Fall 2026 Courses in Music & Technology
FALL 2026_________________________________________________________
A mixture of courses from the Composition, Music Theater, and Experimental Music & Digital Media programs, LSU has a wide offering of Music & Technology Courses available in the Fall 2026.
MUS 2745 – Intro to Computer Music
Taught by: GTA Jinxin Fu
- Ableton Live
- Recording/Editing, composing, sound design
- Culminates in a concert of works at the Really, Really New Music Marathon.
Open to all levels of Music students including Digital Media Minor students
Fall 2026 MWF 930-1020 MDA 248
THTR 3530 – Sound Technology
Introduction to the fundamentals and operational principles of the technical processes involved in theatrical sound. The physical properties of sound, audio terminology, and understanding the proper use of sound equipment will be covered.
- The course is a combination of synchronous lectures and hands on sessions with the equipment
- Introductions to the physics of sound, microphones, cables, consoles, amplifiers, and speakers will be covered.
- One project will be created using the DAW Logic Pro
Fall 2026 – T/TH 9-10:20am MDA 181
THTR 4530 – Sound Design
This course will introduce the different processes that sound designers utilize to craft stories and create worlds with sound. Projects assigned throughout the semester will reflect lectures on different aspects of the aural discipline.
- Course is project driven, usually completed in Logic Pro or Ableton Live
- Semester culminates in the creation of a ten minute radio play utilizing techniques learned throughout the course
Fall 2026 – T/TH 10:30-11:50am MDA 314
MUS 4745 – Computer Music
Taught by: Dr. Christopher Trapani
Using computers to create music from scratch
- Audio programming in Max
- Sound Synthesis
- Audio Processors
- Computer Music Composition
- Computer Interactivity and Performance
Open to all levels including Digital Media Minor students (MUS 2745 or MUS 2700 recommended)
Fall 2026 T/Th 10:30-11:50 MDA 248
MUS 4270 – EMDM Ensemble – Laptop Orchestra of Louisiana
Taught by: Dr. Stephen David Beck
Exploring Performance with all types of technology.
- Learn new digital musical instruments
- Rehears compositions by LSU students and Faculty
- Performance at the DMC Theatre
Open to all levels of music students including Digital Media Minor students
Fall 2026 – T 3:00-550 MDA 248
MUS 4901 – Basic Techniques of Audio Recording
Taught by: Bill Kelley
This class will take you all the way from sound to Soundcloud, covering:
- Basic properties of audio and various forms of sound energy including basic acoustics
- Studio Types and Personnel
- Microphones Types/ Placement/ Issues
- Mixers and Mixing,
- Effects Processor Categories and Techniques.
- There will be multiple projects involving, recording, editing, mixing and effects processors.
Open to all levels including Digital Media Minor students (MUS 2745 or MUS 2700 highly recommended)
Fall 2026 T/Th 9:00-10:20 MDA 248
MUS 7746 – Research Seminar in EMDM – Composing for Immersive Audio
Taught by: Dr. Jesse Allison
Focused on the compositional, technical and artistic process for both Immersive Audio (Dolby Atmos) and Wavefield Synthesis. This class will have you making music in the Immersive Audio lab for Dolby Atmos (9.1.6) to be performed in the XR Studio (7.1.4) and DMC Theatre (7.1.4 or 9.1.6). It will also have you experimenting with music and/or sound experiences for our AURA Wavefield Synthesis system a one of a kind experience. Topics will include composing for a space, non-linear music, object-based audio, binaural/stereo reductions of Spatial Audio, and composing in a DAW.
The course will culminate in compositions, an XR collaboration, and performance of works at the Digital Media Center.
The only prerequisite is familiarity with making music in a DAW.
Fall 2026 T/Th 12:00-1:20 MDA 248 & DMC Immersive Audio Lab, DMC Theatre, and DMC XR Studio
MUS 3153/7053 – Applied Electroacoustic Music
Taught by: Dr. Allison (MUS3153), Dr. Trapani and Dr. Beck
- Define and compose works incorporating -or creating- technology. (Essentially composition on electricity)
- Pre-requisite of MUS 2745 (or by permission of instructor)
- Culminates in a performance of the work you created at the Really, Really New Music Marathon.
- Open to EMDM and Composition students and others by approval
Fall 2026 – Monday 4PM in MDA 248 + and group/individual weekly sessions by appointment
High Voltage w/ line upon line
EMDM is proud to present our latest edition of the High Voltage Concert series featuring line upon line percussion. Guest ensemble line upon line will perform works for percussion and electronics by LSU student composers Fiona Xue Ju and Jinxin Fu, along with new works by faculty members Stephen Beck and Christopher Trapani.
High Voltage w/ line upon line
2/20 @ 730PM
Digital Media Center Theatre
Event is free and open to the public
Formed in 2009 at The University of Texas at Austin, line upon line exists to champion living composers and pursue the musically unfamiliar.
The Austin-based group has premiered hundreds of new works for percussion and has worked with composers in residencies at Harvard University, Stanford University, Cal Poly, University of California at Santa Cruz, University of Texas at Austin, Kunstuniversität Graz, University College Dublin, University of Huddersfield, University of Liverpool, City University of London and Monash University (Melbourne).
Internationally, the group has performed at New Music Dublin, the Bendigo International Festival of Exploratory Music (Australia), Open Circuit Festival (Liverpool), Novalis Festival (Osijek), in Basel (Hochschule für Musik), Berlin (Unerhörte Musik), Cologne (Loft Köln), Freiburg (Hochschule für Musik), Graz (Open Music), Koper (Koper Biennale) and London (City, University of London), and has taught at conservatories in Melbourne, Sydney, Cork (MTU School of Music), London (Guildhall School of Music & Drama), Manchester (Royal Northern College of Music) and Tours (Le pôle Aliénor).
Nationally, line upon line has performed and taught in twenty-five different states, at two Percussive Arts Society International Conventions, the Festival of New American Music (Sacramento) and The Myrna Loy Center (Helena, MT).
line upon line consists of Cullen Faulk, Matthew Teodori and emeritus member, Adam Bedell.
Fall 2025 Lineup of classes in Electronic and Experimental Music
In case you are wondering what to sign up for…
MUS 2745 – Intro to Computer Music
Taught by: Fiona Xue Ju
- DAWs, Recording/Editing, composing, sound design
- Culminates in a concert of works at the Really, Really New Music Marathon.
- Open to all levels of Music students including Digital Media Minor students
Fall 2025 MWF 930-1020
MUS 4745 – Computer Music
Taught by: Dr. Beck
Using computers to create music from scratch
- Audio programming in Max
- Sound Synthesis
- Audio Processors
- Computer Music Composition
- Computer Interactivity and Performance
Open to all levels including Digital Media Minor students (MUS 2745 or MUS 2700 recommended)
Fall 2025 T/Th 9:00-10:20
MUS 4270 – EMDM Ensemble – Laptop Orchestra of Louisiana
Taught by: Dr. Trapani
Exploring Performance with technology
- Live Coding
- Improvisation
- Paired performing with Electronic & Acoustic instruments
- Performance at the DMC!
Open to all levels of music students including Digital Media Minor students
Fall 2025 – T 3:00-550
MUS 4901 – Basic Techniques of Audio Recording
Taught by: Bill Kelley & Stuart J Breczinski
This class will take you all the way from sound to Soundcloud, covering:
- Basic properties of audio and various forms of sound energy including basic acoustics
- Characteristics of waveforms explored through analog synthesis
- Analysis of complete audio systems for recording and sound reinforcement, studio setup and management
- Live sound recording, studio recording, mic techniques
- Digital Audio Workstations, tracking, editing, mixing and mastering and much more.
Open to all levels including Digital Media Minor students (MUS 2745 or MUS 2700 recommended)
Fall 2025 T/Th 10:30-11:50
MUS 7746 – Research Seminar in EMDM
Taught by: Dr. Beck
(Prereq: MUS7745 or consent of instructor) Focused study of various topics in experimental music and digital media, such as the development of new computer music systems, interactive computer music, multimedia composition, alternative human-computer interfaces for music, experimental music performance, sound installations, and advanced analysis of computer music. This semester will focus on designing, fabricating, and performing music on digital instruments. Students will use Max/RNBO with Raspberry Pi and other microprocessors to create custom and embedded audio processors/synthesizers and design user interfaces to control them.
Fall 2025 Th 3:00-550
MUS 3152/7053 – Applied Electroacoustic Music
Taught by: Dr. Beck & Dr. Trapani
- Define and compose works incorporating -or creating- technology. (Essentially composition on electricity)
- Pre-requisite of MUS 2745 (or by permission of instructor)
- Culminates in a performance of the work you created at the Really, Really New Music Marathon.
- Open to EMDM and Composition students and others by approval
Fall 2025 – Fr 3:00-4:20 + by appointment
Jeremy Toussaint-Baptiste
Along with Yes We Cannibal!, the School of Art, the School of Music, and the Baton Rouge Art Gallery, the EMDM program is excited to host Guest Artist Jeremy Toussaint-Baptiste for a series of events of sonic art, installations, performance, and talks. Come to the Artist talk at the DMC Theatre 3PM Jan 31, then experience the live performance Feb 1, the art exhibition at Yes We Cannibal, and the final artist symposium on Feb 2.
- LSU School of Art & LSU School of Music present an Artist Talk by Jeremy Toussaint-Baptiste, Friday, Jan 31st, 3pm, Digital Media Center Theatre
- Exhibition, Going To See A Man About A Horse, through Feb 3rd at Yes We Cannibal, 1600 Government Street
- Performance, Sat Feb 1st, 3pm, Meet at Scotlandville Parkway, 32000 Harding Blvd
- Symposium, Sun Feb 2nd, 4pm, Baton Rouge Gallery, 1515 Dalrymple Drive
All events are Free and open to the public
Jeremy Toussaint-Baptiste is an artist, composer, and performer. His work examines the role of labor, ancestry, and heritage in representations and elisions of Black life. His sound works focus on the use of sound as a means of recognition or repulsion. Toussaint-Baptiste is an Assistant Professor in Sculpture & Extended Media at Virginia Commonwealth University and current Creative Capital Awardee and Triple Canopy Fellow. He has been a fellow at the Camargo Foundation, Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts, Issue Project Room, and the Rauschenberg Residency. Recent exhibitions and performances include Hauser & Wirth, MoMA PS1, Philadelphia Museum of Art, and The Studio Museum in Harlem.
| jeremytoussaintbaptiste.com |
Electroacoustic Fais Do Do
April 5 & 6 the EMDM program at LSU is host to a series of events celebrating the 40th Anniversary of the Society of Electroacoustic Music in the United States.
The conference will present three (3) concerts focused on one of the three conference topics, each an area of research central to our current work at LSU:
- Cinema for the Ears (High Density Loudspeaker Array presentation of multi-channel fixed media)
- New Interfaces for Musical Expression
- Music for Instruments and Electronics
Full information can be found here.
Fall 2024 Lineup of classes in Electronic and Experimental Music
In case you are wondering what to sign up for…
Unique things this upcoming semester:
- Perform through live coding and acoustic instruments through the MUS 4270 EMDM Ensemble
- Signal Processing and interactivity in MaxMSP via MUS 4745 Computer Music
- An exciting collaboration with EMDM, DMAE and Digital Art to explore Extended Reality Performance! MUS 7746 – EMDM Seminar in XR Performance
- MUS 2745 Intro to Computer Music
- Applied Electroacoustic Music in MUS 3153 & 7053
The Fall 2024 lineup of music & technology classes from EMDM
MUS 7746 – Research Seminar in EMDM: XR Performance
Taught by: Dr. Allison & Derick Ostrenko
Paired with ART 4240 Special Topics: XR Performance
Performance and live events such as concerts, opening ceremonies, theatrical productions, and other spectacles are using light, sound, and technology to extend reality in rapidly evolving ways. This course engages the intersection of electronic music, visualization, performer, and audience. We will focus on creating real-time music, sound, and performance that respond and interact with graphics, lighting, and illusion on a large LED wall in LSU’s new XR Studio environment. Experimental and traditional tools for content creation will be explored as a part of the production pipeline such as Max (Jitter), Unreal Engine, Notch, and TouchDesigner. Other strategies for interaction and reaction such as motion capture, sensors, and computer vision will be covered. The course is project based and will entail a series of lessons that pave the way for original XR performances that combine physical sets with digital graphics.
Open to students with some coding background (MUS 4745 suggested) and Performers who want to explore technology in their performance practice.
Fall 2024 T/Th 12:00-1:30
MUS 2745 – Intro to Computer Music
Taught by: Fiona Xue Ju
- DAWs, Recording/Editing, composing, sound design
- Culminates in a concert of works at the Really, Really New Music Marathon.
Open to all levels of Music students including Digital Media Minor students
Fall 2024 MWF 930-1030
MUS 4745 – Computer Music
Taught by: Dr. Trapani
- Using computers to create music from scratch
- Audio programming in Max
- Sound Synthesis
- Audio Processors
- Computer Music Composition
- Computer Interactivity and Performance
Open to all levels including Digital Media Minor students (2745 or 2700 recommended)
Fall 2024 T/Th 9:00-10:20
MUS 4270 – EMDM Ensemble – Laptop Orchestra of Louisiana
Taught by: Dr. Allison & Kerem Ergener
- Exploring Performance with technology
- Live Coding
- Improvisation
- Paired performing with Electronic & Acoustic instruments
- Performance at the DMC!
Open to all levels of music students including Digital Media Minor students
Fall 2024 – T 3:00-550
MUS 3152/7053 – Applied Electroacoustic Music
Taught by: Dr. Allison & Dr. Trapani
- define and compose works incorporating -or creating- technology. (Essentially composition on electricity)
- Pre-requisite of MUS 2745 (or by permission of instructor)
- Culminates in a performance of the work you created at the Really, Really New Music Marathon.
Open to EMDM and Composition students and others by approval
Fall 2024 – Fr 3:00-4:20 + by appointment
If you have any questions about the courses or requirements, please contact Dr. Allison at jtallison@lsu.edu
Water Dust
Water Dust w/ guest artist Patrick Chin Ting Chan
We are delighted to announce an upcoming concert featuring the work of Patrick Chin Ting Chan, fellow students from the Experimental Music & Digital Media (EMDM) program, along with dancers. The event is free and open to the public and will take place on March 8, 2024, at 7:30 pm in the Digital Media Center at Louisiana State University.
Water Dust is a concert-length piece composed by Patrick Chin Ting Chan, exploring the symbolic and aesthetic aspects of water and dust. Inspired by the contrast and connection between these elements, the piece embodies dualities such as purity and impurity, change and stagnation, emotion and reason. It pushes the boundaries between art and science, nature and culture, order and chaos, inviting the audience to immerse themselves in a fluid and organic world of sound and vision.
The work comprises 17 short videos. The graphics and sounds evoke imagery of water droplets, dust particles, and other microscopic phenomena, featuring abstract and distorted geometric patterns or waves in motion, employing two primary color groups: blue and brown. Accompanying the videos, a group of performers will improvise during or between the segments, responding to and reflecting on the audiovisuals to interpret the duality of these contrasts. The performers are encouraged to integrate into the collective sound of the audio materials.
Featured performers include:
Patrick Chin Ting Chan
Fiona X Ju
Ka Hei Cheng
Dominick L Licciardi
Irina Kruchinina
Drew Farrar
Dylan Burchett (Concert Technician)
For more information, please visit the website: http://www.chintingchan.com/water-dust1.html
Electric LaTex Festival 2023-24!
Welcome to the Electric LaTex Festival at LSU! A collection of sonic evenst, concerts and happenings from a collection of Louisiana and Texas Universities.
For more information about the festival, concert times and locations please visit the festival website.
Laptop Orchestra of Louisiana
The Laptop Orchestra of Louisiana presents a concert of:
Electroacoustic Improvisation and Handmade Electronics
November 1 @ 730PM Digital Media Center Theatre
The Laptop Orchestra of Louisiana explores the interface between electronics and music, computers and performance. This concert is a collection of structured compositions and improvisations exploring sound objects through group performance. The ensemble is performing Electroacoustic Improvisation (EAI) through the development of their own Instrumentariums – with objects and sounds that can contribute to a unique group performance. In addition to physical artifacts the LOLs have created hands-on electronics and perform live through circuit bending.
In improvisation, the ability to listen to the sound of the room, the environment, and the individual sounds of members in the ensemble is key. To hone these skills for EAI, we employ Deep Listening, a practice developed and taught by electronic music luminary Pauline Oliveros. We invite you to join us, focusing inward towards the incidental and electronic sounds of the ecosystems we inhabit, listening deeply to this experimental world of sound.
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Cinema for the Ears – SEAMUS Rhizome Event
LSU Cinema for the Ears – A SEAMUS 2023 Rhizome Event
Friday, March 24, 2023, 7:30 PM CDT
The LSU School of Music’s Experimental Music & Digital Media program, in collaboration with the Society for Electro-Acoustic Music in the United States (SEAMUS), will present a Cinema for the Ears concert, March 24, 2023, at 7:30 PM CDT in the Digital Media Center Theatre. The concert will also be live-streamed in binaural audio as part of the SEAMUS 2023 National Conference Rhizome Events.
The concert will feature fixed media works by Jesse Allison, Eric Lyon, Leah Reid, Ryne Siesky, Annie Hui-Hsin Hsieh, and Stephen David Beck. The pieces were composed specifically for high-density loudspeaker arrays of 8, 16, and 32 discreet audio channels, and will be presented on the DMC Theatre’s 89-channel loudspeaker array.
Binaural Stream (listen with headphones): https://www.youtube.com/@lsuEMDM/live
Concert Program: 2023-03-24 Cinema for the Ears