SHR4C004M-003 Song Prod. & Write Up Template

Task 1: Three Minute Song Production (70%)

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

Methods:

When writing and developing the song, I considered music that I listen to which fits the criteria, in order to find inspiration in artists and genres. The genre I settled on was DIY punk, similar to the collective of performers under the “Vada Vada” label. The song was especially inspired by the recent albums released by the Garden, which usually consist of punk riffs paired with aggressive synths and sampled breakbeats.

My first step in writing the song was to bring in temporary drums in order to create the structure of the song. This consisted of two breakbeats and a VST drum kit. The breakbeats were also used for the final version of the song, but with extra chopping and resequencing. The guitar parts to the song were much more simple than ones I usually write, fitting more with the punk genre and being primarily chords and single notes, as opposed to riffs. The bass also simply followed the root notes of the song, without any variation. The synths were also added very early in the recording, as they were created digitally and were possible to make before going into the studio.

The writing of the lyrics in the song was a process of the assembly of several different phrases that I had written down over the course of several months. Similarly to the bands like Puzzle and Enjoy – both of whom had inspired the instrumental sound of this song – the lyrics were not written with a particular message in mind, and are mostly plays on words and random phrases that had popped into my head.

One struggle I had with the recording of the song was that the guitar was tuned to drop C. This made the low chords difficult to mix in a way that I was happy with, as the clean tone did not work well with the low pitch of the part. However, by using 2 microphones and a DI I was able to give myself significant enough scope to get a tone that sounded clear. This issue did not affect the higher parts in the song. Overall I struggled to record the song with a desired level of clarity, and had to take extra steps to achieve it in the mixing process. The drums in the song are made clearer with the use of samples in order to replace the original kick and snare drums, although the toms and cymbals remain the original recordings.

Commercial Potential:

The commercial potential of the song would not be as wide reaching as a charting hit, as it does not fit into a mainstream style of Pop, Rock or Hip Hop. Most hits on the Billboard Hot 100, as an example of a respected music chart, fall into the genres of either Pop or R&B. Despite this, the song does still have some commercial potential within certain niche music scenes. Bands of similar sounds within the modern punk genre manage to attract small but considerable listener bases, with the most successful ones having anywhere between 1 and 2 million monthly Spotify listeners. This means that if a band or artist were to release this song commercially, the potential of it would not be enough to make them a living off royalties alone, however if it were successful it could create potential for touring as a form of making money. In terms of production, the song also does not fit the format of typical commercial music. The song has significantly less compression in it than a typical commercial track made to fit the format of streaming, meaning it is quieter than an average commercial track, making it less likely to be used in radio or club play due to it’s lack of consistency with other songs’ sonic characteristics. The arrangement of the song doesn’t fit typical commercial music either, as it lacks the pumping rhythms which are consistently seen in the most commercially successful songs, usually created with a four on the floor drum beat. The primary beat in this song is a sampled breakbeat, which does not provide much rhythm as the kick and snare do not play particularly strong backbeats. Despite all of this, the song does still have commercial potential within certain scenes. It fits very well into the scene of California Punk, a sub-genre of punk music which branches across multiple fusion genres such as pop-punk and ska-punk. California Punk often has an emphasis on punk instrumentals with non-political lyrics, and both the instrumental and lyrical content of this song can be described in that way, and the production, with both the focus on guitars and drums as well as a wider dynamic range, also fits into the sound of this genre, creating the potential for commercial success in that specific scene.

Sampling:

• The first sample in the song is the Adrift Break, which is unaltered in its rhythm. The only modifications applied to this break are EQ and saturation. The sample is triggered through Grace, which is a basic sampling plugin that allows for easy tempo syncing of a sample.

• The second sample in the song is the Bonanza Break, which is sliced to transients in a plugin called TX16Wx. I sliced it in order to add more variation in to the rhythm, rather than simply using the same loop.

Original Break:

Original Break:

• The third sample is a clip of a vocal used in “Ruffneck (Full Flex)” by Skrillex. I have cut down the sound to the point that it acts more as a percussive element than a vocal, and it is run through a Verve tape saturation plugin to reduce the audio fidelity.

Original Vocal Sample:

Cropped and Saturated Sample:

• The final sample is the Back Break, which has been sampled using Grace and run through the Glitch2 plugin, which allows for the random application of various sampling effects, such as tape stops, distortion, pitch shifting and retriggering. I used this plugin as the completely random nature of it allowed me to create more variation in the beat.

Original Break:

Glitched Break: