Course Overview
There are typically four steps in producing a CD or movie soundtrack. In tracking sounds are recorded or synthesized and arranged in tracks. The tracks are then processed in mixing to form a stereo or multichannel mix. The idea is to arrange the sounds spatially and spectrally, to manipulate their character for artistic purposes, and also to fix problems in the tracks. In mastering, subtle adjustments and fixes are made to the mix, and often its dynamic range is limited in preparation for encoding and printing on the target medium.
Figure 1: Audio Production Process
This class is about audio effects processing, and, in particular, how to build digital versions of the mainline audio effects used in the mixing and mastering stages of audio production. In addition to panning and spatialization, which mix elements, there are categories of processing commonly employed in mixing and mastering.
Other specialized processing, such as delay effects (including echo, chorus, flanging and phasing), distortion, pitch and time stretching and noise removal, is also used. In this class we will explore each of the workhorse processor categories above, and in homework and laboratory exercises you will build examples of each. We will also explore delay and distortion, and touch on some of the specialized processors; you may wish to choose one to study as your project.
