I am proud of the composition that I created this term, it is the first time I have produced something that I have finished to a high standard that I am very tempted to release. Before starting in Logic, I created a production brief. These are really important in the music industry, especially between a record label and a producer, as they help guide the creative flow and set out any necessary resources that may need to be used, such as studio sessions or specialist equipment. This website, https://www.holabrief.com/creative-brief/music-template, talks about how crucial production briefs are. It says they need, "timelines and responsibilities to what the music should communicate to the ones listening". This is important to see the bigger picture and to judge the timescale of the release as there will be other sectors that need to collaborate on the tune, such as artwork designers and social media marketers. Record labels also really like to see where their money is going. Studios and the musicians that play in them are not cheap, so by setting out a plan beforehand, labels are able to budget correctly to ensure a premium product is created, that does not break the bank. In my song, I unintentionally moved away from my brief ever so slightly. I still created a drum and bass song, that utilised some live recorded strings and a female vocal, but it did not have the energy that I wanted to initially create. In my brief, I stated I wanted to create a song that had enough energy so that it could be played out in one of my sets, a dancefloor drum and bass song in the style of Sub Focus or KMotionz. This did not happen, instead, I made a song that people could lounge to, a liquid drum and bass tune. I also wanted a rapper, yet the vibe of the song did not lend itself to that so I went against it. Not sticking to a production brief can be a good and a bad thing. In my case, I did not have a multi-million-pound record label to disappoint, yet it is not good practise to stray away from a plan because if I did in the future it could jeopardise my reputation, and lead to me not getting as many job opportunities. However, creativity can not be contained. Sometimes songs take a different turn and it is important to follow that, and even though I did not fully follow the brief, I am still really proud of the song that I ended up creating.
There were a few obstacles I had to overcome while making the song. They included finding a vocalist. I had somebody lined up, who then had to pull out due to other work commitments. I then found somebody in my class, but she did not seem too up for it, so with around a week to go I finally found Rosie. She was professional about it all and came up with an idea that I liked very quickly which is lucky. If I was to do it again, I would find and work with a vocalist much earlier on in the process as having another set of ears to judge and give input on the track can be very useful. I also really struggled with mixing my song, so I reached out for help. I found Jack, who had mixed and mastered lots of songs before, so he knew what he was doing and managed to mix it to a professional standard with me, so I was able to learn a lot that I can take into future songs, such as adding Wider to channels to make them stand out more in the mix. I am also really grateful for getting an industry-standard musician's advice with the song, Bare Up. He taught me about making the chorus/drop 1 or 2 dB louder to give it more of an impact. This is such a great tip and finalised the song, I will be using this in a lot of my future compositions.
While making my song I improved my production skills. With regards to music theory, I created an emotional, complex chord progression that was emotional and poignant so it fit the vibe of the song, although it was a little bit repetitive at times. I created a bassline that complimented the chords as well as used a variety of rhythms in my drums due to the two syncopated patterns I had. Out of all the four categories, I found my studio skills to improve the most. I now know how to get a strong signal from the live room into Logic, while using the right microphone, and using patch leads and audio interfaces. I can communicate with the performer to achieve the sound I want to create, I demonstrated this with both Eve the violinist and Rosie the vocalist. I am also now able to get audio from my laptop to come through the speakers. This was found whilst working with Toby in the studio and we were using his laptop. In the future, I want to utilise this space much more and record as many things as possible. I am going to do this when I work on my final major project. With regards to progression, using Logic stayed the same, there was no major change in my ability to use the software. I progressed massively in my synthesis, which I used in my composition for the bass sound, but I learnt the most in project four: development. The patch I made for "Alone" was gritty and distorted, yet still was clean enough to not overwhelm and ruin the track.
With regards to my project 4, I feel I have started to begin my journey into creating my own unique sounds inside of Serum. In the beginning, I struggled to preserve with it, due to the fact that I found it much harder to grasp than DJing. When I started DJing, it came to me quickly and it did not take me long to understand it. I thought synthesis would be the same, but it was much harder to get my head around. Then by watching lots of YouTube videos and speaking to people like Dan and Toby, I released how much of a long process it is that just takes lots of trial and error and time. Once I understood that I started to enjoy it much more. I now know what each knob and setting does inside Serum, even if it is not all too a deep level, and have started to create and save my own patches that I will use in my music in the future. When starting the project, I thought I would come further than I have, but that is OK. Music takes time to master and it does not all happen instantly, I am now just going to keep practising it, in the hopes of slowly improving my craft and using what I have learnt in these last six weeks in my music in the future.
This term, I had my first introduction to professional mixing and mastering. To be honest, I found it quite tedious and dull at times, but it is a crucial part of making music so I am grateful for learning some skills. I learnt how to fix any faults that were in the project, by using flex or by simply cutting and pasting previous parts that sound the same, as a mixing engineer you do not have the right to alter any of the musicality of the song. It is important to know how to fix faults because in the real world there is often no option to re-record things, as it may be too expensive or musicians may be unavailable, so having a way to fix errors in post-editing is critical. I have also learnt that when producing, you should start with your channels on -10dB so that there is enough headroom to mix and master the song later on. Mastering was a new skill I learnt this term. Being able to get the most out of the song I create is great, especially when making songs to play out in clubs/festivals as I will. Drum and bass in particular are mastered very loudly, with lots of the dynamics squished, this is to get the song loud enough to blast out in a live setting.
Overall, I feel I have had a really productive and useful term. I have practised and improved key areas of music production that I will use in my Final Major Project and throughout my future musical career.