Scoring Project

Your Midterm Scoring Project asks you to compose a short piece without images, but one that is organized and focused and that has a narrative arc. This project is also setting you up to work with the Soundtrap platform, which you will again use for your final project. This project might best be described as musique concrète.

You can use another audio platform if you prefer, Soundtrap is not required. But it is a free and easy platform!

Please do not write a "song" but think about how piecing together different samples can create a story. While you can incorporate specific musical instruments/clips to add cohesion or emotional effect, the main focus of your narrative should be on the sounds themselves.

For your midterm project you should turn in:

  1. your completed piece as an audio file (ca. 2-to-3-minutes in duration)

  2. a screen shot of the complete Soundtrap session

  3. a graphic representation of your piece. You can decide on particular images for each sample, and then draw a "score" that shows how these samples interact, their timing, and their manipulation.

  4. a short narrative overview to the goals and creative choices

Other general points of note:

  1. Your must use at least five different samples. While you may record your own samples, samples may be found here and at Freesound.org [Quality guidelines for samples from freesound.org: samplerate: at least 44100 and bitdepth: at least 16.]

  2. You should use some basic editing techniques esp. panning, pitch shift, fade in/out, time-stretching, but should refrain from using many effects, filters etc. You will need to articulate what audio techniques you used and why.

  3. You should include a screenshot of the completed Soundtrap session (like the one given below).

  4. Draw a visual timeline/graphic "score of your project (like the one below). Include a timeline in min/sec and effect. In addition to the graphic representation you will need to label your sounds (e.g., train engine, whistle, dog barking, etc.)

  5. Finally, you should upload a short narrative (200-400 words) that describes the creative goals of your piece, the narrative/story line, and outlines your specific sound editing choices. You should include at least five specific terms from our first three modules. Please bold and underline these terms in your essay, and explain why you found them effective for your piece. You can also reference specific movie clips or concepts that influenced your decision-making.

GRADING RUBRIC

Scoring Projects are graded using the following rubric.