Lesson Activities
Lesson 8 - Sound Systems & Audio Effects
Activity #1 - Mash Up/Remix Project
Using a music sequencing program that contains effects, import 5 songs with contrasting styles. This will be one complete sequence and not 5 separate songs/sequences. The total length will be about 2.5 minutes.
1. Take any 30 second clip/section from each of the 5 contrasting songs. Clips can be from any portion of the song. Each clip will be created on a separate track.
2. Edit/cut/paste the audio file of each song in a digital audio/sequencing program so that entire mash up is about 2.5 minutes in length with each clip following the next.
3. Fade in and out each clip.
4. Demonstrate panning left and right.
5. Use a different effect on each clip. You must use at least one from each category: Time, Amplitude, Frequency and Hybrid.
6. Export and upload your remix to your divshare hosting account and embed it into your website.
Continue With Lesson 8 Sound Systems Speaker Components
Lesson 8 Sound Systems & Audio Effects
Activity #2 - Sound System Shopping
1. Go to http://www.sweetwater.com/ and select the "Live Sound" tab at the top of the page.
2. Think of an environment you would like to run sound reinforcement for such as a show choir, electronic ensemble, rock band, coffee house act, etc. You also need to consider indoor or outdoor and small or large venue.
3. Using the steps you learned in 8 Steps to Building Your First PA System, go shopping for the appropriate equipment for your chosen sound reinforcement environment.
4. It is important that you carefully consider your equipment and applications. All of your equipment should be compatible with one another and should make sure that you select the correct cables to "cable up/connect your rig". Make sure you are thinking of everything that you need to create and operate your "virtual sound system."
5. Post a link to each item in the class forum for review. Please comment on each as to why you chose the particular equipment.
Lesson 9 - Virtual Instruments & Synthesis
Activities #1 - 5: Working With Virtual Instruments
1. If you do not already have a version of Reason music production software, go to: http://www.propellerheads.se/download/
and download the Reason Demo for Mac or the Reason Demo for PC based on your computer system.
2. Follow the installation instructions.
3. Once the Reason 4.0 demo version (or a full version of Reason if you have one) has been successfully installed, turn on your midi piano keyboard first before opening Reason. If you do not have a midi piano keyboard some of the activities you are about to do will be difficult. Use your best judgment with this.
4. Open Reason 4.0 demo (or earlier version of Reason) music production software, download and print out the Reason Activity document below and complete the assignments.
5. Write a review of your experience in working with Reason and post it in the class forum.
*Note-The Reason 4.0 Demo quits after 20 minutes and WILL NOT allow you to save or export files. This is okay. The main focus of these activities is to get some experience in working with an advanced program and to make some sense of the topics discusses in Lesson 9 of our website. The modules you will be working with in Reason can be found on most other types of virtual instruments and synthesizers.
reasonactivity.doc | |
File Size: | 1321 kb |
File Type: | doc |
Lesson 10 Multitrack Recording Project/Activity
You have now reached the point in the course where you will put together all of the tools and techniques that you have learned and apply them to an original composition.
Print out the project guidelines below to begin.
multitrack_recording_project.doc | |
File Size: | 18 kb |
File Type: | doc |
Lesson 11 Games and Multimedia
Activity #1 - Play The Game
Analyze and listen!
Play the game, listen to the music. Download and using your analysis check sheet below, answer the following questions:
How well does the music go with the gameplay and enhance the action or atmosphere?
Was the music full bandwith, CD quality, or a thinner , more limited, less impressive sound?
How many different styles of music are used in the game?
Where does the musician use strong melodic themes and where does it rely on more atmospheric material?
Does the music ever have exactly the opposite effect of the one intended? Does this music really become annoying?
video_game_critical_analysis.doc | |
File Size: | 25 kb |
File Type: | doc |
Activity #2
Real World Project: Creating Music For A Video Game
1. You will need to analyze each style using 3 music analysis check sheets before beginning each piece (download below). Examples of music styles will be provided.
2. Then write three pieces of music for a driving simulation game.
3. Each piece is to last about one minute and is something that should be able to be looped.
4. It should be really fast and exciting and full of energy.
5. This is dance music-fast and furious-but each circuit on the game has a
different style of music.
The three pieces for the driving simulation game:
Daytona, USA (Fast hard rock).
Instrumentation: Guitars, bass, drums plus some keyboards.
Examples: Limp Bizkit, Metallica, Godsmack
Le Mans, France (Eurotrance or techno).
Instrumentation: Entirely electronic. Deep synthy basses, beat box drum kits. Use lots of plug-ins (effects, filters, particularly the resonant filter). Eurotrance tends to have a very catchy little tune over the top. So a melody/motif is required. Review the slide on melody/motifs for more information. Frequent use of arppegiators and vocoders.
Examples: Eiffel65, Sash!
Silverstone, UK (House/Big Beat).
Instrumentation: Multiple layered drum kits-big heavily compressed kick drums. Much sampling and manipulation of digital audio. Drums and bass.
Examples: Fat Boy Slim, Chemical Brothers.
Composing Requirements
Dance Music:
1. Use Reason, Garage Band, Mixcraft or equivalent.
2. Use lots of different loops at the same tempo in your piece-little fills and intros, etc.
3. If you have another complementary loop, you can layer them one on top of the other. If you need to fine-tune the tempo of the loop, or you want to change the sound, you can always fine tune the pitch up or down.
4. Once you have the drum loop going, the next most important part is the bass line.
THESE TWO THINGS ARE THE FOUNDATION UPON WHICH ALL DANCE MUSIC IS BUILT.
Everything else is embellishment. A common mistake is to let everything really be repetitive and boring. It is VITAL to build the energy and excitement up - so it builds and builds and builds-then you might relax it a little and start again.
5. STRUCTURE AND VARIETY ARE VERY IMPORTANT.
6. The bass is extremely important, usually a big analog synthy bass sound with lots of bottom end.
7. Everything is built on the drum and bass track.
8. Make sure there is plenty of subtle variety in there. Even apparently repetitive drum loops often have lots of little embellishments from measure to measure.
9. Make sure your drum and bass lines are mixed well up in the final mix so you don’t lose the energy in the detail.
10. Your melody needs to be original. NO LOOPS! This keeps your music unique to you.
Be sure to review melody and harmony in Lesson 8 for developing your melodic and chord ideas.
START WITH A SCALE AS THE BASIS FOR YOUR MELODY! You can also build chord progressions from it.
11. Post-production is just as important as composing. Mix the tracks so that they are balanced and use effects where appropriate other than the ones specified in the requirements. This can really make or break your composition.
12. Upload your pieces to your website and post them.
Composing Requirements Continued-
Rock Music:
1. Use Garage Band, Reason, Mixcraft or the equivalent. Garage Band will have better loops of rock guitars and basses. So for this piece it is acceptable to weigh heavily on Garage Band. But use Reason to complement the composition in some form.
2. Use a short, splashy, room-sized reverb on the drums. If you can, turn down the reverb delay time. This will give you quite a nice ambient drum kit sound.
3. Most rock and roll riffs, the bass drum and the bass guitar are fairly closely related, normally hitting the same beats.
4. Don’t mix the drum sounds down in the final mix as this is what drives the whole track along.
5. Compress the whole thing using a compressor on the master track in Garage Band or equivalent. This helps to give it that hard in your face sound.
6. Your melody needs to be original. NO LOOPS! This keeps your music unique to you.
7. One track must be recorded using live audio (either directly from a mic with an audio interface or imported from some other external recording device).
8. Be sure to review melody and harmony tutorials for developing your melodic and chord ideas.
START WITH A SCALE AS THE BASIS FOR YOUR MELODY! You can also build chord progressions from it.
9. Post-production is just as important as composing. Mix the tracks so that they are balanced and use effects where appropriate other than the ones specified in the requirements. This can really make or break your composition.
10. Upload your pieces to your website and post them.
Download the music analysis check sheet below, listen to the following pieces and complete before beginning the project.
music_analysis_check_sheet.doc | |
File Size: | 25 kb |
File Type: | doc |
Instrumentation: Guitars, bass, drums plus some keyboards.
Example: Metallica-"My Apocalypse"
Le Mans, France (Eurotrance or techno).
Instrumentation: Entirely electronic. Deep synthy basses, beat box drum kits. Use lots of plug-ins (effects, filters, particularly the resonant filter). Eurotrance tends to have a very catchy little tune over the top. So a melody/motif is required. Review the slide on melody/motifs for more information. Frequent use of arppegiators and vocoders.
Example "Higher Ground" by Q-Tex
Silverstone, UK (House/Big Beat).
Instrumentation: Multiple layered drum kits-big heavily compressed kick drums. Much sampling and manipulation of digital audio. Drums and bass.
Example: "Drum Track 2" by Intex Systems (Big Beat/Drum 'n' Bass)