(MPR6C001R~001) MBO23084876 Music Production Coursework and Project Process – Show Post:

Instruments and Equipment used to create this project:

The following instruments and equipment were used to create this project:

Nord Stage 3

Nord Electro 6D

Yamaha MOD7X+

2x Jack cables

MacBook Pro with Logic Pro X and Mainstage

iMac Computer with Logic Pro X

iPhone 12

Scarlett Audio Interface

(Appendix 1)

Instrumentalists:

Caleb MBOSO

Rooms used to create this project:

My Bedroom

Introduction:

This show post documents the process, organisation and developments of my individual music production project for this academic year. The project aims to produce a 25 to 35-minute album of original music, scheduled to be submitted by Thursday, 7th March 2026 on the Show Assignment (Leedsconservatoire.ac.uk, 2026). My music is focused on being an instrumental gospel genre musical album with features such as atmospheric/ cinematic prayer music.

As part of my artistic direction, I made a decision to demonstrate my creativity and versatility as a pianist and keyboardist within the 5 tracks. Rather than limiting myself to one style, I explored a range of different musical ideas within the gospel and cinematic genres, which includes combining piano improvisation with rhythmic elements. This approach was inspired by Nord artists Haeinsane and Joshua Domfeh (Inspirtation – Appendix).

However, most of my pieces are primarily heavily piano-based music and atmospheric music for prayer, with one track being afro -beat based.

This post shows my ability to plan, manage and critically reflect on my creative process over time. It also includes feedback from my one-to-one supervisor, as well as demonstrating how this feedback has developed my artistic direction and workflow.

Project overview and creative intention:

The aim of my project is to create multiple distinct gospels, cinematic, and atmospheric tracks that blend rhythmic programming, ambient textures, and live performance elements. My intended goal for the album was to be 25 to 30minutes of music to ensure that I met the assignment guidelines while approaching the assignment in a professional mindset. The target audience is pianists, gospel listeners and men and women of God who are feeling the impulse to enter the presence of God. As well as having a music goal, my intention of submission was as if I was submitting to a professional record label, so as well as the project, I also decided to submit my EPK alongside my project (Appendix 2).

A key creative influence on my artistic voice has been Nord artists such as Joshua Domfeh and Haeinsane, who are creative musical artists signed and endorsed by Nord (Nordkeyboards.com, 2019). Particularly their ability to use a piano/keyboard and Logic Pro X. My concept concentrates on capturing moments of personal reflection through creative music production, through textured tracks, field recordings and evolving textures.

During early development, I created a bibliography of reference tracks and a mood board that inspired my artistic vision. This helped me establish the genre, structural ideas, and tempo ranges for the project.

Project Proposal & Supervisor Negotiation:

At the beginning of the academic year, I submitted a formal project proposal outlining my creative goals, production timelines and technical approaches. The proposal specified that I would produce a multi-track gospel genre piano atmospheric project between 25-35minutes in length, using Logic Pro X as a primary Digital Audio Workstation while having the Yamaha Modx7+ keyboard, Sunday keys and MainStage as a DAW to programme atmospheric sounds. Within the project, I wanted to demonstrate that the project doesn’t always have to be made within a music studio. As well as submitting my project proposal, I create a to-do list and a project track to help me stay on track with the project.

Research and Development:

The definition of research implies a detailed study of a subject, especially to discover new pieces of information about something or gain a new understanding of it (Cambridge Dictionary, 2019). This phrase was essential for directing the focus of the project. Research for this project includes studying musical artists who inspired my artistic vision, style and album cover because it would allow me to have a general idea of how I structure my songs and layer my sounds.

With the research completed and conducted, the findings implied that listeners gain a better understanding of the album once they listen to it, as some albums tell a story when they are listened to (Nyamal Gatluak, 2021). Finally, researching what record labels are looking for when completing this assignment was extremely helpful, as they had given answers such as labels often look for artists’ ability to connect with a specific audience (LinkedIn.com, 2026).

Album Cover Process:

As part of the project, I developed an album cover to represent my musical and spiritual themes of the work. The purpose of an album cover is to capture the identity of the music within. Before a listener decides to listen to the music, an album cover is the first thing and impression that listeners experience (PARMA recordings, 2022).

My album design was inspired by Nord Artist Joshua Domfeh, particularly demonstrating the combination of live piano performance mixed with ambient music production, aligning it with my overall artistic direction (Appendix 3).

Production Process:

The production process involved creating music, final media content and developing brand identity. Final media content includes taking photos of production setups, gear and equipment used to build this project. Within the production process, time management was crucially important as multiple elements needed to be completed by a certain deadline.

In music production, programming is defined as using technological tools with a Digital Audio Workstation, such as Logic Pro X, to create musical arrangements. Moreover, it also includes sequencing MIDI data to generate sounds of musical instruments. (Wikipedia, 2020).

Furthermore, many of my songs that I have produced for the album, have ended with a fadeout since I wanted to provide my listeners a continuous listening experience aswell as a fadeout being common in popular music. The fade –out is a technique of ending a song with a slow decrease in its volume over the last few seconds (Appendix 4) (PARMA recordings, 2022).

Both the Yamaha Modx7 and Nord Stage 3 are reliable keyboards within the music industry.For example the Yamaha Modx7 provides excellent sound capabilities with accurate emulations of acoustic instruments (www.gear4music.com, 2018). On the other hand a nord stage 3 or 4 is extremely popular for keyboardists like myself due to the piano sound quality.

During the production process, I developed a list of song ideas using notes on my iPhone; these tracks include song titles and album themes. As well as song titles and album themes, I developed voice note recordings of me playing piano/keyboard, where several ideas were developed and ensure that my arrangements remained consistent with the overall theme (Appendix 5).

Challenges and Solution:

While completing this assignment, I was faced with several different challenges. One of the main challenges was time management since I had multiple deadlines in the month of January. To solve this problem, I made sure that I had completed all my other assignments, so that I could spend so much time prioritising this assignment.

Another challenge I encountered was consistency. The reason why constituency was one of the biggest challenges for this assignment was because of my lack of motivation to create and produce music. In more detail, music production and even music in general is considered a lot of work and stressful at times. However, I found motivation through quotes on Pinterest, such as “Discipline takes you places motivation can’t” (Tanner, 2025).

As well as physical challenges being presented to me, technical challenges arose during production. For example, sometimes Logic was not allowing me to record my piano performances, as well as problems with editing software on Logic Pro X. Luckily, these issues were resolved through support from tutors, facilities, independence and online tutorials. This process was such a learning curve, allowing me to improve my technical skills and gain confidence in music production skills.

Self-Evaluation and Reflection:

Overall, this assignment has been been succesful in achieving its aim of producing a piano-led gospel, cinematic album that combines live piano performance with digital production in many different genres, demonstrating the unique blend of creativity and originality in my work.

What went well in my project was that I had a vision of what I wanted to create for the project, and I was able to bring it to life despite the challenges. Also, when creating this project, I enjoyed having the ability to use my musical knowledge in the way I wanted to and the way I felt.

On the other hand, despite the positive outcomes of the album, if there are areas to improve, I would say it was discipline because there would be times when I experienced periods of low motivation and inconsistency. Another area of improvement would be creating the time to do some primary research. Despite my completing effective research, I could have spent more time completing primary research by creating surveys and interviews for peers to participate in. The reason why I feel like I should have completed public research is that I could have gained more insight into what the audience would like to hear and see.

Despite the challenges, I was able to complete this project before the deadline of the submission.

Conclusion:

To conclude, this assignment taught me the importance of effective planning, time management and organisation in achieving a successful outcome. Despite challenges faced and by following a structural approach, having a few 1-to-1 meetings with my tutor, Peter Ord, it was possible to produce high-quality music.

Furthermore, I have gained skills that will be beneficial to me in future work, particularly using my music production skills to do programming and arrangements for live performances and studio settings while also meeting deadlines. Overall, this assignment has strengthened my musicality, creative and organisational abilities, demonstrating the ability to complete such a huge project from beginning to end, providing me with the training that I need to get in case I decide to become a Piano/keyboard artist like Haeinsane or Joshua Domfeh.

Inspiration: