due Monday, April 24 by 11:59 PM EDT
NO LATE DAYS ALLOWED – HANDIN VIA CANVAS
Important dates
- Monday, April 24, 2022, 11:59 PM Eastern: Deadline for music submission (source files, wave file, program notes, and answers to the questions below). HAND IN VIA CANVAS.
- Concerts: TBA (either Thursday evening April 27 or Friday evening April 28)
Description
Project 7 will be an ambitious computer music composition that you create by combining techniques we have explored during the semester. Your goal is to create a composition that is technically ambitious (combining at least four major techniques in Nyquist), and is a compelling listening experience (visit Jesse Stiles’ Spotify playlist for inspiration). As always, you may optionally use DAWs such as FL Studio, Ableton, Logic, etc. to mix, edit, master, etc. — but we expect you to focus your work on Nyquist programming techniques covered in the course. Your piece may, of course, be created using Nyquist alone.
Your composition will be presented at one of the final ICM concerts (TBA). Please limit your piece to 2-channel audio for this semester.
Assessment will based on:
- Completeness – Audio requirements are fulfilled, code, slides, and text are included according to specifications below.
- Code – Code is included and compiles.
- Composition quality – Your piece should demonstrate effort exploring musical and technical possibilities and should present an interesting listening experience.
- Mixing – The various sounds created for your piece should be mixed with intentionality. You should control the amplitude of all sounds over time so that they are balanced and the listeners’ attention is focused to aspects of the music which you wish to highlight. Your piece should contain no common mixing errors such as clipping or clicks. If you wish to include these types of sounds intentionally for artistic effect please explain this in your program notes and explain your reasoning for why this decision was made.
- Significant use of Nyquist – Your piece must include at least four major techniques explored in the course, for example: granular synthesis, FM synthesis, spectral processing, pattern generation, physical models, sampling/looping, etc. In your report, you will document where each technique is used and how it is used.
Audio Requirements
Submit your audio file as andrewid_p7_comp.wav. (For example, acarnegi_p7_comp.wav .) It must adhere to these requirements:
- Stereo file
- WAV format
- 16 bits, 44.1 kHz
- No clipping
- Must be normalized
- Must not contain long periods of silence
- 90-120 seconds long
If you compose a longer piece and feel that cutting it down to 120 seconds significantly reduces its quality, you may also submit an extended version, which will be taken into consideration in grading.
Slide
In andrewid_p7_slide.pdf, submit a slide, in the form of a one-page landscape PDF, to be projected while your piece is played. You should include an image in the slide that relates to your music and include the title of your piece, your name, and any additional text you wish. The image can come from anywhere, and does not need to be original work. Your complete program notes will be printed in the program, so you do not need a lot of text on the slide. Hopefully, the slide will add an engaging visual aspect to the concert, so please strive for an aesthetic, artistic presentation.
If you wish to create “live visuals” to accompany your piece rather than a slide that would be a great addition. For example, you can have a slide sequence that auto-advances while we play your composition. If you do this, please make a note for us so we can test your slides before the concert.
Questions
Include the answers to the following questions in andrewid_p7_answers.txt:
- What is your motivation in this work? Give a short summary.
- What special efforts did you make in composing this piece?
- What mixing techniques you use in this work? Try to be concise.
- What Nyquist programming techniques did you use in this work? For each technique, briefly describe how it works in your program code.
- Do you have any additional comments for the graders?
- Do you give permission for your piece to be made available online?
Program notes
You should also submit the following in andrewid_p7_notes.txt:
- On the first line: the title of your composition.
- On the second line: the name by which you would like to appear in the program.
- After that: your program notes. You may use LaTeX syntax if you want to include any formatting. Keep your notes to a maximum of 200 words.
Submission
Please create a zip file named andrewid_p7.zip containing the following files (at the top level, not inside an extra directory except for the composition source files):
- Your composition sound file:
andrewid_p7_comp.wav - Your composition source files: in the folder
andrewid_p7_source - Your slide:
andrewid_p7_slide.pdf - Answers to the above questions:
andrewid_p7_answers.txt - Program notes:
andrewid_p7_notes.txt