Musical Applications of Technology Minor (B.Mus.) (18 credits)
Offered by: Music (Schulich School of Music)
Degree: Bachelor of Music
Program credit weight: 18
Program Description
The goal of this Minor is to provide instruction in practical and creative applications of technology for musical purposes. This program will help prepare students for production-oriented jobs in the creative arts.
This program is open to students from any discipline and has no prerequisites other than familiarity with computers. Applications will only be considered for fall admission. Late applications will not be accepted and no students will be admitted to the Minor in January. Registration will be limited to available lab space. To apply, submit an online application through the Music website: www.mcgill.ca/music/programs/minor/mat.
Students will be selected on the basis of their previous background or experience in music technology and/or sound recording, their computer programming skills, their expressed interest in the program, and their Cumulative Grade Point Average.
Advising for the Minor is available from the Area Chair for the Music Technology Program. Further information on this program is available on the Music Technology website at: http://www.music.mcgill.ca/musictech/programmes_and_admissions.
Note: For information about Fall 2025 and Winter 2026 course offerings, please check back on May 8, 2025. Until then, the "Terms offered" field will appear blank for most courses while the class schedule is being finalized.
Required Courses (12 credits)
| Course | Title | Credits |
|---|---|---|
| MUMT 202 | Fundamentals of New Media. | 3 |
Fundamentals of New Media. Terms offered: this course is not currently offered. A theoretical and practical introduction to selected areas of music technology. Topics include digital audio and sampling theory, MIDI and sequencing, audio editing and mixing, elementary sound recording, score editing software and current areas of research interest. | ||
| MUMT 250 | Music Perception and Cognition. | 3 |
Music Perception and Cognition. Terms offered: this course is not currently offered. Basic processes by which the brain transforms sound waves into musical events, dimensions, systems and structures and the processes by which musicians imagine new musical sounds and structures and plan movements that produce music on instruments. | ||
| MUMT 302 | New Media Production 1. | 3 |
New Media Production 1. Terms offered: this course is not currently offered. Techniques for producing and manipulating music and sound for new media applications. Synthesis techniques including FM, granular and physical modeling. Audio effects including delay, reverberation, dynamics processing, and filtering. Audio compression, HCI and MIR concepts. | ||
| PHYS 224 | Physics of Music. | 3 |
Physics of Music. Terms offered: this course is not currently offered. An introduction to the physics of music. Properties of sound and their perception as pitch, loudness, and timbre. Dissonance, consonance, and musical intervals and tuning. Physics of sound propagation and reflection. Resonance. Acoustic properties of pipes, strings, bars, and membranes, and sound production in wind, string, and percussion instruments. The human voice. Room reverberation and acoustics. Directional characteristics of sound sources. | ||
Complementary Courses (6 credits)
6 credits selected from:
| Course | Title | Credits |
|---|---|---|
| MUMT 301 | Music and the Internet. | 3 |
Music and the Internet. Terms offered: this course is not currently offered. A brief history of Internet technologies (protocols, web servers, web browsers) and their relationship to music and musicians (physical vs. virtual music distribution, digital music formats, streaming services). Locating, retrieving, and working with online music information through Web APIs and coding exercises. Basic static website creation for musicians (HTML/CSS/JavaScript). Technology-enhanced music creation. | ||
| MUPD 204 | Production for Digital Media 1. | 3 |
Production for Digital Media 1. Terms offered: this course is not currently offered. Fundamental video production techniques for music and general applications. Professional video camera operation, lighting and shooting techniques. The lab component of the course includes camera setup and operation during Schulich School of Music productions for live internet streaming. Capture and editing of video, audio, text and graphics for use in creating digital media. Basic techniques of recording audio for video. | ||
| MUSR 200 | Audio Recording Essentials. | 3 |
Audio Recording Essentials. Terms offered: this course is not currently offered. A basic overview of audio recording. Topics include fundamentals of audio; a historical overview of recorded sound; analog and digital signal flow; listening environment design; listening and analysis; simple recording; connecting audio to a video camera; and audio on the web. | ||
| MUSR 232 | Introduction to Electronics. | 3 |
Introduction to Electronics. Terms offered: this course is not currently offered. Basics of electricity including: Ohm's law, electronic components, DC circuits, block diagram, amplifiers, filters, power supplies, electrical measurements (frequency levels, distortion). Emphasis will be placed on electronics applied to audio. | ||
| MUSR 300D1 | Introduction to Music Recording. 1 | 3 |
Introduction to Music Recording. Terms offered: this course is not currently offered. The theory and practice of music recording including a study of recording environments, equipment and studio techniques. The analysis of music scores and recordings with respect to the requirements and possibilities of the recording studio. Studio work will include recording sessions, recording of live concerts, editing, mixing and music p.a. | ||
| MUSR 300D2 | Introduction to Music Recording. 1 | 3 |
Introduction to Music Recording. Terms offered: this course is not currently offered. See MUSR 300D1 for description. | ||
| MUSR 339 | Introduction to Electroacoustics. | 3 |
Introduction to Electroacoustics. Terms offered: this course is not currently offered. Basic principles of operation and design of electroacoustical devices and systems; transducers and signal processing devices; magnetic tape sound recording - reproducing systems; disc recording, motion picture sound recording and reproducing systems; practical demonstration of some of these devices and associated measuring, testing and analyzing equipment and techniques. | ||
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MUSR 300D1 Introduction to Music Recording./MUSR 300D2 Introduction to Music Recording. has limited enrollment and should be selected together. This course is generally restricted to students in the Sound Recording Qualifying Year program. Students interested in taking this course should contact the Sound Recording Area Coordinator to seek permission to register.