Drop The Beat

In this assignment, students will use Mixcraft to create an original composition that will bring tears to the eyes of grown men, make people forget about their sadness, and stop wars across the globe (or, optionally, a song that just sounds kind of cool). You are going to learn how to use software to help you create your song and turn this into a final production.

Open Mixcraft and create a New Project. Name it as LASTNAMEMixcraft (for example, AlexanderMixcraft). Save it to your Google Drive so you can access it easily. Set the tempo and the key (this is optional: if you are not sure what this means, just leave that the way it is). You will be creating your project using whatever instruments you wish.

Click the Library Tab in the lower left corner. You can search for loops using the Category selection tool under that tab. Sort by either Instrument or Song Kit to find your instrument.

You should try and work with one instrument at a time and put your song together using the instruments that will have the greatest impact in your song. For this assignment, you need to use a minimum of 5 and a maximum of 10 instruments for your song. Your song needs to be a minimum of 1 (one) minute and a maximum of 2 (two) minutes. Once you find a beat or instrument to use, click and drag it to the new track area. If you have no idea what instruments to use, I recommend maybe using one or two of each of the following:

• Percussion (drums, beats, bongo, etc)

• String (bass, lead guitar, violin, banjo, etc.)

• Woodwind (saxophone, flute, oboe, etc.)

• Brass (trombone, trumpet, tuba, etc.)

• Keyboard (piano, organ, electronic keyboard, etc.)

• Optional (chimes, bells, cymbal, maracas, etc.)

Too many of one type of instrument or another is going to make your song sound strange! That's not always a bad thing if that's what you're aiming for, but keep a healthy balance in mind. To get an idea of what a good composition sounds like, think about this: your favorite songs use a small collection of instruments in a dozen different ways--they don't just use a dozen different instruments. Limit the number of instruments you use or think about a genre before you begin. That's not to discourage you from blending genres--by all means, dig in! I love mashups--but be grounded in a common musical theme or idea.

Keep in mind also that your song should have some variance in melody (i.e., not just the same loop for 45 seconds).

Don't forget, you can adjust the volume of each instrument and accent your song by clicking the slider above the mute/solo etc. buttons to the left of the loop that you dragged onto your workspace. Additionally, you must fade out the song, use one additional effect, and export the final file as an MP3.