# data[].attributes.body
This is my peer and self evaluation that was with Oli Courtnage. We asked each other how we felt our project and E.P went and these were the results.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
SAM EADE (@sam___eade) * Instagram photos and videos

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
545 Followers, 860 Following, 8 Posts - See Instagram photos and videos from SAM EADE (@sam___eade)

# data[].attributes.body
This week I managed to record my solo. first I recorded my voice singing a melody to the track then after I translated my vocals onto guitar and made sure it fir my track. After I felt that my solo sounded good in my track then I started to add effects such as delay. For the delay on the guitar I used the pedalboard plugin and it was true tape delay with lots of feedback. I also added tube burner to give a more dirty sound so it wasn't so clean. Next week I hope to finish my track and add finishing touches.

# data[].attributes.body
This week I have recorded acoustic guitar in the verse and chorus of my track. I have used my SM58 to record this guitar. I used a mic setup instead of my pickups so that you can really hear the percussion of my guitar when I am playing. The chord progression in the first and second verse is, A minor | E minor | F major | E minor | D minor | A minor | E minor. The chords for the chorus are, D minor | F major | C major | G minor | A minor | E minor | F major | G major. I used these chord progressions as I thought the chords fit well with each other and could be a great start to my track. With my setup I used my focusrite interface and my SM58. Next week I aim to be adding my electric guitar into the verse and chorus of my track

# data[].attributes.body
This week I have recorded my midi bass, piano, synth and drum. First I chose the Liverpool bass and recorded a baseline that flows well with the drums. With the piano I just translated the guitar chords onto the piano and recorded them. For my synth I took the route notes of each guitar and used an arpeggiator to give that 80s synth vibe. lastly I used the drummer instrument and converted these tracks into midi so I could just the nots to how I personally wanted them. This helped to give my own spin on the track. Next week I hope to have my track structured to then record vocals.

# data[].attributes.body
This week I have recorded my electric guitar by using my focusrite interface. I have used an amp from logic and have added a few audio effects such as EQ, compression, reverb and linear EQ. I used these effects as I thought they made a big difference the the guitar to make it sound bigger and to take out the frequency’s that were harsh on the ear. Next week I will hopefully be recording all of my midi instruments.

# data[].attributes.body
This week I have been working on the structure of my track and trying to see what my song would sound like as a finished article even though it is far from that. I have been moving different guitar and drum tracks to finish the structure to then think about vocals for next week. I have completed the recordings for my last chorus. Next week I hope to start thinking about vocals and start recording the foundations.

# data[].attributes.body
This week I have been writing lyrics about chasing an indie woman. The lyrics are sounding very and realistic. I have recorded the first ideas for the vocals for the verse and chorus, they sound quite catchy which most artists try to achieve. I have been using my SM58 to record vocals through my focus rite interface. This is great for simple vocals and for the sort of sound that I am going for. Next week I hope to mix my track.

# data[].attributes.body
This week I have been mixing my track and have been adding audio effects give my track a professional sound. I have added an extra guitar part in which has lots of reverb to fill in the empty spaces in the mix. A tambourine has been added in my mix to bring the drums forward more and to give them more of a sharp edge to them. I allays find percussion can be hard to mix in a track, with the right compression and other percussion instruments that they can work very well together and create a great sound. Next week I hope to add harmony's and other vocal lines into my mix.

# data[].attributes.body
This week I have added other vocals to my mix so that my main vocals can be heard and are brought to the front of my mix. I have also been using an SM58 again as this mic fits the sound that I am going for. This week has not been as productive as other so this means I have not worked on my track as much as I should have. Next week I hope to add a solo after my second chorus.

# data[].attributes.body
This week I did not manage to record my solo guitar but I have been in the studio with Oli Courtnage. Oli is a guitarist and and like me is very interested in indie music. This helped a lot as he knew the type of sound I was going for. Oli and I were working on the guitars and discussed the sound the I was going for. First we changed the amp that was on the guitar to a warmer sound so that the guitars sat well in the mix. After we added effects to these guitars so that they sounded more dreamy and so that they had our own sound to them. As I didn't get to record my solo this week the will be my goal for next week.

# data[].attributes.body
This week have been finishing of my track by adding extra effects to all of my channel strips. I have recently added delay to my vocal to give a dreamy effect. I added different guitars in the last chorus to give the ending a kick and to have a cool ending

# data[].attributes.body
For my project I will be creating a two track EP in the genre of indie rock. for this track I will be using all of the production techniques that I have learn't, such as reverb, desser, delay, EQ, limiter, compression and noise gate. I will use reverb to bring my vocals to the front of my mix and to put instruments such as my synth to the rear of my mix. I will also use a SM58 microphone to record my vocals, I do not own a pop filter to soften my vocals so I will use the desser audio effects to soften my vocals. I will use delays such as sample and tape delay, This is to broaden my vocals in the mix. EQ will be be used to dampen the unwanted frequencies and to give my guitars a warmer sound. I will possibly use compression and the noise gate effect to compress and control the overall volume of the my track so that they don't go past a certain threshold point. lastly I will use the limiter effect to prevent any additional gain above the threshold.

# data[].attributes.body
The research that i will carry out is very useful to me. Both of the producers and bands that I will choose to research about are in the same genre as my two tracks which is Indie rock. The first producer I will look into is James ford. James is well know for his production on of the Arctic Monkeys album 'AM'. Ford is part of a band himself they are called Simian Mobile Disco (SMD). SMD are a two man electronic group which create a fun electronic vibe. I like the idea of his personal. . electronic band but producing indie rock bands at the same time. I will try to involve both of these genres into my track to be more versatile with different instruments. For electronic I will use a subtle synth in the chorus of my track and I will also use all the instruments you would normally associate with a band. For my second piece of research I will choose one of my favourite tracks as I love how this song has been produced. The song is by Declan Mckenna and it is called 'Make Me Your Queen'. The reason why I think the production is amazing is because, this song builds very well throughout and has an amazing transition from the first verse to the chorus. The verse is very slow and then before the chorus, an amazing aroma of sound fills the speakers. This track sounds like a finished song article.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Aside from being one half of Simian Mobile Disco, James Ford is the guy you could - alongside Miles Kane, I guess - most realistically call the 'Fifth Arctic Monkey' on account of his studio work with the band since 2006 (not to mention The Last Shadow Puppets and Alex Turner's 'Submarine' soundtrack). Alongside Ross Orton, James co-produced the Monkeys new album 'AM' at LA's Sage & Sound Studios, something I spoke to him about for this week's magazine cover feature. He had so much great stuff to say though, and I just couldn't let the stuff we couldn't fit in the mag go to waste. So here's the full Q&A, in all its glory...
NME: Can you tell me about the very start of the 'AM' sessions. What was the first conversation you and the band had?
James Ford: When they first came to me they were like, 'We're thinking of recording it in our rehearsal room', and I thought, 'Er...alright'. I went along to Sage & Sound, which is on not a very glamorous street in Hollywood - there's pretty much a building site right outside - and I went in and was pleasantly surprised, because in terms of recording it's a really nice room. It sounds really good. It's all wooden with these slightly strange faux Greek pillars and architecture. They had been camped up in there for months, even before I'd arrived, and they'd been doing loads of demos on these pretty shitty '70s four-tracks. I know they were getting really into the four-tracks, which played quite a big part of it. We ended up using a fair bit of them on the record - bits that were usable like interesting vocals. We tried to incorporate that as much as we could. I always love that, because the first time you record something, or the first time you have an idea, sometimes there's a magic in it that it's hard to re-create. So I'm all up for using as much of that as possible. I think it really influenced the way that they put the songs together.

Alex Turner said having that studio as a band HQ was key - the first time they've been in that position since making the debut album.

I think it was really important. That studio was so important to them - to have their own space to experiment and fuck around in was just great. The general routine we tried to stick to was 11am to 8pm, or something like that. But it really depended on what was going on at the time. When we've recorded stuff in the past we'd go somewhere like a residential place, and it was all about recording and that's it. But because they all live in LA, someone would run off and pick up the dry cleaning one morning or whatever. It was actually quite laid back, which was nice. We'd go and hang out in the evenings. It wasn't a very stressful recording situation - it was quite day-to-day.

On the other hand, the band told us they never wanted to see the studio again by the end of it. Cabin fever?!

Hah! They spent so much time there. The amount of time I spent there was just putting the album together in the later stages. I popped in a few times early on to hear what was going on but they were in there for months before that, rehearsing and writing, fucking around on the four-tracks. So I'm not surprised they were glad to see the back of it! I know I was, and I was only there for about a third of the amount of time they were.

How long were you there in total?

I dunno. On and off probably about a month, or something like that. They spent a fair amount of time writing, but I don't think it was as intensive as it is when you go away to a studio. I think they were doing bits here and there. They were definitely preparing it for quite a while.
Did you have a brief before you started?
There was no brief other than to make an interesting album. Obviously I'd seen the songs as they were demos, and I think that around the time of 'R U Mine?' they struck upon this riffy, slow and heavy thing. But then with this slightly strange hip-hop, slightly R&B sense to some of the melodies and structures. There was a bit of that in there. Really, they just wanted to push it on and do something different, and keep moving forward. My job is to really to try and help bring their ideas out and distil and crystallise what they want it to be, and help them achieve that. There's a Sabbath-y thing in there too, but obviously it's all filtered through Alex's songwriting and the band's playing.
The backing vocals might shock some fans - they're overtly R&B in places.
There is quite a different take on the vocals. There's a lot of Alex in falsetto, of Alex singing in a really high register that he hasn't really done before. Obviously Matt and Nick are both great singers as well, so Nick did a lot of really low Outkast-y, octave down vocals, while Matt did a lot of high, R Kelly-type stuff. We were interested in some of the vocal production ideas and, I think, the way that the good modern R&B records sound. They're often a very simple loop or beat, but a lot of the dynamics and the structure of the songs comes from the vocals and how they interact and build. That was definitely something they were interested in exploring. Often in the past it's been Alex's voice in the front, and obviously it's still largely that, but we just found it interesting to play around with some of the other voices in the band.
What was your favourite moment recording the album?
It was actually when 'Do I Wanna Know?' came together, I just remember thinking, 'This sums up what we're trying to do'. It felt kind of heavy - and heavy in mood as well. It had a weight to it that I really like. I remember when that came together being really excited, and seeing the picture crystallise in front of me a little bit of where we going. It was one of the first ones we got done, and it was that thing of it coming together - I could see the end call from that point onwards.
That riff was written on Alex's 12-string Vox guitar, right?
Yeah. I remember when we bought it, I've got a picture of Alex playing it when we did the previous album ['Suck It And See']. He found it at the end of that record, and we never really used it on it. But I remember it quite distinctly, because it's got these effects built into the guitar and I think he actually bought it as a bit of a joke. But I think it actually turned into a bit of an inspirational instrument! A lot of the riffs were written on that particular guitar.
The drum machine on 'I Wanna Be Yours' is a first for them too.
That's right, I think it is. That's the thing, on the last record we tried to do a 'band in a room' type thing, with barely any computers used. It was very much to tape. But this one was a case of 'all bets are off'. The band wanted to push things on and do something different. So to move it on and make it sound different we were very open to using bits of keyboards or drum machines, or whatever worked for the song really. Obviously it still has to link into them and feel like them, but...
...It's not like they've gone dance?
Yeah! It was probably the same one Suicide would have used. It's not like they've gone electropop on us! It's not an 808 or anything! It's from that kind of era when drum machines were invented as an accompaniment to keyboards. Like the kind of thing old people playing in bars use. They've been used in rock bands for a long time - I think as long as you do it in the right way, it's great.
Alex's vocals on the fast bit of 'Arabella' sound different to his normal style...
I think it's doubled at that point. I don't know if we've really done that before. He sings it really loud, but there's two of him. It kind of seemed like a good idea - in an Ozzy way.
You've been producing the band for years now, and they told me they couldn't foresee a time when they weren't working with you. How does that feel?
I dunno. It's quite weird, because it's gone past the point of me feeling that I'm working with them. It's like we're friends and we can hang out, and making music is something we do for fun or something. A bit like I do with Jas [Shaw, James' Simian Mobile Disco bandmate]. It's something I would do for a laugh! So, I dunno. I think they probably should work with other people and get other influences in there - I think that's really healthy. I'm always willing and eager for other people to get involved. But if they ever ask me, I'd always do it because they're such amazing people to work with, and I consider them good friends.
Check out pictures of Arctic Monkeys headlining Glastonbury 2013 here.
To check the availability of Arctic Monkeys tickets and get all the latest listings, go to NME.COM/TICKETS now, or call 0844 858 6765.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Arctic Monkeys co-producer James Ford on new album 'AM' - NME

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Aside from being one half of Simian Mobile Disco, James Ford is the guy you could - alongside Miles Kane, I guess - most realistically call the 'Fifth Arctic Monkey' on account of his studio work with the band since 2006 (not to mention The Last Shadow Puppets and Alex Turner's 'Submarine' soundtrack).

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Declan McKenna - Make Me Your Queen (Official Video)

# data[].attributes.body
Moving towards my final project I have learnt many new production techniques and have progressed in my mixes. Before this course I had no clue about production or the software that is used within production. I have progressed dramatically over the last year and now that we have moved on to the final project I can finally show off all of my production skills in two new tracks. I have learnt so much this year because of the studio time that the producers have had with Lawrence. This has been a great opportunity for the producers of level 2 to show off what we are capable of producing on our own, we can also get feedback on our tracks from a real producer. This shows us how to pick out small details in a track which can make substantial differences to our tracks. I have chosen to make an indie band track as I feel most comfortable with the genre. I chose to create an E.P as i have more experience with production than performing.

# data[].attributes.body
The skills that I will need to develop in my tracks and me as a producer are to, mix, master, to use effects appropriately and to make sure my instruments are used correctly. As a producer being able to create a mix when you think your track is finished is a very difficult choice to make. essentially your track is never finished but can get to a stage where you are happy with the mix. I think I need to Develop my mixing skills and to be able to get to a point where I am proud of what I have mixed, so then I can get on to the next part of producing. Watching tutorials of how to mix is a great start to develop, but what I think will help me most is the experience of producing as much as many tracks as I can, to become used to what I like and what I don't like the sound of. At the moment I don't feel I am ready to learn how to master a track, this is because I feel like that Is a whole new stage is production which I am not quite ready for. In the future I will defiantly learn how to master my tracks so that I don't have to send them off to a mastering engineer and waste money. A way I could learn how to master again is to find tutorials on youtube. It is easy to use effects just for the sake of using them but the real challenge with me is learning really what they do altogether. Recently if I have seen or used a new effect I will take time to research these effects so I know the core purpose of what they are used for. Using google can help me with this as I will get a straight answer. Before recording an instrument into my track I should take time to practice my part for around 5 - 10 mins so it sounds crisp on a recording.

# data[].attributes.body
A big challenge for me will be knowing what I like the sound of in my mix. I need to listen to my track carefully so I can pick out faults and so I can tell if an effect is needed somewhere. Other challenges will be, mixing my track,

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Chasing The Indie Woman by Eadey Productions

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
This is a DEMO of my new track 'Chasing the indie woman'.
This track was produced and mixed by Sam Eade.