For the first project you will creating a short piece using the techniques and applications used in the course thus far. You should shoot for 2-3 minutes of music although slightly shorter or longer projects are possible. You must turn in the final project as a .wav or .aiff audio file. The key is to give me a final, uncompressed audio format suitable for listening and evaluating. I may look at the Cubase or Audacity project if you provide one, but I am primarily interested in the musical results. For those who prefer guidelines, here are a few suggested project types:
1. A "song" made from a multi-track recording and mixdown. Using the recording techniques from the course, record multiple layer/tracks to be processed and mixed. Ideally you would use Cubase for this as it is the most flexible environment for the kinds of non-destructive editing techniques you will likely be using.
2. A collage/pastiche piece using your own samples, those from the soundfile library (sflib), or sounds from other legal sources (freesound, etc). For examples of how this might work you can further explore Varese's "Poem Electronique" in the sflib folder "listening" or read about and listen to pieces by composers of musique concrete such as Pierre Henry and Pierre Shaffer. I recommend Symphony pour un homme seul ("Symphony for a Man Alone"), a piece created by both men in collaboration (Henry is attributed as the composer) or in the Cornell music library, Henry's Entite ("Entity"), call number Rec 175 E4 E31.
3. Some combination of the above two or any other interesting format you can dream up. Some have done audio diaries, audio documentaries, poems, DJ mashups, and on and on. Please be in touch if you have any questions or need further guidance on your project.
Happy music making!