Scary Music

In honor of Halloween, class today will be dedicated to the scary side of music and the use of Sound FX in your beats. To start with we will watch a classic moment of scariness in pop music...

So adding FX can be an easy way to add more interesting elements to your music. Reason already has some FX in it (check in the folder for the NNXT). But there are also lots of websites that offer free FX to download. Since it is Halloween today, we will use a website that offers scary FX - click here.

So, to hear what each one sounds like, just click on it. When you find one you like, do the following:

1. Hold Control on your keyboard and click on the name of the effect in the list.
2. Select "Download Linked File" from the list. The file will be saved to your Desktop.

Here is your assignment:

Make me a SCARY beat using 3-4 sound FX from the website!

1. First download 3-4 FX from the website.
2. Open Reason and start a new file.
3. Create a Redrum and one NN19 for every effect that you downloaded.
4. To load your FX into the NN19, click on the Browse Sample button and find the sample on your Desktop.
5. Make a beat using the Redrum and whatever other instruments you want. 
6. Record yourself playing the samples from the keyboard. Note how you can make them play at different pitches by playing different keys.
7. Save your beat as "(your name)_scary.rns".
8. Put a copy in the dropoff folder for extra credit.

Happy Halloween!

Song Structure (part 3) - The Bridge

So today is the last day for us to finish up our projects. Remember, that to get full credit, you must have these elements:

1. A basic song structure including an Intro, Verses (at least 2), and Choruses (at least 2)
2. At least 6 different instruments (only 1 Dr. Rex!)

Now, if you have all the requirements met and want to try to pick up some extra credit, you can add in a PreChorus, which we discussed on Tuesday, or a Bridge...

A Bridge is a musical/lyrical change in a song that comes in after a couple of verses and choruses. Its purpose is to switch things up for the listener and keep things from getting too repetitive. A bridge is typically 8 bars long.

So, before I let you get back to working on your songs, let's listen to the song, "The Instrumental" by Lupe Fiasco and analyze the structure. Besides counting the numbers of verses and choruses, I want you to try to pick out where the bridge comes in...

Song Structure (pt. 2) - Intro & Prechorus

Yesterday we started focusing on building our songs around Verses and Choruses.

Recap:
- What is a verse and how long is it usually?
- What is a chorus and how long is it usually?

New question: How many verses and choruses do you usually have in a song?

To help us get a general idea about this, everyone is going to listen on headphones to the T.I. song, "Whatever You Like" and count the number of verses and choruses. Before we start this though, let's identify together what the chorus in this song is...

» Get your own FREE music player

So there are two more parts of this song that I want you to pay attention to. The first one is the very beginning of the song, aka...

The Intro is the start of the song. Its purpose is to build suspense for the listener so that there is more excitement when the Verse or Chorus kicks in. There are lots of ways to make an intro; two really easy ones are to have the song start with either no drums or only the drums. An Intro is usually 2-4 bars long.

A little bit more complicated is something called a Prechorus...

A PreChorus is a little section that goes in between the Verse and the Chorus. Its purpose is to connect the two and make the transition between them a little smoother, or help create suspense so that the Chorus hits harder. Sometimes this is like a whole new musical section, other times it can just be the last part of the verse that always gets repeated along with the Chorus. The PreChorus is usually about 4 bars long. 

In "Whatever You Like",  the PreChorus is the part where he says "I want your body, need your body etc."  What else is happening the beat in this section? Any new instruments?

So, the whole song could be broken down like this...

Intro - Ch - V1 - (PreCh) Ch - V2 - (PreCh) Ch - V3 - (PreCh) Ch - V4 - (PreCh) Ch

How can you use this formula to apply to your songs?

Song Project - due 10/30

For the next 3 days (Monday, Tuesday, Thursday) you will be working on putting together a complete song and then turn it in for a grade.  Your song must include all the following elements to get full credit:

1. A Pop song structure, including an Intro, Verse, Chorus and Outro
2. At least 6 instruments - but only 1 Dr. Rex please!
3. Extra credit for including a Bridge or Pre Chorus.

This project will count as a DOUBLE QUIZ (20 points), so please be sure to get it in by the end of class on Thursday 10/30.

Song Structure (pt. 1) - Verse & Chorus

Alright, so we have been working hard learning all the main functions of Reason and how to put together really good loops. Now it's time to take all this information to start creating really polished pieces of music, aka SONGS!!!

Before we can really create songs though, it is probably a good idea to take a minute to think about how songs are put together. If you've never thought about it before, songs can seem like these big mysterious things, but the truth is that 95% of what we listen to follows a very consistent structure and formula, which you already know just from being a music listener.

A song is basically like telling a story. It has to have a certain flow to keep the listener's interest. There are

The Core

The core of most songs is just two parts switching off. These parts are:

1. The Verse
2. The Chorus (aka "the Hook")

The verse is where the main part of the song gets sung or rapped; it's where the singer/MC tells a story or lays out what he/she is trying to say. Normally, there aren't very many instruments in this part because you don't want the singer for the listener's attention. A verse is typically 16 bars long.

The chorus is the part that repeats several times throughout the song. It usually the most exciting part where people can sing along. Part of what usually makes a chorus exciting is that you have lots of instruments come in and everything gets louder. A chorus is typically 8 bars long.

So let's take a minute to analyze the song, "Disturbia" by Rihanna. Pay attention to where the verse and chorus switch up, and what goes on with the beat when they switch.
Rihanna - Disturbia by lcskier247

Friday Quiz 10/24

In today's quiz you will be remixing a sample from a popular TV show's theme song.

This will test your ability to change Dr. Rex sample loops using both PITCH and TIME. And in creating a 32 step Redrum drum beat that goes with the sample.

1. Go into the Pickupdropoff folder and find the Dr. Rex file called Dora.rx2. (Pickupdropoff>Runde>Pickup>Samples>Dora.rx2). Drag a copy to your folder.
   
2. Open Reason
3. Create a Dr. Rex
4. Click on the "Folder" in the upper left hand corner.
5. Select the Dora sample from your folder.
6. Click "TO TRACK"
7. Now we want to adjust the PITCH and TIME of the sample.
8. To do this we need to change two things:  To change the Time, change your Tempo. Set it to anything except what it says on the Dr. Rex.
9. To change the Pitch, use the keyboard on the Dr. Rex to change the pitch of your sample up or down.
10. Now create a Redrum and make a 32 step drum pattern using a Clap/Snare, Bass Drum, Hi Hat, and Percussion. 
11. Create a Dr. Rex. Load a Percussion Loop and adjust the PITCH. Put it "TO TRACK."
12. Save your beat as "(your name)_Quiz 10-24"
13. Put a copy in the Dropoff folder to get credit!!!  (Pickupdropoff>Runde>Dropoff>Period 5)

Have a great weekend!

Dr. Rex - working with slices

It seems like everyone is pretty comfortable these days with using the Dr. Rex and putting loops into their songs. Now let's take this all a step further and check out another way to work with Dr. Rex...slices!

Take a look at the main window of the Dr. Rex. What you are seeing is a waveform or picture of the actual sound wave of the sample you are using. If you look closely, you will see that this waveform is broken up into different sections. Each of these sections is called a slice.

When you hit the To Track button, Reason puts all of these slices into your song in order, so the whole sample plays back. BUT, if you want to, you can just play back the slices that you like using your keyboard.

When you load a sample into the Dr. Rex, the keys starting with C will all each have a slice assigned to them. You can play them the same way you would play the notes of another instrument.

So, today you're going to make a beat by playing the sounds from a Dr. Rex loop live. This is sort of complicated to explain, so we're going to work in a couple of steps.

Step 1

1. Start a new Reason file.
2. Create a Redrum drum machine
3. Make a SIMPLE drum beat using only a bass and a snare/clap.
4. Use Copy Pattern to Track to put the beat into your song for 2 bars (L marker on Bar 1, R marker on Bar 3)

Step 2

1. Now create a Dr. Rex
2. Find a drum loop that has some sounds you like and load it into the Dr. Rex (Reason Factory Sound Bank>Dr Rex Drum Loops)
3. Now find the keys on your keyboard that play the kick and snare from this loop.
4. Hit play and listen to your original Redrum beat.
5. Practice playing the kick and snare from the Dr. Rex along with the Redrum. The idea here is to play your drums at the same time as the ones in the Redrum.
   
6. When you've got it down, Record yourself playing along for 2 bars.
7. Quantize your performance to fix the timing.
8. Now MUTE the Redrum so that you only hear the Dr. Rex playing.

Step 3

Now I want you to fill out your song using the Dr. Rex. You can do this in a couple of different ways:

• You can make a more complicated beat from the drum loop you've been working with
• You can Create another Dr. Rex and load an Instrument Loop. Try playing different parts of the loop with your keyboard.

Save this as (your name)_drrexbeat.rns.  Put a copy in the Dropoff folder.