Required Materials: In addition to the required text, you will also need the following items:

1. Two CD-R’s (to dub your projects onto)

CLASS POLICIES: Each student must be fully aware of the expectations in this class. Furthermore, each student is expected to be responsible for understanding all assignments, which can be found on my webpage: www.saintjoe.edu/~dept20/NesselrodeCourses/sally.html. The following guidelines will affect students' grades and acquired knowledge from this course.

Electronic Devices. In the business world, it is considered poor etiquette if you text, receive phone calls, or use any electronic device during a public performance (movies, plays, concerts, lectures, meetings, classrooms). Therefore, all cell phones, iPods, and other electronic devices must be turned OFF during class & labs. Five points will be deducted from your final grade each time your cell phone rings or you text during lecture/class. In addition, I have the right to ask you to leave class.

Attendance. The broadcasting industry (or any industry for that matter) demands that its employees develop a good work ethic and are dependable and responsible. At Saint Joseph’s College, students are expected to attend every meeting of every class in which they are enrolled (see Course Attendance Policy in SJC Catalog). Therefore, attendance is mandatory, and punctuality is expected. Attendance will be taken daily. For each unexcused absence, 5 points will be deducted from the total attendance points. Students who miss 20 minutes or more of a session will be counted absent.

Sickness: If you are experiencing flu-like symptoms, please seek medical attention and do not come to class. You will not be penalized for your absence. However, for this to count as an excused absence, you must seek and forward documentation from the College nurse or other medical professionals which attest to these symptoms as a reason for missing class. Please e-mail me before class to alert me of your absence. Keep in mind that you are still responsible for any missed work as well as keeping up with course content.
A flat tire, your car running out of gas, running errands during lunch, or your roommate borrowed your car with your project in it are not valid excuses to miss this class. Therefore, absences may be excused for one of these reasons: 1) a documented illness or family emergency, 2) participation in college-sponsored activities, or 3) an unforeseen emergency obligation relating to immediate family or your job.

All documentation for the above excuses must be presented to me within 24 hours after your absence. I reserve the right to not accept documented absences, and I reserve the right to determine the difference between excused and unexcused absences.

Class Participation. Each student is expected to participate in classroom discussions. The ability to demonstrate knowledge of reading assignments, lecture notes, lab material, along with proper behavior is factored into your participation grade.

No Late Work. I will not accept late work without penalty. Projects and assignments not turned in by the deadline will lose 10% each day late. On occasion, equipment could break down. In such cases, you should call me immediately. If you “lost” your project on the computer due to a lightening strike, because you didn’t save your work (properly), or because the computer shutdown on its own, you will be expected to redo that project to receive full credit. Please respect that I cannot award points to a project that I have not heard—no matter how long/hard you’ve worked on it. Also, I will not accept excuses about computer or printer malfunctions for written assignments accompanying projects.

Written Assignments. All papers and scripts accompanying projects must be neatly typed. Wrinkled, folded, or stained papers demonstrate disrespect toward your own work and will result in points lost. Hand-written work is not accepted. NOTE: Plagiarism is taking someone else’s writings and passing them off as your own and/or turning in papers written by another person. The penalty for plagiarism is failure of the project and possibly failure in this course (see Academic Honesty Policy in SJC Catalog).

WPUM Production Room Rules. Abuse and mistreatment of equipment are inexcusable. The student will be held accountable for the cost to repair or replace damaged equipment. Nothing is to be removed from the production rooms or from WPUM that is not yours. Please pick up after yourself and put back any CDs where they belong. Each student is allowed to sign up for a maximum of 2 hours at a time. If a student reserves a specific production time but does not arrive within 15 minutes of the scheduled time, the reservation is surrendered and the production room is open to anyone.

Production room hours: M-F 7am to midnight

Sat & Sun by appointment only

Grading. Grades are determined on a total of 500 points. Point values for examinations, assignments and projects are proportioned as follows:

EXAMS & ASSIGNMENTS

Tests (5 @ 20 points each) 100

Final Exam (comprehensive) 100

Participation 25

Attendance 25

Sub-total 250

PRODUCTION PROJECTS**

1. Basic Digital Recording 10

2. Combo Work & IDs 20

3. Destructive/Non-Destructive Editing 30

4. Music Editing 50

5. Christmas Greetings 60

6. Persuasive Programming 80

Sub-total 250

TOTAL 500 points

**All projects are due by 3pm on the designated due date**

Evaluation.

Grade Percentage Point total

A 93-100% 465-500

A- 90-92% 450-464

B+ 88-89% 440-449

B 83-87% 415-439

B- 80-82% 400-414

C+ 78-79% 390-399

C 73-77% 365-389

C- 70-72% 350-364

D+ 68-69% 340-349

D 60-67% 300-339

F 0-59% 0-299

The professor reserves the right to add, alter, or cancel any assignment(s). The professor also reserves the right to give unscheduled quizzes if it is apparent that students are not reading the text. In such cases, each "pop" quiz will be worth 10 points, which will be added to the course point total.

Basic Audio Production 2009

Semester Schedule

(The professor reserves the right to alter the schedule, if needed.)

NOTE: All LABS meet in the radio station (unless otherwise announced)

August

24 Introduction; tour WPUM studios

26 Foreword & Chapter 1: “Production in Modern Radio”

September

1 Chapter 2: “The Console”; radio terms (handout)

3 LAB

8 TEST #1: chapters 1, 2 & radio terms; Chapter 6: “Electronic Editing”

10 LAB--Chapter 6 cont’d; Project #1 distributed

15 LAB

17 LAB

22 Chapter 5: “Microphones & Sound”

24 LAB; Project #2 distributed; PROJECT #1 DUE—3PM

29 TEST #2: chapters 5 & 6; Chapter 7: “Recorded Program Production”

October

1 Chapter 8: “Live, On-Air Production”

6 NO CLASS TODAY (work on project #2)

8 Chapter 16: “Production, Programming, & the Modern Format”; project #3 distributed; PROJECT #2 DUE—3PM

13 TEST #3: LAB TEST (half the class)

15 TEST #3: LAB TEST (half the class)

20 TEST #4: chapters 7, 8, 16; Project #4 distributed

22 LAB; PROJECT #3 DUE—3PM

27 LAB

29 Field Recording Equipment

November

3 Project #5 distributed; PROJECT #4 DUE—3PM

5 LAB

10 Chapter 10: “Achieving an Effect” & Chapter 11: “Drama & Dramatic Elements in Radio Production”

17 Chapter 12: “Commercial Production”; Project #6 distributed; PROJECT #5 DUE—3PM

19 LAB

23-27 No School—Thanksgiving Break

December

1 LAB; review project #6

3 TEST #5: chapters 10, 11, 12 & field recording

8 Final Exam study guide distributed; PROJECT #6 DUE—3PM

10 LAB; review for final exam

17 FINAL EXAM—10AM (in classroom)