ENGL / MUSIC 297c

Audio Assignment 1: Arguing in and with Sound

Workshop Date: January 30 / Due Date: February 6

This assignment is designed to both introduce you to DAWs (digital audio workstations) as well as introduce you to making an argument in sound. Think of the assignment as an “audio response”: like our reading responses, except recorded instead of written down. In order to do that, you will first choose a text and construct a response to it using your voice and supplementary audio materials.

Preliminary Steps

1. Choose a text to respond to. This can be any short written, print, or multimedia object, as long as it is relatively short. Don’t overcomplicate it. It can be an essay from the reader that we haven’t read yet, an opinion piece in a local newspaper, a song on the radio, a YouTube video. It should be something that has a distinct argument or point of view—something that is substantial enough for you to respond to.[1] I think choosing something that has a sonic component, or makes an argument about sound, will make the assignment a little easier (like a music video, or an essay from our reader, etc.)
2. Create an argument, or a thesis statement, about your text. This should be more complicated than “I do/don’t agree with this.” A college-level argument has depth and specificity: “The video for “Pretty Hurts” by Beyoncé uses verbal, sonic, and visual elements to argue that the media has a powerfully negative effect on female body image.”
3. Write down and plan out how you can use sound and music to supplement your spoken argument.

Process

1. Your audio response should have at least 3 identifiable components: your speaking voice, some kind of “musical” sounds, and some kind of “nonmusical” sounds. Basically, your voice, some music, and some sound effects, though I’m willing to broadly interpret all of those categories. These should work together in creating the overall tone of your piece.
2. You must record your voice. All other sounds (incidental music, sound effects, etc.) can be taken from your personal music library or places where sounds are freely available on the web, such as The Internet Archive or FreeSound
3. Your essay should be 3–4 minutes in length.
4. These will be workshopped in class on January 30, where your peers and I will give you constructive, supportive, and encouraging feedback. The final versions will be due a week later.

Evaluation

For this assignment, the main goal is to see you using the medium of recorded sound to make your argument. There is no need to spend a lot of time on individual research or secondary sources to construct your argument. I would rather have you spend your time in the DAW and tweaking your sounds. When I listen to your assignment for the purpose of grading it, here are some things I’ll be listening for:

• Did you meet all of the requirements (length, number of tracks, having a thesis)?
• Did you use sound in a way that created a cohesive argument and feeling? Did your music match our overall tone?
• Were there any glaring audio “errors”: clipped/unintelligible speech or music? Erratic shifts in volume? NOTE: I’m not asking you to be a professional audio engineer here, nor am I especially worried about “fidelity.” Basically, can I hear everything okay?
• Did you show dedication, creativity, and commitment to the assignment?

This assignment, like the class in general, supports experimentation. This assignment is open-ended enough that you should have the opportunity to get out there and have fun with it. Use your available University resources (including meetings with me) to the fullest.