Intro to Digital Music Production and Recording
Prerequisite:
Open to students entering grade(s): 6 - 12
Course Description:
Do you love music? Do you want to “make it big” as a recording artist or record producer some day? Do you want to learn how to create your own album? Students in this course will learn skills to compose and produce music digitally. This will include creating and arranging original music using pre-recorded samples and loops, layering different musical elements, and recording live sounds. Students will learn techniques of how to manipulate music digitally, record using high fidelity sound, and produce music in the form of a short collaborative album
Learner Outcomes:
Students will:
- Students will create original music using sampled sounds.
- Students will identify musical elements in professionally produced music.
- Students will identify, define, and manipulate elements of music in original compositions.
- Students will record high-fidelity live sounds.
- Students will properly set a microphone input level and EQ for singing and/or instruments.
- Students will demonstrate how the placement of a microphone in a room changes the recording.
- Students will collaboratively produce a short album.
Methodology:
Students will use GarageBand (Mac) software to record sounds and create original music using pre-recorded samples. Students will engage in listening, collaboration, and independent work. Students will record live sounds and manipulate both live and pre-recorded sounds using digital tools. Students will learn proper terminology for various elements of music and experiment with the effects of changing various elements. Students will test out their ideas and "tinker" with a few short song projects. Students will select the "tinkering" that they like best to expand on and turn into a complete song, which will then be collaboratively combined into a short album.
NOTE--students should bring a MacBook Laptop with GarageBand software already installed (built-in on Mac computers) AND headphones.