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This session mostly centred around practical work (which I will show in a separate week 7 post), however part of the lesson was spent looking in to iconic sounds in music, how they developed and who utilised unique performance/ production techniques in order to make them iconic. Here are the notes I took:

Iconic sounds:

Phill Collins: Gated Snare - found accidentally in 1979 when his drum playing was picked up by the microphone the audio engineers used to talk to the band; it wasn’t supposed to record any music but it had heavy compression which made the resulting sound. This mic also used a noise gate.

Jimi Hendrix - used pedal effects expressively and made the guitar the lead act of his songs, instead of the singing. He utilised fuzz, wah wah and distortion. He also used the thumb of his fretting hand to play bass notes on the guitar, this gave him more freedom to create distinct voicing with his other 4 fingers.

50s - Distortion; supposedly first used in the 50s by people such as Willie Kizart who poked holes in his guitar amp to produce a warm fuzzy sound.

60s - fuzz, wah wah; utilised by Jimi Hendrix and the Beatles, defined the ‘psychedelic’ sound being pioneered at the time.

70’s - Slap bass; used in funk & disco music, Larry Graham was the first to perform the bass in this way.

80s- Gated Snares; Discovered by Phil Collins

This was definitely a beneficial task for me as it allowed me to realise that inspiration and/ or creative ideas are able to spawn completely by accident, such as Phil Collins and the gated snare. It also gave me an insight into musicians that thought outside the box with their performance techniques, such as the slap bass. Experimenting and trying weird and out of the ordinary things when making my own music could ultimately lead to me producing something innovative.

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This is still a rough idea but I wanted the next part to sound quite dissonant as it felt like a good progression from the bit crush automation added previously, so to do this I kept the bit crush on the drum bus but automated it to go from being fully on to off over 4 bar sections. The vocal I mentioned I wanted to use last week is also playing in full in this section with some reverb and subtle delay.

An interesting technique I used in this section to add to the dissonance is automate a plugin called Valhalla Space Modulator; I used a preset called 'Tight N Low', described as an 'unidirectional barberpole flanging/ pitch shift'. This gives a really cool unsettling feel to the flute, creating contrast to the last part of the track.

To add to the broken feel of this part of the track, I removed some hi hat elements as they were the drum elements providing the most structure.

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This part follows on from what I mentioned at the end of the week 6 section, where I demonstrated the start of the transition phase from the dubstep track into the jungle track. This is the next 8 bars of that section in which the transition ends and leads into the new song. Throughout this part, I have the tempo still increasing until it reaches 172.142 beats per minute (very random tempo but I couldn't work out how to get the automation to sit at exactly 170bpm so I just went with it, its unusual which I think makes it interesting. The new flute sound I made in amigo carries on being filtered in until all of the high frequencies are heard. I am doing the same with a string drone that I played in using a knock off Korg M1 plugin preset called FluteDePan; I added this for some texture behind the main flute riff. To make things a bit more interesting, I automated the panning on the main flute to go left and right over the course of the 8 bars, to provide a bit of 'ear candy' for the listener. An extra element I added was the vocal that has cropped up quite a few times in the course of this song, except this time I time stretched it and completely destroyed it using a glitch plugin called Fracture. I wanted it to sound glitchy to signal that the dubstep part of the track has fully come to an end and we are entering a new phase of the music. I will show the settings for this underneath this post.

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All posts throughout this term that relate to my track progression will be highlighted in red.

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Any notes or learning from my lecutes this term will be highlighted in purple.

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EXTERNAL RESEARCH/ NOTES OUTSIDE OF CLASS

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EXTERNAL RESEARCH/ NOTES OUTSIDE OF CLASS

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All of my own research i conduct outside of lectures this term will be highlighted in blue.

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PROS:

All of my assignment work was completed thoroughly.

My assignments were handed in on time.

I felt that I developed as a producer; I spent more time producing and experimenting with my music than I ever have previously.

The events side of the term was successful; I was part of a well organised group and we were able to throw an event which we made profit from.

I think the research I conducted for my case study was thorough and in - depth, which meant I was able to produce a detailed piece of work in regards to the artists I chose.

CONS:

I think I could have organised my time better, at times I felt like I was rushing to get work done, such as my development diary.

I could have been more committed to the second track for my EP, I chopped and changed the track that I wanted to use which ultimately led to me having less time to work on my final piece.

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This session was centred around vocal effects used in music that can be considered innovative. Vocoders and Auto Tune are arguably the 2 most prominent vocal effects in music production and have been used in many creative ways to allow musicians/ producers to create uniqueness in their music.

Examples of songs with vocoder or interesting vocal effects:

Radiohead - The National Anthem; uses either a vocoder or reverb being sent to a short delay with high feedback at 1:36

Daft Punk - Around the World; uses a vocoder on the vocal hook that plays throughout the whole song

Auto Tune:

I think auto tune can be used as a cool effect in music. I think it can work well in rap music if not used excessively. I think you have to have a half decent voice to begin with for it to actually work though.

Good example: Lean 4 Real - Playboi Carti

Bad example: The Bone - IceJJFish

Travis Scott is a prime example of an artist that made auto tune their staple. It features on almost every song he’s ever made.

This session was useful as it introduced me to a new way of making my music innovative. For the most part, I tend to produce music that doesn't contain vocals, however I could start to introduce vocal hooks or full vocals into my production with some interesting vocal effects to be inventive.

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This session was an introduction to the module, which mainly focused around the definition of innovation and starting to think about ways in which I could be innovative this term.

Innovation can be expressed in technique, style, genre, sound, phrasing etc..

This module can be used to break the boundaries in music

Examples of innovators:

Coki was an innovator in the dubstep scene. He was one of the first to combine weird synthesis with dubstep.

“Innovation is the creation, development and implementation of a new product, process or service, with the aim of improving efficiency, effectiveness or competitive advantage.” (Hudson, 2014)

I also completed a quiz in this lecture, that asked questions regarding techniques, performance & innovation:

1) What does innovation in music mean to you?

Innovation in music, to me, means developing on pre existing ideas/ genres and driving these developments forwards to become your own.

2) Can you highlight any bands, producers, musicians, artists, DJ's etc. that you feel are innovating in the music industry today? If so, provide an example of how?

Tim Reaper is a good example of an innovator in todays music industry. He has taken the old stool 94’ style or jungle and adapted it to the current day. He uses complex modern production techniques and blends it with the old school style of. Jungle.

3) What key areas would you like to explore to push yourself into new territories?

I would like to push myself with arrangement and sound design. I think being innovative in these areas would really help set me apart from other producers.

4) How might you use the Learning Outcomes (LO’s) for the study block ahead to explore and create something exciting?

Im going to attempt to combine 2 genres into 1 track, or merge 2 styles together, such as dubstep & jungle.

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In this session I spent some time brainstorming ideas for my innovative business idea. I was quite unsure on what route to take for this assignment so I tried to think of things in the music industry that annoy me and that I would want to change.

Here are my notes:

I don’t like how expensive music is to buy now, as a DJ paying nearly 2 quid for every tune I buy is getting a bit much; I could think of a way of platforming music and getting artists paid without charging so much

Club night where the dj is hidden and there is a no phones policy; dis have freedom to play what they like and punters are there to enjoy the music

As a low level DJ, I find getting gigs quite difficult without the necessary connections. An app that allows DJs and promoters to make posts and collaborate with each other online could be helpful for DJs and event planners alike to form new connections and take the next stepping stone into the music industry.

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SKILLS, METHODS, TECHNIQUES & TECHNOLOGIES

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SKILLS, METHODS, TECHNIQUES & TECHNOLOGIES

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What skills, systems, technologies and methods do I already use?:

Skills - DJing is my primary performance skill and is something I have been doing for 5+ years so I believe I am at a relatively high level in terms of skill, I also played the guitar for 7 years until around a year ago so that is a skill I could utilise in my work if it felt appropriate, and it might be an area I look to improve on this term. I would say that my main production skills are my sound design and drum arrangement; I am not at a high level with sound design, however it is a tool I use in all of the music I make and it is arguably the most important factor in the electronic music I make. I would like to look into improving my mixing and learning new mixing techniques as sometimes I feel like my production can become stale, as I am overusing the same basic techniques such as simple compression, delay and reverb which can lead to my songs being a bit uninspired and stale.

Systems - Soundcloud is a system I have utilised in the past to showcase my music as it is free and easily accessible, I also use Spotify for general listening. In this term I would quite like to explore how to release music using different distribution platforms other than Soundcloud. Soundcloud is great to star off with, however I feel like I am at a point with a few songs of mine that are ready to be released on a larger scale (Spotify, Apple Music etc.)

Technologies - the main technology I use in my day to day music production is FL Studio, which I have been using exclusively for around 3 years now. I find it the most user friendly DAW and the basics are relatively easy to understand which has allowed me to progress with my music production skills in a relatively short timeframe. I use lots of digital synths in my work such as serum and vital which I feel comfortable with, however this term I would quite like to incorporate hardware and analog synths into my work; I think this could add some interesting variations in my work and could lead to me making something more innovative, instead of just sticking to the same digital synths.

Methods - I think one of the methods I utilise the most in my production is drum layering. When I make drum and bass, I tend to try and make high energy jump up which almost always consists of loud, punchy drums, which requires layering multiple kicks and snares to make sure they are hitting correctly throughout the track. I am starting to make some jungle music at the moment, which also contains lots of drum layering with sampled breaks. I would like to include more sampling in my productions this term, in order to use pre existing ideas in an innovative way.

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SYNTHS

History:

Early synths were monophonic

Polyphonic synths allowed for chord playing

Unison mode:

Kraftwerk are a good example of synths in use, ‘autobahn’, ‘trans europa express’ etc

Moog minimoog was a staple in Kraftwerks music

Eventually replaced minimoog with creamware minimax ASB and Studio Electronics SE-1 in their later work.

ARP Odyssey; defining mono synth of the 1970s

Inspiration research:

Coki - Goblin: Most likely made in Reasons subtractor synth

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hd3s_jubB_s

Youngstar - Pulse X: Used ReBirth RB-338’s 909 emulator to create the drum beat with lots of distortion.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hrz7LQnvCrg

Serum:

Serum is a wavetable synth with 2 main oscillators, a sub oscillator and a noise oscillator. It has 3 envelopes available to use as well as 4 LFO’s which can be applied to different settings on the oscillators, filter and FX to allow for greater control and movement. It has an inbuilt FX panel and dedicated filter.

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Innovation Project Proposal - Bradley Boakes

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This week I attended a session at Small Pond to experiment with running samples through hardware. I collected some snare samples that I have been using recently as I wanted to try and make a 'dubby' sounding snare using analog reverb and delay. I also took with me some bass patches I had made in serum; I had no real intention to do anything with these but I thought it would be fun to experiment with. I have put below a couple of examples of what I came out of the session with.

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Here is an example of what I managed to come up with using hardware. It isn't the exact sound I had in mind to create but it is interesting nonetheless. The re-amped sound is a combination of a delay pedal called 'Breaking Bad' and a pitch shifter pedal called 'Pitch Fork'.

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RUNNING A BASS THROUGH AN AMP - SMALL POND SESSION

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RUNNING A BASS THROUGH AN AMP - SMALL POND SESSION

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I also took a one shot sample of a bass that i made a few months ago that I thought could be cool to run through hardware. A bass amp and microphone were available to me during my session at small pond so I decided to run the bass sample into the amp and capture it with a microphone. I recorded the amp to the left side of the cone for a warm sound and I am happy with how the result turned out.

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After some trial and error, I was finally able to come up with something that I think can become an innovative piece of music. I have decided to go down the dubstep route for this track (as i also did last term) but I wanted to incorporate interesting sampling techniques into a deep, minimal track. To get this process started, I programmed a drum beat using minimal elements with space and came up with a simple serum patch to go over the top. The innovative part of the track is the use of a string sample that I have reversed as a melodic element, as well as the shinobue flute sample playing with an atmospheric sample of people working that I found of freesound.org. I think this is an interesting and unique way of filling in empty space in the track.

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Shown above is the main serum patch that i mentioned in the post above. Like I said it is very simple, with oscillator 1 being a simple square wave, oscillator 2 is half saw/ half square wave, which gives some extra brightness, and both of these are being run into a low pass filter. The low pass filter is being modulated by LFO 1 which is in the shape of a shark fin, which it what moulds the sound into a 'wob'. I am also using a frequency modulation knob on oscillator 1, which means that oscillator 2 is being used to modulate the sound of oscillator 1 even more, which adds some 'grit' to the sound.

You can also see the FX panel in the screen recording above, in which I have applied some dimension for some extra width, distortion, multi - band compression for a more polished sound, reverb for warmth and an EQ to remove a small amount of high end as it was getting a bit harsh.

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This is the sub bass that can be heard in track 1, it sits underneath the main melody bass and plays alongside the shinobue sample. All I have done to make this sub is clone the melody patch, turn off both main oscillators and the filter, and turn on the sub oscillator to a sine wave setting.

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What kinds of innovation have i explored in my tracks so far?

So far, I have only started one track and I am not very far in, however I am wanting to explore using sampling in innovative ways. I am using samples of strings and flutes as melodic elements within a dark and low end driven dubstep track to create contrast. I would like to go more in depth with sampling techniques, and one I am planning to try and implement is recording elements I already have in the track with room reverb and then manipulating them back in FL studio to create a completely new sound to use elsewhere in the track.

Although I have not started a second track, I have a good idea for how I might make it innovative. The two genres I am listening to the most currently are dubstep and jungle, so I want to find a way to combine the two together. I am either going to use a dubstep song structure and use jungle drum elements to form a piece, or have one drop of a track at 140bpm, and eventually speed the track up and have it become a jungle song by the end.

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This session was focused around the history of sampling, and how to use sampling creatively in order to be innovative.

SAMPLING

HISTORY

1900s - jazz musicians would perform licks from other artists as a sign of respect

Pierre Schaffer used pre recorded samples that were manipulated (musique concrete)

Pierre Schaeffer -- Études de bruits (1948) - The samples used in this piece have been looped in places, time stretched and pitched up and down, which are techniques still in use today. This piece of work set the groundwork for sampling as we know it.

Fairlight CMI was the first commercially available digital sampler

Sampling birthed hip hop; producers sampled funk and soul records, making great use of drum breaks for form beats.

Hank Shocklee from Public Enemy said the reason he sampled was due to the price of music equipment at the time, it was more affordable to take samples from other records to make something new.

Grandmaster Flash began scratching records which became a staple in the hip hop genre. (The origin of scratching on vinyl on YouTube)

New models such as the Akai MPC allowed sampling to become more accessible which allowed many producers to flourish

Doing research into early sampling, such as works from Pierre Schaeffer, really opened my eyes into the posibilites of using almost anything you can think of as a sample and turning it into music. This sessin has inspired me to look into more detalied and nuanced ways of sampling, such as recording and using sounds from everyday life.

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To compliment the other Japanese flute used in the song, I went searching for other flute samples that could work in the track, to try and create an overarching theme of woodwind instruments being combined with digital synths. I found this YouTube video linked above and thought that the first part sounded like it would fit into the song.

I will demontrate how I implemented it into the track in a seperate post below this one.

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Just a relaxing song from the famous japanese flute...the Shakuhachi. The name of the player is MIYATA Kohachiro, and the piece is called 'Honshirabe', from an album called 'Shakuhachi - The Japanese Flute', on the Elektra Nonesuch Explorer series. Many thanks to edosan2 who gave me the information.

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Here is how I used the sample I found (see above post) in context. I layered it with the same vocal that is heard earlier in the track as well as a glitchy sound I found on freesound.org. To make sure the flute sample fit in with the track properly, I chopped it up and sped the sample up slightly, and also added a Frequency Echo plugin to make it more dissonant and 'unsettling'.

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I wanted to incorporate some hardware synthesis into my first track so in my production workshop this week I went into the HQ studio to experiment with the Roland Juno, the Behringer Poly D and the Korg MS 20 mini. Below this post I have included examples of what I came up with.

I haven't got around to including any of these elements in my track yet but I am definitely going to attempt to use them to make an interesting soundscape for the intro.

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In the video above you can hear the next 8 bars of the track. I want this track to feel like it is constantly progressing and flowing so for this small section I have changed around the drum pattern slightly compared to the first 8 bars as well as adding a knocking sound to create some added atmosphere. I have pitched the female laugh sound down an octave to create some variation as well as reversing the synth at the end of the section.

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I wanted to include some interesting sampling in this project in order to make it innovative, and to start this I found a basic strings loop on freesound.org and isolated the first string hit, which can be heard in the screen recording above, I then stretched the sample out and reversed it to create the reversed stab sound. To complete the sound i routed it to a chamber reverb to make it sound wide and atmospheric and also added a Valhalla Space Modulator to give it more stereo width.

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Like I said last week, I want to keep the track flowing and interesting, and for this part of the track I worked on this week makes that more apparent. In this section, I changed the main synth (see week 3) by pitching down oscillator B by one octave and changed the note pattern slightly. I also layered the string stab with the same notes that they were original playing but placed them up an octave.

To add some interesting effects into this part of the song, I automated delay on a clap, as well as time stretched the female laugh vocal.

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FINISHING OFF THE FIRST 32 BARS OF THE DROP 

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FINISHING OFF THE FIRST 32 BARS OF THE DROP 

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This 8 bar section of the track follows the same formula as the previous sections of the song with small added bits of variation and interesting FX to indicate this section of the song is coming to an end and to signal the the next 32 bars of the drop is coming. I have added notes 1 and 2 octaves up for the string stab to show the the track is progressing on.

I automated a large reverb on the main synth in the last 4 bars to almost completely drown out the sound to further indicate that the track is changing, and I also automated a bit-crusher (see next post for settings) on the drum bus to degrade the quality. You can also hear a reversed vocal which is a vocal I am planning on using in the next section of the track, I have reversed it and added reverb to act as a transition. between the two halves of the drop

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INNOVATION IN PRODUCTION WORKSHOP NOTES - SESSION 5

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INNOVATION IN PRODUCTION WORKSHOP NOTES - SESSION 5

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These are some notes I took in my production workshop that was based around using chance and unpredictability in music.

Aleatoric Music- a style of music that incorporates chance and unpredictability.

John Cage:

made a piece that consists of a blank score with the only requirement of the performer to be there for the duration of the piece; the intention was that the sounds inherent in the performance would become the music.

Karlheinz Stockhausen:

A German composer, in his 19 Klavierstucke compositions he used various grids and formulas which introduced controlled chance into his work.

Earle Brown:

25 pages - a set of one page scores to be played by 1 - 25 pianists in a variety of combinations, pages were without clefs and notated symmetrically, so that the orientation is reversible.

Criticisms of aleatoric music: can lack direction, can be seen as childish and unskilled, can be seen as pretentious, can be discordant and jarring.

Benefits of aleatoric music: can inspire unique ideas, can introduce variety.

Learning about aleatoric music was beneficial to me as it is something I have not heard of previously and it was interesting to see a very unique and innovative method of music production. I cant say it will be something I will utilise this term but it has definitely inspired me to start thinking outside the box with my production and potentially conducting more research into other methods of production I haven't heard of before.

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For the bit - crush automation mentioned in the post above, I used Krush with these settings.

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In order to be innovative, I thought of an interesting sampling technique that i could use in the intro and build up section of my track. I used the voice notes app on my phone to record the drop of the track though my monitors in my room, as well as through laptop speakers outside in the garden. I re sampled, chopped, and added FX to the recordings I made and the screen recording above shows how they came out. I think they provide an interesting quality and texture to the build up.

The 'outside' sample has a bitcrusher and a delay applied

The 'speaker' sample has a large reverb with the dry level all the way down.

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To start off the intro to the track, I used the MS 20 and Juno samples I recorded to form an unsettling and creepy soundscape. I used the MS 20 sample twice, one at its original pitch and another an octave above, and automated a low pass filter to slowly bring in each of the sounds.

The Juno comes in at the 9th bar, which I have also automated a low pass filter on to give the same effect as the MS 20. I added a vinyl crackle sound with both of these elements to add to the unsettling feeling.

The vocal I used in the main drop is also used here, but pitched down an ocatve and stretched out.

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This session mainly consisted of me reflecting on what I have done so for this term and thinking about what I want to achieve in the coming weeks.

At this point I have only come up with one track idea that I think has potential to be an innovative piece. I spoke to Bob to ask for some advice on how to move forwards in this module and progress with a second track, and after listening to what I have so far he suggested the idea of making 1 piece of music, with 2 different ideas incorporated together. This idea really resonated with me as I think I would be able to build something new out of what I have already made so far and combine it all together to make a piece of music that takes you on a 'journey'.

My plan for this is to create a transition from the dubstep part of the track I have already made and build it up to ultimately become a jungle/ drum and bass track. I think this approach will be more beneficial than if I was to make two separate tracks as I am able to think of fresh ideas that build off of what I already have, I can also use this as a form of innovation.

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This lesson involved looking at artists with unique music creation techniques. We were asked to research artists that we like and look into their own creative methods and the processes they went through to be innovative. I decided to research Burial, a dubstep/ ambient garage producer who had a very interesting way of crafting his beats. nstead of using a typical DAW such as Ableton or Logic to craft his early work, he used an audio editing software called sound forge, which didn’t have a beat grid. This gives his music a broken feel and makes it feel more human in a way. His sample and sound selection is also what helps him to stand out. He samples across many genres and somehow makes them fit together in such a satisfying way. For example, his most popular song ‘Archangel’, samples Ray J - One wish, in which he takes ray js upbeat vocal and morphs it into something used in a somber and emotional piece of music.

Conducting this research was definitely useful as it gave me an insight into how my favourite artists operate and think during their creative process. I can take elements from artists such as Burial and put my own twist on what he does in order to form my own creative process.

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This is the build up section for the track. I introduced the 'outside' sample I talked about in the above post along with the vinyl crackle I used in the intro. I used a plugin called fracture on the Juno sample which causes a 'glitching' effect, and with added reverb this makes for a cool transition. I found a crash sample with a very loud transient which I used at the start of the build up to add some extra tension.

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This is the pre drop section for the dubstep part of the track. It consists of the synth line I recorded through my speakers on my phone with a stripped back drum beat, as well as the vocal that I have already used in the drop section and the intro, but I have it playing at its original speed and pitch. I wanted to include this vocal in its original state to signal the drop was coming and create tension. I have applied reverb to the speaker recording to try and almost drown it out. I wanted the build up to be minimal and eerie and i think this use of reverb helps to achieve this. On the drum bus, I applied a delay that i automated to increase as the drop gets closer. This just adds to the tenseness more and works alongside the vocal to signal that the drop is near.

I am planning to add more to this section to fill it out however I am mostly happy with how it currently sounds.

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WORKING ON THE TRANSITION BETWEEN TWO SEPERATE PARTS OF THE TRACK

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WORKING ON THE TRANSITION BETWEEN TWO SEPERATE PARTS OF THE TRACK

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As I mentioned in the post this week for the study group, an area of innovation I am going forward with is making one piece of music with 2 separate tracks in it. The transition from one part of the track into the next is therefore a very important section of the song to get right and this is what I have managed to come up with so far. I took out most of the drums in the last 4 bars of the dubstep section and applied a different delay automation to the drums instead of the one in the pre drop/ build up section. I did this as I wanted to have a bigger gap between each repeat of the delay, as I think this represents this part of the track ending better than it would with a small gap between each repeat.

Alongside this, I included some white noise risers.

Carrying on from the transition part, I used the same dissonant flute sound used in the second half of the dubstep drop. Underneath this, I made a new flute riff using the original sample using a plugin called Amigo (see post below this one). I am going to have this slowly filtering in simultaneously with the tempo increase, which is going to go from 140bpm to 170bpm over the course of 16 bars.

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A rough guide to writing a press release ^

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In this session, I looked into press releases. I looked for what a good press release requires and how they are structured, as well as some examples that I could take inspiration from when producing my own press release for the summative assignment.

A good press release contains a catchy title, an image of the topic of the press release (artist image for example), includes a quote from the artist discussing the topic of the press release, contact details/ social media links, where to find the topic of the press release.

^ All of these elements seem to be included in most good press releases and are the things I am going to make sure I include in my own press release.

A good example of a press release that I can draw inspiration from is a new article I found on https://djmag.com/ regarding a new single from an artist called Barry Can't Swim.

https://djmag.com/news/barry-cant-swim-shares-new-single-person-youd-be-listen

This is an example of a decent press release, the title clearly states what is being discussed and is to the point, it presents an image of the artist which allows the reader to familiarise themselves with who is being discussed if it is the first they have heard of them. A short description of the track is provided with a Spotify link that allows the reader to listen to the track being discussed. It includes many necessary elements needed in a good press release and is very snappy, however I would include a quote from the artist talking about the track, as I think this would allow the reader to establish more of an understanding of the track and the artist themselves.

I am going to model my press release in a similar way to this DJ Mag press release, as I think the music I am making this term would be a good fit for a website like DJ Mag. I am going to make a magazine style cover for my press release as well as a second page describing the track.

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Inspiration for what I described in the post above.

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This is the new flute riff I described in the above post. Once I had the midi in place, I decreased the sample rate and bounced it to audio, which gave me more control over the sound to slightly stretch out for the tempo automation.

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Completed in innovation in production session

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STARTING THE BUILD UP TO THE JUNGLE DROP

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STARTING THE BUILD UP TO THE JUNGLE DROP

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This part is very stripped back in order to create tension as it progresses closer and closer to the first of the jungle drops I am planning to include. It is pretty much just a continuation of the previous section I spoke about with both the flute and the drone being fully filtered in alongside some cymbal rolls I found on free sound, and also an interesting white noise layer I made in serum; I will show the patch below.

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This is the next and final 8 bars of the track before the jungle drop is fully introduced. The only extra elements added in this part compared to the last part is a time stretched calling break drowned in reverb and delay to signal that a jungle drop is on the way, as well as an eerie drone build up sample that creates lots of tension. By the end of the 8 bar section, I filter out all of the elements until the final bar where I have a hi hat playing, acting as the final indication of the drop. You can hear the start of the drop at the end of the screen recording however I have not made much progress on it.

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This is the white noise layer I mentioned in the post above. It is very simple; I am using the noise oscillator 'sqeeky' preset with a band filter being automated by LFO 1 which you can see in the screen recording. I shaped it with 2 shark fins for some quite dramatic movement across 4 bars. I also added reverb & dimension for width and texture, some compression to control the peaks and a flanger to add a different dimension to the sound. I think this sits really nicely in the background of the track and adds alot of depth and movement.

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This section is the start of the proper jungle section of the track. As this is the first part that it is properly introduced, I kept it very stripped back, with only a chopped up and consolidated amen break, and an 808 bass hitting twice across the 8 bar section. This builds tension for the next sections of the jungle part and creates anticipation, knowing that more elements are on their way.

The amen break is being ran through an EQ to take out some low end and then into a drum bus with multi - band compression and saturation to beef it up and fill out the frequency range.

The 808 is a sample from a jungle sample pack, which I have ran through EQ to boost the low end but clean up some muddiness as well as some saturation to bring some harmonics out, helping it stand out better in the track.

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This is the next part of the jungle drop, in which I have introduced a second amen break along with a pad. Both amen breaks playing have been panned left and right respectively to create an interesting stereo field, I dont normally hear panned breaks in jungle so I wanted to include it to be unique. The breaks are both layered with a kick drum to add some extra energy to the low end of the breaks. I used the same 808 as I did in the previous 8 bars but changed the pattern to have it play more frequently.

The pad has delay and frequency echo automation which is what makes the pad sound like it is swelling. I will include more detail about the pad in a seperate post.

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This is the pad sample that I mentioned above. I put it into Amigo Sampler as it gives me the option to degrade the sample rate, which is an effect I like to utilise in jungle production, as it provides an old school feeling. The sample itself is from Zero G's Jungle Warfare 3 pack.

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An artist I am fond of, Pete Cannon, has released music on vinyls in which the vinyl sleeve is designed to look like a 90s music magazine cover, which i think is a really cool and innovative idea. I am going to use this as inspiration for my own press release

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This section of the jungle drop is slightly different to what I posted for last weeks entry. The differences are subtle with only the 808 bass changing significantly. Instead of having a pattern that plays multiple notes, I changed it only one 808 would play in the 4 bar section, making it more impactful in my opinion, it also creates more contrast for what is to come in this jungle section of the track.

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This is the next 8 bars of the jungle section, in which the changes are more apparent than before. For some variation, instead of staying on the same notes, i moved some of the bass notes alongside the pads which is apparent in the screen recording above. Alongside this, the frequency shift that i applied to the pad which i have mentioned previously, is extended over a longer period and increases its 'shift' value slightly more than before, providing more movement.

The drum breaks used in this section stay the same as what I have been using previously, however there are some different chops in this part to keep things interesting

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This is the section that follows the previous part I spoke about in the post above this one. For the most part, it stays the same as before, with some minor adjustments in the drum breaks after 4 bars. The bniggest change is the introduction of a flanger on the drum breaks. This is apparent towards the end of this section and is included as a signal to the listener that this section is coming to an end and something new is shortly going to be introduced. At the end of this 8 bar section I swapped out the heavy amen breaks for a softer drum roll to again signify that this party of the track is coming to a close.

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To progress the song forwards in its final stages, I wanted to include a section that pays homage to the classic jungle sound. Minimalistic but interesting drums, hard hitting basses and sound clash vocals. To introduce this into the track, I found a vocal that says "let the beat control your body" from a Zero G sample pack, which was commonly used in the early days of jungle production. I chopped this up to create a cool patten and played it alongside a tambourine loop and some other random FX from the same sample pack. These FX samples are very commonly used in old school jungle, so it felt appropriate to include a few.

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This next part is what follows along from the part spoken about above, and is the point in which I introduced a vocal. This vocal is an acapella from a track by Chuck Fenda called 'I Swear'. It is a reggae song, and in old school jungle production it was very common to use these kinds of vocals in tracks in order to fill up the texture. To make it fit within the context of my track, I pitched it down 500 cents (5 semitones) so it was in the correct key, alongside adding a compressor to keep the level more consistent, as well as a bit crusher to give some grit, helping it to have that older sound I am trying to achieve (see below for settings.

A second interesting point to talk about in this section is the introduction of a new drum break. As heard in the screen recording, I automated the pitch knob to increase every bar, and then reset to normal. I included this as pitch bending on drums was another common technique used in old jungle production. This break is being ran through a bus containing all of the breaks used in the track so far, and also has some simple EQ removing the lows.

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This is the drop part to the 'ragga' section. Alongside the vocal I spoke about in last weeks entries, the 808 in this part is a focal point. It is playing a rhythm that follows the vocal, and is 'beefed up slightly as I added some extra saturation to differentiate it from the previous 808 pattern. As well as this, I added a copta break to sit underneath the break I used a pitch bend on in the previous section. Throughout thid section, to fill gaps I added drum fills in different spots. This also creates a bit of variation as the drum breaks I used in this section are kept relatively untouched from their original pattern.

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This drop is a short one, only spread over the course of 32 bars. I didn't want the track to feel more drawn out than it needed to be so thats why i decided to only keep it to this length. For this part, the 808 pattern changes ever so slightly, and the amen break used in the previous jungle drop is re introduced to add texture to the drums. Also doing this is a ride cymbal loop that pans left to right and vice versa. At the end of this section I automated delay on the copta break to bring the song into its final section

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This is the final section of the song, it is the 808 pattern alongside the vocal. For the end part, I wanted to link it back to the 'dissonant' and 'disjointed' feel that I was going for twards the end of the dubstep part of the track. To achieve this, I applied bit crusher automation to the 808 and a vocoder to the vocal. I also have a high pass filter automated on the vocal to signal that the track is coming to an end. I will show the vocoder and bit crusher settings below this post.

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This is the cover for my press release that I have designed. I took inspiration from DJ by making a magazine cover with a big photo of the artist (me) on it. My plan is the write a magazine article that follows the formula of a press release, as well as including a hypothetical vinyl giveaway, in which the first 30 people to scan a QR code that can only be found in the magazine will win an exclusive vinyl pressing of the track as well as an unreleased B side track.

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This is the main body of my press release that I came up with, it includes information about the release, where and when the track can be found, as well as quotes from myself talking about the release and my inspirations behind it.

The next page includes the information about the vinyl giveaway i mentioned in the press release post last week. (see below for page 2)