The 7th session of the Sony Acid Unit this semester is about to commence! ..in exactly 3...2...1...0...-1...-2...-3 ...NOW!
Today's session was a very worktime-oriented one, with a short continued lesson from the previous session on mastering with Audacity, and the second Permit Test attempt at the end of the session. The majority of the lab time was used for the students to work on their BTW and Showcase projects.
Chris, starting the day off with the Mastering with Audacity lesson, covered topics such as rendering, normalization, and compression--and shortly following the lesson, the students were given a small challenge which allowed them to directly apply the terms and skills they were just introduced to during the Mastering lesson.
After the lesson, challenge, and first break, the students got right to work, either working on their BTWs or their showcase projects. The students were making great progress on their Acid BTW projects, however, when it came to the showcase projects, a lot of them were far behind and needed ideas on what type of project they wanted to create with this year's showcase theme of "Fun with Numbers." So a lot of the questions and session time ended up revolving much around the showcase projects, seeing as how mostly everyone was in pretty good shape with their BTW progress; they were either just about finished, finishing up, or already done with them.
Finally, with about half an hour remaining in the session, the students began taking their second attempt at the Acid Permit Test and the little time they had after they completed the permit test was used as additional worktime for BTW and Showcase projects.
Overall it was a pretty productive session.
Wednesday, April 28, 2010
Saturday, April 24, 2010
The Final Conquest: BTW
Welcome back to another fine Saturday and another ITA session! Paul having recently gotten his wisdom teeth out, Elizabeth began the day with short clip from the Red Green show (on how to take old appliances, namely stoves and refrigerators, and turn them into office furniture for teenagers. Riveting!) The class got a bit of a laugh to start off the day :)
Following, the class got to listen to Radio Lab, a show similar to this American Life. The show was on Numbers, featuring stories about babies' concept of numbers (according to an awesome French scientist who does experiments by putting sponges with electrodes on babies' heads - crazy!!) as well as how crime can be investigated using the natural patterns of numbers by looking from deviance from those natural laws. Afterwards, the class talked about the use of sound effects and the splicing of the lines - everyone agreed that it was a little hard to follow sometimes, but it kept the audience's attention! (quack, quack, quack!)
After a short break, Elizabeth gathered the class with a learn@uw quiz, including questions on the due date of the BTW :)
And then the work began in earnest! Groups set off to complete and polish up their BTWs. Tenzin, Anny, Diana, and Jose were pretty much finished, but spent some time polishing and getting more sound effects. Keke was gone again today, so Taylor was joined by Michelle and Jose to record the lines for their project and then finish editing. Alli, Nina, and Taylor M also spent a little time completing and polishing. Great work today everyone!
The class ended with blog time and Elizabeth continuing to encourage work on the showcase projects. Hurray hurray! It's the end of the day!
Monday, April 12, 2010
THE RETURN: OF ITA!!
Here we are, all back from spring break!! Though perhaps not all the students were quite as enthusiastic about this fact, Paul and Elizabeth started the day anticipating smooth sailing. Before spring break, the BTWs were purported to be nearly done - all we needed to do was finish things up, and send 'em off!
To liven things up a bit, and as per AJ's suggestion, Paul and Elizabeth had an example of professional level radio drama to start the class off. This American Life, a production of Public Radio, is one of AJ's favorite shows and provided a good intro to the class. The students listened to the 400th episode, in which the producers decided to undertake the most difficult task imaginable: taking stories their parents had pitched to them and make them into entertaining radio. Now of course, their parents were thinking of stories along the lines of the Erie Canal or the personality of Enron. The challenging story the class listened to was on "Funny Funerals". Many students seemed to enjoy it a lot - Diana was giggling through some of it and there were a couple times when students burst out into all out laughter (sometimes all by themselves as not everyone has quite the same sense of humor).
After listening to stories of ministers exiting funerals into a closet door and humorous masses in other Ukrainian, AJ and Elizabeth led a discussion to get a feel for what the students thought. AJ pointed out the fact that, though this story was only about 10 minutes long, this producer probably had 3 hours or so of other audio she had to sort through to create this story. When asked how the producer had made this difficult topic interesting and funny, Jose and Diana mentioned the different music and voices she used - Elizabeth added how much she had appreciated a scene where the producer particularly recorded the elevator music and commerical recording while she was on hold at a funeral :) Overall, the students learned a little bit more about story-crafting, and how to technically construct things well to make them interesting.
This discussion took up a good chunk of education time, so Paul did a quick review on more advanced concepts like clipping, different kinds of cords and mics, buses, normalization . . . the students took it all in (hopefully) and then went on break!
The due date for the BTWs was the end of class, yet it soon became apparent that this was a bit of a shock. Taylor was in a group with Keke and had been absent the past few weeks, so she didn't know much of what was happening and Keke was absent today. So she and Elizabeth worked on the script Keke and Taylor had agreed upon at the beginning of working on the project.
Tenzin, Diana, Michelle, and Jose's group unfortunately had difficulties saving and ALL their dialogue was lost - having to start from scratch, the whole group ended up in the recording studio, working well together.
Jaylah and Malibu's group also had difficulties and lost some of their project. They ended up in the copy machine room rewriting and rerecording. (as the conference room was locked)
Alli, Ninah, and Taylor, however, saved correctly! They all worked very well together the entire BTW time, various screams and bird call sound effects erupting every once in a while from their side of the room :)
Around 2:10, after all the craziness of discovering the missing projects and scrambling to get everyone set, Paul called the class together for the second permit test attempt. After this was over, Paul directed the students towards blogging, as Elizabeth spoke with Jaylah and Malibu about getting their .wav files off of the H2 recorder and saving them.
Though Paul and Elizabeth's dreams of completed, shiny, new BTWs were not realized, the day ended on a hopeful note - Paul announced that the class would have a whole other day to work on their BTWs!! Good planning Paul. Hopefully this extra time will allow everyone to complete projects they enjoy and are proud of.
Until next (two) week!
To liven things up a bit, and as per AJ's suggestion, Paul and Elizabeth had an example of professional level radio drama to start the class off. This American Life, a production of Public Radio, is one of AJ's favorite shows and provided a good intro to the class. The students listened to the 400th episode, in which the producers decided to undertake the most difficult task imaginable: taking stories their parents had pitched to them and make them into entertaining radio. Now of course, their parents were thinking of stories along the lines of the Erie Canal or the personality of Enron. The challenging story the class listened to was on "Funny Funerals". Many students seemed to enjoy it a lot - Diana was giggling through some of it and there were a couple times when students burst out into all out laughter (sometimes all by themselves as not everyone has quite the same sense of humor).
After listening to stories of ministers exiting funerals into a closet door and humorous masses in other Ukrainian, AJ and Elizabeth led a discussion to get a feel for what the students thought. AJ pointed out the fact that, though this story was only about 10 minutes long, this producer probably had 3 hours or so of other audio she had to sort through to create this story. When asked how the producer had made this difficult topic interesting and funny, Jose and Diana mentioned the different music and voices she used - Elizabeth added how much she had appreciated a scene where the producer particularly recorded the elevator music and commerical recording while she was on hold at a funeral :) Overall, the students learned a little bit more about story-crafting, and how to technically construct things well to make them interesting.
This discussion took up a good chunk of education time, so Paul did a quick review on more advanced concepts like clipping, different kinds of cords and mics, buses, normalization . . . the students took it all in (hopefully) and then went on break!
The due date for the BTWs was the end of class, yet it soon became apparent that this was a bit of a shock. Taylor was in a group with Keke and had been absent the past few weeks, so she didn't know much of what was happening and Keke was absent today. So she and Elizabeth worked on the script Keke and Taylor had agreed upon at the beginning of working on the project.
Tenzin, Diana, Michelle, and Jose's group unfortunately had difficulties saving and ALL their dialogue was lost - having to start from scratch, the whole group ended up in the recording studio, working well together.
Jaylah and Malibu's group also had difficulties and lost some of their project. They ended up in the copy machine room rewriting and rerecording. (as the conference room was locked)
Alli, Ninah, and Taylor, however, saved correctly! They all worked very well together the entire BTW time, various screams and bird call sound effects erupting every once in a while from their side of the room :)
Around 2:10, after all the craziness of discovering the missing projects and scrambling to get everyone set, Paul called the class together for the second permit test attempt. After this was over, Paul directed the students towards blogging, as Elizabeth spoke with Jaylah and Malibu about getting their .wav files off of the H2 recorder and saving them.
Though Paul and Elizabeth's dreams of completed, shiny, new BTWs were not realized, the day ended on a hopeful note - Paul announced that the class would have a whole other day to work on their BTWs!! Good planning Paul. Hopefully this extra time will allow everyone to complete projects they enjoy and are proud of.
Until next (two) week!
Saturday, April 10, 2010
ACID 4/10/10
The day started off with the students taking a learn@uw quiz. Chris went on to explain mastering in Audacity. Garrett was wise-crackin' as usual with his whole "lil' dude" thing with Chris. We told them that today was the first official BTW day so to get started with their song.
The artist of the day was Lady Gaga. We got to the "Bad Romance" music video during break and the whole class (including Chris) kept singing "Roma Ro-ma-ma-a... Ga Ga ooh la la..."
The students came back from break and were hard at work with their BTW projects. Although, there was frustration in the air. Richie, at a point, started to lose confidence and told Chris "Hey... this sucks." AJ and Chris helped motivate him to be creative and work on developing what he started. Marleny needed help getting a solid rhythm going so I helped set her on the right path and AJ further aided her in making the drums sound cleaner.
Overall, the session went well and the students got a lot done.
Tuesday, March 23, 2010
Acid Day 6
"Welcome to Acid Day 6!" ...nobody really said that at the start of class but it would have been a nice intro, especially if it was said with a super big and official voice (like Mufasa's voice from Lion King or something). :D
Well enough pointless, yet semi-comedic rambling for now, time for the good stuff.
So this session only had two things on the agenda: 1) Lesson on some Basic Engineering Principles (i.e. mixing and mastering) and 2) BTW work time.
But before getting into all of that, Chris made a quick announcement on how well the students did on their Permit Test, with almost 100% of the class passing with a score above 60! The students were also reminded then, however, that the primary focus of the Acid Unit is audio production and that the secondary focus is audio production software (i.e. Sony Acid) ..what a way to re-insure some confidence levels for those who didn't do so well on the Permit Test!
Following the quick announcement, the students were asked to blog about the function of the beatmapper as well as begin their brainstorming for ideas on the they were going to create and produce for their BTW. After the spending a couple minutes on the blogs, the students took a quick Learn@UW quiz and then Chris and Tony got right into the Acid lesson of the day: Basic Engineering pt. 1.
The lesson touched on some mixing and mastering concepts such as volume, equalization, panning, and effects. The students were introduced to things like the volume and pan sliders and envelopes, and they were also given the chance to mess around with the different frequencies of, and add different effects to a track/sound.
Following the lesson, the students where free to do as they pleased for their first 10 minute break, and then once they returned they went to work hard on their 3 challenges for the day which pushed them to really apply what they just were taught about volume, equalization, panning, and effects in the context of mixing and mastering audio.
The remainder of the session was dedicated to the completion of the 3 challenges and although many did not finish all three and they didn't get the chance to work on their BTW's, it was still overall a pretty productive session and I'm sure the students got a lot out of it. It is clear that they are really ready and anxious to begin their BTW's so next session they will definitely get to work on them.
Well enough pointless, yet semi-comedic rambling for now, time for the good stuff.
So this session only had two things on the agenda: 1) Lesson on some Basic Engineering Principles (i.e. mixing and mastering) and 2) BTW work time.
But before getting into all of that, Chris made a quick announcement on how well the students did on their Permit Test, with almost 100% of the class passing with a score above 60! The students were also reminded then, however, that the primary focus of the Acid Unit is audio production and that the secondary focus is audio production software (i.e. Sony Acid) ..what a way to re-insure some confidence levels for those who didn't do so well on the Permit Test!
Following the quick announcement, the students were asked to blog about the function of the beatmapper as well as begin their brainstorming for ideas on the they were going to create and produce for their BTW. After the spending a couple minutes on the blogs, the students took a quick Learn@UW quiz and then Chris and Tony got right into the Acid lesson of the day: Basic Engineering pt. 1.
The lesson touched on some mixing and mastering concepts such as volume, equalization, panning, and effects. The students were introduced to things like the volume and pan sliders and envelopes, and they were also given the chance to mess around with the different frequencies of, and add different effects to a track/sound.
Following the lesson, the students where free to do as they pleased for their first 10 minute break, and then once they returned they went to work hard on their 3 challenges for the day which pushed them to really apply what they just were taught about volume, equalization, panning, and effects in the context of mixing and mastering audio.
The remainder of the session was dedicated to the completion of the 3 challenges and although many did not finish all three and they didn't get the chance to work on their BTW's, it was still overall a pretty productive session and I'm sure the students got a lot out of it. It is clear that they are really ready and anxious to begin their BTW's so next session they will definitely get to work on them.
Acid Day 5
Fifth session of Sony Acid and the day starts off right on time with everyone in attendance! Today was mostly a work day, with a quick review in the beginning and a Permit Test in the end.
The day began with Chris making the announcement that today's lab would be ending about 45 minutes early because there a performance planned that would require more time then usually allowed during community hour. Oh yeah, and that performance/poetry/workshop was great!
So after the quick announcement, Chris continued with the lesson and moved right on to a quick review of the Sony Acid interface and and tools. This review was well needed, as it covered the functions of the main tools, the difference between Draw tool and the Paint tool, and some very helpful vocab that Acid uses quite frequently such as "event clips" and "snapping."
Directly following the review, the students were given their time to finish up the beats they've been working on from last session for their mini BTW project. Some of them were very far with their 24-measure beat, while others were still in the beginning phase of the process and still trying to find the right sounds. For the next 45 minutes or so the students spent working on their mini BTW's and Chris and Tony where constantly moving from student to student helping them along with their beats, answering questions, and troubleshooting any problems they may have been experiencing; everyone was quite busy, which is always a good sign! (unless of course everyone is all tired and stuff :]).
By the time their work time was just about up, a lot of the students had made outstanding progress with their mini BTW's and many were already finished! Following their work time the students were allowed a quick break and then upon their return they began their final portion of lab: their first attempt at the Sony Acid Permit Test--and I've got a feeling that they all did quite well on it.
The day began with Chris making the announcement that today's lab would be ending about 45 minutes early because there a performance planned that would require more time then usually allowed during community hour. Oh yeah, and that performance/poetry/workshop was great!
So after the quick announcement, Chris continued with the lesson and moved right on to a quick review of the Sony Acid interface and and tools. This review was well needed, as it covered the functions of the main tools, the difference between Draw tool and the Paint tool, and some very helpful vocab that Acid uses quite frequently such as "event clips" and "snapping."
Directly following the review, the students were given their time to finish up the beats they've been working on from last session for their mini BTW project. Some of them were very far with their 24-measure beat, while others were still in the beginning phase of the process and still trying to find the right sounds. For the next 45 minutes or so the students spent working on their mini BTW's and Chris and Tony where constantly moving from student to student helping them along with their beats, answering questions, and troubleshooting any problems they may have been experiencing; everyone was quite busy, which is always a good sign! (unless of course everyone is all tired and stuff :]).
By the time their work time was just about up, a lot of the students had made outstanding progress with their mini BTW's and many were already finished! Following their work time the students were allowed a quick break and then upon their return they began their final portion of lab: their first attempt at the Sony Acid Permit Test--and I've got a feeling that they all did quite well on it.
Saturday, March 20, 2010
EPIC DAY 6 - BTW CONQUEST!
What a title, huh? As today was mostly working on the BTW projects due at the end of next session, Elizabeth attempted to liven things up at the beginning with a pirated youtube LOTR video. Theoden and Aragorn charging against all orc odds at Helm's Deep ought to motivate anyone, right?
After this brief intro, accompanied with the suggestion on the part of Alli that we have a movie day (wouldn't that be a fun way to end the last session?!), Elizabeth launched the class into the learn@UW quiz. After clarifying a few details, such as the fact that the BTW is due at the end of NEXT session, the class was ready to begin worktime.
Many people were missing today, but groups made do with the resources they had. Krystal and Malibu quickly got together and decided on a course of action, running to the other tower to use the conference room to record. The rest of the class, in the meantime, continued working on their scripts. AJ eventually came in to introduce the feedback quiz on learn@UW, and to ask each student to take it. Soon after, Alli and Nina were ready to record as well - Paul esocrted them to the recording studio.
Before this, however, the class discussed, prompted by Elizabeth's question, what everyone was doing over spring break. Alli and Nina have track practice thwice a day the entire week!! Wow, you go girls! That's pretty intense. No one else seemed to really have any special plans.
Random sound effects, from screams to bells ringing filled the air over the calm solo piano that Elizabeth put on as background. Eventually, Michelle, Anny, Tenzin, Jose, and Diana were able to start working in earnest - for the first half Tenzin was writing their script so there wasn't as much to do. Jose and Diana, the two main actors, left for the recording studio after Alli and Nina had finished their time.
Elizabeth shared facts about romantic composers during the break (did you know that Felix Mendelssohn's sister was a virtuosic performer and composed Queen Victoria's favorite Mendelssohn piece?) and Michelle and Anny debated whether or not they could jump down to the outdoor courtyard without breaking something . . .
Switching up from Chopin Nocturnes to extravagant romantic orchestral settings, the end of class began in earnest. Perhaps music really does influence our actions - the students seemed particularly attentive during this last set of worktime. Wrapping things up with blogs at 2:45. Another fine day of ITA. BTW conquest to be completed next time!
After this brief intro, accompanied with the suggestion on the part of Alli that we have a movie day (wouldn't that be a fun way to end the last session?!), Elizabeth launched the class into the learn@UW quiz. After clarifying a few details, such as the fact that the BTW is due at the end of NEXT session, the class was ready to begin worktime.
Many people were missing today, but groups made do with the resources they had. Krystal and Malibu quickly got together and decided on a course of action, running to the other tower to use the conference room to record. The rest of the class, in the meantime, continued working on their scripts. AJ eventually came in to introduce the feedback quiz on learn@UW, and to ask each student to take it. Soon after, Alli and Nina were ready to record as well - Paul esocrted them to the recording studio.
Before this, however, the class discussed, prompted by Elizabeth's question, what everyone was doing over spring break. Alli and Nina have track practice thwice a day the entire week!! Wow, you go girls! That's pretty intense. No one else seemed to really have any special plans.
Random sound effects, from screams to bells ringing filled the air over the calm solo piano that Elizabeth put on as background. Eventually, Michelle, Anny, Tenzin, Jose, and Diana were able to start working in earnest - for the first half Tenzin was writing their script so there wasn't as much to do. Jose and Diana, the two main actors, left for the recording studio after Alli and Nina had finished their time.
Elizabeth shared facts about romantic composers during the break (did you know that Felix Mendelssohn's sister was a virtuosic performer and composed Queen Victoria's favorite Mendelssohn piece?) and Michelle and Anny debated whether or not they could jump down to the outdoor courtyard without breaking something . . .
Switching up from Chopin Nocturnes to extravagant romantic orchestral settings, the end of class began in earnest. Perhaps music really does influence our actions - the students seemed particularly attentive during this last set of worktime. Wrapping things up with blogs at 2:45. Another fine day of ITA. BTW conquest to be completed next time!
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