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my initial ideas for this assignment

potential problems and solutions

potential for collaboration

SMART targets

Weekly review of LPW sessions

Gibbs reflective cycle

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For this assignment there is a number of ways I could work.

1. I could continue the development of my own portfolio of videogame music with minimal collaborators

2. I could complete the assignment with my band potentially writting some new content

3. I could lend my skills to a completely new pool of people

Out of these I believe the most viable would be completing the assignment with my band as it will help us generate more content together, as such I will be taking this approach for this term.

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Inital ideas for this assignment LO3, LO7

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Inital ideas for this assignment LO3, LO7

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Our inital ideas are to write one original song and do a cover in two clearly differing styles. We have 2 different ideas for the cover though they are both metal, "Paper Crown" -Dark Devine, or "Leave Me" -Dying Desolation.

As for the original we are planning to take inspiration from The Rakes and other post punk artists.

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Potential problems and solutions LO2, LO3, LO7

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Potential problems and solutions LO2, LO3, LO7

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Pre Production- Don't start now LO2, LO3, LO7

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Pre Production- Don't start now LO2, LO3, LO7

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Gibbs reflective steps:

1. We rehearsed a metal rendition of "Don't start now" by Dua Lipa with a change in the chrod progression for the pre-chorus and the final chorus.

3. Tones of the guitar was fitting for the genre, changes to the pre-chorus meant we played a I-III-IV-VI giving a bigger feeling to the section. Changes to the final chorus got us to play a III-VII-VI progression essentially making for a powerful final push in the relative major key of D. use of extended 9 chords helped develop the sound too however we were told to have more of a transition between chorus-verse.

5. Adding in a slide or some kind of movement at the end of the chorus could help the sections be more defined so is something I will try to do tommorow.

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Gibbs reflective steps:

1. Performed our rendition "Don't start now" with altered chord progression and extended chords.

3. Chord extensions helped add a depth to the sound and the switch to the relative major in the final chorus really helped to create differation throughout the piece. Feedback supported this stating "It was constantly evolving and changing, like there was never a moment when I was bored for a couple of minutes." However I was asked about the chord choices by number and I didn't understand.

5. It would be very beneficial to understand the number system as it is a proffessional standard in session playing. My next steps are to begin learning this.

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SWOT analysis

Evaluation of Pre-production and LPW sessions

Condensing of ideas into a plan for this Assignment

Potential research

Gibbs reflective cycle

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a SWOT analysis evaluating my strengths and weaknesses

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Pre-production "Riverboat song"  LO2, LO3, LO7

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Pre-production "Riverboat song"  LO2, LO3, LO7

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gibbs reflective steps:

1. Performed a rendition of Riverboat song using one guitar.

3. Adding little passing phrases helped inform the vocalist when to come in. The structure was something we struggled with quite a lot and needs revising.

5. Revising the structure is the most important thing to do before tomorrow to create a coherrant performance.

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Gibbs reflective steps:

1. Played our rendition of The Riverboat song by Ocean Colourscene with 1 guitar and a doubletime section at the end.

3. Unfortunatley the doubletime ending fell to pieces during this performance potentially due to odd time signitures and was something that needed more work. However we had Sam playing as a session bassist for this piece who had never played with us before, you can clearly see us communicating on stage which shows a great deal of improvement from last term.

5. Playing more 6/8 songs would help me develop more of an understanding of the time signature and is something that could be developed.

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After contemplating my initial ideas we decided to cover "Leave me" by Dying Desolation. This decision stems mainly from the fact that they only have 1 guitarist much like my own band. As well as this we will be writting an original song taking influence from The Rakes.

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I created a rough plan of how I want this assignment will go. I am going to focus on developing the cover slightly earlier than the original track as not to have lots of content overloading me in some of the weeks. Taking a staggered approach like this allows the content to be spread more evenly with room for research to be carried out throuhgout.

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Gear used by The Rakes and Dying Desolation

Guitar parts written by The Rakes

Live performances by Dying Desolation

Production techniques used by The Rakes

Guitar tones and playing styles used in Melodic-Metalcore

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"Leave Me" is written by recently dissolved Ohio Melodic-Metalcore band Dying Desolation. The song features distorted guitar tones, syncopated rhythms, and big choruses.

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Project Proposal

Beginning of personal practice routine

Analysis of "Leave Me" and chord sheet

Guitar tone research and experimentation

Evaluation of Pre-production and LPW sessions

Gibbs reflective cycle

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Personal practice routine from this week LO2, LO3

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Personal practice routine from this week LO2, LO3

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From this week onwards I aim for there to be 2 personal practice entries per week (each doccumenting roughly 30min of practice each). 2 entries per week from weeks 3-5 will evidence good work towards hitting my SMART target of regular practice.

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Before starting work on the Nashvile number system I had to understand it and select a scale. I chose the scale of C major as it has no sharps or flats which makes it an easy first choice to work with. I next familiarised myself with the concept of the number system learning each chord in a key has a correlating number in the system (Martin, 2022).

Now understanding the system my next steps are to begin learning it.

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To help with my learning of the number system I wrote out the chords of C Major and got someone to shout out the numbers to me. Initially I was very slow at identifiying them however once I noticed that relying on finding them on the guitar neck was slowing me down I started thinking about it independantly from my instrument and found this to work far better.

Conclusion: Relying on the fretboard to assist with finding the chords slowed me down. I should learn the theory independantly before relating it to my instrument.

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Analysis of "Leave Me" by Dying Desolation  LO2, LO3, LO7

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Analysis of "Leave Me" by Dying Desolation  LO2, LO3, LO7

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Analysing Leave Me helps to make me aware of some key parts of the song and deepens my understanding of it.

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To back up my inital conclusions on my guitar tone I found this thread on ultimateguitar.com which confirmed my suggestion of scooping the mids on a high gain setting.

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I really suck at tone. i have a decent amp and i'm borrowing an amp head from a friend for the summer, and using a Dean Vendetta 1. I want my tone to...

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As I couldn't find any tabs for this song I had to breakdown the guitar part myself. Combining this with listening to the track should be enough for me to learn the song.

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Experimenting with tone for this song  LO2, LO3, LO7

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Experimenting with tone for this song  LO2, LO3, LO7

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Here is a capture of the main tone I have created for Leave Me. I chose a 5150 emulation on the red channel as I thought it really captured the barkiness of the track, mids are scooped with bass and trebble boosted to get a strong modern metal tone. Also in my chain is a light stereo reverb to add just a little ambience to the sound.

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Experimenting with tone for this song  LO2, LO3, LO7 

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Experimenting with tone for this song  LO2, LO3, LO7 

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For the clean bridge section I opted for the green channel on the 5150. I decided to stick with the same amp (just on a different setting) to avoid the tonal change feeling or sounding unnatural. Along with this I also balanced the EQ more evenly to give a fuller sound and added a large hall reverb and stereo tape delay to achieve the floaty and unclear sound of the bridge.

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Gibbs reflective steps:

1. Played a slower more jazzy version of Chain Of Fools by Aretha Franklin on bass.

3. First time playing bass infront of people but I managed to create a line that fit the piece well. Jazz drums being counted on the hat and not the snare proved challenging for me. Transitions between the verses and choruses weren't as tight as they could be.

5. Being careful to count the hat and not the snare will improve my ability to play this track and is something I will be concious of tommorow along with the section changes.

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Gibbs reflective steps:

1. Played bass on a jazz version of this weeks track.

3. I didn't make any mistakes during this performance which is impressive considering I have never performed on this instrument before or even in this genre before. Transitions were far tighter and I counted with the drummer well.

5. I would like to continue to learn and play bass as it is something I found to be quite fun. My next steps would be to learn some covers on bass.

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Personal practice chords of C major LO2, LO7

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Personal practice chords of C major LO2, LO7

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I needed a way to quiz myself on the chords of C major without the need for another person, this would allow me to practice whenever I want to. Because of this I got chatGPT to write me a HTML code to put into codepen.com creating this quiz that selects a random number from 1-7 and prompts me to enter the chord. It awards 10 points for each correct answer and takes 5 for each incorrect answer and has a time limit of 2 minutes. There is also a play again and home button however these do not work as intended so to reset the quiz you must reload the page. After trouble shooting as much as possible I slowly went through the questions checking them with a chord sheet to ensure the program was running correctly. All was well so I began testing myself and after 30 minutes of playing my highscore was 525.

My next steps in development will be to combine the knowlege of C major chords with my guitar playing. ie: play a given chord progression.

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Gibbs reflective steps:

1. Practiced Leave Me by Dying Desolation making mistakes on a few parts.

3. A few mistakes were made during this practice, notably in the bridge where I was unsure of the chords to use and the first chorus where I made a slight error in the progression. Tone was good and playing was fairly consistent.

5. Overall a good first practice. Make sure to refer to chord sheet during the next one.

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capture of a direct message with the band on instagram

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When I asked the band about any suggestions or helpful resources for learning the song they said the best bet would be the instrumental version of Leave Me available online. As well as this they shared the link to their last performance where they played the track so I can get an idea of stage presence when playing it live.

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In summarry my plan for this assignment is as follows:

Song 1: A cover of the song "Leave Me" by Dying Desloation. This will feature heavy, distorted guitars and syncopated rhythms.

Song 2: This will be an original post punk style piece heavily influenced by The Rakes. Guitars will be only lightly overdriven and the song overall will be a lot cleaner.

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contextual listening

Postpunk guitar tone research

Matthew Swinnerton gear research

continued practice of Leave Me

Breakdown of Leave Me during Dying Desolations final live performance

Pre-production and LPW sessions

Gibbs reflective cycle

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Throughout this assignment I am doing contextual listening particulary of this first album by The Rakes "Capture Release". In doing this I hope to familiarise my subconscious with the sound of this style of music. Just listening to the album gives a very good idea of the sound of the band, raw processing (especially on the drums), clangy distorted guitars playing quite simple parts, simple bass lines. Listening to all of this is helping cement the sound in my subconsious hopefully leading to me writting an authentic piece.

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I used the following article to research the guitar tone of postpunk and how best to achieve it: https://www.thomann.de/blog/en/hit-the-tone-secrets-of-postpunk/

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Matt Swinnerton gear research  LO2, LO3, LO7

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Matt Swinnerton gear research  LO2, LO3, LO7

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After doing some further research on Matthew Swinnerton of The Rakes I came across a list of his gear. According to Equipboard.com (2024) Matt uses the MXR distortion+ and a Fender twin reverb, these are backed up by photo evidence on the site. This makes the decision easier in which amp and distortion pedal to use in my chain.

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In this video I play the song "22 Grand Job" by The Rakes. The purpose of this is to familiarise my hands with the sort of playing style my submission may follow. Being familiar with these will help to improve the quality and authenticity when I come to generate ideas. The song features a simple guitar line making use of hamer-ons, pull-offs, and slides, the line repeats periodically throughout the song. I also took note of the bass as thats something I will be writting too, the bass is very simple sticking mostly to a constant note of E.

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In line with my timeline I have continued personal practice of the song Leave Me this week. Learning from my previous mistake, not playing with the chord sheet, I made sure to have all of the changes in front of me on my laptop. This really helped to stop me from getting confused about what to play and allowed for what felt like far deeper learning. I still made mistakes here and there, mostly in regard to the change into the bridge, however this is something that can definitely be worked on further. The chord voicings I'm still unsure of in the bridge so some focus on this would also be good.

Conclusion: Improvment from last time, I am on track for full band rehersals next week.

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Stage research and analysis of "Leave Me" LO2, LO3, LO7

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Stage research and analysis of "Leave Me" LO2, LO3, LO7

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Description: a lot of the stage movment came from the vocalists for this song. Guitarist bobbed his whole body along to the beat of the track, moving to put his foot up on the monitors for some parts.

Analysis: Moving and playing can be quite challenging but bobbing in time to the rhythm shows you're enjoying the track and helps the stage seem more exciting without adding too much difficulty to what you're playing making it a solid choice for any high energy performance. Putting your foot up on the monitor is a great way to draw attention and add some flair to your performance and is very simple to do. It puts you forward on the stage and gives the audience something to focus on other than just the vocalists.

Conclusion: despite my love for the band and this song in particular I think the harmony section could have been more interseting on stage. Interacting with other band members by way of eye contact and walking over to play with each other is important to a performance. When practicing my version I'll encorporate everything done in this performance but also ensure to walk around and interact with other band members too.

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Dying Desolation FINAL SHOW - Live at The Winchester 6/10/23 (Full Concert 4K)

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Application of the Nashville number system on bass  LO2, LO3, LO7

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Application of the Nashville number system on bass  LO2, LO3, LO7

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For this practice session in line with my reflection from last week I applied the C major notes to an instrument of mine. I chose to first do this on bass as I would only have to be concerned with the note and not the tonality of the chord I played. Overall I was pretty accurate making a couple of mistakes but sliding to the correct note, it felt to me as if my knowledge was not so lacking on the notes of C major but more on where I would find them on the fretboard.

Conclusion: To further improve and develop myself my next practice will be dedicated to finding a note on command using the E and A strings of the bass. This improved knowledge of the fretboard will allow me to make use of the number system far more readily making my personal practice far more applicable.

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To confirm I was playing the correct notes I used this sheet focusing mainly on the E, A, and D strings.

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Locating notes on the fretboard  LO2, LO3, LO7

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Locating notes on the fretboard  LO2, LO3, LO7

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After spending some time studying the notes of the E, A, and D strings I began practicing locating them on command. I had a fellow musician shout out the notes to me and check I was playing the correct ones. I tried to vary the places I played the notes. This exercise how helped me to have a wider knowledge of my instrument and the fretboard.

Conclusion: This exercise helped to deepen my understanding and command over my instrument. The exercise could be made more difficult with any of the three following:

1. Asking for notes more rapidly

2. Refering to the notes by sharps or flats (we only spoke in flats)

3. Adding more strings/requesting the note on a specific string

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Gibbs reflective steps:

1. Performed a rendition of "Black Dog" by Led Zeppelin.

3. Timing was something that proved difficult as the drums and guitars are often in different time signatures throuhgout the song. Communication is something that could have been stronger as a result of this but was still of a good level. The song came to a unanimous close despite an improvised solo.

5. Tommorow I want to have crystal clear communication throuhout the performance to avoid slip ups as once something goes wrong it is very difficult to recover from.

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Gibbs reflective steps:

1. Performed our rendition of "Black Dog" by Led Zeppelin.

3. Communication was constant throughout the performance, particularly between myself, drums, and bass. The improvised solo again came to a unanimous close despite this not being caught on film. I was told I could look like I am enjoying the solo more so this is something I want to work on.

5. A little more emotive body language on stage would go a long way it seems. endevouring to do this in the future is my next step.

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Initial bass ideas

Development of bass ideas

Initial guitar ideas

Original song (formative capture)

Leave Me: full band

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Initial bass ideas for the track  LO2, LO3, LO7

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Initial bass ideas for the track  LO2, LO3, LO7

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When starting to write for this track I tried to come up with a chord progression first before trying it in different keys to see what resonated the most with me. I came up with a progression of I-V-VI-IV initially in the key of G but after moving it around I settled on Ab. This initial idea feels it would best suit a chorus section.

My next steps are to further develop parts around this.

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After writting the initial part I came up with a verse section revolving around a hammer on from Gb to Ab. After sharing this with with my bandmates we began working it into the structure. After working on the structure for 30 minutes we ended up with:

Intro

Verse

Chorus

Verse (extended by going up to Bb hammer-ons)

Chorus double

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These are my initial ideas for the guitar part on this track. The first section (verse) is the same as the bass line and will just give the song a fuller sound. The second section (chorus) will add a counter melody. Both these parts are played using 16th notes downpicking, something I picked up on during my contextual listening of The Rakes album "Capture/Release".

My next steps is to adjust this according to the vocals.

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Original song (formative capture)  LO2, LO3, LO7

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Original song (formative capture)  LO2, LO3, LO7

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This video shows the current state of the song we are recording for this assignment. The bass carries the harmony nicely and the drums and lyrics match the feel of the genre we are aiming for. Overall development is going well. Our next steps are to develop and finalise the guitar parts before we start recording.

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Gibbs Reflective steps:

1. Played bass on a surf rock version of Rehab by Amy Winehouse.

3. Slap bass style was punchy and energetic. I made the decision to play bass this week as I felt it had more scope for expression than guitar and would also serve as a good oppurtunity to further develop my skillset. Fell out of time during in the solo section but recovered well. Timings could be tighter for tommorow, I also sat down for this practice as I didn't have a strap so making sure to move is important.

5. Try to calm down the part and focus on being in time. Strong focus on enjoying the song on stage to help develop my stage skills for this terms assignment.

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Gibbs reflective steps:

1. Performed our surf rock version of Amy Winehouse's Rehab

3. Bass felt a lot less erratic and more in time for this run through. Issues with the cable meant my bass dropped out for a time but luckily was resolved after a short while. Stage presence and communication is good with multiple looks to each other throughout the performance, moving about and clearly enjoying the track overall.

5. The area suggested for improvement was involving the audience more. Trying to spend a little less time absorbed into the instrument and other player and taking the time to look over the audience would help with engagment and is my next goal.

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In this practice I returned to the C major scale on bass. This time I made an effort to play the notes not just on the A string but the E and D as well trying to play them in as many different positions as I were able. I would now say I have a strong understanding of the notes of C major over these 3 strings and am able to translate it to guitar where I will encorporate tonality too.

Conclusion: While I have a strong understanding of what I am doing now, I don't yet feel able to translate it to full chords on guitar. As such my next steps will be to play arppegios during this weeks second practice session.

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Nashville number system and C major arpeggios

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During this video I play arpeggios based on the chord in C major I am given. I had my partner shout out numbers between 1 and 7 indicating which chord to play. After reviewing the footage I can confirm I played all of the corresponding arpeggios correctly.

To make this exercise more difficult I could up the tempo or have my partner request it from a specific string.

My next steps are to apply the full chords to this exercise.

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Nashville number system and C major arpeggios

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Most recent rehersal of Leave Me

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Current state of our original song. We intend to add guitar parts as well as samples to the final piece. We are going to record in week 7.

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Identification of weakness

Strengthening of weakness

Leave Me: full band

Finalisation of parts

Rehearsal of DAW track

Evaluation of guitar tone

Bass processing

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Identification of weaknesses  LO2, LO3, LO7

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Identification of weaknesses  LO2, LO3, LO7

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The main area of weakness for this track is my balance between stage presence and technical accuracy. Stage presence is important for an exciting performance but at the moment it is affecting the accuracy of my playing. To combat this I am going to rehearse standing for the remainder of this assignment. This should help to develop familiarity with both playing and performing this song.

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Stregnthening weaknesses: Practicing performing LO2, LO3, LO7

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Stregnthening weaknesses: Practicing performing LO2, LO3, LO7

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By the end of this practice I am finding standing and performing much easier. I made a few mistakes during this performance but overall I was pretty accurate. Continuing to rehearse this way will undoubtedly continue to improve my confidence and familiarity playing in this way.

Conclusion: Continuing to practice this way is the best next step and will help to improve my performance.

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Gibbs reflective steps:

1. Practiced a performance of Leave Me.

3. Moved around a lot during the performance trying to put emphasis on my stage presence. Felt very locked in with the drums. Made a couple of mistakes with chords due to focusing so much on stage presence

5. Practice moving around and performing during my personal practice. Practicing sitting down has meant I haven't previously rehearsed this.

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When finalising the guitar I wrote 3 seperate parts:

Guitar 1 plays mostly octaves and mirrors the bass, however in the chorus it goes to a low F as opposed to the high F.

Guitar 2 plays a simple counter-melody in the choruses. This part is comprised of constant downpicking on a single string strongly suiting the post punk guitar style.

Guitar 3 only plays during the final half of the double chorus at the end. It mimics the melody sung at the very beginning of the track bringing a sense of familiarity and completeness to the song.

Now that these parts are finalised we can focus on rehearsing in preperation for our studio session next week.

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We rehearsed the song as a group (without guitar as I will be playing both on the recording). The purpose of this group rehearsal was to eliminate any discrepancies/conflicts we had in our parts. It is important for all of us to understand the song in its entirety as we don't want our individual parts to negatively impact the others and fail to serve the song correctly. By the end of the rehearsal we all have a very strong of all facets of the song.

Conclusion: This rehearsal was needed to make sure we all understood the song in it's entirety. We now all understand all facets of the song.

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Gibbs reflective steps:

1. Played a rendition of Always on the Run by Lenny Kravitz on guitar.

3. Structure was mostly solid. Groove was strong and timings were good. However ending did not go smoothly.

5. Communication over the ending of the track is important for tomorrow to ensure it is in time.

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Gibbs reflective steps:

1. Played rhythm guitar on "Always on the run" by Lenny Kravitz

3. Groove was good and playing was tight and well communicated with the drummer. Structure was perfect and The ending was syncronised.

5. Building my experience of rhythm playing is a really good thing to do. It is suggested that I familiarise myself with this position more.

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Demonstration of chord understanding in C major LO2, LO7

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Demonstration of chord understanding in C major LO2, LO7

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During this practice I took the time to explore the chords of C major (from the A string). I used this to help familiarise myself with the key in preperation for my second personal practice this week in which I will be playing the chords as shouted out by my partner.

Conclusion: I have a strong understanding of the chords from the A string and can play both the I and the VII in 2 different places.

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C major chords demonstration of understanding

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This practice showed the progress and effect all my other practices have had on my understanding of the Nashville number system in C. The position changes were a little slow during the early parts of the video but become much more fluid throughout. I am confident with my understanding of these chords in these positions now. My next steps are to incorporate different positions as well as being given a progression initially and just having to play it.

Conclusion: Practice throughout this term paid off as I demonstrate a good understanding of the Nashville number system in C. My next steps are to incorporate different positions along with being given a full progression rather than each chord one at a time.

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Strengthening weaknesses: Full band

Recording research

Recording strategy

Risk assesment

Evidencing safe working practice

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Stregnthening Weaknesses: full band  LO2, LO3, LO7

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Stregnthening Weaknesses: full band  LO2, LO3, LO7

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In this video my band rehearsed Leave Me and I was far more active then I've been before. My practice playing the song standing made me feel much much more confident and familiar doing this as it wasn't an unusual scenario. The main error I made during this was forgetting to change to the bridge as I was too absorbed into my performance.

Conclusion: Performance was very good but I need to remember not to get carried away. Further rehearsal of this will likely remedy this.

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In preparation for our studio session on Thursday I discussed available options for my recording strategy with the studio engineer. The following options were spoken about by Sam:

Full band: “The song will feel a lot more natural and vibey” he said. “However, there would be a lot of spill” we also touched on the idea that its far easier to go off click when you’re playing with a full band then it is when just playing alone or with one other instrument. (Coveney, 2024)

One by one: This option would produce the highest quality of recording due to there being no spill between mics, Sam explained. The big disadvantage for this is that we need to record as much as possible and this one by one process is very slow, in addition to this it might also effect the feel of the track. (Coveney, 2024)

A few at a time: “This would be the most viable option” grouping instruments like bass and drums together allows for feel and time efficiency. “Capturing bass via DI and monitoring it through headphones would prevent bleed while still keeping the song vibey you know” we also discussed that guide guitar tracks could be very useful. (Coveney, 2024)

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Based on my disscusion with Sam I came to the decision to record grouped instruments, both bass and drums at the same time, followed by vocals, then guitars. My plan is to DI the bass and monitor it from headphones while we play. This should help to ensure we have no bleed and maintain control in the mixing phase.

In addition to this I'm going to record some guitar scratch tracks ahead of the session to help guide the vocal recording proccess. Once all the other sections have been recorded I am planning to record the guitar parts properly at home.

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Risk assessment for studio session part A LO2, LO7

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Risk assessment for studio session part A LO2, LO7

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Risk assessment for studio session part B LO2, LO7

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Risk assessment for studio session part B LO2, LO7

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Eletrical saftey test in line with risk assesment 

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Evidencing safe working practice LO2, LO7

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Evidencing safe working practice LO2, LO7

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Good cable managment in line with risk assesment 

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Evidencing safe working practice LO2, LO7

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Evidencing safe working practice LO2, LO7

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I made sure to take multiple breaks and stay hydrated in line with risk assesment 

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Evidencing dafe working practice LO2, LO7

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Evidencing dafe working practice LO2, LO7

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After our studio session I loaded everything into my DAW and used the arranger track to clearly set out the different sections of the song. By doing this I can easily jump to different sections when recording guitar.

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Evaluation of tone for recording LO2, LO7

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Evaluation of tone for recording LO2, LO7

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Breakdown of my guitar chain for this recording

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To process the bass DI I first ran it through a compressor to level out the sound a little and then into an emulation of the Ampeg SVT bass cab. To give the sound more of a fullness I also ran it through a preamp with a bipolar transistor.

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During this practice I provided backing chords for a partner to improvise over. I chose a I-III-V to begin with but later it was suggested that we try a I-VI-IV-V, due to my earlier practices I understood this quickly and was able to begin playing the adjusted chord progression. Now that I understand this well I want to try learning some of the other keys.

Conclusion: Playing like this was a success. I now want to look into some other keys for this purpose.

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In preperation for learning other keys I took my earlier quiz and re-made it to be in the key of A minor. I will begin next weeks practice by doing this quiz.

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Gibbs reflective steps:

1. Played a very roughly put together version of Hard Times by paramour

3. Accented notes did not sync up with the other instrumentation at all. Everyone else seemed to be relying on me to know when to change section but without clear communication they ended up changing late. Ending was incredibly poorly synchronised. All of this is largley due to being placed in a group in which half the people hated the song and wanted to perform differently yet provided few ideas how to change it other than making it "slow and moody". This inaction caused us to waste near 3/4 of the lesson before I voiced that we were out of time and should just do it this way.

5. In future I will make my feelings and ideas a lot clearer in these sessions as well as taking leadership and guiding the group to be more productive. Tommorow will largely be down to communication as we were so unsure in this session. I will make sure to communicate and guide the song throughout.

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Gibbs reflective steps:

1. Performed a much neater version of Hard Times by Paramour

3. Oscar had to stand in on guitar for us as James wasn't in. However, me and Oscar have a good working relationship and I was able to clearly communicate what exactly we needed in the song which led to the guitars being tighter and more complimentary than they were yesterday. I communicated with all members of the band throughout this performance making sure we all changed section and finished at the same time. My solo was phrased well and had some good note choices.

5. As mentioned in Pre-Production I need to put myself forward more in group settings, even if I am not familiar with them. Taking a more proactive approach will mean we're more productive in our sessions rather than having to struggle last minute.

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Timeline check-in

Sampling in The Rakes

Sampling in my track

MIDI in The Rakes

MIDI in my track

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As we come into week 8 you can see quite clearly that I am inline with my timeline. From this week onwards I am to be focusing on full band dress rehearsals of Leave Me. As for the DAW track I am to add any samples and MIDI tracks ahead of mixing it next week.

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This song opens with a sample of an alarm and someone waking up after a night out. This use of sampling really helps to reflect the mundaneness of everyday life presented in the lyrics, a common theme in post punk (Howard, 2023). I would like to use similar sampling to convey more of a journey like this song.

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For my song I have 3 main ideas for sampling. I want to use some public transport samples (ie: train doors closing), train announcment, and potentially bird song to end.

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Early in the morning I captured this sample of birdsong to potentially put at the end of my original song.