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For my assessment track I will be making an experimental trap beat with transitional and progressive structure.

As I'll be creating 2 different versions of the same project, the use of transition and progression will allow me to adapt and alter the drums into a different genre e.g. Club music/Rock. Whereas if I used a repetitive loop for my trap beat, using a binary structure for example, it'll give me less elements to utilise and branch off into new ideas for the alt version.

Throughout this year there'll be lectures in recording live sound and instrumentation, therefore creating an opportunity for recording piano or guitar segments into my track, to process a contrasting sound of MIDI and Live Sound into a harmonic idea. The use of live sound will help with my LO3, as I can orchestrate a piece of music on a piano and record myself playing live, giving evidence of performance.

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Referencing my initial ideas, I will be continuing my idea of creating an experimental trap beat with a variety of ethereal and ambient instrumentation to create transition potential for a club track.

The track will be in 128BPM to conform to a house track mix, as majority of club tracks are around this tempo. (According to DJ.studio)

Ive chosen House as my club genre to produce as, the BPM is not too dissimilar to trap music, this will allow more opportunity for when I create my second version, as it won't altercate the overall too much, opposed to if I had done DnB (160-180BPM), the change in tempo for the melody would be too drastic to a trap tempo.

I will learn many skills on how to record live sound through my lectures every Friday. From this I will be able to utilise microphone techniques and in DAW techniques when recording through a microphone and what microphone to utilise in each recording.

I will face many challenges as I have never created 2 versions of the same beat. For one, how to record vocals and what signal chain would be most optimal.

As ive never created a club track, I will need to do some research on the factors of club music and how to distance myself from my habitual ways of making music.

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Here is the MIDI for the initial melody I played for my track.

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As a pianist, I wanted to start the track with a simple two chord melody, utilising a major chord to create a joyful tone.

Playing piano will allow me to perform within this track. LO3.

I wish to choose a major melody for the club track, as I want to flip the whole track into a minor chord for the trap beat, as this will allow me to demonstrate more versatility and showcase more production techniques.

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Here is a video of me playing the piano MIDI Live on my keyboard

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I cut out the lower frequencies to avoid a clash with the bass (reduce muddiness) as well as using a LPF, so that there was reduced sibilance and leave the piano sound in the background of the track, mellowing the hit of each note.

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Here is my SWOT analysis showcasing my knowledge within production

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Colorful Pastel Simple Comparative SWOT Analysis Weakness Threats Strengths Opportunities Chart Graph

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Here is a simple Gantt chart overviewing what ill be primarily working on throughout the weeks

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The video above is a video I watched on how to create a clean trap vocal using live recording

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Description - This week I have learnt about microphones in lectures, explaining what mic is optimal for each sound I'm trying to record. In my instance, I wanted to record a little Vox inst with my voice with heavy reverb and other effects. This has created a very ambient and ethereal sound, which is what I wanted from my entry in week 2. The Vox creates a nice harmony with the piano which ill demonstrate in videos below.

Alongside this I have introduced a synth bass 808, ive used this opposed to other bass sounds as I feel synth would be more coherent in a club track, as they utilise many electronic sounds.

Feelings - During the microphone recording I was getting very stressed and making a lot of turn-arounds as I was very inexperienced at recording vocals. I did some research on YouTube on how to create an ambient trap vocal using stock plugins from Logic Pro x.

Evaluation - what was good is that I learnt how to make an effective vocal chain within my DAW. I also harmonised and EQ'd the current channels very well and are mixed with optimal clarity. what was bad is that I spent too much time trying to figure out how to create the sound I wanted from the microphone with no research, alongside this as I'm not a vocalist is was hard to achieve the right pitch and tone for my voice to get the sound I yearned for.

Analysis - I realised that I had been trying to use my own knowledge of producing for 2 years for this track, that I ended up with tunnel vision and would go in circles trying to make my methods work, rather than adapting and researching other techniques and methods.

Conclusion - A singular channel doesn't need many effects for it to work, my piano is a very simple melody off of Arcade with very little reverb and has created a great sound. I was adding too much to each channel making a very complex beat to follow, making it more difficult to create 2 versions out of it. A vocal chain is also very important and contains many features such as, Compressor, Dresser, Chorus etc, rather than just compression and reverb, being my initial thought.

Action Plan - I will now create the chorus with these instruments and add some percussion and drums to create a full drop of a song. I'm going to focus on keeping it simple but utilise effects in a way that makes it sound complex.

https://youtu.be/G1i3LDxo0ic

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Mixing Like A Pro- TRAP VOCALS- Logic Pro X (Stock Plugins)

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Here is a clip of me creating a Vox inst with my voice using a SL150 Condenser Microphone

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I did not have a pop cover so reduce plosives effecting the sound, I instead utilised a sound that uses no heavy lettering e.g. P's/B's/D's.

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Here is the vocal chain I created in my DAW

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Here is a clip of my vocal recording with all effects applied within DAW

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Here is a video of my Vox inst, piano performance and synth bass playing in harmony for the introduction of my track

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Description - I have finished the chorus section of the beat, adding drums and other percussive elements, alongside an additional melody line for added brilliance. I created a simple trap drum pattern, influenced by 'Gunna's' sound of beats. The addition of melody is a very analog sounding synth lead that plays in coherence to the piano melody. I thought the initial bass sound was optimal for bridges/intro as it's a very ambient sound.

Moreover, I added that extra melody line into the introduction where the bass is introduced. as well as adding a foliage type hi-hat from 'Arcade'.

I have also learnt the benefit of layering percussion, to create a more full sound with better tone, instead of how I used to only use 1 snare, it would sound flat.

Feelings - I felt really good when making the drum pattern as I didn't have to do much backtracking as my primary genre of production is trap. Adding the additional melody was also quite easy as ive recently listened to some Reggaeton music that uses these type of synths/melodies. For example 'Bad Bunny - Que Pasaria...'

What was difficult was finding the right bass sound as bass is one of my weakest parts of production, as stated in the SWOT analysis. I was looking through all my files and vsts and spend way too much time trying to make the wrong bass work.

Evaluation - what went wrong was not doing enough research into bass and what bass sounds work with what instruments whilst maintaining cleanliness. What went well is I knew what sounds would work with my project e.g. the synth and hi-hat and created a clean and effective drum pattern.

Action Plan - I thought the 808 bass would be much easier to find, so if I have any ideas of switching up sounds I shall do some research into how that specific instrument works. I will continue to structure my beat to completion with potential transitions for added versatility and techniques to be displayed.

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Here is a video of the channels I added into the introduction

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here's a screenshot of me adding a progressive tremolo onto the piano channel to create an ethereal sound for when the bass drops in

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Here is a screenshot of the vst I used to create the foliage hi-hat

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Here is a video of me showcasing my drum pattern for the chorus

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To switch up into a trap sound, I used a simple 808 from 'Loopcloud Play' (Beach Bass). I layered a snare over a clap to create more tone make it sound less flat. Then a simple hi-hat pattern with a roll occurring every bar, with the accompanying Foley hi-hat it creates a nice bounce.

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Here is a video of my second variation chorus

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Description - I added a second variation chorus to follow up the initial drop, altering and editing pre-existing melodies into new melodies. Video Above ^^^

Feelings - I felt very good creating this second variation, as transitions are one of my strong points in production and I love experimentation with the same sound to create a new feeling. the only issue I had was finding out the best way to stretch the vocal and where to place it for the best bounce with the drums.

Evaluation - I created a clean variation with very minimal change whilst maintaining the feel of difference in a track.

Stretching the vocal caused some issues and I went into with trial and error without prior research

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Here is a video of my structuring for the verse coming out of the chorus

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Description - I added a verse part to the track taking away many percussive elements and other init's - video above ^^

Feelings - This was a very simple task for me and creating a low down part of a beat is purely taking parts away from the chorus. the only part that stressed me out a little bit was finding the right place for hi-hats as I couldn't locate the bounce I wanted, as I would always be too similar to the hi-hats in the chorus.

Evaluation - what went well was the clear differentiation from the verse to the chorus, creating a progression and coherence for a song.

Action Plan - For future reference I shall research ways in creating a breakdown with percussion, to save myself time. Furthermore, I will finish structuring this beat and make an outro, to create a beat that is over 2 minutes long.

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Here is a video clip of me explaining how I made my second verse

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Description - I have now finished the beat with all instrumentation and structuring applied videos below

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here is a video clip of me showcasing how I made my bridge into the final chorus

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here is a video of me explaining how I made my outro

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My track was heavily influenced my modern day trap music alongside trip-hop/Trance music, which allowed me to be very experimental with how I produced.

the main melodic instrument is an ethereal piano with synthesiser accompaniment for added brilliance.

I used a SL150 Condenser Mic for an added melodic element that created ear candy along the whole track.

A lot of the elements I used were inspired by travis Scott and gunna's sound as they utilise synthesisers, trap drums and 808's for most of their music.

Travis was a big influence as he highlights his voice in an ambient manner to create a feeling in a track, which is why I used the microphone.

Playing that piano melody in a joyful tone created a contradictory drop as the use of 808's and trap drums made it feel more dramatic rather than happy.

Im learning that my sound is very experimental and combines many genres. I use a contrast of elements being, an ethereal and ambient sound and mix it with trap elements creating an almost whole new genre, with dystopian effect.

I realise now as well my melodic creation can be used for film score or syncopated music as its very ambient and creates a feeling, rather than just a beat.

Tempo - 107BPM

Key - E Major

Time Signature - 4/4

Structure - Rondo Form

Ive used many automation techniques to create an effect I desired e.g. LPF and HPF, to create a gradual build-up/breakdown in my beat to create anticipation and progression in the track. Using a vst effect on my automation for a build-up in tremolo, which helped create a whole new sound from just a simple piano into an ethereal pad.

I have utilised live recording using a condenser mic, creating a whole new sound ive never tried before. Alongside this, knowing how to create an in DAW vocal chain for raw vocals.

I experimented with effects such as, echo on my hi-hats and using a new reverb I haven't tried before 'silververb'.

I bounced and reversed midi to create a whole new melody e.g. reversing the synth.

I have also transposed and stretched audio files to create not only an effect but also create a new bounce and wave in the beat.

In terms of my bass and reducing muddiness, I used a HPF on my piano to reduce a clash of frequencies. I also sidechained my kick drum to my bass so that the kick can come through with more clarity, without being too harsh.

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For my second version of my beat, I initially was going to make a club mix, however as I listened to my track over and over, I thought that a reggaeton type track would work very well whilst maintaining the same sound of my trap beat.

I shall use the same melodies and structure as before however I will get rid of all the drums and replace it with more traditional reggaeton patterns.