Week 5

Two notable things I did last week:

The first was to complete the pre-chorus and chorus. With this I have the intro | verse 1 | verse 2 | pre-chorus | chorus.

I now have a melody line in the pre-chorus/chorus but the choice of instrument still bugs me... At first I used the Echo Bass, and I rather like the sound, but it is kind of a inappropriate lead? However, I have not been able to find wind instruments (as discussed in class) that seem to fit the sound of the piece. I will report what instrument I've decided on on Thursday together with the upload of the latest song. (Sorry, I did not manage to save the file and will only be back in the lab Thursday!!!)

In the added sections, I have also tried out the call-and-response technique. At first I used the guitar and flute combination like in my reference song. But the flute sounded too full compared to my other instruments :( I switched to a Xylophone variation instead.

Secondly, I cut a few (quite many) things from the earlier parts. E.g. with the introduction of the ultrabeat drums, the introduction pad sounded extremely weird and mismatched. But I like the beats over the sustained pad, so I'm scrapping the pad!

I also cut one instrument in the second verse (the one that originally had clashes back in week 3).

However... because the method I wrote the verses vs the chorus was different, the two parts are extremely mismatched now. I need to do something about that for sure. Recap: the verses were random ideas while the chorus was done after I did the bass.

Working from bottom up was definitely the "right way" for a starter like me. I spent considerably less time creating a melody + rhythm in the right key than struggling to create everything else from the melody line alone. So perhaps it'll be better to just rewrite the verses in this "right way" that worked for me.

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Finally, I changed the 3 4 time in the chorus back to 4 4 time.

I will be duplicating what I have based on my earlier proposed form. In the interest on time, the outro may be cut or kept very basic, and what I have will be the working file for production.

I also looked at this sound designer talking about music production and the creative aspect of music production (which was what I struggled with most). As he mentions in the video, most 'tutorials' are done after a song has been produced, so they skip discussing the creative process and making decisions, but focus on what to do to create x and y sounds. He also mentions not touching EQ (automation etc.) that should be left to the mixing stage.

These all overlap with what you have discussed in class/your advice to me.

After listening to his song, I concluded it has similarities to my reference song.
- Having a simple distinct /contrasting sound (water droplet / gun load sounds)
- Having breaks between verses/chorus
- A phrase repeated (the scale sound)

I would like (when I get to mixing) to try out 2 or all 3 techniques in my music to keep interest.


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Class notes:

Mixing
Sub-bass: double the bass, not too loud

EQ: Volume control for frequencies
1. Graphic EQ: E.g. Room EQ

2. Parametric EQ:
- Center Frequency (Hz): The peak
- Gain ( + / - )
- Q (width): how many decibels (dB) to decrease/increase
-- lower it: width is wider (think plateau)
-- increase it: width is narrow (think sharp peak)

3. Shewing EQ

4. Filters
- Hi pass filter
- Lo pass filter