Project Proposal
Production Project Files
Progress and Management Records
October
I first started having ideas for what kind of music I wanted to create for this project in early October. Even though when it comes to writing music I am often writing singer/songwriter folk songs, I felt that this did not suite my production skills well enough and I could be more creative and expand on ideas better creating ambient songs. When I decided on ambience as the genre I knew I was going to do all of it in the box. This allowed me to work on tracks anytime I wanted without the restrictions of limited studio time. I am also most comfortable working at home on my laptop as my room is a space where I feel I am most creative.
The first track I began work on was ‘Life is Beautiful’. I started out exploring different synth sounds in logic until I found one close to what I needed and then edited it to get exactly the sound I wanted. The preset on logic ‘Curious Hammers’ was close to what I wanted but had too much high end and reverb cut off, which lacked the open and warm feel I wanted in the background of the track, so I up the decay, release and sustain and EQ off some of the high end. (appendix 1&2)
In the first few days progess was slow but I continued to add layers to fill out the space of the low and high ends. I used different textures to create a soundscape. Including the ‘Smooth and Gentle’ synth which I added a phaser to create some movement as the sound oscillates. Thematically, I used this sound as I wanted this track to portray the android in the narrative to rid itself of its more synthetic ways so this sound is only included in the first section of the track.
Although I had a narrative I wanted to tell with the music, initially I did not know what the tracks were going to sound like specifically, so even though I started this one first I did not realise it was going to be the second track out of the three.
November
I started experimenting with varispeed to try and create a washed over sound as each track was time stretched. I also included flex pitch into the varispeed to lower the overall pitch to capture the feeling of something close to consciousness but still not fully realised.
I began to work on some melody lines for this track because although it’s ambient I wanted there to be a sense of progression. Inspired by Brian Eno and his use of piano lines in his ambient work, I wanted to emulate those phrases in a way. Although I would have preferred to record a real piano, it was much easier and efficient to record into midi as I am not a proficient player. This also meant I could edit the sound of the piano easily to make sure it was hitting the way I wanted it to. There was already a lot of reverb and a small bit of tape delay to the piano tracks so I did not add any of my own to them as it already helped blend the piano in with the rest of the sounds. I double tracked and panned the piano left and right adding to the surrounding nature of the ambience(appendix 3).
The rest of November was not too productive however during the making of ‘Life is Beautiful’ I came up with an idea for ‘Moments’. It was just the chord progression but the preset sound ‘tranquility’, which I use on ‘Life is Beautiful’, helped as a starting off point for ‘Moments’.
December
At the start of December I recorded a few guitar lines to act as motifs for the track following similar notes to what I played with the piano. I recorded the guitar with an SM 57 put up to an amp, I use the SM 57 because it is an extremely reliable mic for guitar as it can handle high sound pressure levels without heavy distortion(appendix 4).
I wanted to add more layers of guitar to this track, however I wanted them to be much more distorted and improvised so I asked my housemate Aleks to play on the track. He used the same amp settings I used however included his own pedals to add more distortion and reverb to the guitar(appendix 5&6).
January
I did not do any work on this project during January.
February
I began to work on the next track, ‘Moments’. I had already recorded a single layer so that I could remember the chords for the track. I could immediately tell from the response that the chords drew from me that this was going to be the last track of the three, because although I had not started work on the third track, I knew thematically it was going to be the last one. The ideas flowed quite easily for this track as I began to add layer upon layer. I added swelling synths alongside piccolo and a flute playing both high and low ranges to fill up space. I also included a double tracked organ to play long held low notes to add some extra low end(appendix 7). Although I initially double tracked the piccolo and the flute, it was too muddy in the mix and it was too muddy and the textures were not distinguishable.
As the track was evolving I was inspired by Deep Blue Day by Brian Eno and so I wanted to include some guitar that was reminiscent of the lap steel played in his song so I asked Aleks to play some slide guitar to play throughout the track. I also added some rhythm guitar to add some more texture and to have some different timbre throughout the track. Aleks also played some regular picked guitar and chords. I had him play this with lots of reverb to create a dream like feeling(appendix 8).
For the slide I had it panning left and right throughout to create movement in the track as it is just one three chords loop the whole way, however the slide created lots of melodic moments to help engage the listener. I panned left and right to also represent how life is full of ‘Moments’ that continuously pass you by, and the soft dreamy nature of the sound is to portray these moments as memories.
March
March was another unproductive month due to large assignments I needed to work on for April deadlines.
April
For the last track ‘More Human than Human’, I took heavy inspiration from Vangelis’ Blade Runner soundtrack. He perfectly captures a dystopian soundscape and I wanted to create something similar to fit the narrative I was trying to tell.
This track included much more synth and electronic sounds. My aim for this track was to create a dishpan soundscape to pit the listener in a place as to set the scene for the narrative.
The first layer I started with was the synth sound ‘The Last Theatre’ on Logic, however throughout the track I slowly shifted around the transform pad to create movement and textures to keep the sound ever evolving(appendix 9).
I wanted to include more sound effects in this track to create an industrial feel but not in a familiar way, in an outer planetary way so I recorded many sweeping synth notes. The synth I used was an ES2 (appendix 10), this is the closest synth plug in to the Yamaha CS-80 polyphonic analog synth, which I the one Vangelis primarily used on Blade Runner. I used the ES2 throughout to add to the soundscape.
Although I wanted lots of synth on this track, I also wanted to include real bass and guitar. For the bass I recorded through a DI with a flanger effect on to create a pulsating texture (appendix 11). Guitar was recorded through an amp using pedals via an SM 57 again. I once again requested the help of Aleks on this track as his style of playing and the sounds he creates with his pedals fit perfectly for this track. He used his reverb and distortion pedal with a high cut off to create a large vast sound(appendix 12).
Towards the end of April I added my finishing touches to the track by adding some punchy synths that played melodic lead part. The synth I used was the Logic preset ‘Electric Sheep'(appendix 13). This provided the exact amount of punch. I did add a longer attack and release however so that the notes still flowed well with the rest of the track.
Conclusion
Overall I am proud of this project and how it turned out as I think I have portrayed the narrative in the way I wanted with three distinct tracks that have a natural progression over the course of the songs. I also know I have managed to capture the right feelings because when I have showed these tracks to different people they all explained how each one made them feel and what image that they pictured in relation to the tracks.
Appendices
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