Canditate Name: Gabriel Barker
Canditate Number: 7982633594
Pathway: Music Producer and DJ
Here is me explaining what my project is going to be. In the video, I was asked why I will not be exporting to 24-bit WAVs. The reason for this is that CDJs, the equipment DJs use, do not read them. I want my EP to be accessible to DJs to be played out in gigs, so this is why I will not.
Over my time at college, I have been exposed to lots of different areas surrounding music production. In the first term, improving my DJ skills while creating a promotional video to send to promoters so they can see who I am, this has since landed me sets and gain contacts in the industry, which will be very beneficial to me in the future. I have landed myself lots of DJing gigs whilst at college. These include performing at a fashion show in the centre of town, competing in a Battle of the Bands style event, with a fast, dynamic five-minute set, and at an Under 18s night at Move, a local Exeter nightclub. After this particular gig, I managed to get myself signed to Long Dark Tunnel, the over-18s drum and bass nights at Move, and performed unforgettable gigs with world-renounced and childhood hero headliners: Jungle Cakes and Sub Focus. I am still with them now and can not wait to who I will be playing with next Autumn/Winter. I have also managed to get some gigs outside of Exeter, in Bath. This is for Revelations U18, where I have played three sets for them. One being a very quiet second room slot, and the other two being closing the main room after people like Gray, Alchemist, Sota and Amplify. A special highlight of these times was when Eksman and JMulla MCed for me. These are award-winning, outstanding MCs who have performed alongside massive names, such as Hedex. It was an honour to have them play with me. Looking forward to the future, in the summer I have three festival sets confirmed: Balter, Altitude and Beautiful Days. These are all going to be wicked, and I can not wait to play there. After all these amazing experiences, I know that I want to do music full-time and make a career out of it, as such I need to focus on my producing skills, to make my own music.
Back in my time in college, I have learnt how to critically analyse pieces of music so I can take the techniques used by my favourite artists in my own music, such as different effects and processes. In term two I learnt the theory behind how to mix and master my own music using different plug-ins and limiters and throughout both terms, there has been a big focus on composition, the main reason I joined the course. Here I have improved many different aspects, including sampling, synthesis and utilising the college's studio facilities. At the end of last term, I mostly took advantage of this when recording vocals for my song "Alone" with Rosie Reynolds. This has since given me more confidence to use the studio a lot more during my FMP to record not just vocals, but other instruments as well like guitars and perhaps drum kits. I have also found throughout the course that I work best when working with others. Collaboration is crucial in the music industry and I have utilised it in many different ways, other than just working with Rosie. I have also collaborated with a DJ/Producer called Toby, TAWK, in a DJing environment, meeting up to do sets together, as well as starting to produce, with a bootleg of an Arctic Monkeys tune "Do I Wanna Know?". This is why I am going to do a collaboration EP, so I can best fuel my inspiration and make the best quality work I can.
My project is going to be a four-track collaboration EP, with the final outcome to have it published on Spotify and my Soundcloud, as well as promoting it on my various social media platforms. I will play at least one of my tunes out in one of the many DJ sets I have booked to feel how the song does in a rave. I also have strong connections with a local record label, Long Dark Tunnel Records, which I may contact when the EP is finished to see about perhaps getting it on it if I feel it is good enough. If this falls through, I will just self-release it, using a distribution company such as Distrokid. I have never released music before so I will need to research how to use the service, as well as the best ways to promote an EP on social media. Ways that I will make sure I market my music well will include finding a graphic designer to make some expert-looking cover art, as well as utilising my online following to get people to see and hear my music. I am also a part of lots of online groups, I will put my music in these groups so it can be exposed to as many ears as possible.
I am going to create three new drum and bass songs from scratch, of varying styles with melodic liquid and high-energy dancefloor, as well as releasing the song "Alone" which I finished with Rosie last term to complete the EP. My aspiration for my career is that I want to be a DJ and without producing your own music it is impossible to be successful and well known. You may be the best DJ but the only way you will get headline bookings is by being well-known, producing is the best way of doing that. I feel I am a confident and talented DJ, so I feel the next step in my career is to focus on making music, that was the reason I joined the course. This project will stretch and help me progress in this area.
I will work with lots of different people to see what kind of music I can make. I have already spoken to: Sam from my class and two performance students Rosie and KC, who are going to help with the live elements, such as vocals and guitars, as well as some of the songwriting. I find working in a collaborative environment great as I will learn skills and techniques from each of them, I feel the best way to learn new things in music is to watch what other people do and have their creative inputs on my tracks. It will also benefit my communication skills working with others. This will help me in the future as I will be to collaborate with lots of different musicians and feel confident in conveying my musical ideas to them, to get the output I have in mind. Also, I feel by working with singers on my tunes is amazing as I can implement it into my DJ sets. For example, Hedex, a drum and bass DJ who is taking the world by storm right now, has a song with the very talented singer A Little Sound. In his big DJ gigs, he brings her out and they perform the song live. I think this is cool and adds contrast to a DJ set, and I would love to put this in my sets one day. Their performance can be seen here in this video.
A perhaps negative of working with others is people can be unreliable. You can not be in control of their schedule, they could be double booked or maybe ill the day you need them to work with them. To overcome this, I will contact artists early on, before anyone else can. Another negative could also be that I could have a different vision to the artist I'm working with, as such we may want to do other things. A way to work around and avoid this can be to try both versions and then decide which one works by talking about it and communicating with each other. Other issues that could come up during the project could be that I fall behind with the large number of songs I plan to create. Making three brand new songs could be a stretch as I have never fully completed this before, but I believe I am going to be able to do it with help form others. Each week I will evaluate the work I have done to make sure that the quality stays consistent week-on-week and compare what I have done to my begin of the week plan and my timetable, to make sure I am staying on track. If I don't stick to this schedule and fall behind I will then either work out what I can do the following week to get back on track, or if it is too much I will cut back on how many tunes I create. A way that I am going to make sure the quality of music is decent is to keep working on songs every single week and check my songs with my peers or other producers to make sure the music I am making is to a high standard. People I could talk to are a few people from my class, Toby, and two industry-standard producers, Somin (Somatic) and Dan (Bare Up). These guys know what they are doing regarding drum and bass, so I trust that they will give me constructive feedback on my work.
Throughout the project, I will be documenting how the process is going. This will be done by using screen recordings/audio bounces to explain how I have made the tune or created a certain synth patch, and photos of the setup of a recording session plus audio recordings at the end explaining how the session went. For any communication I have with others, I will include screenshots of conversations on social media or audio record any real-life conversations. This could be between myself and somebody I am recording, a fellow producer that I am working with, or artwork designers. Inevitably, as the project progresses issues will arise. I will make sure to plan to minimise the risk that they could be detrimental to my project. Ways I will do this will include: backing up projects onto multiple different platforms so they can not be lost or corrupted, booking musicians and studio time in advance so there is no risk of studios not being available, and removing distractions when I am trying to create music, like removing my phone from reach and being away from others if they are not inspiring me.
At the end of the project, I will do an overall evaluation of the entire project, to reflect on the relative success of my work. I will comment on what went well, what did not go so well, the skills I have learnt in this time and what would I change if I was to do the project again, to make sure I do not make the same mistakes.
Here is some research I may start my project with:
A survey that I created and have put out that will help give me some inforation about my tagret audience, such as the music they listen too, and the platform they use to listen to it.
https://forms.office.com/e/znRwhn0vA7
Listening skills to identify some referce tracks of styles I want to recreate. Songs such as this one by the rapper Degs.
https://open.spotify.com/track/27CN4S6obRUhNOMsUWrx3u?si=ef7c3287a612457c
This is a website that is going to help me understand how to use the service of Distrokid, so I can distrubt my music to streaming services.
Your Local Musician October 26 (2022) How to use distrokid - upload your music to all major platforms, Your Local Musician. Available at: https://www.yourlocalmusician.com/how-to-use-distrokid/ (Accessed: March 30, 2023).
This is a video that is going to help me chop up the amen break, as I have an idea of making a tune that utilises this iconic drum loop.
Intro into making Amen Jungle Breaks in Ableton (2019) YouTube. YouTube. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LDSUPQNbueE (Accessed: March 30, 2023).
Complete proposal, start asking people if they want to work together (Rosie, KC, Sam), create and send out the survey so I can have some data on my potential audience.
Equipment Needed: Computer, Instagram Messages
Continue to start some song ideas, keep sending these to the artists for their help. Analyse the data from my survery, it can give me some big clues when it comes too contact Jack (the graphic deginer) to see if he would be down to help making the artwork for the EP. These week I may not be able to do lots of work due to having gigs and being away for some of it seeing family
Equipment Needed: Laptop, Logic Pro X, Midi Keyboard, Instagram Messages, Speakers
Continue to produce and work on the songs, have all four up and running. Continue also working on the artwork for the EP, this needs to be sorted quickly, as it is something I can not control I do not want the stress of chasing up someone for work closer to the deadline.
Equipment Needed: Laptop, MIDI Keyboard, Logic, Instagram Messages, Headphones/Speakers
Start live recording!! Hopefully my live performers will have some ideas here of what to sing, so will record them in the studio, then take their vocals and continue to produce around them.
Equipment Needed: Laptop, Logic, Recording Studio, Micriphones, XLR Cables, DI Boxes, Audio Interface, Headphones, Singers, MIDI Keyboards
Start to mix some of the tunes. Not all of them may be ready for this, but hopefully one or two are. I will ask others in my class for help with this, as well as reasearching how to properly mixing drum and bass music. I will also continue to produce the other tunes. Here I also need to contact and find out how to potentially get songs onto playlists
Equipment Needed: Laptop, MIDI Keyboard, Logic, Headphones/Speakers
Mix the final songs and then master them all!! This can be done by myeslf, asking other drum and bass producers. Also, Brian from Move said that he may be able to offer free mixing services, so I will explore that as it would be great to get a professional to do it, so the songs sound as great as they can be.
Equipment Needed: Laptop, MIDI Keyboard, Logic, Instagram Messages, Headphones/Speakers
This is the final week I have to complete the songs as it need to be handed in at the end of next week and I need time to do an end evaluation. Here is where I will do the final touches to the EP. Make sure the whole EP is mastered as a whole and individual tracks do not stand out. I will conduct some research how to master the whole EP by looking on the internet and by asking my tutor Ian, as he is a sound engineer and an expert in the subject. Upload the final to Distrokid and release it too the world!!
Equipment Needed: Computer, Logic, Decent Headphones.
Evaluate all that I have done this term and whether my project was a sucsess or not.
Equipment Needed: Computer