Sound Arts
MCTC's Sound Arts Program will teach you to artistically produce and create quality sound using the most current hi-tech equipment and computer software available.
The core of the program - the first of its kind in the Midwest - is a series of five comprehensive sound arts courses encompassing physics of sound, analog and digital theory, and artistic form. MCTC's experienced faculty also will provide extensive hands-on training, teaching you to operate electronic and digital equipment and encouraging you to develop your own creative vision. You will broaden your knowledge by studying sound arts history and literature, music theory and design, and the business of sound arts.
The program will help you master the specific procedures for recording, manipulating and mixing sound in a studio. You will even learn how to design your own studio for professional work in music or sound design. In addition, you will learn to adapt to change and train yourself on new equipment and technologies as they appear.
You will have the opportunity to work individually and in groups to complete projects involving music, dialogue and sound effects and learn to tie sound projects to video and film. In addition, you will put your new skills to work in an internship in the sound industry. For a final project, you will produce a portfolio of small and large works mastered to compact disk.
All students in the program will need to purchase media materials such as recording tape and flash drives during the course of the program.
MCTC has an articulation agreement with Metropolitan State University.
For admissions information please contact Julie Nicholas.
Degrees, diplomas and certificates
- Sound Arts A.S. Degree
- articulation: B.S., Metropolitan State University, Metropolitan State University
Refer to the 2009-10 College Catalog for the requirements to degrees, diplomas and/or certificates available through the Sound Arts program.
Read MCTC's articulation agreements with other colleges and universities.
Faculty/staff listing
- Cinema Equipment Room: 612-659-6197
- Fax number: 612-659-6825
Frequently asked questions
- What will I learn in the Sound Arts Program and how can I use it?
- The MCTC Sound Arts Program is unique in two-year programs here in the Midwest:
- The program involves a great deal of audio recording engineering, but is not solely intended to teach you to process the (sound) creations of others; you will learn and grow in literally giving voice to your own creativity, using primarily high-technology tools, along with any skills you may already possess. Even if you ultimately find a career in the technical end of the industry where many jobs reside, your understanding of the creative side will serve you well, professionally and personally.
- The program involves music but you needn't be an accomplished musician to succeed (although many are). In fact, you may work in creative sound design that bears little resemblance to any conventional music. New technologies allow for creation, production and processing in a wide spectrum of style and point of view; it is all welcomed here. You are, in fact, asked to explore and work in forms and style that may totally new to you.
- Although you will spend a great deal of lab time with equipment and software used in industry, this is not primarily a vocational/technical training program, but an educational one. In this - and most hi-tech industries - the actual tools change incredibly fast. Therefore, we concentrate on principles, concepts, and theory, then put them to practical use in evermore complex lab situations. The goal is to give you a real understanding of how sound is created, recorded, controlled and processed in three domains or worlds: the acoustic world of sound in space; the analog/electronic world of conventional recorders, mixers and wires; and the new and powerful digital world.
- Nearly half the credits in the program are in general education or liberal arts. This stems from a firm belief that knowledge and experience of this type is vitally important - not only for an interesting life and membership in society, but for the very practical matters of getting and keeping a good job. Information skills, math, english, an overall understanding of our modern world and all are needed in every career. This perspective is especially important when working professionally in a field of artistic and commercial communication. Moreover, most general education courses are part of the Minnesota Transfer Curriculum. This means that they will automatically transfer to other Minnesota public colleges for credit toward other degrees.
You will bring whatever other experience you may already have - formal or informal, artistic or technical - to all this study. The result will be a wide, deep foundation and your ability to teach yourself new things as the field moves forward; year by year, and sometimes week by week.
- Do I get hands-on experience?
- Sound Arts 1 through 5 are production courses with weekly lab assignments, and MCTC has fully equipped studios and workstations for individual student work, available on a reservation basis.
First-year students have exclusive access to multiple but identical labs - custom-designed for each course level - for work in analog multi-track recording, synthesis, sampling and MIDI.
For advanced classes, a complete studio space features a live recording area, isolation room and control room for analog and digital recording and mixing. In addition, three digital workstations provide high-end facilities for editing, mastering, synthesis and sound design.
There is also a monitored keyboard/computer lab open many hours of the week. This includes 12 workstations for digital audio editing, synthesis, MIDI sequencing and music theory learning programs.
- What equipment will I learn how to use?
- In this and many other hi tech fields, equipment can change almost as fast as you learn it, so we emphasize principles and skills rather than training to do particular procedures with particular equipment. However, every effort is made to use tools for lab work and projects that are currently used in the industry. Equipment in our labs includes:
- Current-model Macintosh computers
- Macintosh X-Serve server and a Local Area Network dedicated to Sound Arts
- Digidesign Pro Tools audio environment
- Propellerhead Reason, and Metro MIDI and music environments
- Sony DMX R100 Digital mixing console
- Mackie and Soundcraft.analog mixing consoles
- Tascam DA78HR modular digital multi-track machines
- Tascam analog multi-track and mastering tape machines
- Tascam portable and studio DAT machines
- Bias Peak editing software
- DSP plug-ins by Digidesign, Waves, and Audioease
- Emu hardware samplers
- Hardware synthesis by Alesis and Yamaha
- Outboard processing by Eventide, Lexicon, Yamaha, ART, and Alesis
- Microphones by Neumann AKG, Audio Technica, Sennheiser, Shure, and Beyer Dynamic
- Outboard microphone preamplifiers by Great River and ART
- Monitors by Mackie, Tannoy and JBL
- Headphones by Sony, Yamaha, and Koss
- What is the profile of a typical successful student in this program?
- There is no single profile, nor typical student. Although many arrive in the first years after high school, approximately 25% enter holding at least a four-year degree. A few are mature adults with extensive work experience. Some have been involved with music most of their lives, others have no conventional music experience. If there are common traits, they may be these: a long-running love affair with music or sound, a measure of creativity, and a curiosity about how it all actually works rather than a desire merely to be told which buttons to push.
- How long will it take to finish the program?
- The Associate of Science degree in Sound Arts includes 64 credits, and requires significant lab, reading and listening time outside of classes. If you have no previous college general education course credits, it is every bit a fulltime program for two years. If you are working fulltime and/or have family responsibilities, it may be very difficult to finish in less than three years.
- If I already have a four-year degree, do I have to take general education courses over again?
- Generally, no. MCTC will accept most accredited college coursework for transfer. Additionally, if your transcript includes music theory courses, one or two may be accepted in lieu of our requirements. A college level music history course may meet the elective requirement. Check with the MCTC counseling office for specifics. However, we do require that you take all other program courses, even if you have prior experience.
- Are there other classes at MCTC outside of the program that would be useful to me?
- Yes! The arts have become interdependent and integrated, and the industry leads the way in this regard.
- Sound Arts is housed in the same area as the Music Department. You may choose to study Music History and Literature, join one of the excellent choirs and instrumental ensembles, or study voice, piano, guitar, or other instruments privately.
- Sound Arts is in the same division as the successful Filmmaking, Video and Digital Arts, and Screenwriting programs. Indeed, many students in the past have chosen to pursue degrees in more than one of these fields, given the broad nature of the media industry.
- MCTC offers many very useful courses in important related areas: computer science, business, the Internet, and research methods, to name a few. The counseling office can help as you plan your educational career here to serve your own best needs.
- Is there help available in finding an internship?
- Internships (and career!) are the responsibility of the student. However, the college has resources to aid you in finding a suitable internship employer, as well as help with resume and interview skills. We are developing a history of successful internships and you can build upon the relationships begun with those employers.
- Can this program really result in a career for me?
- The answer is complex, because the industry continues to grow and reinvent itself. The world of media, both artistic and commercial, continues to explode. In any area of communication beyond paper documents, sound comes along with written word, picture, and moving image. So...
- There are traditional recording, live sound, radio, TV/video (broadcast, cable, commercials), theater, industrial training film sound, games, computer applications, CD-ROM, DVD, and many other media communication areas.
- There are the processes of designing or composing, arranging, performing, editing, dubbing, format conversion, mastering, installation and teaching, along with new procedures and jobs being invented even at this moment.
- And now there is Internet, which is changing everything again, in most every aspect of life, and particularly the music and sound industry.
All these things - and many more - use sound, gobble up production time and need people who understand how to make it all happen. The field is therefore fast-growing, fast-changing, but also quite competitive. After all, as a senior editor at a successful sound facility in Minneapolis remarked recently, "This stuff is really fun to play with all day!" There are more and more full-time, salaried job openings, but much is also done on a freelance basis or by individuals with small project studios. As with the rest of the "artistic industry", compensation runs the gamut from part time work to a very comfortable, secure living.
If you're choosing among a number of directions, looking for the most secure stable future, and it just occurred to you that it might be fun and glamorous to be part of this industry, Sound Arts may not be for you. As a matter of fact, if the only bit of information you wanted to know about the program was the answer to this question, a career in the sound arts may not be for you. However, it IS an important question to ask at some point; before you invest time, money and energy over a period of at least two years. Our best answer: If you have been fascinated by making or controlling music or sound for a period of time and have long wished you could make it your livelihood; if you're willing to broaden your career horizon beyond one particular job, then dedication to learning, identifying your areas of talent, and finding your niche can certainly bring you that rewarding career.
- Is MCTC Sound Arts the best program for anyone interested in any facet of sound technology or music?
- There are many fine educational programs here in the Midwest and across the nation, with more added each year. If you are searching for training on a specific piece of equipment, or have time for only two or three courses, our program may not be for you. However, if you want truly to understand how modern technology intersects with music and sound design, to build a foundation that will serve you throughout any further study and through your career, we believe there is no better, more comprehensive two-year program available.
