On this page, I am writing up my final evaluation of my FMP project. Discussing factors that went well, things i could've improved on, new skills i acquired, and other elements of the FMP such as wht makes an FMP successful etc.
A successful FMP project for me would be having the end goal completed, evidence of new skills gained and learned, and feedback on the end project to show what my goal was is evident in my final result. For my FMP my end goal was to have two original songs complete at a good level for a beginner by the deadline in a R'n'B style genre taking inspiration from two main artists while including collaborative aspects where i can. My aims were to gain new skills in fields such as understanding logic and expanding my production skills/knowledge i leant last term, learning new skills that will help for future experiences such as in real world applications in studio work. Having evidence in my blogs the process of my goals through screenshots and writes up showing the skills i used when creating my songs will show the different skills i learnt over the weeks i had to complete my FMP. Skills i have learnt through this process are factors such as layering and the impact it can make to a simple song, effects such as reverb and echo, as well as when mastering and mixing i learnt about how i can make one take of my song sound more smooth and cleaner as well as also sounding like there is two of me in the chorus through layering and distortion. I also put my aural skills to use when creating my tracks through humming an idea in my mind and getting that down onto Logic. The result of my FMP project this term was two complete original songs in an R&B style taking inspiration from certain artist trying to embed certain styles into my own music. Some key decisions i made when doing my FMP were things such as creating the track mostly alone, I decided i wanted minimal help when doing my tracks because i feel i could get a better understanding on the work i created myself. However i did struggle a lot when trying to create my tracks with having many mind blocks. Eventually i ended up asking for feedback on my tracks from some other around me and getting some help on my first track with the drums and pedal notes through Tyler. This actually helped me move past my mind block giving me a better flow of ideas. I also decided to record my vocals in a room(F01) instead of a studio as i felt getting studio time would be a bit of a struggle and others would need it more than me. This didn't have a huge impact on my final results however i feel like if i was to re-do my song i would record my vocals in a studio so they come out cleaner and smoother with minimal room sound effecting my tracks. Comparing my tracks to real life examples, I would use my inspiration 'need U to need me' by Sabrina Claudio for my first track. As comparison, I would look into the similarities of the tracks and the main features i took inspiration from, such as the chord progression from her song. I used a similar chord progression but slightly changed it and the key it was in. I also used her delay in introducing the drums into the song in my song for emotion purpose. For my second song, I used the keys used in 'Sunshine' by Cleo sol quietly in the background of my song, but took the inspiration of a more chilled laid back vibe from Tate Mcrae's style and Cleo's song sunshine. With the planning of my project (weekly), I stayed consistent to what i wanted to achieve most weeks but felt i fell behind a bit after the Easter holidays. Factors that effected this was things such as lack of motivation on wanting to do my FMP and the fact that my time management wasn't very good, as i kept leaving things last minute or till late at night so it wasn't achieving the fullest of my abilities. I also did nothing in my first week of starting my FMP giving me less time on getting my practical work started. In the future, I feel i need to make a clearer plan and actually stick to it without trailing off multiple times, as-well as if i get stuck at any particular point i should've ask for help instead of trying to do it alone, such as emailing teachers or messaging friends for advise. Problems that came about when working on my FMP were things such as having mental blocks, especially when i was creating my track during the easter. I burnt myself out by trying to work on it almost 3 days straight when i should've taken appropriate breaks to prevent this. I also got stuck on the lyric writing where once again should've taken a break from trying write lyrics every now and then to refresh my brain. For my second song, I played around with some different ideas i had and came up with my second song through a lot of trial and error and trying all sort of different things until i got what i liked most.
The research i conducted is important as it contributed to my FMP i aspects of how i would start my projects of creating two original songs as well as giving me insight into what i ca add to my work to make it better instead of working of 'ifs' and knowledge i already had (which was limited to minimal ideas) before i started my research. The research helps gives a better understanding of the genre i used.
I learnt about the different vocal microphones there are and the different qualities each one has. I mainly focused on looking at mics best for R'n'B and finding an end conclusion to which mic is best for R&B performances. I also learnt about which microphone is best suited for live performances and studio recordings. This is useful to me as for wen or if i am going to go work in a studio setting t live performance i will know which microphone is worth my money for certain performance's specially if i have a budge to what i can afford in early stages of making music. I also conducted research into R&B vocal techniques and the different elements that makes R&B distinctive to its genre. This research is further useful to me as i have an interest in R&B music as-well as had that fo rmy main focus for my FMP so researching these skills would've helped me when it came to recording vocals and thinking of melodies. It also helps in future aspects once again as if i were to carry on with creating R&B style music i will have key knowledge into wha i can add to my music to make it stand out as well as fitting ito the R&B category of music. Knowledge i have gained through my research are factors such as microphones through websites online and also looked into microphone techniques, i did this myself through talking to Judith and trying the microphone techniques myself while running through my own song. I also researched vocal techniques used primarily in R&B music (using a website from a vocal coach).
For me the best features of my FMP fall under the production of my first track but the lyrical process and performance of my second track. For my second song the process of creating the track with the different elements to it shows of my skills in creating music the best with the different layers and use of panning, showing the different elements i learnt from my R&B research i conducted. Also, the mixing and mastering of my first song came out really well from help from Matt, as i also learnt For my second track, I feel the lyric writing was better than my first as it presented more emotion in the song which is what i wanted to try and achieve the most when writing my lyrics for my FMP. It also had more vocal dynamics when performing which helped show my vocals off as a singer, I know this from the feedback i got when i did a live performance of my track in G11 to a crowd of people. I got feedback from a singer friend of mine George Humphries stating how the song shows of my vocals nicely in an R&B style dynamic, as well as showing of my microphone techniques i had learnt prior with my teacher Judith first hand. The flaws that came about in my project are things such as time management, and write ups. Time management was one of my flaws in this project as i would leave a lot of my work to be done by the end of the week, or not doing any practical work till later into my FMP making it hard to make my songs up to a better standard, this could've been prevented if i made a clear structure to what i wanted to achieve each week and actually stick to it. This leads into my write ups, i didn't add enough details into my weekly blogs, and didn't make clear enough plans. This lead to me spending a lot of time on them in the last week causing stress, as well as not having clear plans led to procrastinating a lot of my work. If i was to do a project like this again, I would make sure i have a clear plan done day by day (so what i would like to achieve in each day even if its something small) and to also write up what i completed on the day into my daily blogs instead of leaving it till the end of the week (or month sometimes) to write up to allow more details to be put down. And for time management, I would make a timetable for week by week so i have to complete a certain task(s) by the end of that week. Another flaw was i had minimal collaborations, this was mainly due to my anxiety and being to afraid to ask others for help. I feel this can be easily over come over time, and have worked on it since and can work on it over the summer etc by asking for opinions and little things to get me more comftable.
Skills i have developed during this project are factors such as production skills, lyrical writing, melody creating and performance skills. Inn production, i learnt how to create full songs (even if simple) mostly myself using Logic Pro. This also helped me understand how Logic works developing my technical skills in creating tracks and putting different instruments together (as well as listening to sounds and picking what suited songs best + aural skills through humming ideas i had and putting them onto logic through hearing). Other production skills i developed are mixing and mastering, as i sat with my teacher Matt in one of my lesson and he taught about mixing a track to get the best out of it by using effects such as distortion to create a fate backing vocal sound, or use of double tracking vocals and the effects of certain reverb and the amount of reverb to create harmonisation effects. In performance, i worked on skills such as microphone techniques, and the difference it can make when holding the microphone at different angles. Looking back at my solo performances from March and January then comparing my microphone techniques to my performance of my original song in May, i can see the difference it has made by holding my microphone more away from my mouth and slightly down. As the plosives are more prominent in my older singing videos when my mouth is closer to the microphone. I also improved my lyrical writing during this project compared to my term two project 5 lyrical writing as well as creating melodies i feel has improved compared to last term through i was able to create a melody quicker and find one within a song faster than last term, while also playing with them and doing different things each run through of my song compared to when i was scared to experiment last term with melodies and lyrics.
In the collaboration aspect of my FMP, I didn't collaborate with many people but the ones i did collaborate with was fun. It allowed me to receive honest feedback from the people who helped out on my FMP pushing it to be better than it would've been if i had done it all myself. It also allowed new ideas to come about getting me to think about factors i might not of thought of before, such as adding harp to my first track through the feedback of a friend. However, some aspects of my collaboration didn't work out, showing that collaborating with others can be unreliable due to a lack of communication or busy schedules. As i did originally ask a producer friend of mine to help with the mixing and mastering but due to not communicating well enough and her doing her own FMP as well as mixing other peoples song we never got round to doing that collaboration. Having this issue come about has allowed me to know for future purposes to keep in contact and communicate better with whoever it is i am collaborating with, doing things such as sending drafts of the song for ideas and peeks into what a finished result would be like.
From my proposal and comparing that to my end goal, I feel i did acheive what i was aiming for when doing this project and have expanded my knowledge on working with DAWs and gaining knowledge in creating my own songs and seeing how it feels. I achieved the main portion of my project as well with minimal changes throughout the process. The contributing factors that helped me achieve my end goal are things such as research into what i wanted to do for my FMP giving me a guidnace to what i should be working towards, as well as using Logic first hand and getting help from other to give me a better understanding of the DAWs i used and and bigger idea on how working with Logic and making my own music would feel like in the future if i was to apply it to a real-world application. My project was a success as I completed two orginal song with minimal knowledge prior on creating songs alone, and gained new knowledge in the process giving me a better understanding of future oppitunites that would have use of creating tracks. Another factor is the evdience showing me performing my orginal song showing how it worked out even though i out it off alot at the beginning and procrastinated alot i pukled through. I feel like i could've made my tracks a bit more exiciting as they are a littlr bland and boring but i feel this is because i had minimal time due to procrastinating doing my work and kosing interest quite quick into the FMP. Next time, i feel i should really think about my FMP and make a clearer plan day by day so i dont stray from the end goal and can get a better end result. I also didnt do along if primary research to which i feel i should do a but early on in my FMP if i am to do it again. My expereince of doing this project can help with a brief idea on how it would be making orginal song and how much time it can take to make a decent song, It also gave me some experience on collaborations with others and how communication is very key, i did lack communication in the collaboration aspect and feel i could've done better in that feild just simply by overcoming my anxiety and emailing and talking to people i would wanna work with in the future. This helps me as if i was to go into a real world application and work with other i know i will need to talk a-lot amongst them.
The final product of my FMP were the two singles which are on a seperate page titled "Final Product". Overall, I do like my final peices and think they came out quite well, however feel like it is missing a lot and has potential to be more. I feel it doesnt show my best work and i could've 100% dont better if i was to use my time more wisely. I am pleased with the way the track for the first one came out as it is quite full and has some good elements to it including the slow rise in the chorus. For the second song, I am pleased with how well it works when performing live as i used a backing track but the bass was quite loud however my vocals blended quite well with it. If i was to do this again, I would work on lyrics a bit more and i didnt like them enough and couldn't fully connect to them myself. I felt as though they were very robotic and had no emotion to them, feeling rushed. I would also work on my second song track a bit more, sitting down and listening to it and adding some more elements to it as it is quite simple and plain before vocals are added. I would undertake a similair project in the future as I did enjoy some aspects of doing this project, such as learning about Logic and microphone techniqes. And coming up with ideas for creating songs was enjoyable as i had full freedom to what i wanted to create. This project helped me progress on my wider views on going into the music industry, as i dont know if creating tracks is something i would want to do offically in the future however i do enjoy singing and performing just need to gain more conifdence, and feel my project helped me realise that working on making tracks alone isnt my strong point and would want to do more collaboration in the future with all sorts of musicians.