FMP - Presentation

In my presentation I attempted to explain how I wanted to feature a good mixture of live and digital instruments(in logic) in my songs. I also mentioned how I am inspired by bands like MGMT and The Stone Roses when it comes down to guitar pedals and effects in general. Unfortunately I wasn't prepared for this presentation. If I was to do it again, I'd go into more detail about the sort of effects I was going to use and show an example of one of my tracks. I mentioned which genres I was going to be making but should've been more specific about the artists within those genres who had inspired my music.

FMP - Literature Review

I'm doing a literature review to look at different sources that contain links to my project. I'm doing this to develop my understanding of music composition and also to see a lot of different opinions and approaches to songwriting.

1. 2003, Cincinnati,  Zollo, P.(2003) Songwriters on Songwriting, Cincinnati : Da Capo Press

This book show the reader multiple influential artists in contemporary music. This benefits me as a lot of the artists within are influences of mine and speak about the musicality behind some of their best songs. However when they talk about the lyrics this isn't as relevant to me as at this point in time because I'm not attempting to sing or write a song, but it is definitely something that I'm thinking eventually incorporating into my music. In one of the chapters Lindsey Buckingham is discussing how he starts to write a song and says " Just a few chords . There has to be some seed that has a musicality to it. My whole process is like a painting." This is relevant to me as it tells me to start simple and then work upon that.

2. Middleton, C. (2004). The complete guide to digital audio. Cambridge: ILEX.

This book allows the reader to take an in depth look into the hardware and software of digital audio, as well as sampling. This is useful to me as I plan on using some samples in my songs. It also covers recording which is useful to me as I want to record live instruments and implement into my track hopefully.

3.McGuire, P. (2018). Chord Progressions 101: How to Arrange Chords in Your Songwriting | LANDR Blog. [online] LANDR Blog. Available at: https://blog.landr.com/chord-progressions/ 

This blog show the reader all about chord progressions. It explains what they are very simply and then elaborates on major, minor and diminished chords. This is useful to me as I plan on using chords in my music and its important to build upon what I already know. It also explains that certain chords at certain times could cause a drastic change in your music and the emotion created whilst listening to it.

4. Keller, D. (2018). The Basics of Reverb | Universal Audio. [online] Uaudio.com. Available at: https://www.uaudio.com/blog/the-basics-of-reverb/ 

This blog explains a lot of different things about reverb very briefly. It explains the history of reverb going through the evolution of the sound. It then shows you a diagram of how the effect is created through echos along with a paragraph which goes into more depth and explains the science behind it. This is useful to me as its good to remind yourself as to how to use reverb, as its one of the most used and probably useful effects in production its good to have a good understanding of it. 

5.  Home Studio Corner. (2018). 3 Tips for Getting a Good Bass Sound. [online] Available at: http://www.homestudiocorner.com/3-tips-for-getting-a-good-bass-sound/

This blog post gives you tips on how to get a good bass sound. It explains that using EQ, distortion and a compressor will bring out the best of your bass playing and make it more prominent in the track. This is useful as I plan to implement a live bass sound into my tracks and even if I can't it would be good to take the tips on board for logic instruments as well. This post goes into brief detail as to why using these things will allow you to have a good sound.

Funky Junk - DJ Video Analysis

In my DJ set I choose to mix a couple of old school hip hop songs. This included groups like N.W.A, Wu Tang Clan and Outkast. I included one funk song because I felt like it mixed well with a couple of the songs I played. I focused primarily on using the EQ effects on the traktor system. This means I didn't use many technical or complex skills as DJing is probably my least comfortable area on this course, so this is something I could improve upon by attempting to beat match and use more effects to make my set sound better.