Syllabus: Sound Design for Theater

Black Box Theater, Tuesday and Thursday 10:3011:50 a.m.

Ron Silver, rsilver@ncf.edu. Email me to schedule a meeting after a class.
Expectations for Satisfactory Evaluation:
Regular attendance and participation in class discussions are expected.
We will discuss each reading (particularly the chapters of Trevor Coxs The
Sound Book on the dates they are assigned, so please read them before class.
Similarly, watch the assigned YouTube video Four American Composers: John
Cage before the Feb. 23 class.
Each student will have five short assignments and participate in a group Final
Project.
Goals: Students completing this class will have an understanding of the concepts behind
sound in both the physical and electronic realms and will be able to formulate and
execute sound design in the Black Box Theater.
Supplementary reading: Master Handbook of Acoustics by Everest and Pohlmann is on
reserve in the library. It has many excellent passages on acoustics, the ear, perception,
and other technical aspects of sound. I urge all students to explore it.
Mini-class: ASSIGNMENT 1, due at first class, Feb. 7: Make a list of five sounds you
enjoy. Some but not all can be musical/music. Some should be human-caused and some
should not be human-caused.

Week 1
Tuesday, Feb. 7TOPICS: Outline of the course, expectations. Sexism in the world
of sound work. Perception of sound. Discussion of Assignment 1. Basic concepts of
sound.
ASSIGNMENT 2, due Feb. 9: Listening experiment. Choose five places on campus
(some inside, some outdoors) and spend at least 10 minutes in each one, listening.
Dont speak or make noise unless you have to. Write a short (1/21 page) response
paper about what you heard and your perceptions. Did they change over the time you
listened?
Thursday, Feb. 9TOPICS: Basic physics of sound. Acoustics. The ear and the
brain in sound reception. Discussion of Assignment 2.
Week 2
Tuesday, Feb. 14READING: Cox, Prologue.
TOPICS: How sound is produced and transmitted. Binaural perception.
ASSIGNMENT 3, due Feb. 21: In pairs or small groups, go to five places on campus
(suggestion for one: ACE interior stairway); see how simple sounds (hand clap) and
complex sounds (speech) are perceived when people are at various distances apart
and in various configurations (near walls, away from walls, etc.); Each person
should write a short (12 page) response paper about your experiences.
Thursday, Feb. 16READING: Cox, Chapter 1.
TOPICS: Time and frequency domains. Waveforms, frequency response, impulse
response. The decibel.
Week 3
Tuesday, Feb. 21TOPICS: Discussion of Assignment 3. How physical space
impacts sound transmission and reception.
Thursday, Feb. 23WATCHING: YouTube video of Four American Composers:
John Cage: https://youtu.be/sDS6zrUuGBI
TOPICS: Recorded vs. live sound.
Week 4
Tuesday, Feb. 28READING: Cox, Chapter 2.
TOPICS: The physical and electrical domains, and going between them.
Transducers. Taking care of equipment. Cable wrapping exercise.
Thursday, March 2 READING: Cox, Chapter 3.
TOPICS: Basic electronic theory. Balanced and unbalanced cables. The concept of
dynamic range. Noise.
Week 5
Tuesday, March 7READING: Cox, Chapter 4.
TOPICS: Manipulating sound once its in the electronic realm. Mixing.
Thursday, March 9READING: Mackie1202VLZmanual.pdf (in Canvas).
TOPICS: Mixing, continued. Recording and playback.
ASSIGNMENT 4 due March 14: Record five sounds.
Week 6
Tuesday, March 14READING: Cox, Chapter 5.
TOPICS: Playback of the recorded sounds from Assignment 4, and discussion.
Thursday, March 16TOPICS: Equalization and filters. Compression. Creating
artificial ambience using reverberation and delay.
Week 7
Tuesday, March 21TOPICS: Ambience, reverb, and delay, continued.
ASSIGNMENT 5, due April 4: Record two sounds and use processing to change
their characteristics.
Thursday, March 23READING: Cox, Chapter 6.
TOPICS: Mixing in the Black Box Theater.

Spring Break
Week 8
Tuesday, April 4READING: Black Box Theater Audio System v2.pdf (in
Canvas).
TOPICS: Playback of the manipulated sounds from Assignment 5, and discussion.
Mixing in the BBT, continued.
Thursday, April 6READING: m7cl_v3_quick_guide_part1_en.pdf (in Canvas)
pages 811, 13, 1718.
TOPICS: Mixing in the BBT, continued. Spatial sound placement.
Week 9
Tuesday, April 11READING: m7cl_v3_quick_guide_part2_en.pdf (in Canvas)
pages 35, 1415. Cox, Chapter 7.
TOPICS: Mixing in the BBT, continued.
Thursday, April 13TOPICS: Working in the theater. Working with a director and
stage manager. Thinking holistically about the project, working as a team. Cues and
cue-sheets. Using non-electronic sounds.
Week 10
Tuesday, April 18READING: Cox, Chapters 8 and 9.
TOPICS: Discussion of Final Projects (performances on May 9 and May 16, May 4
if necessary). Brief talk about concert sound.
Thursday, April 20Meet in SainerTOPICS: Concert sound (NMNC
rehearsal).
Week 11
Tuesday, April 25TOPICS: Using microphones to enhance dialogue. Creating
and playing back sound effects. Using the SCS app in the BBT computer.
Thursday, April 27TOPICS: Using recorded or amplified music. Final Project
updates, Q and A.
Week 12
Tuesday, May 2TOPICS: Final Project preparation, Q&A. The concept of
troubleshooting. Murphys Law and K.I.S.S.
Thursday, May 4TOPICS: Final Project preparation, Q&A.
Week 13
Tuesday, May 9Final Project performances.
NO CLASS Thursday, MAY 11
Week 14
Tuesday, May 16Final Project performances, class evaluation.