Bounce” feature.  Once you’ve recorded your stereo audio track, you can select the entire track and choose “Normalize” from the Audio menu.  You can also normalize audio located only in the “Soundbites” window by double-clicking on it and selecting what you want to normalize (typically the entire file ... i.e. “Select all”).  When you are ready to create an interleaved stereo file you need to call up the “Soundbites” window and select  your stereo file.  Once you’ve selected your file, you can select “Export selected bites...” from the little pop-up menu in the Soundbites window.  Then choose “AIFF format” or “Interleaved Sound Designer II format” from the pop-up menu beside the word “format:”

In Garage Band, the process is much easier.  You simply select the menu item “Export to iTunes.”


When you have created your normalized, interleaved stereo file you can use iTunes or Toast Lite to burn your audio CD.  To create a single CD that has both your DP5 or Garage Band data as well as your audio file, you should probably use Toast Lite.

Open Toast Lite and under the Format menu select both “Mac files and folders” and “Audio files.” Then drag your final mix to the audio file window in Toast... and the rest of your project to the data window.  To burn the CD, click on the Write CD button ... in the next dialog box you can choose either “Write session” or “Write CD.”  This will simultaneously create a back-up of your entire project as well as an audio file that will play on a standard CD player (typically it is the 2nd track on the CD). 

NOTE: Do not try to burn your CD from the server.  You should also never try to record and/or play multi-track audio to or from the server either.