An Interview with Special Guest Micah Blouin from PreSonus

Music Education & Technology Podcast

In this podcast, Chris and Paul have the opportunity to visit with Micah Blouin, from PreSonus about Notion 6, Studio One, and other solutions from PreSonus.

Show Notes:

• Chris Russell’s blog: techinmusiced.com
• Paul Shimmon’s blog: ipadmusiced.wordpress.com
• Notion 6. A new version of Notion (music notation program) from PreSonus. Notion is fast and easy, and Notion 6 has many updates, including integration with…
• Studio One, the Digital Audio Workstation from PreSonus.
• TI-ME Technology in Music Education. The professional organization for music educators and musicians, originally created through the help of NAMM to expand the concepts of music within music education.
• Need ukuleles for your school? Kala (Kala Brand Music) has been known to donate sets of Waterman ukuleles..contact them (no promises) via Facebook.
• Flat.io recently upgraded to Version 8. And it now works on iPads!
• iPhone 7 is out without a headphone jack. This is a natural progression in the loss of wires. Check out T-Mobile’s free iPhone 7 offer if you have an iPhone 6 or 6S to trade in.
• New Apple Watch is out. Chris hasn’t used his much for music, but uses it frequently for other things.
• Consider Apple Teacher certification.
• Apple’s “iWork” programs (Pages, Numbers, Keynote) are now truly collaborative. You can also access them through a web browser via iCloud.com.

Links from our guest interview:

• Guest: Micah Blouin, Education Market Manager for PreSonus. e-mail: [e-mail]; Twitter: presonusmued; musiced.presonus.com
• Want to help fund flood relief for PreSonus employees who lost their homes? Consider this GoFundMe campaign.
• Notion is a modern, fast notation software. New additions: DAW integration with Studio One–over network, handwriting recognition, better score layout control (CTRL+L or CMD+L)
• There is a free version version of Studio One (teachers should check it out). There are other levels of Studio One as well.
• Handwriting in Notion allows you to add extra items after entering the notes. You can toggle handwriting in a specific area, or on the entire screen.
• If you use iCloud with your MacBook and iOS, you can use an immediately updated version of a score, on your device and your MacBook. You can even collaborate at the same time (on the same account)
• Paul: “Notion’s iCloud integration is the best that I have seen on any app.”
• Chris: Remember that not all features on Mac/Windows are on the iOS App
• One of Notion’s great features is N-Tempo, which can capture performance tempos, override tempos, vamp, etc. You can use this tool for transcribing. Use the Mixer to pan as you need to.
• You can embed an audio file (WAV) into Notion.
• The mixer in Notion has a lot of features…including making groups of instruments.
• Compression brings down the highs and brings up the lows.
• PreSonus is a hardware and software solution provider. Example: AudioBox Music Creation Suite. AudioBox Stereo (room stereo recording). Monitors are also available. Marching band audio solutions are available.
• Consider recording your ensembles to provide valuable feedback BEFORE the concert, not just after.
• Why consider Notion? Easy to look at, easy to use, shortcuts are intuitive, people are upset with subscription models, excellent audio playback, and customer support.
• Look for Micah’s Notion 6 videos.
• Paul uses the iPad app for his Studio Live 16.4.2 soun board to control sound from his podium.
• You can use WAV forms to show attacks, styles, etc.
• Capture Duo: free version of Capture, 2-channel for iPad which will wirelessly transfer recordings to StudioOne on a desktop – very slick!
• PreSonus has site licensing…incredible deals with unlimited site licenses.
• Check out Nimbit, which works with Studio One, to sell recordings (legally) after a concert.

Key Thoughts:

• If you are a GAFE school (Google Apps School), and programs that you use take advantage of Google log-in information, that is a huge benefit in terms of helping kids and avoiding frustration.
• Paul’s eventual goal is to perform a concert with student compositions–and he spends time each week having students compose music.
• If you are going to buy Apple products, check with people who keep track of Apple’s product cycle before buying a device. You don’t want to buy something that will be replaced in a month unless you have to. Right now, Apple is taking a year or more on just about every product.
• If you are buying an iPhone or iPad, buy at least the middle-of-the-road level of memory on that device. That extra $100 will pay itself back when you don’t have the hassle of deleting apps.
• A listener wrote in concerned about password protection as based on our last podcast. There are a number of programs that will keep passwords and generates unhackable passwords, such as 1Password or One Safe.
• Please continue to e-mail us with questions, comments, or suggestions of topics you would like us to cover.

Tip of the Podcast:

• AirPlay, wireless mirroring, is wonderful and magical. You can mirror to an Apple TV, or to a computer via Reflector, Air Server, or XMirage. In addition, Lonelyscreen is new and free. Note: to use these services on your school network, your network administrators have to have Apple’s Bonjour services enabled (or at least not blocked). If you are in an anti-Apple environment, you may not be able to use these tools.
• If you don’t have an iPad Pro, there is a very nice non-rubber, non-squishy stylus that works with any touch device. Roughly $45. Adonit Jot Dash

“Ah Ha” Moment:

• Check out the songwriting ability of Grave VanderWaal on America’s Got Talent (see YouTube). The 12 year old singer/ukulele player who has written her own music throughout the contest. Her ability to write a melodic line over simple harmonic patterns is incredible, and an encouragement that perhaps we should be doing more of this with our students.

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Link to Audio: https://archive.org/download/METPodcast/MET%20Podcast%20002.m4a