SP26-MUSC-601: Media Music Tech Lab (Year 2)

Course Information

Schedule: Wednesday, 9:00 AM – 12:50 PM

Location: MFA Lab MC415, Music Center, 1014 S. Michigan Ave.

Columbia College Chicago – School of Audio and Music

Audio Center	33 E Ida B Wells – 312-369-8820
Music Center	1014 S Michigan – 312-369-6300
School Office Hours	Mo-Fr 9:00am-5:00pm

Instructor Information

Name	Dr. Daniel R. Dehaan
Preferred Names	”Dr. Dan” or “Dr. Dehaan”
Pronouns	He/His/Him
Email	ddehaan@colum.edu
Office	1014 S. Michigan Ave, Suite 311, Chicago, IL 60605
Office Hours	By Appointment

Student Resources

• Dean of Students Help Page
• Center for Student Well-Being (312-369-7861)
• TimelyCare - 24/7 Medical & Mental Health Support
• Columbia Scholarships
• Campus Card
• TechBar
• Discord Server

Supplies/Materials

• Logic or other Mac DAW
• Pro Tools Studio DAW
• Mac laptop
• Headphones
• Unity Hub + Unity Editor and FMOD Studio (both free for students; installed in Week 1 and Week 3)

Course Description

The Media Music Tech Lab is taken in all four semesters of the Music Composition for the Screen MFA program. It is designed for students to learn, use and master a very broad range of hardware and software tools employed in the various parts of the media music production process. It also serves to support all its composition and orchestration classes by providing students with hands-on help regarding the realization of the projects initiated in the classroom.

Learning Objectives

Through the partnership of in-class demonstrations and peer critiques, this course has been designed to create an environment for students to learn, develop, and master the technological tools of their craft. By the end of the two-year sequence, the student will have a working knowledge and developed the necessary language to work in a variety of production environments.

Prerequisites

Concurrent requisite: MUSC 610 Screen Music Forum

This Semester

Year 2, Spring is the sequence’s interactive semester. The first six weeks build the Unity + FMOD toolchain from nothing — the Unity editor, FMOD Studio events and parameters, the FMOD-for-Unity integration, and enough C# to trigger events and drive parameters from game state — on a real project, Unity’s Survival Shooter, rebuilt with every sound routed through FMOD. A live recording session at Area 44 Music (Northfield, IL) sits at the midpoint, with a Pro Tools session-prep week before it and a debrief after. The back half goes deeper into the same project: 3D and spatial audio, adaptive music systems, ambiences and environmental audio, optimization and profiling, and a final round of student projects and portfolio work.

Course Projects

The Survival Game. Across the semester every composer creates, composes, and implements all of the sound effects and music for the Survival Shooter build, using only Spitfire LABS, BBC Symphony Orchestra Discover, or their DAW’s stock instruments. The brief asks for a hybrid design — real and improbable SFX with music that blends synthesized and acoustic instruments — that evokes a whimsical, childlike dream state or nightmare. The music must include an introduction, at least one transition timeline, three levels of intensity that change with the player’s score, and effects or compositional changes driven by the player’s health; every event routes through an SFX or Music group bus in FMOD’s mixer, and sixteen events and five parameters are wired to the Unity game. Evaluation: 8 points for the functionality of the FMOD systems and their integration with the game, 2 points for realizing the stylistic brief. Full spec: Unity+FMOD — Survival Game.

The Recording Session. A professional session with live players, prepared in Week 7 (Pro Tools session prep, score prep) and debriefed in Week 8 (playlists, comping, mixing, mastering overview).

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Course Policies

Grading Scale

• 100% classroom participation/extra effort

Grading Conversion

Percentages convert to grades according to the following scale:

Percentage	Grade
95 and over	A
92-94.99	A-
88-91.99	B+
85-87.99	B
82-84.99	B-
78-81.99	C+
etc.

Personal Electronic Devices

Unless explicitly requested by the instructor, the use of laptops, tablets, mobile devices, or any other type of glowing screen is strictly prohibited during class time. Composers are free to use their devices before and after class, and during breaks. Otherwise, they must be turned off and stowed away.

Attendance

• Punctual attendance at each class meeting is mandatory.
  • Each unexcused absence results in an automatic reduction of the final grade for the entire semester.
  • In case of illness, email notification must be sent to the instructor, with CC to the program director, before the beginning of class. Failure to do so can result in an unexcused absence. A doctor’s note may be requested at the discretion of the program director. If so, failure to provide one can result in an unexcused absence.
• Travel, or similar non-emergency absences during the semester, have to be requested and approved by the program director via email, with CC to every class instructor affected, no less than a week before the intended absences. Failure to do so results in unexcused absences for all classes missed. Approved travel or similar non-emergency absences result in one excused absence for each class missed. Please note that requests for excused absences can be denied at the discretion of the program director. Classes missed despite a denied request for excused absence result in unexcused absences for all classes missed.
• More than two absences per semester, whether excused or unexcused, result in a failing grade for the entire course. Exceptions to this policy must be requested from the program director and the class instructor via email and will be reviewed in a personal meeting with the program director. Such requests may be denied at the program director’s discretion, in coordination with the class instructor.
• If such an exception is granted, it may carry additional conditions (such as a target grade and/or attendance record) and may involve substantial additional assignments and/or tests, at the discretion of the class instructor and program director. These additional assignments and/or tests will be delivered and/or administered during the last week of the semester and graded by the course instructor in coordination with the program director.
• The grade of these additional assignments and or tests will then make up a substantial portion of the final grade of that semester’s final grade, with the exact proportion to be determined by the course instructor and the program director.

Late Arrival

• Class begins promptly at the designated time. As is professional practice, composers are encouraged to arrive 15 minutes early.
• Any arrival later than 20 minutes past the official class start time will be considered an excused absence; see attendance policy above.
• More than two arrivals past the class start time per semester will adversely affect the final grade, to an extent at the course instructor’s and program director’s discretion.

Assignments

• Assignments must be delivered no later than 11:59PM the night before class meets. Personal absence, whether excused or unexcused, is not an excuse for late or missed work.
• Late submission will be counted as non-delivery and graded zero percent. Hardship exemptions may be granted only based on timeliness of past deliveries at the course instructor’s and the program director’s discretion and may still be downgraded to 50% of the earned grade.
• In case of absence, assignments must be delivered digitally by the deadline. Late or missing work will be given a failing grade.
• Exceptions to this policy must be requested from the program director and the class instructor via email. Such requests may be denied at the program director’s and class instructor’s discretion.

Assignment Naming Convention

All assignment deliveries are to be named as follows:

FirstInitialLastName_Week#_AssignmentName_Version#

Example: JCorelitz_Week1_TumbleSeedDemo_V1

AI Policy

As there are far-reaching implications regarding authorship, ownership, and similar legal concepts central to our industry, the use of AI tools and similar external aid in the completion of class assignments are subject to prior approval by the instructor, and in all cases must be fully disclosed. Violations are subject to the college’s Academic Integrity Policy.

Other Policies

• No food or drink in the classroom except bottled water.
• If on Zoom: No eating during class time. Drinks are OK.
• If on Zoom: Video is expected to be on during class time. Backdrops are perfectly acceptable.

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Course Calendar

Weekly Structure

• First Hour: Q&A and help with current projects
• Second Hour: New topic introduction
• Third Hour: In-class hands-on assignment

Course Calendar

Week	Date	Unit	Topic
1	Wed 1/28	1 · Unity Fundamentals	Unity Essentials Day 1
2	Wed 2/4	1 · Unity Fundamentals	Unity Essentials Day 2
3	Wed 2/11	2 · FMOD Fundamentals	Unity Essentials Day 3 · Introduction to FMOD
4	Wed 2/18	2 · FMOD Fundamentals	FMOD Events and Parameters — the Survival Game begins
5	Wed 2/25	3 · FMOD + Unity Integration	Integrating FMOD & Unity
6	Wed 3/4	3 · FMOD + Unity Integration	Scripting Audio in Unity with C#
7	Wed 3/11	4 · Recording Session	Pro Tools Session Prep — recording session Thu 3/12, Area 44 Music, Northfield IL
8	Wed 3/18	4 · Recording Session	Recording Session Debrief
—	3/23–3/29	—	Spring Break
9	Wed 4/1	5 · Advanced FMOD + Unity	3D Audio and Spatial Sound
10	Wed 4/8	5 · Advanced FMOD + Unity	Music Systems in FMOD
11	Wed 4/15	5 · Advanced FMOD + Unity	Ambiences and Environmental Audio
12	Wed 4/22	5 · Advanced FMOD + Unity	Optimization and Profiling
13	Wed 4/29	6 · Wrap-up	Advanced Topics
14	Wed 5/6	6 · Wrap-up	Student Projects
15	Wed 5/13	6 · Wrap-up	Final Review and Portfolio

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Additional Resources

• Game Companies Map
• Bit Bash Chicago
• Free Audio Resources