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I plan to create something instrumental that is focused mostly on guitar. Most likely based on a synth chord progression over a quieter beat. The mood will be quite chilled with a stronger more impactful ending. I'm drawing influences from bands such as The Covasettes and Stray Kids.

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I was quite nervous before the presentation as I hadn’t been able to put as muck preparation in as I had planned.

I was surprised at how long I managed to talk for as I usually find public speaking very daunting and don’t say much.

I feel I could’ve been better prepared beforehand and would’ve done better with more practice. I also could’ve thought about how to link my points to how my band had been operating during practice as everything I said was very general.

Next time I would just want to make sure I’m more prepared and won’t leave parts of it until the last minute.

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Before the performance I was quite nervous about the solo in ‘Play That Funky Music’ as it was something original that I had written for the band and I wasn’t sure what others would think of it.

I was confident about the rest of that song however and it is a song that I overall really enjoy playing.

I felt the solo at the end of ‘Zombie’ went really well and that the song sounded good as a whole.

The timing in ‘You Really Got Me’ could’ve been better especially coming out of the choruses and I found I got slightly lost during those parts.

I also felt the start of my solo in ‘Play That Funky Music Music’ could’ve been stronger as the first bend didn’t really sound properly.

Next time I would spend more time practicing songs like ‘You Really Got Me’ individually so that I find it easier to slot in with the rest of the band during sections I find difficult.

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I'm not really sure the track is what I had originally imagined but I do quite like how it has turned out.

The ending doesn't have a buildup in the way I had planned but I do like how it returns to a main riff towards the end.

Due to technical problems I was unable to get the track finished during college time and therefore did not have access to a MIDI keyboard, this meant I had to learn how to create software instrument tracks through Logic instead of with a keyboard as I have done in the past. I feel this is a useful skill to have started learning as I may not always have access to the hardware I would find easier to use.

I also did not have access to my bass guitar and only had my electric guitar so I also learned how to transpose a guitar part down to act as a bass part.

Next time I will make sure to have backups of my project saved so that if anything happens to my files I won't lose all of my progress again. I would also want to have a more solid plan at the start as I changed my mind multiple times about the direction I wanted to take the track in.

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I would probably have something quite calm or mystical at the beginning, which becomes more intense when the witch arrives. I think something orchestral, this would allow for a flourish of strings when the witch appears. Something similar showing tension and suspense could be used when Mary's bag gets taken. This could then calm slightly and the tension could ease as the witch vanishes again. The music would be instrumental.

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5 minutes nonstop…

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V1:

I see myself in her

Chaotic and confused

It’s not like I really know her

So what is there to lose?

CH:

There’s something in her smile

Like a wild fantasy

Would I go the extra mile?

Or would it end in tragedy?

V2:

Drowning in emotion

Can’t see a way out

It’s like I’m swimming in an ocean

But it’s filled with my own doubt

CH:

There’s something in her smile

Like a wild fantasy

Would I go the extra mile?

Or would it end in tragedy?

M8:

Our laughs

Our chats

Our silly banter

My fears aside

I come alive

CH:

There’s something in her smile

Like a wild fantasy

Would I go the extra mile?

Or would it end in tragedy?

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I found this was quite challenging in some places as it was no longer working freely but instead working with the film which created a few difficulties with timing and making the flow work properly.

My plan worked quite well as it fit the mood and the characters. I also really like how the start turned out as the little flourish when the baddie appears sounds quite good.

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For the first 37 seconds I would want there to be some quite slow but dark music, maybe piano based, nothing too tense but something that hints at a darker turn. I would add certain sounds in the background that I want to intentionally stand out such as the sound of a clock ticking, which could then slow down and warp as the character realises there's something happening. I want it to seem as though from his perspective, time is slowing down and all other background noise fades as his full attention turns to the black hole.

Then past the 37 second mark when he drops his cup I plan to add a whispering type sound as though there are voices coming from the black hole, calling out to him, I would plan to make the voices a recurring sound at other points (and potentially add a voice that could be the main character's after the gets trapped in the safe at around 2:11).

I'll source most of my sounds from the Apple library on Logic and also from Pixabay. I may also choose to record some sounds in a booth such as the sounds of the paper moving around, and the noises the printer would make at the beginning of the clip.

I may also add a sound of the cup dropping through the black hole such as the plastic hitting the surface underneath.

I might also add an "otherworldly" sort of sound for whenever anything passes through the black hole with the hope that it may add to the mystery aspect and make the atmosphere a bit darker.

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Band Name: Under Shadows

Members Present: Me, Luca, Sophie, Rory, Anna, AJ, Dez, Cayden, Kieran, David, Alex & Nadia.

No One Absent (Although Kieran had to leave early).

Worked on both Sweet Child O' Mine & Sk8er Boi.

We spent most of our practice working on Sweet Child O' Mine as it is the more challenging of our songs. We practiced the section from the third chorus to the end, specifically figuring out how we manage without being able to play the full guitar solo. We discussed potentially adding a drum solo instead or just cutting part of the guitar solo and adding a signal for the interlude section to begin.

I found it helpful running through the song as it gave me a chance to play the solo parts I'd been working on at home with the rest of the band.

We also worked on Sk8er Boi towards the end as the vocalists were struggling with the intensity of practising Sweet Child O' Mine over and over. This was helpful as it allowed us to identify that the interlude, last chorus and outro need some work.

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Under Shadows

Members Present: Me, Luca, Rory, Anna, AJ, Dez, Cayden, Kieran, David, Nadia.

Members Absent: Sophie, Alex.

We worked on both songs.

We practiced the bridge to Sk8er Boi as this was a section we had struggled with last week. This is the song out of the two that I am most confident in and will only need to look at bars 51+52 and the two bars before the final chorus.

We also looked at Sweet Child O' Mine, I had completed the first solo after the first chorus and was able to practice that with the whole band. Since this practice I have got the solo after the second chorus done and am now looking at the section of the main solo after the section Cayden has now learnt.

We also practised the transitions between the songs a few times to ensure a smooth performance when it comes to actually playing these songs live.

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Me, Anna, David, Cayden, Rory and Dez.

We looked at 2 different ideas, Anna brought one in that she had been working on herself that included a basic chord progression and lyrics

We then as a band created another song from scratch.

Lyrics:

(These lyrics were written the next week as we weren't happy with the original idea and I don't have a copy of those lyrics)

Verse 1:

If you come with me

Maybe there you'll see

A bit of my magic world

Promise you there isn't cold

Chorus:

And if you don't you won't have so much fun And if you don't then you'll regret choosing not to come

Verse 2:

If you come with me

We will stay there free release our fantasy

And drift away in ecstasy

Chords:

A, Em, D, G

The main thing I did was use the CAGED system on guitar to work out alternate places on the neck to play the chords so there was some variation between the two guitars.

I found the session quite frustrating at the start as there were some disagreements about what we were doing and not everyone was happy with what we had at the beginning.

The next thing I'd like to work on is adding some variation to the chords and making the chorus stand out more as currently there is little that set s the chorus apart from the verses. As I was mostly focused on what I was doing on guitar I found myself unable to always tell if we were playing a verse or a chorus.

I would also like to look at the possibility of adding a solo as I feel this could add more variation and interest to the song.

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Title: Come With Me

The lyrics were written by the vocalists, mostly by Anna, Alex and Sophie.

Dez helped come up the the main chord progression with input from Anna, Cayden, AJ and myself.

We worked together on deciding how to create some bigger contrast between the verses and the chorus as initially they were too similar, and I found I didn't really know when the song changed from verse to chorus as I was still playing the same thing in the first version of the song. In the first rehearsal we had with the whole group there we were able to discuss this and change up the chorus so it was more distinct.

We also found that we didn't like the original lyrics written the first week so we worked on putting together some new lyrics.

During a break in the second session I had to pull AJ and Cayden aside as I had realised they were both playing open chords. We were then able to discuss how to diversify the chord voicings, ad we settled on having Aj playing the open chords (thinking they would sound best on acoustic) and Cayden was playing power chords in the same places I'd been the week before. I was then able to figure out a new way of playing the chords on the higher strings to add a different sound to the guitar parts.

Through this I've realised that songwriting can involve lot of trial and error, and that sometimes you maybe need to try out an idea, see how it goes and if you don't like the outcome then you can go back to the drawing board and see what changes can be made to make it better.

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I was actually quite stressed about this performance, the band had chosen Sweet Child O' Mine which is a few grades above what I feel I am able to challenge myself with currently.

This worry was added to by the fact that I hadn't been able to get the second part of the main solo down and had only made the decision to write something of my own to play the night before. This did not give me enough time to properly learn the part I wrote. (Music attached to post)

Going into the performance I was confident about our other two songs (Sk8er Boi & Come With Me) as they were easier and Sk8er Boi especially was quite fun to play.

The main thing I think needs improved on is the fact that during the performance you couldn't hear the two mai guitars (me & Cayden) properly, this made the solo sections in Sweet Child O' Mine sound kinda weird as you had to strain to be able to hear either guitar.

I felt that I could have improved upon the main solo in Sweet Child O' Mine with some more practice and also by playing something that's more achievable in the time we have to learn everything. With more time as well I think the solo I wrote might've been more in time with the drums as I felt it sounded kind of out of place in some sections.

I also feel that next time I can better use my pedalboard as I've only had it a few weeks so it's been difficult getting used to using the wah pedal whilst soloing.

I'd also like to work on my improvisation as I left a 10 bar section in the middle 8 were I could improvise a bit as I again, didn't have the time to learn the original part for this section of the song.

During the performance I found that my nerves got the better of me and I forgot to actually use the music I had written out. I feel the solo itself went quite poorly in the performance even compared to a video I have from practice earlier in the day (link attached in post beneath)

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Overall I think I managed to follow my plan quite well. The music in the intro isn't dark like I'd planned but I feel it fits well as it gives me the feeling of a kind of boredom at the monotony of working in an office so I feel this is a good change.

I found it quite interesting trying to source certain sounds as they're not all that common (such as the printer) and I also found it was quite difficult due to my hatred of certain noises which made finding things that worked for the eating and the whispers quite hard to do well...

Next time I want to put a bit more time into the music as I settled with the piano parts I made because I was finding it quite hard to create the effect with the strings that I was originally going for and I didn't have enough time to keep trying to do this so I had to change my approach. I do still however like how the piano parts turned out.

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To combat my anxiety before performing I will try breathing exercises which I know to have been effective with my anxiety around other things. I will also try stretching to ease of some of the muscle tension as well as trying a bit of movement to ease my overall nerves.

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If I make a mistake in a future performance I will say something short and silly to myself such as "Beep boop" to silly myself into not panicking...

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I played the song Dean Town by Vulfpeck on guitar. I planned it so I could mostly be playing the bass section on guitar using an octave pedal, so I was properly covering the part. I would then be able to switch it off to cover the keys part until the final part that is played on guitar in the original song.

On the day, I had been stressed about not being able to play the main theme of the song well, owing to nerves. I decided to ask for the backing track at 95% speed instead of full speed. I felt this in the end was the wrong decision as despite the slower speed I feel the first iteration of the main theme was quite messy. I feel if I had put more thought into this decision then I wouldn't have made it, as I found it almost easier to play faster than normal when practising.

By the end of the song, I did feel I was playing better than at the start, as my nerves had settled more, but I do still feel it could've sounded better at full speed.

Next time, I would want to spend more time practising as I feel I wasn't spending enough time on this song specifically, as I was still putting a lot of time into the songs I'm doing with the full band. I would want to work on playing it at faster speed and also learn some more effective warm-up methods, as I feel I didn't warm-up very well before my performance. I would also want to use the method of practising faster than the original track then playing it normally again as I've found this method very useful with learning solos in the past, and I feel I could've utilised it more with this song as it is already fast.

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I was very confident going into my performance, as I'm sure you can tell from the above image that ended up on my Instagram story... (it's fine, Gregor was entertained)

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I only seriously started looking at my solo just over a week before the performance because I got distracted by learning my part to help out with David's solo...

In my private guitar lessons we looked at the song (Friday 30/01 + 06/02) where I was helped to clean up some of the lines that were a bit messy and also we played the song from 80% speed up to 120%. This is a method that has apparently been used by my teacher's band Neon Moss with this specific song to try and get it up to speed... (at 120% he said to me that this is what they'd do with the band and I asked why he was doing it to me and he just said "Same reason we do it to Gregor, to annoy you.")

I utilised this same method a few times when practising alone in a booth after classes on the Monday (02/02) and again on the Wednesday.

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After having jokingly started learning an acoustic version of Zombie by Yungblud to play at Whistlebinkies (that never happened), David choose this song for his solo performance.

It took a bit of doing as we struggled with where the vocals were supposed to come in and us both keeping in time with each other. After a few weeks and some slightly strange practise hours (second picture definitely wasn't taken at 4am...) we decided to play at the acoustic open mic hosted at The Black Rose Tavern on Rose Street.

This was the night before David's solo and served as a final practise, and a chance to gain a bit of experience playing somewhere different. Everyone there was really supportive and even asked us to play another song, which we didn't have prepared...

This is definitely something I would like to do again as it was very enjoyable even if it was quite nerve-racking at first.

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I found this quite challenging as it's a newer skill to me, I do feel that it was easier than in the past as I had a clear starting point (volume + panning first) and it was easier to work through everything like that.

I would definitely like to spend some more time learning about compression and EQ in the future as these are things I haven't looked at much previously and have found quite interesting.

I also found it an interesting challenge trying to mix using different sound systems so that I wasn't just using my usual headphones (which are designed to boost the bass), and was able to gain a better understanding of how the mix was sounding by using different headphones or my Mac speakers.