Download Free Sound Effects

Link to sound effects

Creating a Screen Recording with Quicktime Player

1. Open Quicktime Player.

2. Under the file menu, choose "New Screen Recording."

You will see this.

3. Click the red record button, then "Start Recording."

4. Make the video your are recording full screen.

5. Trim.

Mixing - Audio and Music

In your PSA, you will have an audio track with spoken word and music "behind" it. Why do you think we say the music is behind it? Right, because the music should be more quiet than the voice. The spoken words are the most important thing for the listener to hear because they have the information you are trying to relate. It should be the loudest track and the music should be more quiet, "behind" the voice in the mix.

1. Adjust your track levels using the volume sliders on the individual tracks. Mixing is an art and it can take a lot of practice to get the levels just right. It is always good to have an extra set of ears (a partner to listen) to help you and give you feedback.

2. Quick Fades. When you have spoken word with music behind it like in our PSAs or in a radio commercial for example, you will often hear the music quickly fade down (go down in volume) when the voice comes in. The music starts at a nice loud volume and once the voice starts, the music goes into the "background" and the voice becomes the main focus.

a. Click on the little triangle to the right of the volume sliders. This will open the track volume automation. 

b. Zoom in nice and close using the zoom slider in the lower left corner. 

c. Click twice on the volume automation line to create two dots side by side, right before the voice begins. 

d. Pull down the dot to the right just a bit to create a quick fade as the voice begins.

If there are points during your project that the voice pauses for a long time, you may want to fade your music back up to its original level. Or if the music plays alone at the end after the voice ends, you should fade it back up to its original level there. 

Good Luck!  :)

Recording Audio in GarageBand

You will work with a partner. Your partner will be the sound engineer and will help you record your audio.

1. Create a new track by clicking the plus sign in the lower left corner of the GarageBand window.

Choose "Real Instrument"

2. Plug in your USB microphone.

You will get a message that GarageBand recognizes the microphone, in this case, the Blue Snowball

3. Checking your level. You now will speak into the microphone to check the input level. Place the microphone about 1-2 feet away from your mouth. Just begin to go through exactly what you are recording. 

As you are speaking, the sound engineer checks the level (the green bars that go up and down as you speak.)

The most important thing here is that the level is not clipping (green bars go into red.) This means that the incoming signal is too loud and the recording will sound distorted.

You also don't want the levels to be too low in the green. This means that the recorded level will be too quiet. 

Ideally, you want the levels to be in the middle of the green.

The level will be determined by two things, the distance you are from the microphone and the volume of your voice. 

Once your level is set, you are ready to record. Do not change your distance from the mic.

4. Recording. Click the red record button on the bottom of the window. 

Make sure you are speaking clearly and your voice has personality. 

If you make a mistake, do not stop the recording, keep recording. Go back to the beginning of the sentence your mistake was in and say that again. You will edit this when you are done recording.

Good Luck!

Tom and Jerry Video Scoring

There is a Tom and Jerry video with no sound available for scoring. Connect to the server and in the Farrell folder, find a file called "tom and jerry no sound." Drag this into your music class folder. Follow the steps in the "Video Scoring Project" post on this blog to create the GarageBand project to begin composing.

Product Descriiptor for Wiley Coyote Music Project

Here are the requirements for your this project:

1. Your music must include at least 3 distinct (noticeable) changes that match with changes in the video.

2. You must include at least 2 different music loops from the loop browser.

3. You must include at least 2 different sound effects from the loop browser.

4. You must include at least 1 track of music or sounds that you played yourself on the keyboard.

5. You must be able explain why you made the choices you made in your music.

New Percy Hill Video

In March, Mr. Farrell's band reunited after an over 10 year hiatus. Here they are in Boston playing their song After All. This video was made by a professional video company, using 8 different camera angles.