Practice Diary
18th April 2018
I can clearly hear that the melody is slightly different from how it sounds like right at the end on the recorded version. I was trying the get used to singing the song with lyrics, I had to read the lyrics even though I wrote them as I still wasn’t comfortable with the yet all i wanted from this rehearsal was to get familiar with the song so that later on I can play around with it and start adding different melodies and harmonies. I believe that I met my target that I set myself, which was to write the lyrics to the original song. The targets for the next rehearsals are to get familiar with the songs and focus on rehearsing the cover song and possibly to work out harmonies.
19th April 2018
The cover
Original version
I didn’t know the lyrics for this song as you can hear I was reading off of a paper and was totally new to this song. I figured out the chords myself so I didn’t sing at the original key the song is in. Again the purpose of this first rehearsal of this cover was to get familiar with the lyrics and melody. I believe that this rehearsal was successful as I did met the target I set myself on the last rehearsal, although I didn’t work out harmonies for the this cover song and sang at the right key I believe that it gave me a head start into knowing the song a bit more.The targets for my next rehearsals are to rehears the original song and start working harmonies out.
23rd April 2018
Original
In this rehearsal you can hear that I know the song a bit more and got more comfortable with it without looking at the lyrics.
Original
This is the first harmony I worked out for the pre-chorus.
Original
This is the second harmony I worked out on the same part in the pre-chorus. I ended up making this the main melody because I preferred it better and in my opinion I believe that it sounds better.
Original
This is also the harmony I workout for the same part of the song as I was practising and I sang a new melody or different harmony I recorded so that I wouldn’t forget and see which one would suit better on the track.
Original
This is the harmony/backing vocals workout the notes C, D, C, B, C, B. I then sang the same thing 5th Lower so E, F,E, D, E, D. For some harmonies I sang whilst playing the guitar and for others I didn’t as I wanted play the video after and sing the other harmonies to see if it would sound good and if it is worth recording them.
original
Original
To make it sound fuller I sang the same 2 harmonies but at a higher octave. I recorded my vocals on two phones, I recorded one harmony, played it whist I recorded it on the other phone with me singing other harmonies on top which turned out sounding like this.
I already had a slight conception in my mind of what I wanted the track to sound like that is why I recorded all harmonies at once to see if it would sound good and it did, although it doesn’t sound very well put together which is mostly because the vocals were recorded off a phone. I believed that it would sound better recorded in the studio. This rehearsal was both successful as I got comfortable with the original song and worked out harmonies/melodies, I met my target that I gave myself on the last rehearsal. The targets I set myself for the next rehearsal are to write the second verse and work out harmonies and melodies to add texture to the song when recording it.
24th April 2018
I started out will singing the song and playing around with it so see if I would come up with any nice melodies.
I then recorded each harmony/backing vocal so that when I’m in the studio I could go backend listen to it and see what I did.
This I the same melody but a third higher, which made it a harmony.
This is a melody I decided to record as I liked the sound of it and I thought it would sound good when I would layer my vocals in the studio.
I then rehearsed the pause bit in the song (so in my grave ill rot) and tried working out harmonies.
These are more melodies I decided to record for when I’m in the studio layering my vocals.
Original
This is a video of when I was rehearsing the last chorus of the song and I wanted to add vocals that would slightly be in the background while the last chorus is sung. What I was aiming for were long sustained notes without any lyrics just vowels.
I believe that this rehearsal was both successful d not as I rehearsed the songs and recorded different melodies so that I could go back to them and have a listening when I’m in the studio filling out the songs by adding texture, but on the other hand I didn’t write a second verse and that was my target that I set myself for this rehearsal.
Recording
In between this time I went in to the studio and recorded some vocals just to start recording, although I didn’t write the second verse yet, this gave me a head start in recording. We was not expecting the session to takes long and ended up recording just a bit of the cover song. Harry ( the bands producer) recorded a bit on his phone and sent it to me.
May 2018
I wrote the lyric but firstly writing down ideas of lyrics that came across in my head, then picked out the ones that suit the song/sounded the best.
My phones running low on storage and I thought it would be a good idea to voice record the rehearsals, unfortunately my phone is not letting me upload it/send it anywhere.
I believe that this rehearsal was successful as I rehearsed both songs, wrote the second verse & pre – chorus and also recorded my ideas and melodies.
Overall evaluation of rehearsals
strengths
I believe that I did well on setting myself targets each rehearsal and meeting the targets. I also recorded and documented the ideas that came to my mind or I liked. These rehearsals will help me when I’m in the studio recording the songs, it will make my life a lot easier as I’m going there prepared and knowing what I want the songs to sound like which will give me more time in being more creative with it when I’m recording.
Weaknesses
I believe I could of done better in many things. I wish I recorded full rehearsal sessions so that when I’m looking back at the videos I would know exactly where I am app to and what I rehearsed. When I went back to the recordings I didn’t know why I what was the purpose of recording them and forgot where exactly in the song I wanted them, this made me delete a lot of videos.