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!