MUSIC PRODUCTION II

The course is part of the Master's Degree Program in Economics and Management of Arts and Cultural Activities (EGArt), which provides knowledge and skills for managing enterprises operating in the artistic field. The course aims to offer specialized knowledge in the field of music production, understood here as music conveyed through a technical medium, and of the production apparatuses (the music industry) that ultimately make it possible. The course is structured in two connected modules, along with Music Production I.

Students will be able to understand the principles of the technical processes of producing recorded music, their historical evolution and the aesthetic principles implicit in the technological mediation of sound and music from the 1950s to the 2020s. They will be able to understand and critically frame the processes and results of musical creation within the system of the arts and cultural heritage in general.

During the course students will learn to decode a musical work through the examination of its concrete making, starting from the creative genesis to its practical realization, with examples taken from different genres of late 20th and early 21st century music. In their analysis students learn to use appropriate specialized vocabulary, categories and concepts.

Students will experiment with basic tools for audio recording and editing. The course will culminate in the creation of a short podcast and accompanying script.

No prerequisites or adavanced knowledge in music are required to attend the course.

This course traces the emergence and rise of digital music production as a cultural and industrial force, from its invention in the mid 20th century to its widespread influence by the 1980s. Focusing on the digital computer processors and the internet not merely as a technological innovations but as a transformative mediums for the circulation of music, the course examines how these technologies redefined the way music was created, distributed, and experienced across different regions and social contexts.

Students will explore how the dominance of digital sound reshaped musical aesthetics, performance practices, and listener habits. The course will also investigate how the micro-processors and the computer influenced the development of related technologies such as the sythesizer, the sampler and, audio-work station, how these innovations, in turn, enabled new forms of musical expression and mass entertainment, but also raise important legal and ethical qestions.

Through historical and critical readings, listening sessions, and discussion, students will analyze how genres such as rock, reggae, salsa, disco, hip-hop, reggaeton, and EDM were shaped by digital technologies and industrial infrastructures. Special attention will be given to the interplay between technological change and the emergence of modern popular music, particularly within the Americas and the broader Atlantic world.

readings will be made available through moodle.

Il compito finale consisterà nella realizzazione di un podcast registrato della durata di 7-8 minuti, in cui gli studenti analizzeranno un brano musicale scelto in consultazione con il docente, elaborando i contenuti del corso, comprese le lezioni e i testi indicati in bibliografia. Il testo del podcast dovrà essere consegnato insieme alla registrazione audio.

oral

- Originality, accuracy of research, and musical analysis (75%).
- Clarity of presentation, structure, and delivery of text (20%).
- Audio quality, mixing, use of music and sound design, editing skills (5%).

The classes will reflect on historical and theoretical issues through in class discussion of case studies in the form of recordings, film and image. In the second half of the class, students will be able to present their own elaboration of specific topics followed by a class discussion. The course will also include guest presentations by scholars, artists and professionals working within the field of music production. Slides, deadings and audio-visual materials will be shared through the course website on the Moodle platform.

Ca' Foscari applies the Italian Law (Law 17/1999; Law 170/2010) for support and accommodation services available to students with disabilities or with specific learning disorders. If you have a motor, visual, hearing or other disability (Law 17/1999) or a specific learning disorder (Law 170/2010) and require support (classroom assistance, technological aids for the performance of exams or individualized exams, material in accessible format, note recovery, specialist tutoring to support the study, interpreters or other) contact the Disability Office and DSA disabilita@unive.it.