UAL 3 Project Padlet (Alex McIlreavy) (Alex McIlreavy ec2243362) by Alex McIlreavy ec2243362

Logic Track Plan

ec2243362 — 2025-09-09 17:42:23 UTC

My original ideas for my project are to write a song that is more on the pop side of things. I'm planning on making it with guitar and/or piano as the main software instrument and with vocals in a typical verse, pre-chorus, chorus repeat structure. I want it to be a song that starts slower and gradually builds up to be fairly faster and more upbeat by the end. My influences as of now are the bigger pop stars such as Olivia Rodrigo but also with some older inspirations such as Billy Joel and k-pop inspirations such as SEVENTEEN. I'd like it to sound like it belongs in a television series behind the main character doing something new and scary but keep the song hopeful if that makes sense. I want to make the song with more sound effects and upbeat noises like claps and sparkly noises etc. I want to make the song sound more unique to myself but also still keep it enjoyable for a typical a larger audience.

Logic Project 1 WAV

ec2243362 — 2025-10-06 11:03:41 UTC

Logic Project 1 Screenshot

ec2243362 — 2025-10-06 11:04:16 UTC

Live Performance Link

ec2243362 — 2025-10-09 18:47:11 UTC

Rehearsal Diary Log 1

ec2243362 — 2025-10-09 18:50:05 UTC

Rehearsal Diary Log 2

ec2243362 — 2025-10-09 18:50:24 UTC

Rehearsal Diary Log 3

ec2243362 — 2025-10-09 18:50:46 UTC

Evaluation

ec2243362 — 2025-10-09 18:57:17 UTC

When we started the performance I was concerned because I had been unwell the whole week of the performance and therefore couldn’t sing to my full potential and that doubt in my head certainly made it harder to perform, however I pushed through and did so anyway. Despite this I was confident in my knowing of each song and being able to perform them proudly even as I wasn’t feeling the best. I feel that my vocals during the performance went well and I am proud that I performed regardless of how I was feeling. In saying this I could’ve interacted with the crowd more, I could’ve sang a bit louder and projected so that the audience would be able to hear me better and I could’ve looked a tiny bit happier and more like I was enjoying myself, I feel my face did not show how I was really feeling during the performance. In my next performance I will work harder with my body language and my interacting with the audience.

Evaluation

ec2243362 — 2025-10-09 19:03:40 UTC

In this project I originally said I wanted it to sound like it belonged in a television series and I feel I have achieved that vibe successfully. However in my original plan I did say I would include lyrics but I decided against that and instead chose instead to use just vocalisations as I felt it brought more of the behind the main character vibe into the project. During this project I learned the key skills of not wasting time with doubting and second guessing and that sometimes you need to remove and add things that you didn’t think you would’ve wanted in the beginning. I feel the violins and lower level of volume half way through the track and then the volume raising and guitars coming back in was the most well done part of my project as I feel it makes it sound more like it’s following some sort of plot line. However next time I would make it slightly less consistent and repetitive as I do think it may end up being boring to listen to at the end.

Project Presentation Link

ec2243362 — 2025-10-09 19:05:16 UTC

Evaluation

ec2243362 — 2025-10-09 19:10:18 UTC

Before the presentation my main concern was being nervous and slurring my words, I was worried about this because I’m aware how important crowd connection is during presentations and if I had stuttered or slurred my words I was worried it could’ve impacted those things negatively as well as impacted my band members. I was however confident that I know what I was talking about and had practiced what I was supposed to say beforehand. I feel that during the presentation I pushed my nerves aside and talked clearly and told everyone exactly what it was that I wanted to tell them. In saying that I think my body language was very timid and it was almost like I just wanted to stop talking and hide. So next time I will work harder in pushing myself out of my comfort zone and not only speaking with my words but also with my actions.

Project 1 Presentation Link

ec2243362 — 2025-10-10 09:02:19 UTC

Alex Mary Movie

ec2243362 — 2025-11-17 11:33:18 UTC

I only started this today so I'm quite proud of the 16 or so seconds I completed.

The Black Hole - Planning

ec2243362 — 2025-11-24 11:09:52 UTC

I'd like to start off the picture with boring "elevator music" to set the vibe off on a boring, daily life in the office vibe however when he finds/prints the blackhole I'll briefly pause the music and then bring it back in with a more curious/ominous vibe and carry that on throughout the piece but making it sound more and more daunting by either raising or lowering the volume. Some examples of sounds that occur during the movie is the printer printing and then opening, doors, footsteps etc and I'm planning on using a mix of sounds from Apple Loops and Pixybay and maybe some self recorded things too. I'm not planning on adding much if any dialogue except some gasps, hums etc. I do want to add some sound effects such as computers/printers running in the background, to do this I think I'm going to take some sounds from Apple Loops and manipulate them using EQ and Reverb etc. The general atmosphere I want to create is confusion+fear/worry and I want to achieve this by using both the music and the sound effects+foley.

Lost In Amsterdam Analysis

ec2243362 — 2025-11-24 17:10:09 UTC

Rehearsals - 26/11/25

ec2243362 — 2025-12-08 14:43:24 UTC

Name of band: Under Shadows

Everyone was present however a couple people left early.

Date: 26/11/2025

We worked mainly on Sweet Child O' Mine but we also went through Sk8er Boi a couple times at the end as well. We got all the way through SCOM after a while of struggling with the middle 8 and the ending. I tried to focus of my harmonies that I had half figured out the week prior and during Sk8er Boi I was trying to get used to the key change in the middle 8 however I did struggle with it a bit. I'm planning on trying again next rehearsal as I missed the rehearsal on Wednesday 3rd December. We did a final run through of each song and they both sounded good.

Circles - Under shadows first time Original song

ec2243362 — 2025-12-12 00:46:58 UTC

This was the first time we ran through what we created on Wednesday (10/12/25). I wrote the lyrics, the members and I collectively wrote the music.

Circles - Under shadows first time Original song (lyrics)

ec2243362 — 2025-12-12 00:47:25 UTC

Rehearsals- 10/12/2025 (Songwriting)

ec2243362 — 2025-12-15 15:10:25 UTC

Name of band: Under shadows

Members: Me, Luca, Sophie, AJ, Nadia and Kieran

Chords: Db, Ab, Gb (add Fm in chorus)

Title: Circles

Process: I brought in lyrics that I had wrote the few days before and we pretty much just played chords (Luca played on piano, AJ on acoustic, Kieran on electric and Sophie on bass) until it sounded pretty and fitted the lyrics. Then we started to come up with a melody and we decided the melody should be fairly simple. The difficult thing for me was definitely coming up with a melody that I liked and would remember. However I did appreciate how patient my members were even when I was having a hard time and it ended up helping the rehearsal become way more fun and enjoyable.

The Black Hole Final + Evaluation

ec2243362 — 2026-01-12 11:43:21 UTC

I believe in this project I achieved exactly what I wanted to achieve, I made the vibe ominous and creepy and added many sound effects according to the movie and added little to no dialogue. I didn't stray away from my original plan at all except from I didn't use any self-recorded sounds. Some skills I learned during this project was patience and being very precise with the sounds I was using as even the shortest second off would make the difference while watching the movie. I really like how my music plays throughout the entire thing and I think I got all the timings right, however next time I think I'd like to add more sound effects to be in the background just to make it sound more realistic.

Sk8er Boi Song Analysis Final

ec2243362 — 2026-01-13 13:56:54 UTC

Performance link + Evaluation

ec2243362 — 2026-01-15 18:00:59 UTC

With this performance l believe I Showed much better confidence and showed exactly what I am capable of. I think my vocal performance went well and I applied the research and rehearsals into sk8er boi and sweet child of mine really well.

We started the performance with our original song “Come with me” and I think I did really well however I do think I could’ve been better rehearsed as I forgot some of the second verse. We then sang sk8er boi and I really enjoyed performing this song as I believe it is the better of the 3 for my own personal taste.

I believe my band and I did really well overall in this performance despite some guitars not being heard enough, making it difficult for the rest of the band to know where we were. However we kept going and I think it went really well. Next time I’ll work harder to just give that little bit more energy on stage and to try and interact with the audience more.

“Come with me” original song evaluation

ec2243362 — 2026-01-16 08:11:28 UTC

Our song is called “come with me” and the lyrics were mainly written by me, Anna and Dez however everyone (especially vocalists) helped in the writing of both the lyrics and the music. After we split into 2 groups we listened to each song and unanimously decided that the other groups song was the better options however we decided to change the lyrics and meaning of the song, so we changed the song from a minor key to a major and made it so that the song was about taking opportunities and regretting it if you don’t. We did decide to make the chorus still in a minor key though as we felt it added more to the song. We did run into a few problems with deciding how the lyrics should be sung and how to transition between the verses and chorus. The original idea for the lyrics was that Anna sang the verse with different lyrics while me and the other vocalists sang overlapping background vocals with other lyrics, however after some advice we realised it made the song sound muddy so we kept the background vocal ides but while singing the same lyrics as Anna. This way it sounded better while also still keeping people’s ideas in play. As for the transitions it took us a while to figure out how to change from a major to a minor key smoothly, but in the end we decided to have Dez drum slower into the chorus and then build it back into the verse. This all taught me that songwriting especially within a band is all about patience and listening to other people’s ideas, it also taught me that even when I really like one idea that doesn’t mean everyone will or that it should automatically be added into the song and that I should take into account everyone’s opinions and try every idea out instead of jumping into my own ideas. I learned to be more open about the things I perform.

Come with me Lyrics

ec2243362 — 2026-01-16 08:42:21 UTC

Rehearsals 7/1/2026

ec2243362 — 2026-01-16 08:47:56 UTC

We went over all of our songs for the first hour, then for the next hour we went over our original song and we figured out how it was going to sound overall (all the transitions and vocals). Then for the last hour we went through all songs again and decided what our setlist and running order was going to be and we decided on Come with me into sk8er boi into Sweet Child Of Mine as we thought it would sound the best.

Undershadows Rehearsal Clip 7/1/2026 (Sk8er Boi)

ec2243362 — 2026-01-16 08:49:10 UTC

Solo Performance Planning

ec2243362 — 2026-01-26 13:37:57 UTC

It took me a long time to figure out what song I was going to do however after a lot of consideration I decided to go with Amy Winehouse's Valerie. I chose this I think mainly because she has a very strong soulful voice and she used a lot of different vocal techniques that I would love to learn. I kept a diary throughout my planning phase to keep track of everything I was doing.

Project 3 Performance

ec2243362 — 2026-01-26 14:23:39 UTC

Pre-Performance Rituals:

-Breathing exercises

-Jumping around to get hype

-Mental Affirmations

Like you do - Mixing task

ec2243362 — 2026-02-02 12:09:02 UTC

Diaries of a solo performance planner (3/2/2026)

ec2243362 — 2026-03-02 11:14:23 UTC

(I wrote these in my diary as time went on and I am quoting them word for word)

"Im trying to figure out what song to do for my solo performance but I'm at that stage where the only thing in my mind is that I'm the worst singer and musician there ever has been. However I have to do it so I guess I'll just suck it up. Im thinking some Adele or something, I mean that's what I sang for my audition to get into the course so I suppose it could be a cute little like awww look how far I've come or something like that. I don't know I think I'm just gonna nap on it and think about it tomorrow or later cause I am so tired."

Diaries of a solo performance planner (13/2/2026)

ec2243362 — 2026-03-02 11:41:43 UTC

"I was out last night. Bad idea cos now my head is thumping but whatever. I was thinking I might do something by the cranberries like linger or zombie because I kinda really like the idea of like a look back on it kind of thing. But I also don't think linger is too challenging for me. maybe zombie would be good though because of the really low notes and the range is fairly wide. I don't know but I'll start rehearsing it and I'll see how I feel about it after a week or so. Ill record some of it to put on pallet cause I think Im meant to and if not I'm sure Andy will still appreciate it hahahaha"

Clip of me trying out Zombie by The Cranberres

ec2243362 — 2026-03-02 11:47:29 UTC

Diaries of a solo performance planner (27/2/2026)

ec2243362 — 2026-03-02 11:55:20 UTC

"I've been kind of set on Zombie but now I've been doing it for like a week and a bit I kind of hate it. It's also just not my vibe I fear. I think I might run back to the Adele idea or maybe something similar. I was thinking maybe Valerie or Rehab by Amy Winehouse but it is really difficult or me to sing powerful vocals like that. then again I suppose that is the entire point of the project. I only have a few days till my performance but I'm seriously wondering if Amy or Adele would be better options. I'm gonna try and rehearse them and see how it goes."

Clip of me trying Valerie by Amy Winehouse

ec2243362 — 2026-03-02 11:57:19 UTC

Bare in mind this was my first time trying to sing this properly so it doesn't sound too good but I kept rehearsing it after this because I decided it was my best option.

Solo Performance Self Reflection

ec2243362 — 2026-03-21 19:30:47 UTC

Solo Performance Link

ec2243362 — 2026-03-23 13:23:11 UTC

Rehearsal 23/3/2026

ec2243362 — 2026-03-23 13:27:41 UTC

Today Rory and Anna came in for a full band rehearsal and we mainly focused on rehearsing what we're going to do on Wednesday for our studio session. We decided on Sk8er Boi and we split up the parts so that everyone can have a part to sing. After about an hour of this we moved on to doing a full run through of our set list.