Getting Stereo Sound in GarageBand

I had a question come in from my YouTube channel and thought I'd put the answer here. When recording vocals, sound was coming out of the left speaker only but he wanted stereo. Here are my suggestions for troubleshooting:

First, check your microphone. If it's not a stereo mic, it can't record in stereo (use both L and R speakers). If you're not sure if it's a stereo mic, click on the Real Instruments tab then look at the bottom where it says "input source." If it is a stereo mic, you will see something like "Stereo 1/2 ..." 

If you have a stereo mic, but you're not getting stereo sound, then the problem is likely (hopefully!) your track pan. The track pan determines how much of the sound goes to the left and how much to the right. When the track pan is pointing to the 12-o'clock position, you will get equal amounts of sound to both sides.

Track pan all the way left sends sound to the left speaker only. Place your mouse cursor over the little button and rotate the dial to the desired location.


If track pan is at center/up and you're still getting sound only from the left speaker, check the speakers (make sure it's this song, not the equipment). If the speakers are fine (you played a different song in GarageBand and got sound from both sides) and the track pan is all the way up, we resort to drastic measures. Try copying and pasting the audio into a new track. For this track, set the pan all the way to the right. This would be a cheating way of getting stereo, but just might give you the sound you're looking for.

I hope this helps!

Tech Integration Tips

Yes, I know I keep saying that I'm going to blog more regularly, then I get caught up in my Boise Classes. Just for fun, here is a link to graphics I created this summer for EDTECH 506 - Instructional Message Design. Feel free to use anything you want. Like the other content I have created for my EdTech classes, these will live on the Boise State server until after I finish my degree program. I only have four more classes to go, but none are offered in the summer, so that means two more years. At some point between now and then I will move them to my non-Boise Web site. And now, on to the real topic for this post.

A friend is interviewing for an elementary music teaching position and I put together a few tips, should the topic of technology integration come up in the interview. Here they are ...

Share what you’ve done and what you want to do:

• What technology are you comfortable with for personal and professional use?
• Check out NETS for Teachers to see where you fit on the continuum.
• What technology (equipment, software, online) was available in your previous position? How did you use it?
• What technologies are you familiar with that were NOT available in your previous position? Discussion with other music teachers, workshop topics, etc. may have given you a peek into other possibilities.

Take advantage of free online tools. Consider:

• Curriculum - Determine what curricular goals and objectives need support then choose the most effective tool. Considering tech tools first (choosing a new fun thing then trying to find an educational application for it) is putting the cart before the horse.
• Terms of Use – Some sites are only for those 13 and older.
• Platform - Online, free download, Mac/Windows.
• Privacy - No personal information! Some online tools need e-mail accounts for each user/student.
• Tracking - Some allow teachers to set up “classes” and track student progress.
• Logistics - One computer w/projector vs. mobile lab vs. computer lab/separate location. Balance benefits of tech with impact on class time, but remember that there will be fewer bumps farther down the road.
• Integrating technology in the music classroom is about much more than just music tools. Many tech tools that are part of the “regular” classroom (blogs, wikis, for example) apply to any subject area.


Benefits of technology use in the classroom:

• More possibilities for differentiation of instruction.
• Illinois Learning Standards - Goal 26A: Understand the processes, traditional tools and modern technologies used in the arts.
• Multiple Intelligences – Flexible means of interacting with content and expressing understanding.
• Authentic Learning – Use of tools that are commonly used by practicing musicians/composers. For example, computer-based composition instead of pencil and paper.
• Global Connections (Illinois Goal 27):
  - National Geographic World Music
  - Putumayo Kids
  - World Music Network
  - YouTube (safety features: create own channel, use safe mode, embed player)
  - SafeShare.tv (for YouTube videos only, allows editing of in/out points, masks all
  content except the video itself).

Professional Development Opportunities:

• Many districts offer training for specific equipment (interactive whiteboard, for example) and tools (district-hosted Web sites and blogs).
• Find people/groups to follow – See what others are doing and think about applications to your own classroom. When you find someone you like, see who they are following.
• Blog/Website/Wiki: Carol Broos (lives in Gurnee, teaches in Northfield - Golden Apple Recipient, frequent presenter at tech and music conferences, lots of links to follow)
• Blog: High Techpectations (Lucy Grey)
• Blog: Educating Educators (general tech for teachers)
• Organization: Technology Institute for Music Educators (TI:ME, resources, conference, newsletters, classes)
• Online tutorials for specific software/tools (example: GarageBand)
• Workshops, conferences and classes (TI:ME offers specific, sequential training)
• Technology Integration in the Elementary Music Classroom
  - 2008
  - TI:ME / Hal Leonard publication
  - Detailed lesson plans
  - If I could only buy one book, it would be this one
• Technology Guide for Music Educators
  - 2006
  - TI:ME / Thomson Course Technology
  - Very helpful if you are working with hardware – covers types of equipment and set-up
  - Does not include newer technologies (iPod, open source/free tools).
• YouTube in Music Education
  - 2009
  - Thomas Rudolph and James Frankel / Hal Leonard
  - The majority of the book deals with consuming YouTube content (creating an account and channel, etc.) but there is also useful information about creating and posting videos (including a great section on copyright).
• Music Technology Workbook: Key Concepts and Practical Projects
  - 2008
  - Paul Middleton and Steven Gurevitz / Focal Press
  - A great deal more technical than the books listed above.
  - Mostly MIDI with some info on recording and mixing. Most appropriate for advanced middle school or high school MIDI Music Labs. I would suggest reading this only for those working in an advanced composition lab situation.

GarageBand - Editing software instrument tracks

I know it's a shock, here I am posting two days in a row! Now that my tutorials are on YouTube, people are watching them and sending back questions. As questions come through my YouTube email, I will post them here as well.

Question:
When I record a software instrument, how can I edit where it begins and where it ends? Example: I click add new track, I click software instrument, I use the grand piano and record something. I double click it and the track editor comes up, and want to delete the time it took for me to press the button to stop recording. How do I do that?

Answer:
When editing green tracks, you can to split the track then delete the section you don't want to keep. Here is what I would do:

1) Make sure the track isn't locked. Locking frees up your processor, uses less power, and saves your track from unintentional changes. Locking is good if you have finished editing that part and you want to save power, but locking is bad if you want to make changes. If the track is locked, the lock icon will look like this:





2) To unlock, click the padlock. When it goes to gray, you can edit the track.
3) Place the playhead/cursor at the spot where you want to cut.
4) From the menu, choose edit>split.
5) Click outside the track (so it's not all bright green anymore) to deselect the recording.
6) Click on the section of the track (now separate from the rest) that you want to delete. It will turn bright green.
7) Press the delete key or choose edit>delete from the menu.

Hopefully, that will work for you! Keep those questions coming :-)

GarageBand Tutorials Have a New Home!

Yes, I know ... I keep saying I will post more often, but life keeps getting in the way of that. After my summer classes at Boise, I left the next day for a family vacation in Oregon. I came back and had two weeks to pack my oldest off to college, shop for school supplies and clothes for the other two kids, unpack my classroom, and get ready to teach new curriculum to six grade levels (485 students now). The first day of school was my first day for my fall semester Boise class. Needless to say, I have gone through my entire quota of Jolt mints (caffeine is my friend) with several weeks left to go in the semester.

I digress. One of my assignments for Boise this week was to do a video response to a discussion question classmates put on YouTube. I created a YouTube account in 2008 but didn't do anything with it and now I was inspired. I've been holding off moving my GarageBand tutorials off the Boise server because I didn't want to go over my limit on my Yahoo website account. Problem solved - I uploaded my lovely GarageBand Tutorials to my YouTube channel. People have somehow found my Guitar Roadtrip and GarageBand Tutorials (they send me nice emails) and I am hoping that more people will find the GarageBand Tutorials now that they are on YouTube. I had to do some editing on my web pages when I moved them over to my ferdonmusic.com site but it was fun. Of course, I really should have been doing lessons plans, but I couldn't resist!

Here is a link to the new home for my GarageBand instructional materials: http://www.ferdonmusic.com/garageband/intro.html, and my YouTube Channel: http://www.youtube.com/Kipmusic2345. If you hurry you can see me in my chicken hat on YouTube. But you can bet your buttons that my Accessibility video will be yanked off YouTube the second this class is over! Better hurry ...

GarageBand '09

This summer I took the next two classes for my EdTech masters at Boise State and one of them focused on instructional design. For my final project, I designed instruction and created materials for music teachers to learn GarageBand '09. I am happy to say that the class is over (I have a few weeks to breathe before the next class begins!) and those materials are now online. Each lesson includes a video tutorial, step-by-step instructions, additional information that related to the lesson, and supporting documents. I plan on adding more lessons to the site and future additions will likely focus on an aspect of the software that goes beyond the basics.

The lessons and tutorials may be found at: http://edtech2.boisestate.edu/ferdons/503/garageband/intro.html --- UPDATE, 11/1/09: The tutorials can still be accessed through this URL, but can now also be found at http://www.ferdonmusic.com/garageband/intro.html. See my November 1st post for more info!

Once I am finished with my degree (May, 2011) I will move my GarageBand webpages to another site but they will always be linked here in the sidebar. I hope the tutorials will be of use to as many people as possible, so please feel free to pass along the link.

New and Improved Website

I have a few weeks between semesters at Boise State and have been revamping my classroom website. I have been able to move to more consistent page styling using external style sheets (css) which was my main goal. I have had fun making images (using Fireworks) for banners, titles and buttons but my favorite additions to the site are from Google. I added a calendar using Google Calendar and a translating button. Here are some links if you want to check it out:

Kipling Music Website
Google Calendar Getting Started Guide
Google Translate (click on "Tools" to get embed code to put the gadget on your page).

Now, have some fun translating :-)

Back Again

I keep thinking I will write regular blog posts then I have music shows and homework for Boise State. There is a brief lull - I expect it to last several minutes - so here is a quick post. I recently discovered Switch and it has become my current favorite audio conversion tool. It's free and very easy to use - drag and drop, select file type from drop-down menu and click "convert." You can visit the Switch website for additional information. Downloads for a variety of operating systems can be found toward the bottom of the page.