Description of the video:

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hello my name is Natasha Thomas and with
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me are my students from the IUPUI Music
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Therapy program hello I know I know and
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we're here to talk about open again a
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collaborative songwriting experience
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created by the music therapy program at
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IUPUI the song was written by myself and
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dr. Megan Masco it in collaboration with
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the Indiana State Museum for their fix
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exhibit and you are invited to help us
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in contributing to this original piece
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of music the piece is composed with the
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prompt atmospheric so if you're familiar
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with Bjork or Ebay those artists are
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sort of in the vein of what this piece
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was created to be there are three
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different versions of the song that
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exist in an online Google Drive you to
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listen to and or download there are
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multiple ways to contribute to this
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project but one of which is to just
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submit your own updated lyrics or audio
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into the Google Drive the other is to
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join us in a virtual studio in soundtrap
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if you choose to contribute to the piece
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by using sound chat here's the link
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you're gonna want to do it with and this
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link will be in the Google Drive this
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admits you to a group in soundtrap and
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once I've seen that you've joined the
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group then I will admit you to the piece
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so joining the group doesn't
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automatically put you in in the studio
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with the song I have to see that you're
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in the group and then I'll manually add
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maybe into the studio to contribute to
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the piece clicking the link in Google
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Drive should take you directly to this
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screen even on a mobile device you can
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actually download soundtrap as an app
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from the Apple App Store or in Google
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Play but just in case that link doesn't
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work for you we're going to show you one
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other way that you can also join the
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group in soundtrap along with some bass
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tips and tricks for adding loops or
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contributing your own original audio
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profile I'm gonna go to my groups and
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then join group once you have the the
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group code we'll see XP vwf a alright
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once you have a screen code or that
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group code you're gonna enter it and
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join the group look at that there you go
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that's how you sound trap perfect
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alright so once you've been added to the
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group you can go back to your profile
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page and you'll have the open again
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project available for you to edit and
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from here you'll just click on studio
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and that'll take you into the studio
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where you can view and edit the project
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perfect beautiful yes you've got your
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little like introductory information
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over there on the right and that chat
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window is a way for you to communicate
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with us if you're having any issues with
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the piece or anything like that that
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automatically syncs to everyone who's
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been working on the project
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walk us through what we're looking at
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here all right so when you entered the
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soundtrap interface there's a few basic
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things you need to know to be able to
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use it best over here are gonna be all
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of your tracks and then this that's just
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gonna have each individual sound laid
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out you know nice and neat for for you
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and then if you go to the bottom you can
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add a new track and add new beats loops
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etc you can invite someone to
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collaborate on this this track with you
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you can import your own sounds if you
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have your own sounds available to you
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and then down here at the bottom you're
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gonna have a little toolbar that has the
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how many beats per minute you're getting
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in the song the key that the song is in
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and then play fast-forward stop and
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record and then your volume button super
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simple so if you want to add an
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additional audio track if you'd like to
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record something for the project what
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you'll do is you'll hit the add new
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track icon down here there's a lot of
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options if you want to set up loops but
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we're going to choose voice and
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microphones when you choose voice and
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microphones you can click this icon and
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you can add any sort of effects that
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you'd like to on your voice we're just
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going to use the computer mic enhancer
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and then when you are ready to record
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also you can choose your your microphone
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down here but if you're on mobile just
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default to your to your mobile
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microphone and then so if you'd like to
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start recording whatever whatever
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contribution you'd like you'll hit start
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recording we recommend that you use
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headphones so that it mitigates so that
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there's less feedback when you're
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recording you'll click using headphones
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and then the first time you connect to a
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microphone you should be prompted with a
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screen that will test your audio to make
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sure your volume levels aren't so high
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that they'll clip or overload your mic
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you should try to make the loudest sound
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you and
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to make when you see this screen for the
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best results so then also if you intend
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to record you'll want to make sure that
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the track that you are recording on is
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armed so you'll do this by hitting the R
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by the track and that will arm it and
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prepare it for recording yeah so that's
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how you can input like manual audio your
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voice a guitar with a microphone any
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other instrument that you just had lying
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around your house know that you might
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want to contribute west but you can also
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contribute electronic loops from a loop
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library in soundtrack you can click on
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this little purple loop button it shows
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you all of these options for pre-made
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loops so I'm in the drums area right now
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but you can also head over to piano and
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you'll notice when you cycle through
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these because we set the key of the
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piece of C minor every one of these
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melodic options is going to be in C
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minor so in the key of the song
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let's put that in okay so you'll
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literally click and drag it well god
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haha I didn't even have to drag it
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actually I double clicked by accident
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and it just dropped in so this is how
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easy that could be right yeah so then I
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go back and I hit play and it's already
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there
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it's a little loud bow so I turn my
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footing down on it that's it it was
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literally that simple I'm just selecting
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an instrument double-clicking it or
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clicking once to audition it to hear it
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see if I like it
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then double clicking or click and drag
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to put it into the piece itself play
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back see how you like it and then mess
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with the volume if you want to we didn't
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really talk about these little buttons
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if you hit that little headphone icon it
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mutes everything else so that you can
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only hear this by contrast if you click
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the little speaker button with the X it
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means this track so you can hear
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everything else but not this one and
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then this button depending on the
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version of soundtrap that you're working
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with because I did find this out the
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free version may not allow you to do any
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automation stuff but if you're somebody
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operating with a trial version or a
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premium version or the academic suite
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that I currently have a trial of when
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you click on an ad fancy extra controls
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like volume being able to fade things up
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and down in the middle of the track or
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panning between speakers and then sweeps
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so you can get fancier if you want to
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but generally these are the most
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straightforward ways to add so
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so we're gonna to make a loop first I
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gotta go down here to add a new track
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and then you can choose between
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basically any of these except the voice
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and microphones and so I guess we can
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start with piano and keyboard so then
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you click on that and right here is the
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different sounds you can use for your
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loop like if you want to preview some of
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them like this one gives you a little
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preview of each one to use and then you
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can also switch the instrument like the
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instruments it showed when you added the
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new track so you can like oh well
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instead I want to go to the synth or the
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string sort of brass and woodwinds but
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yeah okay we'll go back to Cuba and they
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have some pretty interesting names -
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[Music]
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sounds the name is too good not to use
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it you know so you can actually use the
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letters on your on your keyboard and
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numbers the different so you want to
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click on here to like create this area
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to make the loop on um and then so then
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you can record it which is already armed
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on the side here whenever queer button
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and then so you can either just place
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the notes on here like you just
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double-click on there and then it'll
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place it down oh yeah and you can extend
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it to two however long you need you just
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to like you hold down on it and then it
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gives you a little
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no later extend it as long as you want
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you can hit this button and when you're
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ready to record something you can start
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or use the keyboard to record it - then
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it'll create that loop for you I guess
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for this time do the piano roll to show
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you guys this is just like it's the same
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keyboard they just tipped it sideways so
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you're just seeing things spread out
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that way and what's nice about this is
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you can mess with the timing of it
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without having to play it over and over
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again if you want since we know the
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piece is in C minor like the key of the
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piece is already set so you can just
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create like you're on C for right now
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you can just create a single C and we
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can just hear it in the context of the
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piece and call me did ya do that just
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[Music]
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there we go yeah let's hear how it
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sounds obviously you can do and you can
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play with the volume like making it
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softer and then if you like click on the
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little if you hover over where it gave
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you the little like curly curly play
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sign again you can extend the loop as
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well oh yeah I could yeah yeah so if you
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want to keep your loop going throughout
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this song you can just move it over and
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it'll automatically duplicate it for you
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yeah you see the little indention there
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you'll know that it's gone through the
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entire loop right I'm starting over
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yeah there you go sway so we went over
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creating an account in soundtrap who
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went over entering the studio setting up
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your studio and audio for recording and
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then two different ways to create moods
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yes Joe saving changes thank you yes
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so after you make changes like I just
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made a change right by putting this
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piece in go up to the little purple
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button and again it only turns purple if
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you have something to save if you
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haven't really made any significant
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changes that button or may be available
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to you but if it is save it and then
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your collaborators will get a
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notification over here that you've made
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updates and then they will need to hit
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the sync button and once they do that
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then everybody's on the same page
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looking at the most recent changes to
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the project yeah cool thank you for that
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reminder to talk about that I think the
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last piece that I had written down to
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talk about was troubleshooting if there
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are issues with the piece you can post
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comments inside this chat and everybody
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who's collaborating on the project will
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see them and that's probably the best
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way because then you have multiple
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opportunities for people to see it and
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give you feedback because I may not
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always be nearby email but that's
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another way if you're experiencing
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difficulties contributing to the track
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my email is Matt one that's n80
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and the number one and I you edu and you
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can also contact me directly if you're
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like I want to contribute to this but
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it's not working so that's another way
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to troubleshoot the project but other
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than that I think that's everything you
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need to know to contribute to the open
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again original songwriting experi
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in collaboration between IUPUI visa
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parity and DML statements exhibit for
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joining us
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[Music]
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[Laughter]
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[Music]