Project Description

Introduction

For this project I have created a 7 song album featuring music from a range of different dance music genres which also includes an ambient album intro and interlude song.

Central Idea/Concept

My central idea was to create a seven song album featuring music that could be performed in warehouse raves paired with high quality visuals such as Print Works London and that could also be enjoyed listening to on headphones or speakers.

What was I hoping to achieve? 

The whole goal of this assignment was to improve on my production and composition skills, improving on my creative and signature style when creating music while improving on my mixes and masters of my music to compare with industry productions.

Why?

The reason for the creation for this album was to focus on improving my creative process when making music, this includes my creation of melodies, sound design, compositions, song writing and productions. I also focused on improving more technical skills such as - recording instruments, audio, vocalists, hardware synths and equipment as well as processing these recordings to a high standard and improving on quality of my mixes and masters to compare with industry level music.

What? inspirations

Throughout this production process, my main inspiration was an image in my head of the end product of this album being performed live at rave events in places like Print Works London and being accompanied with vibrant visuals.

Workflow of Key Stages

Prior to starting the production of this album I spent a couple of months researching and prototyping different production techniques and mix and master techniques. After this I set myself different deadlines to produce, compose, mix and master the songs and album.

What Tools/Software was used?

I used hardware synths such as the OBX 8 in most of the songs, one of the songs was primarily created from this synth. When recording live instruments, drums and vocalists I used different mics such as an AKG C414, SM57, SM58, ect.

I used FL studio as my primary DAW but also used Logic Pro X for all of the recordings and mixing one of the songs.

Challenges and How Solved

Throughout this project I came across many challenges, a couple of these were.

Mastering: when mastering my music no matter how soft or little processing I put onto the master chain my songs always sounded too squashed to me and I wasn’t able to push the songs loud enough to compete with my reference songs. The solution I found for this was to end with a limiter with an instant attack and instant release which allowed me to focus all the reduction onto the unneeded transients.

Mixing: An issue that kept on coming up with the mixes was the leads weren’t promanent enough in the mix. The solution for this was parallel processing different sounds, with the leads I added a mono version of the same sound and mixed the stereo signal and mono signal separately.

Any changes and why

I didn’t make many changes except for changing a couple deadlines I gave myself for each section. The reason for this was me not having access to studios or high quality speakers for periods of time and some deadlines got pushed back so I could focus on getting them closer to the standard and quality I wanted, for example I gave myself an extra 3 weeks to do the mixes and in doing so reduced the time I was going to spend on the master down from 1 month to 1 week.

Final Outcome

The final album consists of seven songs that take inspiration from different genres and techniques. The songs of the album flow together to help with the narrative of the album.

The limitations of this project is there’s still more room for improvement in the quality when compared to the references. A big strength is the production and the versatility of the genres within dance music. These songs are connected to one another in the album but they are different enough where they could be released as singles and still work well on their own.

From the process leading up to this final product I have learned that my songs are never going to be perfect but I have improved a lot on my skills needed when creating a finished song.

Project Context

Brief re introduction

When creating this album I used many different references taking inspiration from the many different production styles and genres.

here is a list of all of my reference songs and albums:

• Freedom: By Synergy, What so Not

• Back In Time: By Kanine, A Little Sound

• Generator: By Dimension

• R.A.V.E.A.S.P: By Gardna, DRS

• Turn The Page: By Overmono, The Streets

• Stretch For the Stars (Touring Rework): By Joshua Idehen, Touring 

• CHROMA 001 HELIUM: By BICEP

• Breathe: By Camelphat, Cristoph

• Proto Spoon: By Dusky

• Condition: By SWIM

• My Trust My Love: By Pretty Girl

• Close: By SWIM

• Better Now: By SWIM

• Moon Music: By Coldplay, Jon Hopkins

Link: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/1WB1dINWfpLjqkecW1H5zV?si=NDrHRVzZQKiQrq6J2p-Jkg

Album:

• In Circles: By SWIM

Link: https://open.spotify.com/album/27P7tEDJJfKCZXqrLrw4yr?si=EQdjW6eiSzarM-2jMO1Skw

I used these songs as a reference when creating the productions and compositions of my songs as well as referencing them for the more technical side when I started my Mixing and Mastering process.

Compare with Work A “SWIM: In circles”

During the creation of this album I have been comparing and using the album “In Circles by SWIM” as a reference. Even though I used this as a guide for my album they are very different, for example the songs SWIM created and used can all fit within the same genre and style of music. My album is different from this by having created music in different genres of dance music while following the same theme and narrative. Despite the difference in genre and tempo the album still flows from one song into the next giving the album as a whole its own narrative. Another difference between the two albums is all the songs in my album have different focus points, where some are focused on the drum production, some are focused more on vocals and some are focused on the synths and melodies.

Compare with work B “Breathe: By Camelphat”

One of my references “Breathe: By Camelphat” has had a heavy influence on my approach to mixing my songs but mostly the song “Echos feat: Beth Morgan”. Both mixes are centered around the Kick drum, Vocals and the Lead Bass Synth. They both follow a 4/4 rhythm. Some differences between the two is - My song takes more inspiration and shares similar themes to warehouse techno and it has a bit of a darker tone to my reference.

Compare with Work C “Freedom: By Synergy”

I used the song “Freedom: By Synergy” as one of my main references when creating my song Ambition. Despite this there are some differences between the two, for example the LUFs of this reference is very loud at about -3 LUFs where as my song Ambition is at about -8 LUFs, even though my reference will sound louder than my song I decided to keep the level of the whole album at a similar lever as most of the songs were at about -8 to -6 LUFs. Comparing the production of my song to this reference my song has more emphasis on the narrative of the song focusing more on melodies and the use of a live recorded piano, my song also has a bpm change from the break of the song to the drop to emphasis the melodies when needed.

Broader reflection

The songs for the album were created and took inspiration from an image I had in mind, during the creation of this I pictured the venue Print Works London with huge ceilings with people filling the floor and filling all the levels on the sides, the image is from a long way back but is focused on small person performing their music with huge vibrant visuals to accompany it.