Music Lab Home
Copyright © James Boyk 1991-2003
Fall Term, 2003 - the 25th year of this course at California Institute
of Technology
"Projects in Music & Science," EE/CS 107a, EE/CS/Mu 17a
Information for Students, Partial List of Requirements (Subject to Changes and Additions)
Last Modified: September, 2003. Sections
modified are marked by *.
Note 1: You can enroll in this course in two different ways, as shown
above. It is the student's responsibility to be sure that the course
satisfies needed requirements; to enroll in the correct course; to enroll appropriately
for letter grade or P/F. If you have questions, consult the Registrar and/or
the relevant Division at the beginning of the course. Do not leave it to be
sorted out later.
Note 2: Read everything here before the second meeting.
Subject of this term: Analytic listening to live and reproduced music.
Theme: Comparisons focus perception.
Thus, students will compare the sound of the Pasadena Symphony as heard from
on-stage to the sound as heard from the hall; the sound of the SAC Rm 1 piano
live to the same piano recorded; the image and "stereo stage" of an orchestral
recording made with "single-point" miking to a parallel recording which was
"multi-miked"; and so on.
Because it's difficult to talk about these matters without some understanding of music and performance, basic instruction in these subjects is provided. Also included is information about the basics of the piano; about microphones and stereo; concert-hall acoustics, and other topics.
Discussions of various technologies will be held as needed; e.g., on the tonal qualities of various makes of piano (Yamaha vs. Steinway vs. Boesendorfer); the relative virtues of various kinds of microphones; tubes vs. transistors; analog vs. digital recording; and so on. The focus, however, will always be on having students listen to and evaluate as much live and reproduced musical sound as possible.
The instructor is known internationally as a concert artist and recording engineer/producer, audio consultant, researcher, writer and teacher of this course and of music performance.
Mottos of the Music Lab:
1. Perception Precedes Analysis; Analysis Informs Perception.
2. When you can reliably tell two things apart, then you get to have an opinion on which is better.
Class meeting times and locations: Weds., Fris., 11:00 a.m. - 12:15 p.m. in the Music Lab, Winnett Center basement, rooms 2C and 2D (access via outdoor stairways on west side of building). Attendance is required in class and on field trip(s).
Auditing: Requires written permission of instructor. Due to severe limitation on facilities, permission will generally not be given.
Instructor: James Boyk. I am available before or after class, or whenever I'm on campus; by email; and by phone to x. 4590 (lab); home phone 310/475-8261 (OK to call Sun. through Fri., Noon - 5 p.m., or any time in an emergency).
Teaching Assistant: Joshua
Adams '04. TA's sessions meet twice weekly at mutual convenience of TA
and students.
Two-sentence listening reports. Eight
are due in the term. The first one is due at the 2nd meeting, and four must
be submitted by the 8th meeting. Each week, listen to 60 minutes of live,
unamplified music. Write two sentences saying whom you heard, playing
what pieces, on what instruments, in what place; and making one or more observations
about the sound as it reached your ears. (We'll discuss this in class.)
- The music must be purely acoustic.
- You must not be the performer.
- Two reports must be based on complete concerts. It's your responsibility
to find these. I will announce ones I know of.
- Two must be based on any of my Wed. afternoon "Alive
with Music!" sessions in SAC Rm 1. (4:30 to 6:00 PM every Wed. starting
the day of the 1st meeting, but occasionally ‘bumped.') If you have an activity
which conflicts with this, see me.
- Reports will be returned with a note saying either "OK #1" (for instance)
or "Rewrite." Rewrites are due at the next class meeting & must be stapled
to the original report with has my comments on it. Keep all returned reports
and other course materials.
- Two reports can count as three! You can write a double report (four
sentences) about a concert and one of its rehearsals (e.g., Pasadena Symphony
rehearsal and concert; see under "Field Trips," below); or about the same
performance heard in two different halls (e.g., Caltech-Oxy Orchestra in Ramo
Auditorium at Caltech and in Thorne Hall at Oxy), or about two performances
of the same concert in the same hall. Any such pair counts for three. This
is to encourage you to make listening comparisons, because comparisons
focus perception.
Class Meetings
(References to "early birds" mean material provided for those who arrive
before class begins. The same material is repeated in class, and is also available
to students during the TA's two sessions each week.)
- *1st meeting - Wed., Oct.
1:
- Audio gear and sound reproduction are not our subjects; they are tools
to help focus our attention on live musical sound and the role it plays
in music's meaning.
- Ask about the students? Majors? Years? Instruments played?
- Description of two-sentence listening reports. (See above.)
- Scheduling of TA's sessions and other organizational matters.
- Assignment: Two-minute recording. Using one of our two MiniDisc
recorders and stereo microphones, make a 2-minute recording of anything
you wish, the recording to be heard and judged by the class as a whole,
with prizes awarded for the best. Blank disks will be supplied. Read the
equipment manuals. Replace batteries when needed; bring the receipt for
reimbursement. If you do not want "automatic gain control" (AGC),
you must turn it off every time you go into "Record." Protect recording
from accidental erasure using the record-protect tab. For assistance,
contact instructor or TA.
- Assignment: Submit five readings of sound levels. Using a Radio
Shack sound level meter (we have three), measure five different sounds,
each one on both "A" and "C" scales (total of 10 readings). Turn
in a list identifying the sounds and their levels and saying when and
where you measured them, and whether you used Slow or Fast meter response.
That is, the top line of your chart might read: Sound / Where / When /
dBA / dBC / Slow or Fast? (If you're interested in acquiring one of these
meters for yourself, it's the
"Analog-Display Sound-Level Meter", Cat.#: 33-2050, list price $39.99.
I strongly recommend that you not get the digital version.)
- *2nd meeting - Fri., Oct.
3:
- First two-sentence listening report due. Discuss.
- Ear-training & singing: Use HP spectrum analyzer for skills of matching
pitches & singing harmonics.
- Introduce Stereo miking demo recording.
- Field Trip this coming Thursday evening to Pasadena Symphony rehearsal.
Listening report for next Wed. must be on this rehearsal. You can get
credit for 3 reports by also attending the concert and writing up rehearsal
and concert together; in this case, you may use four sentences.
- Administrative:
- Make sure roster is complete and that everyone received emails from
Joshua & Boyk.
- Assignment: dB Quiz. Due at 3rd meeting. Read the explanation
of decibels and turn in the answers to the questions. Also submit
an additional question and its answer. Prize for most
amusing but still legitimate one.
- Assignment: Singing pitches and harmonics.
- Sing the pitch of a note you hear that is in your range.
- Sing a note of your choice, and its 2nd and 3rd harmonics.
- Pass this test or ask JB for help by the 4th class.
- *3rd meeting - Wed. Oct.
8. Workshop on a simple but powerful editing technique that lets you be confident
you're improving anything you've written. In preparation, work through the
writeup. Use
this technique on everything you submit from now on, and submit everything
in the "7 words per line" format. Submissions not in this format will not
be accepted.
- 7:00 p.m., Thursday, October 9, 7:05 p.m.:
Field trip to Pasadena Symphony rehearsal. (Details near bottom of this page.)
- *4th meeting - Fri. Oct.
10. (Music Lab & SAC Rm 1):
- Two reports can get you credit for 3. See description of "Two-Sentence
Listening Reports", near bottom.
- Quiz on decibels due.
- Topics in class:
- "Tell me about it" (Last night's visit to orchestra rehearsal.)
- Students read aloud their "additional questions" for dB quiz, then
turn in quizzes.
- Move to SAC Rm 1.
- Introduce harmonics on the piano.
- Introduction to Keyboard Skills. (Find middle C on keyboard. Given
a note, play the note 1/2-step higher or lower. Given a note, play
the note 1 step higher or lower.)
- Discussion of listening reports submitted so far.
- Assignment: In preparation for the next meeting study writeup
of a deceptively simple-looking technique for improving your writing.
- Assignment: For the 5th class, be able to play the major scale
on any given note, naming the notes correctly. (See explanation.)
- Make an appointment with me if you need help!
- *5th meeting - Wed., Oct.
15 (Music Lab & SAC Rm 1):
- 3rd listening report due.
- Topics in class-
- Early birds: What aspects of musical performance are
the most important carriers of emotion?
- At concert piano in SAC Rm 1:
- Free-hand graphing of 3rd and 5th harmonics heard within single
piano notes.
- Spatial "image" of piano in three dimensions.
- Quiz preparation:
- The piano itself (length of concert-grand; names of important
parts; numbers of strings per note; mechanical action of pedals
and sonic effect of each; frequency range of fundamentals).
- Playing the piano ("escapement" action; number of variables
in control of performer).
- Listening to the piano (duration of bass note, parts of
a single note and character of each part; complex nature of
each single note, and how we showed this experimentally; mutual
relation of elements of each tone; which element is perceived
as the pitch?; what aspects of music performance are the most
important carriers of emotion?; what is the spatial "image"
of a grand piano?).
- Recording the piano (What is the fundamental reason for
preserving the "image"? If a pianist makes a recording in
a "dry" [non-reverberant] studio, what is wrong, musically,
with the producer's adding reverberation after the fact?)
- 6th meeting - Friday, Oct. 17:
- Topics in class:
- Early birds: Hear cardioids
- Handout: Booklet of stereo miking demo CD.
- We will go over the skills you must pass by the 8th meeting.
- 7th meeting - Wed., Oct. 22:
- 4th listening report due.
- By this meeting, you must have taken (not necessarily passed) the test
showing that, on musical material of your own choice, you can tell when
the volume is changed by 10 ± 2 dB. The phrase "± 2 dB" means that anything
between 8 and 12 dB counts as correct. Passing grade is 5/5.
- Topics in class-
- Early birds: Play Piano recordings with good vs. bad
image. (Two direct-disk Lp's.)
- Instructor moves around class while covering routine administrative
matters. Then point out that students have been turning their heads
to follow instructor's location. Why is it important to locate a sound
source? And therefore, why is it important to preserve the "image"
in recording?
- Listen to two piano recordings and compare the imaging of each to
the other and to your memory of live piano.
- A pianist makes a recording in a very "dry" (non-reverberant) studio.
The producer adds reverberation to the tape to give a more "live"
sound. What is wrong with this, musically speaking? The feedback
loop of performer, instrument, room and audience.
- Introduction to microphones. Let's design a mike! How can we change
acoustic energy to electrical energy?
- 8th meeting - Fri., Oct. 24:
- Before this meeting, the 10 dB listening test must have been
passed, and also the following:
- Keyboard Skills
- Find middle C on keyboard.
- Given a keyboard note, play the note ½-step higher or lower.
- Given a keyboard note, play the note 1 step higher or lower.
- Given any note on the keyboard, play its major scale naming
the notes correctly. (Explanation.)
- Singing Skills I
- Hear the note I sing and sing the same note.
- Sing an octave higher, an octave lower.
- Sing up or down a half-step, up or down a whole step.
- Given a note, sing its 1st, 2nd and 3rd harmonics. We will use
the spectrum analyzer to help with this.
- Topics in class--
- Early birds: Play "Art of Fuguing" albums to compare
multi-mike & single-mike orchestra recording.
- More about microphones. (Continuation from previous class.) In sum,
there are many different ways to make a mike, and different mikes
are not equivalent. Anecdote about Kodo drums destroying diaphragms.
- Characterize mikes two ways: by transduction method and by "polar
pattern." Transduction method: Dynamic, Condenser. Ribbon is subset
of Dynamic.
- Pattern: Convention is that we're looking down on the horizontal
plane. Pattern is shown as polar plot. Possible patterns form a continuum
from omni (r = k) at one end to figure-8 (r = k cos theta) at the
other, with cardioid in the middle (cardioid = omni + fig.-8 = k [1
+ cos theta]).
- Three-dimensional patterns: What is the 3D shape of an omni pattern?
Cardioid? What pattern has a plane of null?
- Basics of stereo.
- "Single-miked" vs. "Multi-miked."
- Compare two direct-disk piano Lp's, one multi-miked, the other single-point
miked.
- 9th meeting - Wed., Oct. 29:
- 5th listening report due. Minimum of 4 reports must be submitted by
today.
- Piano
quiz due. (Note: The material for the last two questions of quiz will
be covered in class starting at the 7th meeting.)
- Topics in class:
- Early birds: Hear Sheffield Lab "Confederation" Lp,
note transparency and resolution of sound, convincing quality of image
and "stereo stage" of this direct-disk Lp.
- Play two students' two-minute recordings.
- Microphones: Define self-noise. A mike shadows itself more
and more with respect to sound from behind as the frequency gets (higher,
lower)? What's the advantage of a null plane for recording in small
rooms? Microphones with large diaphragms suffer from off-axis anomalies.
Why? Will the anomalies be worse at low frequencies or high? What
about ribbon mikes from this point of view?
- Stereo: A spaced microphone array may have problems with what two
aspects of the sound apart from the image? Tell funny anecdote about
"coincident omni's."
- Fri., Oct 31: No meeting, "Midterm
vacation" (Details in class.)
- 10th meeting - Wed., Nov. 5:
- Before this meeting, Listening Skill I must have been
passed:
- Stereo Miking: Using the stereo miking demo CD (produced in this
course), tell "coincident cardioids" from "Blumlein miking" from "spaced
omnis" when these are among a total of five mikings presented. (Two
of the mikings will be none of these.) The CD may be borrowed from
Millikan or heard in the music lab.
- 6th listening report due. Note: Your first listening report after
you attend the Pasadena Symphony rehearsal must be on the rehearsal. To
get three reports' credit for two reports, see below.
- Quiz handed out. 90-minute take-home closed-book quiz on the booklet
of "The Performance Recordings Demonstration of Stereo Miking Technique"
(Performance Recordings pr6cd) and related topics covered in class.
Due at beginning of 12th meeting.
- Topics in class:
- Play two students' two-minute MD recordings
- Microphones: Review self-noise; advantage of null plane for recording
in small rooms, and which pattern has null plane; why mikes with large
diaphragms suffer from off-axis anomalies, and one advantage of ribbons
from this point of view.
- Stereo: What are the requirements for a stereo miking? Amplitude
stereo. Cos^2 is well-approximated by Cos
for small angles. X-Y vs. M-S mikings. What weakness of cardioids
at 90° causes people to try them at another angle? What imaging
weakness in spaced omni's causes people to try putting a third omni
in the middle?
- 11th meeting - Fri., Nov. 7:
- Topics in class:
- Early birds: Listen to comparison recording multi-mike
vs. single-mike
- Listening reports should from this point be more explicit about
what you're hearing.
- Play a couple of students' two-minute recordings. Comments from
class.
- Student comments on visit to Pasadena Symphony rehearsal: character
of the on-stage sound; how it changed when students moved off-stage
to various places in the hall (front of floor, floor under balcony,
balcony). Did students notice the variety of timbre and texture in
the live sound? Comments on how these are degraded in all reproduced
sound.
- The process of music performance: Is the conductor needed? What
is the character of the communication betweeen conductor and orchestra?
How can conductor ask for playing that's more "transparent" or "more
chocolatey" and get what he wants?
- Based on the assigned New Yorker magazine article, what physical
characteristics would students look for in the Civic Auditorium to
explain its acoustical properties, and what suggestions would students
make for improvements?
- 12th meeting - Wed., Nov. 12:
- 7th listening report due.
- Quiz due.
- New quiz handed out. 90-minute take-home closed-book quiz on "Annals
of Architecture: A Better Sound," by Bruce Bliven, Jr., The New Yorker
magazine, Nov. 8, 1976. Due beginning of 14th meeting.
- Topics in class
- Play two students' two-minute recordings.
- Regarding New Yorker article: Define Reverberation time.
Decay curve is a graph of what versus time? How does this time-curve
relate to something happening in space? What were the sonic faults
of the old hall in the article? What were additional faults from musicians'
point of view? Would the acoustician in the article prefer a single
deep balcony or two shallow balconies? Multiple balconies vertically
spaced wide apart or close together?
- In our thought-experiment of improving our local auditorium, identify
the various acoustical solutions that might be useful, and suggest
how each might be implemented.
- 13th meeting - Fri., Nov. 14:
- Field trip to The Mastering Lab with Doug Sax. 10:00a.m.-12:00p.m.
- 14th meeting - Wed., Nov. 19:
- 8th and last listening report due.
- Quiz due.
- Sound-level measurements due. (See 3rd meeting, above.)
- Topics in class:
- Hear student recordings.
- Project ideas/plans for next term?
- Fri., Nov. 22: No class meeting:
Thanksgiving.
- 15th meeting - Wed., Nov. 26:
- Listening report due if eight have not been submitted.
- Topics in class:
- Hear student recordings
- How evaluate audio gear? (See the
writeups of these topics under headings #2 and #3 at the linked
page. See also my article "Rules
of the Game."
- By listening? How listen? Explain "direct feed," "double-blind."
Why one at a time?
- By measuring? How establish that a measurement is legit? (Show
BBC double-comb-filter graphs) By showing correlation with perception.
In the Music Lab, Mr. Yasuhisa Toyota tells the
class about his design for the Disney Hall in Los Angeles.
- 16th meeting - Wed. Dec. 3:
- Eight listening reports submitted and OK'd.
- Listening Skill II
- On music of your choice, tell when the volume changes by 3 dB (±
1 dB). (Some people find this easier than the 10 dB test.)
- Listening Skills III
- Absolute volume levels: Identify three levels within 5 dBA.
- Identify as "single-mike" or "multi-mike" an excerpt from the Lp's
of "The Art of Fuguing."
- Topics in class:
- Listening test methodology, Validation of measurements against listening.
(Continued from 15th meeting.)
- Listen to two-minute recordings.
- Fill out Division feedback forms.
- 17th (& Final) meeting - Fri. Dec.
5:
- Topics in class:
- Finish listening to two-minute recordings. Award prizes to three
chosen by class vote.
- Discussion: Looking back on this term.
Writing assignments are given an
upper limit of length to encourage writing which is succinct, and therefore
good. After the 4th meeting, all assignments must be submitted with line
length between 40 and 45 characters. (Using a non-proportional font is helpful.)
Passing-scores on perceptual tests
are set so that, when you look back on the course in future days, you will
be convinced that you did acquire the perceptual skill in question.
Group project
Starting from a recording of good audio quality, listen to and describe
the degradations arising from the processing in a FM broadcast signal chain;
e.g., "dynamic compression" and "limiting." What negative effects are created
by each? Write a group paper on this. (If we cannot borrow the equipment
for this, we'll do a different project.)
The class was disposed in various places about the stage at the Pasadena
Symphony rehearsal. Also see picture at top.
Field Trips
- Pasadena Symphony Rehearsal. Meet at 7:05 p.m. sharp,
Pasadena Civic Auditorium, 300 East Green St; "artist entrance" on east
side of building. There's parking on the street; at meters in the mall
on other side of Green Street (that is, between Green and Colorado); or
in the structure under the auditorium for a charge (last year $7). To
find the latter, turn south on Euclid from Green. (Remember that Green
is one-way eastbound, so you have to approach from Marengo, the next street
west of Euclid. Turn off Euclid into the driveway with the Sheraton sign,
then take a right into the lot. Students pay their own parking costs;
if this is a problem, do not hesitate to see me privately or email to
me. Confidentiality guaranteed. Once inside the Auditorium, remember to
sign the attendance sheet; to be silent during rehearsal; to listen!;
to be careful jumping down from stage (note protruding rail a foot below
edge of stage); and to sit in two different places in the hall, at least
one of them not under the balcony. We will stay until the break in the
rehearsal ('til about 9 p.m., that is) and will chat during the break,
after which we're done (but you may stay if you wish).
- Royer Labs, makers of ribbon microphones: Not definite yet.
- The Mastering Lab, Hollywood, to meet Mr. Doug Sax: This field
trip is scheduled to take place on the 14th of November.
Further reading by JB (not required):
- "On Both Sides
of the Microphone," The Audio Amateur, issue 1, 1986.
How musical considerations affect technical
decisions in recording.
- "The Perfectly
Complete, Completely Perfect, Thinking Person's Guide to Stereo,"
New West, Sept. 11, 1978.
Choosing stereo equipment by critical listening.
How to "add up virtues" to draw valid conclusions about sound quality
in uncontrolled environments. Pitfalls of the retail audio scene. Finalist
in the National Magazine Awards.
- "The Endangered
Piano Technician," Scientific American, December, 1995. Reprinted
in Piano & Keyboard, May-June, 1996.
The cultural crisis caused by the scarcity
of fine concert piano technicians.
- "10 Feet, 1¼
Inches." Los Angeles Times Magazine, Oct. 1, 1995.
Playing the world's longest piano, the
Fazioli F-308.
Music Lab Home
Copyright © James Boyk 1991-2003