RadioEdu Week 12: Part Two

December 13th, 2013 by WLOY Staff

Concepts: Cutting Loops, Advanced Editing, Recording Vocals over Soundbeds

While M worked on mixing and finalizing her track, J was working on another ‘Top Ten’ list, this time thinking more about how the loop would sound under what he was planning. He decided to do a ‘Top Ten Worst Video Game Cliches’ and already had a vision of what the track would sound like.

He selected a few different basslines that he liked, and then cut them up and rearranged the audio samples into his own groove. He manipulated the audio slices and even began to comfortably use the ‘reverse selection’ function to enhance his new bassline. J has developed a go-to method that he uses for this process, which involves keeping the original audio file intact on a separate, muted track. This allows him to easily go back and cut out the sections he wants. I’m going to post screenshots of J and M’s arrangement so that everyone can see the detailed cutting and editing of the looped segments.

After recording this, J did a quick mixdown of the 30 second clip and looped it under his ‘Top Ten.’ We then listened and mixed it Thursday morning. M wanted to add some drums to J’s original bassline, so Thursday I had her and J work together to accomplish this task. M did an excellent job chopping up the beats and layering them in, and realized that it’s often quite difficult to add drums to an already existing line, especially if that piece was done without drums to begin with.
The project was more an exercise in working to place audio visually, as M used the waveforms to line up the hits, just as she did in her 30 second track from Wednesday.

We finished the session with M recording a recipe segment where she walked the listeners through creation of one of her favorite meals. Make sure to keep posted for this file next week!

J’s Top Ten Cliches

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J and M Combo

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RadioEdu Week 12: Part One

December 13th, 2013 by WLOY Staff

Concepts: Cutting Loops, Advanced Editing, Recording Vocals over Soundbeds

This was a tremendously productive week for the students! We covered so many valuable topics that I need to write a two part blog entry to cover everything. Since we had two abbreviated yet successful weeks, this was a very invigorating week and the students demonstrated that they have not forgotten anything during our shortened sessions.

We began by revisiting J’s piece from last week: his first attempt at recording a ‘Top Ten’ over a looped soundbed that he created. The students listened to the mix and provided their feedback, and J was able to analyze his mix and offer input on the things that he did and what he would change. I also briefly introduced the Phaser effect, and the students had fun listening to the impact it had on morphing audio, especially vocals and drum sounds. We will revisit the Phaser next week.

Since the students had two snow days this week, I decided to have them do an impromptu radio show about the things that they liked and disliked about the snow, and what they did during their time off. The purpose of this exercise was to emphasize the importance of transitions and smoothness during a radio show, and they have noticeably improved their abilities to talk with little downtime!

In the Wednesday afternoon session, we focused on more advanced skills involved in manipulating and editing audio loops. We reviewed the previous techniques, and both J and M were given the task to create a 30-40 second track that would serve as a soundbed for a segment that they were to record at the end of the session.

M began right away, and started with a drum track and then layered in some piano, sound fx, and synths. She came up with the arrangement herself, and cut and looped the audio to match what she envisioned. She then worked through the mix herself to optimize the sound.

On to part 2!

M’s Beat

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RadioEdu Week 10 & 11

December 6th, 2013 by WLOY Staff

Concepts: Advanced Audio Editing, Interview Skills

Hello everyone! The last two weeks have been abbreviated due to Thanksgiving and holiday travel plans, so I’ve decided to do a quick post combining the session notes for each week. We’ve been focusing on expanding our editing skills, and further building on the techniques involved in creating loop-based compositions. Thanksgiving week, J was able to work in depth on a piece he’s envisioned as the backdrop soundbed for one of his ‘Top Ten’ lists. In creating the piece, he was able to select several source audio files and cut them into individual slices, and then process several of the slices.

Through this project, he discovered the ‘reverse selection’ function and began to experiment with organizing his cut audio into completely new clips, integrating several of the newly reversed slices. This is a very advanced concept and requires precision with cutting and a solid ear for layering the resulting clips. He then created a working soundbed from his track and recorded himself speaking over it, marking the first session in which one of the students recorded over a soundbed that they created!

I also had J take a few moments to teach his classmates some of his secrets for chopping and pasting audio. I’ve posted the resulting short beat that he created to show them. He looped a drum break and then cut a vocal line and matched it using the visual element of the waveforms.

Since we had only one session the week of 12/2, we focused on reviewing interview skills and discussing future plans. As a proof of concept, we did a 15 minute ‘talk show’ and the students have all improved so much in their confidence levels, question asking, and with the ‘unseen’ skills such as mic awareness.

We look forward to getting back on our regular schedule next week!

J’s ‘Happy Waves’ Soundbed

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J Top Ten Worst Characters

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J Teaching Cuts

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