Introduction to Music Technology

Audio Production Exercise
Creating a Multitrack Audio Production

This exercise will give you the opportunity to work in a more typical recording studio environment, allowing you to create, edit and mix multiple audio tracks. MIDI tracks can be used too if working in a DAW environment.

DAWs are very powerful music applications and can take a very long time to learn well. This exercise should be considered an introduction to this class of music applications. Learn more about DAWs at Wikipedia.

Some audio editors, like Audacity, allow you to create multitrack recordings. These editors might not give you the musical features found in most DAWs, but many times an audio editor may be all you need to create a multitrack production.

Instructions

The Audio Exercise can be done in a DAW or an audio editor like Audacity. Your exercise should contain at least 3 tracks - one voice, one music, one sound effects. The more tracks you include the better.

Some possible "themes" for this exercise include a commercial, a public service announcement, a narration, a poem or a scene from a movie or game.

Here's an example commercial from a previous semester.

The voice track can be an original recording or you can use a recording from the web. If you don't have any ideas for a voice track you can download this file into your folder. (Right-click on the link and choose the appropriate command from the popup menu. Note: this audio file will have to be edited in places, giving you some practice in editing in your audio editor.

Here 's another example - using the file you can download above.

If working in a DAW the music track can be audio or MIDI - an audio loop, a MIDI loop (i.e. a software instrument loop, or an audio or MIDI recording. (In the lab you can record on the KRONOS.)

If working in an audio editor nost likely you will not be able to use loops as you usually do.

The sound effect track should be audio - as we did in the Soundtrack Project. (If working in the lab you can also create a MIDI sound effect track using the sound effects provided in GarageBand.)

Your project should be a minimum length of 30 seconds.

When completed you should send an mp3 or m4a version of your work to the assignment address.