Sound Design and Digital Media @ Ohio University  — draft date September 26, 2005.

Background
The field of sound design is playing an increasingly important role in several disciplines — art, dance, film/video, music, theater, telecommunication, and computer media.  Rapidly developing technology is expanding both the possibilities and the expectations of sound design in all these disciplines. Meanwhile the pace of this development is increasing the level of complexity a sound designer has to deal with.  As in many technological fields, the computer is at the center of this revolutionary convergence of disciplines in sound design as well as the spread of sound design issues into other disciplines.

There are several ramifications of this phenomenon:


Current State of Audio and Sound Design at Ohio University

I) Current Strengths and Resources
Scattered throughout the university are a number of well-qualified faculty and staff who are actively engaged in this field in one way or another.  The university has several strong programs where audio and sound design play an important role: dance, film, theater, music composition, audio production, video gaming.  These programs provide a wonderful opportunity for students interested in pursuing an education in sound design and audio.  Some of this potential has in fact been tapped by enterprising students through the Individualized Instruction Program (IIP) master degree program.  Similarly, undergraduate students have availed themselves of these opportunities through the Honors Tutorial program, the Bachelor of General Studies (BGS) and even a few double majors.

II) Current Problems and Issues to Address
At Ohio University, there are a number of faculty and staff who involved in some aspect of this discipline, but they are based in several schools located in different colleges.  As a result there is no central administrative structure and no truly coherent program that addresses the modern realities of this field. This problem is probably most acute at the level of graduate study, where reliance on the Individualized Instruction Program (IIP) provides only a stop-gap solution that is sometimes difficult to administer effectively.  Addressing the structural problems that stand in the way of the development of a good graduate program would also offer significant possibilities for improving undergraduate education, as well.

Not surprisingly, given the scattering of faculty in several departments, there are no common facilities at Ohio University that can be easily be shared by the various programs and faculty/staff involved with audio and sound design.  This means that there is considerable duplication of effort as well as expense and, of course, very little opportunity for synergy to develop.  (Please refer to the section on facilities at the end of this document.)

One Possible Solution — A New Masters Program?
Creating a new master's degree program would require pulling together resources from several schools within the Colleges of Fine Arts, plus the College of Communications, as well as perhaps a few other programs in Arts and Sciences and Engineering.

Among the important issues to consider is that prospective students are likely to enter the program with very different backgrounds and will probably have slightly different education goals influenced by their career goals.  To the extent possible, the new master's program should be able take these issues into account and provide education and training in several separate bodies of knowledge.  The precise balance and blend of these areas will likely vary considerably from one student to another. 

I) Science of Sound
    A) Basic Physics of Sound & Acoustics*
    B) More advanced work (math, physics, EE, computer science)*** -- a few "hearty souls"

II) Audio Technology
    A) computers
        1) learning to use "industry standard" software*
        2) learning some of the more esoteric and/or specialized audio software**
        3) learning multimedia software with audio component (FinalCut, Flash, Java, gaming, DVD authoring, etc.)**
        4) computer programming for music and audio applications***

    B) audio hardware
        1) basic studio recording technology, equipment, and practice*
        2) "location" recording (i.e. "non-studio")**
        3) studio audio engineering and mixing
            a) music**
            b) video & film**
        4) sound reinforcement working; with performing venues**
        5) studio design***

III) Artistic discipline
    A) history, theory, and esthetics*
    B) practical applications; solo and/or collaborative projects; performances, etc.*
    C) Thesis*

      * degree requirements
    ** common electives
  *** other electives

No attempt has been made at this time to list specific existing courses in the outline above.  There are several classes already in existence at Ohio University that provide some of the content listed above.  These courses have frequently been used by students pursuing IIP degrees in audio and media.  Forming a working alliance with other programs at Ohio University, such a the various related sciences (math, physics, EE, computer science), might provide other content. Ideally, however, the establishment of a new degree program would provide the impetus to better integrate content among current courses,  as well as create new classes specifically for this degree.

For the program to be truly successful, however, we will need to find a way to accommodate students with a wide variety of backgrounds and experiences.  In the "post-meeting meeting"  we discussed the feasibility of addressing this issue in a manner similar to the MFA in Sound Design for Theater, where the entrance/admission process allows the possibility of granting course credit for prior education, training, and/or professional experience — thus making it possible to accommodate students with minimal background in the field as well as more advanced students with considerable expertise.  In this scenario, effective administration of the admission process would be a key element to the success of the program.

It is hoped that the process of creating this new degree might also provide a roadmap for other degree programs where computer technology is bringing about a substantial convergence of audio, visual, and digital media arts.

Facilities — Problems to address:
There are currently no large-venue facilities on campus suitable for high quality audio recording.  For that matter, there are none in the surrounding area.  By large-venue, we mean spaces that can accommodate more than about handful of performers, or that have enough "air" to do allow anything other than close-micing of even small numbers of performers.  The large venues in the area that might be have enough floor space and air all have major, if not insurmountable, problems that severely limit their usefulness for the purpose of high-quality audio recording — or playback for that matter.  Frequently encountered problems include the following:

    • poor natural acoustics  

    • lack of acoustic isolation from surrounding environment — this is a two-way problem
        1) sound from outside the venue leaking in and ruining a recording or disturbing a performance
        2) sound from inside the venue disturbing the events (classes, lectures, etc.)

    • noisy and/or inadequate ventilation and climate control systems.

    • poor quality electrical service (inadequate ground; noisy service lines; feedback loops, fluctuating voltage)

    • scheduling problems

Meanwhile, there are also no state-of-the-art performing venues on campus or even in the surrounding area where media playback requiring high-quality and/or multichannel audio can readily be handled.

Of course, the ideal solution for to both of these problems would be to build a state-of-the-art performing arts center, complete with state-of-the-art recording facilities.  This would also create opportunity for developing much more synergy  among the various programs, faculty, and staff that are currently here at Ohio University.
Next Steps — where do we go from here?
Below are a series of loosely ordered steps that might be helpful for keeping the process moving forward.
  1. Refine and elaborate on the preceding assessment of strengths and weaknesses.
  2. Come up with a body of common knowledge and skills that what we think all students in the program should have.  These need to be rigorous enough to ensure quality yet general enough to accommodate a wide range of students.  I think it would be a good idea to list actual skills and basic concepts so that we all start out on the same page.  [Note: This discussion might eventually culminate in a diagnostic "entrance exam" of some sort that would identify areas of strength and weakness in students entering the program.]
  3. Identifying existing courses that might be used to provide the knowledge and skills we identify as basic to all students in this new major.
  4. Begin discussion about new courses that might be appropriate to add to the curriculum, including the possibility of future hiring (i.e. what new sets of knowledge and skills would we like to add to our current mix to strengthen the program as it moves forward).  Perhaps explore to what extent math, science, engineering programs at OU would be willing to participate in this program.
  5. Begin discussion of what capabilities we would want to see new facility -- begin forming alliances with other constituencies that would also benefit from a state-of-the-art performing arts space.
original draft by Mark Phillips, September 26, 2005.