Day 6: Owen

 We started the day with Atlas’ producer of the day presentation on Sophie, which was really interesting and gave us all a deep dive into how much influence she had on the music scene. Today was a particularly exciting day, as it was the first time we started the DJing part of our M-Term. We were once again joined by Mr. Trevino, who not only taught us the basics of the skill itself but also gave us insights into his lifestyle and career as a DJ. We all downloaded Serato DJ Lite, a free DJing software that allowed us to take two songs and mash them up with our expert's guidance. We learned how to download and input songs, how to match tempos (beats per minute) and key signatures, and finally, how to mix volumes in order to properly transition between songs. We had the chance to download our own songs and experiment with the different elements that determined whether songs were compatible or not in creating an enjoyable auditory experience. I originally attempted “Black Star” by Radiohead and “Your Latest Trick” by Dire Straits, which proved to be a disaster due to extremely different tempos. We also all had the opportunity to use two smaller pieces of equipment for DJing, and got to try a larger piece of equipment owned by Mr. Trevino which was a lot of fun and much more intuitive than working solely on the computer. 

In the afternoon, we were given the chance to choose between two different assignments, one focusing on DJing, and the other on music production. The first option had us choosing 4-5 songs and mixing them with smooth transitions, and then recording the whole mix on Mr. Trevino’s equipment. Although everyone had minimal experience, the hands-on approach made us much more comfortable, and we had help whenever we were confused. The second option had us choosing a sample from any song we enjoyed and adding to it in any way we wanted to make a cohesive piece of music in FL studio.  The class was just about evenly split, allowing for a wide variety of creations. Since everyone was recording their tracks we didn’t have time to share back today, I look forward to hearing everyone's pieces tomorrow!