CCRMA is a part of the Department of Music at Stanford University. Classes and seminars taught at the center are open to registered Stanford students and visiting scholars. The facility is also available to registered Stanford students and visiting scholars for research projects which coincide with ongoing work at the center.
Prospective graduate students especially interested in the work at CCRMA should apply to the degree program at Stanford most closely aligned with their specific field of study, e.g., Music, Electrical Engineering, Computer Science, Psychology, etc. Graduate degree programs offered in music include the MA/MST in Music, Science, and Technology, the DMA in Composition, and the PhD in Computer-Based Music Theory and Acoustics. Acceptance in music theory or composition is largely based upon musical criteria, not knowledge of computing. Admission requirements for degree programs can be obtained directly from each particular department. CCRMA does not itself offer a degree.
The Music Department offers both an undergraduate major and minor in Music, Science, and Technology (MST). The MST specialization is designed for those students with a strong interest in the musical ramifications of rapidly evolving computer technology and digital audio and in the acoustic and psychoacoustic foundations of music. The program entails a substantial research project under faculty guidance and makes use of the highly multi-disciplinary environment at CCRMA. This program can serve as a complementary major to students in the sciences and engineering. Requirements for the undergraduate programs are available from the Stanford Music Department.
For complete information on the following classes, please see the Stanford Bulletin for the current academic year. Most courses at CCRMA also have their own websites (see http://ccrma.stanford.edu/courses/).
Courses offered at CCRMA include:
An exploration of representations of complexity in sound and auditory display applied to representation of data sets. Term project involving developing tools for sonification and/or applying these tools to a representation problem.
Introduction to experimental music composition using computer software
(Pro Tools). For music majors or non-majors, novice or experienced
composers alike; geared toward computer music beginners. Topics
include: compositional techniques; sound editing; basic signal
processing; stereo and multi-channel diffusion; electronic music
performance practice; historical overview of related electronic music;
discussion of the meaning of sound, the aesthetic and legal
ramifications of plunderphonics, and metaphor in electronic
music. Students complete regular weekly composition etudes and larger
projects, and present them in concert. See web site:
http://ccrma.stanford.edu/courses/120z-fall-2003/.
Elementary physics of vibrating systems, waves, and wave motion. Time-
and frequency-domain analysis of sound. Room acoustics, reverberation,
and tuning systems. Acoustics of musical instruments - voice, strings,
winds, and percussion. Emphasis on practical aspects of acoustics in
music making. Hands-on and computer-based laboratory excercises. See
web site:
http://ccrma.stanford.edu/courses/150/.
An introduction to music perception and cognition. Topics include psychoacoustics, auditory scene analysis, Gestalt groupings, perceptuially based theories of melody, tonality, meter, timbre, and musical expectations. See web site: http://ccrma.stanford.edu/courses/151/.
Aesthetics, composition, analysis, and performance practice of works combining instrumental and/or vocal performance with prerecorded and/or live electronics. Historical overview of the genre and discussion of digital implementations of analog techniques and processes. Emphasis on close study of pioneering works. See web site: http://ccrma.stanford.edu/courses/154/.
Topics: elementary electronics, physics of transduction and magnetic recording of sound, acoustic measurement techniques, operation and maintenance of recording equipment, recording engineering principles, microphone selection and placement, grounding and shielding techniques. See web site: http://ccrma.stanford.edu/courses/192a/.
Topics: digital audio including current media, formats, editing software, post-processing techniques, noise reduction systems, advanced multi-track techniques, dynamic range processing and delay-based effects. See web site: http://ccrma.stanford.edu/courses/192b/.
Independent engineering of recording sessions.
Techniques for digital sound synthesis, effects, and reverberation. Topics: summary of digital synthesis techniques (additive, subtractive, nonlinear, modulation, wavetable, granular, spectral-modeling, and physical-modeling); digital effects algorithms (phasing, flanging, chorus, pitch-shifting, and vocoding); and techniques for digital reverberation. See web site: http://ccrma.stanford.edu/courses/220a/.
Use of high-level programming as a compositional aid in creating musical structures. Studies in the physical correlates to auditory perception, and review of psychoacoustic literature. Simulation of a reverberant space and control of the position of sound within the space. See web site: http://ccrma.stanford.edu/courses/220b/.
Individual projects in composition, psychoacoustics, or signal processing. See web site: http://ccrma.stanford.edu/courses/220c/.
Independent research projects in composition, psychoacoustics, or signal processing.
Human-computer interface (HCI) issues as they relate to music
applications in composition and performance. Project-oriented,
examining issues from the technical and theoretical perspectives of
computer science, haptics, and music theory. See web site:
http://ccrma.stanford.edu/courses/250a/.
Continuation of 250A, concentrating on interactive computer-music performance systems. See web site: http://ccrma.stanford.edu/courses/250b/.
Explores the diverse kinds of the musical information used in sound, graphical, and analytical applications. Device-independent concepts and principles in music representation and musical research objectives (repertory analysis, performance analysis, theoretical models, similarity and stylistic simultaion) will be emphasized. Examples will be drawn primarily from Western art music.
This seminar takes traditional areas of musical analysis (melody, rhythm, harmony) and puts them to use in a variety of application areas. The most popular areas of research in recent years have been melodic simiilarity, methods of music query (information retrieval), and style simulation. Some attention is also given to interchange standards and copyright issues in the use of musical data. The Humdrum Toolkit is used in the lab.
An introduction to timbre analysis methods with emphasis on analysis
of formant characteristics of musical instruments and application to
orchestration. See web site:
http://ccrma.stanford.edu/courses/255/.
CCRMA at times hosts a Hearing Seminar. All areas related to perception are discussed, but the group emphasizes topics that help us understand how the auditory system works. Speakers are drawn from the group and visitors to the Stanford area. Most attendees are graduate students, faculty, or local researchers interested in psychology, music, engineering, neurophysiology, and linguistics. To sign up for the seminar mailing list, send an e-mail request to hearing-seminar-request@ccrma.stanford.edu. Include the word subscribe in the body of that message.
A first course in digital signal processing for music and audio
research. Topics: complex numbers, sinusoids, spectrum representation,
sampling and aliasing, digital filters, frequency response,
z-transforms, transfer-function analysis, and associated Matlab
software. See web site:
http://ccrma.stanford.edu/courses/320/.
Music 420 is about computational acoustic modeling for digital audio
effects, sound synthesis, and signal processing for physical modeling
in general. Topics addressed include sampled traveling waves;
acoustic simulation using delay lines, digital filters, and nonlinear
elements; comb filters, allpass filters,
and artificial reverberation;
delay-line interpolation and sampling-rate conversion; phasing,
flanging, and chorus effects; computational models of selected musical
instruments; virtual analog modeling; and efficient finite difference
schemes. Musical instruments considered include plucked, struck
(piano), and bowed strings; woodwinds (primarily the clarinet); flute
and organ pipes; and brasses. See web site:
http://ccrma.stanford.edu/courses/420/.
Prerequisites: Music 320 or equivalent; Physics 21 (mechanics), or
equivalent experience with Newton's law of motion, ``
''.
Music 421 covers applications of the Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) arising in digital audio research. The main topics addressed are practical time-frequency analysis using the FFT, sound synthesis by means of spectral models, and FFT-based signal processing. The subject of perfect reconstruction filter banks is introduced and related to Short-Time Fourier Transforms (STFT). See web site: http://ccrma.stanford.edu/courses/421/. Prerequisite: Music 420 or permission of the instructor.
The need for significant reduction in data rate for wide-band digital audio signal transmission and storage has led to the development of psychoacoustics-based data compression techniques. In this approach, the limitations of human hearing are exploited to remove inaudible components of audio signals. The degree of bit rate reduction achievable without sacrificing perceived quality using these methods greatly exceeds that possible using lossless techniques alone. Perceptual audio coders are currently used in many applications including Digital Radio and Television, Digital Sound on Film, and Multimedia/Internet Audio. In this course, the basic principles of perceptual audio coding will be reviewed. Current and future applications (e.g. AC-3, MPEG) will be presented. In-class demonstrations will allow students to hear the quality of state-of-the-art implementations at varying data rates and they will be required to program their own simple perceptual audio coder during the course. See web site: http://ccrma.stanford.edu/courses/422/.
Ongoing seminar for graduate students pursuing research in DSP applied to music or audio. See web site: http://ccrma.stanford.edu/courses/423/.
Techniques for dynamic range compression, reverberation, equalization and filtering, panning and spatialization, digital emulation of analog processors, and implementation of time-varying effects. Single-band and multiband compressors, limiters, noise gates, de-essers, convolutional reverberators, parametric and linear-phase equalizers, wah-wah and envelope-following filters, and the Leslie. Students develop effects algorithms of their own design in labs. Prerequisites: digital signal processing, sampling theorem, digital filtering, and the Fourier transform at the level of MUSIC 320 or EE 261; Matlab and modest C programming experience. See web site: http://ccrma.stanford.edu/courses/424/.
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