Soundtrap Basics
Soundtrap is the main app for this class. It runs in the browser, so your projects follow you to any computer.
Logging In
Go to soundtrap.com and click Log in. Your username is your student email and your password is your lunch number.
- Username:
firstname.lastname@students.cobbk12.org - Password: your lunch number
Once you are in, click Enter Studio, start a blank project, and press play so you know sound is working. Check your headphone volume before you turn it up.
The Sound Library
Open it with the music-note icon on the right side of the screen.
Pitched loops (bass, synth, piano, guitar, strings, vocal) sound best when they share the same scale type — Major or Minor. Drums and percussion work with either.
Use only sounds from inside Soundtrap or files Mr. Willingham posts on CTLS. Other sound sites are not approved resources.
Saving and Naming
Soundtrap saves automatically, but name every project right away — a project Mr. Willingham cannot find is a project that does not get graded. Lesson pages tell you the exact name to use.
Adding Video
For sound-for-screen projects: New Project → video option → Video Library, or drag an .mp4 from your Downloads into the project. Unzip downloaded packs first; Soundtrap cannot open a .zip.
Exporting
MP3 and video export steps are on Turning In Work.
Key Vocabulary
- DAW (Digital Audio Workstation)
- The software you use to record, edit, and arrange music on a computer. Soundtrap is a DAW.
- Project
- One song or recording inside Soundtrap. Everything you make lives inside a project.
- Track
- A single layer inside a project — one instrument, one loop, or one recording.
- Loop
- A short section of audio, usually one to four bars, designed to repeat seamlessly.
- Tempo (BPM)
- How fast the music moves, measured in beats per minute.
- Measure
- One unit of time on the timeline. Most Soundtrap loops are two or four measures long.
- Preview
- Listening to a loop before adding it to your project.
- Scale Type
- Whether a pitched loop is Major or Minor.