The 1980's was a period in which music began to progress further throughout society and pop culture. The variations of music genres being birthed out of the 80s varied, with pop and dance music amongst the most popular. Genres like smooth Jazz and Rock music were also becoming more dominant. Pop culture was taking the world by storm, networks such as MTV started to become super powers in television. 1981 was the debut for their first music video launch, it was by "The Buggles".
In 1982, Sony and Phillips released the new modernisation of the CD system. Soon after that, the first CD was released onto the market. Billy Joel's "52nd street". The advanced movement to change to CDs left cassettes and vinyl on a downward trail of unpopularity. Fashion was also highly influenced in the 1980s. important icons such as Madonna and David Bowie led the industry in and started lots of iconic trends such as baggy trousers and crimped hair.
Michael Jackson-
Michael’s music that was released during this decade was a major influence on 80’s music and style.
He has also had lots of different major global influences, from the moon walk in his performances to the gloves and jackets that he wore. It was during the 80’s that The Jackson Five started to separate and the performers started to focus on their solo careers. Michael Jackson decided to emerge with a bad boy persona that became notoriously popular. especially throughout this decade. It can be seen in his album titled “Bad” which included songs such as “Bad” and “Smooth Criminal”.
Run-DMC – The group that really brought hip-hop to the forefront was Run-DMC. Iconic Rhymes known for including humour such as “Peter Piper,” “My Adidas” made it hip-hop more family friendly. They also took Michael Jackson and Prince’s foray into hard rock and applied it to hip-hop. Their huge smash hit “Walk This Way” with Aerosmith in 1986 paved the way for The Beastie Boys, Eminem, and the nu metal movement of the 1990s.
Michael Jackson has influenced my musical style because he is a pioneering artist. He was majorly involved in fusing genres in his music which is used more often now. producers such as Kanye west took influence from him. he used many techniques in his music from vocal harmonies to breaks. he was a very energetic performer as well, his audience loved seeing him do iconic dance moves such as the moonwalk or the gravity lean. i would also like to have this same level of energy when performing on stage to interact with my audience.
The 90's decade heavily inspired me because that was a time in which hip hop grew a lot more developed and a lot of iconic artists and concepts were created. Many famous acts who influence hip hop were birthed from this decade for example "A Tribe Called Quest", "Public Enemy", "Jay-Z". Some of the most infamous artists such as Biggie Smalls and Tupac where probably the most famous artists from this genre and influenced me as a producer and as an artist. they're music is still heavily sampled today. Biggie smalls' flow has definitely not only influenced me but a lot of other rappers as well.
Sunday, 11 December 2016
Workshop Diary (Week 5+6)
We were given a list of a few different audio songs and we had to use the skills we've learnt over the past few weeks to change the audio and remix it into something else. I was given the song..........and I rearranged the order and created a four bar loop. I also changed the pitch added a filter and some reverb to create a more ambient effect throughout the song. This also allows the drum pattern to come in very clean and crisp because the sound will be much more abrupt rather than it being ambient and almost floaty. which creates a very nice contrast. We were also introduced to the flex tool and we were shown a variety of different ways to manipulate audio monophonically and polyphonically are just two examples.
In todays DJ lesson we continued with what we worked on previously. Added some more songs to our playlist, still trying to get our mixes as clean as possible. we exported the playlist onto an M3U file, and then exported the playlist onto each of our USB's
Saturday, 10 December 2016
Friday, 9 December 2016
Composition Analysis's
My first track called "Komplications" took some inspiration from Massive Attack's -Teardrop. You can see that some inspiration is present in the drum pattern. For example I interpreted the way that they layer a lot of different sounds and carefully bring in other sounds to create different textures within the song such has ambient or a more rough and crispy texture. I also added some reverb and Delay which was present on the vocals of the track This allowed me to manipulate the song and add to the dark and intense theme of my track through creating spatiality within the track. I used atmospheric dark sounding pads which were low frequency and thick sounding which also filled up the track quite a lot, but i also had some higher frequeny sounds and the cntrast allowed the higher frequency sounds to cut through th elowe frequency sounds. the Higher frequenciy sounds were quite twinkly to give ther listener an eerie feel as he listened to the track. Also because the track was very full, the sections in the song where some of the other instruemnts are taken out stand out a lot more creating an effective diminuendo
My second track took inspiration from James Brown and stevie wonder. I tried to create a very rythmic and syncopated atmosphere throughout this track. Like the James Brown song-Feel Good i tried to use a realistic sounding bass to give the overall track a more realistic funky feel. To do this i started with the bass line it was on a swing and was a sequence that was filled with lots of short plucked phrases but also some elongated ones to create a nice groove. I then took inspiration from the stevie wonder superstition track by using lots of different layered and syncopated sounds, i also used the clav synth intrument in my song like Stevie Wonder did in superstition for the main riff. i did this because the clav is a very distinctive sounding instrument and it is recognised notoriously in funk music. I also think that it contrasts and compliments the baseline because it cuts through it allowing the listener to distinctly hear and enjoy both sounds simultaneously. i also took inspiration from Stevie Wonder through using lots of harmonies to create a more thicker and complex sound in the instruments
Tuesday, 29 November 2016
Gig Review (External)
This Gig was the debut of Jack Garratt's new album, Phase. I missed the first warm up act, however i was able to watch the second act named.........which was a modern R&B act. I feel that it worked because it created an atmosphere which was laid back yet captivating. This also allowed the crowd to prepare for the headline act.
Both the warm up act and headline act were effective at engaging the audience. The warm up act was effective at engaging with the audience because he brought loads of energy to the performance. he would walk up and down the stage, take breaks in the song to perform dance solo's and perform riffs and over vocal techniques to make the performance more exciting. The headline act was able to successfully engage with the crowd swell but in a different way. For example after every few songs he would stop playing and interact and have a conversation with the crowd. asking what songs they would like to hear etc. also during his songs he would use call and response. One moment i remember in particular was during the song "The Love You're Given". In this song, there is a sample of an opera singer from the start, and the crowd sung this sample throughout the song. Then he would walk to one side of the stage and raise his arms in the air to get that section of the crowd to sing along. So for the beginning part of this performance he was interacting with the crowd which created a more personal atmosphere because it allows the audience members to feel as if they are part of the performance swell.
A standout moment of the performance was the introduction. There was a song being played with loads of energy, which was a great contrast from the warm up act which was a lot more relaxed. so when Jack came in straight away with this energy i was immediately captivated. The lighting and audio visuals were used extremely effectively well throughout the whole performance but in particular in this opening performance, there were loads of moving lights, fire, smoke, background lighting and there was also a ring that responded to the music as well. Jack was already playing the keys and drums and the FX pad at once whilst singing, showing off his amazing skill set. I thought this was a standout moment because i didn't know who Jack Garratt was before this gig and the fact that he introduced him self in this way let me know that the rest of the show was going to be just as amazing and energetic and electric as this moment was.
Overall i thoroughly enjoyed the show. i went in not knowing what i was going to expect and i came out of the performance extremely happy and i would go and watch him live again. i think as an artist one of the most important things is to let new people find and connect with you're music and thats exactly what happened with me. I have now added some of his songs to my playlist on my phone
Both the warm up act and headline act were effective at engaging the audience. The warm up act was effective at engaging with the audience because he brought loads of energy to the performance. he would walk up and down the stage, take breaks in the song to perform dance solo's and perform riffs and over vocal techniques to make the performance more exciting. The headline act was able to successfully engage with the crowd swell but in a different way. For example after every few songs he would stop playing and interact and have a conversation with the crowd. asking what songs they would like to hear etc. also during his songs he would use call and response. One moment i remember in particular was during the song "The Love You're Given". In this song, there is a sample of an opera singer from the start, and the crowd sung this sample throughout the song. Then he would walk to one side of the stage and raise his arms in the air to get that section of the crowd to sing along. So for the beginning part of this performance he was interacting with the crowd which created a more personal atmosphere because it allows the audience members to feel as if they are part of the performance swell.
A standout moment of the performance was the introduction. There was a song being played with loads of energy, which was a great contrast from the warm up act which was a lot more relaxed. so when Jack came in straight away with this energy i was immediately captivated. The lighting and audio visuals were used extremely effectively well throughout the whole performance but in particular in this opening performance, there were loads of moving lights, fire, smoke, background lighting and there was also a ring that responded to the music as well. Jack was already playing the keys and drums and the FX pad at once whilst singing, showing off his amazing skill set. I thought this was a standout moment because i didn't know who Jack Garratt was before this gig and the fact that he introduced him self in this way let me know that the rest of the show was going to be just as amazing and energetic and electric as this moment was.
Overall i thoroughly enjoyed the show. i went in not knowing what i was going to expect and i came out of the performance extremely happy and i would go and watch him live again. i think as an artist one of the most important things is to let new people find and connect with you're music and thats exactly what happened with me. I have now added some of his songs to my playlist on my phone
Thursday, 24 November 2016
Workshop Diary (Week Four)
In our DJ class this week looked at creating a group playlist. we learnt how to effectively categorise playlists in different ways, including Genre, Artists, Theme etc. this was helpful because we were making our own playlists and we were able to manipulate the atmosphere with the songs. for example playing a more or less energetic song. we also continued with our beat-matching and our cutting.
in our sequencing class this week we focused on making a whole song completely out of audio and no midi. This was fun because it was a very creative was that got us thinking. the human voice can imitate lots of different instruments from a synth to a bass and it is also great for making percussive sounds. not to mention putting effects like delay and reverb to create an ambient more effective vibe.
in our sequencing class last week, we were given a list of a few different audio songs and we had to use the skills we've learnt over the past few weeks to change the audio and remix it into something else. I was given the song..........and I rearranged the order and created a four bar loop. I also changed the pitch added a filter and some reverb to create a more ambient effect throughout the song. This also allows the drum pattern to come in very clean and crisp because the sound will be much more abrupt rather than it being ambient and almost floaty.
in our sequencing class this week we focused on making a whole song completely out of audio and no midi. This was fun because it was a very creative was that got us thinking. the human voice can imitate lots of different instruments from a synth to a bass and it is also great for making percussive sounds. not to mention putting effects like delay and reverb to create an ambient more effective vibe.
in our sequencing class last week, we were given a list of a few different audio songs and we had to use the skills we've learnt over the past few weeks to change the audio and remix it into something else. I was given the song..........and I rearranged the order and created a four bar loop. I also changed the pitch added a filter and some reverb to create a more ambient effect throughout the song. This also allows the drum pattern to come in very clean and crisp because the sound will be much more abrupt rather than it being ambient and almost floaty.
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