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writing music- 20 hours

practice - 18 hours. just using 1 week of practice session

joes band recording sessions - 8 hours

recording the EP- 40 worth of recording sessions planned so far in the summer

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In this module we need to accrue 70 hours of professional work based learning. I have covered and am going to cover the hours by attending and helping out in studio sessions, my own personal practice time and research time, and then finally recording my own EP

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When I came up with the idea for my EP I knew I wanted to record my music as well as record a couple of cover songs.

I have spent so far 20 hours writing music for my original songs and coming up with ideas to record. I have planned and set aside a lot of time in the summer to be recording in the studio.

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to gain some ideas for my EP I looked at some of my favourite bands early work and some of there EP's.

The first band I looked at was Alice in Chains and there nutshell EP. i really like this EP because every song is very different, there are ballad style songs and even a jazz/swing song on this album. My favourite song off this EP is 'rotten apple', I think the production quality is amazing and I also like the way how it sounds musically, I think it evolves as it goes on. I also like the inclusion of different technologies to create it like the talk box that is used all the way through the song.

Another very notable song from this EP is nutshell, which is one of Alice in Chains' biggest hits. This song is about the lead vocalists long time battle with heroin addiction. The song is a very moving and powerful song that I find holds a lot of emotions and meaning to a lot of people. I dove deep into the meaning of this song so I could learn from it so I could use its lessons in my own songwriting and composing. As I am a guitarist at heart I focused a lot on the guitar and how the guitarist, Jerry Cantrell, wrote the guitar parts. with it being acoustic most of the way through up until the end where you hear a tasteful yet fitting guitar solo as the song comes close to an end.

To improve my composing ability I listened to the drum parts on this EP. As I am not a drummer I do not understand the instrument very well so it is difficult for me to come up with drum pieces for my own music that are fitting to the piece. That is why as part of my research and learning I have listened to the drums behind some of my favourite pieces created by other artists very carefully to understand what is going on with them. In the Jar of Flies EP because every song is a different style the drums were very interesting to listen to because some songs used very basic drum patterns, like Nutshell where the drums are keeping a nice pace the whole way through and not being very explorative or explosive. Another track on Jar of Flies with very interesting drums is, 'No Excuse'. Throughout this song you hear what sounds like to me a very fast hi-hat/cymbal fill that creates what feels to be a faster tempo segment only for a few seconds at a time which gives the tracks. really nice feel to it.

From this EP I have looked at song writing and composing in a simpler way, with much more emotion behind the lyrics and the musical arrangement, making each beat and bar mean something.

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When I picked the guitar back up again after a 4 year hiatus when I was 16, this is one of the first albums that made me fall in love with guitar based music.

Hendrix is considered one of the greatest guitarists of all time because of how for the time he broke the rules of 'normality' and used his guitar to create some interesting and really daunting noises and sounds, as you can hear clearly on the opening piece, 'EXP'. This album really does embody the genre term 'Psychedelic Rock'. This album embodies that term from the use of its late 1960s recording equipment and mixing ability by using the pan controls and other effects that were just starting to come into use, like distortion and the Wah Wah effect. These effects quickly became what Hendrixs' guitar sound was known for, as well as his use of blues style playing and vocals, as well as his songwriting style. My favourite song off of this album is, 'little wing', I really love this song because the opening riff is effortlessly catchy and rememberable as well as the lyrics that play in your mind for the rest of the day. The production techniques through this album makes it really interesting to listen to as you hear lead guitar parts coming from the left side and then rhythm parts on the right side and vice versa. I enjoy that you can still hear imperfections I the recording like drum spill and a static feedback very quietly throughout some of the tracks, this would be something I would like to try and recreate in my own EP as I feel it gives it a really natural feel, by allowing human error and fault to shine through and maybe even become something spectacular, like the random chord in The polices song 'roxanne'.

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As my guitar playing evolved, so did my music taste. Once I had broken into the hard rock/heavy metal genres, that quickly became my main playing style. Whitesnake are one of my favourite bands for these genres as they perfectly blend the blues, rock and metal all into one band. Songs like, 'still of the night' demonstrate there ability to write and compose impressive rock/ metal songs with a main riff that gets better every time you hear as well as ending sections of there songs with power chords that are left to ring out until they faintly feedback into the mix. What I have studied from this band is the vocal clarity in their songs and how I can implement it in my music. I have taken time to understand how they make the vocals cut through the mix and stand out while not being overpowered by the guitars or drums. Not only have I looked at the vocal mixing I have also looked at the lyric writing and how to make lyrics fit into a track and stick in peoples minds. I think to make that happen it is a combination between two things, good lyrics and good music, because when you sing a long to a song in your head you can also hear the music behind the lyrics.

I have also spent a lot of time studying the many guitarists that have been in this band, I have mainly focused on John Sykes and Steve Vai, and how they write their own music and some of there other projects and bands. John Sykes for a time played in Thin Lizzy which have had numerous songs over the years that have been hugely popular such as; the boys are back in town and whiskey in the jar. The other guitarist I researched that played in whitesnake was Steve Vai. He has had a wildly impressive career creating very guitar based music as well as other avenues like game theme music (halo 2). From both of these guitarists I have learnt how they write there songs and come up with ideas and develop on pre existing ideas, using technology, timing, chord progressions and different melodies.

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Research for my EP. Queens Of The Stone Age. 

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Research for my EP. Queens Of The Stone Age. 

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This was the first QOTSA album I was introduced to and very quickly it became one of my favourite albums, so much so I even got the devilish tuning fork tattooed on my arm. what I love about this album is the heavy guitar playing, and experimental sounds and production techniques. Part of the recording and producing of this album was to create it so it sounded like you were driving in the car flicking through the radio stations. This is heard very clearly in the first song, "you think I aint worth a dollar, but I feel like a millionaire". the intro to this song is the sounds of a car door being opened and then a radio crackling to life, and then the introduction to a radio station, this helps create a story behind the album which the listener can follow and deepens the listening experience. what makes QOTSA so interesting to listen to is that they are not afraid to experiment and go well outside the box and try things that aren't commonly done in music. This makes them difficult to place into one singular genre like this album jumps around the genres very frequently. The things ive learnt from QOTSA and this album is to experiment and try things differently as well as how to put on a great live show. Seeing this band live has inspired me to always want to put on a. live show as good as they can, and now its easy to see why they are deemed one of the hardest bands to follow on from because of how excited they can get a crowd.

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As I am an aspiring musician and performer, part of my professional learning is to be constantly improving my technical ability on the instrument. This is why I have a series of 2 hour practice sessions that I will do 2-3 times a week plus any extra time I can be playing the instrument.

To start my routine I will do 2 hours of learning scales and modes and music theory understanding, this giving me a greater musical understanding so I can have the knowledge to write more creative and interesting music.

After I have practiced known scales and learnt knew ones, I will then spend 2 hours practicing what I have learnt to really engrave them into my brain. In this time I will also always try to write a musical idea with what I have learnt. This is a very important time as it allows me to practice new things but to also improve my technique and make sure I am not falling into any bad playing habits.

The next few hours are spent learning songs that I love and also learning playing styles that other artists use giving me a greater arsenal of ability to choose from when writing my own music, this can range from Kurt Cobains rather fast and chaotic but stylish playing to Marty Friedmans highly accurate shredding. I never actually set a time limit when practicing like this as time limits and constraints I find can take the fun away from things whereas the instrument is meant to be fun. It is very helpful to have some time set aside dedicated to strictly practice and learning to improve my ability, and therefore making my practice more fun and enjoyable. improving my ability also has made the writing process more fun as I now have a better idea of how to write music. All the practice will pay off in the recording sessions as it will mean less time will be spent rerecording multiple takes due to sloppy playing and actually writing good music.

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The whole EP is going to be recorded over the summer. I am going to be working on it with my friend who is a fantastic engineer so we can work very creatively and be experimental with how we record and create it. I am also taking to a friend to borrow some of there equipment as we want to use actual amps rather than using amp sims to give it more of an old school feel and more natural. The amp I would like to borrow from them is a Marshall JCM800, I have used this amp before and it is great for creating very overdriven and distorted tones as well as creating very nice clean sounds. We will also DI record all the guitars and bass tracks as a back up just incase if we have to use an amp simulator which hopefully will be last resort. I have also spent a lot of time learning how to program drums correctly so they sound great and are fitting to the music. ive been practicing my programming skills in my own time and as well on my music for game module. ideally programming drums will be a secondary idea as we want to record an actual drummer playing the parts and ideas as well as coming up with there own. If we can get a drummer in this means we will have to use a studio session to spend time on the drums, like miking them up correctly, and recording them. This is something I have spent some time learning because it is helpful to understand how I want my drums to sound for the EP. I have looked at the Glyn Johns method of miking which uses one mic over the snare drum rather than two overheads. then another microphone placed near the floor tom, aiming it directly towards the hi-hat. Each of these microphones should be about 1 metre equidistant from the centre of the snare drum. When positioned carefully, these two microphones do a great job of capturing the full sound of the drum kit.  Because of the mic placement, the snare drum is in the centre of the stereo image, with the bass drum slightly off centre. I think I will adapt this method but add another overhead microphone to create a stereo image of the kit. In my EP it will be my first time recording my own vocals, which I am both excited for and nervous for as I do not have the strongest singing voice, but it will be a great experience.

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I was a an assistant engineer for in 2 guitar recording sessions for a band within the University. in these sessions I miked up the guitar amps and setup the live room to eliminate the spill from both the guitar amps, I also helped in the control room to make sure everything was working as intended.