I think this Project went well. It could have been better but in the end we managed to do what we set out to do. We had a schedule which we planned on sticking to, although we didn’t. I think the production of the tracks was done to a good standard, Not because it was me who produced them but because they sound good.
The vocals on the tracks were amazing in my opinion. Veronica is an unreal singer and her vocals are amazing and so I always knew the vocals would sound great. The recording sessions were frustrating at Times due to creative differences of opinions, over minor things such as where we thought a harmony should go. Nothing major however.
The recording session were enjoyable, as frustrating as they were. Because I was able to get into my comfort zone a lot more. We used standard condenser microphones to record the vocals as well as the guitar. This was because the guitar actually sounded better after been recorded by the condenser. I tried using a DI to record it in on logic Pro however the sound we received was very tinny and wasn’t very nice to hear.
our guitarist Bart originally played the guitar parts in over the track. However, as good as a player he is; Bart just was not able to play the parts how I wanted them to sound. The tracks were supposed to be calm and laid back but Bart was not able to play in that style. He strummed the guitar too hard and played technically incorrectly. The songs were meant to be played softly and in a certain time signature but Bart was not able to provide this. So, I told our vocalist Veronica about the problem and she decided to play the parts in instead. The guitar parts were then sounding better.
I spent a lot of time making various parts for both of the instrumentals. I created the instrumental for our cover of XXXTENTACION – revenge, on my own. This was well produced and I felt very good about the direction of the track. The original track was co-produced by our vocalist. She laid down the piano and the strings (melodic parts) and I laid down the drums and the bass. This track was a lot more challenging because there were so many tracks with piano parts it meant I had to mix each individual part. This was challenging not on my ability but on my patience. Mixing 14 different piano parts and only scratching the surface of the track was quite frustrating at times, as well as sorting out the EQ and applying effects such as reverb, compression and delay. The recording process for this track was exactly the same as with our cover. The guitar was recorded in by veronica’ s playing yet again. This was due to similar reasons previously mentioned.
Recording the vocals for this track were also frustrating at times. This was because of differences of opinions. For example, I felt a harmony should have come in during the second chorus, Veronica did not. So coming to compromises was something that was quite often done whilst producing the original record. Dispute all the differences I was still able to produce this track quite well. It sounded great on MP3 and the live performances of the two songs were very well done.
Live PerformancesÂ
As well as making an EP for our final project. We also had to perform it live at the Underground Bradford. I didn’t look forward to this because I don’t like performing, I like producing. So it’s hard for me to say I was excited.
Before the final performance however there was a mock performance for us to do. We didn’t prepare too well for this however. We started rehearsing for the first time two days before the mock performance and so within that time we had to structure and play through both songs.
We asked Dan and Cain (guitar and bass players) to help us out with our performance as we needed a drummer and a bass player (Cain plays drums as well). Once we had the two guys helping us out we decided to start with the cover, Revenge. Whilst learning revenge I was first playing the drums. As I am not a drummer I wasn’t very good at keeping in time with the song, Cain noticed this and offered to swap roles so that I was playing bass. I accepted this proposal because I can play guitar and so bass isn’t much different. After the switch the song came along a lot quicker and we were fairly confident about playing that individual track.
We then went on to structure our performance for the original track. Learning the original track wasn’t hard what so ever because Veronica wrote the song so she knew what chords and structure to use. Just like the first track we learnt, this song was also ready to be performed in just a day and a half worth of rehearsals.
When we performed in our mock gig we were still quite fresh to the set we had just put together and hasn’t really played through it fully by that point but regardless to this the performance still went quite well. We played too quickly but that was something we reflected on and was able to improve on in the real performance.
The final performance was very quickly a couple of hours away before we even realised it. We luckily were able to get one more rehearsal after the mock gig so we could get every thing dusted up and polished, ready for the night of the real final gig. When the time came to getting on stage and performing we were quite confident as a band. Personally I was nervous but I tried not to show it. We played “Revenge” and then our own track. We played both tracks quite well and the feedback from our peers was positive. The crowd however gave me the impression that they were not really bothered about the art we were presenting. I didn’t see a big crowd engagement for the first track but in the second one they seemed to feel more involved which was good. We played the first track slightly too fast but soon slowed it down when veronica signalled us to play slower. On a personal note I played both tracks correctly but after listening back to the video of the gig I noticed my bass amp was too quite. On stage it sounded fine but I doubt the crowd could hear it as well as I could because on the video it was barley noticeable.
Overall, the performances went well. They were not perfect but they certainly went better than what I was expecting.
I planned on getting our tracks onto Spotify but instead they’re on SoundCloud which is okay I guess, not what I wanted but good enough. This goes against my project proposal. As well as this, we also planned on having two covers and two original tracks. Due to time restrictions we were not able to do so as planned.
I also would have liked to get another final mix done just so it was produced to my best potential ability. Although I didn’t I am Still pretty happy with the two tacks we do have and overall I am fairly okay with the way the project went, although it could have gone so much better.