A dish brush scrubbing a frying pan. Air blown into a Nintendo 64 cartridge. A cushion thumped against a couch. All sounds Swedish musician and former YouTuber Seth Everman sampled to recreate\u2014with the help of a keyboard\u2014Billie Eilish\u2019s \u201cBad Guy.\u201d<\/p>\n
University of Rochester<\/a> students in MCT 101: Introduction to Music Technology, open to undergraduates at the Eastman School of Music<\/a> and the River Campus, take up a similar challenge. Early in the semester, Dennis DeSantis<\/a> \u201905E (DMA), an associate professor of music and technology, tasks them with creating a minute-long composition using field recordings obtained on a \u201csoundwalk.\u201d It\u2019s one of the first of many assignments designed to instill the fundamentals of sound recording and manipulation.<\/p>\n MCT 101 is built for aspiring music producers, engineers craving creative expression, and trained musicians looking to bolster their skills. Across four units\u2014Capturing Sound, MIDI, Creating and Shaping Sound, and Beyond Sound\u2014the course provides basic, hands-on exploration of contemporary music technology, including digital audio workstations, synthesis, sampling, recording, and signal flow.<\/p>\n Another early assignment asks students to create a \u201cbad recording,\u201d something downright antithetical to Eastman standards. DeSantis uses it as part of an exercise in learning how to diagnose accidental degradation and appreciate deliberate noise and distortion used as musical texture.<\/p>\n \u201cMy hope is that students take away a better understanding of how to make music using technology and manipulate sound in creative ways,\u201d he says. \u201cAt a higher level, I want them to leave feeling empowered to experiment with music technology and, more generally, music.\u201d<\/p>\n Students have access to a small keyboard controller and do most of their work using Ableton Live, a digital audio workstation that DeSantis helped develop in his previous role as head of music learning at music software company Ableton. Because the field and tools are constantly evolving, students are encouraged to be open and willing to experiment.<\/p>\n Some of that experimentation could serve as an on-ramp to the kind of research happening at SoundSpace<\/a>, a URochester transdisciplinary research center focused on exploring the interplay among music, sound, and technological innovation.<\/p>\n \u201cThe relationship between technology and artistry can vary widely from person to person,\u201d DeSantis says. Some musicians use technology to extend an instrumental or vocal practice. For others, technology becomes the instrument. Between those poles lie many more ways to make music.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" When URochester music students trade reeds, strings, and sticks for software, a world of creative possibility emerges.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1152,"featured_media":728092,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,41112],"tags":[42,42852,3286,13992],"class_list":["post-724902","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-campus-community","category-from-the-magazine","tag-alumni","tag-dennis-desantis","tag-eastman-school-of-music","tag-rochester-review"],"acf":{"external":"","hide_featured_image":false,"related":"show_related","style":"","content_modules":[{"acf_fc_layout":"media_text_new","anchor":"","class":"","overline":"","title":"MCT 101: Study Hall<\/h3>","content":"
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\r\n\r\nThis story appears in the fall 2026 issue of<\/em> Rochester Review<\/a>, the magazine of the\u00a0University of Rochester<\/a>.<\/em>","background_color":"#ffffff","width":"width-medium"}]},"yoast_head":"\n