For my Initial Assessment, I created a Track inspired by Frums and Sewerslvt, no specific tracks of theirs, just their overall style, so I decided to steal both styles and try to make it my own.
What?
What Did You Do?
I started off with it being just 4 chords, then I thought, why not add a drum break to it, specifically an Amen Break, and boom, I had an Idea, I then went from that. I created 2 sets of sidechain for the separate Amen Break Patterns I made using the first Amen Break and chopped it up and shuffled it around to make a good Variation every 8 bars, I also added two other Drum Breaks for a Breakdown and a Drop Finisher. ( the end of the drop has a small drum break that’s different to the normal drums ) I made a pad for the track that consisted of 2 layers, a small chord stab and a long pad, I added some background filler using a swelling root note from the Original Chords. the Lead consisted of 3 layers, 1 Pad, 1 Pluck and 1 Lead. I added an Extra Background Filler with a kind of String Chord/Pad, I made a root note pattern from the original chords for the Reese Bass, the first being a single held not, and the other being a chopped pattern on the root note.
why did you choose this piece?
I chose this piece because I wanted to replicate the style of Frums and Sewerslvt into one song, two entirely different artists, different Genres, but similarities between the two, in ways that you wouldn’t expect, the Chord Pattern and the Effects coming from Frums, and everything else coming from Sewerslvt, the drums being the Main part of Sewerslvt’s whole Style. I wanted to create this piece because I wanted to send that certain shiver down everyone’s spine when you hear that certain sound coming from a song that you love, I wanted to share the raw emotion and power in the Music of Breakcore, because it a genre that others can Relate to, I have no idea how, but you can just feel it, you can feel the pad filling your ears, the drums fuelling your body to just move, the chords making your heart beat faster, the lead making you shudder, this genre isn’t just fast paced like Drum and Bass or Jungle, it can be slow and chill with soft synths and Ambient Pads, it doesn’t always have to be hard hitting synths and destructive, tough, gritty pads, this kind of Music means something to me, it makes you feel, and that’s Beautiful.
What techniques did you use?
I used a lot of Automation, including a certain kind of Sidechain that I’ve used for a couple years now, Gain sidechain, you add any kind of Gain Effect Plugin to your chosen Mixer track, create an Automation clip for the Plugin’s Gain Controller and make a sloped Curve to simulate The volume of the Mixer Track Fading in as if it was Sidechain. I used 2 Vintage Vinyl Plugin as its a key component in Breakcore, both plugins had a part to play that the other couldn’t, One had an effect that could make it sound old, like from the 1930s all the way to the 2000s, the other having a sampling effect that reduced the Sampling Frequencies so kind of Filter it and a movement/chorus type effect, I used an EQ on pretty much most things ( an EQ is your best friend in terms of Mixing and Mastering ) and I used a lowpass for the Intro including a washed out reverb for that nice clean Ambient feel and then it fades into a chopped up version of the Chords.
what was I hoping to achieve?
I was hoping to achieve what I would call my “Magnum Opus” but I have a long way from that for the fact I just don’t have enough experience in Production, but I’m getting to that point, I can feel it, that’s why I called this Track “Not everything is allowed to be perfect” because it implies that its not perfect because theirs so much more I can add to it, but doing so would flush out everything, so it had to be imperfect for it to be perfect in my eyes.
Analysis:
So What?
So what have I learnt?
I’ve learnt how to Mix and Master a lot Better, I learnt how to effectively Chop Chords, Drums, Pads and much more, how to use the correct amount of Reverb and EQ, effects, everything you could think of, I have improved so much in just a single year and I’m so proud of myself.
So what is the Importance of this?
The Importance of this is to use the skills I have learnt and be able to use them to progress further in Music and make my learning curve much more bearable in terms of Music Production and much more. ( if you’re talking about the Assessment, then its to prove and show that I’m capable of producing Music and managing the Music Course as a whole )
So what do I need to know about this?
I need to know that I’m able to handling all of the work that’s going to be thrown at me during my course and if I can handle it at all.
Synthesis:
Now what?
Now what could I do?
I could keep producing music to further my Musical Skills in my own hours out of College and get a higher understanding of some genres and try and produce those, you know, get out of my comfort zone.
Now what do I need to do?
I need to put more time into learning how to mix and master my tracks, as well as produce more of my own sounds ( I already do, most of the track were my own synths that I made ) and I need to produce more, but not too much, I don’t want to be burnt out right before the beginning of College.
Now what might I do differently in the future?
When the so called future comes, I will have mostly learnt how Mix and Master in the best way that I’m capable of doing and I will have a substantial grasp on Sound Design and Synth Creation
Musical Details
Bass & Guitar:
I didn’t use a guitar ( mainly because I cant play guitar ) but for Bass, I used a Reese Bass in Serum with some Extra Effects, like Reverb, Dimension, Distortion, EQ and Phaser
Drums:
I didn’t use Acoustic Drums, I just pulled 3 Amen Breaks from a sample Pack, chopped them up and used them like that with some Delay, Reverb and Compressor with a little sprinkle of EQ on the Mixer
Keyboards/Piano:
I used my own little Akai MPKMini MIDI Controller Keyboard with 25 Keys, drum pad and Mixer Knobs and of course, Pitch Bend ( Pitch Bend is an Essential thing for a MIDI keyboard for todays keyboards )
Vocals:
There were no Vocals for this Track, but hopefully, I might sample something from somewhere for my next track
Communication & Style:
It was just me Producing the Track, so there was no Communication Needed really.
Extra Musical Details
Video Quality/Production:
The Quality was Fantastic, the production didn’t take me long to put together because I’d practiced with FL Studio 20’s Built in Visualiser ZGameEditor Visualiser and I have to say that its better than most things I’ve used for Video production in terms of Music, the Production part of it was the simplest though, I made the Thumbnail which Matches the Aesthetics of Breakcore, the Visualiser in the Background to follow along the Wave Forms of the Tracks Audio ( The process of the Video was long, took me two days to get it done )
Audio Quality:
The audio Quality was the hardest thing to deal with because I had to try my best to make it as HQ as I could, which worked, quite a bit actually and I’m glad it worked this time, better than my previous Initial Assessment
Collaboration:
I did not Collaborate with any other Musicians or Friends ( definitely will in the Future though, I cant wait! )
Memorising Song/ Lyrics:
There were no Lyrics and I didn’t need to Memorise the Song ( there’ll be Lyrics in my Tracks one day )
How can I improve?
Targets:
I can set a Target of adding Vocal Samples and Collaborating with Others or Friends before the end of this Term.
Context:
The Context as to why I set these Targets is because I want to expand my skills and grow as a producer by working with others and learning things from them too and to expand my knowledge on processing Vocals and Samples like it.
Research:
For research, I researched ways I could implement my own style of Music into another style of Music, like Breakcore, because most of my music is rather Chill and Laid back, but then I wanted to make something hard hitting like this and had trouble doing so to begin with, but it got easier this time around because this would have been the 2nd time I’ve done this and finished it. Both Frums and Sewerslvt are entirely Different Producers ( I think Frums made their own Genre, I think he made a genre relating to Rhythm games as that’s where he started with music, his past is really interesting and would recommend looking into it ).
Practical Skills:
For Practical Skills, I can find ways to cut corners on sound design and Sampling plus many other things, find faster ways to do tasks instead of confusing myself with everything being chaos, plan things out too, that would help a lot.
Evaluation and Reflection:
Ask for Tutor Feedback and put more detail into my explanations and ask for help with what could be better in the Evaluation and Reflections in the future, from Friend’s or Tutor’s
SMART Targets:
1. I hope to achieve at least some Knowledge of Composition by the End of the year and Compose at least one song on Piano
2. Within the Next 6 months, i’d like to learn how to Mix and Master a lot Better than i already do
3. I would like to Expand my Knowledge of Music Production even Further within the next 2 Years
4. In turn with Production, i need to learn more about Recording, and that means, Recording my projects, Music Videos, Vocals, Samples etc.