FMP - Weekly Updates

Weekly Updates

Week 1:
In my first week of the final major project I focused primarily on doing the proposal, and getting a general idea of the sort of music I wanted to make, researching bands and artists. I researched people like MGMT, The Stone Roses and others. I also have began organising when I'm going to be going to the studio with people like Dean, Zeff and Joseph.

Week 2:
During this week I have been experimenting with different types of effects I can use on logic as well.
Delay is an example of the sort of effects I have been using.

I have decided to make it so the note is repeated every 1/8 of a beat so then one note is being played  as another one is being repeated so it adds a cool layer to your melodies, that makes the music sound more complicated than it actually is. I then added another delay and then made it so instead of the note repeating every 1/8 of a beat it was now every 1/4. This meant I was adding more texture and creating a more filled mix.

Week 3:

During this week I have been in the studio attempting to get a good acoustic guitar track made. I also was attempting to get drums over the track I was working on last week as seen above, but unfortunately the studio session was unorganised and didn't go as well as I wanted it too. There were too many people in the studio so a lot of it was spent talking and playing rather than recording anything. Next time I should plan to only let the people who are actually playing the instruments and helping with the mic set up in.

Week 4:

This week I've been on logic attempting to get the right sound for my MGMT inspired tracks. I've decided it would be a good idea to use both digital and live drums on my tracks to see the difference. When it comes down to the live drums I'll leave Joseph in charge of what he thinks he should do on my tracks, as at this point in time I don't have a good knowledge of druming. I only really understand the standard 4/4 pattern in pop or rock.

Spring Break:

During my spring break I decided to take some time off of doing my FMP but I did end up making a song with  Zeff. Me and him made an old school hip hop beat which I'll like to put in my FMP, even though it might not link in with the overall sound of the Ep. I also got a lot of my written work done.

Week 5:

This week I got Zeff to help me make a cover of a song by Post Malone. I ended up playing guitar and recording it and he sang. We ended up getting half of it done, but I plan to finish the whole thing and add an electric guitar as well as a solo.

Week 6:

This week I finally started working on my primary song that I've wanted to focus on. I decided I was going to collaborate with Dean on it as me and him have a similar taste in genres so I felt like I'd work the most efficiently with him. I made the layout of everything by myself the night before we went into the production room. He then helped me get a more original sound than you're standard alchemy or logic instruments by showing me how to use the synth plugins properly on logic. This for me definitely makes the track feel more original. Unfortunately I don't have a version of it before the vintage synth was added on to the track but you can hear the final version on my FMP playlist.

Week 7:

During this week I booked a studio and asked Joseph on the day if he wanted to record drums for one of my tracks and he agreed to do it. As I've mentioned before I want a live and digital drum sound to compare and see what works best. We used 2 types of microphones to record the drums, a NT5 and a SM57. We attempted to use the Titan on the kick drum but unfortunately the small stands(because its a kick) we used weren't built to hold the heavy mic so it kept on drooping down. We wanted the sE Electronics Titan as we felt like it would pick up the lower frequencies of the kick but better than the other 2.

Week 8:

This week I spent it refining a couple of my tracks messing with the levels and effects of them. Also me and Dean created a short 1 minute long interlude which I personally really like.

It's very simple and follows the same chords throughout. I think I like a lot because of its simplicity. Its a bit of a weird key to be fair and the drum pattern isn't very standard which I think is why I like it so much. Its really simple but it definitely has a different feel to it.

Week 9:

Much of week 9 was spent with me and Zeff attempting to record Stay but due to us both not being available when the other is and Grant being busy with the performances we couldn't book studio or record it at one of our houses. We only got half of it done but it would've been nice to see the full thing done. This teaches me I should learn to be more organised and prioritise certain things. But other than that I got everything done.

Week 10:

This week was spent finishing off all of my coursework and refining everything as much as possible,

making sure I haven't made any mistakes, adding extra detail where I can. I have everything uploaded now to make sure I don't forget when the deadline comes as well. Upon reflection I should've used my time better in the studio. I'd have got a lot more instrument tracks done if I'd have been organised with who I was taking into the studio. It wasn't so much the fact that people weren't available, it was more to do with the amount of people and the productivity going on.