SoundTrap is BACKKKK BABYY!
Session - 5/9
This past Tuesday (May 9th) was the first session of Girls Rock Philly’s collaborative music making project using Soundtrap! In this session, we were happy to be joined by producer Daniel Drago and musician/artistic educator Namarah McCall who led us through the musical space of Soundtrap. As the group trickled into the Zoom meeting, we opened up the floor with an icebreaker and a reminder that music-making is about experimentation and creativity; mistakes are encouraged here.
Because this was our first session, the first half of our meeting consisted of Dan graciously taking us through a virtual tour of the DAW, and explaining what a DAW is in the first place. He shared that a DAW is a “digital audio workstation” and that Soundtrap is an example of such. Because of its fairly cheap cost (and availability of a free version) Soundtrap promotes accessibility of music making and further, encourages anyone to make music, even if you don't have much experience, physical instruments, or an abundance of cash to drop on fancy equipment. Dan then took us through all of the main functions of the Soundtrap workspace, including a large library of patterns, beatmakers, synth sounds, loops, and even a function where you can search for loops that have a similar style as your favorite artist. After Dan’s thorough tour of the space, Namarah and the students virtually explored different beats, drum pads, and a feature that syncs your laptop keyboard with keys on the virtual synth provided on Soundtrap.
While this crash course was essential in getting to know Soundtrap and all of its features, this GRPxSoundtrap project is a collaborative one, so it was essential that we get everyone thinking about what sounds they could create. To aid in this process, Soundtrap has a feature that allows music-makers to add collaborators to a single project and even make comments back-in-forth in each other throughout the music-making process. These logistics are super important to musical collaboration, but as Namarah stressed, it's also important for us to take a second and appreciate the sounds that our musical collaborators are loving and feeling inspired by. Because of this, we set aside about 15 minutes at the end of this first session for everyone to share a 30-second snippet of their current favorite song. It was an extraordinary moment and one that definitely brought the group a little closer. Music sharing is vulnerable; it’s like opening up a little piece of yourself to those around you and it is important to GRP to make sure we're always creating a space where folks feel comfortable existing together like this. We listened to a wide range of music, ranging from the South African deep house music of Kelvin Momo to the indie rock of Mitski, and thought about how we could bring these sounds together into one cohesive piece. Before our next session on Tuesday the 16th, Namarah suggested that each student play around with Soundtrap and try to recreate a sound that has inspired them.
Making music production accessible is the first step in creating artistic collectives that can challenge the deprioritization of art in our society. GRP is committed to using art-making to build community and care for each other in all our various pursuits. Stay tuned for the music our artists create with Soundtrap, but at the end of the day, the moments of shared, unlimited creativity and collaboration are what keep us going.
Session - 5/16
This past Tuesday, our small group of Soundtrap folks got together again to play with the sound space and start to build the base of our collaborative song. But first, it wouldn't be a Soundtrap session if we didn’t begin with some casual icebreakers. Sometimes asking simple questions like “would you rather be able to see 10 minutes into the future or 150 years?” can offer an easy mens to connect with each other, even over zoom. After we broke the ice and got a few laughs in, we started getting down to the good stuff; the logistics of the song.
Namarah started us off by asking the music-makers what kind of tempo they wanted to work with. We thought about if we wanted this song to be slow paced and relaxed, or more uptempo, agreeing on the sweet spot in between these two options. Next, we talked about the tone of the song; were we wanting a song in a major or minor key? Once D major was agreed upon, Dan reminded us that Soundtrap offers a feature where, once you have decided on your song’s key, you can use a filter when searching for loops so that the only loops showing up are ones in your chosen major/minor key. After learning about this feature, the music-makers had 5 minutes of “free play” to go through the loops and find ones that resonated with each person to add to the collaborative music workspace. We then went through, listening to all the loops played together and then separate to decide what sounds went best together and what ones may need to be saved for later/for other projects.
In an effort to get some bare bones on the song, we took the next chunk of time to explore Soundtrap’s offered drum beats and attempted to fill out the rhythm section of the song. Namarh and Dan made sure to emphasize that this is not a space for conservatism or apologies: exploration of sounds and how they mesh together is a messy process and there's no need to feel bad for trying new things and mixing different sounds, even if it sounds crunchy in the process. When “crunchiness,” as we call it, is heard, Dan emphasized the importance of the “transpose” feature in Soundtrap which allows you to make sure all the loops/beats in your workstation are in the same key.
To close out the day, we listened to all of our possible drum beats and loop options together, realizing how much material we have to work with for next time!. Our goal for the next session is to build up the song with the addition of a bassline and some melodic guitar, but we’ll see where the music making takes us! In the meantime, music-makers were sent home with encouragement to play around with the Soundtrap workstation and to keep experimenting.
Screenshotted image of last Tuesday’s Soundtrap session. The images shows a shared screen of our Soundtrap workstation featuring multiple different loops, drum beats, and basslines.
Session - 5/23
Another week means another exploration of sounds with all of our friends engaging in SoudtrapxGRP this summer! This past Tuesday was our second to last meeting together, so we got straight to the art-making. Because our music-makers have been editing and working on their song throughout the week, we started by doing a listen-through of the song to see where it’s at. After this listen, we took about 5 minutes to reflect on the song and for each person to think of one thing they liked, loved, and thought may need to be changed. Some people loved the ending of the song, while some were feeling unsure of the volume of different tracks throughout the song.
This diversity of ideas and suggestions is super important to creating a cohesive and communally enjoyable song! But, at the same time, it can be challenging to stay open to changing certain parts of a song, especially if they are pieces that you’ve had in the song since the beginning. In situations like these, Namarah and Dan reminded us that sometimes, when making music, the parts of the song that you love and have become attached to could be the exact thing holding your song back from becoming an even more magical soundscape!
With this in mind, we got to work on editing the song. First, to address volume issues, Namarah walked us through the volume automation tool on Soundtrap. This tool allows you to adjust the volume within one track of a song and create various dynamic changes. With this, we were able to add some variation of volume throughout the song, and even add a fade out at the end which elevated the song to a whole new level. Next, we went through and refined the track; fine tuning beats and making sure they’re lined up in a way that everyone enjoyed. After we made a good amount of changes, we took a couple minutes to listen back to the edited track and reflect. Similar to before, Namarah asked our music-makers to think of one thing they liked, loved, and are still feeling unsure of. Overall, the edits were enjoyed by all and we are left with next week to put all of the final pieces together including, and especially, vocal tracks!
Finally, to end the session on a creative note, Namarah played us a remix of Michael Jackson’s “Remember the Time” and Phil Collins’ “In the Air Tonight” created by DJ Sickick. Namarah asked our music-makers to reflect on the way Sickick weaves different sounds together and layers them on top of each other to create a cohesive song. We were left thinking a lot about production style and different ways to mix a song depending on how we want the output to sound. And with that, Soundtrap week 3 is completed. Stay tuned for the blog post from our final Soundtrap session next week!
Screenshotted image of Tuesday’s Soundtrap session. The images shows a shared zoom screen of our Soundtrap workstation featuring multiple updates and edited loops, drum beats, and basslines.
Session - 5/30
Our final soundtrap session is upon us! These past four weeks have gone by so fast, but have been so fruitful in terms of music making, collaboration, and fun. Our last session, while bittersweet, was still packed full of music-making!
At this point, the only thing lacking from our collaborative song was vocals! But, after we listened through the song a couple times, our music makers collectively decided that this song is better left without them. We figured there was enough fun and funky sounds floating in the soundscape already and adding vocals might just be overdoing it. With that, our song was done!! We’re all so proud of each other for contributing and collaborating. Anddd if you’re curious as to what this masterpiece of a song sounds like…its avaliable to listen to at the end of this blogpost!
Since we had some extra time in this Soundtrap session, we decided to engage in a 30 minute “free-flow” music making activity. Namarah gave us all a half hour to make a 30 second to one minute song of any kind on our own. It was time to use all of our built up Soundtrap knowledge we had learned throughout the past four weeks! When the 3 minutes were up, we all took part in the vulnerable experience of sharing a piece of music we created. Thankfully, we all had built up that trust in one another that is essential for music sharing and appreciating. The sounds our music-makers created ranged from fuzzy layered guitar music, to bright hyperpop style sounds! The diversity and ingenuity was so special!!
And just like that, SoundtrapXGRP 2023 has come to a close. We so appreciate folks who have been tuning in to the blogpost updates and anyone who sustains our sounds! If you wish to donate to GRP you can find the link at the end of each blogpost, but regardless, we’re happy you’re here.
Listen to the collaborative song our music makers created below!!!
Hungry for more? One of our collaborators, Effigy, has a album released on bandcamp. You can check it out with this link!
Joyfully,
Lia
Girls Rock Philly Summer Intern