(Powerpoint - Presentation):

(Video - presentation):

UAL Unit 8 FMP Project Proposal

Candidate Name: Phoenix Maunton

Candidate Number: 429239

Pathway: UAL Music - Performance Pathway

Project Title: Original Shoegaze EP + Metalcore/Post-Hardcore Cover

Section 1 - Rationale:

• I have never publicly released music - only composing and producing music to have for myself – the purpose of this project is to have a professional portfolio of music, released publicly - helping to find others who may want to make similar music as me, it also acts as a gateway for my next step during the summer after the FMP. Whereby I will move onto a project where I'd either make an album - depending on how the songs on the EP are received, or work in a band setting, if anyone reaches out as a result of this EP release. 

• This lines up directly with my goals of working in music performance as well as starting to release music as an artist myself, building the foundation to develop from in the coming months, I will be releasing my music on Spotify as an official artist.

• Since starting the UAL performance course, i have gained experience in live recording and production, picking up the basics in how to use a DAW (Logic Pro X) only months ago, where I spent an immense amount of time at home experimenting and learning, finding an innate relation to music production and how to map out my ideas in music creation with the production side. Aswell as performing live in a band setting, improving my ability in songwriting aswell as collaboration, gaining experience in communication, timing and rhythm. Helping to reach out with collaboration with 'RichMnkey' alongside improving my ability to maintain a tight structure, rhyhtm and timing in the recording process of the songs.

Section 2 - Project Concept:

• For this project I am going to independently compose and produce a 4-track, EP of three original songs, with one creative cover - recording my instrumentation through a scarlett interface into Logic Pro X as my DAW and using my Helix Floor + Helix Native software for tones - playing bass/guitar. I'll use MIDI for drums, piano, synth etc. 

• For my target audience I'm going to release a single to be used as a demo to see how people reply and engage with the song – and from that find who my exact target audience will be – so that I can then promote to a familiar listener base. The 4-track will be a split of 'dark' shoegaze and metalcore/post-hardcore with collaboration from artist 'RichMnkey'.

• ​I am going to do all instrumentals and screams on the EP myself, with collaboration on some vocals. 

• Any mixing/mastering I will do myself – I have done this through secondary research on production technique, I am also going to contact local studios and/or producers to ask for any advice directly and gather primary research in the form of interviews. For the release of music and planning I have conducted primary research with a local Shoegaze band 'Through Her Eyes' who have used a similar process for their own FMP from last year. Aswell as with my friend and artist 'Richmnkey'.  

• For collaborative work - I am going to get some help to record vocals on some tracks - I am not a singer so I will have to see what I can do after exercising and improving – however I am planning to do scream-esque vocals for some of the songs and have samples recorded. Because of this  I'm going to write any parts and my girlfriend, who is a singer - is going to record over them and I will perform some guitar parts for her own EP and we'll do a song together. I'm also doing collaborative work with my friend, the artist 'Richmnkey' who has over a million streams on some of his songs on spotify.

• As for my final product - I'm hoping I can get 4 tracks, recorded and released onto streaming platforms. Using an EP cover that does not need to be created - getting inspiration from other media of which I have interest in.

Section 3 - Evaluation:

• I will update weekly to my site on any changes to my initial plans and any production to document the recording and creation process alongside my work as the project progresses. This will reference my stated aims as mentioned earlier, as to be reflective and analytical, observant of my current situations and how to maintain on track to the deadline.

• I will reflect and evaluate on my work as time goes on - following the weekly routine of reflecting on my work at the end of the week, on the weekend, evaluating what has gone to plan, gone well/not well and focusing on how this impacts the next following week, to keep my project on track. Collectively building up to an evaluation on the entirety of the FMP at the end in the final week. This is crucial as a musician to understand what I did well and what I didn't do well - as it is bound to not be as perfect as it could be, given human error and inexperience, so it is important to learn from this and not repeat these faults in future endeavours.

• Strengths, I feel extremely confident in my ability to write, compose and produce for all instrumentals myself. Promotion is an area I am confident in, I also have a website where I advertise to sell items – so I have experience with social media marketing already.

Weaknesses,  whilst I have experience in marketing – it is still a different experience/area with music, so to overcome this – I have done primary research i.e with local bands to see what worked well, what didn't etc. Another weakness is that I have only just started doing scream vocals – and again have no experience with vocals, to overcome this I am doing secondary research on how to improve this within the limited timeframe I have.

• An external threat would be the amount of time – whilst I have ambitions to expand from this, the FMP still has a deadline being the 23rd May – where I still must leave time to release the music onto services such as Spotify, to use its analytics (1-2 weeks). Another threat would be losing the logic files  or MP3– for this I am saving and backing up constantly to the cloud and uploading to a SanDisk Drive. The threat of time, I will try and mitigate by having rouine check-ins with staff on the course.

Proposed Research:

• Primary research, as mentioned I have interviewed the local shoegaze band 'Through Her Eyes' on how they managed their EP, the promotion and release of it, the publishing and how they moved forward into creating an established image and band – all things that are aligned with what I want to get out of this project.  My next step now is to interview local producers and studios to learn about the mixing/mastering process to a more professional degree – as they have more experience than me. Along with interviewing with 'Richmnkey' as he has made songs in this genre-space and achieved millions of streams on spotify and usages on tiktok, instagram etc.

• Secondary Research - I have focused on genre research -  particularly focusing on how to mix/record vocals for different genres such as shoegaze, planning to gather more information to apply to my work as time progresses. An element of this is also production research, particularly using these links: the first being prominently on how to create she sound I want in the genre, inspired heavily by the 'Deftones' - esque sound. With the second being more insightful in general production knowledge, helping me understand the process more clearer with topics not taught in college lessons:

Wainwright, R. (2024) How To Make Heavy Shoegaze/NuGaze | Deftones x Loathe, YouTube. Available at: https://youtu.be/k2N2UrsGKRs 

Wynne, M. (2024) 10 Years of Mixing Advice in 10 Minutes, YouTube. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oY079oVS3Nc 

Marketing and Promotion: How to market a release, using social media as an artist, as well as promotional advice on how to receive streams successfully - another insight with secondary research as seen here, stepping away with knowledge from a professional (Jesse Cannon - a producer & marketing strategist from New York, working with bands such as: The Cure, Animal Collective, The Misfits, The Dillinger Escape Plan, Limp Bizkit, Man Overboard, Somos, Basement etc... that will help me with reaching out to potential listeners.

Cannon, J. (2024) How Musicians Go From 0 To 1,000,000 Fans In 2025, YouTube. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ToQKJRERXcc&t=1125s  

Citations:

Wainwright, R. (2024) How To Make Heavy Shoegaze/NuGaze | Deftones x Loathe, YouTube. Available at: https://youtu.be/k2N2UrsGKRs 

Wynne, M. (2024) 10 Years of Mixing Advice in 10 Minutes, YouTube. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oY079oVS3Nc 

Cannon, J. (2024) How Musicians Go From 0 To 1,000,000 Fans In 2025, YouTube. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ToQKJRERXcc&t=1125s 

(Initial)

Project Plan: Timeline

Every week will be comprised of weekly blogs, colour marking: complete, incomplete, not started).

EASTER BREAK – 2 WEEKS 7th – 21st April

(2nd song Done, contact local studios for interviewing, release a teaser, both songs done besides vocals recorded.

(Substantial research is followed through to a significant degree so that the blogs will be manageable within the confines of getting songs done, also in the given timeframe.)

(Conduct primary research in the format of a survey, google forms).