Music Technology Skills

“Creating and editing your own electronic music”

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

Create a space for your work

On your computer, create a folder in mydocuments/musictechstudent with your name.

Recording EvidenceAs 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

Creating your own music and radio show: Music Technology Skills

You will use “Soundation” to create a composition.

1. 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)

2. Adjust the volume of tracks 1 and 2 so that you are happy with the level of each and can hear both sounds.

Panning

Panning refers to how much of a track will be sent to each speaker.

3. Choose 1 or more of your tracks and, using the “Panning” button, change which speaker the sound can be heard from.

Automation

At the moment you should have tracks which have their volume and panning set differently, but are constant throughout them.

4. 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.

5. Follow the same instructions but this time alter the panning present in the track.

Equalisation

Changing the EQ will remove higher or lower frequencies from the music, giving it a very different sound.

6. Select a track and select “FX”.7. 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.

Other Effects

Your composition should make use of at least 2 of the following effects

Filter Reverb Compression Delay Tremolo Phaser

8. 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.

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

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”.

Tempo ChangeTry changing the tempo of your track using Audacity.

To do this…1. Load your .wav file in Audacity.2. Select the track (quick way – click the tracks grey

box on left of your screen)

3. Select “Effects” and “Change Tempo”

4. Choose a percent change and click “OK”.

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.

1. Select your track and choose effect – normalize2. Export your track as an mp3 as we will upload it to

the internet. (why mp3 and not .wav?)

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.

1. Go to www.weebly.com2. Use the login and password you agreed with your

teacher to login.3. Design your own “Weebly” page.4. Upload 2 files: Your completed power point

logbook and your mp3 file.5. Record any concepts you understand or have

covered in your paper glossary