Week 2

Tuesday 1st April

Introduction and objectives

My plan is to sort out studio recording sessions with Harry whilst also talking to George about playing drums on my track. I am also planning to record some work this week. After talking to harry he believes we should record this week due to the fact that there is such a shortage of recording studio space and I'm only able to get in after Easter for one session a week.

Daily Project Blogs

Today I spoke to Harry my producer about my project and my session musician helping me out. Harry contacted me about recording as he is very worried about time for me to record. His reasons being is he thinks there is a lot of struggle with the time I will have to record. He then explained if I want drums this will be my biggest problem due to the fact that it takes nearly over a hour setting up and setting down the drum mics which means we will need a double session and it depends on how long it takes the drummer however we should be alright on this front as George is very talented when it comes to recording a take to a metronome. Harry really wants me to get something done before half term as this would mean we don't have so much to do after half term in terms of being in the studio. I initially said why don't we record mine and Billy's parts as a guide track for George and he then can use that for his recordings with the drums and then the majority of the songs will be finished. However the only problem with this is that me and Billy have to play perfectly in time for our recording otherwise they are wasted and we have to start over which means were going to be in a rush with the EP and it might cause problems. I've decided to only release 3 tracks instead now so it means we don't need to take up so much time and it's more realistic with timing as I have been delayed with all my problems. However we might if we have extra time at the end do a creative cover of a song but that completely depends on recording time. Harry believes we should record some drums this week ready. This means I'm going to have a short amount of time to talk to George and try to get him to learn the song for me so he has a good understanding for the recording.

Problem solving

Due to the fact that my producer is working with such a large amount of people it means that I have struggled to keep up to date with my plan and now I am very stressed for time. Harry has been really pressed for time due to the fact he is working with 6 other people strictly for there FMP's which means my deadlines that I was on target for have now dropped massively and I'm actually now behind. What I'm going to do to resolve this situation is record at least one drum track before Easter this way, one of the parts of recording that takes the longest, will hopefully be finished and we can then go from there. One problem is I have done all my work with Billy the guitarist and none with the drummer which is slightly stressful. Hopefully they will be ready as Harry believes we need to record before Easter and I agree with him however tomorrow I'm going to talk to George to see if this is possible. One thing I believe is helping me solve this situation is constant communication and really focusing on collaborations management as if I don't keep someone up to date as you can see it causes a lot of problems and therefore sets my whole project back behind the original proposal timeline created.

Conclusion and evaluation

Today hasn't been as good for success however I was able to deal with a large amount of problems I came across which is good as it means I can try to stay on track. My communication with my collaborations were very successful and it showed that talking to others solves problems. Even though I had some problems I am still on track with my plan however I'm just going to have to work around the obstacles that are affecting that however planning is going to make it ok. I was able to achieve all of my objectives for the day which is good as I had a lot of stuff to deal with that I didn't have planned for the day so that shows I was able to sought them out in a short amount of time. In the future I will leave gaps in my schedule just incase I have anything else do deal with and if I don't I will replace it with performance based things like lyric writing.

Wednesday 2nd April

Introduction and objectives

Today a plan to talk to Jordan about recording drums however first I intend to show him what me and Billy created and see if he has any ideas for them. I'm going to inform him the kind of sound I'm looking for with my track and give him some examples. I'm mainly going to focus on the first song however if he does infact have extra time I'm going to ask him for some ideas for the other two ideas I created with Billy however it might be slightly harder regarding the fact there only very short clips however I know George is extremely talented so I'm hoping this will work. I'm also going to do a bit of vocal work for the songs looking into lyrics. My plan is to create lyrics for one of the songs so it is finished so we then have two songs that I am happy with so then I don't have to do much communication with my collaborations over Easter trying to get people together.

Daily Project Blogs

In my first lesson I wanted to talk to George because we had a practical lesson so I wanted to take advantage of using the rehearsal spaces, so I was not struggling with my work trying to get a space with George and then not being able to as I am really short on time. We were able to get ahold of a recording studio as it was the only room with a drum kit we could use. The first thing I did was sit George down and explain to him what I wanted from him and show him the videos of me and Billy. We started off with my first original that I had already wrote the lyrics for and had a finished guitar part so he had the most to go off and this is the one I am planning to record first. I explained to him that I wanted a slow tempo beat that was slightly simple and relaxed. A few minutes later George gave me a few ideas and examples and asked which version I wanted and he then explained that it would be up to me if I wanted it of the ride or the high-hat, to which I responded with the ride as it create a fuller sound. Due to the fact this took a very short amount of time we were then able to create a drum beat for every track I had created with Billy which has saved me a extortionate amount of time, this means I'm able to go to Harry the producer i'm working with on this project and even if we don't record till after easter we are completely ready and can bash it out according to George in 3 weeks. After the drumming, we had a good conversation about times and I explained the situation and asked for some advice.

He believes that we won't struggle with timing if we are well rehearsed. He believes he could finish the drums for each track in a double lesson on Tuesday. He explained he knows he can do this as he did it with his band with a lot more complicated drums that were harder to stay on time. He also said that due to the fact Billy is talented he wouldn't be shocked if he could do it in a similar amount of time however this may vary as were going to be using multiple tracks of the guitar which are going to be playing multiple different parts for example little riffs over the chords to completely fill the song and create a nice Ambient feel for the songs, however, we won't do this forever song very likely only one or two. I might take slightly longer as I am going to be looking for a perfect take with my vocals that really show of my ability so I can hopefully impress some people and make them really want to listen to more of my music. However George believe it is possible however I did ask if he was free at all this week to possibly maybe get something down, my reasoning being when we come back we have a starting point to hit the ground running so we aren't so rushed. However he is extremely busy so it depends if he has enough time on Thursday however he has his own priorities so we will have to see as he is going to try to give me an answer by tonight. After messaging Harry he has agreed to give me a studio place tomorrow for 10.30am to 3.00pm which means we can record in the studios before Easter which would be perfect if we could record even both drums and guitar however George is busy but hopefully we can record it.

Problem soving

Since I haven't had much time to work with my collaborations, I have a big problem where I need to record, but one of them isn't ready. However, it is not their fault as we did agree to do all my recordings after Easter and sprung this on Him before the day we needed him to record. However, the session guitarist working with me, Billy, says he can record his part tomorrow and he know he is good at playing to a click so in the future after Easter George will be able to play the drums and use Billy as a guide track. Another thing I dealt with was studio times because I didn't know I was recording this week I hadn't got any recording time from Jordan for before Easter, so I had no time to record. The way I dealt with this situation is I contacted Harry asking if he had any free availability last minute tomorrow and Luckily he said yes I then spoke to Billy and we now have arranged to record in the studios from 10.30pm to 1.15pm as this is a large section it means that might be able to get some vocals down which would be perfect to save time. Without me contacting my producer and asking this wouldn't have happened, which is why I try to contact my collaborations on a daily basis. I've also solved many problems with accepting my drummer won't be ready and improvising and recording something else which I think is really good overwise I would have lost this golden opportunity which will help me out massively in the future.

Conclusion and Evaluation

Today was very similar to yesterday, however today I dealt with all the problems I had come across yesterday and tried to deal with them. I also think if I was to re do this day I would definitely have had this conversation with all of my collaborations a week earlier and changed my plan to make me a bit more prepared as my time table wasn't connect to any problems I might face and now I'm being pushed for deadlines however I am dealing with them quite well. I have been able to secure sometime in the studio which is a positive as it means that I am not going to be to be rushed after easter which is a huge positive.

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