Primary Research(Interview Draft)

I have decided to Conduct several interviews to attain some expert opinions on some of the producers and artists that I am researching. The interviews will all be recorded and uploaded as a separate blog post.


Metro boomin-

I will be asking the experts the following questions:




What kind of production techniques can you hear within the music?




How many sounds distinct to this producer can you hear implicated through his music?




How might you be able to construct any of these sounds?




Which song was you're favourite and why?



Noah'40'Shebib-

I will be asking the experts the following questions:




What kind of production techniques can you hear within the music?




How many sounds distinct to this producer can you hear implicated through his music?




How might you be able to construct any of these sounds?




Which song was you're favourite and why?



Travis Scott-

I will be asking the experts the following questions:




What kind of production techniques can you hear within the music?




How many sounds distinct to this producer can you hear implicated through his music?




How might you be able to construct any of these sounds?




Which song was you're favourite and why?

video diary 1

Composition commentary

Songwriting 1
This was very difficult to mix because i had lots of different samples. i was influenced by Haitus Kayote and Flying Lotus. The first sample I Used was from the Haitus Kayote song Breathing underwater. i wanted to create a very atmospheric vibe so i used lots of EQ,Reverb and filters to get the desired sound i was looking for. I took influence from flying lotus and implemented it in my music by trying to replicate the way how he blends from one section of a song to another subtley yet effectively. I found this also tricky because there were a lot of different frequencies happening in this one song. I had a filter on some of the drums which added to the overall atmospheric vibe and i also used EQ to do low pass sweeps. Sade recorded vocals which had some swing allowing the listener to fall into a nice groove like in the 'Breathing Underwater'
Songwriting 2
This song was an interlude and just like the Hoizer song i use lots of repetition and layered different phrasing with my ad-libs on top. this makes the overall piece more effective and grabs the listeners attention because the music becomes more complex and catchy. I also tried to recreate the use of lyrics becoming used more as sounds rather than meaning like Haitus Kayote did. I made a complex high hat sequence because i had two different types of high hat. the first is a regular high hat which follows a complex rhythm. The second are different pitched high hats which also follow a complex rhythm. Artists which we studied such as Kendrick Lamar also implicate these complex high hat sequences in their music also.

Analysis Of Artist Work

Haitus Kayote-
we studied two songs from Hiatus Kayote, 'Breathing underwater' and 'nakamarra'. in the breathing underwater song the significance is the phrasing. The lyric phrasing follows the drum pattern and the strumming of the guitar, this allows the listener to focus more on the words and creates a strong groove throughout the piece. the phrasing is also very rhythmic so it blends in with the music and her lyrics almost seem like an instrument.
'nakamarra' is similar to breathing underwater because in the hook the phrasing also follows the drum pattern, however its slightly different because the drum kit is driving the song by slightly being in ahead. The song also has a nice groove because of the time signature which makes it more unique to the listener.

Hozier-
we looked at the song 'From Eden' this song was interesting because it didn't have an orthodox 4/4 time signature it used a 5/5. this created a nice groove for the listener to explore. i feel like the song was also more successful because the time signature was different for a pop song. Usually most pop songs sound similar because they use the same format and structure however because this one was different it was a lot more refreshing to hear and i think that was also on of the causes of the tracks sucess

composing song 2

Funky Junk Evaluation

I feel like i have improved in many ways since term 1. From my confidenece playing instruments to my concepts within my music. I was able to learn from my mistakes by repetition like trial and error which has helped me because i have been able to start to develop my sound. Im happy with the work i have created in this contemporary project because i feel like it has pushed me to become more creative and explore my music so it isn't basic and boring.

A technical skill that i have developed over the course of term 2 is learning how to properly and effectively use compression, which we learn about in our sound engineering class, I also managed to incorporate what I learnt and implicate that in my music. Im proud of my timing i feel like it has significantly improved since last term, this is due to the extra rehearsals in the band workshop class and also instrument lessons. my timing has not only helped me develop for playing instruments but in my production as well. For example if i played something out of time and i quantised it also, but there are still some notes that are out of time, I would be able to manually place the notes back in the right place more effectively than beforehand. My compositional skills have also improved I've noticed it in my production because i am now able to create more complex melody's and baselines and harmony in my music.

one of the problems I experienced in Term1 was finding the right sounds to use, for example the type of kick to use in a certain song. something I did differently this term was researching into modern production techniques from various producers that I like I just try to incorporate some of the things I like into my music. I didn't complete all my work on time, learning from this experience in my final major project i will make a plan so i can use all of my time effectively. in the Funky Junk project i spent a lot of time on one of my compositional pieces. this is because i found the track extremely difficult to mix however now that its finished i am happy with the piece.

Im not really sure if i improved my research methods or not, this is because i felt like my research ability was already quite competent, so I'm not entirely sure wether it increased or not. i had to research various different things such as how different modern production techniques influenced myself as an artist, also how to build exposure through social media and even how to plan a Tour.

I think the social media research that i conducted will prove the most useful because it will help me become established and currently social media is heavily used by my target audience so it will be the most effective form of exposure.

I don't really feel like the group project was presented successful because it didn't get a lot of exposure. i feel like this was due to the lack of organisation from the whole class including myself. in the future if we were to do this again we would need to create a plan with specific deadlines for specific things to be done. i will be presenting my music for term 3 through soundcloud/youtube and i will give it the exposure through social media

playlist research part 2

I have researched into lots of different production techniques and I've been influenced by artists such as "Noah '40' shabib" and travis scott and kanye west. '40' has influenced me because he is completely  unique in his production skills and he sees music as more of a science than an art. His sound became so notorious because he worked with artists like drake and helped drake establish his sound. '40' created underwater sound by perfecting how to use EQ and blending different frequencies together. his sound influenced me because i want to be able to create very atmospheric and sometimes mellow vibes in my music which can be achieved through EQ. '40' also uses his sound to create contrast within a song. An example of his sound is in the drake song "Days In The East"
 

Kanye West has heavily influenced me with his production techniques and more specifically the way he uses the human voice. Kanye uses the Human voice as an instrument. For example in the song 'Jesus Walks' from his College Dropout album, there is a choir however they are blended into the music filling the baseline the percussion and the melody. This is then layered over more samples and Kanye managed to turn a john legend sample into a flute like sound which becomes apparent to the listener towards the end of the video. I try to also incorporate some of these vocal complexities within my own music for example percussive adlibs.

Travis Scott and his production techniques have influenced me because when I listen to his music I feel like its the perfect example of listening to a song and being transported to another world. His sound is quite eerie yet exciting and energetic and i try to incorporate some of thee elements into my music as well. But what Travis Scott does that really separates him from everyone else is the way he records his vocals.

Playlist Research Part 1

for the class playlist, as a class we decided to split our research into different area's. The research i conducted was how we can engage the widest audience for our music on social media. More specifically on Twitter. Twitter is a great place for our class playlist because it comes with a lot of exposure. you can talk directly to other users through tweets which gives you complete freedom within 140 characters. this is also great because you as an artist are able to connect with you're followers because you can be yourself and show you're personality. twitter also allows you to share and reply to other people's posts and tweets. this is great because you can give you're opinion on certain topics which will help you engage with you're audience or you could be showing you're audience something important or something that they could relate to. All of these things are very important when it comes down to exposure because if you become more consistently active doing these things then you gain more and more followers and you're content is more likely to be shared around which will build yore fanbase and allow you to receive exposure.

I also did some more research and found a great article on how to get started when you're trying to promote you're music on Twitter

Music Promotion For Twitter

I found this article very helpful because it gave me a wide variety of different ways in which I can improve my effectiveness of promotion on twitter. most of the points relate to the fact that you have to be consistent and keep you're account active, which is the main thing i'm going to focus on. when I promote my music on twitter I will focus on tips 1, 5 and 12. I have also learnt that social media currently heavily influences my target audience so using social media is the most effective way for me to promote

Funky Junk Playlist

composing song 1