In Logic Express, create a 60-second audio collage consisting of a variety of source files. If your submission is longer than 60 seconds, realize that we won't have time to listen to it after the sixty-second mark.
The source files may be downloaded from the Internet or imported from CD.
Arrange the source files into small sound clips.
No sound clip should be longer than two seconds, unless 1) you include the results of your convolution lab (Lab 6), or 2) you include sounds you have recorded yourself; in these two cases, there is no length limit. To be sure of the length, you might want to have the time of the clips displayed via the pulldown menu at the right side of the timeline.

The length limit of the sound files is to force you to rely on your own originality, to push you to make something that doesn't sound like anybody else's work but your own.

A few more words on this: every semester, there are students who complain that the length restriction constrains their creativity in some way. If you are considering being one of these people, bear the following in mind: the goal of this class is not to nurture your creativity as you presently see it. Rather, the goal is to present you with a set of challenges, and for you to be creative in new ways within them. With audio editing software that is now available inexpensively, any fool can throw together a series of clips from his favorite movie or her favorite band. This class, however, is meant to earn you university credit, and therefore you're expected to go beyond the rudimentary, both technically and conceptually. If you're unable to step up to the challenge of this assignment, don't blame its guidelines. Blame yourself for not being willing to step outside your box.

The assignment should consist of at least twelve distinct sound files (not different pieces of the same file), at least two sends to two auxiliary tracks, and five different filters or effects. Make ample use of automated changes in volume, pan position, and effects parameters. All tracks should have volume and pan settings (and preferably changes) of some kind. You'll want to use pre-fader sends in the vast majority of cases.

If you are using excerpts from CDs, create the excerpts in Sound Studio before bringing the clips into Logic Express. Otherwise, LE will require the entire CD track, and your project size will be needlessly bloated.

Think in terms of interesting sound combinations. It's one thing to put interesting clips one after another. It's another to put clips together in such a way that their sum creates something entirely new. Operative words are "variety" and "evolution." If you want use a clip over and over, it should change over time. Add a filter, or change its pan position. Somehow make the repetition not just simple repetition, but an evolution of some kind.

You may want to think in terms of rhythms. What sort of rhythms are inherent in your sound bites? Abstract them to a level of being able to create interesting rhythms together.

Don't underestimate the value of silence. Some "air" between clips can help make them sound better.

Sometimes it's helpful to work backwards: think of how the piece will reach a climax, then think of how to get to that point, and what will happen afterwards.

Feel free to use sounds you have recorded yourself. Those of you who have done or are working on your recording projects may wish to use clips from those recordings in this project.

A goal of the assignment is to demonstrate production techniques. You should be able to watch the mixing board during playback and be entertained by the moving knobs and faders. There should be some automation of effects parameters as well as volume and pan automation. I am more interested in your production techniques than I am interested in your ability to scavenge. It is better to take plain sounding clips and make them sound extraordinary through your own use of effects and editing than it is to take extraordinary sounding clips and simply stitch them together.

The finished product should have a sense of completion and continuity -- everything should sound as though it belongs together, with each event occurring naturally from the last. Keep the word "homogeneity" in mind throughout -- your clips may come from many sources, but your task is to make them cohere into an integrated aural environment. Avoid the "channel surfing" effect of various clips popping in and out with nothing connecting them. Think musically. Terms like exposition, theme, variation, climax, denoument, and coda apply equally to the creation of audio sound work as they do to the composition of music.

Beware of using sound effect clips. Sometimes they're fine. Other times, they really don't sound like what they are, particularly in the context of whatever else you have playing. You have to put aside your knowledge of what the recording is and rely on your ears. Does that door slam really sound like a door slam, or just some dull thud?

Clips downloaded from the Internet also tend to be lo-fi -- low sampling rate and sample size. Beware of creating a project that sounds muffled due to poor quality clips.

Submit a CD-ROM with a single folder titled [yourName] Assignment 1. The folder should contain the following items:

• a Logic Express project folder
• a brief write-up describing your project -- concept, techniques employed, and so on; (for this assignment, submit an electronic version of your description)

As insurance, you can go to File -> Project -> Consolidate to make sure that everything is where it should be.

If something is not working, get help. You will not get any points for using your write-up to describe things you couldn't get working.

Submit your project in a ziplock bag. Put your name on everything in the bag.