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This week, I finished both my remix and main track and mixed and mastered them.

In my remix, I added two parallel processed basses in the chorus, one with phase distortion which fills the mid information and one slightly distorted which adds low end information. I also added the same sub bass to add low end to the outro without distortion. I used a detuned metronome that I also removed the tonality and compressed it and the bass together using a track stack to make it feel like the bass was pulsating. I could've used side chain compression to do the same thing, but I like how the metronome almost sounds like a heartbeat, which I wouldn't have got with a side chain.

For mixing my remix, I removed all effects and mixing I had already done and bounced everything into stems and combined different instruments to have as little stems as possible. I started with organising everything into track stacks, and then started on vocals by doing some mid-side EQ and adding a small plate reverb. For all of my mid-side EQ, I have used Linear Phase EQ, and all of my creative EQ, I have used Single Band EQ. To add some movement, I have used automation on reverb, delay and EQ, as well as volume for certain areas. To make things sound bigger and wider, I have used sample delay. Since the piano's notes varied in volume, I added a FET compressor since I wanted the compressor to be quick.

In my main track, I added a MIDI choir, inspired by Exit Music. I also added bass in the first part and in the interlude, as well as guitars in each ear. For the guitars, I once again used the methods we learnt in our first term. I don't have a mic or a guitar amp so I have to use DI, so I used Logic's guitar amp and used a preset I made in the demo. For each guitar, I changed the settings in the amp, such as the three band EQ and mic placement. I also used different guitars and pickups for each to really make them sound different. I recorded everything in in single takes and didn't quantise anything to make it feel as natural as possible. I did comp my bass and guitars since I had done over 50 takes and wanted to move on.

To mix my main track, I decided to mix as I was writing hopefully to make it sound contrasting to my remix. For contrast, I tried to make my remix sound edited and hi-fi and my main track opposite.

To master my remix, I used an edited template one of my tutors helped me make and editied it since my remix is very different from week 10. To master my main track, I just followed the other mastering project and tried to recreate it.

Here is a link showing pictures of each of my projects. I originally was going to make a video explaining them each but I don't have any time so I just have to put the pictures by themselves.
https://imgur.com/a/PKjknbd

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My initial ideas for my remix were to make a pop remix of the Nine Inch Nails song 'Discipline,' inspired by the David Ospina and Boy Wunder remixes of ... Baby One More Time by Britney Spears. I wanted to do Discipline because I already knew the stems a bit since I used them to learn the guitar and bass from the song. I didn't have any ideas for my main track yet.

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This week, I started to experiment with the bass of my remix as well as put new parts to my main track. I did this because my bass was constantly playing through the song and I wanted something more spacious, which would then make everything more clear and easier to mix. I also accidentally deleted week 1 so I had to rewrite it.

For my remix, I've always been using an electric keyboard sound on Logic which sounds close to a sine wave, but got feedback to maybe change the bass. At first, I was thinking of doing a distorted parallel processed version of the same bass for the choruses before changing the instrument entirely. I was looking for a better bass sound and remember the instrument I used on my main track last term. I decided to try it, and after messing around with the settings, got a sound a like, which is essentially a square and sawtooth wave with a filter on it.

My idea for my new bass is to have it match the drums of TPD, which are programmed and edited in the verses and live in the choruses. Instead of trying to edit as little as possible and keep things as human as possible, I wanted the bass to be inhuman so I cut it together and quantized some notes.

For my main track, I started experimenting with different layers to go with the piano. I added a higher melody in the right ear, chords in the left ear and will later have some low end in the middle. When making my demo, I was recording my MIDI piano while having my keyboard also recorded a pad playing out loud with my laptop mic, and because of this, ambience such as cars and birds can be heard and the pad ended up sounding very Lo-Fi which I liked and decided to go in that direction. I recorded the pads again in the interlude only and panned them both about halfway in each ear. Last term, we learnt about multitracking guitars, and I am going to use the methods used in that for the pads. Also in the interlude, I added another pad in the middle and used EQ to cut of the high end, so now it really ties the pads together.

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Week 1

Week 2

Week 3

Week 4

Week 5:
Explaining my remix so far

Week 6:
Gibbs reflective cycle on how I think my formative went

Week 7

Week 8

Week 9

Week 10

Week 11

Week 12

Critical Reflection

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I started making my remix of Discipline using variations of the chords used in the song I found online before I decided to try The Perfect Drug, another Nine Inch Nails song. I chose to start again because Discipline vocals had effects, such as delay and distortion, which come on at some parts in the song, which I wouldn't be able to remove and because they don't really go with anything other than the songs main riff, and I wanted to completely make my own song, except for keeping the vocals more or less the same.

The Perfect Drug's vocals are easier for me to work with so far since the melody is more simple and spacious (so I can rearrange it if I want to,) as well as not having as many effects. So far, what I've made is much more like my usual music than pop, but I don't mind changing my idea if I end up deciding to stick with this new project.

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I didn't know where to go with what I had of my remix, so one of my tutors recommended going through Logic's instruments to find inspiration and I ended up finding an arp which has completely changed the direction of my song to an ambient house/electronic song.

I now also have an idea for what I want main track to be. Since my remix has changed, I can make my main song in my original style since both of these songs will be constrasting. Also for contrast, I want to make this song on Ableton since I want it to be more live focused, without any MIDI if possible. Like last term, I want to use Small Pond's piano and I am also inspired from my Music Technology lectures to use an analog synth, which I luckily already have access to at home.

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My views on quality vs quantity, is that quality is almost always better. When making my own music, I used to usually have a set goal of how many songs I wanted for a project, so I would make songs to reach that amount, and usually the amount of effort put into each song would vary. Now, I try to make project to fit onto records, so 20 minutes per side, but I don't think of a set goal of how many songs I want. I also will remove or restart songs if I don't think they're good enough, which I wouldn't have done before.

In the context of WB03, I need to have a certain quantity of songs and their length, and they have to have enough quality that I am happy with them and that they can get enough marks so I can pass.

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I've done quite a lot of my remix, which is mostly just quickly getting down ideas which I will mix later. In our Audio Lab class, we were designing our own drum kits out of synths and I really like what I have and have incorporated it into my remix. I got rid of my original kick and melody and have replaced them with my new drums. In Production Techniques, we were learning about automation and I was adding delay and reverb to my remix which I think are a nice addition to it, which I will definitely keep.

I went to my first mentoring session on Monday, and was learning about intervals. From this, I made a melody on keyboard which I really like which could be my main track, which I still haven't started. Other than that, I do have a few ideas on guitar and bass for my main track.

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After I switched to The Perfect Drug, I started by using a piano instrument on Logic, which I usually do to get an idea for a melody, and made something simple I like. When I started working on it at home, I didn't have the piano sound installed since I was re-downloading my sound library because it was downloaded in the wrong place, the piano sound was replaced with the Sampler's default sound, which is a basic sine wave. I liked the sine wave sound and decided to keep it, and wanted to base my remix around it. At this point, my remix was going to be very ambient and similar to a song I made during the break, inspired by the ambient/electronic band Nurse With Wound.

I only added a few more things to my remix, which were an ambient pad and the same default sine but 2 octaves lower for the bass and I wasn't sure what to do next. In one of my Production Techniques lectures, my tutor suggested I go through Logic's instruments to find inspiration and I ended up finding an arp which completely changed the direction my song went in. The arp changed my idea to trance/house.

I continued with this idea, and continued adding Logic's instruments instead of making my own, like I originally wanted to do.

I continued making my remix and my idea changed again in an Audio Lab lecture. We were creating our own drums with synths and I liked mine, which I made on my remix project. I listened to them with the remix and thought they fit so I removed the Logic instruments I added and also the main melody, since the kick I created is essentially the new melody.

Here is the link to the demo:
https://on.soundcloud.com/kdTFR

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This week, I am going to do a Gibbs' Reflective Cycle on how I think my formative feedback went, so that I can evaluate my own work and then get an outside perspective as well.

1. Description

I submitted around 4 minutes of the demo of my remix but didn't submit a main track since I still haven't started one. My development diary is missing a lot, since I haven't done any of the tasks from the slides we're given on Wednesdays.

2. Feelings

I wanted to start early on my remix since I wasn't sure how hard it was going to be, and I like what I have so far, but I feel like it's missing something and I still need to develop it a lot. I have a few ideas for my main track, but I don't know what else could go with them.

3. Evaluation

Since I haven't done any of the tasks from Wednesday's slides, I need to start them, since they are going to show L07. I also should focus on starting my main track.

4. Analysis

I think that because I have so little of my development diary, there isn't too much feedback to be given, other than to include more of the assessment criteria and to continue adding more to my diary, which I think is a bad thing, because if I did more and developed what I already have, I could get more feedback on areas that I may have not included yet and areas I haven't fully written about. However, I don't think that overall my formative is bad, because I have a lot more of my remix than I thought I would. I also think that not having a main track isn't so bad, since I genuinely don't have anything yet, and any ideas I have so far may be very different from what my main track ends up being.

5. Conclusion

I should try to keep on track of the different things I need to do, and plan my calendar to set times to do different things.

6. Action Plan

I need to start doing my tasks from Wednesdays which will help with my development diary and focus on writing my main track. I should also plan and spend my time better.

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This week, I started my main track on Logic instead of Ableton like I had originally wanted. I wanted to make a song inspired by the Radiohead song 'Exit Music (For A Film,)' so I started by trying to write chords on guitar, but I can't write on guitar so I quickly switched to keyboard and began making chords. Exit Music is 122 tempo and in B minor, so I wanted my song to be similar, so I made mine 115 tempo and C minor.

I also added a chord variation to my main track and added guitar and bass. I wanted to play bar chords on guitar but I would've had to change to weird tuning which would've made it really awkward to play so I had to simplify the guitar to only playing the first two notes of each chord.

My formative feedback:

"Great start here Patrick, you have shown an interesting use of creative EQ along with spacial effects such as reverb, delay and panning. Consider how you can utilise automation and filters to exaggerate the creative EQ through out the song to create more of a journey dynamically, this technique could also be explored in the vocals to create more tension and release. there is no evidence of an original track, it would have been great to hear this for feedback at this point. In your padlet consider how you can utilise screenshots to better evidence your DAW process and decision making, currently there is no discussion of techniques discussed through out this term in your writing. Overall this is a good start to your remix, well done."

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This week, I've been changing my remix to be more minimalistic since I thought there was too many layers I needed to fix. I essentially got rid of everything, except the vocals and drums. I put a new bass melody on the verses and added a higher pad. After the pre-choruses, I added an instrumental chorus which still uses TPD's drums.

I realised that the chords in my main track's outro are almost exactly the same as the Faith No More song 'Why Do You Bother,' but I'm not going to change them because it's too far into the term. I booked Small Pond for the start of week 10 to record piano for both my tracks. The piano in my remix is only in the outro and is very simple so it won't take long to do and there isn't anything to prepare for it. For my main track, I think I will play without any backing tracks, but I will have to prepare a bit to know exactly when the tempo change is.

Here's the link to the new remix demo:
https://on.soundcloud.com/dKJQq
And my main track demo:
https://on.soundcloud.com/x9DQK

(Final versions are also on Soundcloud)

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This week, I continued with my more simplified remix. I changed the higher pad melody to be a counterpoint to the bass but I don't know what instrument I'm going to use for it instead of the pad. If I have time in Small Pond, I might try to record parts of my remix such as the outro piano so I can use them rather than MIDI.

SWOT analysis

Strengths:
- I can write music quickly once I know the direction I want to go in
- Can play multiple instruments, so can record everything myself

Weaknesses:
- Lack of music theory knowledge
- Haven't finished either track

Opportunities:
- Learning music theory through mentoring
- Equipment available at Small Pond and Waterbear

Threats:
- Procrastination
- Not too sure what direction to go in with main track
- Focusing on WB04 and missing writing weekly entries

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This week, I went to Small Pond to record piano for my tracks. I've changed my main track to have a melody with the right hand instead of both hands only playing the chords and the guitar playing the melody, so now my main track is only a piano.

We used two Coles ribbon mics close mic'd piano because of their warm and dark sound and two 2414 condensers in an XY position to capture ambience.

I haven't done much on either of my songs as I've been focusing on WB04 which I really need to catch up on if I want to hand it in on time.

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I started my remix early on since I didn't know how easy it would be to make since I've never made a remix before, while I didn't start my main track until week seven. Starting my remix early was a good choice because it gave me time to figure out what I wanted to do, for example, I wouldn't have been able to restart and choose another song if I chose to start later, however, starting my main track so late was a bad choice because I didn't have the time to work on it as much as the remix, so I think starting them both around the same time and developing them together would have been better.

I wasted a lot of useful time this term because I was procrastinating and underestimating how long we had left. I spent almost all of week ten and eleven doing my WB04 report, and did almost half of it the day it was supposed to be handed in. I wish that I would've focused on my work since the start and actually planned my time, which I will definately start doing now that I've had to catch up so much. My key takeaway from this term is definately the importance of pacing work and setting a schedule to work and to follow the guidelines given in class and on Canvas.

Since the start of the term, I've been constantly trying to write contrast into my tracks in numerous ways. My main track starts at 115 tempo, before changing to 110 and later 120, while my remix is at 149, it's original tempo. I didn't want to have any MIDI in my main track but ended up using more than on my remix, as well as using a live piano in my remix when I didn't want to use any live instruments. I mixed my remix by bouncing everything down into stems and mixed my main track as I was making it, however I mastered both tracks essentially the same since this was the first time I have ever mastered any songs. My initial ideas for my tracks actually swapped over the weeks. I initially wanted my remix to be similiar to other remixes I know and I was going to make my main track without any inspiration, and now my main track is inspired by a song I like and my remix was written without any inspiration from other music. Probably the biggest difference of my two tracks are the feeling of both of them, and that one is instrumental and has no percussion.

My contribution for my remix was writing and recording the piano, basses and pads, mixing, mastering and the creative arrangement. The drums, vocals, guitar and original composition are from Nine Inch Nails. My main track was created solely by me.

This term, apart from learning to focus more on work and plan my time, I have learnt a lot about production overall. In The Art of The Remix, we learnt about and tried to make our own remixes of different genres, which is really useful since now I understand the music industry and producer's job roles from WB04 Your Strategy and how important remixes are for producer's incomes. Before this term, I didn't really understand what mastering was and had never collaborated with anybody else, so now having a basic understanding and having tried both multiple times is a useful start for me.

When I started and throughout making my tracks, I didn't do any planning or research, which could've been useful, but I never really had anything I wanted to research or plan. I now think that my outlook on not starting a main track because I didn't have any ideas is wrong and that I should have gone out of my way to look for ideas or forced myself to start a song, even if it didn't end up being my finished track. Next time, I will definately not wait on starting and will instead start as early as possible and pace myself. I'm glad I started my remix early, though it doesn't mean much since I practically restarted on week seven or eight.

Listening back to my tracks, I'm happy how my writing has improved. I don't think that I would've been able to make the chords that I made if I didn't sign up to do mentoring and learn about music theory. I'm also pleased that I have made my first remix and especially that it's in a style I don't really make music in anymore. I'm not pleased with my final mixes. Since I had so little time left when I got to the mixing phase, I was rushing and cutting corners and that my mixes aren't as good as they could be, mainly because of my mid-side EQ and how I added too much. I also think that if my writing processes were more natural instead of being crammed into a few weeks (more like days,) then I would've come up with better ideas to go with what I already have, for example my main track's outro.

If I were to do this module again, the first thing I would do is make a schedule and stick to it. My work this term has been heavily affected by how little time I have given myself to complete it to the point where I honestly don't see myself passing. For writing my tracks, I would use techniques I know work to ensure that I can start as soon as possible and make ideas that I can finalise, for example, I know that I have to write using a keyboard, but when I started my main track, I was trying to use a guitar instead because I wanted to experiment and since I was inspired by Radiohead. I think that being able to be versatile when writing and producing is important, but for the amount of time I had left, I think that using the safer option would be much better. Another thing I would do differently, is to keep track of Canvas content. While I did look at Canvas before lectures, I didn't do many of the tasks at the end, which I now understand are there so we can put them in our development diaries.