New blog

This is a blog that was used in a class from 2009-2010.

For more up-to-date lessons and materials, please refer to:
http://dpaudiob.blogspot.com/

Thanks for your interest and feel free to contact me (crunde@bavc.org) with questions or feedback.

-Chris R.
Digital Pathways Instructor

***Graduation***

Welcome to the Digital Pathways Graduation event!

We're very proud of all of the students and the amazing work they have completed throughout the program. These students have shown a lot of dedication and have all grown a lot as media makers. Please take some time and check out the projects our Advanced Audio class and all the other classes.

Thank you so much for coming and supporting our students!

~~LAST DAY!!!~~

Congratulations! You made it.

It has been a real pleasure working with all of you and getting to see you grow as artists. I mean it when I say YOU ARE AMAZING!

So today, on our last day, we have a bunch of stuff to do...

1. Take the post survey for this class. This will help us learn about what you're learning! Click the link: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/VWXKGNX
2. Update your BAVC profiles. I have sent each of you an email telling you what you're missing. Please check your BAVC gmail accounts and see what you need. At the very least everyone will need to upload their Final Projects (see below).
   
3. Finish your Final Projects! You will need to convert your Projects to MP3 or FLV movie format. (People doing an audio post-production piece will need to convert their files. Ask Quinn how to do this.)
4. Backup your work. In the Shared Media folder, there is a folder called Best Work. Inside that folder, there is a folder with your name. Please put 3-4 of your best pieces INCLUDING YOUR FINAL PROJECT in that folder. Also, if you would like to back up your work, I have DVDs that you burn your files onto and take home.

Thanks for being an amazing class. I can't wait to see you guys at our

Graduation Event
Friday, June 18
5:30-7:30pm

@BAVC's main office
2727 Mariposa St., 2nd floor
San Francisco, CA 94110

See ya there!!

Performance Evaluation

Each of you are going to come up and show me how to get a basic recording session going. Here are the exact things I'm going to ask you to do, so if you are unsure about any of these, please be sure to ask me to go over them before we get going.

1. Select vocal and talkback microphones. Set up the vocal mic on the mic stand.
2. Plug cables and headphones into inputs on the Digi 003.
3. Create a new Pro Tools session in a designated folder.
4. Create new audio tracks and label them accordingly.
5. Set the microphone inputs on the audio tracks.
   
6. Get signal from the mics and set good levels.
7. Adjust headphone levels.
8. Record a short vocal segment.
9. Save and close the Pro Tools session.
10. Transfer the session folder to the Media Share folder.

Peer Review

Today we are going to be sharing the work we have done so far on our Final Projects and provide feedback to help us get these sounding/looking as good as they possibly can.

First, please put copies of your projects into:
Shared Media>Student Work>Peer Review

When you come up, before you play your project for us, I want you to say a few words about it. This will help you to be prepared if someone hears your project at the Graduation and wants to ask you about it. Please answer the following questions:

1. What's your name?
2. What is your project? (song, audio post production piece, etc.)
   
3. What do you think is unique about it? How does it reflect your own personal style?
   
4. What software programs did you use to make it?
5. What is one part of it that you really like? What inspired you to create that part?
6. What's something that was hard about your project? How did you do to make it work?
7. What do you have left to do?
   
8. Out of everything we have learned about in this class, what did you enjoy the most? What kind of project would you work on next?

Recording Evaluation_Review

Today your priority is on getting as much work done on your Final Projects as possible. We will be getting up in front of the class and presenting what we've got on Monday, so try to knock out as much as you can.

The other thing I will be doing Monday is starting to give you guys individual evaluations on what I think are the most important thing you should be leaving this class with. Namely, I want you to be confident about setting up and running a recording session!

This is not supposed to be a surprise test and I'm not going to try to trick you. In fact, I will tell you right now what I am going to be asking you to do. Please take a look at the list below and see if there is anything there that you feel unsure about. If you would like to go over anything, please come up to the instructor station sometime today and I will be happy to review with you!

Setting up a Session
Each of you is going to come up and show me how to get a Pro Tools session going. Here are the exact things I'm going to ask you to do, so if you are unsure about any of these, please be sure to ask me to go over them before we get going.

1. Select vocal and talkback microphones. Set up the vocal mic on the mic stand.
2. Plug cables and headphones into inputs on the Digi 003.
3. Create a new Pro Tools session in a designated folder.
4. Create new audio tracks and label them accordingly.
5. Check the inputs on your tracks and make sure the correct mics are going to them.
   
6. Get signal from the mics and set good levels.
7. Adjust headphone levels.
8. Record a short vocal segment.
9. Save and close the Pro Tools session.
10. Transfer the session folder to the Media Share folder.

~~~{Final Projects}~~~

Well, we are getting very close to the end of our class. Here are some dates you should be aware of...

Important Upcoming Dates:

• Friday, May 21 - Last makeup class
• Tuesday, May 25 - Peer Review
  
• Thursday, May 27 - Last day of class
• Friday, June 18 - Graduation!!!
  

Final Projects
Starting today, everyone will be working on a Final Project. Our main focus until the end of class is going to be in getting these projects completed. This is your chance to make a polished audio project that showcases the skills you have acquired throughout the course of the program. You can decide what you want your project to be, as long as it uses the skills you have learned in this class (recording a song, audio post production, etc.)

The first thing you're going to do is think about what this project is all about and plan out a schedule for how you will get it done in the classes we have left. Please do the following:

1. Please copy the following file to your computer and open it: Shared Media>Class Materials>Final Project_Schedule.odt
2. Fill out this sheet - answer all the questions and map out what you steps you want to get done in each class.
3. Save it as: your name_final project_schedule
4. Put a copy of the document in: Shared Media>Student Work>Final Project Schedules
   

All projects should:

• Be a reflection of your own unique experiences and skills – give me something that no one else in the world can give me!
• Be at least 4 minutes long
  
• Be polished, and complete
  
• Include great attention given to the mix (volume, panning, FX, automation)
• Have some type of live recording (vocals, guitar, ADR, sound FX)

If you are making a song/spoken word piece...

• It should have a deliberate arrangement and structure that keeps the listeners interested
• Vocals: rap, singing, poetry, essay, speech
• Complex instrumentation
• Final piece Exported/Bounced song as an audio file
  

If you are doing Audio Post Production...

• All actions and dialogue should have corresponding audio with them - good synchronization, no empty gaps.
• Should have an original musical score that you create
• Mix the audio - make the actions believable with the use of mixing, panning, FX, and automation.
• Export/Bounce the final piece as a Quicktime movie
  

Couple things...
Collaboration is encouraged, but be careful to budget your time accordingly - ESPECIALLY regarding the use of the vocal booth. Be considerate of the fact that everyone needs to have access. You are encouraged to constantly get feedback from your peers throughout the production process.We will be doing a Peer Review on Tuesday, May 25. If you have an idea for a project that is different from the two options above, please talk with the instructor to discuss the best way to make this happen.