Teaching Tape Studio Techniques for Music Synthesis

Abstract

The appearance of many electronic music installations at schools and commercial studios has necessitated introduction of instruction for these facilities. Teaching of musical composition with the new medium becomes linked with the teaching of techniques for the use of diverse audio equipment. One may have a conception of a particular objet sonore which is of little value unless its realization is as clear as the conception. The generation, routing, modification, mixing, and recording of a signal must be nearly automatic so that the composer is able to concentrate on the strictly musical problems. The author will primarily discuss the tape studio approach to electronic music generation, although live performance and all-digital synthesis are also important and interact with tape techniques. Here the student encounters synthesizing equipment and various audio processing devices as well as sophisticated tape-recording equipment. How much technical information must the student assimilate? How deep should his knowledge of acoustics be? How rapidly and in what sequence should he be introduced to the equipment? Are there any reliable indicators for predicting a student's success with the equipment? The paper will attempt to answer these questions and suggest specific instructional techniques.