Introduction - Effects 

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• Give students an overview of what it means to put effects on your tracks.

  • Lead them through a demonstration of what EQ does to a song. I highly recommend going through this game with your students (https://www.sonarworks.com/soundid-reference/match-the-mix). At least the first two levels, that way they can really hear what EQ will do do the track. EQ is also one of the most challenging concepts to hear on a track.​

  • Lead them through a demonstration of what Reverb will do to their track. 

    • ​Put the "space maker" BandLab effect on one of your tracks and solo it. Show them the differences when you change the sliders.​​

  • Refresh their memory on how to use "A" automation for volume on a track.​

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Automate Volume on All your tracks

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• ​Send them off to create slight automation for volume on their mixes. Challenge them to change the volume for the Verse and Chorus section. Here are a few other ways they can commonly automate their mixes:

  • Create a Swell to lead into the next phrase or section.​

  • Create a fade in at the beginning of their song.

  • Create a second of silence before the next section of their song.

  • Change volume for all tracks to go up together during the climax of the song.

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Reverb on your Tracks

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• Demonstrate how to get to the Reverb Effects on BandLab.

  • Click on the track you want to change.

  • Solo that track.

  • Click "Effects" on the bottom left of the screen.​

  • Click "Add Effect"

  • Find "Reverb" on the left menu.

  • Choose which reverb to use.

  • Edit the parameters until you like the sound of that instrument.

• Kids will often put too much reverb on their tracks because they like how spacey and odd it sounds. Remember that they are young and their mix does not need to be perfect. It is more about giving them freedom to make creative choices and play with these effects than to create a professional mix.​

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EQ on your Tracks

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• Follow the same steps for getting to add an EQ as you did to add a Reverb.

• EVERYONE SHOULD USE THE GRAPHIC EQ.

  • It is a little more complicated with the choices it gives you, but the sliders will make the most sense for your students.​

• Demonstrate the basics of where you want to add and take away from tracks:

  • Take away the highs from Bass instruments​

  • Take away the Lows from Melody instruments

  • Bump up middles for guitars and possibly voice.

• Let the kids play with their mixes using EQ.​

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Downloading their Songs

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• Your students have finished their songs. They are happy with their mixes, and now it is time for them to share what they made with their families/classmates.

• There are a few ways you can do this:

  • You take responsibility for downloading all of your students songs, put them in a google drive folder, and then share that folder with families.​

    • Go into each student's studio on your screen.​

    • Click BandLab on top left

    • Click Project, Download, Mixdown As

    • Choose MP3, this is a relatively small file and will give your kids a good quality to listen to.

    • Put it in a folder, and share.

  • Your kids are responsible for downloading at home.​

    • Provide kids with their usernames and passwords on a paper.​

    • Give them instructions on that same paper for how to log into BandLab at home. Make sure they are logging on to edu.BandLab.com, not the official bandlab.com. they take you to different places.

    • Provide these instructions for them to see how to download their projects at home:

      • Go into your FINAL PROJECT Assignment

      • Click BandLab on top left

      • Click Project, Download, Mixdown As

      • Choose MP3.

  • I prefer to do it all myself. It takes longer, but then I am sure the parents have their student's track.​​

    • Still provide students with how to download their track in case they ever make their own song in the future.

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