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This week I will be exploring my options for my formative assignment.

My focus for this week will be deciding on a track.

I decided to do a cover of a song, because although I do write music, the music I write tends to be mainly piano and vocal-focused. I am being assessed on my drumming so I will cover an already existing song that I feel will demonstrate my drum skills effectively.

I thought of three potential options of songs I could cover, from a range of genres.
One song I considered was Anderson .Paak's 'Leave the Door Open' featuring Bruno Mars. I think this song would be very enjoyable to play and would demonstrate my drumming skills effectively, as .Paak himself is a drummer, so the song is very drum focused, with an interesting groove and some complex fills. However, there would be some challenges and drawbacks in the development process of this cover - one being finding suitable singers. The song is a duet so I will require two singers, and so far I have asked a few people on my course how they would feel singing this song, to which all of them claimed they would find it rather challenging and perhaps out of their range. I want every member of my ensemble to feel confident so the finished product will sound as polished and professional as possible, so I looked to some other options that would be more suitable, as I wasn't 100% dedicated to covering that song anyway.

Another possible song option I considered was Royal Blood's 'Little Monster'. I love this band and every song they create is very drumy-heavy due to the fact there are only two members in the ensemble: Mike Kerr - the bassist and singer, and Ben Thatcher - the drummer, so the two instruments being played are both equally powerful. When I recently watched this band live I realised how amazing the drums sound on every one of their songs so I was very eager to cover this song.

My third option was an adapted cover of Dayglow's 'Can I Call You Tonight?'. This song appealed to me because I was keen on the idea of singing on the track aswell as playing drums, and this song suited my voice well. The only downside to this option is that I would also want to sing on the live performance for the Summative, meaning I would be drumming and singing simultaneously. I am quite experienced in doing this as I am a backing singer in my band, but I wanted to adapt this song to be a more heavy version than Dayglow's so I could demonstrate my drumming skills in a style I feel most confident with playing. This would mean that I would have to sing the song very powerfully to accompany the intended heavier aspect to the song, and to do this while drumming would pose a threat of me not demonstrating my best drumming skills, which are what I am being assessed on. Therefore I decided to not do this song as singing on the track is not a priority, and I was more keen on singing this song than drumming to it.

Therefore I decided to cover Royal Blood's 'Little Monster'.

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This week I will begin the development process on my chosen cover of Royal Blood's 'Little Monster',

My focus for this week is finding a band to accompany me on this track and practicing the song on my own kit.

As soon as I mentioned this song choice in class, my classmate, Abby, who is a singer, said she would love to sing the song and it is in her vocal range. I live with a bassist and a guitarist who said they will happily help me out with the track, so I already had three willing members of my band.

I then moved on to the development process of my own drumming for this track.
I first listened to the song without focusing on any specific component, just to take in the energy and feel of the song to influence my style of playing. I then listened again to the drums particularly to gain a further understanding of what I will be playing. After listening and tapping out the basic rhythm on my knees and with my feet, I connected my phone to my electric kit and played the song a few more times through the kit while playing along to it. This established my first attempt of playing this song, through learning by ear. I really love the drum pattern and feel that it, along with the rather complex and effective fills, will demonstrate my skills well.
Next week I will develop my understanding of the drumming in this song further by reading the sheet music and watching various drum covers, as well as videos of the band playing the song live, so I can develop more of an understanding of the exact way to play the song, and start exploring ways I may wish to adapt it.

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Week 3 - Planning Formative and Summative Assignment

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Week 3 - Planning Formative and Summative Assignment

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This week I will be concentrating mainly on learning how to play Royal Blood's 'Little Monster on drums.

My focus for this week is to learn the entire song and practice it to a good standard.

My strengths with learning this song are that I find it enjoyable as I really enjoy listening and playing along to the song, and also it is a drumming style in which I am confident. Additionally, the drums in this song are loud and powerful, which is my favourite way to drum, so I know I will be able to play this song with the power required in performance. My only weaknesses regarding this song are the longer and faster fills that Thatcher plays, which I find challenging to keep in time and play correctly, and my slight lack of motivation with practicing. However the opportunity to improve these skills presents itself in the form of a practice schedule, as this would encourage me to practice more, thus improving my ability to play these more complex parts and build my motivation towards practice.
Therefore, this week I created a practicing schedule so I could keep up to date with my development process of this song, as well as my written work and case study for my course.
I found this helped me as I felt more obliged to complete the goals I had set for myself when they were written down on an organised schedule. (See attached).

I had three practice sessions set to work on this song this week.
In my first practice session, I listened to the song again while playing along by ear to remind myself of the basic understanding I had of the drum beat, established on week two. After running through this once, I looked up the drum sheet music for the song and luckily much of the drum groove was exactly what I had been playing by ear. This is likely to be a skill I acquired due to my many years in various bands learning songs by ear.
After scouring the sheet music I corrected any mistakes I had made and played through the song a few more times with the corrected drum pattern. That concluded my first practice session in the development process of this song.
In my second practice session, I warmed up by playing the song few a few times, but noticed I was tripping up a little with the longer fills that I previously mentioned finding challenging. However I didn't solve this by reading the sheet music, as I wanted to make this song my own by playing my own decided fills that complimented the song. Therefore I used a metronome to assist me. The original track is 96bpm, but I slowed the metronome down to half this speed - 48bpm, to practice my own chosen fill at a slower, more manageable pace. Once I had mastered the transitions from verse to fill and fill to chorus, and the fill itself, I increased the pace of the metronome by 50% - to 72bpm. I then practiced the fill 6 times at this pace, and found it very manageable. I finally increased the pace of the metronome to the original 96bpm, and found that I was able to play the fill with ease. I will use this method with any difficulties I come across with this song in the remainder of the development and rehearsal process.
On my final rehearsal session of this week, I began with my usual warm up of playing along with the song a few times, then decided to try playing the entire song to a metronome, instead of along to the song. The challenges this created involved me having to know the structure of the song by heart, and remember the placement of certain fills and pauses in the drumming. Fortunately this is a song I am very familiar with, so I didn't find this to be a struggle.
When first playing along to the 96bpm metronome, I found it easy enough but I did fall ever so slightly out of time with the click at certain points, particularly the more challenging parts of the song, and transitions from verses to choruses and vice-versa. The way I overcame this challenge was simply by playing the song a few times more to the metronome, and by the third attempt I found that I was no longer falling out of time with it.  This will turn out to be a very useful skill as next week I aim to record my drums onto Logic Pro using my electric kit, and will be playing to nothing but a metronome, laying down the drums before having my ensemble incorporate their parts.

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This week I aim to record my drumming part for my chosen song Royal Blood's 'Little Monster'.

I will be focusing on making sure my playing is to a sufficient quality, and ensuring it is recorded onto Logic Pro correctly.

For my Summative Assignment, I will book a recording studio slot to record the song on an acoustic kit, and record the other instruments and vocals also. However, for my Formative demo, I will be recording my electric drum kit onto Logic at home for a rough idea of what the finished product will sound like, as well as an opportunity to use my initiative by recording at home independently.
I don't know much about DAWs, as my experience with drumming has always been more performance-based, but found it simple enough to play along to a click and record my electric drums into Logic. I played two verses and two choruses, deciding to stop here as it was the part I was most confident with. I will work on the remainder of the song in the coming weeks to make sure it is all up to the same standard. It took me three tries until I was satisfied with what I had recorded, then I listened to it with the metronome to make sure everything was in time. There was one fill that I thought could do with some slight improvement, so I re-recorded that part and replaced the previous attempt with my new and improved fill. I found this relatively simple and enjoy working on Logic, so I will make sure to research the production side of music more frequently, and make the most of my Production classes on Tuesday so I can aim to record entire songs without difficulty.

Next week my aim will be to add bass, guitar and vocals to the track. Although the original track only incorporate vocals, bass and drums, the bassist Mike Kerr splits his signal through a series of guitar and bass amps, and combines the sound to achieve a guitar-style tone, whilst maintaining the lower end that a bass provides. With my limited knowledge on bass tones and amps I decided that for my track, I would use a bassist and a guitarist to ensure the fullness of the instrumental remains.

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This week my aim is to add bass and guitar to the Logic track.

Admittedly I left it a little bit late to have the other instruments recorded, so I only managed to get a guitarist to play over the track, and not a bassist. Although I will have a bassist and a singer for the Summative Assignment, I feel as though the guitar tone was full enough that the track didn't sound too lacking without bass. However, there is a brief moment in the song on the second verse where there are no instruments, only vocals - meaning that the Logic track I was planning on submitting had almost two bars of silence. Therefore I decided I wanted vocals on my demo, and since it was too late notice to ask Abby or any other singers to offer their voices on the track, I decided to do it myself with my SM58 at home. I'm not super confident with singing but thought it would give more of an idea of what the finished track will sound like if there were vocals incorporated.

Next week I will start to arrange studio sessions with my chosen band to prepare us for my Summative performance and studio recording of this song.

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My Formative Assignment did not quite go according to plan. This is because I submitted the audio file of my demo incorrectly, meaning that it was unable to be listened to and assessed. I have since learned how to correctly submit the audio file so I will do so today. My development diary was successful in terms of my own goal, which was to create five entries explaining each step of my rehearsal process and my thinking behind each decision I made regarding the demo. However after submitting it, I received feedback that stated I should ideally submit some photos, videos and audio files as evidence for each development diary entry. Therefore for the Summative development process I will make sure to include more visual and audial evidence in my diary entries . I will adjust my schedule slightly to allow more time for writing my diary entries, to ensure I include more evidence to back up my written process.
I will also evaluate my priorities with my University work, making sure to prioritise creating a diary entry straight after every form of progress I make regarding my WB01 Summative Assignment, so I don't have to write more than one entry in one sitting as this may result in small details being forgotten.

For my Summative Assignment, I need to set myself some deadlines to keep my work on track. I want this track to be recorded in a studio, so I will book a session at Small Pond studio with the band I have chosen to accompany me. I would like to have the track recorded by the 1st December, giving me 9 days to make adjustments to the mix as well as write my evaluation. I also need to book a rehearsal session at Small Pond to make sure every part of the ensemble knows their parts perfectly by the time we record. Since Small Pond Studio can only be booked once every 2 weeks per student, my deadline for the practice session is 17th November, 2 weeks prior to the recording session deadline.

There have been some unforeseen challenges that affected the development for my Formative Assignment, for example the guitarist I have chosen to play the song with me went back to his home in Essex when I was planning on having him round to record. I overcame this by sending him my drum track on Logic for him to contribute to. However if something similar to this happens on one of the dates I intend to dedicate to practicing or recording the Summative as Small Pond Studio, I will have to overcome this a different way. Firstly I will ensure that a situation like this is as avoidable as possible by informing my band of the dates I plan to spend at the studio, and ensuring that they are available on these days, and discussing any preferable days if they aren't.

However after the Small Pond session, I will still have the option of sending my Logic track to any person who was not able to attend for them to contribute from their own home and send it back to me, as the main intention of the Studio session is purely to track the drums for my cover.

Another aspect I need to work on in preparation for my Summative Assignment is work on mixing my track. While I have some knowledge on mixing from my experimentation with Logic Pro over the last year, as well as Production tools lessons giving me a further understanding of working with a DAW, I need to do some further research on EQ to make sure I can make my audio track sound as good as possible. I will watch some Youtube videos on this in order to learn and improve.

I utilised Gibbs' Reflective Cycle to further analyse my strengths and weaknesses surrounding my Formative, to understand what I need to improve for the Summative.
- I felt as though my development process for the Formative went just well enough to give me a starting point for my Summative, but I did not structure my time well enough in order to be completely prepared and organised for the submission deadline.
- This resulted in feelings of stress and a lack of feeling as though I had accomplished my goals, because I am aware of my abilities but did not allow myself the time and facilities to properly demonstrate my full potential.
- However I am pleased with my ability to solve last minute problems (which, admittedly wouldn't have arisen with the correct planning), as when I didn't have time to get a vocalist to sing on the demo, I tracked my own vocals which I feel worked well enough. In fact, I enjoyed singing on this track so decided to do so for my Summative audio track also.
- To make sure my Summative isn't such a last minute rush, I will set myself goals each week and deadlines, and stick to them to avoid stress. I also will research aspects of production so my Summative is better mixed than my Formative demo.
- Overall, my preparation for my Summative needs to consist of regular scheduling for personal practice sessions, as well as booking Small Pond studio so I can practice with a band for the live performance. I will also do research into Production and make sure I stick to my practice schedule.

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Week 7 - Mastering Little Monster on drums

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Week 7 - Mastering Little Monster on drums

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This week my aim was to learn the song on drums in its entirety in preparation for the Summative performance and audio track, focusing mainly on the specific sections I find challenging, such as the more complex fills.
My goal for this week was to master the introduction to the bridge section, which is a fill that consists of a four bar triplet fill on snare, with a slow increase in volume, introducing the instrumental section before the final chorus.

I found playing triplets this quickly to be a challenge, particularly after four bars, because by around the second bar I initially found myself falling out of the triplet rhythm and creating a sloppy sounding build up, when this section has to be tight and exact.

To overcome this, I put a metronome on at half the tempo of the original track, so 48bpm, and continually playing this series of triplets at this speed, being sure to focus on accenting the first of every 6 beats for a more uniformed sound. Then, as I usually do, I gradually increased the tempo of the metronome, to 60bpm, then 72bpm, then 84bpm, to finally 96bpm, the original speed.

I found this method very helpful in not only mastering this fill, but also in helping to refine my technical abilities when it comes to high speed rudiments.

Next week I will be learning and mastering the final fill in this track.

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Week 8 - Further Mastering Little Monster on drums

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Week 8 - Further Mastering Little Monster on drums

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This week I intend to learn the final part of Little Monster that I find challenging - the final fill. This is a strange fill because it lasts for two and a half bars, then stops abruptly to amplify the dynamic change as the final instrumental verse kicks in.

My method to learning this was to listen to this part of the song a few times and play by ear what I thought was being played, at a much slower pace. After having gotten a feel for the general rhythm of this part, I watched some drum covers to see what others who covered the song played, and I found that most played the same thing, which sounded great and seemed manageable.

So I watched one of the covers on Youtube, and slowed down the playback speed to 0.75, meaning I could play along with this section at the same time as the drummer easily. After playing this along with the Youtube drummer 6 times, I turned the video off and played the fill 6 times at a similar pace, just without the visual or audial aid of the Youtube video. Now I had learnt it, it was just the usual case of playing to a click, and slowly increasing the speed like I did with the last fill.
Finally when I had successfully played the fill with a click at 96bpm, I played the fill along to the track itself to ensure I could keep up with Ben Thatcher's timing, and could also transition into the final verse with ease.

Next week I will be tracking drums for the full song on my electric kit, to send to the people in my band in case they can't attend the Small Pond session, or we decide it would be beneficial for them to track their instrument from home due to efficiency or their own preference.

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This should have been a recording studio booking

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Unfortunately I made a significant error when attempting to book a recording session to track my drums, and instead booked a practice session at Small Pond. While this is still useful for practicing my playing in preparation for recording and performing, there are now no more bookable slots to record accoustic drums for my DAW project.

Therefore, to overcome this issue I will have to record on an electric kit with a suitable plug in to make the sound of the drums more suitable for the genre of the track. Theo, another drummer on my course, has a suitable plug in on his kit which he has kindly agreed to let me use for Summative recording.

Although it is frustrating to not be able to use an accoustic kit, as I wanted to have a similar sound to that of Ben Thatcher's drums from Royal Blood, I will still have the oppertunity to play the song on an accoustic kit for the live performance at the Venue on the 6th December. On the upside this will show my versatility as a drummer, and demonstrate my ability to overcome problems.

In future I will check the details more carefully when I book any slots in Beebop, to make sure I am choosing the correct session.

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The Venue booking for Summative Performance

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This week I considered what I needed to work on in terms of mixing my track when the time comes.
I decided that there wasn't any specific aspect of mixing that I needed to focus all of my attention on improving, but more so that I needed to start from the beginning, as much of my use of Logic Pro in the past has been experimental, and attending Production tools lessons has made me realise the extent of what I don't know. Therefore, I consulted a 'Everything you need to know' video on Youtube to help me better my mixing skills in preparation for my Summative audio track, which I found very helpful. It is very likely that I will continue to come back to this video to refresh my memory on the skills I have learnt throughout my mixing process. In addition, I sat down with my friend Gabe, who is taking a Production course, and watched him mix a track to give me some pointers and advice. I found both of these methods very helpful, the video because it contained pretty much every piece of information I needed in order to mix my track, and watching Gabe mix gave me a much needed one-to-one lesson, where I was able to ask questions about anything I didn't quite understand.

I now feel far more prepared for mixing my track when the time comes, and know that I have these sources available to assist me.

Next week I will be tracking drums for my Summative audio track on my friend's electric drum kit (with the 'Get Good Drums' plug in).

Video reference:
Charles Cleyn. (2020, December 16). Logic Pro X Mixing Tutorial - [Everything You Need To Know For Beginners/Intermediates] [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=azJPTYtwK_o

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This week I went to my drummer friend Theo's house and tracked midi drums for my Summative DAW recording of Royal Blood's 'Little Monster'.

He set up the kit with the Modern and Massive plug in and left me to record. I know the song off by heart very well now so I didn't need to play along to the song, simply set up the click to 96bpm and played the drum track.

After two attempts that had a few slip ups, I was satisfied with the drums I had tracked, and began to EQ them on his computer, editing the velocity on certain hits and making sure everything was in time with the 96bpm click. To my satisfaction, not much needed editing so this didn't take long.
After I had completed this I emailed the WAV track to myself and went home, ready to add it to my Logic Pro in preparation for adding guitar, bass and vocals.

The next day I sat down in the kitchen with my housemates Sam and Bonnie, who are playing guitar and bass for my recording and my performance.

We firstly tracked Sam's guitar part over my drum track. We experimented with Logic's pedal board to acquire the best sound we could, that achieved the full, gainy sound that I wanted for the song. We settled for Candy Fuzz for the Fuzz pedal, as this achieved a perfect amount of fuzz without losing the punchy tone. Sam recorded two guitar tracks, and panned one to the left and one to the right, then a final centred track with a more punchy tone to really thicken the sound of the guitar, as the riff in the original song is played by a bass, so I knew the guitar sound had to be full.
I then cut the treble a touch to achieve more of a bassy tone.

When we had tracked the guitar, I noticed that the drums sounded a bit too low-end next to such a bassy riff, so I cut the bass a little on the drums so they sounded more snappy and cut through the mix. I had a slight problem with the tone of the snare, as I thought that it was a bit too snappy, but I wasn't sure how to change this due to receiving the tracked drums that I did at Theo's house as a WAV file instead of midi, and Theo having not saved the tracking onto his computer. Therefore I could not change the tone of the snare drum, which was unfortunate, but I think I made it work.

Bonnie and I then tracked her bassline, along to the drum track, guitar tracks and 96bpm click to keep it structured and perfectly in time. After a few attempts she tracked it perfectly, and I got her to track another bassline, which I added a Monster Fuzz pedal to in order to achieve Mike Kerr's beefy bassline sound. I had a listen to see if the two of the basslines complemented the track well, and decided to cut some of the treble out of the main dry bassline, as Bonnie was using a jazz bass, which is very trebbly.

After I was satisfied with the instrumentals, I went to my room and tracked the vocals using my Scarlett Red interface and my SM58 mic. I recorded two vocal tracks to add some depth, using the Logic preset 'Bright Vocals' on one track, and 'Tracking Vocals' on the support track. I made the bright track louder and added some reverb to both of them, and compressed them both also, to flatten some of the harsh dynamic changes between the verses and choruses.
For the verses I turned the 'Tracking vocals' track down, so it simply acted as a quiet support for the Bright vocals, but for the chorus I turned them both up, panning one to the left and one to the right for a more three dimensional sound.

After I was satisfied with the vocals, I did some surgical EQ to remove some instrumental and vocal resonance that was making the track not sound as polished and clean as I wanted it to.

After all of this mixing, I was satisfied with the outcome of the track, and the only thing that I would improve on next time is the EQ of the drums as a midi track before converting them to a WAV, because as I mentioned, I find the snare slightly too snappy (could perhaps be corrected by reducing the mids). Also, there is a slight unevenness in the triplet fill leading up to the final chorus which I find slightly affects the flow of the song, but I was unsure of how to correct this without access to the midi version of the drum track.

Despite this, I was satisfied with the outcome of my track and feel proud to submit it, as I believe it demonstrates the best of my abilities.

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Experimenting with guitar fuzz pedals and settling with Candy Fuzz.

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Experimenting with guitar fuzz pedals and settling with Candy Fuzz.

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Experimenting with guitar EQ, cutting treble

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Experimenting with guitar EQ, cutting treble

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Experimenting with Bass fuzz pedals and settling on Monster Fuzz

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Experimenting with Bass fuzz pedals and settling on Monster Fuzz

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When playing the drums, I always make sure to do so in a way that is safe for myself and the people around me.

When practicing at home, I make sure that my electric kit is set up properly, for instance:
- the cables are wrapped around the stands so as to not cause them to get caught round my arms or legs as I play.
- The drums and cymbals are screwed on tightly to the stands to make sure they do not fall of, which could result in injury or breaking them.
- There is no liquids that could be spilled near the electric kit, as this could cause a shock or break the kit's mechanism.

When practicing in a studio, I make sure:
- The drums are securely on the stands to avoid them falling and causing injury or breaking, particularly the cymbals, as the stands are tall and thin so they can possibly over-balance and topple over if not set up correctly.
-  I don't keep any liquids near any electrical equipment such as amps and cables.
-I wear ear protection to avoid hearing damage such as tinnitus. My ear plugs are the 'Earos in-ear acoustic filters'.

When practicing drums in general, I always make sure:
- I warm up with some simple technical exercises such as paradiddles and single and double stroke rolls to limber up my wrists and forearms.
- I keep water nearby in a safe place to stay hydrated.
- I take breaks when necessary to avoid fatigue, and never play for more than around an hour without taking a short break.
- I keep a spare set of sticks nearby in case my pair breaks, because using a broken stick can result in splinters and cuts.

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Now that I've completed the track I am able to reflect on the creative choices I made, my contribution to the track, what I feel I did well and what I would improve if I were to do it again.

I chose the track 'Little Monster' by Royal Blood because I have liked this band for many years, due to their innovative way of using only bass and drums to make such a rich and full sound. Ben Thatcher inspired me to expand my horizons as a drummer; I was fascinated by his use of complex drum patterns and unique fills. I chose 'Little Monster' because it’s one of my favourite tracks of theirs; I love the dynamic changes between verses and choruses, and the thick grungy bassline. From a drumming perspective, I love the mixture of hi-hat used in the verses and ride in the choruses, as it stops the song from sounding repetitive and gives the chorus a cleaner, more open sound. I knew this song would be challenging, but I knew once I had mastered it the best of my abilities would be displayed.

My contribution to the performance of this piece was the drumming, learnt through regular independent practice on my electric kit. I organised a band, with my housemates on guitar and bass, and my course mate on vocals. I also booked a Small Pond session for band practice, and a 30 minute slot at the venue for feedback on our performance.

In hindsight, I should have been more organised with the rehearsal bookings as I only managed to book one 2-hour slot in the practice room, which only myself and the guitarist were available to attend. Fortunately my band was efficient with learning the song, so the only feedback we had was that we should continue to practice our individual parts so that by the Summative performance, the entire song was polished.

For the audio track, my contribution was tracking the drums and vocals, and assisting the guitarist and bassist with my creative input surrounding the tones and pedals they used to achieve the desired sound, as I knew the sound I wished to achieve, and they were happy to let me direct them. Then with the help of the Youtube video I watched on mixing tracks on Logic, and my producer friend giving me some tips, I mixed the track - double tracking vocals, guitar and bass, using compression, reverb and experimenting with EQ to achieve my desired sound.

Before starting this module, everything I knew about mixing a track was learnt through experimenting on Logic, with no real structure. Now thanks to my Production Tools classes, independent research and working with other musicians I've learnt how to use compression, EQ, and discovered the effects of double tracking and reverb and how this can add depth and dimension.

In a performance setting, I have worked with a range of different musicians and performed in front of small audiences, which has increased my confidence as a musician and a person. Before starting this module I was nervous to play in front of anyone, but now I have no problem with doing so, and find performing exciting but not stressful like I did previously. I have improved my sensitivity to other musicians, as working with a range of people taught me that everyone has different styles, and it is most effective to play in a way that complements their style, while simultaneously keeping my own individual style. This makes me unique as a musician so I can stand out - this is an important trait in the music industry.

From a technical standpoint I have improved significantly throughout this module; things that I have struggled with previously I now pick up very quickly. I have expanded my horizons in terms of different genres; previously I was sticking to classic 4:4 unadventurous rock beats as this was within my comfort zone. However during this module I have worked on many different genres of songs and found broadening my repertoire rewarding and enjoyable. Although 'Little Monster' is rock, it is far heavier than I am used to playing, and more complex than any song I have ever played to this level of accuracy. I now never view anything as too difficult to play, and simply make it a goal to achieve through organised practice.

I still have some way to go with self-discipline; sometimes I will schedule practice time but procrastinate or distract myself, however this is something I aim to improve next term.

As an artist, I have learnt that I prefer playing heavy rock to other genres, however I want to continue to explore genres as this will make me a more desirable musician.

I have discovered a liking for mixing tracks, rather than simply performing, as I find it rewarding, whereas previously all I wanted to do was perform.

Overall, I am pleased with my Summative performance and my audio track, as I put a lot of effort into practicing my drum part and I think this is reflected, particularly when I think back to the difficulty I had with some of the complex sections of the song.

I am happy with my problem solving abilities throughout the development process, for instance when musicians I was relying on couldn’t attend sessions or contribute to the track, I quickly found alternative people to help me without stress, or stepped in myself (e.g the vocals in the audio track). I also found other means of tracking drums after my mishap with booking a recording studio, which shows initiative when under pressure.

Of course with better preparation I wouldn't have had to find solutions to these problems, so one of my improvements for next time would be to set myself a rigid schedule for practice, booking amenities and doing the required written work, in order to stay on top of things and avoid stress.

Another thing I would improve on next time is stage presence. Watching my performance back, I noticed that I didn't put much effort into making myself visually entertaining as a musician, which I believe to be very important. This is due to lack of preparation and confidence. The former affected my performance because I had not given myself enough opportunity to rehearse with the band, which would've allowed me to be comfortable in the performance, as I would have become used to playing the song with other musicians. Also, I should have put aside more time to practice the difficult fills as I did them correctly, but put a lot of focus into doing so, which took away from my focus on stage presence.

Although I have gained confidence throughout this module, I still feel nervous when performing, not so much with what I am playing but in the sense of the performing itself. This will hopefully improve with more future performances, and with specific effort put into building a good stage presence.

Video reference:
Charles Cleyn. (2020, December 16). Logic Pro X Mixing Tutorial - [Everything You Need To Know For Beginners/Intermediates] [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=azJPTYtwK_o