Music Technology Skills

1. Music Technology Skills “Creating and editing your own electronic music”

2. Music Technology Skills This task allows you to complete outcome 2 of “music Technology Skills”, a unit required to pass the course. To do this you must show: • You can effectively use Equalisation (EQ) • Apply time domain and other effects (e.g. reverb, delay, compression) • Include “Panning”, “volume” and “automation” techniques

3. Create a space for your work • On your computer, create a folder in mydocuments/musictechstudent with your name.

4. Recording Evidence As you progress through this course, you must create evidence. We will do this through a power point. (You each need your own power point presentation) You should add a slide to your power point at the end of each lesson. Go to… www.balweariemusictech.weebly.com and download the “example PowerPoint” to: Mydocuments/MusicTechStudents/(Your folder) With the file name (yourname)musicskills1

5. Creating your own music and radio show: Music Technology Skills You will use “Soundation” to create a composition. • Choose 2 different sounds which will be used in track 1 and 2. (They do not need to start at the same time and you can change their length) • Adjust the volume of tracks 1 and 2 so that you are happy with the level of each and can hear both sounds. Don't forget your powerpoint!!

6. Panning Panning refers to how much of a track will be sent to each speaker. • Choose 1 or more of your tracks and, using the “Panning” button, change which speaker the sound can be heard from. Don't forget your powerpoint!!

7. Automation At the moment you should have tracks which have their volume and panning set differently, but are constant throughout them. • Select the “Automate” drop down box on one track. Start by selecting volume. You can adjust how the volume will change throughout the music by moving the line. • Follow the same instructions but this time alter the panning present in the track. Don't forget your powerpoint!!

8. Equalisation Changing the EQ will remove higher or lower frequencies from the music, giving it a very different sound. • Select a track and select “FX”. • Choose “Equalizer”. Try increasing and decreasing the different frequencies (low, middle and high). What effects do you hear? (Hint: Choosing “S” on your track “Solos” it – it will be the only track which can be heard. Don't forget your powerpoint!!

9. Other Effects Your composition should make use of at least 2 of the following effects • Filter • Reverb • Compression • Delay • Tremolo • Phaser • You will be shown what each of these concepts do. Use the music effects power point (available on Weebly and on your computer) to help you understand what they do. Try these by “Solo-ing” a track and adding the effect. Don't forget your powerpoint!!

10. Completing a soundation file You must each complete your own individual “Soundation” file of around 1 minute in length. It must: • Have at least 4 different tracks • Make use of differences in volume, panning and automation • Make effective and creative use of different equalisation (EQ) • Use at least 2 other effects Don't forget your powerpoint!!

11. Soundation Once completed, export your Soundation file as a .wav file to your folder in mydocuments / musictechstudents (What is the difference between an mp3 file and a wav file? Why do you think we are using a wav file?) Open up your audio using “Audacity”.

12. Tempo Change Don't forget your powerpoint!! Try changing the tempo of your track using Audacity. To do this… • Load your .wav file in Audacity. • Select the track (quick way – click the tracks grey box on left of your screen) • Select “Effects” and “Change Tempo” • Choose a percent change and click “OK”. Be subtle - you can try a few changes and use "undo"

13. Normalize and export Normalising a track ensures the loudest sound is only just off the highest point without distorting. It ensures all tracks on CDs etc are the same volume. • Select your track and choose effect – normalize • Export your track as an mp3 as we will upload it to the internet. (why mp3 and not .wav?) Don't forget your powerpoint!!

14. Collecting the evidence! At the start of this power point we learnt that we need to collect evidence as we progress. We will now store this on your own “Weebly” site. • Go to www.weebly.com • Use the login and password you agreed with your teacher to login. • Design your own “Weebly” page. • Upload 2 files: Your completed power point logbook and your mp3 file. • Record any concepts you understand or have covered in your paper glossary