Week 2 - Microphones

This week, I was unable to attend the lecture in class, but I watched on zoom. Brad Fuller introduced us to microphones and recording audio. We were shown different kinds of microphones and the equipment used to record audio. After demonstrating how to use all of these technology, the class was grouped to create their own recording about what they have found in their research about microphones.

I was unable to do take part of this activity, but I did do some research and there was one thing that I found interesting - Audio effects

Audio effects are great because they manipulate the audio to sound different. This is useful when wanting to create unique sounds. Different effects include EQ, reverb and compressor

1. EQ: manipulate the frequency of an audio track. This is effective in changing the tone quality of the audio track

2. Reverb: manipulate the ambience of an audio track. This is effective in changing the atmosphere of the audio track - we can make it sound as if the audio was recorded in a small or large room. Reverb is like an echo

3. Compressor: balance a sounds in an audio track to that they are all equal. This is effective as all sounds can be heard evenly

I think when recording audio tracks, it is effective in using audio effects in making the recording sound more interesting and engaging

Week 7 - Albeton and Mashups

Special guest Matt Ridgway showed us all about mash ups and using Albeton. He showed us how to mash sounds together to create something through improvisation. I think it is very nice to have such activities in the classroom because no mistakes can be made. He showed examples of mashed up songs and dissected how the person created the mash up. The examples demonstrated how you can mash two songs together to create one cohesive song through manipulating pitch or tempo. If done correctly, you wouldn’t be able to tell that it was a mashup (assuming you don’t know the two original songs). We then had a go mashing sample sounds together using a push.

This week was very fun as I always wanted to try mashup some of my favourite songs. I will be definitely explore what we have done in my spare time, thanks Matt!! :)

Week 9 - Online teaching resources

James uploaded a short video about creating online teaching resources. In recent times, more students prefer to use their laptop to do their work, so providing an online resource is necessary. I think using online teaching resources are a lot effective than pen on paper as it allows for more creative ways to engage students with content and activities. As mentioned by James, online resources allows for different kinds of widgets - interactive activities.

James went through different softwares to create ebooks. Creating an ebook seems like a lot of fun and I will definitely try to make one myself as I believe this will benefit me in my future teaching experiences. It is great to publish a resource that I would know very well and know how to use it to its best ability as this will allow for the best learning experience for my future students.