Creating an 8-bit soundtrack was a challenge for me. I felt as though I was riding the sound waves that I was using to compose my song with all of the ups and downs I experienced. There are two steps I used to create my own 8-bit soundtrack. The first step is the creation of components in the song and the second step is putting those pieces together to create the song. As much as a define these two characteristics as steps, I constantly went back and forth between these processes to make everything flow smoothly.
For the first step I used Pulseboy to create short segments of my song (http://www.pulseboy.com/). The figure below displays what you would see if you were to visit the link to Pulseboy. In Pulseboy I modified waves, octaves, and notes to create each of my 3 main segments of music to compose the soundtrack.
After composing the first segment, I imported it on Soundtrap (https://www.soundtrap.com/) which is another online resource that allowed me to stack and layer my segment of music. It is important to note that the short segment of music I recorded needed to be looped to create the repetitive sounds you hear in the soundtrack. In the image below, you can see the screen I worked on in Soundtrap to create my soundtrack. Each segment of music is looped to create a consistent strand and has varying start and end times to add variety to my song. Soundtrap is one way to loop and stack segments into a song. If you own a Mac, you can use Garage Band.
Additionally, I would like to note that I am not a musician by any means. My boyfriend sat down with me and taught me some simple things such as chord progression to help compose the song. With that, implementing this type of assignment into an art classroom would help students who are strong in music to connect with other classmates. I prefer to work visually when being artistic and my boyfriend prefers to work musically. This type of assignment offers collaboration opportunities in the classroom and the growth of creativity in music, not just visual arts.
Below I have attached a link to my song. When you listen to it, keep in mind the short simple sounds you can hear in each strand of music and where each song is looped. If you can deconstruct a song, it will make things seem easier when you try to compose your own song.
https://miskasavanna.wixsite.com/mysite/soundtrack
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