Week 2 

Planning and Production 

• Complete instrumentals on first track to a satisfactory extent, and mixed to a satisfactory level. (Mostly-completed)

• Complete the initial steps towards research for my next song and start the writing process (Half-completed)

• Re-complete my FMP presentation before recording it live in front of an audience ((year 1 students and my tutor Jordan); uploading it to my site in the 'Project Proposal' section successfully). (Completed)

• Write the opening all framework to my second song, structuring it with lyrics and creating instrumentation. (Half-completed) ...completed only the basic framework of instrumentation, having some melodies and minimal chords all created and structured around the vocal parts - however I have no lyrics completed, at all, this is as I want to spend more time songwriting, this process for me has to be with myself in the correct mindset and as of writing now, I am not entirely satisfied - yet again, still focusing on the original song...

• Contact artist 'Dethtech' for advice - as I am planning on potentially covering his song (one of my favourite songs) "the joke isn't funny when ur the punchline" asking for advice on how to approach this and move forward or with similar songs created. (Completed) (But - Dethtech never replied 💔 seen below)...

Research   

• Complete genre research on modern shoegaze versus traditional shoegaze - comparing the likes of Zeruel, Wisp...etc to bands such as My Bloody Valentine - as well as exploring the dynamics between old bands to the trends now whereby there are more independent artists in shoegaze. Evaluating how modern shoegaze is darker, grittier - whereby bands and artists now use more wispy and ghostly lyrics, heavy bassier drums and distorted instrumentals, even in the artist themselves - having aesthetic choices of angels, crosses, dark grayscale colour choices of black, white, grey and colder hues of blue contrast to old shoegaze bands. Interpretations and shifts in culture etc... (Completed)

• Explore adjacent bands and artists to shoegaze and it's connection, such as nu-gaze and associations with bands such as Deftones and Korn with newer artists such as Wisp who solely make shoegaze. (Completed)

Practical Skills  

• In the video example - as demonstrated below, (similar to the last one in prior weeks). I do a walkthrough on how I achieve the general mixed sound alongside the reverb settings on the overall track, after mixing all individual instrumentation. Saving them together as one track in post - as to soak the entirety of the track in it's own reverb and eq - just generally enhancing the bass of the track - to create that 'punchy' sound similar to Zeruel's production in songs like Avalon, whilst also maintaining my own sound - being almost fuzzier and heavier due to feedback across all instrumentation creating a wetter heavier. Again this is only a demo - and so far I am still fairly inexperienced, so this is subject to change later on. The original instrumentation, isolated - kept in a different file saved to my Google drive and desktop for later use, and my now - finished demo track, saved also to my SanDisk drive in case of corruption etc...

Evaluation and Reflection

• This week I achieved a decent amount of work - giving some space to focus on other aspects of my project that were not confirmed to be certain, now completing the majority of the process for my first song and doing further genre research, which always is useful, as well as learning about automation on Logic and understanding how to use it on my project, experimenting with techniques such as cutting up, splicing and so on... (reflecting on this, the one thing I should have done is potentially live record my learning process in all of this, or breakdown individual steps in mixing drums contrast to guitar etc - alongside the general mix and show my mix 1 and mix 2 alongside each other to show this contrast. Another thing would have been following up with Dethtech - however i chose not to, which later changed my decision on how the direction of the project would move). 

• So far I am pretty stable in reaching my goals before the deadline, however now I have uncertainty with my original plans of having a 3rd song, which I decided to initially make a cover of Dethtech's 'the joke isn't funny when ur the punchline'- seeing how things go in the coming weeks - this may change. What I could do to help this process is routinely spending time focusing on different aspects of the project, just making sure I prioritise the first two songs.

• And whilst I have completed most of the instrumentation, having melodies and chords all created and structured around the vocal parts - I do have no concise lyrics completed - I feel better about this and have some drafts - so next week that will be a focus.

Next Steps (aims and objectives for following week)

• Next week I plan to start my second song, starting the songwriting and recording process - writing lyrics for both songs, and doing research for this.

• Start research for my next song, exploring further into genre research and applying to my work, adding to the substancial research section as I progress and learn - again, particularly lyric researching, songwriting etc...

• Keep doing vocal exercises.

• Start to research further mixing advice, particularly for darker modern shoegaze, next moving onto the mastering process.