With the advent of Java and other ‘Write Once, Run Anywhere’ (WORA) programming languages, the use of animations and simulations has become the most dynamic aspect of ICT’s, particularly on the internet. Web designers now implement WORA programming as a major feature of their websites. Browsers such as Chrome and Firefox use these syntaxes as an important part of their application systems, making their own application so diverse through the integration of web systems.
One of the many simulations that can be found on the web is
called Soundation (www.soundation.com).
The website acts as an online Digital Audio Workspace (DAW), a common tool used
in the music industry for recording, mixing and mastering. Industry standard
DAW’s include ProTools HD and Logic Pro, these programs cost in excess of $1000
with their associated hardware, whilst education standard DAW cost about $400
each, and most operating systems come with a audio recording program (e.g.
Garage Band for Mac OSX) that can cover some basic features of DAW.
Soundation is a free online DAW that students can access
anywhere, anytime for their own recording purposes. It is limited in function,
but as a starting DAW, it is a very effective tool to teach beginning sound
recording, mixing and mastering. From my own brief experience with Soundation,
I have found it to be an easy tool to understand; very self-explanatory and I
could easily see myself implementing this tool in my music classes. Students
can create free accounts and save their work and then publish it to the web,
embed it in their blogs or download completed tracks to mp3 format.
“For most music educators, performance is at the center of
sharing music, and recording is most often a tool used primarily in an archival
way” (Thibeault, 2012) . I believe that
recording should become the forefront of music sharing and music education in
the 21st century, whilst paying respect to the important place music
performance holds in the art form.
I believe that its accessibility along with its free
sourcing make it a very flexible tool to use for my students, and they will
become quite adept at using DAW’s at a beginner level, before moving to
industry standard programs such as ProTools. Using Soundation, I created the
following track using loops freely available from Soundation. It can be found here.
The following PMI analysis summarises my experience with Soundation
as a web simulation tool.
Pluses
- Free source
- Similar design and layout to industry standard DAW
- Ease of use
- Free accounts allow students to save work
- Online access for students anywhere, anytime
- Cross OS compatibility, as it is a web app
- Interactive and Engaging, students are directly responsible for the design and creation of the music.
- Final tracks can be integrated anywhere on the web
Minuses
- Online, can only be accessed there. Must have Internet access
- Plagiarism – due to loops, only a certain number of ways things can be done.
- Online safety can be an issue
- Limited in its use, very basic
Interesting
- Music recording is one of the most cross curriculum ways of intergrating assessment criteria in music
- Once students master this DAW, they can progress to offline industry standard DAW like ProTools
- Students can display their work online and get feedback via that channel of communication
References
Thibeault, M. (2012). Wisdom for Music Education From the
Recording Studio. General Music Today , 25 (2), 47-52.
Hi Ross
ReplyDeleteExcellent post.It will be interesting to see what Grammar is using and if you will be allowed to use Soundation.
I think it is important for new teachers to push the boundaries and introduce new pedgaogy and software to worksites where change is resisted.
It it gets results for students and improves the data around their learning then go for it.
Well done.