Wed October 1: peer reviews of your theme songs

Greetings children, and welcome back from your weekend! Today, you will be working to accomplish two separate but equally worthy goals:

A) Last week, this class reviewed the theme songs of the Period 3 Radio Production class. Meanwhile, the Period 3 radio students were reviewing your theme songs. You will need to read their reviews at their Google group, which I have opened up for your inspection. Here is where you can find their reviews:
http://groups.google.com/group/doctor-trolls-psycedelic-therapy-lounge/topics?start=40&sa=N

and here is how you can tell which theme song is yours (I changed the names so that the reviews would be more fair)

Dcal Dlerns session 2_mixdown	Theme 1
Dcal Dlerns session 1_mixdown	Theme 2
Dcal Dlerns session 3_mixdown	Theme 3
tim_o'malley_mixdown__sept_24	Theme 4
Matt_West_Jake_Whittles_exported_	Theme 5
PaulDrewGraham_ill_mixes_mixdown	Theme 6
Brian_Carter_and_Lucas_Wise_Session_File_2_mixdown	Theme 7
tim_o'malley_mixdown	Theme 8
Ryan_Hamilton_Brooke_McMullen_Session_1_mixdown_(2)	Theme 9
Ryan_Hamilton_Brooke_McMullen_Session_1_mixdown	Theme 10
PhilPichelIanMarcussession_mixdown	Theme 11
Max_Vumbaca_Song_Session	Theme 12
JohnHinkelJam_to_the_max	Theme 13
CraigMuscanellproject 1_mixdown	Theme 14
mike_palmer_september_19_mixdown	Theme 15

So, when you go to the Google group for Period 3, and READ WHAT THEY WROTE ABOUT YOU, you will know which theme song they were referring to.

Not only will you need to read their reviews, you will need to think about them, and decide whether or not you should consider their suggestions. If many of your fellow students say the same thing about your theme song, it might be true. If it is, maybe you should DO something about it.

One thing you will have to do is to write a simple paragraph stating your reactions to what your fellow students had to say about your song . Please post this paragraph in our Google group before you do anything else!

B) the "ANYTHING ELSE" --> I have a listing of your most up-to-date grades and I will be having each of you come by to take a look at how your are doing. You will have a chance today in class to make up any work you have missed. TOMORROW, WE BEGIN SOMETHING NEW

Cheers,
Mr. L

Friday, September 26: finish up listening to tunes

and make sure you have finished up all other work that needs to be done. This includes sending me an mp3 version of your session file, doing the research about DJs and radio stations, etc etc. That way, we can cruise into a weekend which, hopefully will not be completely drowning in rain :-)

Cheers,

Mr. L

Thursday Sept 25 : Listening to Tunes!!!!

Greetings, children:

By now, you should be pretty well caught up with all the work we have had to accomplish this past week, including sending me your mp3-based theme songs, and the research you were supposed to conduct on radio stations, DJs and questions for the "radio personalities" you chose. Now it's time to just sit and LISTEN.

Here is what you need to do:

Go to this folder:
http://www.box.net/shared/kb8njoqlrs

and notice that there are approximately a dozen or so mp3 files. They are named THEME1, THEME2, THEME3, etc etc. You will need to listen to each song in its entirety. That means you have to actually listen to the whole thing. Then, you have make a discussion post where you do tell me the following:

A) a one sentence comment on each song. Be polite and school appropriate, but if you like or dislike something about it, then SAY SO. And, explain WHY you think what you think.

B) Out of all the songs, pick the top five, and then list them in order, something like this:

# 1 is THEME6
# 2 is THEME11
# 3 is THEME5
# 4 is THEME2
# 5 is THEME8

Make sure I know for a fact which song you liked the best, which you liked second best, so on and so on.

You all have to make a separate discussion post, but you may converse among yourselves about it.

Cheers,
Mr. L

Who Are They? Where Are They? How Do They Do It?

Greetings! If you are reading this, it means you are completely caught up with all the work you needed to do for the first part of this month. Now it's time to move onwards and upwards.

What you will be starting today is to try and understand a little bit more as to what is involved in being a "radio personality": people who actually already do this for a living. One way to do this is to find out who these people are, and then ASK THEM.

The obvious first step then is to find these people. One possible way of doing this is to look at the websites for various local radio stations in Massachusetts. I have done some preliminary research for you, and this is what I've found:

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=local+radio+stations+Massachusetts.&btnG=Google+Search

the original Google search

http://www.officialusa.com/stateguides/media/radiostations/massachusetts.html

a pretty good list, fairly comprehensive

http://www.usnewslinks.com/radiostations/ma.html

another good list, which breaks down the stations by genre and city location. A multiple page list

http://www.shgresources.com/ma/radio/

another really good resource, which not only does the break down by genre and location, it also lets you know if it’s a college station or not.

http://www.ontheradio.net/states/massachusetts.aspx

yet another good place to look, this one has direct links to the websites associated with the radio station in question.

WHAT YOU NEED TO DO:

A) Make a list of at least five different radio stations. List their "call letters" -- WBZ, WNRB, etc, along with the town where they are located, their "format" (Top 40? Sports? Hip Hop? Easy Listening? News/Talk?) and the address for their website.

You will need to post this list to our Google group as part of a discussion posting you will make. You will also need to include in this discussion posting why you chose these particular stations

B) Once you have five stations in mind, please use their websites to find at least five "radio personalities" -- people who actually make broadcasts of some kind or another-- who you feel know something about this business, and might be able to tell you a little about what they do. Please list their names in a second discussion posting.

C) Finally, begin to compile a list of questions you would want to ask any of these people. You might ask them how they got their start, what first got them interested in doing what they do. Please come up with at least three good questions for now, and put them in a third discussion posting

Cheers,

Mr. L

Monday, September 22 -- Read this first!

Hello, chilluns!

Let's recount how much you've done up until now:

A) You've collected sounds from various sources

B) You've learned some basics about using Adobe Audition, including how to import sounds, lay them down in tracks, arrange them, cut them into pieces by using the selection process.

C) Finally, you've learned how to compress your session files into mp3 files.

Now it's time to get something else done -- or actually, get it started. But first.......

...... you've got to make absolutely sure that you've handed in everything you needed to do for this class up until now. To do this, you need to look at the folders I've set up for you on my Box.net account. And to do that, you'll need the addresses for those folders. Here they are:



11 Loops (per student) -- http://www.box.net/shared/nl7ao51qqe

Loops and Selections -- http://www.box.net/shared/7xq5cem93q

Session Files -- http://www.box.net/shared/5inb80ayot

Theme songs -- http://www.box.net/shared/54dahu0ux6

Please make absolutely sure that you have handed in everything. I should be able to issue a complete grade list by tomorrow.

Once you have read through this, another blog post should be up, telling you what we are going to be doing next.

Cheers,
Mr. L

Friday, September 19: passing in work, and saving your theme song as a sound file

OK, before we get into today's festivities, I would like to make a solemn warning: I am STILL missing files from many of you. This will have a huge impact on your future grade, and as such, I will feel compelled to inform all interested parties, including your parents, your guidance counselor, etc etc. You know who you are, and if you're not sure, check out the folders I've set up at Box.net. If you are STILL not sure, you will have some time later on this class to ask me.

But first, let's do something NEW

Up until now, you've been gathering sounds, creating session files, laying loops down into tracks, and selecting parts of these loops to make new sounds. Many of you have been making clever and creative noises; I should know, I've listening to them! Now, for the first time, I will want you to create a new sound file from your ENTIRE SESSION FILE. This new sound will include all the sounds you've been using in your session, merged into one single file.

Here is how you do it:

A) Open your session file

B) Click the File command

C) goto EXPORT, then Audio Mix Down

D) Save your file as a "wav" type file, or as an mp3

E) Please send it to me by email attachment


Cheers,
Mr. L

Wed Sept 17: are you up to date?

Hey there all you happy noisemakers in Period 6!

Today, besides everything else you are doing, you will need to make sure that you are "up to date". That means that, no kidding, I need to start setting up grades, and there are certain items you need to have in front of me by now. These include NOT LESS than the following:

A) 11 loops, along with a description (including a website address) of where you got them

B) At least two different session files, named in such a way that I know which one came first ( so I can see your progress in making it sound better)

C) One loop that has had at least four different "selections" extracted from: ALL FIVE FILES

D) Additionally, today, you are going to need or each one of you to make a discussion post stating one thing you have learned how to do in Adobe Audition from me, and one technique that have figured out on your own. That's two techniques for each one of you, not for a group of two or three. You each need to be learning stuff for yourselves, not just waiting for someone else to do it for you. You need to adequately describe how you do each of these things. Pretend that you're explaining this stuff to someone who knows nothing about this program

Cheers,
Mr. L

Making a selection (tues Sept 16)

OK, up to now, you've been collecting loops and just plunin' 'em down in a track, then moving and playing with them. Today, we wil be working with how to cut out pieces of a loop, and then save it as a new loop. It's called "Selection". Here is what I will need from you:

A) You will use ONE loop, and copy at least four different selections from it. In other words, you could copy out the first 10 seconds for one selction, the last five seconds for another, 11 seconds somewhere in the middle, etc etc.

B) You will email -- as attachments -- both the original loop, and the four pieces you cut out of it. Please remember to put your name and "period 6" in the subject line!

OK, so how do you do this "selection". Well, you can either watch me as I demonstrate, or you can follow these "cookbook" directions:

1) start Audtion, and get into "multitrack" view
2) import a loop, and lay it into a track somewhere
3) get into EDIT mode (its in that thing at the top right corner...I've shown you before)
4) make sure that the button under the INSERT menu is selected, the one that looks like a "I"
5) put your mouse where you wish to start your selection, hold down the left mouse button and drag until you wish to stop
6) Click on the FILE command, then click "Save Selection"
7) give the selection a name which you will remember
8) get back into multitrack mode, then import your selection as a loop.
9) lay it down into a new track to compare it to the old loop
10) lather, rinse, repeat :-)

Once you are done with this, you may proceed to working on your session files.

cheers,
Mr. L

OMG, it's already Monday morning! (Mon Sept 15)

Greetings, Period 6 radio Students!

Today, you have several tasks to complete:

A) Each one of you needs to have handed in at least 11 different loops, to be used in building your theme songs. According to my email records, MANY OF YOU HAVE NOT

B) Not sure if you've handed in 11? Or if I ever got them? (After all, it won't count if I didn't find them) Then check out this special link, which I have made just for the students in this class:
http://www.box.net/shared/nl7ao51qqe

It leads to an online folder, where I have gathered together all of the loops I have received from members of this class. If you don't see your name there, or if there are fewer than 11 files included under your name, then you need to do one of the following:

C) Find more files OR

D) re-send what you already have found -- hey, even I can lose stuff on occasion

E) You will also notice that this "Box.net" online folder is a handy way of not losing your files; so, if you stored stuff on the H drive and you've all of a sudden lost it, here is a place to find it again.

F) By the end of today, EVERYONE needs to have sent me at least one Adobe session file, which uses the loops you've found.

Cheers,
Mr. L

greeting period 6 radio students! (thurs Sept 11)

hey there, noisemakers and happy people! Today, I will spend some time at the beginning of the class demonstrating a few different techniques in the Adobe Audtion program. This was made possible by the fact that one of the techies came in and loaded Audition on my teacher workstation AND on several more of your computers. We can't have it on every machine -- we don't have enough licenses for that -- but there are at least 13 or 14 of your computers which do have it. So I'm expecting great things today.

But before you dive into that, I wish to demonstrate the following:

A) starting anew session

B) getting into "multitrack view"

C) importing sound clips

D) placing clips on various tracks

E) speeding up or slowing down the sound by using a "TIME STRECTH"

F) how to chop part of a clip, so it doesn't play

G) how to add new tracks from the INSERT --> Add Tracks menu

H) how to change a clip color, for ease of viewing

whew!

after that, you will be free to proceed with what you were doing yesterday. I am expecting that many more of you will be able to email me various sound clips/loops AND the website address where you got them, as the class progresses :-)

Cheers,
Mr. L

What to do on Wed September 10

Greetings, noise producing creatures!

Today, you will be
A) continuing to work with the program Adobe Audition.

B) continuing your effort to create a theme song for your future radio show.

C) continuing to experiment on mixing different sounds on the different tracks, to see the different effects you can get, and how it makes your "theme song" different

D) to do this, each of you will need to open the program, click on the FILE command, then click "NEW SESSION". This opens a blank window, where you can drag different types of sounds, and arrange them in a way that sounds good, or at least doesn't sound too bad

E) You will SAVE your session, and you will name it after your both your first and last name, plus the phrase "First Session"

F) Your session ends up getting saved in your MY MUSIC FOLDER inside of your MY DOCUMENTS FOLDER. So, when you go to email this session file to me, thats where the file will be located.

G) You MUST BE LOGGED IN AS YOURSELF in order to do this properly. So, when you finish your session, save the file and then log off that computer. You should be able to email me that file from another computer. Let's not waste time!

H) Speaking of time, lets make sure that everyone gets a fair turn. Try to produce something in about a twenty minute block; otherwise, there will be way too many people left waiting at the end of the class.

BY THE END OF THE CLASS, EVERYONE WILL NEED TO HAVE MADE A NEW SESSION. EVERYONE WILL ALSO TO EMAIL THIS NEW SESSION TO ME AS AN ATTACHMENT FILE. YOU WILL NEED TO PUT YOUR NAME AND THE WORDS "FIRST SESSION FILE" IN THE SUBJECT LINE

Cheers,
Mr. L

Oh, btw, while you are waiting for your turn at using Adobe Audition, I will need to have you collecting some free loops, downloading them to your computer, and then emailing at least eleven of them that you think are good to me, as attachment files. You may use the search I used here:

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=free+loops+download&aq=3&oq=free+loops

to look for websites that have loops you can download. Or, if you are really ahead of everyone, and know some sites where you can get something good, feel free to do so. Either way, TELL ME WHERE YOU GOT THESE SOUNDS!!!

PS One good site I've found is at http://www.freeloops.com/; they allow you to search for sounds by style, tempo, or instrument just use the little box that says "Search Loops By" in the lower right hand corner.

What to do, Part Two (sept 5)

I’ve been reading your emails with great interest, and have discovered a little bit about each of you, what some of your interests are, why you want to be in this class. You will need to expand upon this in a discussion post you will create on the Google Group you just joined. Here is what your discussion post needs to include:

A) What would you most like to do on a radio show? Would you like to

setup playlists, where you choose the music?
If so, what kind of music most interests you?

Would you like to talk about sports?
If that’s the case, then what teams would you want to discuss?

Perhaps you’d like to talk about school or local news, about things that are going on in Hopkinton that you think are important. In that case, would you be willing to interview people, either by recording or perhaps even live during a broadcast?

Maybe you’re in a band, or you can play or sing; OR, you know someone who does. Would you be willing to give your band some airtime?

It’s also possible that you’re interested in current events, like the election or things that are happening overseas. Could it be that you wish to be a commentator, someone who gives their opinion about stuff that’s happening?

Another possibility is that you are really into gaming, and you have some ideas about new titles that are coming out. Maybe you’d like to do game reviews?

Or maybe you like computers a lot and are really into special effects, especially with sounds.

Look, the bottom line is that the possibilities are endless. Please pick out AT LEAST TWO ITEMS you would be interested in pursuing, and why you’re into them. And by the way, if there’s something I didn’t mention in this list, please, Please, PLEASE bring it to my attention!

B) Regarding the two things you’d like to do, do you have ANY previous experience with them? Any at all? Please don’t worry if you think what you’ve done is not “important” enough, or you haven’t done it for an audience. Look if you’ve ever argued with your friends about the relative merits of WoW versus Halo, if you’ve ever played a song with a band, even if it’s just in someone’s basement, if you’ve ever talked about politics, traded mp3s by some new band with friends of yours, THAT IS MORE THAN GOOD ENOUGH.

OK, that ought to do it. Please be as complete as possible. When you are finished, make sure to post your discussion, and then take a look at the discussions put out by your classmates. Maybe you have some people who share your interests!

Cheers,

Mr. L

What to do on Friday Sept 5 -- Part One

Greetings, and welcome once again!

Today in Radio Production, you will be doing two things, both of them related. this is the first thing you must do:

In your email inbox, you SHOULD have an invitation from me to join the Google Group which I have set up for this class. It's called "Father Nature's Wild Kingdom". You will need to follow the instructions in this email TO THE LETTER to get signed up, and to be able to go on to the next step. If you need assistance, I will do my utmost to help.

OK, so get get set up RIGHT NOW. C'mon back when you're done, and then we'll go on to part two, which I will post when you're ready.

Cheers,
Mr. L

Welcome period six radio students!!!

This is Dissonant Disturbances, where the students from Mr. LaRue's period 6 Radio Production class will receive news, instructions, marching orders and potentially leave comments and ask questions. If you are allowed and you do leave a comment, please bear in mind that this blog is available to the entire world, or at least that part of it that's on the Internet. This includes your parents, other teachers, your guidance counselor, the principal, the superintendent, and what the heck, the mayor, the governor, the chief of police, the head of the FBI, and pretty much EVERYONE. So be cautious, courteous and school appropriate in any comments you leave