In Digital Media, we created a variety of audio projects in Pro Tools and Reason, two different digital audio workstations.

Pro Tools: Using Software Virtual Instruments

In Pro Tools, we learned how to create a basic beat and 4 chord song: there is a series of 4 chords that form a popular base for a huge range of songs. These four chords, in any key, use a I–V–vi–IV progression, and a similar beat. Because of this, many songs can be played together as a mashup, including ALL of these:

Journey — “Don’t Stop Believing”
James Blunt — “You’re Beautiful”
Black Eyed Peas — “Where Is the Love”. Lady Gaga — “Paparazzi”
U2 — “With Or Without You”
The Last Goodnight — “Pictures of You”
Maroon Five — “She Will Be Loved”
The Beatles — “Let It Be”
Bob Marley — “No Woman No Cry”. Lady Gaga — “Pokerface”
Aqua — “Barbie Girl”
Red Hot Chili Peppers — “Otherside”
The Gregory Brothers — “Double Rainbow”
MGMT — “Kids”
Andrea Bocelli — “Time To Say Goodbye”
Robert Burns — “Auld Lang Syne”

Alphaville — “Forever Young”
Jason Mraz — “I’m Yours”
Train — “Hey Soul Sister”
The Calling — “Wherever You Will Go”Marcy Playground — “Sex and Candy”
Men At Work — “Land Down Under”
Theme from America’s Funniest Home Videos
Jack Johnson — “Taylor”
Spice Girls — “Two Become One”. Avril Lavigne — “Complicated”
The Offspring — “Self Esteem”
The Offspring — “You’re Gonna Go Far Kid”
Akon — “Beautiful”
Timberland featuring OneRepublic — “Apologize”
Eminem featuring Rihanna — “Love the Way You Lie”
Bon Jovi — “It’s My Life”

Elton John — “Can You Feel The Love Tonight” (from The Lion King)
Akon — “Don’t Matter”
John Denver — “Take Me Home, Country Roads”

A-ha — “Take On Me”
Green Day — “When I Come Around”
Eagle Eye Cherry — “Save Tonight”
Toto — “Africa”
Beyonce — “If I Were A Boy”
Kelly Clarkson — “Behind These Hazel Eyes”
Jason DeRulo — “In My Head”
The Smashing Pumpkins — “Bullet With Butterfly Wings”
Joan Osborne — “One Of Us”

Five for fighting — “Superman”
The Axis of Awesome — “Birdplane”
Missy Higgins — “Scar”

Almost 50 well known songs written in the same style! We were asked to create a song with the same 4 chord progression.

Some of the vast number of virtual instruments available in Pro Tools, including a piano, vacuum, and drum set. The “Structure Free” box in the bottom left is a virtual instrument that has its own set of nested virtual instruments!
An image of my completed 4 chord progression in Pro Tools
My 4 chord song! Overly dramatic yet simple at the same time.

Reason: Overview

Reason is the second digital audio workstation we used. Its incredibly complicated, but in levels such that anyone from a beginner to a digital mastermind can happily create music. You’ll see what I mean by complicated in the following images.

In reason, there are 3 main interfaces. First is the mixer, which contains all the overlaying controls for music including volume, effect levels, inputs, eq, and dynamics. It looks like this:

One of the productions from Reason was an Electronic Dance Music – style song that was 8 bars long.

So long, I had to take two pictures to fit it all! Its set up so that as you scroll down, you see this ^^^ …, then see this ->.

The second part of Reason is the Rack, where all the instruments are stored. Unlike Pro Tools, this is built to look realistic: you can control wiring the instruments (such as drums, synthesizers, guitars, etc.) and devices (such as reverb, arpeggiators, transformers, echos, equalizers/compressors/maximizers, etc.). You can even plug in your own physical instrument or vocals to add to reason!

The front, where all the buttons are…

… and the back, where all the wiring takes place.

Just so you know, the above images are simplified! If I were to open up all the instruments and show just how much you can do, I would need more than twice the images…

I cannot stress how much fun it is to mess around in Reason—you could get lost for days on end exploring everything. In times where we don’t go out as much it really is a wonderful source of entertainment—and you may find yourself a musical virtuoso!

The last section of Reason is the sequencer, where one can actually see all the produced music—it looks similar to Pro Tools here.

Reason: EDM 8 Bar Song

The above images come from the Electronic Dance Music song replica we had to make, which was required to be 8 bars long (hence the name).

My EDM 8 Bar Song!

Reason: RPG8 and Matrix

The second project we had in reason focused on RPG8, an arpeggiator, and Matrix, which could automate instruments.

My RPG8 and Matrix Song! If you listen long enough, there might be a surprise…(Hint: 007 makes his entrance!)

Reason: Experimental Music

The last project for Reason (and the biggest one) was to use what we learned from the previous two projects and make our own song—sounds daunting, right? However, with free reign, you can have a lot of fun. This was by far the most fun I’ve had on a project at Freestyle, even though I don’t consider myself good at making music—I just like exploring things!

Here’s my final lofi hip-hop replica song!

Below are images of all the instruments, automation, and other fun bits from the Experimental Music project that made the minute of music you (might) have just listened to. The rack (where all the physical wiring and instrument programming occurs) is really long, and I apologize for the large amount of scrolling I have subjected you to if you want to reach the bottom of the page.

My mixer: notice the scroll box on the right – there’s a lot there!

The front of the rack…

… and the back.

All that on the rack just for a couple of lines of music? Yup. Told you it was complicated.

Here’s an in-depth view of what the base does throughout the song. Its a mostly simple four chord progression (NOT the one in the Pro Tools project). The drum sets and synth raise were created on the rack.

You made it to the bottom! Congrats and thanks for looking at all that—this production was my pride and joy, and I hope you understand why I love to use Reason whenever I have spare time on my hands.