Easy HD, but not a WAM booster. They mark the final assessment quite harshly, and getting around 70 is considered very good for that assignment. To do well in the final assessment you need to proficiently use a lot of audio effects, distortions, compression, EQ, and other nitty gritty sound controls which can be quite daunting and hard if you haven’t used those types of things before. Moreover, everything is done on Ableton (it has a very different user interface from Logic, and a lack of experience with it will limit your creative ability). Easy HD because 20% is pretty much guaranteed as long as you simply submit a working file for the fortnightly tasks, and 30% comes from a pretty easy rhythm composition assignment (it was due mid semester before we learnt audio effect stuff so you didn’t have to mess around with sounds that much). The 50% final assignment is a composition of 9 loops. There were fortnightly 2hr lectures, which you don’t have to watch at all if you have a basic understanding of music theory. Fun, low time commitment, but innate musical ability and basic prior knowledge is necessary to do well.

Interesting and engaging unit which requires minimal studying/lecture watching, particularly if you have a background in music like myself. Would definitely recommend this unit as an "easy elective".

So this unit was last reviewed in 2018 and the current lecturer who now conducts it joined UWA in 2019, which explains how this unit got became a classic case of "you're good at making music but not at teaching music". It's not beginner-friendly at all and expects you to have an innate talent for differentiating pitch and following difficult rhythms. By the end of it we're not even learning music anymore, we're straight being taught PHYSICS AND BINARY CODING. The lectures by Adam are wonderful and very easy to follow, but there's a disconnect between him and the unit coordinator Tracy. Adam will teach us a few things and how they work on their own, but in the tests Tracy will expect us to combine these individual things together even if they have never demonstrated how that's supposed to work. I spoke to music students after the test and asked them how I should have answered the questions and they were very confused too. Some of Tracy's lectures spent way too much time demonstrating examples without first explaining what these examples are supposed to show. Other times her lectures will throw in phrases that are not explained for non-music students like "tremolo" or "rhythmic". It's a huge contrast to the basic and beginner-friendly lectures by Adam. I've gotten straight distinctions and HDs for all my other music electives yet I struggled to even pass this one.

This was the first time this unit has run and they did an awesome job. If you did physics in high school then most of the acoustics taught will be revision (waves, interference etc). If not then it's not too difficult. The music theory is also very basic, and easy to learn if you don't have a background. Best subject I've taken so far. Really interesting

I enjoyed this unit because it teaches you the basics of electronic music using Ableton Live. MUSC1054 is for anyone, even if you have no music knowledge, although you have an edge if you've done music in the past. The 2 assignments are practical, which comprise of 60% of the entire grade. There is an Acoustics component (which involves Science) and that threw me off as I'm not good at science..

A great introduction to the creation of music. This unit focuses far more heavily on the practical side of producing music rather then the theory, which helped me immensely. Highly recommend.