Creative Projects with Acid Music Studio Online Course

About this Course

Discover a series of creative Acid Music Studio projects you can use with your middle school students.

By the end of this course you will know how to incorporate Acid into your existing music curriculum through student projects that involve arranging and composing with loops, recording original material, making backing tracks, scoring films and digital storytelling.

You will be walked through each project step-by-step so you can use it with your students straight away.

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Course Format

This course is available when you join the Midnight Music Community.  Membership to the Midnight Music Community gives you access to this course, and 11 other online courses, plus lesson plans, help and advice.

Course Outline

The Creative Projects with Acid Online course will cover a range of skills, including the following:

Using the 12 Bar Blues as our basis, we’ll learn how to start a new project and use loops to construct a blues bass line. Discover how to transpose and edit audio and create a fade-in and fade-out. Extend your song by adding new sections. Learn how to add an audio track so you can record voice, guitar or another live instrument. Save your project and share/export the final product.

Acid skills covered include the following:

  • how to start a new project
  • how to change project settings
  • learn how to navigate the loop browser
  • add new MIDI tracks
  • change instrument sounds
  • record from a MIDI keyboard or the Musical Typing window
  • edit MIDI parts
  • export and share your music
This session will begin by looking at arranging techniques and compare multiple versions of a single song. Remixing is a great way to teach students arranging techniques – such as layering, changing key, altering tempo, incorporating different musical styles, harmonies and texture – using technology. We’ll create two different remixes: import a classical-style MIDI file and transform it by chopping up the parts, copying sections, adding a backing in a new style and altering instrumentation. Then, in the second project, create your own remix of provided audio stems (the separate instrumental and vocal tracks from an existing recording) and spoken word.

Acid skills covered include the following:

  • importing MIDI files
  • editing loops
  • selecting and changing instruments
  • beat-mapping audio loops
  • saving loops
  • layering
  • adding effects
  • fade-ins and fade-outs
  • volume and panning envelopes
  • mixing skills
  • saving and exporting projects
Using a short video, we’ll create our own soundtrack with sound effects and mood music. We’ll learn how to plan out the film score by attending a “spotting session” and listing important sound and music moments on a cue sheet. After adding sound effects to the project, we’ll create an original score to accompany the film by using easy compositional building blocks to make suspenseful music.

Skills covered:

  • importing a video
  • playback and some shortcuts
  • all about snapping and when to use it
  • the importance of zooming
  • searching for and adding sound effects
  • using hit points/time markers to place sound effects accurately
  • creating and editing sound effects
  • adding background music by using existing loops
  • how to scrub through your video frame by frame
  • how to set up a software instrument track
  • how to insert a soft synth
  • how to select and edit different sounds
  • how to record MIDI with a keyboard
  • how to edit MIDI recordings
  • how to transpose loops
  • using volume envelopes to create fade-ins and fade-outs
  • muting and soloing tracks
Podcasting, radio shows, storytelling and music videos are excellent group activities that allow students to research a music topic and present their findings in a digital format that incorporates audio and visual components. Students can take on a range of tasks: researching, scripting, narration, creating or finding background music and gathering images. We’ll cover:

  • Tips for recording narration in a busy classroom
  • how to edit mistakes
  • how to add intro and outro music
  • how to create fade-ins and outs
  • how to export and share your finished creation
  • how to combine your exported Acid project with images
  • Ways you can expand your content library: places to find free and legal music and loops

*Midnight Music reserves the right to alter course content when necessary.

Testimonials - Creative Projects with Acid Music

What’s Included

  • 5+ hours of video
  • Extensive step-by-step session notes
  • Links to extra resources
  • Professional development certificate
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Frequently Asked Questions

Who is this course for?

Music teachers (particularly those that teach middle school students) who want specific ideas for incorporating Acid Music Studio into their curriculum.

Is this course for beginners?

No prior experience is required.

What do I need?

A PC computer, internet access and a copy of Acid Music Studio software.

How long do I have access to the course?

Access to this course is ongoing for as long as you have an active membership subscription to the Midnight Music Community.