Project Research

As the release date for the EP approaches I have to start thinking about where to publish the EP. At first I was planning to release the EP on as many platforms as possible. Mostly online through websites such as Spotify, Soundcloud, YouTube. However due to research into music streaming sites such as Spotify I have decided against publishing music on there service. During two separate interviews from Jack Stratton (Vulfpeck) and Dan Auerbach (Black Keys) both musicians criticized Spotify for not paying artists fairly for the music. Although at the moment I'm not in a position to be making music off my music i'm still against the principles of not supporting my favorite bands/artists and would rather not contribute to the growing issue. However free to use sites such as Soundcloud and youtube seem to be a key place to post my music. Promotion for the EP will be difficult and will most probably just be through my personal social medias an through word of mouth from friends and fa...

The biggest challenge I will have to face in this project will personally be the process of mixing and mastering. In order to aid me in this struggle I read an article online titles "9 pro mastering rips for beginners". I found this article extremely useful in gaining knowledge on mixing and mastering. The first being to use an exciter. "Exciters raise the harmonics of the fundamental tones found in the recording" (Computer Music Sep 2017). I think this will become useful if i begin to feel like the tone of the final mixes may sound dull and I could use and exciter to brighten and liven up the mix. The second tip the article gave me was to "Narrow the Mix".  At first I was very unsure to what this meant but I then read that a stereo recording typically means making the mix sound wider and although this can make the mix sound rich a big mistakes producers make is over doing it as it can cause phasing issues and can really weaken a mix. Thirdly I went on to ...

Although I originally planned to use just clean guitar tones when I changed the EP's genre to funk/soul I still feel like it is necessary to educate my self on how to get a funky guitar tone, I have already discussed technique and chord types through Cory Wong and Rex Orange County however this piece of research will focus more on gear and equipment rather than theory and technique. One effect that is massively used in funk guitar is Wah-Wah. This is ideal for me as for one of my first projects at college was focused around how the Wah pedal is used. A few examples of the Wah pedal being used in funk sounding songs is Maggot Brain played by Eddie Hazel and All along the watchtower by Jimi Hendrix. As in funk music the purpose of the guitar is generally to accompany the percussion the instrument the wah pedal does a excellent job of taking emphasis of the notes or chords being played and rather puts emphasis on the strumming/picking pattern. There are other more commonly used effect...

When it came to recording drums for the EP I struggled at first as I was yet to record drums alone to a professional standard. However after conducting research and seeking assistance from both the drummer playing on the EP and one of my teachers I successfully learnt how to record drums to the standard I desired. "The most natural sound can be obtained with a high-quality condenser mic positioned overhead and either in-front or behind the kit" (Hugh Robjohns 2003) .  When it came to recording drums I started off by setting two over heads on the left and right side of the kit although the article I read only recommended using one of the back or front through experimenting I found that my technique was more effective. I was also taught the year pervious to this one during a music tech course to record drums like this. I also placed individual mic's on the Kick, Snare and a SM57 to the hi-hat. By placing microphones to these features of the drum kit it really allowed me to ...

Distortion What is distortion? First of Distortion is a form of audio signal processing. Distortion is known to create a fuzzy, gritty and growling tone. Distortion can be used on almost if not all musical instruments however as I am a guitarist for the duration of this piece of writing I will be focusing greatly on its usage on music created with guitars. Distortion is a commonly used effect throughout music and is created through many ways. Traditionally distortion comes from guitar amps; where the amount of gain being let into the amplifier is more then what the volume of the amplifier can handle, this results in distorted sound. Distortion can be created in other ways apart from the gain from an amplifier, for example a very common way to gain a distorted sound is through guitar pedals. An example of a commonly used guitar distortion pedal would be the ‘BOSS DS-1’. Other ways of creating distortion include through rack mounts, pre-amps and power-amps. History Over ...

One of the biggest inspirations behind the EP was the artist Rex Orange County. A lot if not all of the chord shapes and types  I've used are shapes i've discovered from listening to and playing his music. The main Chord sequence of the first track "True colours" is heavily influenced by him. The chords are Ema7 - E9 - Ama7 - Cma7 - Fma7 . The Major 7th chord shape I use was discovered when I came across rex's song "sunflower". Rex's sound can be described as a being a mixture of anti-pop with a hint of jazz and soul. This is the exact vibe i'm going for on my EP. Upon further research into him as an artist and how he has developed over the course of the two records he has released I have decided his debut is the album "bcos u will never b free" i'd rather sound like as it sounds more relaxed and almost rough as appose to the second album "apricot princess which has more of a big band sound to it.