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08/04/25

The progress I have been making with my project so far has been fairly positive. First of all I have been enjoying all aspects and processes of creating the track, and my research so far has been steady but is proving effective as I have learned quite a lot recently and have been pushing myself to apply these things as quickly as possible. I have mainly used YouTube as my primary source for my research as it contains a vast amount of information that covers almost all subjects, however I am constantly listening to different types of music as well where I have been gathering inspiration from little nuances or techniques that I can possibly carry over into my project. My strength so far has definitely been the practical side, as I am constantly trying new practices, whether it be microphone placement or playing different styles on instruments, and applying the different discoveries should they fit the project. However, I am definitely aware that I have been struggling with my time management. Though I have put a lot of effort into achieving the professional sound I want, I have noticed that I have slowly fallen behind the timeframe that I had intended to keep up. This is proved by the fact that we have reached the spring break and I only have two instruments recorded, and have completely neglected the video recording that I had intended to do as well. It is fair to conclude that I have made an effective start to the project and I am being exposed to and learning a multitude of new skills, however I have been oblivious to my time management over the first 3rd, and there needs to be a change of pace.

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29/04/25

During the second 3rd of the project, I have definitely worked on my time management and managed to be more wary of how I am spending my time when working on the project. My strengths during this period have once again been my practical skills as I have since written and recorded parts for my project on multiple different instruments including piano, organ, bass guitar and drums, that I have all had to approach from a different musical perspective. As a result of this, my project has come on a long way and I am much closer to achieving the intended sound I wanted for the track. My research for this portion of the project has been of a similar pace to the first 3rd, continuing to use YouTube as the primary resource. This is proving effective as I mentioned how YouTube contains a multitude of different types of content that I am finding useful, for example the isolated tracks channel and the bass cover. This is also proved by the project itself and how using the research as I have has led me to achieving the sound I have set out to achieve. The main thing that I am still to work on is my time management, especially with regard to the video recording. This is highlighted by the fact that there is around 2-3 weeks until the deadline, and I have only a couple pieces of footage that I can use. This means that I am going to have to figure out a method of collecting footage rather quickly and find a way to put it all together to achieve the video idea I had. Overall at this stage, I am very happy with the progress I have made so far with the project, and how I have applied lots of different skills to create a piece of work that I am feeling quite proud of. In addition to this, I am also very happy with how I have continuously developed my time management skills and got myself back on track with the whole project. My biggest focus for the latter stages of the project is to keep up the workflow and maintain my standards for the final stretch towards the deadline.

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11/03/25

18/03/25

Pictured above is the microphone setup I used in order to record the 12 string acoustic parts for my track. I positioned the two microphones so that one was facing directly at the sound-hole, while the other was facing more towards the body. This is so that one of the recorded tracks will give a clear sound while the other track will have a warmer tone to it.

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Project Evaluation - Final Evaluation 23/05/25

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Project Evaluation - Final Evaluation 23/05/25

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Overall, my project has been a success. I am very happy with the final product of my project, and the standard I have made it reach is on par with the initial idea I had developed for it. I am immensely proud of the intense work I have put in to this project, for example coming into college and working on it during an immense amount of my own time, hence proving that my own personal work ethic has remained strong and consistent through the duration if this project. In addition to this, my other personal strong suits throughout the duration of the project have been my perseverance. On multiple occasions, I have experienced some severe technical issues, at some points losing up to 4-5 hours of work at one time. This has been rather difficult to deal with as near the beginning of the project, I already had to make adjustments to my time-management techniques in order to keep myself on-track to produce a finished product before the deadline, and these technical issues bring in an extra hinderance. Technical issues are generally unforeseeable, however if I were to complete this again I would make sure to brush up on my skills and knowledge of saving backups and externally storing different files on computers, as my technical knowledge in this area was evidently not up to scratch, as this would better protect me and lower the overall risk of losing work again. That being said, my biggest hinderance overall remains to be my time management. Since the beginning of the project, I immediately fell behind and spent the rest of the time catching up with my progress and making up time. As I mentioned, I had to dedicate a fair amount of my own free time to the project in order to get everything in on time. Even at the final stages, there are a plentiful of areas that could have easily been improved and brought up to a higher level of standard had I not had to catch up with my deadline and get myself back on track, none more so the mastering stage. Had I not discovered the mastering assistant in Logic Pro, I would have had to move on and submit a raw mix that would not have been anywhere near to the quality that I have achieved here, purely because I fell so far behind my own timeframe that I had to sacrifice the actual process of mastering itself. This is something that affected my project as a whole, considering the goal was to mimic the professional standard of a specific genre and obviously the groups and songs that I was taking inspiration from that would be considered professionals in that industry would have had a significantly larger amount of time and resources, that I would guess add to that standard that they achieve. Obviously, I don't have all these resources at my disposal, however by falling victim to my own time-management skills I did not in anyway provide myself with a comfortable amount of time to achieve my goals. Once again, that being said I did achieve my goals and produced a product that I had initially intended which is why I remain proud of my efforts and would consider this project as a whole. In addition to this, the stress of my poor time-management aside, I really enjoyed the whole process I went through for this project. I found the research stage to be very fascinating and due to that I am walking away with more technical knowledge than I had when I began, and I found a lot of my research resources to be incredibly fascinating. Again, executing these processes myself was something I found very interesting and valuable. The general creation of music, no matter what stage it be, is something that deeply fascinates me, and this is the primary reason why I chose this project and ultimately, came to college. To conclude, I am deeply proud of my project as whole, the efforts I put into it and the skills I have developed at college so far that this project reflects, and I go on with a heightened interest in what the rest of my time here at Edinburgh College holds for me.

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21/03/25

Having recorded all the acoustic 12 string parts over two separate sessions, I then compared all the different takes and used the 'comp-take' feature on Logic Pro in order to compile together and use a mixture of the best takes I recorded. I colour coded the acoustic guitar tracks to pink, put an EQ on both the audio tracks just to get rid of the lower range bass frequencies, and then panned one of the tracks to the left and one to the right. This means that the guitar parts will sound much bigger and more spread out, as to provide for an effective base to build the track up from.

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Alternative Tracks Titled 'Edit Takes' and 'Original Takes'

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28/03/25

01/04/25

After creating the comp-takes, I noticed that some of the cuts between the takes were very rough and obnoxiously noticeable. Logic Pro has a feature where you can create fades and crossfades between audio in order to smoothen the transition in the mix, however in order to access this feature you must flatten and merge the comp-take which subsequently gets rid of each of the individual takes. To combat this, I used the 'Track Alternatives' feature, where you can create a whole separate region to edit your audio in. This was useful because it meant that I could keep the original region (titled 'Original Takes') in order to store all the unedited, individual takes without losing them so that when I was editing in the separate region (titled 'Edit Takes') I had the flexibility to change my mind and go back whilst also being able to add in the fades to make the guitar sound more smooth and professional.

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Acoustic 12 String Guitar - Loop Used for the Jam Section 

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01/04/25

When arranging the 12 string guitar part to fully structure the song, I decided to implement a loop for the jam section. The jam section of the song is going to be made up of multiple different solos by multiple different people, however I don't yet know how many people I will get, or how long their solos are going to be. So what I decided to do was to use the Logic Pro 'loop function', where you can take a recorded track and have it loop itself multiple times. I plan to use this on all the instruments during the jam section so that when it comes to recording the solos, I can very simply extend or shorten the section to where I need it to be.

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(See Project Update 1)

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04/04/25

The next instrument I recorded was an organ part. Seeing as the organ sounds in Logic Pro are really good, I decided I would record the organ part with the midi keyboard. All in a single session, I picked out a preset sound and edited it slightly, applied a channel EQ, and then began recording. I made sure to plant certain notes when carrying the changes as I had learned, and also used different variations in the chords of the song, in order to produce shifts in dynamics and add in areas of tension and release. As I am quite new to the organ as an instrument, I definitely didn't play everything perfectly and for all the mistakes I made I used the piano roll where I could edit each individual note. Though this can be difficult as you risk losing the human feel of the actual playing, I managed to find a good balance where the organ has good movement and feel, whilst also actually having the correct part being played.

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Me Warming Up on the Booth Piano - 09/04/25

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09/04/25

10/04/25

Ahead of my two recording sessions for the piano part of my track, I decided that I would implement a warmup. As the piano is an instrument that is fairly new to me, it is important for me to get comfortable in order to achieve a high standard of audio in the most time efficient manner. These warmups would consist of 5 to 10 minutes on the piano in the booth, where I would play a couple of songs that I have learned, and then improvise standard chords in the A major scale. This allowed me to not only warm-up my hands and get the feel of the piano, but also meant that I had picture of where all the different chords that I am going to use were and how they connected between each other.

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09/04/25

10/04/25

For the piano, I used similar resources to that of the organ. Of the options I had, I found that recording the piano with the midi keyboard was the most time-efficient way to get a good, professional sounding piano, and also easier to edit in the piano roll. I picked out a Logic Pro piano sound that I liked, put a similar channel EQ on it and prepared to write and record. Dissimilar to the organ part, I found that the piano part needed to be a lot more bouncy and high energy and to achieve this I needed to use a sustain foot switch. This is an electronic pedal that mimics the sustain function of a real piano pedal. Whilst writing the piano part for the track, I discovered that to have sustain like there is on a real piano would be vital for the sound of the piano track and the song altogether.

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07/03/25

This is the primary source of inspiration for my project. The southern-rock/jam band style of this instrumental is the main aspect that I will be trying to implicate into my piece, whilst also taking a small bit of inspiration from the structure. Though being an instrumental, 'Jessica' has a staple hook with a catchy and melodic riff that the song opens and closes with. This recognition at the end of the song ties off the piece nicely and is something that I would like to try to achieve in my track.

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(See Project Update 2)

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16/03/25

This video is an instructional video by the pianist for the Allman Brothers Band about how he wrote and played the majority of the piano parts for the song 'Jessica'. In the video he mentions multiple different styles of piano playing including country and blues, and how he used these influences to create his own unique piano part for the song. Ahead of writing my own similarly styled piano piece for my track, I would like to get comfortable with the feel of the piano as an instrument, and also the different styles in which I can approach the writing process.

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Chuck Leavell - Jessica - Piano Instructional DVD

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Laney Hardcore Max HCM65B and SM57 Microphone

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21/03/25

I discovered this YouTube video made by the channel 'MusicTechHelpGuy' in which he explains the use of the 'Track Alternatives' feature in Logic Pro. He demonstrates how to create the alternative tracks and explains how they are useful when editing so that the original comp takes are not lost once they are flattened and merged. This is a technique I am interested to explore and could find useful during my editing process.

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Logic Pro - Track Alternatives to Back Up Take Folders

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Connect Your Chords Better On Organ With This Technique

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26/03/25

In the lead up to writing and recording my own organ part for the track, I came across this video by Deyquan Bowens. In this video he explains that one of the crucial techniques that is unique to organ playing is making sure to keep at least one note sustained as you play the changes. As I understand it, this is in total contrast to how the piano is approached, as piano is commonly used as a percussive instrument as well as a melodic instrument. This allowed me to better picture the difference in the two instruments; piano players typically playing vertically, whilst organ players tend to typically play more horizontally. This is an interesting and helpful tip that I plan to apply to my organ part for my song, as I believe it will provide a relevant and complementary sound.

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Connect Your Chords Better On Organ With This Technique 💯🔥

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15/04/25

16/04/25

For the bass, I decided to write my own bass line for the song and record it live. To do this, I used a Squier Precision Bass through a Laney Hardcore Max HCM65B amplifier that I had plugged straight in to Logic Pro, whilst also recording with an SM57 microphone. I did this so that I would have two tracks for the bass; a DUI bass track and a Microphone bass track. This will be useful as I can blend the sound of the two tracks to ultimately create a convincing and professional standard bass recording. For the actual bass part, I decided to break up the track into sections so that I could first of all figure out what roots I need to use to stay close to the chords, and then adding in little lines in between, before blending it all together so that the baseline flows smoothly with the rest of the song. For example, the main progression in the song sticks to I-IV-V in A major, where on the bass I would use the major 3rd (C sharp) in order to get to the IV chord (D major), and to get to the V chord (E major) from the IV, I would play chromatically up to the E on the bass, in order to fill in the gaps and make the baseline sound much more convincing rather than simply sticking to the root notes of all the chords.

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01/04/25

The above song is a song by southern rock band 'Molly Hatchet'. It is an original take on the song 'Dreams' written by Gregg Allman for the Allman Brothers Band. From this song I am drawn to the organ part, as it is used very subtly and complementary to the rest of the instruments. Being one of the first instruments you hear in the song, I believe that the organ part is key to the construction of the grand sound the song creates. The subtle use of the organ in the background and underneath the rest of the instruments is something I would like to incorporate in my piece as it creates a larger, almost anthemic sound.

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17/04/25

When mixing the bass tracks, I used a similar method to that of the acoustic guitars. I started off by creating some track alternatives so that all the audio recordings were still available during the editing process, and colour coded all the bass parts to green. I then used the comp-take feature to mix and match the best audio of all the takes I recorded, before flattening and merging all the audio. I then added a compressor to keep the volume steady and an EQ where I took out most of the unnecessary low end frequencies and a little bit of high end as well. I added fades between the audio tracks to allow smooth transitions, eliminating all the rough cuts between and created a loop during the jam section.

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08/04/25

I discovered this YouTube video from the channel 'Isolated Tracks'. This channel specialises in using AI to split songs into their individual tracks and release them as videos. Although the AI audio is not full proof, and can sound a bit muddy in places, I found this video with the isolated keyboard parts of the song 'Ramblin' Man' rather useful. As the audio has separated the keyboard parts from the rest of the song, which includes both the piano and the organ, you can get a much closer insight to the contrast of the two playing approaches of the two instruments. It is much easier to hear how the organ is used in a slick, melodic manner, whereas the piano is played with a much more percussive and bouncy feel, bringing in a lot of energy which the organ can sit underneath and reinforce. I find this complementary contrast of the two instruments fascinating, and going into my piano recording sessions, I would like to see if I can maybe achieve this contrast and see how it affects the overall sound and style of the track.

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The Allman Brothers Band - Ramblin' Man (Keyboards Only)

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10/04/25

This is a YouTube video of a bass cover of the Allman Brothers song 'Midnight Rider' by a channel called 'Bass Tabs By Jason'. In preparation for writing my own bass part for my song, I wanted to get an insight into what makes an effective bassline, and I found that the 'Midnight Rider' bassline is a prime example as it perfectly balances simplicity with groove. In many styles of popular music, the bass is the overlooked instrument as it works closely with the drums and is fundamental to making a song move and connecting it all together. There are a few genres of music that lean heavily into the use of the bass and use it as a primary instrument, however this video showed me that for the specific style I am trying to achieve, the bass should simply remain close to the chord changes and melodies, however I should also try to incorporate some small, tasteful lines to connect the different movements of the song.

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Allman Brothers Midnight Rider Bass Cover with tab

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16/04/25

Ahead of mixing my bass tracks, I came across this video from the channel 'Collaborate Worship' on how to mix bass guitar. In the video he demonstrates a couple of EQ and compression strategies that can be used on a bass guitar track in order to get it sounding more professional. I found this video to be rather insightful and there are definitely some tips and tricks that I will be sure to use when i mix my bass tracks.

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How I MIX BASS GUITAR | EQ & Compression Examples

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22/04/25

23/04/25

25/04/25

For the drums, I just penciled in the arrangement as I found the drum sounds on Logic Pro were quite high quality. Over three separate sessions I put in and arranged the entire drum part for my song. I started by creating the drum tracks and colour coding them red. I used a separate track for each different individual drum or cymbal, as this allowed me to get the best mix of all the best drum sounds on Logic Pro. I then used the piano roll in order to put them in, where I could also change the velocity of different notes/beats in order to give the drums a more human feel to them.

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30/04/25

For the lead guitar parts of the song, there is plenty of structure around the beginning and near the end, and most of these written lead riffs are directly inspired by 'Jessica' and the way that they get called back to right at the end. However, as the structure changes and slowly reaches the jam section, the lead guitar at this point is going to be primarily improvised as this is a skill I have been developing throughout the year. In order to achieve a good improvised solo, I will be looking at a handful of different guitar solos in order to get a better grasp of what it is that I would like to achieve with my solo.

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(See Project Update 3)

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I found this video from the channel 'SoundsOfNico', where he covers the Allan brothers song 'Blue Sky'. Being an Allman brothers song, 'Blue Sky' is of similar style to my project and has some inspiring lead guitar work. Similar to my project, the structure of 'Blue Sky' starts off as very structured and then enters a 3 minute long guitar solo section where guitarists Duane Allman and Dickey Betts take turns delivering largely improvised solos. This is largely the type of arrangement and standard I had in mind for the jam section of my track. Another aspect of this song that I would like to incorporate, is the lead playing in the background of the melodies. During the verses, instead of there just being chords and lyrics, the lead guitars are constantly playing little licks here and there quietly in the background. This makes the sound more full and helps keep the energy consistent throughout the whole song.

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Allman Brothers - Blue Sky (Guitar Cover)

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This is a live version of the song 'Come On' by the rock band Whitesnake on their 1981 album 'Live In The Heart Of The City'. At around 2:08 there is a guitar solo played by guitarist Bernie Marsden. Interestingly enough, the solo is played primarily in the key of A major, however the chord progression he is playing over contains a G chord which would be a flat vii. Because of this, he masterfully blends some minor tones into the solo giving off a very expressive, bluesy feel. His efficient use of bends and vibrato back up his note choice and melody making for an incredible high-octane, improvised guitar performance. In addition to this, he is using what is known as a 'wah-wah pedal', which adds a full frequency pass filter onto the guitar signal that is activated and altered using a foot switch or lever, which overall allows the player to create a vocal sound with the guitar signal. All of these aspects are things I would like to take into account with my guitar playing and improvising, as they create a solo that brings and sustains as much energy as possible whilst also balancing melody and technique and not getting carried away or lost. This energy and movement are two things that I hope to apply to my track.

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29/04/25

Up to this point in the project, I have been very neglectful of the video footage aspect of the project. I initially said that I would record footage of myself creating the track, however as I have had some time management issues I have found it impossible to accommodate this. Therefor, I have decided that what I will do is capture footage of myself mostly miming each of the instruments. Doing this instead of capturing footage of me recording the actual parts for the track obviously hinders the authenticity of the video in relation to the audio that will go over it, however it still maintains that there is a video accompaniment and I believe that it will bring a different feel to the video. Rather than documented footage, the mime footage allows for more expressive performance and will give off a more light-hearted feel to the video, bringing more of a music video-type of feel rather than a documented collection of footage.

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This is a video made by 'Dave Shannon Guitar Academy', where he plays the guitar solo for 'More Than A Feeling' by Boston. 'More Than A Feeling' is an iconic 70s rock song written by Tom Scholz that I am quite familiar with and would describe as a stellar example of professional standard guitar work. When looking at the solo in particular, although it was pre-arranged, it has the perfect mix of melody and technical flow and is a prime example of how to create a solo that fits perfect with the piece it is being played in conjunction with. It uses the simple shape of the D major scale with a mixture of bends and hammer ons/pull offs, all used in a tasteful and achievable manner that puts emphasis on the full melodic capabilities of the simple major scale. This is something I would like to try and incorporate into my playing. As my track is also in a major key, I can apply the feel of this solo to my playing, and try to unlock the maximum amount of melodic expression out of a simple combination of notes.

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Boston - More Than A Feeling Solo Guitar Tab and Real Backing Track

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30/04/25

To start the recording of the electric guitar parts, I began with the main lead part of the song that is the staple riff throughout. This main riff is a simple, melodic line in A major played primarily on the highest 2 strings, that sits nicely over the top of the chords, before there is a little break where the chords change in order to break up the repeating melody. As this is the part that the whole song ties back to at the end of the jam section for the outro, I also took this time to record a short repeating lick near the end of the jam chords that I can tie in with an extra solo in order to provide an effective transition out of the jam section and into the outro section where the whole song is tied off. To record this, I simply used one of the college guitars in order to add some variety to the sound. I put it straight through the little 15 watt amplifier in the booth, which I plugged straight into the audio box into Logic Pro. The result of this was a nice, sharp and well-rounded tone for the lead line that is recognisable and highly complementary to the style of the piece.

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'Terry' is a song written and recorded by Kirsty Maccoll with a guitar solo that begins at 2:23. This is another prime example of how to use the Major scale to its full potential. In the key of E major, it starts off in the first scale shape with a few note runs, licks and finally a bend. It then moves out of this shape and moves up along the high E string before returning to conclude the solo with those familiar bends. I like the structure of this solo as it moves to a certain position, gets plenty of melody out of that position and then moves on to another position. This gives the solo a sense of dynamics and movement that I could definitely find useful as my piece is also in a major key, so I can transpose the shapes and apply this movement as I wish.

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Lead Guitar Part 2 - Harmony and Duelling Solos

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Lead Guitar Part 2 - Harmony and Duelling Solos

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01/05/25

The next part of the guitars that needed recorded were harmony parts for the main riff, and then some improvised solos for the middle 8 break and the breakdown section. For both of these sections I decided that I would have duelling guitars, one panned to the left and one to the right in order to create a guitar conversation. In this recording session, I started by recording all the harmony parts for the main riff which help to give it a much bigger and grander sound which is effective due to its pivotal role in the piece. I achieved this by primarily using the neck pickup and by putting the guitar through my pedal board, into the Line-6 amp and into Logic Pro, and for this specific part I dialled in a softer, warm tone to compliment the main riff and also added a hint of chorus to smoothen the signal. After this I recorded one half of the guitar conversation with the same setup. I changed up the tone a little bit to make it more cutting and higher gain and I also added my compression pedal to the signal just to give the sound that extra boost that it needed for these lead parts. I then recorded 3 improvised solos for the middle sections of the track and panned them all to the left.

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19/05/25

I found this video by 'Spinlight Studios' in which producer Rhys Zacher goes over how he mixes acoustic guitars. In the lead up to creating a final mix of my project, I figured that I would do some research into doing a full mix of a song. Seeing as my song is very much driven by the acoustic guitars, I figured that this video would be an interesting insight into how to mix them. It was indeed that, as he explains how he uses multiple different EQ's and Compressors, and a variety of different processes including eliminating whistle frequencies, using EQ and high/low pass shelves and filters to create boosts and cuts at different frequencies, and using compression in order to keep the dynamics of the signal consistent, subsequently disallowing the energy to drop off. I liked this video as not only does he explain the technical aspect of the processes, but he also explains his personal thought process when mixing, talking about how he uses his ears as his primary guidance and just in general providing an insight into his mindset while he mixes a track. I found all of the above to be useful and thought provoking before going into my mixing session, and I will make sure to use these techniques where appropriate.

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Try This Next Time You Mix Acoustic Guitar

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Pedal Board Setup for Guitar Conversation Lead Parts

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20/05/25

I came across this video by the YouTube channel 'The Band Guide' where video-maker Colin Cross explains the Logic Pro auxiliary channel feature, also known as buses. This is an interesting feature where you can take a track that is set to a certain channel and send the audio to a separate channel before it is sent to the master and is played out loud. He goes on to explain a couple of different ways in which this feature is used, primarily for adding effects onto multiple channels at a time so that you don't have to add all the plugins and effects onto each individual track or channel. This is most commonly used for effects like reverb, as it means instead of having lots of individual reverbs on each track that may all clash with each other, you can send all your tracks to one singular reverb channel that mimics a room or a space. This then gives the listener the impression that all your different instruments were recorded in one singular space, and allows them to complement each other much better, tying the whole mix together. This feature is going to prove very useful for my project, as all my instruments were recorded one at a time and it would use up a lot of time and computer storage space for me to go around adding effects onto each individual track when I could simply set up a few auxiliary tracks to send my audio to and mix things altogether, creating a professional sounding space that ties off my track and creates the professional sound that I was looking for.

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Logic Buses: EVERYTHING you need to know (in 6 minutes) | 5-Minute Logic Expert (Pt 12)

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Lead Guitar Part 3 - Main and Background Guitar Solos

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Lead Guitar Part 3 - Main and Background Guitar Solos

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06/05/25

In this session I recorded three different lead guitar tracks, all using the same setup. I used my own Les Paul Guitar that I put through my pedal board, into the Line 6 Spider and finally into Logic Pro. To get the different tones I would change the configuration of the pedals and the EQ on the amp to achieve different sounds.

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Pedal Board and Amp Setup For Background Guitar

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I started by recording a background guitar track for the song. This is to be a subtle guitar sound that is very dissonant and soft that is to just fill in the gaps between all the main lead parts. As I use a lot of panning in order to separate all the lead guitar tracks, in order to avoid the background guitar clashing with any other guitar sound, I decided to create 3 separate tracks for the guitar part; one panned to the left, one panned to the right and one panned centrally. That way, whenever the background guitar is playing opposite a lead piece, it is always on the contrasting side providing for a non-cluttered and balanced mix allowing the background guitar to provide the adequate backup for the main lead pieces. To achieve the sound I wanted, I dialled in a softer tone, with a slight bit of low-gain distortion and a chorus effect, I got a soft, weepy sound that ultimately fills out its purpose effectively and provides the perfect, subtle balance.

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Panned Background Guitar Tracks Titled 'Adlib Guitar'

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Pedal Board Setup For Second Guitar Conversation

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Next I recorded the second part of the guitar duet. I edited the tone so that there was less chorus and a bit more gain to make more of a driving sound. I then recorded multiple improvised solos over the gaps in the guitar duet section and panned them all to the right to fully create the conversational style between the 2 guitars. Using multiple different standard shapes in the A major scale, I alternated the use of all of them and was able to achieve an interesting mix of vocalities and licks in order to achieve a sense of fluidity in my playing that would resemble voices again to achieve the conversational style of guitar duet for these sections.

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Next I recorded my main solo for the big jam section in the middle of the song. For this solo I wanted the full solo to be completely improvised with a maximum amount of energy and melodic expression throughout. Another goal I had in mind was to extend the length of my solo, as a typical convention of the southern blues and jam style music is to have the improvisational pieces last for extended lengths of time. So to achieve this, I firstly dialled in my tone by adding more gain to the signal, and also putting on my compression pedal which adds a boost to the mid-range frequencies and sharpens up the distortion. After this, I recorded around 10 takes of purely improvised solos at around 4.5 mins long each, once again using a variety of the A Major scale shapes across the whole guitar neck and incorporating techniques including bends, vibrato, hammer-ons and pull-offs. After I chose the best take and the video that accompanied and added it into the project.

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(See Project Update 4)

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07/05/25

13/05/25

22/05/25

At this point in the project, I was ready to get some of my classmates to come and do a solo. I spent some time in the lead up to deadline, both in class and out of class, approaching both my bandmates and my classmates and asking if they would like to collaborate on my project. During this time, I managed to secure a handful of different solos from my peers and added them into the project, whilst also remembering to video record a plentiful of footage to use in the video.

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20/05/25

During this session, I began the final mixing stage of my project. At this point, I had gathered all the collaborations that I could get and had arranged them so that they flow effortlessly between each other. It was now time to produce a final mix for my song before creating the video. I after conducting a bit of research, I started with the acoustic guitars. I decided that I would create an auxiliary channel that I could send both the acoustic guitar tracks to, and mix them together. I sent the tracks via bus 1 and title the channel 'Acoustic Mix'. I then took the EQ and compression I had already applied to the individual acoustic tracks, copied it over to the Mix channel and removed them as I no longer needed them. I then used the EQ to sharpen up a lot of the high frequencies that were the driving force behind the sound and made a few cuts at the appropriate frequencies also. I then dialled in the compression so that both of the guitar tracks didn't dip in volume or energy. This compression was also useful as it meant that when I would adjust the volume of the acoustic guitars, it would remain consistent and not be quieter in places saving me a whole lot of time going to different sections of the song and adjusting it accordingly. Again as the driving force behind the track, the acoustic guitars need to be very prominent throughout, and mixing them together was very useful in achieving a purely consistent and grand sound that I needed from them.

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Audio Channels and Auxiliary Mixer Channels for Bass and Drums

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20/05/25

After mixing the acoustic guitars, I followed a similar process for mixing the rest of the instruments. Obviously, for some of the instruments such as piano and organ, there was no need to use any auxiliary tracks as I could just put the compression and EQ straight onto the individual channels, however for the bass and the drums I did indeed set up auxiliary mixer channels. For the bass, I used this for putting an EQ and a compressor on both the DUI and the mic audio so that I could mix them together, and for the drums I used this for compression and for a touch of distortion just to make the drums punch through a little bit more clearly. This also helped the drums sound like a singular kit rather than lots of piano rolled drum sample sounds from Logic which majorly contributed to the professional sound of the rhythm section. At this point, I also created a dedicated auxiliary channel for reverb, where I could send all the audio again to create a singular space and a sound that would resemble that of a band all together in a room. I added on a reverb that mimics the sound of a tight, compact recording room to ensure that all the instruments are tied together nicely and are complementing each other rather than battling for space. I decided that in order to make the lead parts really shine through and sit nicely atop the rhythm section, I would create a second separate reverb that I could send only the lead guitar parts to. On the second reverb, I put in a reverb that was a little bit grander but still not overpowering to ensure that the lead parts are very detailed and again, sit nicely on top of the rest of the instruments.

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Auxiliary Reverb Channels Titled 'Reverb' on Bus 2 and 'Reverb 2' on Bus 5

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Looking back at this year so far, I have developed a multitude of my skills as a musician. The performance aspect of the course has allowed me to focus largely on my playing and performing, whilst the musicianship class and individual guitar lessons have broadened my musical theory knowledge. In the capturing and creating class, I have made a great progression in both my technological skills and equally my creative output. Before starting the course, my knowledge of DAW’s and recording processes and equipment was minimal compared to where I am now, and I have had a lot of fun developing these skills, which has ultimately led to me choosing the tech assessment pathway.

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In this project, I am intending to create a single produced recording of a song that is of my own composition. The song will be in the style of blues based, jam-band style music that originates from the southern states of America, and has been made popular by different artists, particularly the Allman Brothers Band. In the middle of the track, I intend there to be a large solo section with an upbeat rhythm and a simple and repeating chord progression, in which I will give the opportunity to other students on my course to each take a solo over in a backing track type manner that is conventional with this type of music. I then intend to finish off the song with a similar melody and structure as in the beginning to end the track with a sense of familiarity. I intend to do this using Logic Pro as my DAW, and a variety of different recording techniques on multiple different instruments, such as acoustic guitar, electric guitar and piano/keys. I hope to use my mixing and mastering skills in order to make the standard of the track sound professionally up to scratch and finally, I would like to video record each performance and compile them together as an accompaniment to the song.

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I Intend to evaluate my project by comparing it to other professionally made compositions of a similar style and analysing the similarities and differences between the two pieces. I will keep track of the creative process and collaborative efforts by writing down a breakdown of and any feelings I have on each recording session or rehearsal.

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Auxiliary Channel Reverb for Rhythm Section

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Auxiliary Channel Reverb 2 for Lead Guitar

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All Lead Guitar Mixer Channels, Plus Auxiliary Mixer Channel for Background Adlib Guitar

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21/05/25

During this session I finished off my mixing by finalising the all the lead guitar parts for the track. I had already created the reverb channel for all the lead parts, so I started off by sending all the audio to the reverb channel 'Reverb 2' via bus 5. I didn't use many auxiliary tracks for the lead parts, as they are all assigned a single track for each different guitar part, with the exception of the background guitar or 'Adlib Guitar' which I split between 3 differently panned tracks after I recorded them and mixed with an auxiliary track titled 'Adlib Guitar Mix'. For mixing the lead guitar parts, I simply added EQ's which I used to boost the dominant frequencies of each tone and to make cuts at the frequencies that clash with others. I also added compression onto each channel with a fast attack around 10ms and slower release around 100 - 200ms which helps to keep the signal steady and consistent allowing for a lot more control of the volume. On some of the tracks, like the 'Harmony Guitar' and 'Duel Lead Left' (which I recorded in the same session), there was a prominent, high-frequency buzz on the recorded audio which was quite apparent in the mix. To combat this, I added a second EQ onto the channel and made a major cut at around 6k - 8k Hz, specifically using my ear to figure out where the buzz was at its loudest and adding little adjustments, which finally eliminated the problem entirely. For some of the solos done by my classmates, they simply used a Logic Pro amp preset and plugged their guitars in for their tone. Seeing as these presets automatically add in lots of effects onto their channels, I didn't want to mess with them too much, however again there was a little bit of clashing with certain frequencies in the EQ, so I did make some small edits whilst making sure to not change anything detrimental to the tone or sound of the audio.

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Stereo Output Channel with Mastering Assistant and The Master Audio Channel

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22/05/25

Finally, before bouncing out the project and getting ready to finalise the video, I selected the 'Stereo Out' channel and added on the 'Mastering Assistant' plugin. This plugin proved to be an absolute game-changer when it came to finalising my project. This plugin uses uploaded presets in conjunction with AI technology to take a scan of the track and make slight dynamic changes to the whole track and acting in the place of a mastering engineer, leaving the project fully mastered to a high standard. In order to use this, I selected the loudest and most full section of the track, opened the plugin, and selected 'Analyse'. Then after a second or two, the plugin immediately kicked in having chose and instantly applied the changes, and the change was immediately noticeable. I had a quick look through some of the presets that you could select but ultimately just left it as it was. After this, I also had previously come across some of the presets in the channel EQ plugin that were applicable for mastering, so I had a look at some of them and ended up choosing the 'Final Mix - Rock' preset and applying it to the Stereo Out channel as well. Overall these plugins combined allowed for an incredible and efficient master that was the final push my project needed in order to sound up to the professional standard I hoped to achieve.

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22/05/25

After mixing my whole track, I knew that there was still lengths to go in order to achieve the professional standard I wanted for my project. One of the processes I could do to achieve this would be to master the final mix. This process is quite long as you need to export the whole track as a .WAV file and then add on EQ and compression among other things in order to give the song its final push into professionalism, and I simply did not have the time to do this. At this point, my lecturer Scott overheard me and showed me an interesting feature that Logic Pro has in which it will create a master automatically for you. This is called the 'Mastering Assistant' and it uses AI technology to scan your whole track and use different toolsets in order to produce a fully mastered version of your track based on programmed presets. I can definitely see myself using this feature as it will save me a lot of time on long processes that I do not have the time for, and will provide as an effective shortcut towards my final deadline.

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The Official 'Out The Box Fest' Poster 2025

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During my time working on my project, I was also involved in the live performance unit for my course. Before the final project I was placed in as a guitarist into a couple of bands that were set to play Edinburgh College's very first 'Out The Box Fest' in May of 2025. Despite choosing to be assessed on my tech project, I was still allowed the opportunity to play in these bands, which allowed me a multitude of exciting opportunities such as a Music Box Session and performing at the actual festival, which I enjoyed a whole lot.

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A Collection of Pictures of me Performing at the Mash House with Franek At The Disco 15/05/25

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A Couple of Pictures of me Performing at the Mash House with Disco InFearno 15/05/25

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Mastering Presets in the Channel EQ Plugin

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22/05/25

The final stage I had to complete to finish the project was to create the video. I was very fortunate enough to get some help from my lecturer Scott in order to complete this. During this final session, Scott joined me in the booth whilst I was completing the final mix and master of the track where he brought in his laptop and his external hard drive. As I had no previous experience with video-editing software, Scott was kind enough to offer his own resources and experience in video-editing and completed the video for me. After sharing with him the complete folder of footage I had collected over the past month, and the finished and exported .WAV file of the song itself, he uploaded them onto his laptop and created a session on the video-editing software 'Adobe Premiere Pro'. In this session, he first of all added in the audio of the finished song, and then together we went through the video footage trying to make sure we had enough to cover the whole song. After sifting through all the unorganised footage, we eventually developed a handful of different layers in order to fill the whole duration of the project and ensured that the video and the audio synced up correctly and as closely as possible. After this, Scott was kind enough to take it all home and resume his editing out of college hours, coming in the next day with a completed, edited video for the final stage of my project. This was immensely kind of him, and the end product he created for the project was at an incredibly high standard and effectively tied off the whole project all together.

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Final Project - Completed with Video - 23/05/25

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Final Project - Completed with Video - 23/05/25