Create your CLS 301 web presence by designing a site with a homepage (index.html). The web site must have a navigation system to the 2 or more other pages in your site (remember that nav system will appear on each page so keep that in mind when you design it). Make one of the other pages a showcase for your work in graphics. The subject of the other pages could be audio and/or video (the web is a major player in the publication of your digital portfolio). We'll have future assignments with animation (flash), audio, and video. Grading for the assignment will be as follows: creativity, functionality, content, and ability to follow the directions above (see rubric). Turn in the index url by emailing it to Professor Grasmick by Tuesday Mary 6th.

Audio Assignment 1

Audacity is a free multi-platform digital audio editor. Download it to your own computer for future projects if you wish.

Move audio_assignment.wav from the server (found in week 6) to your desktop. Import that file into Audacity and edit it so it sounds like this mp3. You'll need to 1) noise reduce (not too much, make sure Louis Armstrong sounds like a trumpet player not like a trumpet player with a mute in his horn) 2) delete, 3) attenuate, 4) fade out, 5) amplify. Using the zoom tool carefully will help you select specific wave forms to work on. Make sure you carefully listen to the mp3 above so that your editing creates a carbon copy. Students have most difficulty deciding the correct amount of noise reduction, exact time/beat replication when editing, carefully listening to the original and comparing it to their edited version. (the original does not have noise reduction or proper editing at the very beginning). Export your work as audio.wav to the desktop. When you close the audacity window you will not need to save the changes because you can easily import your saved file back into Audacity.

If you are using a mac navigate to your folder on your external HD and create a new folder called iTunes Library. Open iTunes and go to preferences, click the Advanced icon and then the General tab, change the location of your iTunes Music folder location to the new folder you've just created. Click the Importing tab and set Import Using: to MP3 Encoder and the Setting: to High Quality (160 kilo bits per second stereo, notice that this is how you'd import other files formats into iTunes if you wanted to save audio as an file format other than .mp3). Using iTunes import your audio.wav.  Find it in the music library window, select it and use the advanced drop down menu and convert it to mp3.  You now have it available in your new folder to put on the web using Dreamweaver which we'll do on Thursday.

If you are using a windows machine and are familiar with the software to encode audio to the .mp3 format do so otherwise take your audio.wav file to a mac machine and follow the directions above.

I've given you the majority of directions above but you'll need to figure out a few rather obvious steps on your own (remember to carefully look at/read windows, icons, graphics, GUI). Learn to be intuitive as you work at a steady comfortable pace.

Use GarageBand to create Funky Graham (see instruction sheet) Add a vocal track where you talk about what you did and/or liked about this project.  Save as with a different name of your choosing.  Publish the Funky Graham garageband files to itunes and convert to .mp3  Add it as a creative link to your apropriate web page .

Here is my version This assignment is due (should show up on web pages) by May 20th.

Audio Assignment 3

sample

Use GarageBand to create a podcast telling me what you plan to do for your final project. Name your podcast file finalinfo. Make sure you set GarageBand's preferences in the advanced area to Auto Normalize with a good audio resolution to keep the size down. Create your script and record your voice track. Make sure you check audio levels as you work including the master volume. When you record your voice place the mic off axis. If you make mistakes while recording just keep going so you have the raw materials to edit. Make sure you save often. Lock tracks if you need to speed up performance ( remember you can’t edit a track while it is locked).  Adjust your vocal track as needed to create a voice that begins as yours but becomes what you'd like your voice to sound like if it was on the radio.  Use bumpers/stingers which are audio breaks at least once in your podcast. Use jingles to announce a specific section of your material or to use as a segue. If you don't find a jingle that you like you can import a tune from a CD and edit it to meet your needs. Change volume as needed to fix any voice clipping.

Share/send the podcast to iTunes and put in your correct info, compress using mp3 audio settings to Spoken podcast (to keep the file size down). Move the .mp3 file to your DW local root folder so you can add it to your audio web page. This lab is due May 22nd. After listening to the podcast I'll immediately give you additional suggestions or my stamp of approval so you'll know you're good to go for your final project. If you have questions regarding what is acceptable as a final project for this class I'll be going over that information in class and can also discuss this with you individually. We want you to undertake a project that you are very interested in doing using software that you've learned in this class.

Use the information given in class today and next Tues. to create a flash slide show of your favorite photoshop images. Put the swf on the appropriate page of your web portfolio.  This assignment is due next Thursday May 29th.  The slide show might look something like this one: