What skills have I gained during this project
I think the main skills that I have ginned is a serious development of my musical ear. I have done this though harmonic training through programs like Earpegeo. I think this impacted my project by allowing me to find harmonic similarity in the music in my chosen genre. (Heavy metal) I think I have also enhanced my logic skills during this project by learning things like logic shortcuts like the repeat command, (command/windows R) the cycle command (command/windows U on a selected region) and the record shortcut. (R) I think this had an impact on my project by vastly sped up the process during the project. I have also been able to develop my technological skills in relating to music during this project. I have done this by addressing gaps in my knowledge like composing, mixing and music processing. I have done this by listening to songs to see how they are produced and the techniques that are present. These include things like different styles of micing instruments. and microphone types such as dynamic, ribbon and condenser mics. This effected the quality of my foley recordings and showed me how prefinals in this field approach sound design for both game and movies. Other areas of expertise that I have improved include. My musicianship, My recording skills and my music theory knowledge by leering different chord types like diminished chords to make a more intense final composition. This had a major impact on my composition as I was able to add more variation to the project and use more chords and intervals to create a better overall sound. I also think this is an area I could developed further for my future projects. On top of this I have learned how I can better my academic and technology skills by using sites like WordPress to split up sections and have one solid place to show my entire process for this project. Though I don’t think this has effected this project specifically bemuse I have learned the how to use it from the first future projects I think this skill is both transferable and upscaleable for future projects and also my my future projects in music. Academically i have learnt more of the expectations and differences in style that is needed for this study and any of my future studies. that I will do. This has included elements like referencing, phrasing and the importance of documentation during the artistic journey.
Things I did well during this project
I think that I did things like the application of musical techniques and application to make a hybrid of MIDI and recorded music and sound for a stronger FMP. This helped me with fuseing the two sides together I think this was vital to in this project as it is the basses of the entire project. I think the individual things that have done well include the approach I have taken to the recording process. by picking a project that allowed me to utilize may skillset and faciltys that allowed me to build on existing skillsets. I also think my composition skills have improved during my project This is beucse I have been able to create a composition that both works well in the game it was made for and as a stand alone track. I also think I did a good job promoteing this project as I was able to use effectivly with elements like artwork votes to boost engagment, animated posts to give visualso to the song and static graphics with audio to give examples of the track that I will release. I think this because of the verity of chords and styles that I have used in this project are good as they are oftern fetured in simmalar composition. I also think I took good advantage of the tools that I had available in my project like the tempo change future in logic. This allowed me to change the pace of the track at a moments notice this also let me change the feel with parts of the track like the third section where there is a tempo shift in to a AC/DC inspired guitar riff that changes with visuals to give a better overall feel. This was effective because it was an easy way to make a strong transition between the different sections of the song. I think this went to this composition and video. another area I think I have done well in this the promotion and logistics side of the project as I have been able to produce may video for promotion and have been able to easily complete the distribution process and prove that the composition is compactly original by my ISRC. This will help me with the legal side of the project. In the form of song credits for production and creation I don’t think that this has heavily effected this project but this could be majorly important for the rest of the music that I have created. The effect this has had on this project is that it allows me to prove that his is my original work with a strong form of rights protection as is once again transferable to future situations and areas of the music industry like copyrighting.
What skills have I developed during this project
I have developed mainly logic skills. I have done this by improving my knowledge on the software ant the capability’s like shortcuts to save time this has effected the efficiency of this project and also included things like how to construct good effect chains using things like busses to make a better signal flow for the tracks, learning how I can improve my composition skills using things like the looping function to ease the process in playing parts and tools like count in for better timing notice for my sequencing for this project. These skills have strongly effected my project. I think this because this allowed me to save time for greater efficacy and time management whilst providing me with a greater amount of ways to compose rather than writing in music with the piano-roll future in logic. Other areas of development is my sequencing skills. These skills where improved by me leering the importance of parts of sequencing like the velocity for better dynamics and overall flow of the section that is played. This was useful for my original experimentation of adding extra elements like orchestral influence’s with instruments like choir vocals for a fuller feeling to the song.. These skills where not really revisited in my pivoted idea of just focusing on a more hard rock and thrash metal style by the end of the creative process so overall I think this was a good thing to peruse for the project but overall didn’t have much of an impact on the final result resulting piece of music that was made in this project. I also improved my recording skills by learning different microphone types like condenser and dynamic and formations like figure eight microphone configurations and Blumlein configuration to produce a more propenal sounding final game design,.
What could be improved
I think I could have used more instruments in my composition to give it more layers. This would have gave the project more musical development overall by have more layers in this project. I think this could have given the project more interest and could boost listener engagement. This effected the project by adding more receptivity into the project but also in this composition I think one of the main things missing is the mids. I think more mids would have given the project more interest as there are sections with close to no veration that could have been easily improved and in some areas extra development for more engagement within the music. this impacted the project as the track was still verry strong but felt lacking in certain parts within the composition like the section where the bass comes in as when this happens the only development is the drums re entering the music. I think another area of improvement is my time signatures and teeming I think I could expand this to get extra parts like triplets and better the musical transition to better the overall composition. I think this could have improved the project as the some of the transitions would be less garing overall this could have improved the track and made for a better tempo shift.I could also improve my pre mixing phase of the composition as becuse of this I think the drums lacked some presence within the track
My aim
the aim for this project was to further my understanding of sound design and video game music. I think I achieved this goal because I was able to both complete the project with sounds and music but was able to release this in a proper format. I think the way that I could improve this is by researching more games in this genre and setting to get a better idea of how this works.
My growth as a Mussitation
I think my main form of growth is my harmonic, production and logic x pro skills. I think this because I have noticeably improved in these three sectors. I think in the harmonic area I have improved by leering areas like music theory in the way of learning how to play in key. This allowed me to use different chords and intervals to produce a better overall composition by using more chords to build interest and to be able to better the composition by using different chords to build atmosphere and tension for the listener. Bettering scale knowledge this increase in knowledge has allowed me to keep the song fluent and will improver the overall composition and gaining a greater understanding of the importance of harmony this will help me as a composer by building more development in the composition. I think the way that I have improved my production is learning the specifics and ways that the different effects work to produce different sounds. I could have improved this by analyzing an individual instrument like guitar form a solo section to show how that tone was possibly made and the effects in play. I think another way that I have improved my production is my increased knowledge of producers by looking at mics and production techniques. I think this also will overlap with my recording skills this made the overall project better. I also think leaning how sound behaves in a recording setting has also helped me throughout this project with things like recording mixing and testing. I have improved my logic skills by leering many software capabilities this array of capability’s includes. Quantization, importing technology and count in features these have made my logic creative process easier by allowing for a clear display and creative timeline. I think another area of improvement is learning how different microphone setups effect the foley recording process. These include background noise the room EQ and acoustics of the room in question this has effected my project by adding more realism to the project overall.
What changed during this project
I thin the main change was the change in focused. I think I focused more on the composing and release cycle of the song than the sound design portion of the project. I did this because I wanted the track to work well as a standalone reimagined OST. I also think this had an impact on the sound design side of the project as it limited the time I had to work on this section of the project. I think this gave me a better music in this project but also I think that this has defiantly effected the process of the sound design. I know this because I had to use pre made sound effects for the heavy impact sounds and the first impact sound at the beasts entry.
My future as a producer
I think that this project will have taught me valuable skills for the future . I think this is true because of the production techniques I have learned like double tracking have effected my project by showing me an easier way to make a project an instrument more present without having to edit the entire composition. This had a good impact on my project by adding depth to my foley recordings. The composition side of the project is also heavily useful in the regard as it has helped me developed my ear as a mussitation. This will be useful for my further ventures in music. like university, potential future game compositions and film music scores. I think this could be a good career path as these jobs will always be in demand as there is always more media being made.
Issues in the project
I think the main issue that I faced was working on so much in such a sort time frame. I think this was because I was taking on two major roles within the creative process at one with both the composition and sound design, as usually in film/games there is one person for moth roles as they are both quite specialized fields retrospectively. This was changing and defiantly had an effect on the creative process in this project. I know this because near the end of the project the sound design had to be slightly rushed due to the time constraints of the project. I think I could improve this by choosing a more narrow but focused pathway in the future.
The major changes
form my plaining phase there was multiple significant changes to the project. These included software changes, genre changes and focused changes. I made these changes because of a combination of feedback from my presentation and video visuals. I thin the main change was the change in software as I went form using three different softwires for the musical process to only one. (garage band logic and Capcut to just logic) I did because of the feedback I got on my presentation this has defiantly effected my project i think this has helped me to get a better final mix and there is a lot more freedom within logic to change everything within the project at will. I did this because of the my feedback I was given during my presentation.
Conclusion
I think in this project I have vastly improved my recording and composing skills. I think this because I have shown noticeable improvements in areas of expertise like corrective micing. sequencing and sound creation. I also think in this project I have crated a strong composition that I can use as a good foundation for my future plans within the creative field.
Assessment
confirm that the attached portfolio is all my own work* and that any work created by anyone other than myself, including AI-generated content, has been appropriately referenced.