DAD 310
Sound Design for Film

Schedule

Opportunities in Digital Sound Design at DSU — DSU Live runs student concerts, and Student Research Initiatives funds undergraduate work.

131 items across 17 weeks · click a week to expand

Mon 8/24
TODAY
· Class introductions
  • Your name, your major, and the last thing you heard today that you’d want to record
· Review the syllabus and expectations
slides Sound design in film
screening No Country For Old Men — video essay
homework
listen Rain is sizzling bacon, cars are lions roaring: the art of sound in movies — for Wednesday
· Look ahead: the screening log
  • Three films watched at home across the semester, three timestamped moments each. The first is WALL-E, due 9/16.
  • All of them stream free through the library, so you can start any time you like.
Wed 8/26
TODAY
slides Discuss the podcast — Rain is sizzling bacon
homework
reading Designing for Sound, Randy Thom — for Monday
Fri 8/28
TODAY
slides Narrative transition from silent movies to sound
screening Silent film playlist
Mon 8/31
TODAY
slides Designing for sound — notes on the Thom reading
Wed 9/2
TODAY
lab Sound walk — take the journal with you
homework
reading World Soundscape Project — for Friday
· Bring one idea from the readings that changed how you understand today’s walk
Fri 9/4
TODAY
· Discuss the World Soundscape Project reading and recordings and connect them to Wednesday’s observations
homework
· Check out Earth.fm before Wednesday
Mon 9/7
TODAY
off No class — Labor Day
Wed 9/9
TODAY
· Two students share an Earth.fm narrative — 10 minutes
slides Character: the aesthetics of Foley
screening Screening 1: WALL-E — watch the whole film at home
homework
assignment Screening log 1 — three timestamped moments, due Wed 9/16
Fri 9/11
TODAY
screening Foley Grail, chapter 3 — clips
· Watch the robot animation and decide which Foley element each of you takes
assignment Assignment 1: Foley Design — live performance, in teams, performed in class Mon 9/21
  • Bring a range of props for two versions with role changes on Monday 9/14; continue comparing versions and exchanging feedback Wednesday 9/16 in Charm Studios
Mon 9/14
TODAY
lab Foley workshop: sound choices and character for Assignment 1 . Bring your props. This workshop is ungraded.
  • Map the robot’s actions and divide the cues. Allow 5 minutes.
  • Build version A. Test props and rehearse the full sequence several times against picture. Allow 10 minutes.
  • Build version B. Change props or materials for at least two cues and rotate parts so everyone performs a different set of cues. Explore how the new sounds change the robot’s weight or character, then rehearse the full sequence several times. Allow 15 minutes.
  • Pair with another team and perform both versions. Compare the sounds, timing, and character. Note one discovery from changing props and one from changing roles. Allow 10 minutes.
  • Test a change based on feedback and run the sequence again. Keep notes on both versions and decide which additional props to bring Wednesday. Allow 10 minutes.
· Optional REAPER reference: Introduction to REAPER , Starting a new project , and Editing practice
homework
· Bring props for both versions, plus any new alternatives, on Wednesday. Bring your cue notes and be ready to rehearse both versions with different role assignments.
Wed 9/16
TODAY
due Screening log 1 — WALL-E
lab Foley team rehearsal and paired feedback for Assignment 1 . This workshop is ungraded; whole-class presentations and assessment are Monday 9/21.
  • Set up and rehearse version A several times against picture. Use Monday’s notes to improve the sounds and timing while I circulate to coach. Allow 10 minutes.
  • Rehearse version B several times, using different props or materials for at least two cues and rotating parts so everyone performs a different set of cues. Test new alternatives and work through the handoffs. Allow 15 minutes.
  • Pair with another team and perform both versions. Compare timing, materials, and character, and discuss what the prop and role changes helped you discover. Allow 10 minutes.
  • Choose the strongest sounds from either version, assign final roles, and rehearse the combined design. Note what still needs practice before Monday. Allow 10 minutes.
· Reference: Audio hardware and Charm Studios documentation
Fri 9/18
TODAY
off No class
· Use the time to rehearse Assignment 1 with your group before Monday’s live performance
Mon 9/21
TODAY
due Assignment 1: Foley Design — assessed live performances and design discussion
  • Set up props and playback. Allow 5 minutes.
  • Each team performs its prepared version twice, then explains one successful prop choice and one difficult cue. Classmates respond to the timing, materials, and character they heard. Allow 20 minutes across all teams.
lab Change the character: each team gets a new direction, such as making the robot seem worn out or unusually delicate. Rehearse briefly, then perform the revised version and discuss which choices conveyed the change. This challenge is ungraded. Allow 15 minutes.
· From live performance to recorded Foley : identify which sounds need separate passes, where live balance was difficult, and what recording would let you change. Allow 10 minutes.
  • If performances and discussion finish early, preview the A Quiet Place clip and identify sounds we’ll need to record. We’ll assign its cues to Foley pass tracks in REAPER on Wednesday.
Wed 9/23
TODAY
slides Spotting and cueing Foley
lab Spot A Quiet Place together using the downloadable movie clip in one REAPER project on the studio computer. The instructor operates REAPER while students identify cues, choose props, and plan separate recording passes. Put each cue on its assigned Foley pass track with its left edge at the exact sync point.
  • Practical guide: Spotting Foley in REAPER .
  • Rehearse one entrance with three beeps, performing on the silent fourth beat. Save this shared project for the recording demo on Friday and editing session on Monday 9/28. No individual computer setup or submission is required.
Fri 9/25
TODAY
slides Recording Foley : mic choice, placement, and performance
· Live demo: capture a small, usable set of cues for Monday’s editing lesson. Reopen Wednesday’s shared A Quiet Place project and check mono inputs, headphone cue routing, and levels. Rehearse a spotted cue with the beeps, then record the lead-in, performance, and tail on separate layer tracks. Reference pages: Recording in REAPER and the tracks .
homework
assignment Assignment 2: Foley Recording — record and layer the robot animation with your team outside class, due Mon 10/5
Mon 9/28
TODAY
lab Editing and layering Foley — work through Friday’s A Quiet Place takes together in the shared studio project. Compare performances, refine synchronization, and balance layers. Use a short recorded section; record a replacement only if needed to demonstrate the editing process.
· Apply this workflow to your robot project outside class for Assignment 2, due Mon 10/5.
Wed 9/30
TODAY
slides Setting: ambience, immersion and sense of place — hear how beds and details establish a place before recording your own.
· Preview Assignment 3: Field Recording : two ambience beds and three ambience details. Begin choosing locations and sources; we’ll practice with the recorders Friday.
screening Screening 2: The Zone of Interest, or Nope if you prefer — watch the whole film at home
  • Read the note on the assignment page before you choose
homework
assignment Screening log 2 — three timestamped moments, due Mon 10/5
assignment Assignment 3: Field Recording — five sources recorded on the Zoom, due Wed 10/21
Fri 10/2
TODAY
lab Zoom H4n field recording guide — demonstration and supervised recording practice
  • Compare the onboard X/Y microphones for ambience beds with the external shotgun microphone for focused details.
  • Set the recording format, monitor on headphones, set levels with headroom, slate a take, and transfer the files to a computer.
  • Record a short practice bed and detail, then listen back for handling noise, wind, and clipping.
· Questions about Assignment 2 before Monday’s deadline. Complete the robot recording and editing with your team outside class.
Mon 10/5
TODAY
due Assignment 2: Foley Recording
due Screening log 2 — The Zone of Interest or Nope
· Discuss how the films create offscreen places through sound. Allow 10 minutes.
slides Naming sounds: UCS and library organization — introduce UCS categories with UCS Finder using a practice recording from Friday. Full naming and export practice comes with Assignment 4. Allow 25 minutes for the introduction and category lookup.
· Confirm your Assignment 3 locations, sources, and equipment-sharing plan. Check out a recorder and fill out the form on the wall before I leave. Allow 15 minutes.
· Trojan Days run Oct 5–10, including the Day of Service — check the campus calendar for events you want to be at
Wed 10/7
TODAY
· No class meeting — I’m out of town. Independent field recording day.
lab Record the large- and small-space ambience beds for Assignment 3 , following the equipment-sharing plan arranged Monday. Monitor, slate, and listen back before leaving each location.
Fri 10/9
TODAY
· No class meeting — I’m out of town. Independent field recording day.
screening Watch the Blow Out (1981) recording scene. Identify decisions about source, microphone position, and listening that you can apply to your own recordings.
lab Record the three ambience details for Assignment 3 . Back up the original files and update your recording log while the sources and takes are fresh in your memory.
· Bring your recordings and recorder on 10/16 for listening, troubleshooting, and additional recording. Assignment 3 remains due Wed 10/21.
Mon 10/12
TODAY
off No class — Native American Day
Wed 10/14
TODAY
slides Mood: emotion, tone, and working with music — about 40 minutes; selected YouTube examples and a scene-design exercise. Extra clips and viewing references are in the appendix
reading Working with music — about 10 minutes on temp tracks, a cue-editing demonstration, and recording music sources and licenses
screening Screening 3: A Quiet Place — watch the whole film at home
  • We spotted this film’s class clip on 9/23 and recorded Foley for it on 9/25 and edited it on 9/28. This time listen to how the film uses the whole runtime
homework
assignment Screening log 3 — three timestamped moments, due Mon 10/19
Fri 10/16
TODAY
lab Field recording follow-up — bring your recorder and your independent-session recordings. Listen back, troubleshoot, and capture additional or replacement takes.
  • Another option: continue recording Foley for A Quiet Place in our shared REAPER project.
  • If time allows or recordings are limited: watch and discuss unseen clips from the Mood appendix .
Mon 10/19
TODAY
due Screening log 3 — A Quiet Place
slides Shape: sound maps, contrast and motif
  • Use your A Quiet Place screening log to explain how the feedback prepares the ending, then compare recurring sounds and changes in treatment in Spider-Verse and Ran
  • Plan how a sound develops across three connected scenes from a film or episode you know well. Extra examples and mapping references are in the appendix
Wed 10/21
TODAY
due Assignment 3: Field Recording
lab Listen to some of your favorite field recordings from Assignment 3. Play a short excerpt and tell us what you like about it; we’ll listen for the source’s character and one possible editing decision.
reading Then work through The editing mantra: L-I-S-T-E-N and try the checklist on a copy of one recording.
Fri 10/23
TODAY
· Bring headphones and your Assignment 3 recordings, including one short detail to edit
lab Editing and cleaning up audio in REAPER — apply LISTEN with markers, click repair, ReaEQ/ReaFIR, trimming, fades, and one checked export using the earlier UCS workflow
lab Apply the workflow to your own take and compare with a partner. Save one export and a brief editing decision note for Assignment 4
· If time permits, compare a reference SFX in Soundly or SoundQ
homework
assignment Assignment 4: SFX Editing and Processing — due Wed 11/11
Mon 10/26
TODAY
slides Symbol: sound worlds and metaphors — compare Blue Velvet, Parasite, and Club Silencio, then individually plan two sound worlds for one location. Extra examples and vocabulary are in the appendix
Wed 10/28
TODAY
lab Dialogue recording and comping
Fri 10/30
TODAY
slides ADR: replacing a line to picture
lab Group ADR session — install ADR Cue, then take turns replacing the practiced Night of the Living Dead dialogue on the studio computer
· Free impulse responses at OpenAir
Mon 11/2
TODAY
slides Space: acoustics, silence and the frequency spectrum
Wed 11/4
TODAY
slides Worldizing and futz
lab One voice, different devices and spaces — record in the booth, compare playback devices and rooms, and listen to repeated re-recordings
· Look ahead: we’ll watch selected scenes from Shapeless together Friday to prepare for our guest visit on Monday 11/9.
Fri 11/6
TODAY
· Optional tool: DAD 310 Foley Cue reads labeled empty cue items and supports recording with action text over the video. It has not been fully tested yet. See the download and setup instructions , and try it on a copy of your project.
screening Prepare for Monday’s guest visit: use the Shapeless watching guide for scene timestamps and listening questions. We’ll watch a short opening sequence to meet Ivy and her band, followed by all six selected scenes, from the instructor’s purchased copy. Listen for how sound puts us in Ivy’s point of view and how dialogue, ambience, music, and designed sounds work together. Allow 30 minutes for context, excerpts, and discussion; no full-film viewing or purchase is required.
· Write one question for director Samantha Aldana and sound designer Devin Lawrence, grounded in a specific sound or moment from the scenes. Allow 5 minutes.
lab Assignment 4: SFX Editing and Processing — work session and final checks before the 11/11 deadline. Allow 15 minutes; continue any remaining work outside class.
homework
· Bring your scene notes and question to Monday’s guest visit.
Mon 11/9
TODAY
· Guest visit: director Samantha Aldana and sound designer Devin Lawrence discuss their collaboration on Shapeless — 2:00–2:50 p.m. Central on Zoom. Moved from 11/20.
· Our earlier collaboration: Si , a short film written and directed by Samantha, with sound design by Devin and original music by Tate Carson.
· Discuss the scenes we watched on Friday, the director–sound designer collaboration, and how individual sound elements build into the finished soundtrack. Stems and production sessions may be demonstrated if available.
· Bring your scene notes and one question for the guests. The Zoom link will be shared before the visit.
Wed 11/11
TODAY
· No class meeting — I’m at ATMI in Grand Rapids, MI (Nov 11–14). Wednesday and Friday are independent work days.
due Assignment 4: SFX Editing and Processing — finish your edits, check the exports and collected media, and submit on D2L as usual
· Assignment 5: Sound Synthesis has been dropped. There is no synthesis submission due November 18 and it will not count toward your grade. Assignment 6 keeps its original number
Fri 11/13
TODAY
· No class meeting — I’m at ATMI in Grand Rapids, MI (Nov 11–14)
lab Explore footage options for the final project . Bring one or two candidate clips or links Monday, with a few notes about the settings, recording needs, and likely challenges. Bring headphones and useful recordings or edited sounds from Assignments 3–4 for the ambience workshop
· Listen for how a continuous background and a few offscreen details could establish one candidate setting. Identify recordings from Assignments 3–4 that might be useful
· This is preparation for Monday’s discussion, not a separate graded submission. No Vital work, new recording trip, or studio access is required
Mon 11/16
TODAY
· Assignment 5 is dropped; no synthesis assignment is due Wednesday
assignment Introduce the Final Project and Assignment 6: Ambiences , due Monday 11/30
· Discuss a few footage options and identify a likely setting for your final project
lab Instructor ambience demo: build a place : watch the cemetery background take shape in REAPER; no individual setup or follow-along work is required
  • Audition Freesound candidates through SoundQ and discuss which fit the scene; compare the continuous bed with intermittent background specifics
  • Predict how placement and perspective affect the scene, then compare a change in mood
  • Identify one approach to try in your own Assignment 6 session outside class
homework
· Begin your Assignment 6 ambience outside class and gather footage links for the proposal
· Bring headphones and your work-in-progress ambience Wednesday; supplied material will be available for the foreground-effects workshop
· Final project proposal — due Monday 11/23: post footage links and an initial spotting plan
Wed 11/18
TODAY
slides Layering and pitch shifting: the explosion
lab Foreground-effects workshop: build a layered explosion from supplied material, listening for impact, body, texture, and decay
  • Compare pitch-shifting and time-stretching choices in REAPER where they help the effect
  • Compare the effect dry with the same event placed in an environment; adjust perspective so it belongs in the space
  • You may try another layered foreground effect if an explosion does not suit your footage. This is practice, not a new graded assignment or a requirement to add an explosion to Assignment 6
Fri 11/20
TODAY
slides Time: transitions, rhythm and time perception — moved from 11/9 to make room for the guest visit
· Apply the lesson to ambience across a picture cut. Keep the environment continuous while making an intentional change in perspective
· Discuss footage choices and prepare Monday’s proposal and initial spotting plan
Mon 11/23
TODAY
due Final project proposal — post the footage links and a short initial spotting plan to D2L by class
  • Identify settings, major Foley and effects cues, what you intend to record, and what you can use from your own recordings or credited libraries
screening Watch proposed footage, confirm scope, and discuss recording priorities
· Use Spotting in REAPER as a reference; begin spotting now so you can start production before December
· Confirm the setting for Assignment 6. Continue with existing sources; Thanksgiving recess does not require a new recording trip
Wed 11/25
TODAY
off No class — Thanksgiving recess (Nov 25–29)
Fri 11/27
TODAY
off No class — Thanksgiving recess (Nov 25–29)
Mon 11/30
TODAY
due Assignment 6: Ambiences
· Listen to the ambiences together: where does each one put you, and how do the bed, details, and offscreen source establish it?
· Identify one revision to carry into the final soundtrack; keep the ambience layers editable
Wed 12/2
TODAY
lab Working-session and recording-progress check. Bring the REAPER session, spotted cues, and recordings gathered so far
  • Play a work-in-progress passage, check synchronization and organization, and identify missing recordings or layers
  • Continue production and troubleshoot with the instructor. Refer back to Spotting in REAPER as needed
Fri 12/4
TODAY
slides The final mix and deliverables — dialogue leads, loudness specs, stems
lab Work session — finish your Foley and ambiences, start the final mix. Measure your loudness and set up your stem folders while you’re at it.
Mon 12/7
TODAY
· Last meeting — course evaluations
· Full-draft presentations. Each of you presents your project for group feedback:
  • Overall sound design effectiveness
  • Emotional and narrative alignment
  • Final tweaks before submission
· Final Project — presented at the final exam, Mon 12/14, 3:30–5:30 pm
Mon 12/14
TODAY
due Final Project — due today, submitted on D2L
· Final project presentations — 3:30–5:30 PM, our scheduled final exam slot

Final exam presentation — Monday, December 14 · 3:30–5:30 PM