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Breakdown points;

I wanted to write a whole new song and use the move from Island life in Jersey, to living in Brighton a city.

Outline to be written this week, with some chords and lyrics.

Wanting to perform the live version with my band, all waterbed and Brighton based, to get the whole band style and exactly how I’d like it to sound.

Resources I think to achieve what I want all is provided kindly by Waterbear, using small pond for practices and recording. I also want to do all instrumentation and vocals myself, except Drums which I will use the drummer from my band.

Also swell as songwriting I have got the modules of vocals and guitar modules on canvas to make sure I’m in the best possible position to translate how I want it to sound.

I’m open to collaborate on this or even or other songs.

I am excited to take on all learning aspects and take in as much skill and knowledge as possible.

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26.9: songwriting task using the lyrics 'As I walk this land of broken dreams, I have visions of many things'

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26.9: songwriting task using the lyrics 'As I walk this land of broken dreams, I have visions of many things'

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For our first songwriting session we were given the homework to write a song, using the lyrics 'As I walk this land of broken dreams, I have visions of many things' at somepoint. My lyrics are below;

The way I feel,

something i can’t explain.

no clouds that fill the sky,

no words can the bear the pain

I look in your eye

Baby I’m lost for words

maybe im here for you,

maybe we held our nerve

As I walk this land of broken dreams

I have Many Visions of many things

I walk down these cobbled streets

horse blinkered vision

Just you and me

Oh oh oh i’ve never felt this before

I always rush away, make sure i close the door

You can stay the night, although it doesn’t seem much

i can’t wait, to feel your delicate touch

When I go back

Not a good word to say

I won’t but

Cause you want me to stay

I know that

When I look in your eyes

I feel your fire

There ain’t no compromise

Oh oh oh i’ve never felt this before

I always rush away, make sure i close the door

You can stay the night, although it doesn’t seem much

i can’t wait, to feel your delicate touch

No words can say

No words would do

What I would give

To be with you

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26.9: This was my first writing spark from our very first writing session update

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26.9: This was my first writing spark from our very first writing session update

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27.9: First play through of Beautiful People

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27.9: First play through of Beautiful People

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Here is my first attempt at new song Beautiful People.

verse chords of C, Bb, F, F

Chorus being C, E, A, F, E

These chords give off a full fun feeling.

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first draft beautiful people SPARK 27.9.22

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28.9: First LPW showcase of start of new song 'Beautiful People'

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28.9: First LPW showcase of start of new song 'Beautiful People'

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Here is my first play through of Beautiful People in LPW.

Being older than most of the students here, I have a lot of gigging experience, but this made me a lot more nervous that whole gigs usually do, I think this is going to be great for development - playing to seriously talented musicians and getting some honest feedback.

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28.9: Feedback from performance of 'Beautiful People' LPW

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28.9: Feedback from performance of 'Beautiful People' LPW

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I have taken on this feedback a lot, i feel in writing this song in C, rather than A I subconsciously held back on the vocals due to in being unfamiliar to me, but going forward to really show my songs at my best i need to be firing in at 100%, or its not worth doing - will also be opening my mouth more when I sing and working on my breathing.

I will also be looking at working on adding a bridge and solo and working to add some different dynamics to make the song more interesting.

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I’ve completed my first week of waterbear and have enjoyed every minute of it so far!

First update: had great songwriting sessions in which I started writing new son ‘Beautiful; People’ which is a mixture of a punky sound with a 2000’s raw indie feel - it was inspired from first of all my move from Jersey to Brighton and a bit from past UK gigs and tours i did with my band. The meaning of the songs lyrics are that its so cool to be in and see cities, but the thing that makes all cities special is the people and how they are the real ones to shape it. I plan to re-write the breakdown/bridge and really work harder on the dynamics (this is something i some to read back in a few months time and feel i have done.)

Steve Hilier also gave a great session and gave me some real food for thought with the fact of starting songwriting with lyrics then the music, although i have done this in the past, i usually default to the opposite and this is something i would like to play about with and have started with on this weeks homework writing - write a song including the lyrics ‘As I walk this land of broken dreams, I have visions of many things.’ (I will add the lyrics on a post on here).

With the Industry I have decided to complete my assessment on Arctic Monkeys x Rolling Stones, 2 of my absolute favourite bands, i can already see so much to write about and possibly the best thing about these bands is that they’re so commercially popular there is information everywhere - I would also like to have more 1-2-1s with Rob as he has great business knowledge aswell as having played some of the biggest line ups of his generation.

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Started writing a song for my project, I have written 2 Verses and a Chorus for this song. I have wrote this song in the key of C, rather than A & E which I’d usually default to, to test myself, feel outside my comfort zone and work like this while I have so much support.

Played at the LPW, good feedback, but I want to work on the feedback.

My Ideas for the song is called Beautiful People, about the people of Brighton and how I have felt so welcomed when moving to a new city.

I’m aiming to get into Small Pond Studio and getting working on this. Looking to get Alex Searle on the drums and play the rest of this myself.

Aiming for Mid-October to have the Demo sorted on my DAW. Possibly after get into the Studio and have recording session.

I want to have a cool sounding live version recorded in LPW to get for the band. House band have been great, but id love to use my band as they know the style I write.

I need to push forward and take in as much production knowledge from lessons, production books and YouTube.

Possibly work with someone in the class to co-write.

I have been working on the dynamics on the song, adding an offbeat in the second verse.

Skillsets gained;

-Working under pressure with the housebound and being more of a leader.

-I have had to be direct and tell them what to play. Rather than when I’d give my band ownership of thier own parts.

-the Production I am improving, and will continue and aim to get to being radio standard rather than DIY

Challenges;

-Production skills

-Writing out of my comfort zone.

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This was me making the tracks alongside week 2 on Production tools working on a 4 track mix and using panning on my DAW, I found this very fun and exciting.

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Here I am looking at my strengths and how I can use them and weaknesses and how they may affect my career in the music scene.

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4.10: Songwriting task - Seperation Lyrics

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4.10: Songwriting task - Seperation Lyrics

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For this task our objective was to take the song name 'Seperation' and i took as being the top-line (lyric) writer and working with Will I thought it may be a good idea to take the view from the person making the decision to leave and ending the relationship, as there are already so many songs already written from the heartbroken prospective:

its about time we say goodbye

you act like its a surprise

i can’t give you no more tries

you might play dumb, but we both no why

you beg and bed and whinge and cry

i can see the scared look in your eye

i wish you’d stop wasting my time

its all retained for the mighty I

make sure you take your things and leave the key

dont expect any more help from me

i got my genie and made my wish

cause i couldn’t keep going along with this

separated and i could cry

but these aint sad tears in my eye

i feel so free and i can’t lie

if you would’ve left sooner, i really wouldn’t have mind

try to get them on your side

use all of your time to bide

but first let me decide

should i ego out tonight or just get a thai

make sure you take your things and leave the key

dont expect any more help from me

i got my genie and made my wish

cause i couldn’t keep going along with this

people only seem to wanna play the victim

but thats so hard when you've got such thick skin

i never ever really seen the appeal

and my only thought tonights, i wanna seal the deal

make sure you take your things and leave the key

dont expect any more help from me

i got my genie and made my wish

cause i couldn’t keep going along with this

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This was me making the tracks alongside week 3 on Production tools using MIDI, carrying on from the week before, but adding a MIDI melody line which was both very helpful, but also a lot of fun!

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Breakdown:

Planning for formative and summarise this week by taking the deadline and back planning on the deadlines to have all formative assignments in.

I have worked on my SWOT analysis and its brutally honest which I liked - see attached from the last week.

Want to use LPW to shadow Lewis and gain some live sound knowledge for future.

Confident with my playing and singing, but am working on singing in the key of C and working to get stronger and making sure I am fully confident for live and studio.

Aim for next week to have DAW recorded Demo.

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This is to how how I am keeping on top of Flip Learning and making the most of the course and keeping unto date.

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Breakdown;

Music industry, use of the GIBB cycle and using it in video.

Production - doing MIDI, effects and Panning was very helpful to use to make space in the mix and use in my demo.

Demo complete to how I want it for formative.

I need the dynamics to work better for summative to show the difference in city life, making it a lot better.

I have added a solo which breaks with solo more emphasised over verse chords of C, Bb, F, F

Chorus being C, E, A, F, E

These chords give off a full fun feeling.

I have a full pelted stabby first verse, but the second being Bass and Guitar playing off each other, chorus being as big as possible, but fully dropping for the chords behind solo to let that shine through and be emphasized.

I am still working on a different bridge to complete the song, with a different chord sequence and more spoken melody.

We ddi tension and release in songwriting which was fantastic, which I want to add.

I went to music theory this week to try to expand on my knowledge.

Concluded, am going to improve and work on finale from songwriting using tension and release to practice.

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This was my risk assessment.

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For recoding Demo Track

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I tried to change up the second verse dynamics and I feel it really went well here - next job is to change up the drums!

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This was a bit of fun we did together as a 'post gig interview' manner and just wanted to give how I felt after playing the song to give a better insight.

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Breakdown;

Risk assessment - see last week.

This was good as my aim is also to take on running events, and this is helpful for them,.

My Mac died on me, so I lost all of my demo and assessment - this needs to e re-done now and I will be using Waterbear resources to re-record ASAP.

I got up again in LPW and this was the best yet, the feedback was really positive. Improvements were to give it more grit, which I usually can although I feel I am still finding my voice in C with this and playing with the house band. I also need to be more vocal with the houseband and get this played more powerchords and punky, rather than so poppy and full major and happy.

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You have chosen two very interesting acts to study, and have found very intriguing ways to compare them.

Picking up on them both starting as covers bands is a great launching place, and one that lends itself to an interesting study of how both developed from that base. Both acts are steeped in the music they love and that influenced them, and this shines through in their stories.

You have also picked up on the roles that their record labels played in their success, and there is an interesting study to be made here. You mention correctly that Decca was a major label whereas Domino is an indie, however it could be an idea to see what being a major meant then, and how that compares to now. Did Decca have the financial clout that it would do now its part of the Universal group, or was it more akin to the clout that Domino now has?

Both acts broke through in fairly unique ways, and obviously Arctic Monkeys did so in the age of the internet. whereas the Sones did not. What were the different challenges they had to overcome, and how did they get heard? I look forward to you looking further into how these campaigns were executed.

Both acts are also very much known as from their home towns. It would be insightful to look into how they have used their cities to help lift their careers.

You reference list is well presented and you have cited your sources correctly in the text.

This is a very good start to your work on these acts. You have identified interesting points of comparison, I look forward to seeing you further develop them, and discuss who what you have learned can be applied to your own career. It has the makings of a very interesting study. Keep it up!

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1.11 - Spark Task 'I Can't Get Around You'.

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1.11 - Spark Task 'I Can't Get Around You'.

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This was a task where i worked in a group to write a song with the name 'I Just Can't Get Around You', where we had to add as many hooks as possible. We aimed for hooks on the 'Again, again, again' as BV, but also the guitar riff which comes and goes throughout.

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Excited for formative feedback

I was writing through Development week, I changed and made a new chord part - worked also on breaking 2nd verse up making guitar play against guitar and drum change.

I was working on Harvard referencing, used Cite for me website

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Song written in groups about any side of relationsip

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This is an enjoyable song that you have performed with enthusiasm and energy. There are various production ideas I’d like you consider in the development of this song. Your main guitar sound is highly driven which means there is a lack of dynamic information in the recording. Consider reducing the amount of overdrive/distortion: this will enable the guitar player to create dynamic changes in his or her playing whilst retaining the distorted sound for the musical peaks in the song. Please ensure that you mix the drums louder in your completed mix as they are currently almost entirely obscured by other instrumentation. The walking bass line in the verse sections seem to reduce the energy in this arrangement, I would consider rewriting this part avoiding the eight note ‘walking bass’ feel which isn’t entirely appropriate for this style. I would also suggest this song be played at a faster tempo to retain the energy required for a successful recording.

YOUR DEVELOPMENT DIARY

This is a good diary where I feel that you are reflecting on your experiences and development very well. I was particularly pleased that you referenced a variety of songs, not just the song you were concentrating on for this assessment. The inclusion of discussion of multiple songs make it much easier for your assessor to determine how your work is progressing. Your use of video recordings is good and appropriate. I would suggest that you include some further discussion of how your work may be changing and improving (or not as the case may be). Well done.

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Feedback, I was very happy with (see post from week)

I want to work on the bassline, the drum volume and the mixing qualities.

Working on new demo with better dynamics to take to studio for references once Mac is repaired.

I got up in LPW and worked on stuff I was feedback and pushed the dynamics and drums (this week uploaded) which I feel has come a long way since first tries

Small pond booked for summative recording and very excited.

Stuff I want to work on going forward is the vocal placement via YouTube, books I ordered and podcasts. - also been given great advice from Jade.

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This was me doing first parts of EQ on tracks in Production tools.

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Here is an example of some of the guitar warm ups I do before recording or performing. I used my physical Metronome.

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Mic’d up drum kit - I used the close mic technique, and I was so happy with the results, its as I was looking for using Chelsea Dagger by The Fratellis as reference, were tight sounding punchy drums, which compliment my guitar, bass and vocal sound, which is very punchy

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Set up amp tone, I wanted to go simple but effective, looking for that raw, happy but still partial distorted in a bouncy way. This came out exactly as I wanted.

I also found a real crisp 'Fender' tone to compliment the clean guitar parts, although its sometimes seen as too much with a high treble I decided to stick to my guns and push that.

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This has been a really good productive week - I went into the studio this week and felt I had a really good session, I brought in the Drummer of my band Alex Searle, Level 6 Waterbear, I quickly got the Drums mic’d up to how I wanted, I used close drum icing method I learnt from the Canvas flip learning and got them sounding really crisp, so that the drive could shine through and got this knocked out in 2 takes. Next I got the bass tone I wanted, to sound thick and clean and guitars for both dirty and clean. Unfortunately however, due to just recovering from tonsillitis had to carry over the vocals, but do have the Waterbear Mixing suite and Vocal Booth booked for Tuesday 5.30pm next week.

Identifying the target audience of my track was a tricky one, as mentioned in the early diary entries that my musical inspirations for this track were the naughties indie, the likes of the Fratellis ‘Costello Music’ album, Early Arctic Monkeys and the Enemy, with a mixture of punk and rock influences. Going off the back my target audience would be based off the back of people that can resonate with the meaning behind the track, going from late teens/students all the way to people in their 40s to middle aged, who like guitar music and have experienced moving to a new place/visiting UK cities and even cities in general. The song is simply to give a good feeling to people who maybe going through ‘normal’ UK people problems, but seeing the beauty in other people in the midst of a changing world, and could even be seen as sentimental to someone of an older age looking back to days of being free and doing what they want, and just meeting new people in general and how a new person can change your whole outlook, without it always just having to be on a romantic level - which I feel most music of my generation has always pointed towards.

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This is me using a vocal warm up for recording my Vocals for Beautiful People from Pete Faint, 2010, Vocal Warm Ups, 2011 Clockwork Records

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Having a cold during the week I was in the Studio meant that I had to wait in order to record my vocals, but I was very happy with how they came out.

I really feel my work on my more melodic cleaner singing came out, which meant a better contrast when I used my naturally distorting vocals with a bit of fry.

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Although I didn't manage to get the bridge vocals in, I was so happy with all the changes over the weeks and really felt the song was the strongest its sounded with the house band here.

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Last week I went into the studio and recorded all the music and have been into the Waterbear HQ Studio and vocal booth and have everything recorded now and am happy with the results - I will be using the next week to continue mixing and look for some overdubs and BV potential.

Looking into my inspirations, I would say looking at the song in general I have taken big inspiration of the lyrical style to a lot from the Fratellis ‘Costello Music’ Album, in particularly ‘Henrietta’ which they have written about a place and people in general, but in a fun way, and it really resonated with me (The Fratellis, 2006).

Going into this project, I recognised that the majority of my songs in the past have been written in the key of A & E, and I wanted to show myself that I could break that and work my vocals in a different way to the usual comfort zone when I can go full pelt comfortably, so this song is in the Key of C major, which was refreshing for myself.

When looking at the delivery of the Vocals, I took inspiration from the Enemy, ‘Away From Here’ with the direct and quite driven vocals, which I feel gives off a more organic feel (Clarke, T. 2007).

For my first verse I’ve tried to take inspiration from the Fratellis punchy driven guitar playing in Chelsea Dagger, using a little distortion but driven rhythm and again for the chorus with the more free strumming (The Fratellis, 2006), For the second verse I have taken inspiration from the Arctic Monkeys ‘a View From the Afternoon’ in the way when bringing the song back in after the break the guitars pay off each other, one on the first of the bar and the there on the third. From the same album, I took inspiration from Arctic Monkeys ‘From the Ritz to the Rubble’ on their bridge part, not so much in the playing styler, but I the way the chords build the more its building (Turner, A. 2005).

Harvard Referencing;

The Fratellis, Costello Music, 2006, Universal Island Records Ltd. A Universal Music Company.

Turner, A. Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not, 2005, Domino Recording Company

Clarke, T, Away From Here, 2007, Warner Music UK Ltd.

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28.11 - Mixing at the WaterBear Hq Mixing Suite

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28.11 - Mixing at the WaterBear Hq Mixing Suite

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I decided to start the mixing process in the Hq Mixing Suite, no distractions (except getting my phone out for this pic!).

I got thew song in a really good editing stage and can't wait to get this song summative ready

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Beautiful People is the song I have written and chosen for my WB01 Waterbear assignment, and I am very proud with how the song came out. The reason I chose this song for my assignment was me having moved to Brighton from Jersey in May this year I had fallen back to listening to the 2000’s raw indie rock such as the Fratellis, the Enemy, Arctic Monkeys etc. This music felt perfect to listen to and ease me in for what felt like a massive move from island life to a city and the upbeat good feeling that the music gave me really suited the amazing summer we had and was something I wanted to emulate, having pushed my writing to more of a punk/ indie rock feel, I wanted to be back to writing some music that completely fitted the feeling of fun lyrics, with some raw bouncy music behind.

To start off, I had been listening a lot to ‘Costello Music’ by the Fratellis, with track ‘Chelsea Dagger’ being the stand out hit of the album (The Fratellis, 2006). I love the dynamic changes for the instruments, with the strong, almost pushing to the limits vocals sitting on top of this, but something I was all too conscious of was the fact that I wrote very often in the keys of A & E and I wanted to challenge myself, which I did by starting in the key of C major. I started off with some bouncy, stabbing chords of C, A#, F, which had this really raw and cool feel to it. I used the same chords for both verses and under the solo, but changed the dynamics each time by using punchy stabs with a fun bass line to compliment the first verse, played the bass and guitar off each other on first and third note in the bar in the second and just lingering strums for the solo. For the chorus I used C, E, A, F, E strummed more free to give a melodic catchy chorus. I decided to use F, C, Bb, Em, C for the bridge to add more of an almost spoken feel to add some human feel, but the strumming and drums building throughout. The lyrics of the song were written about the people of Brighton and how warm and welcoming they made me feel, making a point that cities all have their own things that they are proud to show, but the real difference being the people and how the personalities can really make a place special, which I stand by is the case in Brighton which is such a open minded, happy and welcoming city.

For this song, as I do with my songwriting in general I performed everything myself, except the drums (because I can’t play them). I had a real clear vision of what I wanted from this and wanted to execute it exactly how I had in mind. I think looking back though in future I need to work on more holding my vocal notes and adding some real strong backing vocals to compliment my own. I learnt a lot from pushing outside of my comfort zone and writing this song in C major, even though at times and through LPW I felt like my vocals were not as strong as could be in A or E, but practice along with some great guidance and feedback that I worked really hard on being able to open these up, now feeling like its one of my strongest vocal track yet.

Pushing forward I am looking to bring this song into my band Hot Juice, as it has a the feel of the style I like to play. I like to put out songs that are good enough to stick in peoples head, relatively straightforward musically, but make people be able to lose themselves in having a good time and enjoying this and importantly feeling good and give that freedom of escapism for however long they’re listening to or watching the band perform.

Looking back to the process of bringing this song to the house band, this was one of my first struggles to get my point across and be direct with what I wanted exactly from it. I was usually writing songs and letting the other musicians in my band add their own parts, but my leadership qualities definitely improved through the weeks, enabling me to gain a more clarity in my execution of explaining what I wanted. Towards the latter weeks of WB01 I could orchestrate what I wanted on guitar, how I wanted the bass to sound but also how I wanted the drums to dictate different dynamics by changing throughout the song and being a real driving force.

I recorded the demo myself at home on my DAW set up, which I felt very comfortable using , which ultimately helped with LPW and going into Small Pond studio with Alex (the drummer of my band). I had prepared the bmp to be fast and punchy too capture the feel. I used some pre recorded reference tracks to record to and some advice I’d already given him in some practice sessions. I used the close micing technique and used 7 drum mics to really get the biggest and punchiest drum sound, and this was effective because the drum sound we got was exactly how I had planned in my head. In future however I want to try slight different placements and really get a feel of the difference. For the bass I used just bass straight D.I. into the recording session and wanted to be able to add any effects I wanted while working in the studio. For the guitars I had planned on clean and dirty tones, I used minimal effects or pedals in the studio to give myself maximum potential when recording. I used one SM57 each time on the cab slightly off axis. Although I’m happy with the sound of them, as my production skills continue to improve, I can’t wait to see the potential of how huge the guitar I can make sound snd work on really bringing these songs to life. My longterm goal is to be able to record to a radio standard, but making the music as real as possible so that people listening really feel like they’re in the song.

The production aspect of the song is definitely something I need to improve on. Although I feel I have come a long way since the start of the course, I feel that the spacial awareness for the song was done well via panning and volume, my use of effects like compression, EQ and other things like reverb needs work, but this is something I’m excited to work on as I can hear where I think the drums don’t sound as punchy as I’d like them to and I feel the vocals are a little dry, but with work over the next few years I aim to be able to strive to make radio quality material.

I am really proud of the song I have written and performed, but also excited for the potential growth in future of having more confidence in taking a song to a band or session musicians, in my own playing and vocal abilities. I had given myself the timeframe of having the song completely written by formative deadline of mid October, which I stuck to, but continued to develop the song which I did. I will in future make plans more solid and book the studio time more solid and earlier to give myself more time to experiment with production and playing with effects. I feel like its been a really strong first assignment, I’m proud of the song I made and can see in future where I will work harder on my production skills and time planning management, I aim to continue writing this style for my band and working on my hooks and tension and release and aim to bring these all forward to the band with my new skillset and the new lease of inspiration I feel I have gained from this.

References

The Fratellis, 2006, Costello Music, 2006 Universal Island Records Ltd. A Universal Music Company.

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5.12 - Live Performance (Audio Issues - To Be Re-Done) Camera 1

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5.12 - Live Performance (Audio Issues - To Be Re-Done) Camera 1

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Although I was very happy with the actual performance of this, there was some sort of audio issue (as you can hear on this recording). I will be re-recordimng and uploading this on 12.12.

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5.12 - Live Performance (Audio Issues - To Be Re-done) - Camera 2

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5.12 - Live Performance (Audio Issues - To Be Re-done) - Camera 2

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Although I was very happy with the actual performance of this, there was some sort of audio issue (as you can hear on this recording). I will be re-recordimng and uploading this on 12.12.

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This is my fully mixed track 'Beautiful People' for my Summative WB01 track.

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After last Monday the technical issues, this was a lot better quality.