MPR6C001R~001 Xia23083690 Coursework & Project Context.

Project Proposal

Production Project Files (80%)

Progress and Management Records (20%)

Initial Project Concept

This project initially began as an impression-based concept album inspired by emotional perceptions of stage performance and personal admiration. My earliest impression of Ishii Haruna was someone energetic, warm, and emotionally expressive, which became one of the starting points of the album.

At the beginning, the project focused on combining electronic music production with orchestral textures, kawaii bass influences, piano writing, and cinematic layering. Reference influences included future bass production, sasakure.uk, Akira Complex, and “マイペースにマーメイド”.

The intention was to create a sound that felt playful, emotionally warm, theatrical, and energetic while maintaining a strong melodic identity.

Development of Hikari

Hikari became one of the earliest tracks developed for the project and played an important role in establishing the album’s sonic identity.

The first demo was created on October 29. Early development focused on harmonic progression, filtered textures, and the atmosphere of the introduction. Later revisions introduced broken piano patterns and brighter electronic textures to increase movement and emotional lightness.

One of the biggest challenges during production was the climax section. Although the arrangement contained many layers, the emotional energy did not feel fully released. To improve this, multiple revisions were made involving:

drum layering
saw synth integration
future bass-inspired drops
kick and bass balancing
sidechain processing

Tutor feedback later suggested treating vocals as texture rather than traditional lead vocals. This led to experimentation with:

vocal chop
spoken phrases
humming
radio-style effects

demo from each stage of Hikari

Hikari in Alberton live

Notion Notes of the development of Hikari

A major production decision was the use of Vocaloid vocals instead of traditional vocal recording. This choice was made for both conceptual and sonic reasons. Since the album was heavily influenced by Japanese stage culture and anime/game soundtrack aesthetics, the synthetic quality of Vocaloid helped reinforce the project’s identity.

Rather than functioning as narrative vocals, the Vocaloid voice was treated as emotional texture and part of the sound design itself. This created a contrast between artificial electronic sound and emotional warmth.

Throughout development, Hikari gradually shifted from a purely energetic composition into something more emotionally intimate and atmospheric.

Vocaloid screenshoot

Development of Album Atmosphere and Emotional Structure

As the project developed, later tracks gradually moved away from direct impression-based representation and towards more abstract emotional and atmospheric ideas.

Thinking was written in triple meter and functioned as a reflective contrast to the energy of Hikari. The piece introduced a quieter and more introspective emotional space within the album.

Shadow became one of the project’s major conceptual turning points. Instead of directly portraying a performer, the track explored the emotional relationship between performer and audience. Using ambient synth textures and restrained electronic production, the piece focused more on emotional coexistence and shared perspective than dramatic musical progression.

Spring explored emotional thawing and quiet emotional transformation. The composition used loop-based harmony, soft layering, and a childhood-style piano timbre to create an intimate minimalist atmosphere.

Butai was inspired by theatrical anime soundtrack aesthetics and explored the emotional feeling of “being on stage.” The track combined cinematic orchestration with electronic production to create a stronger theatrical atmosphere.

Roud focused on the feeling of continuing forward through music, performance, and creative work. Using electric piano, recorded guitar, and marimba textures, the piece created a softer and more grounded emotional tone.

Together, these tracks gradually transformed the album from a direct impression project into a broader exploration of emotional atmosphere, memory, and relational perspective.

Conceptual Shift During the Ending Theme

One of the most important turning points of the project occurred during the development of the ending theme.

The initial inspiration came from improvising on a public piano at Ningbo Airport before travelling to Japan. At first, the piece was imagined as a theatrical ending in which performer and audience shared the same emotional space.

However, during later reflection, the meaning of the composition gradually changed. Instead of inviting the audience into the performance, the piece began to feel like quietly sitting beside someone and watching the stage lights fade together.

This shift changed the emotional direction of the entire album. The project gradually moved away from direct character representation and towards themes of:

emotional coexistence
shared perspective
intimacy
non-linear emotional continuity

As a result, the album became less about portraying a specific individual and more about documenting emotional states and memory.

Mixing and Post-Production

During the mixing stage, one of the main challenges was balancing orchestral textures with electronic production.

Early rough mixes contained excessive pad density, masked vocals, and overcrowded climax sections. To improve clarity and emotional balance, revisions included:

sidechain processing
kick and bass rebalance
vocal repositioning
reduction of orchestral sustain
reverb adjustment

The project gradually moved away from loudness-focused mixing and towards a more restrained and spacious emotional sound design.

Vocals were treated primarily as emotional texture rather than narrative lead vocals. Final mixes prioritised ambience, intimacy, restrained dynamics, and spatial depth.

This process helped me understand mixing not only as technical correction, but also as part of the emotional structure of the album itself.

The development of the ending theme also changed the emotional pacing of the entire album.

Earlier tracks were more focused on impression, movement, and emotional energy. However, while writing the ending theme, I became increasingly interested in emotional stillness and shared presence rather than dramatic resolution.

This gradually influenced later revisions across the project. Some arrangements were simplified, certain climax sections became more restrained, and more attention was placed on ambience, pacing, and emotional space.

As a result, the ending theme did not simply function as the final track of the album. Instead, it became the conceptual centre that reshaped how I understood the project itself.

The album gradually shifted away from representing a specific person and towards documenting emotional states, memory, distance, and shared emotional experience.

Reflection and Evaluation

Throughout the project, the most significant development was conceptual rather than purely technical.

At the beginning, I focused heavily on external expression and theatrical atmosphere. However, as the project progressed, I became increasingly interested in emotional presence, intimacy, and emotional continuity rather than dramatic storytelling.

This shift influenced both composition and production decisions. Earlier versions of the tracks often attempted to create emotional intensity through layering and density, while later revisions became more restrained and allowed ambience and negative space to play a larger role.

One important lesson from the project was learning that emotional intensity does not always require maximum complexity or loudness. In many cases, simplifying arrangements created stronger emotional clarity.

The project also revealed weaknesses in my workflow and time management. After the conceptual direction changed, I spent a significant amount of time reconsidering the identity of the project itself, which caused delays during later production stages.

Because all compositions and arrangements were self-produced, I was still able to adapt flexibly throughout development. However, the experience highlighted the importance of clearer scheduling and more structured revision timelines for future long-term creative work.

Overall, the project helped me develop:

composition and arrangement skills
mixing and production techniques
conceptual thinking
visual and sonic identity design
long-term project management abilities

Most importantly, it helped me better understand how music can preserve emotional states, memory, and shared emotional experience through sound.

Additional Reflection on Visual Identity and Creative Process

Alongside the musical development of the project, the visual identity of the album also evolved significantly throughout production.

Early visual ideas were more narrative and symbolic, including stage imagery, reflective surfaces, and abstract representations of performance and spectatorship. However, as the emotional direction of the album gradually became more restrained and intimate, the visual design also shifted towards minimalism and atmosphere rather than explicit storytelling.

The final cover design used a simple blue gradient image with minimal typography and no prominent album title on the front cover. This decision reflected the project’s broader interest in emotional ambiguity, emotional space, and quiet emotional presence.

Rather than attempting to visually explain the concept directly, the cover was intended to function as an emotional state or atmosphere that paralleled the music itself.

This process helped me better understand the relationship between visual identity and sonic identity within concept-based creative projects. I realised that visual presentation could reinforce emotional pacing and thematic continuity in the same way as arrangement, sound design, or mixing decisions.

The project also reinforced the importance of iterative creative practice. Many tracks went through multiple revisions before reaching their final form, and some of the most important conceptual developments only emerged during the later stages of production.

For example, Hikari underwent several arrangement revisions involving changes to synth textures, drum layering, and vocal treatment before its emotional direction became clear. Similarly, the ending theme eventually reshaped the emotional meaning of the entire album rather than functioning simply as the final composition.

Through this process, I learned that long-term creative projects often develop through continuous reflection and revision rather than through fixed planning alone.

References

Chion, M. (1994) Audio-Vision: Sound on Screen. New York: Columbia University Press.
Nelson, R. (2013) Practice as Research in the Arts: Principles, Protocols, Pedagogies, Resistances. London: Palgrave Macmillan.
Böhme, G. (2017) The Aesthetics of Atmospheres. London: Routledge.
Ujihara, T. et al. (2010) The Anime Sound: An Analytical and Semiotic Study of Contemporary Anime Music. Jefferson, NC: McFarland.
Snoman, R. (2020) Dance Music Manual: Tools, Toys, and Techniques. 4th edn. New York: Routledge.