Readings and Assignments

This page lists the reading, homework and final project assignments for the course. Sample student work is included for some assignments and the final project.

Readings

Reading assignments detailed in the table below are drawn from the following sources.

Required Textbook

Farnell, Andy. Designing Sound. MIT Press, 2010. ISBN: 9780262014410. (Book and accompanying Pd example files.)

• Note: We will make extensive use of Andy Farnell's Pd examples, which accompany the Designing Sound book and can be downloaded from the MIT Press website. Many of these Pd examples are referenced and linked within the course lecture notes; please see the Lecture Notes page for detailed download and installation instructions.

Chapters 1 and 9–14, which provide a practical introduction to Pd, are also available from the author's website: Excerpt from Designing Sound (PDF). Please note that the chapter numbers in this Excerpt version differ from those in the MIT Press textbook, and that the latter will be used for all references in the reading assignments schedule and any other course materials.

Additional Required Readings

Anderson, Chris, et al. Film Sound Cliches: Film Sound Stereotypes and Common Logic Flaws.

Crawford, Chris. "The Computer as a Game Technology." Chapter 4 in The Art of Computer Game Design: Reflections Of a Master Game Designer (PDF). Osborne / McGraw-Hill, 1984, pp. 35–44. ISBN: 9780881341171. (Electronic edition of a text originally published in 1982.)

Ament, Vanessa Theme. "What We Use for . . . Performing the Props." Chapter 8 in The Foley Grail: The Art of Performing Sound for Film, Games, and Animation. 1st ed. Focal Press, 2009, pp. 89–101. ISBN: 9780240811253. [Preview with Google Books]

Mars, Roman. "99% Invisible—Episode 15: The Sound of the Artificial World." Podcast, 2011. 4'54".

Westerkamp, Hildegard. "Soundwalking." In Autumn Leaves. Sound and the Environment in Artistic Practice. Edited by Angus Carlyle. Double Entendre, 2007, pp. 49–54. ISBN: 9780954807436. (Also available in a slightly different online version from eContact!, an online journal for electroacoustic practices.)

Written Responses to Reading Assignments

A short written response assignment accompanies each reading assignment, as listed in the table below. Your responses need not be very extensive (a short paragraph is enough), but it should demonstrate that you have actually read the material. Try to be concise and pay attention to form, grammar, spelling, etc. To support a good discussion, I plan to make your written responses to all readings viewable for all students in this class. (If that thought troubles you, please let me know before you submit your first response.)

Assignments Key

ED = Recording and Editing Assignment

EX = Sound Design Exercise

FP = Final Project

PD = Pure Data (Pd) Assignment

RD = Reading Assignment with brief written response

WR = Written Assignment

Assignments are listed by class sessions at which they are due; for the sessions at which each assignment is given out, see the calendar table on the Syllabus page.

Sample student work is from both the 2015 and 2016 versions of the class, courtesy of MIT students, and used with permission.