Course Description
This course is an introduction to the theory, applications, and techniques of making music through technological means. An overly broad term, music technology traditionally refers to technologies that rely on electroacoustic principles and digital audio; however, music technology also helps us explain such things as instrument classification, developments in tuning and temperament, advances in music education and pedagogy, recorded music as a commodity, legal and copyright issues, music and artificial intelligence, and so on. As an emerging concentration within the field, the study of music technology continues to encompass a wide range of topics in both the analog and digital domains. An understanding of the workings of various technologies will help you pursue a multitude of creative musical objectives. Students will gain broad knowledge, in both theory and practice, of the foundations of acoustics, digital audio, electronic music composition, and the relationship between music technology and human culture.
Goals
1. Students should be able to explain fundamental properties of musical acoustics, psychoacoustics digital sound, and electronic synthesis.
2. Students should be able to explain some important historical developments in the history of music technology.
2. Students should be able to describe the fundamentals of digital audio including the signal path, recording hardware/methods, and features of a digital audio workstation (DAW);
3. Students should be able to show competency working with various digital audio workstations, audio editors, and MIDI techniques;
4. Students should be able to explain and classify several features of electronic music and music composition including synthesis, music notation software, and MIDI sequencing;
5. Students should be able to demonstrate basic techniques of music and audio programming, sonification, sound mapping, algorithmic composition, and basic AI methods for music creation through selected software and programming languages.
Unit 1: Musical Acoustics, Digital Sound, and Synthesis
Week 1: Introductions
Tuesday, 8/25/26
Introduction to Course and Course Syllabus
Thursday 8/27/26
Course overview, and a brief history of some music technologies, terminology for digital audio and acoustics
Week 2: Musical Acoustics and Digital Sound
Tuesday, 9/1/26
Basic acoustics, frequency, amplitude, and waveform
Thursday, 9/3/26
The sinusoid, timbre, combining timbres, time envelopes
Week 3: Sound Synthesis, Signal Processing, and the Signal Path
Tuesday, 9/8/26
ADSR, envelopes of synthetic sounds, exponential and logarithmic curves, loudness, loudness curves.
Thursday, 9/10/26
The audio signal path
Week 4: Sound Synthesis Methods - Synthesis in the DAW (Asynchronous Week)
Tuesday, 9/15/26 & Thursday, 9/17/26
Synthesis and editing in Audacity, Logic Pro; panning and spatialization
Panning and spatialization, additive synthesis, subtractive synthesis, and granular synthesis in the DAW
The goal of this week will be to work on the synthesis project (synthesis: three methods), one in Audacity, one in Max/MSP, and one in Logic Pro. I will provide video examples, techniques, and other novel approaches. You will be encouraged to complete some of this work in the Carnegie Lab, and to save your work for the final submission. Please see the Project description for details.
Unit 2: Composition and Music Production in the DAW
Week 5: MIDI
Tuesday, 9/22/26 & Thursday, 9/24/26
Understanding MIDI
Music notation with Musescore, Sequencing MIDI in the DAW
Week 6: Composition techniques using a DAW
Tuesday, 9/29/26 & Thursday, 10/1/26
MIDI techniques continued, MusicXML
The MIDI protocol, controller messages, MIDI changes, piano roll/step editor, mapping other types of information onto MIDI
Week 7: Composition, Rhythmic Tools, and MIDI FX
Tuesday, 10/6/26 & Thursday, 10/8/25
MIDI FX overview, transforming MIDI data, MIDI sequencing basics
Exporting MusicXML, MIDI editing tools, the Step Editor, and Pattern Regions.
Week 8: Midterm
Tuesday, 10/13/26 (no class Thursday - Fall Break)
In-class midterm
Week 9: Composition, Music with Video
Tuesday, 10/20/26 & Thursday, 10/22/26
Working with loops, Audio FX basics
Diegetic vs. non-diegetic sound, syncing sound to picture, SMPTE and BITC, music mimesis, sound design vs. musical scores
Working with video in BandlabLinks to an external site.
Working with video in Logic Pro XLinks to an external site.
Final Project Proposal due on Thursday
Unit 3: Music Technology, Culture, and Society
Week 10: Soundscape Recording, Sound Mapping, and Applications
Tuesday, 10/27/26 & Thursday, 10/29/26
Field recording techniques, mapping sound and noise, categorizing the soundscape (geophonic, biophonic, anthrophonic)
In-class map making with mymaps.google.com (requires a free Google account)
Week 11: Sonification
Tuesday, 11/3/26 & Thursday, 11/5/26
Sonification basics, musical sonification methods, and foundations of algorithmic music
Camera tracking/luminance tracking, cursor tracking, working with text files, working with data
Week 12: Music and Audio Computer Programming
Tuesday, 11/10/26 & Thursday, 11/12/26
Working with Max (or PD), Faust, and P5.js
Week 13: Music & Audio Computer Programming
Tuesday, 11/17/26 & Thursday, 11/19/25
Working with Max (or PD), Faust, and P5.js
Week 14: Workshop Projects Week
Tuesday, 11/24/26 (No Class on Thursday - Thanksgiving)
Working with Max (or PD), Faust, and P5.js
Week 15: AI in music
Tuesday, 12/2/26 & Thursday, 12/4/25
Overview of how AI is used in music production and music information retrieval
AI methods for music production in Logic Pro, SUNO, and Max
Week 16: Legal and Copyright topics in Music Technology
Tuesday, 12/8/26
IP issues, AI, Copyright, and Music Distribution on the Internet
Assignments & Grading
8 Technology/Audio Projects (150 points)
5 projects will be smaller in scale (15 points each)
3 projects will be more substantial and require more time (25 points each)
Midterm Exam (100 points)
2 quizzes (25 points each; 50 points total) -- one quiz will be online and open-note
Final Research Project (100 points)
Total: 400 points