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As it has been reading week it has meant I have had a lot of free time too think creatively in my performance without worrying about other projects. I plan to make my live song a doom metal style cover, on stage I want to add a lot of decoration i plan too have rose petals and fake candles scattered around me and maybe having a spot light just on me.

Another part of this performance I have been thinking about is having an onstage character i am now in the process of creating. I have come up with two characters so far coming up with a Pinterest board for the both of them.

Here is a summary of Mavis the character i am most likely going to use.

MAVIS

Mavis is a ghost from the early 90s. On her 18th birthday she ran away from home, her father was a pastor in the town church and her mother was a housewife.

when she ran away she planned to join her favourite band on tour so she hitchhiked out of her small town.

she made it too the bands first leg on their tour so she stopped in a local bar. there was an open mike so she decided to go up on stage. Before she could even say anything her abusive father stormed through the door and slit her throat with a cross on stage.

(6) Pinterest

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In project management today we went through the difference between influence and inspiration.

How I interpreted this is that influence is who/what has pushed you on too your musical path, where as inspiration is what motivates you to do better. This effects this project massively as it is the core of what makes me who i am? especially as a musician.

For example here are 5 influences of mine:

✩ My mum and nan as they have always been in musical groups and choirs since i can remember.

✩ My dads music taste introduced me into rock which is now the type of vocals i specialize in.

✩ Freddie Mercury and Hayley Williams have been the main influence for my vocal style.

✩ Being picked on in school forced me to turn to music.

✩ Lyrics, especially emo style music that use goreish messages and imagery.

5 inspirations for me

✩ Fear of missing out, i like to put my all in so i always have options and don't miss out on things.

✩ Bio-pic movies especially Bohemian Rhapsody inspired me to actually study music.

✩ Seeing other vocalists live inspires me in how i perform and how i interact on stage.

✩ Not being able to reach certain notes or singing certain songs inspires me to practice.

✩ Autumn really gets me motivated to write due to darker nights it has a more gloomy vibe.

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My overall smart targets for this term are too have my DAW song recorded by formative hand in (hopefully starting to mix at this point too)  as well as already being in rehearsal with a band for my live performance.

My SMART target for next week is too have chosen both of the songs i am going to do for the practical side of my project.

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This week my band (Rottweiler) and i went into the studio to record our song man you're fearing. We had a goal of recording drums rhythm guitar and vocals. We ended up doing drums bass and rhythm guitar for the intro and the outro.

We are using the project as a chance to record and also release this song as our second single we hope to then record our ep next but starting small with singles.

Emia wrote all the lyrics for this song as well as the melody and some instrumental parts but we all worked together to make it our own with our individual sounds.

the vocals.

An issue we faced in the studio was towards the end of the song. There is no drums as it goes into free time, we had nothing other than vocals and guitar in the outro but in the rehearsal we had before the studio session, ben our drummer started adding some atmospheric sounds on the crash and the ride. We really liked how it sounded but decided not use this because its free time it made it quite difficult to record.

THE STRUCTURE OF THE SONG

.・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。.

verse 1 /intro

.•° ✿ °•.

chorus

.•° ✿ °•.

verse 2

.•° ✿ °•.

chorus

.•° ✿ °•.

verse 3

.•° ✿ °•.

verse 1/ outro

.・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。.

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︵‿୨♡୧‿︵‿︵︵‿︵‿୨♡୧‿︵

Today in project management we had to work in pairs and interview each other, taking turns interviewing each other as an artist.

From the questions that I was asked i found it quite difficult to think about answers on the spot.

After doing an interview I realized how much my childhood was pivotal to myself as a musician. Not just because its when I started singing but these were also the years that i found out I could sing well and started developing my own tone at such a young age.

I found that I definitely enjoyed hearing my partners answers rather than answering them myself. I found it really interesting to found out who shaped them into the musician I have seen on stage in class.

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✩༊*·˚↻ ◁ II ▷ ↺✧.*༊*·˚

After a lot of mental deliberation on what song i am going to do for the live performance I have decided on boys don't cry by the cure for my live performance section of this project.

I was going to do Plump by Hole but i was worried that this was too similar to the genre of my recorded song man you're fearing.

I have chosen boys don't cry as it has enough space in the song that i am able to make it my own as well as an up beat tone making it super fun too perform.

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✩｡･:*:･ﾟ★,｡･:*:･ﾟ☆✩｡･:*:･ﾟ★

I decided to change what song I am going to be changing my song to follow me down by the pretty reckless. I decided this goes better with my vocal range and I've also wanted to stick with the alt rock theme I've been going with rather than adding goth music in as a complete curveball.

RESEARCH ABOUT THE SONG

from what i have found so far the overarching themes of this song are

✩ sex

✩love

✩perspective of relationship

the chorus of the song includes most of these themes and mainly what I want to analyze.

Follow me down to the river
Drink while the water is clean
Follow me down to the river tonight
I'll be down here on my knees

These lyrics are repeated twice the first time is very slow and most the instruments cut out at this point. The lyrics have a very old blues feel showing rocks roots in a more modern way. The suggestive tone of the lyrics confirm the songs meaning as before in the bridge it says am I loosing my mind meaning this is all she can think about.

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❀。• *。 ❀°。❀。• °。 ❀°。

For my practice routine in this term I have switched it up to really solidify my strengths and improve my flaws.

One of the many things I struggle with in head voice is breath support. I'm able to use proper breathing technique but I struggle with shakiness when it comes to sustained notes. usually I will just add vibrato to try and cover this, which does work but its not always the sound or style that I want. to solve this i have included plenty of head voice exercises to build my confidence.

Monday

music theory studying

(rhythm notes reading, pitch matching)

Tuesday

rottweiler rehearsal

Wednesday

rest day

Thursday

rest day

Friday

head voice warm ups (humming, lip trills, head voice melasmas)

pitch match training

Saturday

high song of the week

Rottweiler vocal rehearsal

Sunday

head voice warm ups (humming, lip trills, head voice melasmas)

N/A, J. (2019) Daily head voice vocal exercises for singers, YouTube. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Y_kTxrC1LI&t=51s (Accessed: 17 December 2023).

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✯¸.•´*¨`*•✿ ✩ ✿•*`¨*`•.¸✯

This week my band and I went into the studio to record vocals for our song man you're fearing. We were supposed to record vocals last week but I have been struggling with a pretty chesty cough, instead the rest of the band used this studio time to work through recording guitars and also adding effects and textures in the rest of the song.

In the studio session this week we did vocals but I have still been struggling with my breath control, this usually wouldn't be an issue but the speed of the lyrics along side the song breath control is really important.

To tackle this issue we split the verses in half and recorded each half separately and put them together.

After we finished doing the verses Emia had an idea to record gang vocals on the last word of every second line in the verse. We were just experimenting because we had spare time and we wanted to be productive. To get the texture we wanted on the gang vocals Alessandro (the studio tech) said to do one take in our normal tone, then another with a laddy football fan accent, and then the next more aggressive usual tone.

overall I'm very happy with how the vocals turned out even though I'm ill.

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An update on my practice routine so far I have found that I am not sticking too it enough so I need to find sways to make it more exciting.

I have decided to add vocal cardio exercises on a Wednesday. This will help my breath control on stage when I am jumping around. As I am using Lady Gaga and Hayley Williams as my case studies they are known to jump around a lot of stage I want to be able to do this without being out of breath due to lack of breathing technique.

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What's my recording process?

｡･:*:･ﾟ★,｡･:*:･ﾟ☆｡･:*:･ﾟ★,｡･:*:･ﾟ☆

in the studio I take a backseat role as I don't have that much vocabulary to describe what sound or vibe I want to achieve.

From my experience in band studio sessions as we have worked ass a team for over a year, the know what I'm trying to explain and almost use a music theory translator and explain it too each other in that way.

When I'm recording by myself, which I don't do as often now due to not having correct materials at home to do so, I just play around with things until i like how it sounds. I know that both Lady Gaga and Hayley Williams (my case studies) have a lot of music theory knowledge. for example gaga has been playing piano since the age of four.

The fact that I don't have the correct vocabulary does hold me back slightly and I would like to improve on this.

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I will be doing a case study on lady gaga and Hayley Williams, I am influenced by these two due to their empowering  lyrics, strong belt and using music as a vessel for things wrong in society. I already use similar techniques and so does my band so using them as an influence isn't something new too me.

In rehearsal I will need to make sure I'm focusing on physical movement as this is a huge part of their performance style. In the studio I need to make sure the projection of my voice is strong and using correct technique.

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What will really set you apart from others in your field?

Usually I don't like using this as something to make me different but as a queer plus size woman I am immediately set apart from other vocalists. Something that doesn't set me aside is my creativity for on stage performance, similarly to Hayley Williams I am like a musical magpie using things such as musical theater too nu metal influences in my performance vocally and physically. I create an atmosphere when performing of high energy and extremely powerful vocals.

What are you doing differently/better than other competitors?

I make performance a huge part of my music. I will make sure that a performance is just as exciting to listen to as it is to watch. I would say I'm a musical magpie who brings classical and theater experiences into modern music.

Is your USP centered around performance, technique, production, songwriting, visual, other? There may be multiple aspects to your USP....

I think my usp is centered around visual, performance and technique. I use characters on stage to present that i am dedicated to the art of the music not only by singing but by visuals and performance art.

How will you use this to engage and connect with your audience

Always make the time on stage worth while. I make sure too make eye contact and get the audience involved when im able too such as repeating vocals or doing easy dances on stage that make people feel more comfy to move their bodies to music too.

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This week Emia and I went into the studio to re record the vocals for our song man you're fearing. I have linked the vocals from the first verse from when I was ill compared to when this week being recovered.

The vocals from 19/10/23 because of my breathing being weaker we had to split the verses in half and comp them together. While listening to it without pointing this out you wouldn't really hear it but once you can its all you can hear. I felt more confident in the studio when going in this time, this meant i was able to sing more freely and i was more familiar with the experience.

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Luckily this term there was another Paramore song in our list of LPW projects. When practicing this song in pre production we decided too keep the song as similar as possible too the original, we did this so it was easy for vocalists and instrumentalists could swap in and out as we have had it before where people in our group wont show up to our LPW class after we had changed the genre/tempo/melody and we have been unable to perform how we imagined it, or at all.

The focus of this week was too create a festival style cover of hard times by Paramore. As I have mentioned before Hayley Williams is one of my case studies this term I knew I had to really put my all into this performance.

due too the festival theme I had too have a lot of energy and audience interaction. in a festival situation you have to be as engaging as possible in a short set. This is because the crowd will most likely not know who you are and everything in this scenario is moving so quickly, whether that is pack down or setting up or people moving from stage too stage.

How I prepared for this was by watching videos of Hayley Williams at festivals which i have included (1).

How does Williams engage the audience?

gets them on stage

gets them to interact with songs

uses all the space on stage so everyone can see

jumping and dancing

What did i do too engage the audience?

teaching the audience section of the song

using all the availble space on stage

jumping and dancing

engage with other band members too make sure everyone has energy

While I am happy with how this cover sounds and how much the cardio vocal exercises' have been helping, I think my audience interaction could have been improved and I could have bought more energy in the bridge.

The section of the song I taught the audience was quite complicated and while its ok in a class of people who know the song at a festival it would have to be something severely simple for it too be do able with a crowd of majority non musicians.

In the bridge the song turns quite floaty and Roxy pointed out it felt like an energy drop. Even though this is literally what the bridge does, as a vocalist I need to make sure the crowd is engaged.

(1) n/a, H. (2023) Paramore - live at bonnaroo Music Festival 2023 (full concert HD), YouTube. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oUuur5PwDKw&list=PLriCTa9fiKHV8uPcy5VCABSshMmGzOa3C (Accessed: 11 December 2023).

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During week 7 I have been focusing on improving my feedback to help improve my personal feedback for myself.

Good

precise

specific

constructive

technical

achievable

Bad

mean

vague

non achievable

In class this week I created a presentation to show what i have done so far. I indluded my aims for this project as well as how my case studies actually effect me.

As I have been reflecting on my case studies I would say that lady gaga was a pivotal part too my music career but as a teenage Hayley Williams had a formative influence on my vocal tone and performance.

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This week i started mixing my DAW track as i had a smart goal to start mixing after development week. while mixing as one of the bass takes was live recorded with drums there's a lot of bleed on the bass from the drums.

To solve this issue i had to cut most of the high ends out of this take on bass, i didn't want it too sound too fake though so i used the di take and raised some of the mids so you are still able too hear the punchiness of matts bass style without it being to muddy.

Linking back to my case studies, i want to have man your fearing show how Hayley Williams has effected my vocal tone on my DAW track. I will do this by using vocal effects such as distortion and making sure it really cuts through the mix rather than sitting back. trying out techniques like this will help me find my own unique style of mixing my voice by mixing different styles together.

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This week I was able to sit down with the guitarist from my band I'm working with for my live performance and work through the song. I was able to work on my communication and how i want the dynamics to dramatically change in the bridge.

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Right now in this project I feel like its a bit of a waiting game as i am not as busy as i was in the start. I just need to perfect what i have to work on such as my mix and my USP in my performance.

This week in class we worked on mixing drums in logic, I found this really helpful as it is what I am least used too doing. The drums that Paramore use most frequently are either very dry and punchy or soaked in reverb. I decided I want to incorporate both of these in my mix: I have used a low pass filter on the kick via eq, and added a lot of reverb on a separate bus, I them used a high pass filter on the snare so it cuts through the mix with a punchy beat.

As well as Hayley Williams being one of my own personal idols my band also takes a lot of inspiration from Paramore so taking influence on things such as drum mix wont sound out of place in the song.

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Emia's laptop has been broken for a while so we have been struggling to work out when we were going to record backing vocals. in the end we had to book the bond street studio to work on these.

Emia plans out how she wants the harmonies to sound on keys in logic then I sing over them. we managed to get this done very quickly and enjoyed the facilities.

Something I would like to do next time when recording was more studio pre production. I wasn't as prepared as I wanted to be for what equipment we have on offer in these facilities. I would've liked to go back over the bond street studio we had to do a couple weeks ago to have access to the studio.

I have also been carrying on mixing the song but have not added the backing vocals in just yet.

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This week I had a summative feedback session for my live song with the performance lecturers.

I am very happy about how this went but I did feel slightly underprepared. id been so focused on my part I had not properly delved into how I was going to change up the intro.

luckily I was very inspired today and was able to think of an ambient guitar intro and atmospheric drums with the whole band coming in after 4 bars.

I was asked by Candi how I was bringing in my influence of gaga on this performance. In response I said I was trying to channel gaga from her live performance with Metallica (2) as well as the character (Mavis). Candi and the other lecturers said this was very well received.

What went well?

strong belt and clean tone over rock track

well learnt

What to improve?

more growl

bigger performance

using up space on stage

make the final chorus stand out

(2) N/A, G. (2020) Lady Gaga & Metallica - Moth into flame (dress rehearsal) at the 59th Grammy awards 2017, YouTube. Available at: https://youtu.be/R0XUW-sU57g?si=rVYGB_-_pdY-HZDi (Accessed: 01 December 2023).

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I have been trying to figure out how i can change up the final chorus below i have attached a video of how i have changed this up. in the final pre chorus i have decided to whisper in a higher key to keep the dynamics of the vocal interesting. another this i have done is belting the final line slightly different to the original melody. i figured this out by playing the last chorus on loop and improvising different ways i could sing this, i learned this method from this weeks vocal lesson of jazz week as a main figure in jazz is improvisation.

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I have switched up my vocal warm up routine making sure i am warming up my belt before shows. I am using a video tutorial that my vocal tech teacher Yana showed us in class.

warming up my belt before singing rock allows me to control my breathing and jump around on stage taking influence from gaga and her impressive way of moving on stage while belting. This is showing of gaga impressive technique that she never sounds strained even while doing impressive choreography.

Paris, R. (2023) 10 min daily vocal warm up | daily vocal exercise for all modern singers!, YouTube. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LtZxRj0uRZM&t=296s (Accessed: 17 December 2023).

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What have you learned about yourself this term?

I have learned that performance and embodying this character on stage is my strong point. My usp defiantly lies in performance as this term i have been able to work on this aspect, I have found that taking inspiration from another helped my find my own personal style.

What am I most proud of?

I am most proud of of my time management this term, I was able to stay on top of all my work without rushing.

I am also very proud of how i have developed my style of performance this term.

What do you think needs more development?

I think my recorded work needs more development as it has been the thing i have focused on the least during this term

What skills have you developed from this work?

The skills I have developed is the ability to recognize how the music I listened to as a teen formed my interests as an adult. I was able to express my skills that set me apart from my peers.

What would you do differently if you did this again?

As much as I love my band I want to keep them as an outside of Uni project. I think this term would've been perfect for self discovery and finding my own sound out of rottweiler. working on the recorded song with them held my creativity back.

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This week I had my final rehearsal before my summative performance. It was still difficult for ben to get his head around the tempo in bridge, this part of the song goes from 6/8 to 4/4.

To fix this we have decided that Rei will lead the tempo and ben will follow. To be honest I'm not the most happy about this decision.

It defiantly does sound better than just going slower in this section but I am annoyed at Ben for not properly learning the song, it has made me loose a bit of confidence on how this will sound on the day but showing true professionalism I will put on an amazing performance either way.

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Added distortion to the double track of vocals like Paramore vocals.

Delay and reverb on backing vocals

Telephone vocal and gang vocal (common technuiqe from Paramore)

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I used this week in LPW class as an opportunity to practice my movements for my character mavis for my summative performance.

This character is inspired by lady gaga I have created a whole backstory which you can refer back to in week.

The movements i used are inspired not only by lady gaga herself as she is known to use big arm movements as seen in her performance of paparazzi in 2009 (1). I used this as a reference and created more free flowing movements.

(1) hausofGaGadaily (2009) Lady Gaga - Paparazzi (Live at Oxegen Festival 2009) HQ, YouTube. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DB0lx5A9ifc&t=53s (Accessed: 18 November 2023).

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How long did it take you to write myf?

“ I essentially wrote the song in one evening and finished it off the next morning before our rehearsal. The “I’m unjustified again” lyric and melody, though, I actually wrote about five years ago and have been trying to re-use it ever since, I finally found a place for it in this song”

While recording what was your goal?

"My goal was to get the song recorded to a high a standard as possible with my band so that we could release it and use the track to grow our fanbase. I also wanted to capture the angsty feeling of the track in studio which I think we achieved with the powerful vocal performance and use of distorted guitar pedals."

Who did you take inspiration from for the lyrics?

"I tend to have the instinct to write quite cryptic, abstract lyrics if the meaning behind the song is quite personal, but I utilised Hayley Williams of Paramore’s lyrical approach of “write what you know”, so I tried to expose my thoughts and feelings in a more honest way than I felt comfortable with (eg “I think I think too much to recognise a single feeling.”- very basic lyric but that was just how I felt). In terms of the metaphors and imagery in the song (“he keeps a fire hydrant by his side so he can put you out”, “now I’m communicating slowly like a wire-wearing rat”, etc.) The Dresden Dolls (specially writer and lyricist Amanda Palmer) were a huge inspiration."

What made you start songwriting?

"I enjoyed being able to create something with such little set up. When I was a child I would just think of melodies and lyrics and write them down and then I had a song, something tangible that I had made by myself. I was interested in other forms of creativity (acting, art) however songwriting was the only thing I could do at any given time, and the only real release for my emotions. It has essentially been how I’ve coped with difficulty in my life. If I can’t say something to a person, I can at least say it in a song who is your target audience? Anyone who wants to listen. If I had to guess the appeal of my songs would be most popular between those aged 13-30 (or 16-25 if I’m being very specific), likely women more-so than men as I tend to write a lot of lyrics relating to growing up as a woman and the perspective that creates."