The 19 best DAW software apps in the world today

Apple Logic Pro X via AttackMagazine.com

What is a DAW?  Besides being my initials (that really confused me when I first starting seeing the abbreviation in electronic music magazines and websites) it's a Digital Audio Workstation.  Basically is a piece of software or an app that allows you to manipulate and create digital music.  We use three DAWs in Music Tech class: Audacity, GarageBand for Mac, and Abelton Live.  Which ones are in the top 19?

Read the full article at MusicRadar.

Dance Project 2 - Crossfading with Anchor Beats

The main goal of the second project of the year in Music Tech is to learn a new track joining technique: crossfading.  In the first Dance Project, we joined tracks by doing "hard cuts", going immediately from one edit to another edit without any overlapping, as shown in this screenshot:

Hard Cuts = The end of one track is the beginning of the next track

The advantage to doing hard cuts is that it is very easy to line up tracks–the end of one track is the beginning of the second track.  The problem with a hard cut is that unless the editor chose full beats (a.k.a Christmas trees) as they made their cuts and counted the eight-counts of the music, making sure the count kept going from one track into the next...

Track 1: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8
Track 2: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8...

...the problem could be a missed count or an incomplete beat, making the edit obvious instead of seamless.

This is why I teach the "Crossfading with Anchor Beat" technique. Crossfading is overlapping the end of one track with the beginning of another track.

Track 1: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 1, 2
Track 2: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8...

The benefit is that you can blend the two tracks together by fading in the 2nd track while fading out the first track, as shown below.

Crossfading from the Intro to the Chorus of "Eye of the Tiger"

The key to crossfading, in my opinion, is finding one beat ("1" of the red eight counts above and the yellow counts below) to line up with the same beat count in the second track.  It can be any beat, as long as it is the same position in the eight count.  This is especially helpful when the lyrics of a chorus or verse start before "1" of the first eight-count of that verse or chorus.

You can also use words as anchor point instead of counts, such as "Tiger" in the second transition below.  We found it became necessary to even get more precise and only line up the second syllable "-ger" because the lead singer of Survivor sang the first syllable "ti-" longer at one place in the song than in another place.  The "Outro" below starts at the last time "tiger" is sung in the piece.

Audacity: Eye of the Tiger (full project with annotations)

Dance Project One

Who is My Audience?

What should I write about in Dance Project One?  Keep in mind that there are three different audiences for your blog:

1. Yourself - write to remember what you did.
2. Your teacher - write to show what you learned.
3. Anyone else - write to explain how to do the project for someone who is interested.

What things need to be in my first blog article?

1. A Title - It should draw your reader in and be specific to the topic you are writing about.
2. A List of Steps how to do the project.  You don't have to be as technical and detailed as my instruction sheet was, but it should be specific enough that someone can recreate what you did.
3. Links to important information, such as words that need definition or ideas that can better be explained by reading more information on another website.
4. Annotated Screenshots - Add at least two, one full screen (Cmd-Shift-3) and one partial screenshot (Cmd-Shift-4).  Draw and write on them in Preview.

Read the article "What Makes a Good Blog?" I wrote for more ideas.

What about Commenting?

Most people who are internet citizens are used to commenting to each other online, be it with email, Facebook, or Twitter.  Commenting on a person's blog is a great way to learn more information, make a personal connection with someone whose work you admire, and possibly get someone to read your blog.

When commenting on someone else's blog, please follow these guidelines:

1. Introduce yourself in a way that helps them understand from what point of view you are writing: "I'm a student in a high school music technology class..."
2. Give a compliment before writing anything else. Most people don't hear enough compliments throughout their day: "I enjoyed reading your article about [xyz]. You helped me understand [abc]..."
3. Ask a question to engage them in a conversation so that they will reply to your comment: "Why did you...?"  

How to take a screenshot and write on it on a Mac

There are two simple keyboard combinations for taking a screenshot on a Mac:

• Command-Shift-3 (pressed all at the same time) takes a picture of the entire window. On older Macs, the Command Key was not labeled with "Command" but had two icons: a cloverleaf and an "Open Apple".
  
  

• Command-Shift-4 (pressed all at the same time) allows you to choose which part of the screen gets captured using your mouse

To annotate a screenshot, drag the .png screenshot file from your desktop onto the Preview icon in your dock to open it up. Click on the Annotate button on the top toolbar and look for the drawing icons on the bottom left corner of your screen.  There you can choose to make a circle, rectangle, text box, arrow, line and change colors of these items as you mark up your screenshot.  A picture is worth a thousand words, so why not annotate a screenshot rather than write a thousand words?

Update 9/11/15 To take screenshots on platforms other than Mac, go to http://www.take-a-screenshot.org/.