GarageBand Project: Instructions

Transcription

1 GarageBand Project: Instructions You are going to learn how to create electronic music using GarageBand. Famous artists like Rihanna, Usher, Justice and Oasis have used GarageBand to aid in the creation of and even produce songs. For example, Rihanna s Umbrella uses Vintage Kit 03 from the premade Apple loops. Whether you use loops or tracks for composing, keep these basic composition skills in mind when creating your music: 1. Beats and bass first: Layer starting with your beats (ie drums/drum machine) first, then bass, then harmonies and melody. It is MUCH easier to add a melody to a beat than a beat to a melody. 2. Magic 8 bar phrase: Electronic dance music is usually in 4/4 time, meaning there are 4 beats in each bar. In general, each phrase lasts for about 8 bars. Keep the magic 8 bar phrase in mind when recording so that your phrases don t sound cut off or transition at a weird time. (You can easily tell whether or not you are doing this by checking the number grid as well as listening without looking at the screen.) Basic Controls 1. Use this button to choose more instruments. 2. Use this button to see the tracks already recorded/go back to current instrument. 3. Make sure you have enough bars set up to record onto by pressing the + sign. 4. FX will allow you to add special DJ effects.

2 Loops Choose the genre (e.g. hip hop, dubstep) you are most interested in composing. The picture below shows the first buttons to know to get started: 1. Record/playback - Use these to navigate the length of the song and to record tracks. When recording, make sure the cursor is where you want to start playing. 2. Apple loops - The genre comes with a grid of loops already laid onto the grid, but you can find up to 1,640 loops that you can use to make it more your own! 3. Grid editor - You can move around and record into loop cells using this function. This will allow you to create your own layering of loops. 4. Trigger - These act like transition points. If you arrange your loops from trigger 1 going forward, it will be very easy to record because all you have to do is press the record button and then each trigger button in sequence to record the whole song. This makes transitions much easier! Here is a fabulous and thorough article about composing with GarageBand loops:

3 Tracks For the purpose of our assignment, choose only smart instruments for recording unless you are confident that you can match the beats accurately. Remember : Add drums, then bass and anything else only after drums/bass are done. Smart Drums 1. Drum type: Choose the type of drum set you want by pressing the 2. The dice roll will set a random mixing of instruments, complexity and dynamic. 3. Increase the volume and complexity of instruments by moving instruments around on the grid.

4 Smart Bass, Guitar, Etc. 1. Choose the bass/instrument sound you want. 2. Chords/notes switch: Choose whether you want to play individual notes or chords (ie harmonies). 3. Autoplay: With chords, you can dial up the autoplay to increase in complexity. 4. Choose the key you want the instrument to play in. Make sure you remember which key you chose for the bass so that each instrument you add later will match. (i.e. If you choose Dm, meaning D minor, for the bass choose D minor for instruments you layer over top of that part.)

5 Very Important: How to Save Your Work on Shared ipads It is important that you save your work every time that we work on ipads. The ipads at school are shared so files could be deleted from the device. How to save work digitally: 1. Press the song for a long time and then save your title using this format: Title of song (Full name of student) Example: Journey - by Ms. Lisa Jensen AKA DJ LJ **Notice the capitals for a title. You can add a DJ name but use your real name too.** 2. Press select in the right hand corner. 3. Choose the song you want to save. It will have a blue border when selected. 4. Press the share icon in the left-hand corner. 5. If work is NOT done: i. Select itunes and save as a project. If you save as a song, you will not be able to continue work. ii. If you go back to your ipad and your song has been deleted, you can press the + sign and select Copy from itunes File Sharing to retrieve the project. 6. If work IS done: i. Sign into Google Drive using Drive app in Google apps section If you do not have an account, sign up for one using any address. You can save all your important files there, so you can access them anywhere whenever you need them! ii. Go back to the GarageBand app, and share the song by choosing Copy to Drive. (Double check that your song title has your name in it. Otherwise this is like a paper assignment handed in with no name written on it.) iii. Find the uploaded file in the Drive app and submit to the teacher by sharing to <drsmusicvideos@gmail.com>. iv. Sign out of Google Drive by pressing the bottom left-hand section with your address on it, press Manage and then Remove. v. Congratulations, you are done!

6 GarageBand Project: Rubric Exanding 5 pts Practicing 4 pts Developing 3 pts Beginning 2 pts Instruments/ Loops Student has more than four Student chose their own triggers and recorded their own loop. Student has four Student chose their own triggers. Student has three Student used some of their own triggers. Student has two or less Student recorded the premade triggers. Flow Composition has a logical beginning, middle, and end. Build-up, climax, and fade out make sense. Composition follows a somewhat logical progression of beginning, middle, and end. Build-up, climax, and fade out somewhat make sense. Composition does not present a clear beginning, middle, and end. Build-up, climax, and fade out are confusing and do not make sense. Composition lacks any sense of beginning, middle and end. Build-up, climax, and fade out are non-existent. Form are consistently an appropriate length which transition seamlessly and logically. are generally an appropriate length and transition seamlessly and logically. are sometimes an appropriate length or transitions need reworking. are not an appropriate length or transitions are abrupt or confusing. Melody Student creates a piece with a logical Student creates a piece with a generally logical Student creates a piece with a somewhat logical Student creates a piece made with a confusing Total: / 20 Teacher comments: