These were:

Utilise Brian Eno's oblique strategies to spark new ideas and alter my current workflow

Use logics break beater plugin to find new ways to arrange my tracks

Listen to the genres that Influence house and are sampled in house in order to have a better understanding on how I can sample new sounds into my music

Above I've attached the vocal chop I made in lesson this week.

Attached above is the drums, bass and vocal sample I made.

This module I plan to improve my ways of functioning creatively, I plan to do this by using Brian eno's oblique strategies to spark new, innovative ways of thinking. An example which I am planning to use in my productions is 'long preparation, fast execution'. A way I could interpret and put this into practise as a producer would be to spend time compiling samples, setting up drum busses and pre-preparing synth patches. By doing this I feel like I may be able to work quicker, be more free flowing and decisive by adding this into my workflow. By using this I also feel that it may lead to less procrastination in the early stages of production.

In chronological order these were the steps I took to shape the sound in the serum;

1. Change wavetable to DS Saw & Tri

2. Increase Unison to 7

3. Lower Detune

4. Adjust envolope, (65ms attack, 1.13s decay, -4.4 sustain, 865ms release)

5. Set cutoff to 178hz

6. Add envelope 1 to cutoff

7. Increase resonance to 44%

8. Add format Filter

9. Add reverb and echo

10. Add kickstart and trance gate plugin

11. Add reverb again

After I'd done this I decided I wanted to make a pad that would rise towards the end of the 4 bar loop. I did this is as I felt that it would be a nice way to emphasise the start of the 4 bar loop by having a thick pad drop out on the downbeat. In terms of sound design I drew inspiration from kolter's "washed away". With this I mind I began to build up the sound of the pad in serum which I made this with the first synth in mind. I did this by using the same wavetable as I used in the first patch and slightly adjust the envelope, cutoff, filter and effects.

Above I have attached the a bounce of both synths to demonstrate how both synths interact with each other.

To begin the track we got a sample of a break so we would have refrence point and a starting place to work from. With this in place we began to flick through presets in the Korg minilogue and landed on a pad that was similar to a pad in 'Mopey1' by bongoman. We then laid down a lush chord progression that matched the moody vibe of atmospheric jungle. From here we drew inspiration from a tiktok I'd recently seen which from ANDRS (Attached Above), where a jungle track makes use of what seems like frantic playing of a rhodes. As I'm not as good a piantist as the one in the video I decided it to play in a more simple melody and instead make up the additional notes with an echo plugin. In the end I was happy with how this turned out as the notes varied in velocity due the feedback knob in logics echo plugin.

Another thing we added to this track was the rich lead in the intro which follows the same midi pattern as the one you hear in the chorus. I thought it would be a good idea to add this in as it would sort of act as a subtle way to indicate what would come in the chorus. We did this an octave lower as we didn't want it too be too energetic in the intro. To ensure that it would be too overbearing for an intro we adjusted the attack, decay and release on the korg and made a sound that wouldn't stand out too much but was still rich and complex enough to add intrigue into the opening 8 bars.

After we had this laid down we decided to add in an echo at a rate of 1/8 to add in additional notes, this worked well with the messy, atmospheric production style we were going for. To take this one step further we also added a reverb with a long decay in order to add more sustained atmosphere into the guitar section. Finally to bring in movement into the arrangement we decided to automate the mix of the reverb from 16% to 46% in the bars the guitar is present. In my opinion this really helps add a subtle touch of charm and direction into the track.

Above I've attached a wav file of the guitar with and without the mentioned FX.

Above I've attached a wav file of the break with and without the mentioned FX.

I began with a pretty standard reverb and a 1/8 echo, which I put on 2 seperate busses. After I'd done this I dialed in the effects as if I was DJing, using the touch knob in logic. I did it this way as the effects sound a lot more smooth and human when applied this way rather than being drawn in, I find that the use of effects can often sound forced and unatural when they are penciled in.

To take this idea further I decided I wanted to play with the stereo field when it came to using delay. To do this I created a second bus which had delay, tremelo and stereo width enhancer. This combination effects would mean that an sound duplicated would be spread out to the sides rather than being keep mono. I did this for 2 reasons, the first one being that too much signal coming down the centre can lead to clashing and a muddy mix. The second one was that I wanted to create contrast and impact before the drop. Due to the fact that the build lacked a kick or bass, I decided that I wanted to use this as an advantage by gradually adding in width for the 24 bars leading to the drop. To do this I automated the amount on the bus in an upwards motion. By doing this the vocal gradually got more wide signal as the track was building. I then took this effect out of the track in the 1 bar before the drop to further signal that the mono instruments would return.

In conclusion I found this technique to be something that is very effective and subtle as I now can create tension and build suspense without the introduction of new instruments.

Above I have attached a wav file of the build mentioned in this section.

Throughout this module I plan to continue to improve on the sound I am working towards. I want this project to reflect how I have become more comfortable experimenting with new sounds and how my music moves away from being compared to other tracks. For too long Ive started tracks with a reference track already in place and I have came to the conclusion that it is counter productive and creatively limiting. Because of this I've decided I want to alter my workflow in this module by being less critical of myself. I've noticed that this is a big problem in my work as I used to be able to work freely when producing towards the start of my 'career' vompared to recently where am I more critical than I need to be. I feel that I do this as I compare my music to other artists rather than my previous work, when I used to compare my new stuff to my old stuff I found I made more progress. With this in mind I am going to alter my workflow by comparing my 2 tracks to me previous 2 in am effort to hopefully create with less pressure and more freedom. To add to this idea I will also only bring in reference tracks when I am mixing and mastering.

Section 2: Skills etc and Knowledge Review

Something I am guilty for is spending hours on making 'the perfect loop'. My current doee currently revolve a lot around making a catchy 4 bar loop and worrying about arrangement after. The issue I tend to face when I do this is how to keep the track interesting after 48-64 bars. I usually find that I run out of ideas once the track reaches 2 minutes. I think the reason this happens is that I spend to much time 'in the loop'. An innovative way I plan to attack this problem is, by limiting myself to a certain amount of time I can spend on a track before arrangement begins. I'm hoping that if I implement this I will be more motivated to play synth ideas in via keyboard which will hopefully lead to new approaches and results.

Section 3: Your 2 Tracks

Currently the direction, I want to take my tracks are to make 2 house tracks that will hopefully contrast each other.

Some of the ways I plan to do this are;

. Use contrasting bpms and song structures

. Make 1 track synth focused with lots of changes in synth patterns and sounds - put the drums in the background, have innovative synth ideas be the focus of the track.

. Limit a track to a number of synth ideas, utilise drum patterns and vocal chopping to create the intrigue.

Above I've attatched a wav file which has the 4 opening bars demonstrating the pattern I made from the mentioned sample. After that I've made an arrangement to portray the jazzy boom bap vibe I was going for.

After this I had a vast array of synth patterns to work with I began to arrange the track.

I forgot where I saw this, but I recently stumbled upon a TikTok which explained how it can something be a good idea to drag in a refrence track and use the format of that track to come up with new ways of arranging.

This was a new concept to me but it was definitely a success. By doing this it almost felt effortless arranging a loop into a full track because I had both a refrence point and an abundance of elements already made. I found it very easy and enjoyable to make the full arrangement as it quickly became very apparent to me which areas of my track needed creative attention and new ideas. That said I did find it easy to record new ideas in as I was able to play along with track already rolling. I would say that I definitely prefer making ideas this way rather than from scratch as it is nice to have an established idea to play along to rather than making new ideas on a blank canvas and effectively praying that they will be interesting and effective when the time to arrange comes.

Something I noticed when listening to Chris Stussy's BBC Essentials mix was that a lot of the tracks played made us of atmospheric pads, synths or reverb used in more subtle ways to create atmosphere.

In an attempt to emulate this idea I wanted to create something that wasn't particularly interesting or moving but instead something that is subtle and atmospheric. To do this I began with a minor chord on the downbeat at the start of each 2 bars. After I had that I layered 3 different electric piano/ keys patches to cover a vast range of frequencies. Next I began to bring in Echo and Reverb. Due to the fact that the transient of the keys I used didn't have a particularly sharp attack I figured that I could use this to my advantage by using a generous amount of delay in order to create a 'pad like' sound. I did this by combining an echo with a long feedback and reverb with a long decay. By doing this I was a able to alter the noise level over time taking it from something with a short release to something with a longer release and therefore more atmospheric.

In the end I'm glad I did this as it allowed the more interesting elements I made to sit further forward in the mix and allowed me to leave them effectively fully dry without any reverb.

Above I've attached the mentioned Keys/ Pad that features in the track

In this track I wanted to switch this up so I decided to make a change and take more care with my drums and process them a lot more individually by using more plugins on the channel strip rather than the drum bus.

An example of a plugin I used was izotopes transient shaper. By applying this to every channel in the drum rack I was able to alter the envelope of each drum sample in a very specific way. By doing this I was able to remove unwanted decay in something like the hi-hat and an increase in attack in the kick. This benefited the overall sound of the drums as I was able to apply direct fx onto each channel. This allowed me to get my drums sounding closer to how I wanted them to.

In conclusion I am happy with how this went and I will more than likely apply this process into future tracks. I found it beneficial that I was able to work in a more intricate way, which lead to a more refined sound that I wanted to go for.

Above I've attached the a wav of the drums with and without the fx. I personally think the second one sounds significatly better as the kick is much punchier due to the use of additional attack I've brought in via the transient shaper. As well as this I also think the hats sound bouncier and crisper as I've removed a lot of the decay on the on-beat and off-beat hats

I've attached a wav file of each sound I made and I will talk through my process of how I made each one.

1. Portamento Lead Patch

Recently I've been listening to a lot of french induced Minimal Deep House by the likes of THEOS, Oden & Fatzo and Kieran Morgan. A lot of their tracks features this rich, smooth lead sound, an example of a track this features in is 'Mirage' By THEOS and Oden & Fatzo.

As previously stated I knew I'd have to utilise things other than the wavetable to reach the desired sound. With the In mind I began to shape the sound starting with a single sine wave. After I had this I introuced 6 levels of unison and a detune level of 0.15 in order to create a less robotic and more spread out sound. Once this was done I moved over to the envelope which didn't need much attention. As the sound I was creating was constant I didn't chnage the cutoff or the delay. The only thing I did alter was the attack which I changed to 32ms to remove the initial transient therefore creating a smoother sound. Finally I brought in a generous amount of reverb with a decay of 4 seconds to add depth and atmosphere.

2. Simple keys (Call)

This next sound I made is extremly simple and is mainly there to serve as a call in the context of the track as the next sound is the response.

To make this I layered 2 sinewaves together 1 octave apart. By doing this I ensured that the sound wouldn't be to thin in terms of frequency. After this I added an echo at a reate of 1/8 and a 1/8 dotted echo in order to make the sound less one dimentional and create some natural reverb and atmosphere. Next I shaped the envelope in the synth to something resembling a rhodes or some keys. Then I added chorus and reverb to polish off the sound and make it fit better in the context of the loop. Finally I added kickstart in order to remove a lot of the attack and make the sound pump more, I did this as I wanted to make it sit in the mix better and not clash with the low end.

FM Keys (Response)

Following on from the last sound I made this one to bounce off of the previous one.

This sound is made with an almost identical principle as the previous one. By that I mean I took the same patch and removed the dotted echo, some of the reverb, the chorus and the kickstart. The only thing I did bring into this sound was FM synthesis. I used this as a way to introduce some harsher sounds into what was a relatively soft and pleasant sound.

Pad (FM Synthesis)

The next thing I added into the track was a pad that I made also using FM Synthesis.

This sound was made with similar approach as the second and third sound mainly due the fact that they all play a similar role in the context of the track. The basic building blocks are close to identical with just a few tweaks. One of the aspects of this one this is different to the second one is the use of a lot of unison and detune. I did this because the unison adds and much richer tone to the pad and the increase in detune makes it sound a lot less robotic.

FM bass

The final sound I made was this subby FM bass. I made the bass in this way in an attempt to leave ample room for the synth elements to sit in the mix. Because this was the case I was actually quite lucky that I was only working with sinewaves in hindsight. This meant I was able to work with a waveform that has functions well in the low end and doesnt have unnecessary low-mid frequencies that would clash with the rest of the mid sounds I was working with.

To make this sound I paired a sine wave with another sine wave an octave lower, after this I set the FM From A on the first osclilator to 48 % in order to give a slightly harsher tone. Next I shaped the envelope, I decrease the sustain and decay to make the sound shorter over time. Finally I added this envelope onto the filter to add higher frequencies at the start of the transient.

In the track 'Sinewaves' I spent a solid amount of time delving into the various parameters in serum in an attempt to find new ways to make music evolve over time.

In doing so I found that if i increased the FM level then I would gradually be able introduce higher and harsher frequencies over time. I think this works in the context of this track as it allowed me to build more tension in the last 8 bars leading up to a breakdown which therefore created more suspense and contrast in the context of the tracks arrangement.

Above I've attached two wav files, one containing the soloed FM lead and the other with the lead along with the arrangemnt to portray how it works with the track

In the track sinewaves I took a lot of care into creating atmosphere. Usually I do this by using reverb and trying to put a sound into a certain space, however for this one I wanted to try and do it in a different way.

In this track I wanted to add an atmospheric lead that sounded human and organic. I did this by using 4 echo plugins at different rates and high feedback levels to emulate the effect of reverb. The midi instance in this was two short lasting synth sounds meaning the excessive use of delay turned the dry midi into a vast rich atmospheric lead.

Above I've attached;

1. the dry, short midi instance with no effects

2. the same instance with the effects applied

3. the lead in the context of the track

One of the things I tried to alter was the BPM throughout the build-up. My thinking behind this was that if I dropped the bpm and ramped it towards the drop then I would be able to create additional energy in the build. To do so I automated the bpm in the 8 bars leading up to the drop.

The result of this wasn's succesful in slightest and I decided to abandon this and not keep it in the final arrangement.

That said I am glad that I experimented with this and it is something that I think can work in a future track that perhaps has the elements that can be affected by the sudden and drastic changes in tempo.

This idea did definitely exite me and I'm happy that it got me thinking outside the box in regards to how I can be more bold in my creative choices.

Despite the fact this could potentially be an interesting way to add intrigue to tracks, I am aware that it can have a negative affect on DJ's as the change it bpm could negatively affect the quality of their mixing

One of the things we wanted to do was experiment with was how the placement of a microphone can effect the frequencies picked up from an acoustic guitar. One of the ways we did this was by placing a microphone in a plastic tube. The effect we were hoping that this would have had was additional delay and reverb due to the extra vibrations in from the tube. Unfortunately the effect that we did get from this was only a muffling sound which meant we lost a lot of the rich mid frequencies and a lot of the crispier high end.

However, the most interesting & successful came through the use of chopping the sample into really short stabs, ressembling the music of techno artist 'Kettema'.

I found this session some-what eye opening as it doesn't usually occur to me that I can get the desired sounds I want from unlikely sources. Because of this I imagine that I will take a more fluid and experimental approach to making music in future tracks.

I didn't have any expectations behind this exercise but in hindsight I'm really glad I did it. I was very happy with the results I got from this silly experiment as it exposed who I am as a producer.

Due to the fact that I was only making music with my eyes I was relying on using sounds that I could somewhat interpret without hearing them which ended up spitting out a track that resembled who I am as a producer in regard to musical ideas such as arrangement and call and response.

Some of the sounds I notcied that I used in this track that resembled me a producer were... Sidechained subby basslines, echo used on perc loops to create additional texture, crash on the downbeat and variations in bass pattern at the end of 4 & 8 bars.

A benefit I got from this was the inattention to details and perfection. Something I do often find myself doing is constantly hunting for the perfect sounds when instead I should be turning an imperfect sample into something that works for the track in. I became aware of this in this track as the vocal sample I chose at random didn't ressemeble the disco loop used.

Depsite the fact they aren't parallel in genre or stlye I do think that they work well with other. This is something that I will keep in mind with future tracks when being too picky.

I could maybe limit myself to preview a maximum of 10-20 different samples before I have to pick one and make it work.

To hopefully further demonstrate some of things I have made throughout I've attached a link to my soundcloud which has some of the other tracks I've made in the last 3 months.

These tracks are;

Sinewaves

Call & response

Drizabone - Real Love (Deep House Remix)

https://soundcloud.com/jonathan-hiley/tracks