CMUS 218: Commercial Music Production and Audio

11/08/2019 to 04/16/2020 • Modified 03/16/2026

Course Description

This course provides training in studio production techniques. Students learn studio miking for instruments and voice, digital audio workstations, and general techniques for studio production.

Rationale

Those who pursue music as a career often need skills in miking, mixing, and music production. This is particularly true for those training in commercial music. This course will prepare the student to produce demos of his or her music and to engage appropriately with music production technology.

Course Assignment

After reading the Course Syllabus and Student Expectations, the student will complete the related checklist found in the Course Overview.

Discussions are collaborative learning experiences. Therefore, the student will participate in 1 Discussion in this course. The student will post a thread of at least 650 words. The thread will follow the four key observation points listed in the instructions in Canvas. The student must reply to two of his or her classmates. Each reply must be at least 150 words. In the thread, the student must support his or her assertions with at least one scholarly citation in Turabian format. Each reply must incorporate at least one scholarly citation in Turabian format. Acceptable sources include the textbook, the Bible, and industry publications and/or websites.

The student will be assigned a collaborative project in which he or she mics instruments and voice, uses basic Pro Tools skills, mixes audio, and produces a song demo recording.

Quiz: Project Song Choice

The student will register his or her song choice by completing a 1-question quiz.

Project: Instrumental Track Assignment

The student will ensure progress through the course project by completing a music track as the first stage. This assignment is intended to have the instrumental production completed as the student moves into vocals and mixing in future project stages.

Project: Vocal Recording & Comp Sheet Assignment 

As the second stage of the course project, this assignment is based on real-world scenarios and techniques for working with vocalists in the music production process. The student will be able to apply the techniques learned in this assignment to his or her future professional work. 

Project: Vocal Editing & Session Export Assignment 

As the third stage of the course project, this assignment is based on real-world scenarios and techniques for editing vocals or other musical content in the music production process. The student will be able to apply the techniques learned in this assignment to his or her future professional work. The general workflows and editing within Pro Tools will translate to other digital audio workstation software.

Project: Lyric Sheet & Number Chart Assignment

For the fourth stage of the project, this assignment models how a student might prepare and submit his or her creative content to a potential client such as a music producer, publisher, record label, etc.

(CLO: A, B, C, D)

Project: Final Mix Assignment

For the final stage of the project, this assignment models how a student might mix and submit his or her music to a potential client such as a music producer, publisher, record label, etc.

(CLO: A, B, C, D)

Quizzes will be given on a regular basis to test understanding of assigned Learn items. Quizzes are open book, open notes. Questions may be true/false, multiple choice, multiple answer, essay, or matching with a time limit of 1 hour. Each quiz may be attempted twice, with the highest score counting towards the grade. (CLO: A, B, C)

A final exam will be given to assess each student’s knowledge and skill in audio production. The quiz includes multiple-choice, true/false, and multiple-answer questions. The open book/open note quiz is limited to 2 hours. (CLO: A, B, C, D)