Music Production & Engineering Courses

This course explores the roles and responsibilities of music producers and engineers from idea inception to finished product. Included is an overview of studio technologies and basic recording procedures. This course is recommended for students considering the music production and engineering major or anyone desiring a broad overview of the field.

Pro Tools has become the undisputed recording industry standard for digital audio production. It provides a comprehensive and powerful environment for audio recording, MIDI sequencing, editing, and inside-the-box mixing. This course will jump-start your Pro Tools production chops, covering a full range of basic as well as advanced tools and techniques in a single semester. Prior experience with Pro Tools or another DAW is highly recommended. You must have access to a native Pro Tools rig running current Pro Tools software. (Check with the MP&E Department for specific requirements.)

This online course focuses on developing critical listening skills with particular emphasis on analyzing recording and mix techniques in the context of the popular music mix. Topics include: acoustics of the critical listening environment; mix elements such as balances, panning, EQ, reverb, compression, delay and time-based effects; instrument identification; stylistic comparisons of recording and mix techniques. Listening analysis examples and concepts are reinforced through weekly critical listening assignments. A set of weekly audio ear training drills are also part of the class.

For non-MPED majors, this course is a hands-on study of modern recording, mixing, programming and post-production techniques, oriented toward musicians with the need to record themselves and others in a hybrid home studio recording environment. Through a series of hands-on projects, culminating in a final recording, programming and mixing project, students will learn the fundamentals of analog and digital audio technology, microphones, recording techniques, audio signal flow, DAW session management and file exchange, integration of MIDI with audio tracks, signal processing, editing and professional mixing techniques. 

This course introduces audio fundamentals in theory and practice. Topics include: principles of audio electronics and the decibel scale; electromagnetic induction; power, ground, and amplifiers; core concepts in digital audio; console and DAW signal flow, routing, and gain staging; microphone and loudspeaker principles and applications; signal processing, including compression and equalization. Class meetings consist of lectures, demonstrations, and hands-on training. Assignment-based lab time is required.

This course builds upon topics introduced in MP-211: the fundamentals and practical applications of audio systems. Topics include: survey of standard DAWs; digital signal processors; advanced signal flow and routing; basic plug-in architecture; file handling; digital integrity and codecs; delivery formats; system setup and interconnections; synchronization; and clocking. Class meetings consist of lectures, demonstrations, and hands-on training. Assignment-based lab time is required.

Special update for fall 2020 only: MP-212 does not need to must be taken concurrently with MP-241.

This course explores the industry standard Musical Instrument Digital Interface (MIDI 1.0) specification, with an emphasis on musical projects designed to emulate professional practice and application. MIDI sequencing is done at computer-based workstations in the classroom, and outside of class using the student's laptop and MP&E Major Bundle hardware and software components. Studio-based labs during the semester introduce the student to collaborative working environments. Contemporary software programs, such as Pro Tools and Logic, are covered.

This course addresses the increasingly hybrid nature of recording and mixing practices in music production. Through contrasts and comparisons, the course explores the impact on modern record-making of MIDI, music sequencing, sampling, extended frequency responses, file modification tools, and their effect on analog components in record-making. The course highlights why many current production teams seek the best of both worlds as they move forward in the creative process, beginning with digital sources, augmenting with analog components, editing on a workstation or laptop, moving to a large format console and ending up with a digital file, exploiting the DAW's functionality as a tape machine in the analog domain and its expanded creative capabilities in the digital domain.

This course introduces students to the aesthetic considerations and functional operation of equipment for multitrack mixdown of stereo masters. Topics include: common control room procedures and protocol; console and control room signal flow, control logic, and patching; balance; use of outboard signal processors; and documentation. Weekly out-of-class studio lab time consists of mixing prerecorded multitrack material. Audio ear training is also required outside of class time.

Special update for fall 2020 only: MP-241 does not have to be taken concurrently with MP-212.