Here is my final project evaluation. I will talk through all the steps I took while completing this project and speak on what I enjoyed, and what I didn’t so much enjoy. This project as a whole has been very rewarding. I have seen my ideas come to life and would be happy to share the compositions I have made. I think this project will be as strong if not stronger than project 1.
Did I meet my targets?
- my first target was to explore different styles of music, and yes I absolutely completed that one. I never in my life thought I would be trailing through endless video game soundtracks from the 80s looking for 8-bit music, but here I am having made one myself. I have also taken a deeper look into rock music as part of my research for band composition. I would say that my research and exploration of different genres have helped me massively in this project. I actually quite enjoyed finding new artists and songs that I like. I will continue to do this throughout my future projects.
- My second target was to explore different job roles within the music industry, and I can’t tell if I have completed this one or not. I have taken a deeper look at the job of a producer and also the importance of mixing and mastering engineers. But apart from that, I haven’t really looked at anyone else. During the next project, I will aim to look at the job roles which handle a song once it has finished being made. Some of these job roles are Manager, Promoter, and Distributor.
- My third target was to use Harvard referencing throughout my work, and I think this has been my weakest target yet. I haven’t had to really use referencing that much as 90% of my work is from my own brain. I have looked at the occasional website, but the information wasn’t really helpful and I had to come up with something myself.
I believe my practical skills to be very good during this project. I have improved my skills in both producing and playing an instrument. During band composition, I was able to come up with my own chord progression and add it to the song. Although the chord progression may still be simple to some people, it is harder than anything I have had to play before. I believe it to be a huge improvement from the last project. As for producing, well I have learned two new DAWs that I can now confidently work on. Before this project, I had only ever used FL Studio to produce music. But since learning Ableton and Logic to a good level, I am also able to use them too. I have made two very good compositions in two different styles of music. I think my practical skills have been shown off very well here.
I would love to have a career in composing and producing. After all, that is what I came to college to learn. I have been producing my own music for a while now and I was hoping this course would give me a better understanding of how to improve my production skills, which it has. I eventually want to be a producer, and not only compose songs for myself, but for other artists as well. If I can start doing this in the next couple of years, I will be very happy.
If there was one extra thing that I could do during this project, it would be to make some artwork for the songs that I have made. I have already made a nice logo in my graphics lessons with paul, but if I had some artwork to go with my compositions that would have finished it off nicely. This is something I will aim to work on in later projects, most specifically the final project.
When deciding which composition I enjoyed the most, only one answer comes to mind. My Ableton composition. I was really in my element when making the house track on Ableton and enjoyed every moment of the process. I was able to explore a whole new DAW and use sounds I had never used before. I am really proud of the track that I made in Ableton and would be happy to release it to the world.
I really enjoyed this whole project. It was extremely fun and I learned some new techniques that will help me later in my music career. I enjoyed learning the new DAWs and exploring different genres of music. I also enjoyed working with my band Smoke Break from project one. We all work really well together and rehearsals are lots of fun. If I was asked if I had enjoyed project two, my answer would be yes.
I have many ideas for future compositions. I have a mountain of unreleased tracks that just need minor tweaks before they can be released to the public. I will finish them off using some of the new techniques I learned during this project and try and get them sent off to record labels. This will be the next step in my career as a producer.
This project has been very fast-paced and at some times very stressful, but I am really happy with the compositions I have made. I believe that all the work I have done in this project is as strong if not stronger than project 1.