Course Syllabus

Making Noise: Sound Art and Digital Media
UGS/CS 2050, Spring 2015

Instructor: Erik Brunvand, School of Computing
When: T-Th 2:00-3:20pm
Where: Merrill Engineering Building (MEB) 3105

Textbooks: Handmade Electronic Music: The Art of Hardware Hacking by Nicolas Collins
                   also Lights! Speed! Action! Fundamentals of Physical Programming for Programmers by Erik Brunvand

In addition to these books, I've put some books on reserve for our class at the Marriott Library that are full of interesting information and essays on the subjects of sound art and audio culture. You can access the reserve list here. These books all have interesting information in them, but I particularly like the book Audio Culture: Readings in Modern Music. It has a very interesting collection of essays from a wide range of writers/musicians.  

What: Electronic technology is pervasive in our modern world but how it actually works can be a mystery to many people. In this class students will explore the fundamentals of electronic technology with a goal of increasing their “technological fluency.” This class does not assume any specific background in electronics or computer programming. Through hands-on labs and projects students will gain a fundamental understanding of how electronic things work and what are their capabilities and limitations. This will be explored in the context of making art and noise with electronic components, some of which will be built from scratch, and some of which will be discovered from existing cast-off or broken devices. This blending of arts and technology, sometimes called “circuit bending,” involves learning enough about technology to modify simple circuits (that were likely never intended to make noise) to make strange and unexpected sounds. The final project will be to design, build, program, and perform with an electronic musical (or at least noise-making) gizmo that has never previously existed.    

Beware that you've signed up for the very first offering of a very experimental course! I have a broad outline of the material in mind, but many of the details will be worked out as we go along. The schedule will almost certainly change as the semester progresses... 

Lecture Series

During this semester I will be organizing a lecture series on the subject of arts and technology. The speakers are all practitioners of various art forms that also involve technology, or of technological subjects that also involve art. The speakers will meet with our class to engage in a discussion of how arts and technology intermingle.

They will also give a public lecture in the Gould Auditorium in the Marriott Library that you should all attend if at all possible. Lectures will be 4:00-5:00pm (refreshments at 3:45pm). 

• Thursday, Jan 22: James Coupe 

  • James Coupe is Associate Professor at the Center for Digital Arts and Experimental Media (DXARTS), University of Washington. His artwork is concerned with systems of observation and control. He has received numerous grants, commissions and awards from organizations including Creative Capital, Toronto International Film Festival, and the Prix Ars Electronica. His work has been exhibited widely in Europe, North America and Asia, at venues such as Camden Arts Centre, Parsons The New School for Design, and the Museum of Contemporary Canadian Art. http://www.jamescoupe.com

• Tuesday, Feb 17: Lindsay Grace

  • Lindsay Grace is an Associate Professor at American University in Washington, D.C. He is a professor, game designer, and researcher. He directs the AU Game Lab and Studio. His game designs have received awards and recognition from the Games for Change Festival, Meaningful Play Conference, ACM SIGGRAPH Digital Arts Community, and others. His creative work has been selected for showcase in more than seven countries and 12 states.  http://www.lgrace.com/

• Tuesday, Mar 24: Mark Koven

  • Mark Koven is an Assistant Professor of Art at Utah State University. Since earning a terminal degree in Masters of Fine Arts in digital media from the University of Miami in 2005, Mark Lee Koven has worked as an interdisciplinary artist whose research merges materials and processes of art with those of science. Since 2000 Mr. Koven has shown in over 90 exhibitions and art venues such as StoreFront for Art and Architecture New York, FlashArt Milan, Art Basel Miami, Southern Exposure San Francisco, Taipei Taiwan, and Scope London.  http://www.markkoven.net/

• Tuesday, Apr 21: Bill Manaris

• Bill Manaris is a professor of Computer Science at the College of Charleston in Charleston, South Carolina. He is currently director of the Computing in the Arts program. His interests include computing in the arts, human-computer interaction and artificial intelligence. He explores interaction design and modeling of aesthetics and creativity using statistical, connectionist, and evolutionary techniques. He designs systems for computer-aided musical analysis, composition, and performance in music and art. http://www.cs.cofc.edu/~manaris/

General Strategy 

Each week there are readings and listening assignments. We'll discuss the readings on Tuesdays, and the listening assignments on Thursdays. The readings are related to the history of electronic and experimental music, and sound art, and the listening assignments are designed to give you practice in listening and hearing. These should be reasonably quick and easy assignments designed to keep everybody engaged. Still, I realize that 10 readings and 10 listening assignments is a lot. You will be graded on eight of each. That is, your two lowest reading response scores, and your two lowest listening assignment scores will be dropped. 

There are also four projects, and a final comprehensive project (details coming!)

1. Induction coil field recordings - Using an inductive pickup to record electromagnetic noise. Collect and catalog your recordings. 
2. Arduino based programmed sound  - Write programs that make music/noise. Compose short pieces using programmed algorithms. 
3. Oscillator circuits - Build oscillators and couple them together to generate more noise. Collect and catalog sounds from your oscillators. 
4. Toy hacking - Convert a toy to make new and noisy sounds. 

These four projects will result in a set of "raw material" that you can use in your final project. I expect you to end up with a good set of sound clips that you can use to assemble together into larger music compositions, and also a set of physical pieces that you can build upon to make your project. The final project will be your own concoction from these materials. You could do a composition using all the sound clips and materials, you could build a new instrument and perform with that instrument, you could assemble a set of circuits and sounds for a sound art installation. There are many possibilities! There will also be an opportunity to build a "cigar box amplifier" to amplify your projects, or just for fun. 

Academic Integrity 

You are expected to do your own work in this class. You can discuss with, study with, and learn from other students in the course, but any work that you turn in should be your own. Here's a link to the School of Computing's Academic Misconduct policy. Please read it, and please don't give any cause for sanctions. 

Class Schedule (this will almost certainly change during the semester!)

Some links to additional information pages

• Here's a link to a page with some Sound Art links that we'll explore this semester
• Here's a page with links to many of the musical elements we'll listen to