Project Proposal
Production Project Files (80%)
Progress and Management Records (20%)
Ruff Form is a double EP and is designed to be listened to in full, not separately. It is a culmination of work from a Leeds Hardcore Band, Gravehouse, and my rap/electronic group, Tripsitterz, all of whom are friends and produce/perform music together regularly. A short, spoken interlude links the two projects at roughly half way.
Gravehouse – What Are You Without Your Failures EP
September: I saw the band live. I moved in with the lead singer and they asked if I could record their band, Gravehouse. Gravehouse has a drummer, guitarist, bassist and vocalist, making music similar to System of a Down, Knocked Loose, Slipknot and Black Flag.
December: I recorded the band in a Conservatoire studio [See Appendix 1 and 2]. We recorded the drummer and guitarist together and the bass through DI. We planned to record vocals later, although they rehearsed with vocals present.
February: I mixed the band recording [See Appendix 3]. I researched the mixing techniques used by Ross Robinson on Slipknot self titled, ranging from heavy subtractive EQ, giving each instrument its own seat in the mix to hard panning on guitars (with stereo image being something raised in a meeting with my tutor). I also sidechained the bass to the kick, which is something many heavy producers such as Joey Sturgis have done.
April: I recorded the vocalist. We used a couple of different microphones but weren’t happy with the recording or performance. We decided to book another session for later in the month. Our flat then fell ill for a while, causing the recording to be delayed. I mixed the vocals I already recorded, sounding good enough for ‘demo’ takes but with the potential for a lot better.
May: We recorded a new take of vocals using an SM7B [See Appendix 4]. This is what Serj Tankan (System of a Down) used to record his vocals. Gravehouse have similar shouting, screaming and aggressive rapping, making it a suitable microphone choice. I used a pop filter as well this time as the consonants were slightly overwhelming on the previous recording. The studio session was 7 hours long, beginning with recording vocals by MC Kezza for an unrelated project. The delivery was better as we had more time and we were more motivated to record as we were enjoying ourselves. I mixed the vocals with fast compression, high pass filter and a slightly boosted upper mids for the screams. Raps and screams were mixed on separate tracks with slightly different EQ and levels. The band’s only EP currently out is a live EP and, although they wanted studio produced music, they wanted to keep the live feel. The vocals include weeping sounds, live recording fragments and more, similar to ‘My War’ by Black Flag, where the vocalist has a breakdown mid-song.
Cucumber prod. Cucumber x ThereAreGhosts – Time Flies
August: ThereAreGhosts is one of my fellow producers in Tripsitterz and he sent me some sample chops [See Appendix 5]. He flipped some drums from ‘STAMINA’ by Atum and chopped some guitar and lyrics from ‘Where is The Sunshine’ by Kalima. We made other songs together between here and continuing this track.
March: I made a grime beat by using the loops for the first verse and hook, before repeating the hook later. I made some synths to use for a middle section, before bringing the drums back in, taking the synths on a journey inspired by ‘Jeans’ by 2Hollis, then returning to the hook. ThereAreGhosts sampled “Our bees make honey, but your flies make shit,” from the film ‘The Holy Mountain’ for his producer tag at the beginning, before adding my ‘777’ tag later as the instrumental plays by itself. I arranged and got an initial mix for the beat and wrote lyrics now as I knew I would soon be going on a night out my co-producer.
April: We went to a small jungle rave where people were freestyling and performing verses in front of the DJs. I performed a few and took notice of which ones got the crowd moving, as this is a key sign of success in the grime scene. I recorded the lyrics not long after in my room on my phone using Bandlab like underground LAZER DIM 700 and 2Slimey songs.
May: I added a new preset to my vocals, taken from an interview where Nettspend said he used it when recording ‘Drankdrankdrank’ directly into his iphone microphone. I also used feedback from my tutor to remove the heaviness of the low end – low mids, while still keeping the punchiness of the kick.
Tim Mothem x P4UL prod. Cucumber – Calm and Cool
January: Using Xenology and the lunch77 drum pack by F1lthy, I made a beat inspired by Edward Skeletrix’s ‘Typical Rap Song 12’. This features a dominant hi hat with variations using dynamic and rhythmic changes. There are also unusual percussive samples such as glass smashing and electronic sound effects, with a section of the beat using reversed synths, something which Skeletrix’s producer o0o uses frequently.
February: I recorded two members of the Tripsitterz, with the first being P4UL. His airy voice and Thai accent is a complete contrast to Tim Mothem’s Wakefield-born accent. I recorded P4UL using iPhone, with a different preset used on his voice to any other vocalist. Space was left in his recording for an opening verse.
April: I recorded Tim’s vocals into Bandlab as well, using autotune as they sing when they raps.
May: I extended the reversed synth section of the beat to match the flow of Tim’s vocals better, adding a telephone-style EQ to P4UL’s opening vocals which come before the beat drop to tease his hook, matching them to his ad libs. Tim’s vocal takes are all blended together as they make vocal harmonies intertwine, whereas P4UL’s are separated, giving them their own style and purpose in the song.
MC Kezza x Cucumber x Tim Mothem prod. Cucumber x MC Kezza – Cat n Mouse
September: I met MC Kezza, who had written some chords and melodies on his guitar and wanted to convert them to synths for a song. I said I would produce the song for him, getting to work on the synths. I later added multiple layers of 90s hip hop style drum samples, running all production choices from now on through MC Kezza. Instrumental samples such as trumpet licks and jingly guitar rhythms make the beat quite complex [See Appendix 6].
December: I recorded Kez’s raps and front vocal takes on Bandlab. A lot of his raps are not in the final mix but instead his memorable lines are looped, with delay added and a focus on the instrumental during parts of the song. MC Kezza then asked me to rap the first verse, which I did, ending my verse in a way that rhymes with the beginning of the chorus. The song felt quite ‘spacey’ so we decided to sample some nasa sound effects such as a countdown and beeping.
March: I mixed this project most days for about a month. The number of tracks increased as I recorded additional backing vocals from MC Kezza, with much more reverb than the original takes and layered gently behind. I cut the beat at the NASA samples “One”, removed drums from the first section of my verse and slightly changed the structure of the final chorus to provide more variation to a song which is over 4 minutes long. I also added a speech by JFK about space travel and brought some of the drums back in during a section where only synths and backing vocals were playing.
April: As MC Kezza’s looped vocals fade out, I decided to introduce some vocals from Tim Mothem to fill in the space. I recorded them on Bandlab through the same autotune vocal chain preset as ‘Calm and Cool’, before adding the same telephone style EQ as Kez’s vocals. My vocals have a lower HPF than the other two as I rap with a deeper voice, but I still have a distinct sound in this song to my others. This is to give each song its own feel, whilst still giving each artist their own sound within the song, distinct from the others.
Tim Mothem x Cucumber prod. Cucumber – Chase It
2 years ago: Tim produced a now-removed song called ‘Talkin” for our first collaboration album on which we both rapped the lyrics that I would later take for ‘Chase It’. We recorded them into Bandlab originally as the song was more lo fi than it ended up becoming.
April: I made the instrumental using 5 Surge XT synths and the lunch77 drum kit [See Appendix 7]. I used an 808 that was used in a lot of Lil Uzi Vert songs, then added some electronic and extra-terrestrial sounding synths. I took inspiration for sound design from ‘Futsal Shuffle 2020’, and also the idea of using the same/similar synth sounds in different octaves throughout the song. I added delay to one of the rhythmic chordal synths which blends nicely with a cleaner lead.
May: I recorded the vocals for this song in the studio using an SM7B. We double tracked the vocals and did multiple ad lib takes. I chose the best take and one ad lib track. I again added telephone EQ to ad libs but did not add autotune, making the song feel like a British interpretation of Uzi’s style. Other edits to the track were made, such as cutting the 808 at the beginning of the final hook and replacing a synth in the bridge with a deeper legato synth to give that section a unique sound, especially as it is Tim Mothem’s favourite section. I combined all the project bounces in one file and used the gain tool to master the tracks, as shown by the full EP wav [See Appendix 8].
Appendix
Appendix 1: Mics used for Gravehouse recording (not the sub kick speaker driver + the sontronics on guitar was removed from the final mix).
Appendix 2:
Appendix 3:
Appendix 4:
Appendix 5: “Freaky Jazz” and “Flies” samples sent by ThereAreGhosts
Appendix 6:
Appendix 7:
Appendix 8:
