DESCRIPTIONS OF COURSES
Last update 24/08/2011 (.pdf -161K)

Theory [THE] | Technology [TEC] | Audio [AUD] | Visual [VIS] | Audiovisual [AVA]

AUD120 Acoustics and Psychoacoustics
Definition of sound as a wave. Acoustic wave propagation in free space. Periodical oscillations, the concepts of frequency and wavelength. Basic acoustic parameters. The concept of sound pressure level. The use of A, B and C filtering curves. Wave / additive synthesis and harmonics, phase and octave definition. Sound sources and their characteristics: power and directivity. Representation of sound in frequency. The Fourier series, definition of the acoustic spectrum. Acoustic signals and frequency analysis. Psychoacoustic definition of frequency bands and methods of sound signals spectral analysis. Anatomy of the human hearing system. Perceptual sound recognition: tone, pitch and timbre. The precedence effect. Human hearing time resolution. Introduction to binaural processing and hearing. Room acoustics basics. Mechanisms of determining the direction/position of sound sources in three dimensional space.

AUD220 Sound Technology
Sound sets and systems: electric, mechanic, acoustic subsystems and converters. Sound signals reproduction and recording systems: the chain of sound reproduction and recording. Stereophony principles, analogue multichannel sound models. Analogue high fidelity systems: vinyl systems, analogue cassette systems, AM and FM radio broadcasting/reception systems. Analogue technologies of cinematic sound. Analogue-to-digital signal conversion, analogue-to-digital and digital-to analogue conversion systems. The sound folding phenomenon, dithering techniques, hypersampling techniques, noise modulation techniques. Digital sound signals encoding (PCM, DSD, PWM). Lossless and lossy compression technologies and patterns: FLAC, ADPCM, AC-3 MPEG Audio. Digital multichannel sound systems/models and multichannel sound applications (studio and home or professional cinema). Sound signals storage technologies: storing in computer files, in portable digital media and on optical disks. Optical and digital magnetic disks models for sound data storage. Digital transmission, digital radio broadcast technologies.

AUD221 Introduction to Music
Introduction to music in its social context and familiarization with the basic musical instruments: composers and performers throughout the ages and the evolution of the making of musical instruments. How the evolution of one instrument acts upon another, interaction with other arts. Understanding the basic structural characteristics of musical creation. In depth study of the role of social conditions and the drawing out of conclusions concerning the dynamics of evolution by means of technology and tradition. Understanding the reforms and adjustments which art was compelled to undergo at the beginning of the classic period as a result of the intense and almost sudden urbanization of the European population. The role of the audience.

AUD320 Interactive Sound Systems
AUD420 Sound Composition Techniques
Interactive systems support the dialogue between humans, computers or other entities in an environment. This course introduces the mechanisms and rules underlying interactive systems in practice, using state-of-the-art programming environments that support immediate programming and the realisation of interactive sound applications. Thus, students gain familiarity with the simple and rudimentary units of processing, generating and controlling data, as they are used for selecting or converting data via MIDI controllers or other devices. In addition, programming units for generating rhythm structures in time and processing sound data are developed. Finally, basic concepts of Object Oriented Programming are introduced, such as object, message, state, behaviour, class and instance.

AUD321 Music Anthology
Acquaintance with the evolution and perfection of the instrument characteristics and potentialities, as they formed to suit the performers’ needs for better and more flexible instruments, through the study of characteristic music examples. Study of the parameters which affect and determine Art and the sources of drawing thematic material by the creator. Nature as beau-ideal. The performer and the emergence of the audience in European cities. The abandonment of the regional in favour of the universal in art, where the borders fade with the unification of style and structure.

AUD421 Music Morphology
Definition and display of the basic structural elements of a composition. Demonstration of the morphological significance of a piece of music in accordance with the remaining constitutional elements of the piece, such as punctuation, timbre, instrument potentialities, performers’ abilities and compositional brainwaves. Description of the structure of a piece of music, using time as the fundamental parameter. Study of the basic microstructure elements as prototypes and as raw material of music architecture. Their functional incorporation in the context of macrostructure, as it shapes according to historic transitions. The ability of the ear to hold structure in its progress.

AUD520 Music Trends
Historic and –mostly– morphologic study of music vanguard trends and their effects from the prism of ideology, fixation or historic awareness endowment in the culture of music creation. There is also an axiological re-examination of past trends, dealing with the extent of their divergence from the music of their times, and presentation of music theories, aiming at an understanding of historical continuity. Comparative review of vanguard music works and trends in comparison with the time periods which encompass them on either side, aiming at a functional, artistic, historic and social stability and their existential eventuality.

AUD521 Sound Processing
Introduction to the basic parameters of sound. Perception, waveform, spectrum, types of sounds. Digital terminology and notation. Transfer of sound into a digital environment and the beginning of material processing. Checking of various parameters, having as a purpose the homogenisation and composition of various samples. Creation of sound-sample bank. Mixing of files at different levels of priority and balance. Processing and communication of different files of digitised and set sound. Reformation of the initial material in relation to its structural essence in time. Realisation of laboratory sound exercises, based on minimal primary material. Classification and form interrelation. Time and sound.

AUD522 Music Informatics
Digital Audio Workstations (DAW), design principles and basic architecture. Types and management of sound data files with Digital Audio Workstations. MIDI protocol, analysis of the transmitted packages. MIDI as the protocol of controlling electric musical instruments and other devices. The use of score processing software (e.g. Finale, Sibelius). Samplers and sequencers. Analogue synthesizers structure. Digital synthesizers’ functionality and structure principles. Basic techniques of musical composition: additive, FM, natural modelling of acoustic sources and musical instruments. Wavefield composition. Introduction to music programming languages (e.g. Csound, Max). In this course, the practical exercises that take place involve the use of specialised software (e.g. Reason and Reaktor) and MIDI controllers. For example, typical laboratory tasks can include: (1) MIDI protocol; (2) Composition/production of digital music/sound content through analogue and digital synthesizers.

AUD621 Music Theory and Analysis
The course undertakes a detailed examination of the constitutive elements of a music composition and how they are transformed in their course from the score to the concert hall. Emphasis is placed on the practical approach and treatment of basic structural elements (motif, phrase, period, theme, etc.) as well as on their architectural and syntactic display in the text, in order to make the function of music as a language visible. Of cardinal importance is the examination of the functional relation of other parameters such as harmony, dynamics, timbre, etc., seen as integral structural elements with an ultimate goal the formation of a basic music conduct, grounded on proper music punctuation and the clarity of the musical meaning.

AUD622 Digital Sound Processing
Introduction: the concept and manipulation of a sound waveform. Basic audio data processing units: signal aggregation, delay and gain control. Dynamic range effects: distortion, compression and dynamic range limiter. Noise-gating and audio signals mixing. Spatial sound placement using stereo and multichannel audio playback setups (panning), fade-in/out effects. Overview of digital filtering for audio applications. Delay-based effects: flanging, chorus. Reverberation systems implementation. Measurement and representation of a room impulse response. Creating reverberation using statistical methods. Equalizers and filter banks. Digital filter implementation using gain control and delay units for realizing audio effects. Frequency processing effects: pitch shifting, vocoding and ring modulation. Time-variable effects. Creating interactive audio effects using algorithmic procedures.

AUD720 Soundtrack Techniques
This course presents the basic techniques of connecting sound and music with visual and mixed arts as they are developing in time, the forms of sound conciliation and contact with the live arts (theatre), and the set ones (cinema), the relation of music and sound with the moving image as to its time precision, not just in approximation (i.e. when it has a constantly reforming framework), but also in absoluteness (i.e. when it is absolutely accurate). Emphasis is placed on the relation of sound and image and their well-balanced time formulation and notional cohesion, and soundtrack analysis and lab audio-sample creation, based on pre-existent and original visual and mixed themes.

AUD721 Electronic Music
This course presents the development of the sound digital processing techniques: (a) in the context of structural time; (b) through sound processing at different levels of homogeneity; (c) through the creation of properly processed –in its structural essence– sound-material banks, in order to contain cells, motifs and phrases. Thereafter, the course seeks to work on electronic music composition, primarily concerned with the structural coherence and cohesion, in the horizontal as well as in the vertical sound dimension, in connection with its chromatic qualities. Finally, the object of research is the formation of structurally self-existent laboratory audio exercises, based on music forms.

AUD820 Algorithmic Sound Structure
The basic subject of this course is the presentation of techniques for the automatic composition of musical structures that can be realised by computer programmes. A review of algorithmic systems from Kircher and Schillinger to Schoenberg and the serialists, such as Messiaen and Xenakis, and other post-war composers is presented. Algorithmic techniques, ranging from those used in common music sequencer software to special experimental techniques based on fractals, l-systems, stochastic and genetic algorithms and cellular automata are examined. Examples of implementations of such algorithms are given using state-of-the-art software applications. As a practical exercise, students will prepare a musical composition using techniques taught during the course.

AUD822 Electroacoustics and Spatial Acoustics
Definition of the electroacoustic converter, the electroacoustic recording and reproduction chain. Microphone technology, general principles and operational characteristics. Microphones for stereo and multichannel recording. Speakers technology, basic design parameters and characteristics. The loudspeaker system. New forms and technologies of acoustic reproduction. Pre-amplification/mixing and power amplification systems. Typical analogue and digital interconnections for electroacoustic systems. Sound wave propagation in closed enclosures, the impact of reflections. Properties of sound-absorbing materials. Architectural acoustics, definition of spatial acoustic requirements according to venue usage, quantitative and qualitative parameters of good acoustics. Definition of the reverberation time. Spatial acoustic simulation models and techniques: improvement of closed enclosures acoustics through the use of electroacoustic systems. Basic issues of sound isolation and sound-protection.

AYD920 Advanced Techniques of Sound Processing
Design principles of digital sound filters. The concept of balance. Realization of digital filters in the frequency field. Methods and systems of removing noise from sound signals: removal of type Hiss noise, locating and correcting snipping and percussive distortions. Extraction techniques of characteristic sound/music signals: defining the beat (beat detection – tempo analysis). Algorithms for the classification of music material. Advanced techniques of discriminating sound sources, with emphasis on speech and music applications. Realization of binaural hearing through sound processing techniques. In the laboratory, practical exercises could be on issues such as the following: (1) Realization and application of filters and parametric equalizers in real time; (2) Applications of noise removal techniques from old recordings; (3) Extraction of basic characteristics of music signals; (4) Binaural hearing in interactive environments.

AUD021 Acoustic Environments
Under the influence of new technological means, sound environments are evolving, as new ways of expression in the cultural field are penetrating society. Acoustic environments art’s object is the sound itself, beyond the limits of ‘music’ in its conventional meaning. It deals with sound as a multifaceted, dynamic spatial phenomenon and explores new means for forming and presenting sounds through various kinds of media. Therefore, acoustic environments art constitutes an experimental field of practical research, aiming at applying new acoustic technologies, as well as at exploring the role of sound as a cultural phenomenon in any given environment. Emphasis is placed on the analysis of the work of notable representatives of acoustic environments art and the realisation of relative practical exercises.

PRO750 Individual Project
The cultivation and practical implementation of the necessary mix of scientific methodology, of scientific knowledge and of skills, which are acquired in previous semesters study, are achieved through the development of individual work. Learning goal is the development and documentation of an integrated scientific and / or artistic work (according to the guidelines for academic essays, existing in the website of the Department of Audiovisual Arts). The Individual Work is also the introductory study and work on a specific subject of the curriculum of the Department which later may become the subject area of the Thesis.