Stimulus: Radio Ysgol Jingle Tracks and Comments

1. The project brief and timing rules

Four Year 7 pupils (Aled, Carys, Dewi and Elen) are producing a 16-second intro jingle for their school podcast, Radio Ysgol. They are working in a shared cloud folder called radio_ysgol_jingle/ so they can upload audio stems from school and home.

Fixed project settings:

Tempo: 120 beats per minute (BPM). Since there are 60 seconds in 1 minute, 120 ÷ 60 = 2 beats per second (each beat lasts 0.5 seconds).
Time signature: 4/4 (there are 4 beats in every bar).
Length of 1 bar: 4 beats × 0.5 seconds = 2 seconds per bar.
Total jingle length: 8 bars = 32 beats = 16 seconds (from 0 seconds at the start of Bar 1 to 16 seconds at the end of Bar 8).
Export file size rate: A stereo WAV export uses 176.4 kilobytes per second (kB/s).

2. The 4-track arrangement plan (Bars 1 to 8)

Here is how the 4 tracks are supposed to fit together across the 8 bars. Remember: Bar 1 runs from 0 s to 2 s, Bar 2 runs from 2 s to 4 s, Bar 3 runs from 4 s to 6 s, Bar 4 runs from 6 s to 8 s, Bar 5 runs from 8 s to 10 s, Bar 6 runs from 10 s to 12 s, Bar 7 runs from 12 s to 14 s, and Bar 8 runs from 14 s to 16 s.

Track number & instrument	Owner	Active bars (inclusive)	Musical role in the jingle
Track 1: Acoustic Drum Loop	Aled	Bars 1 to 8 (all 8 bars)	Steady 4/4 beat throughout the whole jingle, with a cymbal crash on Beat 1 of Bar 7 and a fade-out across Bar 8.
Track 2: Electric Bassline	Carys	Bars 1 to 6 (first 6 bars)	Warm rhythmic bassline locking in with the kick drum from the start of Bar 1 until the end of Bar 6, stopping cleanly so the voiceover is clear in Bar 7.
Track 3: Welsh Harp Riff	Dewi	Bars 3 to 6 (middle 4 bars)	Bright plucked melody entering at the start of Bar 3 and finishing at the end of Bar 6.
Track 4: Voiceover Tag	Elen	Bars 7 to 8 (final 2 bars)	Spoken station announcement: “Croeso i Radio Ysgol, llais ein cymuned!” spoken clearly over the quiet drum fade-out in Bars 7 and 8.

Track number & instrument

Owner

Active bars (inclusive)

Musical role in the jingle

Track 1: Acoustic Drum Loop

Aled

Bars 1 to 8
(all 8 bars)

Steady 4/4 beat throughout the whole jingle, with a cymbal crash on Beat 1 of Bar 7 and a fade-out across Bar 8.

Track 2: Electric Bassline

Carys

Bars 1 to 6
(first 6 bars)

Warm rhythmic bassline locking in with the kick drum from the start of Bar 1 until the end of Bar 6, stopping cleanly so the voiceover is clear in Bar 7.

Track 3: Welsh Harp Riff

Dewi

Bars 3 to 6
(middle 4 bars)

Bright plucked melody entering at the start of Bar 3 and finishing at the end of Bar 6.

Track 4: Voiceover Tag

Elen

Bars 7 to 8
(final 2 bars)

Spoken station announcement: “Croeso i Radio Ysgol, llais ein cymuned!” spoken clearly over the quiet drum fade-out in Bars 7 and 8.

3. Shared folder revision log (with 3 version conflicts)

When the group opened radio_ysgol_jingle/ on Wednesday morning, they found duplicate files and overwritten audio. Read the upload log below to solve Step 2.

Conflict ID	Files currently in the folder	Upload timestamp & user	What happened in the log
Conflict A (Track 1 Drums)	1. `t1_drums_v1_AL.wav` 2. `t1_drums_v2_AL.wav` 3. `t1_drums_v2_DD.wav`	Mon 16:10 (Aled) Tue 19:05 (Aled) Tue 19:08 (Dewi)	On Tuesday evening, Aled and Dewi both opened `v1` at the same time without checking the group chat. Aled added the agreed Bar 7 cymbal crash and Bar 8 fade-out in `t1_drums_v2_AL.wav`. Dewi only boosted the snare volume in `t1_drums_v2_DD.wav` and missed the Bar 8 fade-out.
Conflict B (Track 2 Bass)	1. `t2_bass_v1_CM.wav` 2. `bass_FINAL_new2.wav` 3. `t2_bass_v2_CM.wav`	Mon 16:20 (Carys) Tue 17:40 (Carys) Tue 20:15 (Carys)	At 17:40 Carys exported a 10-bar (20-second) test file with a messy name (`bass_FINAL_new2.wav`) that crashes into Elen’s voiceover. At 20:15 she fixed the length to exactly 6 bars (12 seconds) and saved it properly as `t2_bass_v2_CM.wav`, but left the messy 20-second file in the main folder.
Conflict C (Track 4 Voiceover)	1. `t4_voice_v1_ET.wav` (overwritten) 2. `t4_voice_v1_ET_restore_1645.wav` (in cloud bin)	Tue 16:45 (Elen: studio mic) Tue 21:10 (Elen: phone mic)	At 16:45 Elen recorded a clean 4-second studio take into `t4_voice_v1_ET.wav`. At 21:10 at home, she recorded a noisy practice take on her phone and saved it with the exact same file name, overwriting the studio file. Fortunately, the cloud drive keeps previous versions for 30 days as `t4_voice_v1_ET_restore_1645.wav`.

Conflict ID

Files currently in the folder

Upload timestamp & user

What happened in the log

Conflict A
(Track 1 Drums)

1. t1_drums_v1_AL.wav
2. t1_drums_v2_AL.wav
3. t1_drums_v2_DD.wav

Mon 16:10 (Aled)
Tue 19:05 (Aled)
Tue 19:08 (Dewi)

On Tuesday evening, Aled and Dewi both opened v1 at the same time without checking the group chat. Aled added the agreed Bar 7 cymbal crash and Bar 8 fade-out in t1_drums_v2_AL.wav. Dewi only boosted the snare volume in t1_drums_v2_DD.wav and missed the Bar 8 fade-out.

Conflict B
(Track 2 Bass)

1. t2_bass_v1_CM.wav
2. bass_FINAL_new2.wav
3. t2_bass_v2_CM.wav

Mon 16:20 (Carys)
Tue 17:40 (Carys)
Tue 20:15 (Carys)

At 17:40 Carys exported a 10-bar (20-second) test file with a messy name (bass_FINAL_new2.wav) that crashes into Elen’s voiceover. At 20:15 she fixed the length to exactly 6 bars (12 seconds) and saved it properly as t2_bass_v2_CM.wav, but left the messy 20-second file in the main folder.

Conflict C
(Track 4 Voiceover)

1. t4_voice_v1_ET.wav (overwritten)
2. t4_voice_v1_ET_restore_1645.wav (in cloud bin)

Tue 16:45 (Elen: studio mic)
Tue 21:10 (Elen: phone mic)

At 16:45 Elen recorded a clean 4-second studio take into t4_voice_v1_ET.wav. At 21:10 at home, she recorded a noisy practice take on her phone and saved it with the exact same file name, overwriting the studio file. Fortunately, the cloud drive keeps previous versions for 30 days as t4_voice_v1_ET_restore_1645.wav.

4. Unhelpful peer comments left in the project chat

Here are 4 vague or rude comments left by group members, alongside the actual musical problem noticed during playback.

No.	Unhelpful comment posted	What was actually wrong in the mix	Useful musical vocabulary
1	“Dewi your harp bit is way too loud and ruins the middle, fix it!!”	In Track 3 (Harp Riff), across Bars 3 to 6 (4 s to 12 s), the harp dynamics are forte (too loud) and drown out Carys’s bassline.	dynamics (volume), mezzo-piano (moderately quiet), balance
2	“Drums at the end don’t work at all, you can’t hear Elen talking.”	In Track 1 (Drum Loop), during Bars 7 to 8 (12 s to 16 s), the drums stay at full volume instead of fading out underneath Elen’s voiceover.	diminuendo (gradually getting quieter / fade out), voiceover
3	“The bass sounds weird and out of time in the middle.”	In Track 2 (Electric Bassline), in Bar 4 (6 s to 8 s), the bass notes rush ahead of the 120 BPM drum pulse.	tempo (speed, 120 BPM), pulse / beat, synchronise
4	“Change the ending of the harp, it just stops dead.”	In Track 3 (Harp Riff), on Beat 4 of Bar 6 (at 11.5 s to 12 s), the final chord is cut off abruptly instead of ringing smoothly into Bar 7.	sustain (let the note ring on), legato (smooth), chord

No.

Unhelpful comment posted

What was actually wrong in the mix

Useful musical vocabulary

“Dewi your harp bit is way too loud and ruins the middle, fix it!!”

In Track 3 (Harp Riff), across Bars 3 to 6 (4 s to 12 s), the harp dynamics are forte (too loud) and drown out Carys’s bassline.

dynamics (volume), mezzo-piano (moderately quiet), balance

“Drums at the end don’t work at all, you can’t hear Elen talking.”

In Track 1 (Drum Loop), during Bars 7 to 8 (12 s to 16 s), the drums stay at full volume instead of fading out underneath Elen’s voiceover.

diminuendo (gradually getting quieter / fade out), voiceover

“The bass sounds weird and out of time in the middle.”

In Track 2 (Electric Bassline), in Bar 4 (6 s to 8 s), the bass notes rush ahead of the 120 BPM drum pulse.

tempo (speed, 120 BPM), pulse / beat, synchronise

“Change the ending of the harp, it just stops dead.”

In Track 3 (Harp Riff), on Beat 4 of Bar 6 (at 11.5 s to 12 s), the final chord is cut off abruptly instead of ringing smoothly into Bar 7.

sustain (let the note ring on), legato (smooth), chord