NYU Tandon School of Engineering

Integrated Design & Media

DM-GY 6113 A | Sound Studio | Spring 2026

Course Overview and Goals

This course investigates techniques in sound art in acoustic, electric, analog electronic, and digital domains. Taking as a point of departure practices drawn from avant-garde composition; electronic, computer, and contemporary experimental music; instrument and interface design; and cinematic sound design, the course offers a survey on the ways in which sound is made through physical, electrical, and digital means, and the myriad ways in which these technologies are combined to create audio-based work. Students in the course will be encouraged to develop a regular, everyday practice of creating sound works, either for fixed media, live performance, or interactive media. A survey of tools will be explored, including audio recording technology, analog synthesizers, live electronics, and digital synthesis and composition environments.

Upon completion of this course, students will be able to:

  • Understand the theoretical principles of audio, in the physical, analog (electric and electronic), and digital domains.
  • Understand the common tools and techniques for working with sound, as understood in academic research and industry.
  • Learn best practices for sound design, recording, synthesis, and signal processing.
  • Experiment with different creative approaches for working with sound within the context of fixed and interactive media.

Prerequisites / Software

This class assumes you can make things on the computer. We’ll be doing most of the work using Max/MSP, a visual programming language for working with real-time media:

https://cycling74.com

Specifically, we will be looking at using Max as a DSP environment for the Electro-Smith “Daisy” Platform:

https://www.electro-smith.com/daisy

Texts / Resources

Code that we create in class (as well as this syllabus) will be published on the class GitHub:

https://github.com/IDMNYU/Sound-Studio-S2026

Course Requirements

For this class, there will a number of short projects, a midterm critique, and a final project that you will present to the class. The grading breakdown is as follows:

  • Everyone needs to show up and participate in class (20%). More than three unexcused absences will lose you a letter grade.
  • Everyone needs to complete five short projects (35%), presented in class and published online on the day they are due.
  • Everyone needs to complete a midterm project (20%) in which they contribute to a collaborative instrument for an exhibition in the IDM Gallery at 370 Jay St.
  • Everyone needs to create a final sound-based project. (25%) This project a piece of software, a piece of hardware, a piece of music, an installation, or anything in between.

Letter Grades

Letter grades for the course are assigned as follows, per NYU Tandon policy:

Letter Grade Points Percent
A 4.00 95% and higher
A- 3.67 90 – 95%
B+ 3.33 87% - 90.0%
B 3.00 83% - 87%
B- 2.67 80% - 83%
C+ 2.33 77% - 80%
C 2.00 73% - 77%
C- 1.67 70% - 73%
D+ 1.33 67% - 70%
D 1.00 63% - 67%
D- .67 60% - 63%
F .00 60% and lower

Grades will be distributed on Brightspace.

Course Schedule

Topics and Assignments

Week 1
January 20		 What is sound?:
• Overview of class syllabus
• Introduction to sound
• Install and experiment with Max
• Listening assignment
Week 2
January 27		 Recorded Sound:
• History of recording technology
• Microphones
• Recording media
• Sampling
• Playing and sequencing samples in Max
• Microphones
• Field Recording Assignment
Week 3
February 3		 Synthesized Sound:
• Oscillators
• Envelopes
• Modulation
• Deep dive on the ARP 2600 Analog Synthesizer
• Synth jam assignment
Week 4
February 10		 Signal Processing:
• Effects
• Reverb
• Delay
• Time-domain vs amplitude-domain processing
• Compression
• Analog vs digital effects
• Max-based effect assignment
• Midterm Project introduction
Week 5
February 17		 NO CLASS: LEGISLATIVE MONDAY
• Off-schedule electronics workshop?
Week 6
February 24		 Control and actuation:
• MIDI
• CV
• Keyboards
• Alternative controllers
• Midterm assignment check-in
Week 7
March 3		 Circuits:
• Microcontrollers
• Midterm assignment studio time - building and testing control circuits
Week 8
March 10		 Midterm assignment install time:
• Installing our collaborative instrument
March 17 NO CLASS: SPRING BREAK
Week 9
March 24		 Midterm crit and performance:
Week 10
March 31		 Spatial audio:
• Spatial audio workshop in 370J Audio Lab
Week 11
April 7		 Daisy workshop:
• Put together a Daisy prototype
Week 12
April 14		 Synesthesia:
• Audio visualization workshop in Video Lab
• Final Project discussion
Week 13
April 21		 Music Theory and Composition:
• Final project check-in
Week 14
April 28		 Final project pre-presentation meetings
Week 15
May 5		 Final project critiques

Course Materials

Expectations for work outside the classroom

Students should expect to spend roughly 5 hours each week on supplemental work in this course. This may include reading assignments, writing, exam preparation, research, homework assignments, building, writing code, study time, unsupervised lab work, unsupervised group work, etc.

Resources

Course Policies

Attendance and Tardiness

Your attendance is important. Notify us of all absences prior to class. Each unexcused absence after your first will impact your final grade by a third of a letter (ex. one unexcused absence will drop a final grade of A- to B+, two unexcused absences would drop that A- to a B). If you have 5 or more unexcused absences, you fail the course automatically.

If you’re more than 10 minutes late for class, you will be considered tardy. Two instances of tardiness = one unexcused absence.

Things happen and we all slip up sometimes. If you miss a class – let me know ASAP. I am generally understanding, but I always want to know what is going on.

Late Assignments

Weekly exercises will not be accepted past their due date unless a valid reason has been discussed in advance with your instructor.

Every day the final project or final project proposal is overdue, it will lose a letter grade. If the final project is turned in more than 3 days late, it receives an F. If you turn nothing in at all, you will receive a 0 for the assignment. Nobody wants that, so be sure to turn your work in on time. Anything is better than nothing.

Academic Honesty and Plagiarism

Violations of academic integrity are considered to be acts of academic dishonesty and include (but are not limited to) cheating, plagiarizing, fabrication, denying other access to information or material, and facilitating academic dishonesty, and are subject to the policies and procedures noted in the Student Handbook and within the Course Catalog, including the Student Code of Conduct and the Student Judicial System. Please note that lack of knowledge of citations procedures, for example, is an unacceptable explanation for plagiarism, as is having studied together to produce remarkable similar papers or creative works submitted separately by two students, or recycling work from a previous class.

Please review NYU Tandon’s academic dishonesty policy in its entirety. Procedures may include, but are not limited to: failing the assignment, failing the course, going in front of an academic judicial council and possible suspension from school. Violations will not be tolerated.

All work for this class must be your own and specific to this semester. Any work recycled from another, non-original source will be rejected with serious implications for the student. Plagiarism, knowingly representing the words or ideas of another as one’s own work in any academic exercise, is absolutely unacceptable.

Academic Accommodations

If you are a student with a disability who is requesting accommodations, please contact New York University’s Moses Center for Students with Disabilities at 212-998-4980 or mosescsd@nyu.edu. You must be registered with CSD to receive accommodations. Information about the Moses Center can be found at http://www.nyu.edu/csd. The Moses Center is located at 726 Broadway on the 2nd floor.

If you are experiencing an illness or any other situation that might affect your academic performance in a class, please email the Office of Advocacy, Compliance and Student Affairs: eng.studentadvocate@nyu.edu.

Statement on Inclusion

The NYU Tandon School values an inclusive and equitable environment for all our students. I hope to foster a sense of community in this class and consider it a place where individuals of all backgrounds, beliefs, ethnicities, national origins, gender identities, sexual orientations, religious and political affiliations, and abilities will be treated with respect. It is my intent that all students’ learning needs be addressed, and that the diversity that students bring to this class be viewed as a resource, strength and benefit. If this standard is not being upheld, please feel free to speak with me.