Task 1: Three Minute Song Production (70%)

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

Method

When creating the song, I decided to use Logic Pro, as my DAW of choice. I had decided to make my song in this app, as I had a copy of it on my Macbook, and because I had a lot of experience working in it. Also, as the song I wanted to make would include the use of MIDI software instruments, and recorded audio tracks, I had concluded Logic Pro to be the best suited DAW of choice.

While thinking about what genre I wanted to make, I had decided I wanted to create a chill, lo-fi style beat with a calm rap on top. This is because I got influenced by an artist called ‘Samsa’ and one of his songs called ‘Antropocene’ which had a similar genre. I decided to write a song about the purpose of existence, and I wanted to display it through a chill rap which would make it seem more of a collection of thoughts wrapped nicely in a song rather than a more focused detailed serious answer. As I wanted it to be light and relaxed, I gave the song a lo-fi beat which included: sub bass, synth keys, a relaxed smooth sounding voiced rapper, background white noise which was manipulated sonically within a sampler and some light hearted drums. There weren’t many tracks on this song as too much going on would distract the listener from the lyrics. Also, the beat stays the same throughout the song as I wanted the listener to concentrate on the lyrics of the song which doesn’t try to give an answer to the “purpose of existence”, but moreover makes the listener ask the same questions that the lyrics/rapper are asking/implying.

Process

When making my song, I decided to create the actual beat first before even thinking of the lyrics, this was because I wanted to fully solidify the mood of the song with the beat so I could match the lyrics accordingly. I first wanted to establish what chords I would be using within the song, and I had decided to write it for the piano, which I later decided to swap over to a synth which I used the ES1 and used the ‘Warm Synth String’ as a bass pre-set and I increased the cutoff and resonance to give it a more whole sound. For the bass, I had sampled a singular bass note, and then used the ‘Sampler (Zone Per Note) feature which turns that original held bass note into all the notes so I could write a bassline using MIDI. For the drums, I needed them to be as exact as possible and I decided to use Splice, to get a drum loop. While searching for the drum loop, I had envisioned it to be a lo-fi one searching up examples of them. It repeats throughout the whole song not having much change as for this song the lyrics are more important than the movement of the rhythm. I added compression for the drums as they didn’t sound realistic enough. By using the ‘Classic Drums’ pre-set, it gave the song a more lively feeling. I also added a crash at the beginning before the rapper starts rapping. This acts as a mini beat drop at the beginning of the song which indicates when the rapper is about to rap. By using 2 tracks, with one as the actual crash and then one as a reverse crash right before it, it creates a sense of suspense for the song. I also recorded a bright piano, which has a simple melody. I wanted to make it simple enough for it not to distract the listener from the lyrics but not too complicated to distract it from the meaning of the song. Lastly, for the vocals, I had decided to use a headset mic, from the ‘HyperX Cloud III’ headphones as they have good quality sound while recording, and as the microphone from it gives off a warm sound which is the type of recording I wanted for this song. I also edited the EQ of the part, cutting off some of the higher end frequencies to give the rapper a more melancholy soundly voice. Also I added some light compression to still give it some dynamic range, but to make sure the voice is not too loud or too quiet at times.

Sampling (Not Instruments)

I had the idea of adding ambient noise to the background of the song. This is because most lo-fi songs do this, and it makes it sound more full, which is the direction I wanted the song to go, as it gives off the vibe that the rapper has a clouded mind and it’s just filled with thoughts (indicated by the ongoing sound). To create this kind of noisy ambience, I had recorded from the 10th floor outside a window of Joseph Stones to capture the windy environment, and I planned to do it during the day, while there was construction going on so I could use a compressor and a clip distorter to make it sound muffled, producing the song similar to white noise. This track of ‘white noise’ is played throughout the whole song, but notably gets louder in the last few seconds of the song, which tells the listener that his thoughts are getting louder and gives the impression that he is almost getting blinded by it.

Commercial potential

While researching how popular my song would be commercially, unfortunately, it is not in the main genres which do well. This is because the main types of music which do well by going mainstream are upbeat happy styles of music such as, pop or hip hop. These genres are specifically used in ways such as advertisements, retail, and media. Unlike the lo-fi type of song I wrote, which is mainly used for background music, so it is very rare that the artist would get some kind of attention from it. However, a lot of lo-fi artists can do well on social media platforms like YouTube, where these types of listeners listen to their music. 

Video of recording Verse 1 (turn the volume up it is really quiet for some reason)