In a world where many students feel silenced, you can be the person that empowers them by creating a safe space where they can speak from the heart. Whether students create their musical masterpieces or podcasts about their deepest passions, their voices deserve an audience. With Soundtrap for Education, you can teach your students how to mix and master songs and get their creativity flowing
If you’re an educator ready to empower the next generation with an exciting curriculum, we’re here to help. Today, we’ll tell you how to bring music and podcasting into your classroom and why it’s so essential for students to master songs and podcasts before releasing them to the world.
What is Mastering in Music and Podcasting?
Not to be confused with audio mixing, the mastering songs involves balancing a song’s EQ, volume, pitch, and time. On the flip side, podcast mastering is when creators smooth out the volume and mitigate any background noise.
Although music and podcasting are two different creative mediums, both require mastering to form a polished, professional-sounding product. Whether students are mastering a song or podcast, the goal is to prepare the audio file for streaming services so that the entire world can revel in awe of their creations.
If your students are creating podcasts, they can upload it directly to Spotify once the mastering process is complete and share it on our Twitter page or the school website.
Why Should Students Learn About Audio Mastering?
Learning about audio creation, production, and mastering provides students with a dynamic skill set they can apply to any endeavor as they blossom into adulthood. Whether your students are Storytellers or Music Makers, it’s all about collaborating, creating, and connecting with others.
Throughout the audio mastering process, students will learn how to perfect a product they can proudly share with others. And when students know how to present their best selves to the world, they become unstoppable in the best way possible.
How to Master Music and Podcasts in Soundtrap for Education
If you want to master songs, it can take years to perfect. However, anyone can learn the basics. If you’re teaching students how to master songs and podcasts, make sure you explain the following steps:
- Prep the Final Mix. You will eliminate any of the song’s glaring problems during this process. You’ll also expand the mix with compression, EQ, and limiting for a level volume.
- Fix Minor Errors. This is when you remove surviving noise, harshness, distortion, and other unpleasant songs that throw the song out of whack.
- Enhance the Song. You’ll also need to enhance the song with EQ, saturation, compression, stereo mixing, and a little reverb for a fuller sound.
- Compress and Limit the Track. Compress the track to ensure it has a suitable gain reduction, then apply limiters to increase the song’s level.
- Reference the Mastered Track. Lastly, compare your song to similar, already mastered songs to ensure that your final product is up-to-par.
Mastering podcasts is much more straightforward than mastering songs. Before you let students share their podcasts, walk them through these steps for a perfect podcast:
- Edit the Podcast with Interactive Transcription. With Soundtrap’s Interactive Transcription Tool, you can easily transcribe and edit dialogue to smooth out any significant errors.
- Preserve the Speaker’s Natural Speech. When mastering a podcast, don’t become over-zealous and disrupt the speaker’s natural flow.
- Incorporate Sound Effects. Next, you can add fun sound effects to give your podcast something extra! Consider adding transitions where there are pauses in the dialogue.
- Add Music to Your Podcast. If it suits your podcast, you can always add a little music to the intro and outro for a professional sound.
And that’s all there is to it! Now that you know how to master songs and podcasts, you’re ready to incorporate them into your next lesson plan. Let’s discuss a few ways your students can experiment with music and podcasting in any subject.
Let Students Tell Their Story with Soundtrap for Storytellers
Soundtrap for Storytellers has plenty of epic features for students of all ages to create, collaborate, and connect in new, exciting ways. The best part is you can incorporate podcasting into virtually any curriculum, regardless of the subject.
In this lesson plan, students will dive into storytelling by sharing real-life or fictional experiences while fostering their ability to collaborate and communicate in a digital environment.
If you’re ready to empower the next generation of movers and shakers, Soundtrap for Storytellers is here to help!
Introduce the Activity
Get started by introducing the topic and providing a few examples, so your students can get their creative juices flowing. Inspire limitless creativity by discussing what makes each podcast interesting. Is it the podcaster’s colorful, descriptive narration or an impactful dialogue between two people? Or are vibrant sound effects adding depth to the podcaster’s story? This way, when it’s time to begin creating, students will know how they want their podcast to sound.
Provide a Demonstration
After you create and delegate assignments in Soundtrap, your class is ready to jump in and start recording! Also, make sure you create student groups and add yourself as a collaborator.
We made sure Soundtrap is intuitive and easy for students of all ages, so your students should pick it up quickly. Ensure your students understand how to create a podcast with a demonstration. With these simple steps, creating podcasts in the classroom is a breeze!
- Login to Soundtrap, and click Enter the Studio.
- Next, select “Podcast” to open a ready-made podcasting template.
- On the control panel in the left-hand corner, select Add New Track. Then, click Voice & Microphones. You can upload vocals directly into the Soundtrap Studio with the Start Recording button.
- Now, you should see your Mic appear in the control panel. Select the “R” near the Mic icon to enable the built-in microphone on your computer or mobile device.
- Lastly, click the red circle at the bottom of the screen to record your voice.
- If you want to add in loops and sound effects, click the purple music note icon in the right corner. From there, drag the loop to the control panel.
Allow Students to Create Their Podcast Script and Start Recording
Before students start recording podcasts, they must create a script that aligns with your lesson plan. You can easily adapt your podcasting assignment to any educational content.
For example, if you’re an English teacher, you could instruct your students to create a podcast about classic works of literature. Meanwhile, science teachers can assign podcasts about key figures in the scientific community.
Once students break into groups, they can create their script outline and start recording. If there needs to be more time to complete the project in class, students can tie up any loose ends at home or the school library.
If students have access to an internet-connected mobile device, they can finish up their podcasts on a cell phone or laptop. After recording, they can master their podcast like a pro with the tips listed above.
How You Can Incorporate Music-Making into Your Lesson Plans
If you’re not too keen on podcasting, why not allow your class to create songs instead? We get it – making music might sound complicated at first. But with Soundtrap for Education, making music is so easy even kindergarten-aged students can make music. We’ll show you how to get started with this hands-on music composition project.
Choose the Topic and Brainstorm with Your Students
No matter what subject you teach or how old your students are, there is always a way for you to incorporate music composition into your lesson plans. For instance, if you’re a science teacher, your students can create songs about the periodic table of elements. And if you’re a history teacher, you may ask students to create a song about a specific time period.
Once you decide how to incorporate music-making into your lesson plans, introduce the assignment in a fun, exciting way by brainstorming song ideas with the entire class. During the class discussion, share examples from which students can draw inspiration and ask students about their favorite songs.
Put Students in Groups and Assign Their Roles
Just like the student podcasting assignment above, you’ll need to create and assign the project in Soundtrap. Remember to create student groups and add yourself as a collaborator, so you can chime in whenever students need a little help.
Divide your class into groups of three, and assign each student a role, so they can start creating their musical masterpieces. Unless you’re a music teacher, including live recorded instruments may not be necessary. However, Soundtrap for Education has plenty of preset instruments and sounds if your students need to learn how to play a traditional instrument.
The roles in each group must include the following:
- Melodic and Harmonic Elements. A student fulfilling this role will be responsible for the loops, synth input notes, and recording vocals or instruments.
- Beat and Percussive Elements. The student responsible for the beat and percussive elements will create a sense of rhythm by incorporating loops and recording instruments. They may also use the Patterns Beatmaker.
- Audio Production and Sound Effects. The audio producer will then master songs using automation and sound effects.
Let Students Collaborate and Create Their Songs
Now that your students understand the assignment, they’re ready to make magic and create mind-bending music, unlike anything you’ve heard. Since Soundtrap for Education is cloud-based, classmates can collaborate at any time or place as long as they have access to a Wi-Fi connected device.
You can help your students get started by showing them how the Soundtrap Studio works and teaching them how to master songs themselces. We have plenty of free tutorials and other teacher resources to guide you along the way.
Making music in Soundtrap is a little more complex than creating a podcast. Still, your students can learn in-depth music theory or intricate chord progressions to complete their project successfully. We made music-making easy and intuitive so the entire class can find their creative flow, regardless of their skill level.
Soundtrap for Education
Collaborating, creating, and mastering audio becomes exciting with the right EdTech tools. If your students are ready for limitless creativity and authentic expression, bring the power of sound to your classroom for a learning experience unlike any other.
Soundtrap for Education is the ultimate audio production platform for students and teachers to create and edit audio recordings. Pupils and educators can easily tap into their artistic side with this intuitive audio platform that facilitates a creative learning environment for every subject, regardless of the student’s age or experience level.
With Soundtrap for Education, students and teachers can collaborate with advanced cloud technology at any time or place. In addition, the platform comes equipped with a robust resource portal, with tutorials, an external curriculum, and lesson plans to complete the educational experience. Additionally, the Soundtrap Studio enables you to master songs automatically. And to ensure privacy, teachers can ensure that student collaboration is safe and secure with invite-only groups in Soundtrap’s versatile digital environment.
If you’re ready to enhance your educational experience with an intuitive cloud-based audio production platform, get started today with Soundtrap for Education! Share this article with other teachers in your network to help spread the joy of learning through sound.