Context – In the past 2 years, I’ve learnt a lot to do with music, a lot of this knowledge will help me for this project. The main skills and improvements I’m going to use are advanced drumming, songwriting skills and mixing skills. All these aspects of music I wouldn’t have been able to do 2 years ago, or even a year ago with last year’s final project. As I only did simple drumming for the original tracks last year, I want to improve on that, by doing much better drumming as well as incorporating other aspects of music.I chose this project as it focuses on the aspects of music I want to improve on as well as developing new skills. Using Ableton is something that I need to get comfortable with. As I’ve used both Logic and Ableton before, however I never really got along with either of them. This is my chance to get comfortable with a DAW. Similarly with mixing, I have mixed before, but never to a great standard. This project is my chance to become good at this aspect of music. I will also be learning how to use hybrid drumming, and drum pads. Which is a great new skill to learn, as a drummer it will be useful to be able to use this technology in the future.
My goal by the end of this project is to create one high-quality funk song, which I have wrote, mixed and mastered myself. Then I will use hybrid drumming, and play the song on an acoustic drum kit, and a drum pad. What I hope to get out of this project, is improvement in many different elements of music. As I have stated above, improving and knowing about all these aspects will make me have more possibilities for a career in this industry.
Research – I will be researching about aspects of my project that I need to learn and improve my knowledge before I start it. Such as songwriting, specifically for funk and general songwriting; advanced drumming; hybrid drumming; drumming videos and how to use Ableton well. I will mention the sources in the bibliography below.
| Problem Solving – Problems have occurred in last projects, such as people not turning up to sessions. This can be an irritating issue, so I fixed this by mostly working on my own. Writer’s block is a problem that I will definitely encounter is writer’s block. There are ways to tackle this, which would be taking breaks or using different songwriting techniques. Sticking to a schedule and time management is a problem I’ve had throughout my projects in the 2 years. I will stick to the production plan to the best of my ability. Any other problems that could occur, my research should cover for it. |
Planning and Production – My plan will be detailed in the production plan down below. A few deadlines are: get my context and research done by week 2; finish the song by week 6; and mix it in the Easter holidays and start working on the drum track in this time, finish it by week 8, the showcase is this week; record the video in week 9 and final evaluations in week 10 and 11.
Practical Skills – One skill I am using is advanced drumming. I have shown that I’m at an intermediate level with my drumming in last year’s final project and the LiveWire events. However I want to take it to the next level with this project, and challenge myself more. Another skill is being able to use Ableton, and mixing and mastering on the software.I am not confident in mixing, mastering or using Ableton. Even though I have done it before, I need to improve before applying this skill. Another skill I will be using is songwriting. This is a skill I have experience with, as I have written drum tracks, inside and out of college. However the rest of songwriting I have very little experience with. A lot of research and improvement is needed before applying it. All of these skills will make up my project. If I put my head down and learn all these skills, I will have a good end product.
Evaluation and reflection – I will be doing weekly evaluations during this project. These will include the progress I have made, the problems I have encountered and how I solved them, if I am on schedule or not and how I will have to adapt to keep on schedule, any improvements that need to be made and my targets for the next week. These evaluations will be done on the weekends, as I have a big workload, I will struggle with time management if I allocate time in college towards these evaluations. They will probably be written, as I am more comfortable with this format and I can include more detail. If I am running low for time, I can do a vlog
I will be doing evaluations at the end of the project, these will include a project evaluation and a final product evaluation. These will be detailed evaluations, so I’ll do written evaluations. These will be done on Week 11, the last week of the project.
Presentation – My final product will be presented as a YouTube video, which will include me playing the song with a drum kit and a drum pad. I am going to try and make this video look professional as I want it to be a good piece of media and not just a college project. I will research this to make sure it is high quality. I will also be creating a logo for my YouTube channel where this will be posted, with the help of Paul.
In my evaluations, I will be using screenshots to present my work. This is so that I can show my work instead of explaining it.
| Week | Date Week Beginning | Activity / What you are intending to do – including independent study | Resources / What you will need to do it – including access to workshops |
| 1 | 7/3/22 | Research should be started and mostly completed. | Mac |
| 2 | 14/3/22 | Start working on the song, generating ideas and getting used to Ableton. | Mac Ableton Live 11 Midi keyboard |
| 3 | 21/3/22 | Keep working on the song, should have certain parts of the song down, such as structure, instrumentation, harmony, bass-lines etc. | Mac Ableton Live 11 Midi keyboard |
| 4 | 28/3/22 | Same as the week before, keep working and progressing. More parts should be in the song. | Mac Ableton Live 11 Midi keyboard |
| 5 | 4/4/22 | The song should be complete or near to completion, with only a few things left to do. | Mac Ableton Live 11 Midi keyboard |
| Easter Holidays | 11/4/22 18/4/22 | Mix the track at home over these 2 weeks. As well as generating ideas for the drum track | PC Ableton Live 11 Acoustic drum kit |
| 6 | 25/4/22 | Get comfortable with using a drum pad with an acoustic kit. Finish the drum track. | Acoustic drum kit Drum pad |
| 7 | 2/5/22 | The showcase is on the 5th, I will do a live performance of my track. | Acoustic drum kit Drum pad |
| 8 | 9/5/22 | Record the video of my track, as well as working on the final evaluations, if I have time. | Acoustic drum kit Drum pad Camera Microphones Video editing software |
| 9 | 16/5/22 | Work on final evaluations as well as catching up on any other written work I haven’t done. | Mac |
| 10 | 23/5/22 | Work on final evaluations as well as catching up on any other written work I haven’t done. | Mac |
Bibliography:
Field, S., 2019. How James Brown invented funk. [online] Youtube.com. Available at: <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AihgZv1D5-4> [Accessed 3 March 2022].
Goldmacher, C., Johnson, B., Zizzo, P. and McIntyre, H., 2022. Songwriting Tips, Techniques, and Ideas for Beginner Songwriters. [online] Careersinmusic.com. Available at: <https://www.careersinmusic.com/songwriting-tips/> [Accessed 3 March 2022].
Puppy, S., 2022. Outlier (We Like it Here). [online] Youtube. Available at: <https://youtu.be/4Qo1NFwMhBA> [Accessed 3 March 2022].
AllMusic. 2020. The Meters Biography, Songs, & Albums | AllMusic. [online] Available at: <https://www.allmusic.com/artist/the-meters-mn0000402872/biography> [Accessed 10 March 2022].
Meters, T., 2013. METERS Cissy Strut. [online] Youtube. Available at: <https://youtu.be/MXI5Nuz6OHg> [Accessed 3 March 2022].
Helguera, G., 2019. How To BREAK Into Advanced Drumming (Learn These 3 Things!) – Drum Lesson. [online] Youtube. Available at: <https://youtu.be/X41sRwjMX3U> [Accessed 3 March 2022].
Snyder, M., 2019. How To Create A Hybrid Electronic-Acoustic Drum Set – DRUM! Magazine. [online] DRUM! Magazine. Available at: <https://drummagazine.com/how-to-create-a-hybrid-drum-kit/> [Accessed 7 March 2022].
Solutions, C., 2015. Stevie Wonder – Sir Duke (Bass Cover) (Play Along Tabs In Video). [online] Youtube. Available at: <https://youtu.be/uQpJpQ5KBwE> [Accessed 7 March 2022].
Rapsys, R., 2018. Everything You Need to Make Drum Videos. [online] Robin Rapsys’ Drums Music & Tech. Available at: <https://robinrapsys.com/everything-you-need-to-make-drum-videos/> [Accessed 7 March 2022].
Moore, S., 2021. Stanton Moore Drum Academy. [online] Stantonmooredrumacademy.com. Available at: <https://www.stantonmooredrumacademy.com/products/five-funk-beats-you-should-know> [Accessed 14 March 2022].
Moore, S., 2010. Stanton Moore Trio – Pot Licker (Live on KEXP). [online] Youtube. Available at: <https://youtu.be/CKK7ezn2tig> [Accessed 14 March 2022].
C, S., 2019. Ableton Live Beginner Tutorial – How to make a song with Ableton Live 11 & Ableton 10. [online] Youtube. Available at: <https://youtu.be/LLcKyoUPrZs> [Accessed 16 March 2022].