Survey Day

Today we have a couple things to take care of before you continue on your projects. If you check your BAVC email you will see that you have received two emails from DPaudioA.

One of the emails has a link to a Post-Survey that we need you to fill out today. This survey gives us an idea of what you have learned since the beginning of this course.

The other email has a flyer attached that is for next years Digital Pathways programing. This flyer is for you to pass on to anyone you think may be interested in participating in DP programing next school year.


After you have finished the survey, please continue working on your 3D gaming songs or your personal projects.

Thanks!

Four Weeks Left!

I hope you all enjoyed the field trip to "The Zoo" on Tuesday! What did you think of seeing a professional studio?  


Here is a picture of the Studio we visited:

For those of you who couldn't make it, we also had the privileged of meeting Goapele!  She is a Bay area artist that records in the studio we visited and her record label is in the building as well. Here is a picture of Goapele in "The Zoo" hallway with Mos Def!

Moving on...
I looked at the calendar and after today we only have 8 classes left.  Before the end of the year you will need to finish the following projects:

1. Creative Recording Projects
2. Song for 3D Gaming
3. Making a Portfolio of your work (Details to come)
4. Any other Project you want to do while you have access to Reason, Pro Tools and a Studio. 


3D Gaming Projects:

1. Cyber-Pro: Trance/Electronica SAMANTHA
2. Color the World: BUFFY
3. Food Fight: Horror/Electronica KATYA
4. Nutrition Fiction: DANIKA
5. Bee Game: BREANNA
6. Grocery Store: up beat or calm and relaxing DANIELLE
7. Spaceship: Hip Hop/Trip Hop: BRITTNEE
8. Fisherman's Warf Biker: HANNA

3D Collaboration

Hello!

Today we will begin working on music for the 3D Gaming Class. We will review the games that the gaming students are creating and assign one game to each of you.

When creating music for these games, think about the atmosphere you are creating with your music. Since the songs are going to be repeated over and over as the game is played make sure the music is easy to listen to for a long period of time. Create a song that has a pace and mood that fits the theme of the game.

Try using Pads, Runs, the Matrix Pattern Sequencer or Monophonic Arpeggiator to create a mood and set the pace for the game.

As always, making this song will be a process of trial and error in order to create the atmosphere that you are looking for.

Good Luck!

Welcome Back!

Hello Class! I hope you all had a wonderful spring break.  There are a few things we need to think about as we begin the last 'trimester' of this class....

Final Projects

Today we will continue working on Final projects.  The Studio is available for recording sessions as usual so don't be shy to get in there and make it happen!

 

Collaborating with 3D Gaming 

On Thursday we will begin a collaboration project with the 3D Gaming class. They are each making a video game and need some music to match the mood of their game.  We can help them with that -more details to come on Thursday!

Felice's job Search Workshop

Next Tuesday April 12th Felice will be joining us for a Job Search workshop.  Please be sure to come on time and give her your undivided attention. 

Field Trip

On Tuesday April 19th we will be taking a small field trip to a professional studio in Oakland.  If you are coming from the East Bay we may want to meet you out there.  Please let us know so we can arrange the details.

Last Day of Class?

The last day of class will be Thursday May 19

Graduation

We will be having a final event with all of the Digital Pathways programs that is tentatively scheduled for Wednesday June 1st.  We will showcase some projects from all the classes so please invite your friends and family!

Adding Reverb To Audio Tracks in Pro Tools

Now that we've had some time to learn about recording, let's get into adding some FX to what we've recorded. If you remember, we learned about adding FX inside of Reason. In Pro Tools, it's going to be different. There are different types of audio editing. Commonly used terms are Destructive and Non-Destructive editing. Destructive editing happens when you make edits directly to the audio file. These edits are non-reversible and therefor considered destructive. Non-Destructive editing is editing that doesn't have any effect on the audio file itself. The results of a Non-Destructive editing are reversible, so if you make a change now that you later decide you don't like, you can easily make adjustments without having to worry about your audio file being potentially damaged. Let's look at how we can use Non-Destructive Editing to add FX to an audio track in Pro Tools.


1. Open Pro Tools


2. Open a Pro Tools Session that contains recorded audio.


3. Create a Master Fader Track. This will help us to monitor and make any necessary adjustments to the volume of your session.

4. Notice the Master Fader track on the screen? You can now make adjustments to the overall volume if you hear any distortion in your session. Notice that there is no Mute or Solo buttons on this track.

5. Now that we have the Master Fader, let's create a new track. This track is called an Aux Input. If you want to add an effect such as Reverb, you may want to use a Mono Aux Input. If you want to add Delay, you may want to use a Stereo Aux Input.

6. Notice the Aux Input track has a Solo and a Mute button. Also notice that there is no audio input, indicated by the No Input on the I/O section.

7. We're going to add an input to our Aux track. Click "No Input" and change that by going to Bus > Bus 1 (If you have mono) or Bus 1-2 (If you have stereo).

8. Now that we have our audio input, we need to Insert an effect. For this demonstration I'll insert a reverb into our track.

9. With our reverb now created, we will take our audio track and send it to our aux input.

10. You should now see 2 things on the screen. One is the reverb effect. On the reverb effect we can control the type of reverb we want, the size of the reverb and a few other settings. On the other small pop-up we can control just how much of that effect do we want on our audio track.

11. Make adjustments to the reverb (or whichever effect you're using) until you feel that you have the sound you're looking for.


Keep in mind the following things:


1. Your Master Fader should ALWAYS be Stereo.


2. Your Aux Input tracks can be Mono or Stereo depending on the effect you want.


3. You can send multiple audio tracks to an Aux Input.


4. You can create multiple Aux Input tracks.


5. Your different Aux Input tracks will need to be assigned to different Buses.

Announcements

Hey Audio A Students,

We've been doing a great job so far working on our projects and recording. There's a few announcements that need to be made for this week.

1. Friday, March 18 - Makeup Lab (also a time to schedule personal recording projects in the DAS...). Chris Runde (of Audio B) will be running this make-up lab. If you would like to use this time to work on any new music, make-up music, or schedule sometime to work on music in the DAS, we must know ASAP so that we can notify Chris.

2. Tuesday, March 22 - Job Readiness Workshop (this is a mandatory class for all Digital Pathways students. If you absolutely CAN'T make it on that day, you must email Felice and ask her how you can make it up - felice@bavc.org)

3. Thursday, March 24 - BAVC is having a Members Event and needs help recording audio for a podcast. This would be first hand experience recording a live event to be broadcasted on the internet. You would be assisting Chris Runde for this assignment. Any students interested should let us know ASAP so that we can notify Chris Runde.

4. March 28-April 1 - Spring Break. No Class! However, if anyone would like to schedule time for recording sessions during the week, talk to me and we'll see what we can work out. The sooner the better - DON'T call me up randomly in the middle of the week and be like, "Can I come through right now?" Chris Runde will be in attendance in this office throughout the Spring Break.


5. After Spring Break we will begin working on a collaborative project with students from 3D Gaming. 3D Gaming is looking for music and sounds for their projects and they'll be needing assistance from us! More information on this project will be available when we arrive from Spring Break.

Projects to work on

 Finish Trailer Project

• Sound Fx
• Dialog Replacement
• Music Score

Start Creative Final Project  

For your final project we want you have a polished creative audio project of your choice.  You are lucky to have access to Reason, Pro Tools and a Studio, so use what you have learned in class and make it happen! Take your time -make this your best work!

Project Ideas:

1. Full Song with recorded Vocals or Instrument
2. Video Post Production
3. Short Story with Sound Fx
4. A Capella or Acoustic Song
5. If you have other project ideas please let us know!

Things to think about as you get started....

• What do you want your project to be?
• Get Organized!
• Figure out what you will need to complete your project 
• Should you find someone to collaborate with?
• Song Arrangement
• Intro, Verses, Chorus, Outro
• Lyrics
• Verses, Chorus
• Mixing
• Panning, Volume, Reverb, EQ, Fx
• Don't be afraid to ask for help and advice!

ALSO...

TUESDAY MARCH 22: Mandatory Job Readiness Workshop

It is during our regular class time so make sure you come on time!