Podcast Questions

Podcast due 4/30


who are you going interview?



whose music are you going to use?





whose going to conduct the interview?





what music are you going to play?

Putting Your Beat Into Song Format

Today we are going to start putting our beats into song format.

1. Open Reason.
2. Choose one of the beats that we have made recently to put into song format.
   
3. Make sure you have all your parts Copied To Track.
4. Highlight all your parts.
5. Go to the Edit Window, Select Copy.
6. Go to the Edit Window, Select Paste.
7. Move the Right Loop Point to 33.
8. Paste your parts until you get to the Right Loop Point.
9. Save your beat.
10. Focus on the Intro from 1-9. The best intros make the listener want to hear more, the worst make the listener skip to the next song. The intro usually drops one of the parts from the beat. If you drop the drums or the bass line, it can cause some tension, and bring the listener in.
11. Delete a part such as the drums or bass line to "Introduce" your beat.
12. Now we can work on the Verse.
13. Remember, from last week, the verse is the part of the song that tells the story and is different every time.
14. We want to create space for a vocalist in our verse.
15. From 17-33, delete the melody from your song.
16. Now, we have 3 sections. The Intro from 1-9, the Chorus from 9-17, and the Verse from 17-33.
17. Highlight all the parts between 9-33.
18. In the Edit window, select Copy.
19. In the Edit window, select Paste two times.
20. Now Highlight all the parts between 9-17.
21. In the Edit window, select Copy.
22. Move your cursor to 81.
23. In the Edit window, select Paste twice.
24. From 89-97 Create an Outro by deleting all the parts except for your melody.
25. Save your beat!

Let's Make A New Beat!

We have uploaded our first beat onto our imeem accounts so let's make a new beat to turn into a song. Follow the steps below to help you get creative!

1. Open Reason.
2. Create an M-Class Mastering Suite Combi
3. Create a Mixer 14:2
4. Create a Dr. Rex.
5. Load a sound from either the Dr. Rex Instrument Loops or the Music Loops.
6. Click To Track.
7. Set your tempo to go with the Dr. Rex Loop.
8. Create a Redrum.
9. Make a 32 step drum pattern with...
10. A clap, snap, or snare drum on 5 and 13
11. A Bass Drum on 1 and a few other boxes
12. At least two other sounds from the High Hat folder, Percussion Hi, Percussion Other, FX, or Glitch.
13. Copy the Pattern to Track.
14. Create one of the Soft Synth Instruments .
15. Make a melody with the soft synth that goes with the Dr. Rex Loop. Make the melody.
16. Add another part using a Soft Synth.
17. Save your beat as Wednesday Rocks!

Exporting Your Song And Publishing To Your Blog

Today we are going to continue working on putting our beat into song format. If you have finished your song then follow the steps below to publish it. If you still need to work on the song. Find the step you were on last week and continue from there.

1. Listen to your remix. Is it finished? If so, continue with the steps below. If not open the lesson from last week and continue from where you left off.
   
2. Open your the song you were working on Friday, go to the File menu and select Export Song as Audio File, this converts the song into a file that can be played on Windows Media or a CD.
3. Name Your Song and Click Save.
   
4. Click Export.
5. Use the mp3 converting program on your computer to turn your wav file into an mp3.
6. Go to imeem.com and log into your account.
   
7. Go to your imeem.com homepage.
8. Click Upload.
9. Select Upload Music and Put On My Profile.
10. Click Upload.
    
11. Browse the computer and find your song in mp3 format.
12. Click Start Upload.
13. After it has finished Uploading, go to embed and COPY the code to embed the song.
14. Log into your blog.
15. Create a New Post and PASTE the code into the post.
16. Write 4 sentences about the song.
17. Publish Post.

Wednesday Rocks!

1. Open Reason.
2. Create an M-Class Mastering Suite Combi
3. Create a Mixer 14:2
4. Create a Dr. Rex.
5. Load a sound from either the Dr. Rex Instrument Loops or the Music Loops.
6. Click To Track.
7. Set your tempo to go with the Dr. Rex Loop.
8. Create a Redrum.
9. Make a 32 step drum pattern with...
10. A clap, snap, or snare drum on 5 and 13
11. A Bass Drum on 1 and a few other boxes
12. At least two other sounds from the High Hat folder, Percussion Hi, Percussion Other, FX, or Glitch.
13. Copy the Pattern to Track.
14. Create one of the Soft Synth Instruments .
15. Make a melody with the soft synth that goes with the Dr. Rex Loop. Make the melody.
16. Add another part using a Soft Synth.
17. Save your beat as Wednesday Rocks!

Makin' Beats

Today, you will be asked to create a couple parts using notes from the C minor scale that go with a drum beat.

1. Open Reason
2. Make sure you have a Mixer 14:2
3. Set Tempo between 70-110 bpm
   
4. Create a Redrum and make a 32 step drum pattern using a Clap or Snap, Bass Drum, Hi Hat, and Percussion. Make sure you put the sounds on appropriate boxes!
5. On the Redrum, Copy Pattern To Track.
6. Now Create Combinator: choose any instrument in the Combinator folder.
7. Create a melody using notes from the C minor scale. Use between 3 and 5 different notes.
8. When you have finished making your melody, quantize it.
   
9. Create a Dr. Rex. Load a Percussion Loop and put it "To Track."
10. Try adding some more parts using other Soft Synths (Subtractor, Malstrom, NN19, NNXT)
11. Let me hear what you got!

Bass Lines

We've been working on making melodies. Today we are going to start making bass lines.

To demonstrate this technique we are going to remake the bass line from Too Short's single "Blow the Whistle" then recreate the drum beat. Too Short- Blow The Whistle (instrumental) uploaded by beanycastillo

1. Open Reason
2. Make sure you have a Mixer 14:2
3. Set Tempo at 100 bpm
4. Create a Subtractor
5. On The Subtractor, click on the folder in the upper left hand corner.
6. Go to Reason Factory Sound Bank: Subtractor Patches: Bass: Dodger Bass.zyp
7. Now let's add the Bass line from Blow the Whistle, which is in C minor!
8. Move your Right Loop Point to R3
9. I'll show you how to play the bass line.
10. After you feel like you have the part under your fingers, record it and quantize it.
    
11. Create a Redrum.
12. Listen to the Instrumental of Blow the Whistle.
    
13. What sounds do they use?
14. What boxes do you think they go on?
15. Recreate the drum beat from Blow the Whistle.
16. Copy Pattern To Track.
17. Save as (Your Name) Blow the Whistle.

Melody and Drum Beat

Today, you will be asked to create a melody using notes from the C minor scale that goes along with a drum beat.

1. Open Reason
2. Make sure you have a Mixer 14:2
3. Set Tempo between 70-110 bpm
   
4. Create a Redrum and make a 32 step drum pattern using a Clap or Snap, Bass Drum, Hi Hat, and Percussion. Make sure you put the sounds on appropriate boxes!
5. On the Redrum, Copy Pattern To Track.
6. Now Create Combinator: choose any instrument in the NN19 folder.
7. Create a melody using notes from the C minor scale. Use between 3 and 5 different notes.
8. When you have finished making your melody, quantize it.
   
9. Create a Dr. Rex. Load a Percussion Loop and put it "To Track."
10. Try adding some more parts using other Soft Synths (Subtractor, Malstrom, NN19, NNXT)
11. Let me hear what you got.
12. Check out my Rihanna remix

Usher's Yeah!

Today we are going to remake the melody from the song Yeah, which is in C minor. I'm going to show you how to do the melody. And then I want you to listen to this instrumental and figure out the drum beat.

1. Open Reason
2. Make sure you have a Mixer 14:2
3. Set Tempo to 104 bpm.
4. Push the Click Button on the Transport.
   
5. Create a Subtractor.
6. On the Subtractor, click on the folder in the upper left hand corner.
   
7. Go to Reason Factory Sound Bank: Subtractor Patches: Mono Synths: 80's Dance Ld.zyp
8. Change the loop points to L1-R3
   
9. Now we need to play the melody on the keyboard.
   
10. In the first bar, the notes are C, G, C, Aflat.
11. In the second bar, the notes are C, Aflat, C, G.
12. Practice playing the melody with the click.
13. Once you feel comfortable with the melody, record it.
14. Quantize the part you played to 1/16.
    
15. Create a Redrum, we want to recreate the drum line so listen to the instrumental at the top of this lesson.
    
16. What sounds are they using?
17. What boxes do the sounds go on?
18. One hint, the pattern is 32 steps.
19. When you have figured out the drum beat. Create it and Copy the Pattern to Track.
20. Save your beat as (Your Name) Yeah
21. Let me hear it.
    

C Major Scale on the Keyboard

Today we are going to start a new section on creating melodies in Reason. But first we need to understand a little more music theory. In music, musicians use scales as the frame for their melodies. There are two basic types of scales, the Major Scale, which has a happy sound, and the minor scale, which has a somber sound. You hear the Major Scale a lot in Pop Music. And you hear the minor scale a lot in Hip Hop music. Today we're going to learn the Major Scale. And more specifically the C Major Scale.

The Major Scale is made up of seven distinct notes, plus an eighth which duplicates the first an octave higher. These notes correspond to the syllables "Do, Re, Mi, Fa, Sol, La, Ti, (Do)". The simplest major scale to write or play on the piano is C major, the only major scale not to require sharps or flats, using only the white keys on the piano keyboard:

1. Open Reason
2. Make sure you have a Mixer 14:2
3. Set your tempo to 85 bpm and click the CLICK button.
   
4. Create a NN19 Digital Sampler
5. Click on the Folder in the upper left hand corner of the NN19.
6. In the Patch Browser, click Reason Factory Sound Bank: NN19 Sampler Patches: Piano: BRIGHTPIANO.smp
7. Now we want to use the keyboard to play the scale.
8. Start on the lowest note on your keyboard and play the 8 white notes in a row. Count as you go a long, or say do, re, me, fa, so, la, ti, do.
9. When you feel like you have the C Major scale under your fingers. Try recording it.
10. Set your loop points at L1 and R3
11. Push the record button and wait for the cursor to get back to the L.
12. Then play the C Major Scale along with each click.
13. If the notes are a little off beat you can use the quantize function (I'll show you this individually)
14. If this is too easy try setting your loop points between L1 and R5 and go up and down the scale!
15. When you're finished, save the scale in your folder as C Major Scale.
16. On your blog write about the following questions:
17. What is a Scale?
18. What does a Major Scale sound like? Who uses it?
19. What is a Melody?

T.I. Rubberband Man Melody

The song Rubberband Man by T.I. and produced by David Banner uses a melody based off of the C MAJOR scale. Let's recreate the melody and then add our on drums.

1. Open Reason
2. Make sure you have a Mixer 14:2
3. Set Tempo to 82 bpm
   
4. Create a NN19 Digital Sampler
5. Click on the Folder in the upper left hand corner of the NN19.
6. In the Patch Browser, click Reason Factory Sound Bank: NN19 Sampler Patches: Organ: Organ1Perc.smp
7. Now that we have our sound loaded we need a way to play it...ENTER THE MATRIX
8. Go to the Create Menu and select the Matrix, all the way at the bottom of the menu.
9. Now we want to create the melody for T.I.'s song.
10. The first step is....the steps. This melody is 2 bars long so change the steps from 16 to 32 on the Matrix.
11. Now we need to turn the volume down on all the steps we aren't going to use. Leave the volume on on STEPS 1, 8, 10, 11, 17, 24, 26, and 27. For all the other STEPS, turn the volume off.
12. Now we can change the notes of the steps we have left.
13. On STEPS 8 and 10, move the note up four spots.
14. On STEP 11, move the note up five spots.
15. On STEP 17, move the note up seven spots.
16. On STEPS 24 and 26, move the note up 11 spots.
17. On STEP 27, move the note up 12 spots.
18. When you're done with the melody it should look like this:
19. Now, create a Redrum and make a 32 step drum pattern using a Clap, Bass Drum, Hi Hat, and Percussion. Make sure you put the sounds on appropriate boxes!
20. On the Redrum, Copy Pattern To Track and Click on the Pattern button.
21. Save your beat as T.I.
    

The Major Scale and The Matrix

Today we are going to start a new section on creating melodies in Reason using the Matrix. But first we need to understand a little more music theory. In music, musicians use scales as the frame for their melodies. There are two basic types of scales, the Major Scale, which has a happy sound, and the minor scale, which has a somber sound. You hear the Major Scale a lot in Pop Music. And you hear the minor scale a lot in Hip Hop music. Today we're going to learn the Major Scale. And more specifically the C Major Scale.

The Major Scale is made up of seven distinct notes, plus an eighth which duplicates the first an octave higher. These notes correspond to the syllables "Do, Re, Mi, Fa, Sol, La, Ti, (Do)". The simplest major scale to write or play on the piano is C major, the only major scale not to require sharps or flats, using only the white keys on the piano keyboard:

1. Open Reason
2. Make sure you have a Mixer 14:2
3. Create a NN19 Digital Sampler
4. Click on the Folder in the upper left hand corner of the NN19.
5. In the Patch Browser, click Reason Factory Sound Bank: NN19 Sampler Patches: Piano: BRIGHTPIANO.smp
6. Now that we have our sound loaded we need a way to play it...ENTER THE MATRIX
7. Go to the Create Menu and select the Matrix, all the way at the bottom of the menu.
8. We want to use the Matrix to play a C Major Scale.
9. Look at the Matrix, do you see the keyboard? We can use this to help us put the NOTES (the red rectangles) on all the white keys.
10. Below the NOTES in the Matrix, do you see the lines? These move up and down and control the VOLUME.
    
11. To make the C Major Scale we are going to move every other note up to the next white key. (I moved the NOTES in between all the way up to the top so that they wouldn't be in my way.)
12. After I've moved all my NOTES, I want to turn the VOLUME all the way down on the NOTES I don't want to hear. After you finish this step, your MATRIX should look something like this.
13. Listen to your scale, does it sound like Do, Re, Mi, Fa, So, La, Ti, Do?
14. Save in your folder as C Major Scale.
15. On your blog write about the following questions:
16. What is a Scale?
17. What does a Major Scale sound like? Who uses it?
18. What is a Melody?
    

The Good Life

Today we're going to remix Kanye West's song The Good Life. But before we get started let's listen to the song.

Do you recognize the sample? It comes from the Michael Jackson song PYT.

What did Kanye do with the sample?

So, like Kanye I want you to change the PITCH and TIME of the PYT sample and make it your own.

1. Open Reason
2. Make sure you have a Mixer 14:2
3. Create a Dr. Rex
4. Download the sample: http://download.yousendit.com/F928324A5376941B
5. Click on the "Folder" in the upper left hand corner.
6. Select the PYT sample from the Desktop: PYT
7. On the Dr. Rex click TO TRACK
   
8. Now we want to adjust the PITCH and Time of the sample.
9. To do this, you will need to do two things. Change your tempo. And transpose the sample on the Dr. Rex keyboard.
10. If you choose a high tempo you might want to transpose the sample to a higher note.
11. If you have a slow tempo you might want to transpose the sample to a lower note.
12. After you get your sample sounding the way you want it, it's time to add some drums that goes with the sample.
    
13. Create a Redrum and make a 32 step drum pattern using a Clap, Bass Drum, Hi Hat, and Percussion. Make sure you put the sounds on appropriate boxes!
14. On the Redrum, Copy Pattern To Track.
15. Create a Dr. Rex. Load a Percussion Loop and adjust the PITCH. Put it "To Track."
16. Save your beat as The Good Life
17. Write a blog post about what the good life means to you.

Happy New REX!

It's a new year and we're back making beats. Today let's start off where we finished and get our feet wet with a Dr. Rex beat!

1. Open Reason
2. Make sure you have a Mixer 14:2
3. Create a Dr. Rex
4. Click on the "Folder" in the upper left hand corner.
5. Select either Dr. Rex Instrument Loops or Music Loops.
   
6. Choose a loop and then click "TO TRACK"
7. Now set your tempo to the same tempo as your loop.
8. Create a Redrum.
9. Change the Steps to 32.
   
10. In Sound 1, load a clap and put it on boxes 5 and 13.
11. Now toggle "EDIT STEPS" to 17-32
12. Put the clap on boxes 5 and 13
13. Toggle "EDIT STEPS" back to 1-16
14. In Sound 2, load a bass drum and put it on 1 and a few other boxes that go with your loop.
    
15. Now toggle "EDIT STEPS" to 17-32
16. Put the bass drum on 1 and a few other boxes that go with the loop.
    
17. Toggle "EDIT STEPS" back to 1-16
18. In Sound 3, load a high hat and put it any boxes...make sure it goes with your loop.
    
19. Now toggle "EDIT STEPS" to 17-32
20. Click on boxes that go with your loop.
    
21. Toggle "EDIT STEPS" back to 1-16
22. In Sound 4, load either a percussion-hi or percussion-other and put it any boxes...make sure it goes with your loop.
    
23. Now toggle "EDIT STEPS" to 17-32
24. Click on boxes that go with your loop.
    
25. Once you're happy with how your drums sound right click on the Redrum and select Copy Pattern To Track.
26. Don't forget to click on the Pattern Button.
27. Now let's add a Dr. Rex Percussion Loop.
28. Go to the Create menu and Create a Dr. Rex Loop Player.
29. We need to load a loop, so click on the folder in the upper left hand corner of the loop player.
30. Go to Reason Factory Sound Bank: Dr. Rex Percussion Loops: and select any of the folders: choose a loop.
31. On The Dr. Rex, click "TO TRACK"
32. Save your beat in your folder as whatever you want!