Project Two and My Struggles!

Let's take a little honest stroll down memory lane... After some miscommunication on my part, I was left without a group for the first 2 weeks that project two was supposed to get underway. I thought I would be able to continue working with my group one team members on the next project, but it was not to be. Move forward two weeks and I still didn't have a group. I did not feel comfortable asking any other students to be a throw-in addition to their projects; as they would have been well and truly past the pre-production stage. Stress is setting in right now. So after a discussion with my lecturer's, it was decided I would do a solo cover song... These are my stories...

As I have stated in a previous blog, I did a track tear down of a song called 'SayDatThen' by rap super group- Slaughterhouse. Now in this song the melody is 8 bars looped piano, in amongst percussion's and a sweet guitar riff. Simple right? Not for this novice. I felt I could tackle the piano melody after a long process of elimination hitting the keys. But for the drums? I really had no idea where to start trying to emulate the originals. So, in steps project saviour Tavita. He suggested the idea of doing something new with the drums, maybe try and change the pace of the song? I decided to ask Tav if he would consider becoming a co-producer of the cover. He agreed. Thank the lord! Not only would he be helping me, but he could also tick of some course assessments in the process i.e side projects and helping others. A win for all involved!

I immediately designed a Pre-Production Plan for the track to help map out how the process can run efficiently. I would create the melody, do all the mixing and Tav would do the drum design. The lack of momentum moving from week 7 to week 9, really put me under a lot of pressure to get all of the tasks completed in the short time frame that i had left... 3 weeks.

After the plan had been set out, I immediately tackled the production of the melody. The DAW used for this was Logic Pro.

The key of the song was C minor and remained the same for the cover. After a long process of elimination, I mimicked the melody. I applied a small amount of reverb to the keys to provide it with a little bit of extra dread, so the eerie vibe of the high notes and progression would ring out a little longer. Tav had almost immediately hit me the following day with the drums. It was a different filling pattern to the original. It sounded great and most definitely helped shape the new re-imagining of the original. It was more urgent in pace, but was able to flow nicely. In order to keep the timing of the drums tight, Tav laid down a higher octave cover of the piano in his part of the production. This was conducted in Reason. The foundations of the track had now been formed. All stems were then bounced out from Logic and Reason for mixing in Pro Tools. I chose the use of the latter mentioned DAW for mixing due to the fact that it is the one I am most familiar with from previous trimesters.

Upon Hearing this in the stems delivered, we thought that it might sound cool layered with the piano melody I had created, like a doubling effect.The photo below is a close up of the layering of the two piano tracks.

It proved very successful. Keeping the new melody low in the mix, it added to the high's in the combined melodies and therefore gave them more depth in the mix. Coupled with the new drum progression the 8 bars we had designed to be looped were filling nicely. Tav and I then met again at school to generate a guitar lick for the connection of said loops. He suggested an electric guitar plug-in via MIDI keyboard on an amp for the sound. After finding a guitar we liked, the chord was then laid down to resemble that of the original but with a slight, grittier twist.

I then used a Signal Generator plug-in (below) to give the kick some depth to it. It now thumps in the mix a lot better than before.

I would loved to have had more time to work on this mix but deadlines are tight right now. I left myself short on getting both written work and mixes done in a professional time frame. If production had begun on this project mid tri as it should have been, there would have been more time for mixing, rather than playing catch up on paperwork. Some basic techniques was carried out on the percussions, like- ' Hi hats had EQ put on them, with sounds below 500Hz taken out, and above 4000kHz gained to help brighten the impact of the Hi Hat'.

You can check out the final version of the track here on my SoundCloud-

There is also a remix of the track as well. It is a short snippet with vocals taken in acapella form from artist Tech N9ne. It is just an attempt at hearing what the track would sound like with vocals on it. You can check that out below too!

Following the production plan for this track has been reasonably successful. The mixing side of the process began about 4 or 5 days outside the time frame allocated. This is due to being rushed and lumped with blogs to write for assessment. Better time management would have alleviated the stress of the project and freed up time for me to work on the deliverable. I think the overall sound of the track is a decent re-imagining of the original. It is more energetic. The piano keys are haunting and melodic in both versions, and the drum pattern of our project helps make it our own.

This second project has been both a stressful one, and an educational one. The stress factor was pretty well self induced. I have discovered that I work well under pressure. My skills have improved drastically in the time that I have allocated to complete work in. Considering I am a real novice, I am excited at the progress I am making, but it could be moving quicker. I am finding it hard to watch tutorial after tutorial at home, without any means of putting the skills to practice. Owning a DAW at home will be a massive step forward in my learning curve. Life has been getting in the way this trimester for me, with money being tight, but I am hoping to have Pro Tools on my laptop by new year. On top of this, the working relationship myself and Tav have made throughout the production has been awesome. We have since discussed meeting at school with both Carter and Peter during the end of year break to jam and collaborate. I need to learn a lot more on the makings of a traditional Hip Hop/ RnB song structure/design, and Tav is keen to help. He told me that even though I may lack serious skills just yet, my determination and seeing me put in work and trying is the reason why he is helping! Apart from me being a rad dude as well.....

Through networking and just being involved in the groups I am at school, my crew is widening! The opportunity for growth is now greater for having stepped out of my comfort zones. The importance of teamwork is a necessary factor, in one way or another, in this industry. The four of us have even discussed working on a project together for next trimester. If I continue to put in the extra work at home, I believe I can take my skills to the next level and really start to build my portfolio with some music I can be proud of!

References-

YouTube. (2017). Law and Order Sound Effect. [online] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-m92tuqthJw [Accessed 7 Dec. 2017].