Reason, made by Propellerhead Software, is a powerful and very popular MIDI software package. The music production tool is used by professionals and amateurs alike and is taught to students at IAR. On Tuesday, January 15th, current IAR students packed into a seminar covering Reason and its special features, delivered by IAR instructor and electronic music specialist Dana McCurdy. Dana explained the differences between the multiple versions of Reason (Reason Adapted, Reason 3, and Reason 4) and some pitfalls to be aware of when using more than one version. The first topic discussed was automation and the creative uses of the countless digital knobs, dials, faders, and gadgets in Reason for musical compositions. One of Reason’s most popular features is called Redrum, which allows a user to load any type of audio sample and assign it to drum slots at specific tempos. Whether the sample is a musical groove or a creak in a house floor recorded with a microphone (one of Dana’s favorites), it can be imported into the program, set to a slot, and then layered over other samples to create a song.

Students came to realize that what Dana was creating sounded exactly like what is found in much of today’s popular music. Dana encouraged students to get creative with new sounds and tinker around with Reason’s seemingly endless options. The possibilities continued to grow as he highlighted each additional feature: NN-19 utilizing a MIDI keyboard to change pitches of samples or play them as chords, Dr. Rex for additional customization of grooves, Gates, Subtractors, etc. Students jumped at the chance to ask questions and hear Dana’s answers and tips.