Finale Basic Tips

The end of the semester is fast approaching, which unfortunately also means the due dates for final projects are coming up.  To help you get through your projects maybe a little less painfully, here on the LC tech blog we'll be releasing a series of quick tips to help you troubleshoot some very common questions on many of the programs you'll be using.  Up first is everyone's "favorite" Finale. 1.  How do I change the page size of my Document? Select the "Page Layout" tool Under the "Page Layout" menu select "Page Size" and...

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Create a Thanksgiving Turkey in Adobe Illustrator

Adobe Illustrator is Adobe Creative Suite's vector graphics program.  Vector graphics instead of creating images from pixels create images from a series of points connected with straight lines or curves.  The advantage of this is they can be enlarged and reduced and still retain a perfect line, unlike bitmap images which get a fuzzy pixelated edge when resized.  So if you are thinking of creating a design that you may need in a variety...

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Flex Time

  One of the best additions to Logic 9 was “Flexible Audio.” Much like ProTools’ “Elastic Audio,” users can now zoom in and fix any audio they want to get that performance just right. And with Logic’s user-friendly design, this feature has been made easier than ever. There are two approaches to using Flexible Audio. If you press ESC, Logic will open up a tool pop-up window listing several features. At the bottom, you will find Flex Tool...

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Adobe Bridge

Today's Blog post by lab monitor Peter B. is about a little used but very useful part of the Adobe Suite-Adobe Bridge. Have you heard of it? Most people have, but nearly all are somewhat confused and ignorant at its purpose in existence. “What could I possibly use Bridge for? All I’m trying to do is to edit some pictures for my website/facebook/tumblr/blog!” As a result, it sits and waits, unused, jealous that Photoshop keeps getting all the clicks...

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Make Your Photo’s Pop In Photoshop

We are kicking Multimedia Week off with a Photoshop post by Leah one of our fine Lab Monitor Supervisors here at the LC. While we would all love to have our pictures taken, brushed up, and beautified in a professional photography studio, not many of us can afford the cost of catalogue worthy photos and must make do with our Cannons, Kodaks, and iPhones. I'm going to show you a little tip or two that you can use in Photoshop (or Gimp!) to give your...

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Kicks Over time in Finale

In today's blog to kick off the second Notation Week of the semester, we'll take a look at one of the most frequently asked Finale questions here at the LC: "How do I do kicks over time?" 1. Add notes into the second layer (switch layers in the bottom left corner of the window) up above the staff like this. Flip their stems using the keyboard shortcut “L”, and move the rest so it floats above by selecting the rest with the simple entry tool (option...

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Setting Up a Basic Ableton Live Set

The Learning Center Work Studies are contributing their wealth of knowledge to the blog now! For our first post by a work study Eric Tait, Lab Monitor here at the LC and Electronic Production and Design Major, will explain setting up a basic Ableton Live Set.Let’s take a look at setting up a simple Live Set for a performance. First, we’ll add an audio file into the first slot of track 1. All you have to do is locate your audio file in Finder and...

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