Task 1:
Task 2:
This song is written by Beth Peirce and Ruby Noyes for a Musical which Beth has written and will be producing a showing of it in May, I will be continuing to work making the music for it until then. The play takes a lot of inspiration from folk myths and fantasy in a more modern setting.
Process:
Before we began I created concept of what the project could sound like based on conversations prior, the main takeaway was how effective the percussion part was, we discussed bringing It in at different points and help the song build towards the end or reflect lyrical themes.
We started the process by taking a guide vocal in 109, which allowed us to create some initial concepts using the equipment in there. From this we created the noise that plays in the introduction and discussed some ideas like leaving the introduction more ambient and sparse, and bringing the bass in at the end. During this session we recorded without a click, this was to allow Beth to increase tempo throughout the song, this worked during the session as we were playing along to her, but when I came back to do it to work on sequencing and things like arpeggiated synths and delays it quickly became evident that this was not a good idea, so we re-recorded keys and vocals the next Sunday to a click.
When discussing musical ideas with the artist she would talk a lot about string parts and more a more traditional sound, so while the initial idea was a very electronic sound I made a demo using Spitfire Audios ‘BBC Symphonic Orchestra’, (CITE?), which I showed to her in another session. We found this to be much more successful and fit her vocal style. It would also make having a consistent sound when working on the rest of the project much easier and transferable as the sample pack is free.
Sampling
The percussive samples are taken mostly from a sample pack I made at the start of the year as well as from Spitfire Audios ‘BBC Symphonic Orchestra’. I layered the toms from the original sample with pitched up versions. This allowed me to layer them to build energy towards the end and use the pitched up toms earlier in the piece rather than the normal ones to emphasise the build up towards as they had more low end, which also sounded out of place without the bass.
I ended up using the sample pack for nearly the parts in the piece as it is much higher quality than what Logic has already, the only issue I ran into was reverbs feeling unnatural as each track had its own reverb which obviously sounded similar as it would be from the same space, but wouldn’t interact with each instrument. I helped this issue by creating a separate reverb bus and mixing it in slightly.
Commercial Potential:
‘The UK is the best place in the world to make and experience theatre.’ (Society of London Theatre & UK Theatre, 2025). This song is the first for a theatre showcase in May where I will be making all the music and producing it with the writer who has written the top line vocal parts which she needs put to music.
Part of the reason we switched the sound to a more traditional orchestral based sound was to appeal to a wider audience thats more accustom to music like that in this setting. This wont push potential listeners away and if its released separately from the show might be able to stand alone as its own musical project. By fitting more comfortably into its genre it opens itself up to more commercial potential. Limiting this song to about three minutes again avoids alienating listeners, it also encourages them to repeatedly listen to the piece (Gian. M Feiro, No Date)
Now looking at the specific musical components, using string arrangements and building the song up to a crescendo allowed me to create a more emotive sound which will help build a stronger connection with the listener as well as the audience during the show. Naturally, as this song is for a musical it doesn’t have the same sort of catchy chorus as would be found in a pop song, so we focussed on something powerful and memorable than creating an ear-worm.
Recording Techniques and Post Production:
In the studio I recorded the Keyboard part onto midi, using Logics Keyboard sampler which created a good sound for the musicians and allowed me to have a midi part I could use later on, this was very helpful when creating things like pads and string parts, as I jut had to edit the part slightly.
Initially when recording the vocal I used the V67, this microphone is designed to sound ‘in the style’ of a Neuman U67, (Dave Hideck, 2019). It creates a really smooth sound, and I have used it before on a recording for a musical theatre project so I know it is reliable for this genre. However, in the end we recorded again using the T-bone, this microphone has a slightly more ‘vintage sound’, it also rolls of the highs in a slightly more pleasant way which after listening back to the original recording would help with harshness when the vocalist was louder (Thomann, 2024). While this recording was very successful, there were two issues, firstly the vocal did come out quite boomy at points, this was easily attenuated in post. However, a larger issue was a buzz picked up in recording, we didn’t notice this for most of the session, but listening back it was very apparent. It was caused by the lights in the booth set to partially dimmed, if they were off or all the way on it would disappear. This ended up not being a major issue as we decided to redo the vocal again once the instrument was finished to help it fit into the more rhythmic parts.
After redoing the music we came back to re-record the vocal to the new music, I used the V67 again as I felt it suited her voice more than the T-Bone. Having this music behind her vocal helped her performance allowing her to put much more power into her voice as he had a lot more confidence in the overal sound of the project.
References:
Hidek. D (2019) JZ Microphones: Vintage 67 Microphone. Available at: https://tapeop.com/reviews/gear/133/vintage-67-microphone (Accessed 3 May 2026)
Society of London (2025) Theatre & UK Theatre. Available at: https://images.static-thomann.de/pics/atg/atgdata/document/specs/180190_data_sheet_v4_en_online.pdf (Accessed 3 May 2026)
Fiero. G (No Date) Music Biz Academy. Available at: https://uktheatre.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/05/SOLTUKT-State-Of-British-Theatre.pdf (Accessed 3 May. 2026)
Appendices:
