Usher's "Yeah" Produced by Lil Jon

Today we are going to remake the melody from the song Yeah, which is in C minor. I'm going to show you how to do the melody. And then I want you to listen to this instrumental and figure out the drum beat.

1. Open Reason
2. Make sure you have a Mixer 14:2
3. Set Tempo to 104 bpm.
4. Push the Click Button on the Transport.
   
5. Create a Subtractor.
6. On the Subtractor, click on the folder in the upper left hand corner.
   
7. Go to Reason Factory Sound Bank: Subtractor Patches: Mono Synths: 80's Dance Ld.zyp
8. Change the loop points to L1-R3
   
9. Now we need to play the melody on the keyboard.
   
10. In the first bar, the notes are C, G, C, Aflat.
11. In the second bar, the notes are C, Aflat, C, G.
12. Practice playing the melody with the click.
13. Once you feel comfortable with the melody, record it.
14. Quantize the part you played to 1/16.
    
15. Create a Redrum, we want to recreate the drum line so listen to the instrumental at the top of this lesson.
    
16. What sounds are they using?
17. What boxes do the sounds go on?
18. One hint, the pattern is 32 steps.
19. When you have figured out the drum beat. Create it and Copy the Pattern to Track.
20. Save your beat as (Your Name) Yeah
21. Let me hear it.
    

C minor

Last week we made a melody (the part of a song you sing along to) with the C Major Scale and on Tuesday we played the C Major scale on the Matrix.

Today we are going to create the C minor scale using the keyboard.

The difference between the C Major Scale and the C minor Scale is that the 3rd, 6th, and 7th notes of the C minor scale are one step below those notes in the C Major Scale.

1. Open Reason
2. Make sure you have a Mixer 14:2
3. Create a NN19 Digital Sampler
4. Click on the Folder in the upper left hand corner of the NN19.
5. In the Patch Browser, click Reason Factory Sound Bank: NN19 Sampler Patches: Guitar: ACGUITAR.smp
6. Now that we have our sound loaded we need to play the scale on the keyboard.
   
7. We want to use the Keyboard to play a C minor Scale both up the scale and down the scale.
8. Push the Click button on the transport and change the tempo to 80 bpm.
9. Practice playing the scale with the click.
10. When you have it under your fingers it's time to record it.
11. Change the Right loop point from 9 to 3 on the sequencer.
12. Hit Record and Play, let the cursor go through the loop and start playing the scale when it gets back to the L.
13. After you have recorded the scale, highlight the notes and quantize.
    
14. Save the project in your folder as C minor Scale.
15. Now open a new Reason file.
16. Create a Drum Beat on the Redrum.
17. Add a melody in C minor using the NN19.
    
18. On your blog, answer the following questions.
19. How does the C minor scale sound different from the C Major scale?
20. What's a melody that uses the C minor scale?
21. What's your favorite instrument?
22. What's your favorite song right now?
    

The C Major Scale

Today we are going to start a new section on creating melodies in Reason. But first we need to understand a little more music theory. In music, musicians use scales as the frame for their melodies. There are two basic types of scales, the Major Scale, which has a happy sound, and the minor scale, which has a somber sound. You hear the Major Scale a lot in Pop Music. And you hear the minor scale a lot in Hip Hop music. Today we're going to learn the Major Scale. And more specifically the C Major Scale.

The Major Scale is made up of seven distinct notes, plus an eighth which duplicates the first an octave higher. These notes correspond to the syllables "Do, Re, Mi, Fa, Sol, La, Ti, (Do)". The simplest major scale to write or play on the piano is C major, the only major scale not to require sharps or flats, using only the white keys on the piano keyboard:

1. Open Reason
2. Make sure you have a Mixer 14:2
3. Set your tempo to 85 bpm and click the CLICK button.
   
4. Create a NN19 Digital Sampler
5. Click on the Folder in the upper left hand corner of the NN19.
6. In the Patch Browser, click Reason Factory Sound Bank: NN19 Sampler Patches: Piano: BRIGHTPIANO.smp
7. Now we want to use the keyboard to play the scale.
8. Start on the lowest note on your keyboard and play the 8 white notes in a row. Count as you go a long, or say do, re, me, fa, so, la, ti, do.
9. When you feel like you have the C Major scale under your fingers. Try recording it.
10. Set your loop points at L1 and R3
11. Push the record button and wait for the cursor to get back to the L.
12. Then play the C Major Scale along with each click.
13. If the notes are a little off beat you can use the quantize function (I'll show you this individually)
14. If this is too easy try setting your loop points between L1 and R5 and go up and down the scale!
15. When you're finished, save the scale in your folder as C Major Scale.
16. On your blog write about the following questions:
17. What is a Scale?
18. What does a Major Scale sound like? Who uses it?
19. What is a Melody?

Dora The Explorer Remix Contest

Today we are going to take a sample from the Dora The Explorer theme song and remix it. Change the Tempo and the Pitch to make it sound different from the original.

Make it slap! The student who makes the best remix will get a special prize!

1. Open Reason
2. Make sure you have a Mixer 14:2
3. Create a Dr. Rex
4. Download the sample:http://download.yousendit.com/E871BFC72484B7BE
5. Click on the "Folder" in the upper left hand corner.
6. Select the Dora sample from the Desktop.
   
7. Click "TO TRACK"
8. Now we want to adjust the PITCH and TIME of the sample.
9. To do this we need to change two things.
   
10. To change the Time, change your Tempo. Set it to anything except what it says on the Dr. Rex.
11. To change the Pitch, use the keyboard on the Dr. Rex to transpose your sample up or down.
12. After you get your sample sounding the way you want it, it's time to add some drums that go with the sample.
13. Create a Redrum and make a 32 step drum pattern using a Clap, Bass Drum, Hi Hat, and Percussion. Make sure you put the sounds on appropriate boxes!
14. On the Redrum, Copy Pattern To Track and Click on the Pattern button.
15. Create a Dr. Rex. Load a Percussion Loop and adjust the PITCH. Put it "TO TRACK."
16. Save your beat as (your name) Dora Remix.

The Good Life

Today we're going to remix Kanye West's song The Good Life. But before we get started let's listen to the song.

Do you recognize the sample? It comes from the Michael Jackson song PYT.

What did Kanye do with the sample?

So, like Kanye I want you to change the PITCH and TIME of the PYT sample and make it your own.

1. Open Reason
2. Make sure you have a Mixer 14:2
3. Create a Dr. Rex
4. Download the sample: http://download.yousendit.com/F928324A5376941B
5. Click on the "Folder" in the upper left hand corner.
6. Select the PYT sample from the Desktop: PYT
7. On the Dr. Rex click TO TRACK
   
8. Now we want to adjust the PITCH and Time of the sample.
9. To do this, you will need to do two things. Change your tempo. And transpose the sample on the Dr. Rex keyboard.
10. If you choose a high tempo you might want to transpose the sample to a higher note.
11. If you have a slow tempo you might want to transpose the sample to a lower note.
12. After you get your sample sounding the way you want it, it's time to add some drums that goes with the sample.
    
13. Create a Redrum and make a 32 step drum pattern using a Clap, Bass Drum, Hi Hat, and Percussion. Make sure you put the sounds on appropriate boxes!
14. On the Redrum, Copy Pattern To Track.
15. Create a Dr. Rex. Load a Percussion Loop and adjust the PITCH. Put it "To Track."
16. Save your beat as The Good Life
17. Write a blog post about what the good life means to you.