Proposed syllabus - subject to revision

Sound Design in Documentary Storytelling By John Fecile

Course Description This is an instructional course for students to learn how to mix and sound design documentary projects in film and audio. The class will also go over how to use sound design to enhance your storytelling, and how to approach documentary-making with sound design in mind. In addition to lessons, there will be small projects to help students apply skills learned in class.

Course Objectives By the end of the semester, students will be able to: ● Edit with sound design in mind ● Create a sound mix from start to finish ● Understand how sound design is used to enhance a story ● Use the audio tools offered by Adobe Creative Suite ● Incorporate music, montages, and other creative devices into their sound design ● Create a checklist of “must-get” sounds before going into the field ● Use Lynda to learn new software and skills

Final Project

Students will add sound design to and mix a 3-6 minute audio sequence. This material for the project can either come from one of their other classes or projects, or will be given to them by the instructor. The sound design must demonstrate at least three techniques learned in the course.

Previous final projects have included a personal monologue by a young man reminiscing about watching telenovelas as a kid, spooky sound effects added to a ghost story, and a story about a strike with archival sound effects and music.

Schedule - 6 weeks

Week One: Using sounds

Students will learn the various ways that sound design can be used to enhance a story, through controlling the pacing of a scene, using effects, and adding music and non-sync sound. Examples will be shown and listened to including Heavyweight, Blink Once for Yes and Cane Toads: An ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ Unnatural History. Students will also learn about “must-get” audio, and how to go into the field ​ thinking about sound design.

After-class assignments - - Create a short sequence (30-60 seconds) that tells a story using only sound effects and music. - Watch Lynda chapters 1, 3-6. Write a sentence telling the instructor what you learned in each chapter. - Read TBD chapter in In The Blink of an Eye by Walter Murch (PDF provided by instructor). ​ ​

Clips played in class: - “Mortal Man” by Kendrick Lamar - Jad Abumrad on HowSound ​ - Errol Morris’s Tabloid ​ - “Man Choubam” from The Heart ​ - “Beyond Faces of Death” from Snap Judgment ​ - “Little Eddie Goes to the Slaughterhouse” from Curious City ​

Week Two: Using music

Students will learn about the various ways that music is used in documentary. They will hear and watch examples from films and podcasts, and learn about technical terminology such as the radio “post,” and transparent versus opaque music. In-class listening will include Brendan Baker and Kaitlin Prest’s presentation on music and sound design from the Third Coast International Audio Festival.

After-class assignments: - Choose three pieces of music -- one opaque, one transparent, one somewhere in the middle. Describe an imaginary scene that they might be used to score and why. - Watch Lynda chapters 7-10. Write a sentence telling the instructor what you learned in each chapter. - Read TBD chapter in Making Music: 74 Strategies for Creative Music Producers by Dennis ​ ​ DeSantis (PDF provided by instructor).

Clips played in class: - “It’s a Gas, Gas, Gas” from The Memory Palace ​ - “The Other Secret Weapon” from Snap Judgment ​ - “I’m From the Private Sector and I’m Here to Help” from ​ - “Chapter III” from S-Town ​ - Brendan Baker and Kaitlin Prest Third Coast Presentation on Sound Design

Week Three: Beginning sound effects

In this class, we’ll go over the four most basic sound effect tools: volume (gain), reverb, pan, and EQ. Clips will be played to demonstrate the effectiveness of these tools. The instructor will demo a sound design of a short sequence using these tools.

After-class assignment: - Create a mix of a sequence given to you by the instructor. - Explore an assigned sound effect and create presentation to share with the rest of the class what it does. - Watch Lynda chapter 11-12, send summary sentence telling the instructor what you learned. - Read TBD chapter in Recording Unhinged by Sylvia Massey (PDF provided by instructor). ​ ​

Clips played in class: - Still Here from Illinois Public Media ​

Week Four: Field Recording Techniques

Students will learn about how to approach recording in the field. Instructor will go over different types of microphones -- including stereo mics, binaural earbuds, ambisonic microphones. During the second half of class, the instructor will assist the students on questions relating to their final projects.

After-class assignments: - Complete first draft of Final Project. - Watch Lynda chapter 13, send summary sentence.

Clips played in class: - “Recording Binaurally” from Howsound ​ - “The Neighborhood” by Scott Carrier - “A Thousand Ways to Die in Alaska” from Wolverine: The Long Night ​ - “Jason & The Thunderbirds” from BBC Radio 4

Week Five: Mixing

Students will learn about mixing standards. A special guest audio engineer will come to class to show students how to mix using automation and loudness meters like the NPR Loudness Tool. Film students will learn about how to prepare an OMF for an audio engineer. At the end of class, students will have an opportunity to ask questions about feedback on their final project.

After-class assignments: - Complete Final Project.

Week Six: Project Screening and Final Questions

Instructor will screen all of the students’ final projects. Additional time will be used to answer any questions and provide further resources for students to continue to learn about sound design and technical tools.