Holiday Tune Remix

You will use your new chord skills to remix a holiday tune.

Steps:

1. From the Pick-Up Folder Grade 10s get the Mixcraft file for Jingle Bells Mixcraft 6 or Jingle Bells Mixcraft 7, and Gr. 11s get Carol of the Bells Mixcraft 6 or Carol of the Bells Mixcraft 7.  Open the file. 
2. Use the chord sheet for Jingle Bells or Carol of the Bells to guide you through adding chords and bass to the midi melody.
3. Pick a style for your song (i.e. heavy metal, down tempo RnB, reggae, EDM, jazz, pop etc.)
4. Add a drum beat that matches your style.
5. Make your version original with
• instrument sounds
• intros/outros
• new tempos
• additional instruments
• sound effects
• anything you like
6. Give your song a new name. 
7. Mixdown to MP3 and upload to Soundcloud as well as submitting MX6 file to the folder by Tuesday, Dec 16.

Here are some examples to inspire you.  This is a Canadian group called the Synchronics.

Carol Rocks the Bells (Carol of the Bells) 

Dance the Halls (Deck the Halls)

Arrest Ye Merry Gangsta'man (God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen)

Jinglebell Rocksteady (Jingle Bell Rock)

Mary's Little Baby (Mary's Boychild)

Scratch

Join the Google Classroom for this class by using the code vk4kxl

Questions from the documentary will be on this page.

We will be watching the documentary film "Scratch" before visiting the Regent Park School of Music for a workshop and demo on DJing and Turntabling on Friday, Nov. 27 from 1-2PM.

When done the questions, try one of these online DJ tools to experience turntabling.

Mixify
Until AM

Playing with the four chords

SONGS in 4 CHORDS
Journey -- "Don't Stop Believing"
James Blunt -- "You're Beautiful"
Black Eyed Peas -- "Where Is the Love"
Alphaville -- "Forever Young"
Jason Mraz -- "I'm Yours"
Train -- "Hey Soul Sister"
The Calling -- "Wherever You Will Go"
Elton John -- "Can You Feel The Love Tonight" (from The Lion King)
Akon -- "Don't Matter"
John Denver -- "Take Me Home, Country Roads"
Lady Gaga -- "Paparazzi"
U2 -- "With Or Without You"
The Last Goodnight -- "Pictures of You"
Maroon Five -- "She Will Be Loved"
The Beatles -- "Let It Be"
Bob Marley -- "No Woman No Cry"
Marcy Playground -- "Sex and Candy"
Men At Work -- "Land Down Under"
Theme from America's Funniest Home Videos
Jack Johnson -- "Taylor"
Spice Girls -- "Two Become One"
A Ha -- "Take On Me"
Green Day -- "When I Come Around"
Eagle Eye Cherry -- "Save Tonight"
Toto -- "Africa"
Beyonce -- "If I Were A Boy"
Kelly Clarkson -- "Behind These Hazel Eyes"
Jason DeRulo -- "In My Head"
The Smashing Pumpkins -- "Bullet With Butterfly Wings"
Joan Osborne -- "One Of Us"
Avril Lavigne -- "Complicated"
The Offspring -- "Self Esteem"
The Offspring -- "You're Gonna Go Far Kid"
Akon -- "Beautiful"
Timberland featuring OneRepublic -- "Apologize"
Eminem featuring Rihanna -- "Love the Way You Lie"
Bon Jovi -- "It's My Life"
Lady Gaga -- "Pokerface"
Aqua -- "Barbie Girl"
Red Hot Chili Peppers -- "Otherside"
The Gregory Brothers -- "Double Rainbow"
MGMT -- "Kids"
Andrea Bocelli -- "Time To Say Goodbye"
Robert Burns -- "Auld Lang Syne"
Five for fighting -- "Superman"
The Axis of Awesome -- "Birdplane"
Missy Higgins -- "Scar"

ASSIGNMENT!

Grade 10s and NEW Grade 11s:

Make a Mixcraft file with the 4 Chords in C Major repeated 2 times
Create drum track to match.  (minimum kick, snare, hi-hat)


Here are the 4 chords.

Record each for one bar in this order.

Always use fingers 1, 3 and 5.

 1st bar

2nd Bar

3rd Bar

4th Bar

Repeat the four bar pattern one more time until you have 8 bars.

Now add a drum track to match it. 

Practice your chords while you listen to the track on loop.

You will be tested on your ability to PLAY these 4 chords next week. 

Returning Grade 11s and those with piano experience.

• Create an 8 Bar Mixcraft file using the 4 chords in G Major. 
• Create a drum track
• Create a Bass Track using only the ROOT note of each chord. 

The chords one bar each are in this order  I, V, vi, IV ( G Major, D Major, E Minor, C Major)

Repeat the pattern once to make your practice file 9 bars long. 

WATCH OUT FOR THE F# in the D Major Chord!

Be prepared to play the chords next week. 

Scales, Triads, and Chords

In Western Music, songs are made out of scales and chords.

Here is a C Major Scale:



The 8 notes of this scale are the white keys of the piano, starting on C and ending on C one octave higher.

The scale follows a specific pattern of intervals which is Whole Step, Whole Step, Half Step, Whole Step, Whole Step, Whole Step, Half Step. Every major scale follows this pattern, no matter what note the scale starts on.  More on that later.

A TRIAD is made up of three notes like this:

Triads look like snowmen!

Each triad is made up of a Root, a Third, and a Fifth

The triad is always named after the ROOT.
This Triad has a C as the Root, so this is a C Triad.

Triads are what make up Chords that we use to write our music.

Triads can be written on any degree of the scale.




The triad is always named after the ROOT note.

Project 5: Missing Drummer

Adele’s drummer went missing just as she was going to redo the drums in her hit single “Rolling In The Deep”. Now she is drummer-less and she desperately needs your help! Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to record a new drum part for this song.

Here is the project sheet.

Drum Practice

Download a drumless track from the following Youtube by using a Youtube to MP3 converter.

Open the MP3 in Mixcraft.
Set the BPM to the tempo of the original.(search online for this : title bpm)
Listen to the original and practice adding a drum track to the song with your MIDI keyboard.
Shorten the track to stop after two verses and a chorus.
Record your track.
Submit the new track to Soundcloud.

Project 4 Drum Beats Assignment

Today we will have an intro to MIDI drums.  Here are the resources you will need after the lesson.
Pay close attention to the lesson.

Assignment:
Record each one of these drum patterns once AND copy and paste it so that it is TWO bars long.
Remember:

• Always QUANTIZE to the 1/8 note after recording each part.
• SLOW down for recording.
• Press Oct -1 button for the correct sounds on the keyboard
• Choose the appropriate Drum Kit Sound for each style of music.
• Label each Track with the correct Drum Kit Pattern and Label each Sound Event box with the correct drum name. 
• Your Final Project will be 10 bars long for Grade 10s and 16 Bars long for Gr. 11s
• Speed up the tempo when you are done. 110 bpm is good. 
• To be completed: Thurs. Nov. 12
• Submit MX6 file. 

Grade 10s 1-5

Grade 11s 1-8

1. Kick, Snare, Closed Hi Hat Example: All Right Now - Free

2. Kick, Snare, Closed Hi Hat Example: Get Lucky- Daft Punk or Can't Get you Outta My Head - Kylie Monogue

3. Kick, Closed Kit Hat












4. Kick, Snare, Closed Hi-Hat



5. Kick, Snare, Crash




Grade 11's do 6 - 8 as well.
6. Ride, Hi Hat Pedal, Rim Knock (stick)  Example: Pink Panther Theme



7. Closed Hi Hat, Kick, Rim Knock (Stick) Example: Buffalo Soldier - Bob Marley

 

8. Kick, Snare, Closed Hi Hat Example: Rock Me Baby - BB King
Watch out for 3 Hi Hat notes in each beat! Set your quantize settings to"1/8 triplet notes"

Project 3a Creepy Scene Soundtrack - Gr. 10 and 11

Creepy Scene Video Project

You will replace the audio from a creepy movie scene.

Complete this BEFORE completing the "Spooky Music" Project

Get details on the project here on the project sheet. 

Updated Instuctions

 Add scrolling credits at the end of your video identifying yourself as 'Sound Editor." Watch this video to learn how to put titles into your video.

Project 3 Spooky Music

It is time for Halloween music!

Your task is to make a clip of music that tells a spooky Halloween story using music and sound effects from Mixcraft.
Length Requirements:
Grade 10: Minimum 30 seconds, Max 2 mins
Grade 11: Min 60 seconds, max 3 minutes

Basic Requirements:
Grade 10s; Use loops to make your song
Grade 11s: You must use at least one MIDI keyboard part in your song.

Both Gr. 10 and 11:
Use musical sounds to make the mood music AND "Sound Effect" sounds to tell a spooky story. Make it creepy, scary, and spooky!

Try importing any sound effects you don't find in Mixcraft from these sources:
Incompetech
Sound Bible
Free Sound

Try creating all of your own sounds using a variety of Virtual Instrument MIDI keyboard sounds.

Project 2: Texture and Layers

Grade 11s:
You will be composing a piece in Mixcraft that demonstrates your understanding of textures.

Your composition will:

• start with one sound alone 
• add a new sound every 4 bars 
• have a minimum of 4 layers (drums, bass, chord instrument, melody) but no maximum
• melody is made by YOU with a MIDI keyboard (use white keys on keyboard)
• If using loops, set Key to C Major so your white key melody will sound good
• Have one "Drop" where in rhythm or beat drops out and then is reintroduced.
• Optional:  compose any or all parts yourself using MIDI
• End your piece with a reverse texture by removing one part at a time in 4 bars intervals until there is only one sound left.  
• Length: Minimum 56  bars. No Maximum

Grade 10s:

 You will be composing a piece in Mixcraft that demonstrates your understanding of texture.

Your composition will be:

• start with one sound alone 
• add a new sound every 4 bars 
• have a minimum of 4 layers (drums, bass, chord instrument, melody) but no maximum
• Have one "Drop" where in rhythm or beat drops out and then is reintroduced.
• End your piece with a reverse texture by removing one part at a time in 4 bars intervals until there is only one sound left.  
• Length: Minimum 48 bars. No Maximum

Layers and Textures

Grade 10s and 11s

There are a few important textures in Music

Monophony (Mono=one, phony= sound)
Once voice or instrument sounding a melody alone without accompaniment.

Homophony

This is most common in popular music.  It consists of a melody sung or played over chords.

Polyphony
This is multiple lines of melody and counter-melody at the same time.

Texture can be thick (many layers of instruments at once) or thin (only a few layers of instruments at once)

Exercise: 

• With a partner, choose a song from an online source
• Identify the layers of sound that you hear in the first 30 seconds.  
• Identify what kind of texture it is (monophony, homophonic, or polyphonic) and whether the texture is "THICK" or "THIN" 
• Use "Paint" or a similar program to map out the texture you hear from each instrument or voice like the image above. 
• Label you line drawings with instrument names and texture terms
• Put a timeline across the top in seconds to mark where important textural changes happen.
• Label your file with your names and the title of the song.   
• Save as "Your Names Texture Drawing.jpg"  JPEG format
• Due at the end of class.  Submit to "Texture Drawings" folder. 

Submitting your Work

There are two places you must submit your work:

• Soundcloud  

and

• Moynihan AMM2O1 or Moynihan AMM3M1 Dropoff Folder

Soundcloud submission:

1. Make a Soundcloud account.
2. Mixdown your song to MP3 and listen to it all the way through. 
3. Upload the file to Soundcloud.
4. Tag the project #gr10amm or #gr11amm 
5. Title the Track to match the Project - Eg: "Project 1" 
6. Check to make sure it is searchable by searching for the tag.  Click "Everything" to see your file. 

Dropoff Folder Submission:

1. Mixdown your project to MP3 - Title the file "Project 1 Your Full Name. mp3"
2. Copy and Paste the file to "Moynihan AMM2O1" or "Moynihan AMM3M1" and the correct project folder.
3. Save As and rename your mx6 file to "Project 1 Your Full Name.mx6".
4. Copy and Paste the file to "Moynihan AMM2O1" or "Moynihan AMM3M1" and the correct project folder.

It is your responsibility to ensure your projects are submitted properly.  

Project 1

NEW UPDATES

Please read carefully and pay attention to instructions in class.  Grade 11s (AMM3M1) and Grade 10s (AMM2O1) have different projects.

Grade 10:
Introduction to Mixcraft
Open Mixcraft 6 from the desktop or in the program menu.


You will be creating a 12 bar composition using sound loops that has a Beginning, Middle, and End.


Objectives:

• To learn the basic functions of Mixcraft including, start-up, library, loops, tracks, editing editing length of loops. 
• Experimenting with track volume, pan, and FX including Mastering (Compressor).
• Mixing down to MP3.

Instructions:

1. Open a new project.  (File: New Project)
2. When prompted, name your project FIRST! Project 1 Your Name
3. Select "Build Loop and Beat Matched Music"
4. Open the Loop Library Tab.
   
5. Label your tracks as in the photo.
   
6. Undock the library to make it easier to navigate.
   
7. Sort by: Instrument
   
8. Choose Drums.  Note the way they are organized by Name, Tempo, # Bars, Instrument,  and Style.
   
9. Find a loop that is 4 bars long. "Audition" the Sounds by pressing the play button. 
10. Drag the name of the loop into the track pane when you have chosen a sound or sounds.  
11. Now find, another, different 4 bar sound.  Drag it into the same Track beside your first. 
12. Repeat this process again until you have 3 different 4 bar drum loops for a total of 12 bars. 
13. Now select the loop button. 
    
14. Now choose "Bass" as your instrument and repeat this process in a new track until you have 3 different 4 bar bass loops for a total of 12 bars.  Put the bass loops right above the drum loops.  
15. Repeat for a Chord instrument like Guitar or Piano and a melody instrument of your choice.  Here is an example what a complete project will look like.
    

NEW! Adjusting Volume, Pan, and Effects

1. After your project is done, you will make adjustments to the volume levels in order to balance the sounds of your project. Watch the demo to understand.  Here are some screenshots to help you afterwards.
2. 
   
   

Grade 11s:

• You will a song using loops in an AABA form.  
• Each section is 8 bars long using Drums, Bass, chord instrument and Melody. 
• You will be composing a melody for you song using MIDI keyboard. 
• Remember to write your melody in 4 bar phrases.  
• Choose a tempo for your song that is not the standard 120BPM
• You will use Track volume, pan, effects and Mastering before completing composition. 
• Mixdown to MP3 and submit as Mixcraft and MP3 format. 

Objectives:

• Review use of program.
• Review concepts of A section and B section.
• Review concepts of melody and phrases. 
• Review use of mastering and effects.  

You must select the KEY of your song as C in order to use the C major scale notes in your song. 

Make sure all your loops match this key.  

 C Major Scale Notes

Choosing the key of your song. 

Producer Trademark Logo

After you have completed the "Who Am I?" presentation, create your own trademark logo that includes your Producer name and an image or icon that represents you. Your trademark logo will be displayed on the classroom wall.

Your submission must:

1. include your producer name
2. include an icon or image that represents you
3. be no bigger than a regular 8.5 by 11 sheet of paper
4. be handmade or digitally created

Due Thursday, Sept. 24

Only 1 copy allowed to be printed by each student in the classroom!  Please think before you print!

Some examples: