Task 1: Three Minute Song Production (70%)

Task 2: 1000 Word Write-Up (30%)

Song Development, Arrangement, Harmony and Rhythm

For my Three minute song production, I chose to write a guitar based song heavily inspired by some music by Elliot Smith. I initially went through a few chord progressions and song ideas, although I stuck with my current progression. The song is in A minor, I do use the parallel major chord as a big part of the progression which could possibly mean the key is interpreted as C major, but because the tonal centre is A, the songs key is A minor. The chord progression in the A section, the verse, is Cmaj9, Gmaj, Amin, and the progression in the B section, the chorus, is Cmaj, Amin7. I used 3rd and 7th harmonies with my vocals in specific points of the song to give them more depth than only a single vocal. I wrote the harmony and melodies of my vocal as I went, slowly developing it according to the key and chords playing in the moment.

I developed the arrangement of my song inspired by other emotional guitar based songs, using slow building layers and changes in instrumental parts to make the song flow and change energy and vibe. A couple songs I took inspiration from were “Twilight” by Elliot Smith, and “Antarctica” by Divorce.

Production

I did my three minute song’s production entirely at home, I used one microphone for vocals, sample recording, and guitar: Rode NT1 into my 18i20 audio interface: This setup enabled me to record everything I need in privacy which helped me to write the song as it’s quite an emotionally written song. I recorded my electric guitar direct in (using the dedicated instrument input setting on the soundcard) and used a couple of different virtual amp sims, although I had tried a lot to get the sound I wanted. I also tried my electric bass with amp sims, but decided in the end to go through the DI out of my amplifier with a compressor pedal before the amp’s input because I could get a warmer and less fake sounding tone.

I used a lot of reverb and delay plugins creatively to change the sound of elements in my song: such as, tape echo delays on the sampled glass hit and some other keys.

Lyrics and Vocal

For the song’s lyrics, I chose to write about breakups. I used metaphors relating to autumn and the weather to make lyrics I initially came up with less direct and more interesting. To come up with ideas I thought of a few concepts I would like to explore in my writing then expanded on them slowly over a few days. Although, the final lyrics were a lot easier to solidify once I had written the song and I was recording drafts; coming up with a flow of melody and rhythm with existing lyrics and filling in gaps was what I felt would be the best method for a consistent and flowing vocal. I also built up harmonies where I felt the vocals needed more depth, or where lyrics particularly mattered.

Being my first attempt at writing lyrics ever, I chose to write about a topic I know a lot of songs also share. I felt that relationships, breakups in particular, would be a better topic to write about because I could analyze what my favourite songs had done, and use it in my own writing. Because past relationships and breakups are emotional deep topics, I felt that I could draw more consistently from past experiences to describe feelings and situations in my writing.

Sampling and Sound manipulation

For the sampling element of the song, I chose to record the ring of a glass being flicked. I chose this in particular as i knew the pitch of the glass ringing could be enhanced and picked out using EQ and filtering, and used as a melody. I recorded the glasses ring on the same microphone I used to record my vocal, a Rode NT1. I recorded the glass in the same space I did my vocals so I would minimize room reflections and ensure an isolated sound.

I used EQ and filtering to remove unwanted low end and background noise from the sample so it was the cleanest I could achieve, I then used the sampler on my DAW, cubase, to change the pitch and filter the sound. Assigning this to keys meant that I could use my found sound as a melody as part of my songwriting.

In the song, I used the sampled glass as a sustained note which functioned as a supporting note to the singing, it plays the highest note in the chord on the E piano in the first and second verse and then plays 5th and 1st intervals 2 octaves up to the chord playing in the later verse.

This is the final version of the glass hit sample which I used in the song, you can hear the long hall reverb and tape delay I used.

This is the glass I recorded and sampled, the second version had an envelope filter to remove the harsh transient without affecting the EQ, but I ended up using the first version so I could use the envolope filter built into the sampler. I used slight EQ to remove unnecessary low end and noise.

Video Evidence of Vocals:

In this video, I recorded vocal harmony parts. For my vocal harmonies, I sang with the metronome and to the existing melodies so make sure I was in time and pitch.