Project Proposal
Production Project Files (80%)
Progress and Management Records (20%)
This project initially stemmed from a conversation I had with my project tutor, Paul Bailey. I asked if doing one, continuous piece would be applicable, and he agreed. I felt this to be the best way to showcase my ethos around music creation, and to produce something that not only demonstrates my skillset and creative decision making, but also has intent behind it further than just a composition for an assignment. I have stated in previous assignments in the past three years that I have no intent on creating music with commercial viability, and I do not release any of my music. However, I have a strong interest in music for various forms of media, most notably video games and film. A strong soundtrack can elevate and compliment a game or movie in a way that nothing else can. I took inspiration from some of the most important films and games from my life to incorporate into the piece, with a strong emphasis on environmental immersion and storytelling through sound.
My overall aim was to create this piece with the intention of coinciding with a hypothetical piece of media, following different environments:
- A vibrant and soothing rainforest or jungle
- Underwater aquatic environment
- A futuristic, cyberpunk metropolis
- A vast and barren scorching desert
- A distant galaxy outer space
Artistically, I aimed to place the listener in these environments. This was done using contextual sounds (i.e. birds chirping, cars moving by), but also by the harmonic structure and tonal decisions.
I chose these environments mainly because of the influences associated with them that stick with me. ‘Underwater levels’ have been seen within videogames for decades, and they seem to follow similar patterns and cliches. This is true for the other environments as well. I aimed for an obvious contrast between the pieces, whether that was a major difference in instrumentation or harmony, or changes in tempo and dynamics. These are all factors which influence how the listener feels when presented with the music, and ultimately decides if it elevates what they’re seeing on their screen. Given that, the music alone should evoke the correct setting regardless of what accompanies it, meaning without it being coupled with a video game level or movie scene, it should tell the correct story. The intended audience response was a sense of place and transition, to allow the music to take you on a journey. There is an argument to be made that there is a more subtle way of doing this a la Stravinsky’s The Right of Spring, however I wanted to compose a modern take on this intent of music, basing It around a form of media. The piece is abstract in the sense that you wouldn’t naturally move from a desert to outer space, but that is the benefit of writing music for media; anything is possible.
Part large of my project management was gathering reference material and inspiration that would eventually influence the final product. I will explain each section of my composition and the relevant inspiration for each:
Section 1: Jungle
Latin house producers such as Afro Medusa and Raffa FL informed decision making for this beginning section. The use of tribal percussion paired with electronic pads, underneath acoustic instruments such as flutes and digeridoos amalgamate into a sound that places your mind in a rainforest. These places have a particularly distinctive sound in terms of their natural acoustics. I spent 2 weeks in Playa del Carmen a few years ago, and the intercourse of sound between the wildlife and natural environment is its own piece of music, therefore I took sounds of that nature to set the tone of the environment beforehand.
Other influences include the music from Donkey Kong: Country, most notably ‘Jungle Groove’, as well as other games such as Crash Bandicoot.
Section 2: Underwater
The music of Nintendo had the biggest influence on this section, in particular Super Mario 64’s ‘Dire, Dire Docks’. What I discovered after listening to a lot of underwater theme level music is that they seem to stick to alternating between the Iand the bVII chord in their respective key; Genshin Impact’s ‘Sunshine Beach’, Everblue 2’s ‘Ancient Blue’, Pokemon Ruby & Sapphire’s ‘Dive’, and most of course ‘Dire, Dire Dock’ all have this same harmonic structure in common. Their instrumentation is always ‘wet’, sounds with heavy reverb, more rounded synth sounds, and lighter dynamic all add to this watery feeling. Another decision influencing the sound is the obvious high frequency filtering.
Other influences include Sonic the Hedgehog 2006’s ‘Wave Ocean’.
Section 3: Cyberpunk City
This portion was heavily inspired by game Ghostrunner. Dark, heavy synthwave production elevates the futuristic and brutalist nature of games in this genre. The music of Pertubator and their 2014 album ‘Dangerous Days’ influenced this section with the use of heavily reverbed percussion, thick side-chained synths, driving basslines and glitchy sounds that paint the picture of a hyper-cyber future.
Section 4: Desert
Ambient Arabic Oud soundscapes helped shape this section, particularly through the use of space and silence. Although the section eventually picks up in intensity, taking inspiration from the music from Hans Zimmer’s work on ‘Dune’, the beginning and end are there to contrast the previous piece that was overly intense. Reverbed Sitars paired with Middle Eastern percussion help to direct the listener.
Section 5: Outer Space
Theodore Shapiro’s music for ‘Severance’, although not galactic themed, did influence parts of this section, in particular the track ‘Music Of Wellness’. This piece evoked a sense of floating through emptiness for me, whilst the more sci-fi elements were pulled from tracks such as Super Mario Odessey’s ‘Honeylune Ridge’ and League of Legends’ ‘Aurelion Sol’ .
I have included my first document for this project which ver briefly outlines where I would’ve liked to see the project go. It includes obvious spelling mistakes, however it highlights how I initially felt about the project so ive included it as a comparison. I have also included my document in which notes were taken when listening to songs that were to influence the track.
Besides influences, other project management points for this assignment were to have a clear time scale for when things should be completed. Between the Months of September and December my goal was to have the first two sections finished and mixed. Between December and February, I aimed for sections three and four to have also been completed, leaving March and April to finish the final section and master the piece.
Although I allocated time for dedicated mixing, I ultimately completed this as I went, mixing each section as it was being written to a satisfactory extent before polishing at the end of each time barrier.
Challenges did occur during this process, as my goal between December and February was not quite met, leading to an overflow in March due to personal circumstances, however this was manageable given my planning process allowing for challenges to arise.
I used the conservatoire’s Zoom H5 to record some of the contextual sounds heard in the piece, such as water sounds from section two and footsteps throughout. I also Recorded live instruments for the sections, in particular bass guitar.
Regarding the technical side of the project management, I used Logic Pro X to compose this piece. I used a wide range of MIDI instruments and sounds to layer each section. The mixing stage was more of a polishing effort than its own stand-alone task as previously mentioned, since any corrective mixing decisions were done whilst composing, and a large majority of effects were processed during this period also. File management for this project is where I was disappointed, since the beginning of this year my laptop could be considered an organised mess. However, when coming toward the conclusion of this track, I spent time organising the folder for this assignment ready for submission.
Reviewing and revising my work was mainly done in car trips. I spend a lot of time commuting which gives me quality reflection time to listen to my piece and take notes from somewhere other than my headphones.
Skills I developed within this project would be the ability to remove myself from the music being made and allow the composition to serve a purpose bigger than my own taste. I can say with full confidence that this piece doesn’t reflect my individual taste in music, however I feel it fits the intention I had planned for it; to compliment a hypothetical body of media and display cinematic storytelling through sound.
I feel I greately improved on my project management skills throughout this year, as before this I would complete projects based on an abstract time scale. Setting specific deadlines for myself helped keep me on track to completing to my best ability, as well as keep the work from becoming too stressful once the semester was ending and other work needed uploading.
For the intention of this project overall, I believe I was successful. Each section evoked the correct mental picture for the listener, as well as showcasing my abilities as a producer and how I can allow the music I make to serve a purpose other than commercial viability as an artist. In the future, I would like to attempt a similar project based off a real piece of visual media and see if my abilities would complete a similar task.
