Creative Applications:
Digital Audio Workstations (DAW)
Creative Applications:
Digital Audio Workstations (DAW)
My experience using BandLab was not the most pleasant, due to circumstances that had more to do with time and technology constraints that were not necessarily attributed to BandLab. For instance, wanting to record my ukulele but not having a proper microphone, or importing audio files that are more complicated to work with than assumed. However, despite feeling overwhelmed with the open ended task of creating a song using loops, MIDI/recorded instruments, and/or imported media, I thought the program could be incredibly valuable to the educational experience. Similar to how I feel about Noteflight, I appreciate BandLab for its web based platform and cloud storage. This is the perfect type of program for students to use, as they can make music anywhere, for free, and that allows users to easily share their music. Best of all, a program like BandLab provides students with a multitude of ways to build their musical layers, without having a substantial knowledge of music theory. Thus, BandLab became the DAW of choice to include in my WebQuest project.
Audactiy was a program that I had heard of for years, and had even downloaded to use for creating karaoke tracks at one point, but had no real experience using before taking Technology Assisted Music Learning. I thought that it was just another DAW like GaraBand or SoundTrap, which I have more experience using. It became quicly apparent, though, that I had no idea the creative potential that Audacity can facilitate.
The Bart file was a quick, easy, and fun project that felt more like a game of "Find That Sound Bite" than an assessment task. I enjoyed using the Effects and other editing tools, and enjoyed several hours of just playing around with its different features before getting to work on "Mah Na Mah Na." I have begun listening to music in a completely different way ever since. Not only am I picking apart songs that have been made into a 'remix' to discern what editing effects may have been used, but I am also listening to songs and thinking of ways that I could creatively alter the file in Audacity. Completing the Bart and "Mah Na Mah Na" projects helped me to see how a program like Audacity can develop students' creative listening skills in addition to their compositional abilities.
For more information on DAW applications, please refer to my blog post, "Oh, The Audacity!"