THIS CLASS IS FULL AND NO LONGER ACCEPTING STUDENTS FOR ENROLLMENT NOR AUDIT. THANK YOU FOR YOUR INTEREST! UNFORTUNATELY IT WILL NOT BE TAUGHT NEXT SEMESTER AS I AM GRADUATING. IF YOU ARE INTERESTED IN PRIVATE TRAINING PLEASE EMAIL ME.

Ableton 101 DeCal Syllabus
Music 198
Date/Time: Tuesdays 3pm - 5pm
Units: 2

Course Syllabus Spring 2017

Instructor information
Andrew Rahman
AndrewRahman@berkeley.edu

Office Hours: I will be available, upon request, for one hour before class to answer questions
Classroom:
CNMAT - The Center for New Music and Audio Technologies
1750 Arch st.
Berkeley, CA

Course Description

This course is about music production. Specifically, it is about creating music with the Digital Audio Workstation (DAW) Ableton. In lecture we will we will explore music with a production frame of mind and will approach each topic with explicit expectations of artistic and musical applications. By the end of this course you will be able to make a song from start to finish using Ableton.

Goals: Gain proficiency in the Ableton music production environment. Learn basic concepts and techniques of computer-based music, composition, and performance. Included will be the exposure to the essentials of digital audio, workflow, musical acoustics and psychoacoustics, audio engineering, sound analysis, and synthesis.

Materials

We will be using the Ableton Suite Edition exclusively in the course and it is required for homework and in-class assignments. If you do not own it currently you can purchase it with an educational discount using your berkeley.edu email here. A free 30-day trial of Ableton is available here, however this will not last the entire duration of the course, but will provide you a grace period to get the full version. See your instructor for more information if you have questions.

Required:
A personal laptop
Ableton Suite software - I am unable to provide support for installation of Ableton.
Your own set of headphones

Schedule

We will meet for two hours once weekly on Tuesday evening from 3pm - 5pm for a total of 26 hours of lecture.
Weekly schedule is subject to change, please watch bCourses for important announcements.

Date Topic
January
17 Introduction, course overview, course survey
24 Welcome to Ableton
31 Session view
February
07 Working with audio & MIDI
14 Effects and automation
21 Warping and sampling
28 Arrangement view
March
07 Effects and automation cont.
14 Midterm project due
21 Workflow
28 NO CLASS – spring break
April
04 Song structure
11 Individual meetings to discuss Final Projects
18 Basics of mixing
25 Final Project Proposals Due
May
02 NO CLASS – dead week, I will be available for office hours upon request*
09 Final Projects Due

*I will announce my availability for the reading week as time draws nearer.

Policies

Grading
Graded assignments have the following weight:

Graded Work %-Value
Final Project 40%
Midterm Project 25%
Attendance 35%

Grade Distribution
Pass (P) 100% — 70%
No Pass (NP) 69% — 0%

PASS (P) will be awarded to those students whose projects demonstrate a clear understanding of Ableton and that utilize the materials explored in class. Bonus points for creativity in songwriting and use of Ableton’s features.

NO PASS (NP) will be awarded to those students whose projects demonstrate a rudimentary understanding of Ableton and the materials explored in the class but do not meet with me during office hours, who do not turn in their final project on time, or are absent more than 3 days of class.
Midterm Project

The midterm project will consist of a short vignette utilizing the information that we have learned up to that point in the course. Your vignette should be a maximum length of one minute 30 seconds (1:30). This will be turned in as an Ableton project file via bCourses or Splice.

Final Project

Your final project will be an original song you have created using Ableton during the class, not prior.
Your song:
Will be turned in via a SoundCloud link.
Must be at least 3 minutes and 30 seconds (3:30).
Should demonstrate an understanding of all of the content that we have learned in class.

Important Dates

Deadline to drop without a fee: January 27th
Deadline to add without a fee: February 3rd
Deadline to add without Dean's approval: February 17th
Deadline to drop without notation on transcript: February 17th
Deadline to change grading option: March 24th (Dean's exception required after this date)

April 18th is scheduled for individual meetings for everyone to discuss their final projects - I will start scheduling these as early as possible. Please notify me of any conflicts on that day.

Attendance

Attendance is required and a large portion of your grade, please show up to every class.
Missing more than 3 classes unexcused will result in a NO PASS for the course.
If you need to take a day off, please contact me as soon as you know so I can accommodate.

Late Work

If you are missing class due to a university function, please inform me as soon as possible and provide the paperwork as early as you can so as to expedite our scheduling of individual appointments and make-up work.

My policy expects regular attendance:

final projects replace the final exam and therefore may not be late (failure to deliver the work by the scheduled final exam date will result in a zero grade for the final, which will most certainly result in a failing grade for the course).

Academic Integrity

Copying all or part of another person's work, or using reference material not specifically allowed, are forms of cheating and will not be tolerated.

Specifically:

Any work submitted should be your own individual thoughts, and should not have been submitted for credit in another course unless you have prior written permission to re-use it in this course from this instructor.
Do not collaborate or work with other students on assignments or projects unless you have been given permission or instruction to do so.
If you are unclear about expectations please ask me for clarification.

Accommodation

If you have been issued a letter of accommodation from the Disabled Students Program (DSP), please see me as soon as possible to work out the necessary arrangements. If you need an accommodation and have not yet seen a Disability Specialist at the DSP, please do so as soon as possible.

If you would need any assistance in the event of an emergency evacuation of the building, the DSP recommends that you make a plan for this in advance. (Contact the DSP access specialist at 510-643-6456.)

Discussion

I welcome all pertinent discussion and are counting on your participation in the course. We ask that your rhetoric deals with statements and ideas rather than with speakers and persons. Verbal attacks towards your peers will not be tolerated.