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- Genre Choice
Drum and Bass.  I want to go for a Minimal/Liquid Drum and Bass style.  I want to incorporate the old 'Viking', sounds of Scandinavian instruments into this track as I have always loved that sound. (LO1) (LO3)

- Tempo
174

- Key
Fmin / F Melodic Minor - I'm drawn to this scale mode right now because of its dark but mysterious character.  I also think F is a good key to write in for Bass heavy to find a balance between good sub reproduction and audibility (LO3) (LO1)

- Sound Production
I will mainly be using a mix of software synthesis and drum sampling, and using existing drum samples to create my sound.  I am also looking into recording and adding some Foley for the drum high end, and some other organic sounds for experimentation.   Possibly want to record a vocalist. (LO1) (LO3)

-Production Style
I want to aim for a clean cut production style.  I want this music to have a crisp and punchy mix that will hold its fidelity when being played through a Sound System.   I think that I want to make the percussion a big focus of this track. (LO1) (LO3)

- Reference tracks

Fearend & Incorporate - If I
Klinical - Africa
QZB - WYGD
QZB - Nautilus
Noir - Teddy Killerz
(LO1)

-Other Ideas

I will be performing this track, once its completed, as a 15 - 20 minute DJ set as I think this is the best context for the music.   (LO1)

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In the 1st week I'd like to have down some basic rhythms and maybe a chord progression down as well.  I'd also like to have some textures down to inspire a few more ideas. (LO1)

By the 2nd week I'd like to have had filled out my ideas a bit more and fortify my rhythm. (LO1)

By the 3rd week I want to add bass to my track, and get started on some melody's. (LO1)

The 4th week will be for filling out my current ideas.  Expanding the layout of the project, hopefully getting most of the layout done so in the later weeks I can go back and refine, add layers, and build on the tune. (LO1)

In the 5th week I will finish the basic layout of the track and begin refining my ideas, honing in on the sound I want. (LO1)

Around the 6th week I aim to be mixing and cleaning up project. (LO1) (LO2)

7th Week I will use for further mixing and tweaking (LO1)

8th Week I well reference my track to hep improve my mix further (LO1)

9th Week I am going to go into a studio to master of the track (LO1)

10th Week Track completed with multiple Masters (Streaming Master, Club Master) (LO1) (LO2)

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I may need a Microphone if I want to record some organic sounds to use. I would love to be able to access some real instruments such as Lyre, Flutes, Horns, Drums or other old Scandinavian instruments.  If real instruments aren't going to be possible then I need to find a software alternative.

Studio session time will also be needed for the mixing process. (LO1)

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It is important for me to research exactly which type of these Scandinavian instruments used to be played together so that I can be accurate to the desired sound.  (LO1) (LO3)

Instruments -
Lyre, Tagelharpa, Viking drum, Goat horn

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Collaboration with a vocalist would be amazing.  Ideally I'd find a vocalist that could sing "folky" melodic lines, rather than many words. (LO1)

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Accessing all the sounds I want to be able to create this track might be a little tricky.  But there are a few options and work around if i'm struggling.   I will probably find getting the energy I want in this song the most challenging part.

I also did a S.W.O.T analysis to cover what my strengths and weaknesses are. (LO1)

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I made myself complete a S.M.A.R.T Learning exercise to remind myself exactly what my goals are so I can properly focus on them.  This is also a good thing to refer back to. (LO1)

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This week I wrote down a basic rhythm to get started.
I took my Kick and Snare one shot samples from the DNB Academy Production Marathon Pack.  I love how clean, punchy and short these samples are, although I did end up shortening the Kick so it wasn't taking up too much space. (LO3)

I used two one shot Hi Hat samples from Splice from the Fundamental Neuro DNB pack. I also brought in one Hat loop to cut up, from the TeeBee Subterranean DnB Vol.2 pack (LO3)

Starting with the Kick and Snare I built up my main rhythm for the track.  I chopped up the hat loop for small trills and fills, and controlled one of the Hat sounds with MIDI for velocity control.  The rest are placed in the timeline of my DAW (LO2)

I found a nice patch that I could play around with in 'FLEX', which is a lovely drone sound, with plenty of harmonic content to play with.  I used automation to control the filter within FLEX to shape the sound and give it some more movement.  I like adding a drone early on in my production phase as it helps me feel more creative and really get into the mood of the track as early as possible.  (LO3)

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I decided to go and see how many authentic sounds I could find and use to get myself started.

I found a lovely sample of a Viking war horn sound.  The creator give permission for use.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P1UjZdPjEps

I have used this sample in the intro of the project.  It adds some amazing ambience and really sets the scene in the listeners mind. (LO1)

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This is an isolated bounce of my drum beat.  (LO3)

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Week 3 I focused on just giving myself some creative time to experiment and try to get the song sounding a bit closer to my vision.  I try adding a few different ambient layers using 'FLEX', layering these over each other to create a nice evolving drone.  This will help set the scene for the song and establish a key.   I have some filter automation to add a bit more movement and life to the drones to help drive the song and give a bit more variation within a long drone.  (LO1)

I have also used a Flute pre-set from 'Analog Lad V', to add some melodic elements and create a nice eerie vibe.  However I'm not completely pleased on the sound of the flute so I might replace or remove this element altogether later on. (LO2)

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I tried to get down some ideas for an interesting bass line that would still fit the theme of the tune.  I decided to go pretty dark and gritty without a huge amount of harmonic content as I feel that that space needs to be left to fit in the other sounds that are going to really solidify the theming of the track. (LO2)

For my bass I used Vital and made my own bass patch.
I like this rolling bass because it has a lot of movement and power, however I also want a more defined and structured bass to create a bit of call and response in the bass line.
So I duplicated the previous patch I had made for the main bass and edited the patch to have a defined pluck which gives a solid rhythm to follow as the listener. (LO2)

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This is how the project is sounding so far.  I'm happy with where it is going.  However I feel at the moment the intro and chorus seem quite separate, I need some more elements that I can have in both parts to make them sound more cohesive. (LO1)

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This week I gave myself some time to just develop the layout of the track.  I want to get the main structure of the song done so I can really allow myself to get creative with adding sounds and little flairs.  (LO3)

I extended the first 'Drop' to 64 bars and arranged some faster hitting Hi-Hats 32 bars in to the drop to help with the progression and energy of the track.  I also laid out the breakdown and second drop by placing my drums and other ambient sections.  Once I had done this I moved over repeating detail, such as small risers, percussion and my war horn sample.
I like being able to get a clear view of how my layout is going to end up, it helps me feel more creative and free within the project.  (LO2)

Once I had done this I started adding and adjusting different elements to the project.  I worked out an interesting Bass line for the second drop, using a similar patch as the first main Bass but changing up the settings a bit.
I added Chords as well using a patch from the Analog Lab V library, even though I have a lot of harmonic elements that define the key, I thought that some Chords would really help the mood of the song.   (LO2) (LO3)

From this point onward in the session I was just going back and forth editing small sections of the first half of the song : such as the Bass line, adding drum variation, adding automation and working with EQ's to help the sounds all slot together.  (LO2) (LO3)

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This has been a very productive week for this track.  I am now at a point where I feel like I can really hone in on that 'Viking' sound I want in the intro, break and outro.  I feel that the track doesn't yet have the feel I was looking for just yet. (LO1)

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During this week I decided to do a risk assessment for my studio session at home.  This way I will be able to plan my sessions to go smoothly and safely.  It's important to do a risk assessment even if it's for small home studio sessions like mine, as there are always unseen risks and it's very easy to overlook them, so taking a moment to write them down can help a lot. (LO1)

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REFRENCE

QZB have been a huge inspiration to me over the past few years and their influence is definitely reflected in this track.

Their whole production process has inspired me and I have learnt a lot of techniques from an online masterclass that I still use and have used in this track, such as using white noise through a filter, controlled with an LFO to make custom high end percussion, builds and other effects.  They usually have some really interesting organic sounds in their music, which is something I am also interested in incorporating into some of my music. (LO1)

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This week I came back to the track with some fresh ears.  I wasn't very happy with how the track was sounding and fellt that the Intro and the Drop seemed quite separate from each other and don't lead smoothly into each other.  I also wasn't happy with the Bassline because I thought it really lacked impact, clear direction and the marching sort of feeling I was looking for.

So I decided to play around with the Bass patch and the Midi notation and make some critical choices on the intro, what I want to keep in and what I want to remove.

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I think the changes I made really helped with the flow and energy of the track and I'm much happier with it then I was before these edits.  (LO3)

I have been mixing the track as I work on it as this is just my workflow at the moment.  I think the mix is missing a fair amount of midrange and I need to find a way to fix this.  (LO1)

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This week I have admittedly let myself get slightly distracted with editing the Bass and making the song fuse together a bit better.  My original plan was to hone in on the Viking sound I was aiming for but felt I couldn't do this just yet as I could only think about fixing the Bass.
Had I spent a bit more time early on in this creative process to create a more solid intro and selection on sounds I think the project would sound a lot closer to what I was aiming for at this stage.  I will try to remember this for future projects. (LO1)

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Looking back at my work I am unhappy with the project.  I haven't done a good job sticking with my original vision and feel very unsatisfied with the sound of the project and have to do something drastic to bring it to life.  (LO1)

A few reasons I think this has happened is because I've had a few big distractions during the process of this project the most notable being my swap to Ableton Live, and a DnB Collaboration I am working on.  Learning Ableton and working on this other song has taken up most of my focus and energy and I lost sight of the goals for this track. (LO1)

My plan to resolve this is to go through the project and critically listen to every element and decide whether or not its worth keeping, and if it helps the vision of the song.  I will then bounce them out into separate stem audio files and move them over to Ableton. (LO1)

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Bouncing the tracks out into individual stems was a relatively straight forward process.  In FL you can chose to bounce out all the track as seperate audio files.  I then dragged and dropped (+Ctrl to insert them as separate audio tracks) the audio files into a new (pre saved), Ableton Live Project. (LO2)

Thoughts:
The process of moving the project over to Ableton Live was a rather freeing one.  Forcing myself to go through all the individual elements of the track with a critical mindset really helped me see where I had went wrong and where things has actually worked.  Doing this has made me realise I have a habit of leaving sounds in my track that don't necessarily add anything to the soundscape and just seem to be taking up space.  I have also realised that I tend to end up straying from my vision slightly when working on sound design.  These are both area's I plan to work on, finding out I have these traits has been a big positive that's come from this setback.  (LO1) (LO3)

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I decided to scrap the old Bass patch I had as it just wasn't getting the vibe across that I wanted.  So I went back into Vital with the aim to make a deeper, darker and grittier bass with a bit less harmonic content (LO2).

I used a mixture of two slightly detuned sine waves with a quiet white noise layer on top.  The two sine waves being slightly detuned creates a slow phasing which causes some great movement, although this can mess with the stereo field, but I clean this up later with iZotops Imager.  OSC 1 has FM from OSC 2, which is modulated via LFO 1.  This is sent through a compressor and a soft clip distortion.  LFO 2, 3 and 4 are modulating the levels of the white noise, FM on OSC 1 and Distortion levels. (LO2)

I then recorded in a few MIDI notes with this patch and resampled it.  I like resampling basses as sometimes they are feel heavy and clunky to manipulate, whereas when it is in an audio format, it is much easier to chop the audio around and play with post processing.

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Here you can see that I have split my Bass up into two tracks.  I have given the first on a Low pass filter around 500Hz, and the second has a High Pass filter, around 1kHz.  This technique allows me to tightly control the sub frequencies of bass, such as Monoing the track, and let the higher elements and crispness of the bass go wild, with reverbs, saturators and phasers.  I've grouped the two tracks and they are then sent though the same effects chain with just a compressor on it.  This compressor helps 'glue' the separated bass sounds back together, and to sound as one.  (LO2)

This process has yielded great results.  I think the bass has much more impact, yet doesn't clash with other elements or take up as much space.  Also I personally just enjoy the sound of this bass so much more. (LO1)

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The song has transformed over the past 2 weeks.
I have decided to keep most of the old Drum elements, some of the ambience and the Viking war horns.  This week I have spent the majority of my time on getting the arrangement completed, and the whole track sounding as cohesive as I can. (LO3)

I think the decision to swap the project over to Ableton was a good one, even though it has delayed my progress a little bit. I feel more at ease and creative with this DAW and believe I can create a much better end product through Ableton. (LO3)

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This is the longest and highest quality video I could manage to upload on Padlet.  I am briefly showing the processing I have done on the Drum and Bass.

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This track has ended up being 173bpm in a 4/4 time signature, and has stayed in the planned key of F Min.  This is 1 bpm slower than I originally planned, I felt that the track sounds better slightly slower.  However they key has remained the same.

16 Bar Intro - 16 bar build Up - 32 Bar drop - 32 Continued Drop - 16 Break - 16 Bar Build - 32 Bar Drop - 32 Continued Drop - 16 bar Outro.  This is a pretty basic structure for a song, I've made the song in this structure because it works well and works good well for DJing. (LO3)

There are not very complicated harmonic or melodic runs in this song as it is mainly focused around a main bass which stays on the Root note 'F' and also drops down to the 7th of the scale which is 'D#'.  This is because the focus is the rhythm rather than the melodic elements.  However the song is always revolving around an Fmin Chord and melodys explore through the F Melodic Minor scale.  (LO3)

Key techniques that helped me achieve my sound would include Bass Resampling, this allows me to accurately chop my Bass into desired rhythms and send it through more post processing such as Saturation and Compression.  Side chaining most elements with my kick drum, which helps create space around the kick drum, giving it much more impact without it haven't to actually be any louder.  Automating the parameters of Filters, Reverbs and delays, this creates the movement in my track, the feeling of elements expanding and contracting. (LO2)

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20/11/2022 - *Only MP3 Due to upload limitations*

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At this stage I am very happy with the project.  I've manage to get the sound I was looking for and I think the arrangement of the track is good and fits the genre nicely. (LO1)

Since I mix my tracks while still in the creative process I already have a pretty clean mix.  I just need to make sure there is enough headroom and no unwanted artefacts before I start mastering, if I don't then the master isn't going to sound good as the track would end out squashed with no dynamics, this can cause the track to loose quality also.  Roughly 3 - 6db of headroom is enough. (LO2)

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WEEK 9 - Transferring the project to an Ableton Live performance

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WEEK 9 - Transferring the project to an Ableton Live performance

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To perform my track I need to set up the project into an Ableton Live performance.  I did this by exporting full grouped sections of the track, such as all of the Drums into one audio file.  I did this with the Drums, Bass, Risers, Chords, and Ambience.  This helps me condense the track down into less parts so I'm not trying to trigger tens of tracks and the same time.  I left the main melody line as MIDI instrument so I could play this part myself while performing the track. (LO2)

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For the final mix I made sure everything was placed in the stereo space as I wanted it.

To prepare the track for mastering I made sure that the track had roughly -3 to -6db headroom in the master so there is space to master the track without losing quality. (LO2)

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For mastering I brought in the exported master file into a new project and saved it. Here I can work in a nice clean empty project that wont distract me and also doesn't waste the computers CPU with unused plugins throughout the track. (LO2)

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For my mastering effects chain I started with an EQ so I could make any small adjustments to the signal before putting it through a multi band compressor. I used the stock Multiband Dynamics compressor from Ableton.  I used this to tame the high end and tighten it up, and did the same with the mids and compressed the bass frequencies a little bit also, but not a huge amount as the bass has been quite heavily compressed already.  Doing this throws off the volumes of the separate frequency bands so I compensated for that with the individual output level control that each frequency band has to balance the sound as I want it.  I listened to the track while turning the compressor on and off every now and then to make adjustments and to hear just how it was effecting the track.  Then I put on my copy of iZotopes Ozone 9 elements which has as EQ, Imager and Maximizer.  I used the EQ to slightly boost the high-mid frequencies as the track sounded a little cold.  I also made a small cut off the highs to try and prevent any painful frequencies. Then I used the Maximizer to boost the track and give it its final stage of compression.  I chose a threshold of -6.1db and a ceiling of -2dB as I want this track to be quite loud.  I also selected the IRC II compression mode as this preserves peaks and keeps the track punchy. Using the Youlean Lounsdess Meter 2 I adjested all these parameters to make the track as punch as possible while remaining under roughly -12 LUFS as this is about as loud as I could go for streaming these days without losing quality as most streaming platforms have a max LUFS level.  Although I might master another version which is reaches more around -10 -9 LUFS for a personal club mix to play on a sound system. (LO2)

I could then use the Bypass and Mono features to make my adjustments and check that the track still sounds good while its in Mono, as when this is played through a sound system it will most likely be made Mono.  (LO2)

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Now I'm happy with my mastering I just exported the track so I can put it back into Ableton to see how the waveform has changed.  I think the wave form looks great, it has a lot of volume but still has its dynamics and I feel it hits really hard.  Most importantly however is it sounds much louder than the re mastered track, has more punch on the transience's, but hasn't lost any of its quality along the way which can happen if you push the track too far. (LO2)
In the past I have neglected a proper mastering process but I am really happy with the results of my mastering here so I am definitely going to keep doing this on future projects. (LO1) (LO2)