Collabo - part 2

So, yesterday we laid down some drum tracks and put them into a song structure. Today, we're going to trade beats and work with other people's drums to make remixes of their songs.

To get the beats, go to the Pickup folder and find the folder called Collabo drums (Pickupdropoff>Runde>Pickup>Collabo drums). Now do the following:

1. Find the beat of the person you're collaborating with and copy it to your folder to work on.
2. Do a Save As and name this file:  "(your name)_(partner name)_collabo.rns"
3. Open the file and listen to the beat. What style of music is this? What kinds of sounds do you think could work with this song? Pay attention to how the song switches up at the chorus. Think about what you're going to do to match the switch up.
   
4. Using at least 2 instruments (no Dr. Rex, no Redrums), record some melodies to go with the drums.
5. Once you have the two parts recorded, copy them so you have a whole song.
6. Save it and turn in a copy to the Dropoff folder.
7. Have your collabo partner come listen to your slap!

To get full credit, you need:

• At least 2 original instruments (no Dr. Rex, no Redrums)
• Drums and melodies copied out for at least 3 verses and 3 choruses
• The correct file name:  "(yourname)_(partnername)_collabo.rns"

Have a Happy Thanksgiving!

Collabo - part 1

Today and tomorrow we will be working on a 2-part assignment that will be worth a quiz grade (10 points).

You are going to be collaborating with another student to create an original song. Today, you are just going to focus on making a full song's worth of drum tracks. It is  you possibly can.

1.  Create a Redrum, and make a 32-step beat.

2.  Put the beat into the Sequencer from Bar 1-Bar 17.

3.  Move the L marker to Bar 17 and the R marker to Bar 25. 

4.  Create a second Redrum. Load different sounds and make 16-step beat. 

5.  Highlight everything and copy and paste it twice . You should end up with a song that has 3 verses and 3 choruses.

6. Now mute the first two Redrum tracks by clicking on the M button on the left side of the track. 

7. Create a third Redrum and make a 16-step beat. This is going to be the bridge. When you get it down, find a place in your song where you want it to go and move everything over to give it space. Put it in for 8 bars.

Save this as "(your name)_collabodrums.rns" and put a copy in the Dropoff folder.

Finish Song Projects

Today we're going to continue working on (and hopefully finish) our Song Projects. Hopefully, at this point you should have your verse and chorus sections pretty much done. Once you've got those down, you should concentrate on creating the other parts of the song.

In particular, I want everyone to make a bridge for their songs. What is a bridge again?

A bridge is a short section in the middle of a song that is different from the other parts. The purpose is to switch things up for the listener. A bridge is usually 8 bars long.

A bridge can be something as simple as a different drum pattern, but it's even better if it is different melody. It's up to you, but I want some kind of short part that is different from the verses and choruses.

Remember, the main goal of this project is to write music that reflects a certain idea or emotion in your life. You should have all turned in your song topics last week. Please make sure that you are still writing your song to this idea!

When you finish, save this as "(your name)_Song project 11-20.rns"

Below are the requirements for this assignment:
1. A minimum of 5 instruments
2. A clear song structure including

• An Intro
• 3 or more Verses
• 3 or more Choruses (including a change in the drums)
• A Bridge
• An Outro (fade out)
  

3. Use of FX (Inserts & Auxes)
4. Basic Mixing (Volume and Panning)

Song Project - keep going

Your goal for today should be to get the verse part of your song completed and start working on the chorus.

Remember...

• A verse is typically 16 bars long
  
• A chorus is typically 8 bars long

I'm going to add one more requirement to this project:

The chorus section must have some kind of change in the drums. 

You can either add an extra instrument (cymbals, bongos, etc.), or switch the pattern up completely. Something that tells me that this is a different section of the song.

Song Project - due 11/20

What are songs about?

Think of one of your favorite songs and really take a minute to think about what the topic of the song is. Now think about how the song manages to make you feel the way that it does. What kinds of instruments are used? What is the tempo like? What kind of scale (major/minor) is being used?

Let's listen to one song and pay attention to what it is doing to create a specific emotion: link

Here's another:  link

So, starting today, you will be working on making your most complete song to date. These songs are due by the end of class a week from today (Thursday 11/20) and will be worth a double quiz (20 points).

But before you get really into writing your song, I want you to take the time to pick a topic that you're going to write about. Your topic can be whatever you want, within reason (nothing violent, sexual or drug related). And I want you to turn in by the end of today a Word or text document that tells:

1.  What the topic of your song is

2.  3  things you are going to try to put in your song to give it the emotion that you are trying to get across.  Be specific, don't tell me, "I'm going to put in some drums."  Tell me what kinds of drums - club sounding, old school, distorted drums.

Call this file:  "(your name)_song topic" and put a copy in the Dropoff folder.

Your song must include:

1. A minimum of 5 instruments
2. A clear song structure including

• An Intro
• 3 or more Verses
• 3 or more Choruses (including a change in the drums)
• A Bridge
• An Outro (fade out)
  

3. Use of FX (Inserts & Auxes)
4. Basic Mixing (Volume and Panning)

Most of all, your song must include a genuine effort to express something through your music.

I can't wait to hear your song!

Basic Mixing - Fade Outs

Today we're going to practice a common technique for ending a song:  the fade out!

A fade out is just that final part of the song where everything starts to get quieter until you can't hear it anymore. It's a simple way of bringing a song to a close.

Here's your assignment:

1.  Go to the Pickupdropoff folder and find the file called Fade Out.rns.  Copy the file to your folder.

2.  Open the file and create a Redrum. Make a beat and copy it to track from Bar 1 - 25

3.  Create a Dr. Rex and put an instrument loop over your beat from Bar 1-17.

4.  Now click on the Mixer track in the Sequencer Window.

5.   Set your L marker on the 17 and the R marker on 25.

6.  Click on the Line Tool.

7.  At Bar 17, starting about half way between the 64 and 127, draw a diagonal line down to the bottom of the track at Bar 25. 

8.  Play back to hear what happens. If you don't like it, try adjusting the starting point of your fade.

9.  Save this as "(your name)_Fade Out.rns"

Friday Quiz: 11/7/08

Part 1 (5 points)

1.  The type of effect that makes things sound like they are in a big, echoey space is called:

a.  Distortion

b.  Reverb

c.  EQ

d.  Compression

2.  The knob on an FX Processor that controls how much of an effect wil be put on an instrument is the:

a.  Pan knob

b.  Fader

c.  Dry/Wet

d.  Mixer

3.  The part of a mixer that controls the volume of a track is called ______________.

4.  The distortion processor in Reason is called ______________.

5.  Name one thing that  you can adjust when you are mixing a song:  _____________.

Part 2 (5 points)

Please make a Reason file that includes all of the following steps:

1. Connect an RV7000 Advanced Reverb to the Mixer.
2. Create a Dr. Rex.  Load a Drum loop into it and connect (Insert) a Scream Distortion to it.
3. Create a second Dr. Rex and load an Instrument loop into it.
4. Put both loops into your song for 4 bars.
5. Turn up the reverb on the second Dr. Rex using the Aux 1 knob.

Save this beat as: "(your name)_Quiz 11-07-08.rns" and drag a copy to the Dropoff folder. (Pickupdropoff>Runde>Dropoff>Period 5)

When you have finished the quiz, you can either:

• Finish the assignment and turn in the assignment from Tuesday (11/4/08).
• Work on your own music.
• Work on homework from another class.

As always, no Internet, texting, etc.

Have a nice weekend!

Have a nice weekend!

Have a nice weekend!

Basic Mixing - Volume & Panning

When you have finished recording your music, it is really important that you spend some time mixing it.

Mixing is the process of taking all your tracks and making them sound as good as possible together. There is a lot that goes into mixing, but for today we're going to just concentrate on two main aspects: volume and panning.

Volume
Balancing the volume of all of your tracks is important because you are deciding what are the most important parts of the song for your listeners to hear. If all your instruments are at the same volume, you make it so that people can't hear the best parts as well as you want them to. So, you need to learn to prioritize your tracks and decide which are the most important, and which ones you can pull down a little. A lot of the time, by just making one track just a little bit softer, you make another track stand out a lot more.

Panning
Panning is where you move a particular instrument to the left or the right in your headphones. You do this in order to give each instrument its own special spot in the mix and help it to be heard more clearly. Panning can also be used to make it sound as though instruments are talking to each other. Things like this help to make the song more interesting for the listener.

Certain instruments AREN'T usually panned; these include:

• Bass (drums and basslines)
  
• Snares and Claps

Almost all other instruments are panned at least a little to the left or the right.

Both volume and panning are usually handled through the mixer.

The faders control volume:

The pan knobs control the panning.

To get a better idea about what a professional mix sounds like, lets listen closely to the instrumental of a popular song. Pay attention to how loud certain instruments are in relation to each other and where they are (left to right) in your headphones. Listen to just a minute or two: LINK

Working with FX (part 2) - Inserts & Auxes

So, yesterday we started working with putting some FX on our tracks. We were doing this by directly connecting FX processors to our instruments. Using FX this way is called "Inserting"; you are inserting the FX processor in between the instrument and the mixer, like this:

Subtractor -> Scream -> Mixer

There is another way to work with FX, though, that is a little more complicated to explain, but actually a really useful tool for when you're working on your music.

In this method, you connect the FX processor to your Mixer. You can then apply these FX to any instrument coming through the Mixer by turning up the knobs called Auxes.

Aux knobs let you send a certain amount of your signal to the FX processor and then blend the affected (wet) sound with your original (dry) sound. Reason will let you connect up to four different FX processors to the Auxes. As usual, this sounds way more complicated than it actually is.

To use the Auxes, just do the following:

1. Click on the Mixer in the rack to make sure it is highlighted.
2. Go to the Create menu and pick an FX processor (reverb, distortion, delay, etc.). Reason will automatically connect it to the Mixer for you.
   
3. Pay attention to which Aux the processor is connected to. You can tell by looking in the upper right corner of the Mixer where it says "Return".
4. Find the track of the instrument you want to put the effect on and turn up the appropriate Aux knob.

Assignment:

So today you are going to be creating a song (at least 24 bars) that uses both styles of FX - Inserts and Auxes.

1. Start a new Reason file.
2. Click on the Mixer.
3. Go to Create>RV7000 Advanced Reverb.
4. Create at least one more FX processor of your choice to attach to your Mixer.
5. Using whatever instruments you want (at least 3), make a song that has identifiable Verse and Chorus sections.
6. Now use at least 2 more FX processors with either the Insert or Aux method.

Working with FX (part 1)

So now that we are getting to be experts at putting our songs together we can spend some time concentrating on getting everything to sound just the way we want it to. One of the easiest ways to do this is to add FX Processors to our instruments.

FX Processors are things that you attach to your instruments (Redrums, Subtractors, NN19s, etc.) that change the way they sound. Depending on what kind of music you are trying to make, FX can help your music to sound more exciting (slap!), smoother, or just more unique.

There are lots of different types of FX available to you in Reason. For now, let's just focus on two of them:

1. Reverb - Reverb makes things sound like they are in a big, echoey space like a hallway or a church. It can help instruments or vocals sound more "real", as if they were coming from a real musician playing in a hallway somewhere. To get an idea of what I'm talking about, let's listen to an example of an acapella vocal track that has a lot of reverb on it: link. The reverb processor in Reason is the RV7000. It looks like this:
2. Distortion - Distortion is that gritty, harsh sound that makes things sound more aggressive. It is most commonly heard on guitars in rock music, but it can be put on anything to give it a harder feel. In hip hop, distortion is sometimes used on synthesizers or drums to make them sound more raw and less clean. The distortion processor in Reason is called the Scream. It looks like this:
   

One important thing to keep in mind is that there is usually a knob or a setting that lets you control how much of an effect to put on an instrument. This knob is usually called "Dry/Wet". On the Scream it is called "Damage Control".

Assignment:
Today you're going to use the two types of FX we discussed above in a beat. This beat should include three instruments: a Redrum and two other instruments of your choice (only 1 Dr. Rex please).

1. Start a new Reason file.
2. Create a Redrum and spend 10 minutes making a basic beat.
3. Now create a Subtractor/NN19/etc. and load up a sound you like. Make a short melody (~4 bars) to go with your drums.
4. Now make sure that your Subtractor/NN19 is highlighted in the rack, then go to the Create menu and select the RV7000.
5. Listen to your beat. How does the instrument sound now? If there is too much reverb, turn the Dry/Wet knob towards Dry until you have just the right amount of echo.
   
6. Make create another Subtractor/NN19/etc. and add another few sounds.
7. Make sure that your Subtractor/NN19 is highlighted in the rack, then go to the Create menu and select the Scream.
   
8. For the last step, try putting a Scream, an RV7000 or both on your Redrum.
9. Save the beat to your folder as "(your name)_FX 1.rns"