K403/K503 Assignment 7: Getting Started on the Final Project

Sequence some opening music for your final project — say maybe 30 seconds to 1 minute. Of course, this can be just a rough sketch. Keep in mind that the entire project is due in about a month, and that you have to allocate time at the end to convert everything to a single sound file for CD burning. To make the required 4-6 minutes of music, you need to average at least 1 minute per week — if you start now, that is.

It may help you to come up with a provisional plan for the whole piece, perhaps making notes and drawing pictures when you're outside of the studio. There's one thing to work against that doesn't apply when you write non-electronic music: getting distracted by the (nearly) unlimited possibilities of the technology. It's best to put limits on yourself — for example, by using only a certain "orchestra" of synthesizer patches — and ignore other possibilities. Otherwise, you'll be in danger of spending all your time trying out hundreds of different sounds and combinations and never getting anything "on paper." So, try to stay focused. You do not have to know everything about the equipment or software in order to do this project.

So have fun, and make some music!