For my final project I chose to to collaborate with Ben, Lewis and Jacob to create an EP with 4 tracks each consisting of different genres. This idea was not the original as our first plan was to write a 10 track album with different genres but after we proposed the idea and gained feedback we realised this was not going to be a possibility and as we made our way through the project we found our selfs struggling with 4 tracks with the process of getting the songs to a good degree, writing lyrics and bass parts with no bassist then to think about recording and the mixing/mastering we would have to do each song we now realise this would of been absolutely impossible given the time we had to complete our project.
Throughout this project I see I have improved in my guitar playing ability not only with chords and swiftness on the neck but also with improvising and getting the most out of the scales I am using to add them to songs. I see my lyric writing and patience when it comes to lyric writing has improved now I have gained a little confidence and experience doing it. Going through the whole process of starting a band, writing music and playing different gigs with them in and out of college I see my drive and determination has tripled compared to how I felt at the start of this year, it is pretty much the only thing I think about and I have never been so committed to something which is a great feeling. I have worked hard to earn these feelings and will continue to work just as hard weather its for college or the band.
I think the biggest thing I struggled with in this project is the lyric writing and the singing at the start of the project when it came to writing the first song with me and Ben I wrote this melody and lyrics for the verse and I couldn’t sing it because I realised I had never seriously used my voice thats not in a bass sounding octave but when I started genuinely look for the note and not rely on the lower side of singing I have gotten better at singing in higher pitches and also detecting and matching notes using my voice. I am proud of this.
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What Was The Main Aim of My Project and Did I Achieve it?
The main aim for my final project was to have 4 songs written with lyrics, guitars, pianos and drums have the songs written, recorded, mixed/mastered and ready to be released. I have failed this project as we have only got 2 songs out of the 4 ready to be released. After we started working on the first song we saw how long it took to get all of the parts written to a good standard then to have them tight with the whole band then to record, mix and master we realised if we don’t speed up we wont get nearly enough done. One reason for this is the fact that whenever I had Lewis and Jacob there was no Ben and same when crossed around as Ben and Jacob are the busiest band members with personal life and other commitments which is okay but I do feel they could of prioritised the project more and made some more time for it also for Jacob to come on time. I feel achieving this project would of been possible if we all was on time and present to all the rehearsals and sessions we had. This is not the only thing that we could of improved on I will get to that.
Looking back how could the planning process have been more effective in preparation for the final project?
I mentioned in the planning that I wanted to get songs recorded for an EP or an album but I did not plan at all for the actual process of the recording and what I would need to know because while I was writing that planing I did not know how to set up microphones and what I would need, I did not know how to mic up a drum kit or any positions that are frequently used among writers and bands, my point is there is plenty of things I didn’t know that I would need to know if I was to complete the task I set myself, which would of made it easier if I didn’t have to learn them on the way taking up some time. I also wish I would of looked into songwriting formulas like setting, character, props, mood and inner dialogue for example something like this could of helped me with the direction of my lyrics instead of getting an overall idea of what I want it to be about and then just thinking of every thing to do with that resulting in my head getting too many ideas and overloading my self. Overall I think considering more than just the aspect of the song writing and more on the whole process of the idea, writing and recording.
Did I make any big changes to my project along the way and why?
I made plenty of changes to this project like at the start the first idea was a 10 track album to have mixed and ready for release after we realised that was going to be impossible we lowered it down to 7 tracks still hopeful that we could get a big chunk done but after we saw the whole process for one song we realised we need to make it 4 or we are going to be no where near finishing in time for the deadline. this one is more unintentional but when it was closer to the final project gig in Nightrain we some how managed to shit focus for a week or two to get a setlist in order and to play 2 originals and 2 covers for this show which was never in the plan I think we were just eager to show people our music and also we were getting ready for gigs outside of college so the setlist and performance idea just took over for a while which I feel is another big reason why we didn’t finish our 4 track goal. I think after we realised we weren’t going to be able to do 4 we just made sure we got 2 really good ones ready which is a big change from the initial idea and has really shown us that we needed to see our work speeds before we try and predict them.
What really went well with this project and what really could of gone better?
I think even though we didn’t manage to get 4 songs ready to be released, we got 2 songs that sound amazing with lyrics I actually like.(last year I said I don’t think I would ever be able to write lyrics I actually like) These 2 songs I am incredibly proud of 1 of them being Someone Call the Doctor a song about a cocky guy that thinks he is every woman’s dream and thinks he his above people and I managed to portray that in my lyric writing which is an achievement for me, I also managed to throw some humour into the track too which I wanted to do for a few months now so thats great. I feel the solo I wrote for the intro as awesome and I have never written something so cool, I think Jacobs solos are absolutely crazy good and the chords he used for the verse is so interesting. Then there is Pages of this song that I proudly wrote lyrics, lead guitar, rhythm guitar and drums, I had a big part to play in the making of this song and I feel I did a great job but not only me I thank Jacob for bringing my idea to life and also helping me create the melodies for the chorus and verses as they would not be nearly as good without his ideas and inputs. I thank Ben for adding his own touch on the keys as a piano is not something I had in mind for this song but as soon as I saw what Ben could do I needed to see what he would offer for Pages and he more than delivered bringing emotion with the notes he plays and great enthuses on the chords I used for the song. I thank Lewis for being able to take the general idea of the drums I had written in on Ableton keep the initial feeling and put his own touch on it, in the band its crucial we can cooperate well with each others ideas and each and every one of them did that here.
I am so proud of the finished version of Someone Call The Doctor it sounds amazing I never thought we would be able to make this quality of music and I am really happy with it. From the intro with the menacing bass sound to replicating a siren with the guitar that sound is movie material its a great start to a song and I feel it leaves you not knowing what to expect, then the main progression just hits you and you get a feel of whats to come. I think Ben did a really good job helping us record and mixing/mastering it himself. The only things I think could be better is a little less reverb on the vocals for the chorus and for the bridge I would prefer the vocals pushed in front of the guitar to really bring them out and show them off but this might just be my preference what do I know I guess we can mess around with it some more after the project to see what will fit it best.
Although they aren’t ready to be released we have the other 2 songs which are very close and we will have them recorded and ready to put on the album in September as one of them being Bunk Brothers which already has the instruments and lyrics written for it the only thing it is missing is the drums and the recording sessions other than that its ready and the other song which is mine and Bens (we don’t have a title for it yet) that song just needs a chorus then we can record it. I am confident in both of them to live up to the same standard that the first 2 came to and am very exited to get them recorded as that would then be 4 tracks to add to an album.
The recording process has taught us all so much that we didn’t know before like setting up mics for amps or drums, Ben is starting to get used to and prefer Ableton for its new features he hasn’t seen before. While having Ben we have really looked into learning harmonies and including them into our songs (you shall see) on Doctor we have some amazing brit-pop rock sounding harmonies on the bridge that I just cant believe is our voices and its the same for Pages, I really like Bens influence on our music and I hope he stays that way.
I think what could of gone better is our organisation of what we were going to do like Ben leaving the mixing till last minute (we did get finished late but not that late) and me sometimes not being able to find melodies or lyrics for weeks really slowing our progression down. I think Lewis could of done a better job keeping time while recording Doctor as we had to record it with no metronome and pure feel because every time we used a metronome he kept losing it and going off time. Jacob being fashionably late to every thing started taking a toll once it became a theme and he would have to catch up practicing a lot more i his spare time instead of with us which is bad because we need our rehearsal time to improve as a band and move as a unit. A big mistake for us was letting the final performance become our focus for too long using rehearsal time instead of time we could of spent recording or writing.
Me and Ben was asked if we could help a university student playing the guitar, bass and piano, this ended up staying with us from the start of our final project to near enough the finish of it taking all of mine and Bens time in the morning sessions we could of used writing whatever needed writing at the time, don’t get me wrong the experience with Sophie was fun and I wouldn’t change the experience but it still impacted our project outcome. We helped Sophie with guitar, piano and bass for 5 tracks, I did vocals on one of the tracks too. (I wrote the bass parts and the guitar on some of the tracks)
How well did we work as a team on this project?
I feel like the bands communication was great at the start like we would easily arrange practice times every one was active in the group chat texting back replying quickly and being eager to start working together, if we weren’t arranging rehearsals and meet up’s then we would be sending ideas and voice messages of instrument parts and lyrics to each other to see if we could build from each others ideas but over time all of this slowly stopped happening. There was a point where I was the only one who had their notifications unmuted and I was wondering why is no one responding but non of the messages was to alert them because they muted it, now don’t get me wrong I have never liked group chats I think they are annoying and most of the time they just get muted but this is a band group chat where we talk about gigs, songwriting and different ways to progress as musician’s in a band which does not need to be muted as it is important or at least should be. Outside of the group chat when we met up and rehearsed we worked well together by keeping focused, freely showing our opinions and trusting that they will be valued which is what you need in a band, we would communicate and make sure we are all up to scratch and if not we would target the problem as a group until we improve enough to proceed.
I really liked how we worked together in the recording phase of the project and how lets say if I was struggling to record a solo and it was taking me loads of attempts to keep stress low the lads were encouraging and motivating me and each other to basically say don’t worry if you don’t get it straight away you got this and if we were recording vocals and one of us were struggling we would help each other out remind each other of the note and making sure they feel ready to record it. When Lewis was recording drums for Doctor it was taking him a long time to get good takes and he was stressing himself out then we motivated him and made it seem like a possibility in his head and then a few takes later he did it so the supporting each other thing does work, we have patience for each other. We each offered different things when it came to writing and we have a good way of taking the different ideas and finding ways to combine them into what we are working on at the time and if we couldn’t use it at the time it would be remembered and used for a new idea further down the line, like recycling old ideas for new songs. I think other than the lack of communication I think we do well to bring out each others ideas and collaborate well.
How did the feedback help us improve?
I feel the feedback helped us massively from the start with our tutors telling us after our presentation that a 10 track album was basically impossible given the time that we have to complete it and have the songs ready, this talked some sense into us and that made us lower our number to a more doable size. Throughout this project we have received feedback on Ben and our recording/mixing technique and how to improve like drum mic set up examples and how different positions affects the sound coming through the speakers, tutor Lewis really played a big part in helping us with the technical side of things like recording and producing tips for Ben showing him things he hadn’t learnt before on Qbase.
What did I learn from this project that can help me in the future?
I learnt so much that will help me with my future in music, firstly I learnt more on lyric writing and techniques to use that I can practice and use through out my career as well as songwriting experience across lyrics, guitar, melody’s and harmonies that I can apply to my music in future to better the quality and experiments of my music. We learnt the way Led-Zeplin and The Rolling Stones set up their drum mic’s to record and copied that, the only thing that we did different was we added an extra mic in the middle of the toms to separate us in the slightest and also because we wanted more pick up from the toms as we didn’t feel it was enough without it. I can apply this mic set up every time I wish to mic up drums now as tutor Lewis gave us a little lesson and advice about mic set ups as we didn’t really know what we were doing. I think we as a band have also learnt a lot from this project just about what is required of us if we need to perform and put on a show and how much attention/work that is needed from each of us to be able to run the band and make this work with recording considered. We have learnt what we need to do in terms of promoting our events and music and that we need to be consistently advertising gigs, new music and just the over all band and how we are.
Where there any unexpected issues or events that impacted my project?
The most unexpected thing that is going to be a very big set back if we cant get it sorted is before we broke up from college Ben forgot to download all of the files from Pages of This Song so he has the song at home but there is no vocals and no harmonies (which we had recorded) since he doesn’t have them he cant mix the vocals and finish what we started until he goes back to college again. This is a massive problem and makes it look like we set out to do 4 tracks and only completed one which is not the case, I hope Ben can find a way to quickly get the files he needs from college mixes them and submits both tracks so we can put it on digital space but that is basically impossible as the deadline is the night before Ben could go back to college and get the files and to mix them so now I have to just sit here and cross my fingers that it wont impact my grade. I hate the fact I may lose marks over someone else’s simple yet consequential mistake. The other being a common theme of poor attendance between Ben and Jacob I feel this 100 percent affected our progress speed and played a part in us not achieving our goal. I feel the both could do better with that.
How would I rate the overall success of my project from a scale of 1 to 10 and why ?
I would rate the overall success of my project a 5 as we have finished our 2 tracks but Pages still needs to be mixed with and I am not fully sold with my vocals on the chorus being that low I think it might need a much softer voice for it. I am very please with the way Doctor came out and that is a great example of what we did this project but now the problem is that we were supposed to have 4 tracks ready for this moment which are recorded and fully written however this task proved to be to much for us to work with as we got on, one of the songs Bunk Brothers needs a stronger drum beat and its ready then mine and Bens song just need a chorus then we can record it. I feel like although we did not pass our own goal I still feel this project had taught us many key things we are going to need to function as a live band and a recording original band which is valuable.
I think if we had better attendance between the band, Ben started mixing earlier and if we didn’t get side tracked by the final gig like we did then we would have at least recorded and got ready one more song which would have made 3 tracks to present but this just shows us we still have some improvements to make before we are getting the most out of our time together but we will figure this out by reflecting on this project and making efforts to improve as a band at making sure we are efficiently using our time and the recourses around us. Another thing I feel influenced the rating to be 5 is also how close to the deadline it took to be able to have the 2 tracks on our digital space and ready to talk about them leaving very little time to get this work completed which is a little stressful and not the best situation for us.
Overall we did not achieve the goal we finally agreed on which his 4 tracks to be close enough to ready to release and we can only really say we did 2 but although thats only half we still see a success from the project in other aspects like the things we have learnt and what is required from us as a band offering different things as individuals to that band.