SHR6E032F~002 MOR23084209- Portfolio & Video Evidence

1. Project Overview

For my collaborative project, my goal was to create a visual render of a concert to accompany 10-12 minutes of music. I worked with Olly Yates, a laser operator, and Jack Webber, and special effects technician who both work for BPM SFX, a renowned pyrotechnics and special effects company which operates globally staging huge events and music productions. I have been working for this company for the past 5 years, so have developed a relationship with everyone there and a knowledge of this sector of the industry. I was lucky in being allowed to take up their time to do this project- the company director used this project to allow Olly and Jack to sharpen their visual design skills to allow for better productions to be created for the company in the future. Olly is a perfect fit for this as he is well versed in creating renders for artists such as Martin Garrix and Jack is renowned for his live firing capabilities for artists like 50 Cent. Olly took primary lead over the project, whilst Jack helped out during the creation process.

The music I created for this project was in the House/EDM/Trance style, as this is the music Olly and Jack have the most experience programming for. The tracks are called (in their respective orders) “One More Time”, “Walls” and “Pianos Like Blessings”. My goal was to create a piece of work that is highly captivating both visually and aurally, whilst using my network to learn new skills that I can use outside of university to branch out into new areas of the music industry. Creative direction is something I’ve been interested in doing for a while, so I used this project as an excuse to get firsthand experience learning how to do that. This is a really strong piece of work that I can now display in a professional portfolio.

2. Panopto Video – Final Product (12 Minutes)

3. Chronological Monthly Diary

4. Evidence of Planning/Process

Process

The visual design was created in a specialist design studio on site using the software Depence as the visualiser, which was taking information from the software Beyond for the lasers, and MA3 for the pyrotechnics. Jack was using this project as an opportunity to learn the MA3 software before he goes on tour later this year, and Olly was also sharpening his design skills on Beyond and Depence so he can work faster on it, as he frequently uses this software when dealing directly with artists.

The visuals were created throughout the week, then I visited on Friday 9th and Friday 16th January to give my creative input and learn from them. The render takes place in Tottenham Hotspur Stadium (a venue they frequently use for shows) and uses moving camera shots to capture laser and pyrotechnic sections and make it more engaging. I recorded in certain sections on the MA3 desk (see Appendix 1) and spoke to Jack about learning how to use the MA software for my future career with the company, which I will be pursuing after this project. I was then featured on the company’s Instagram and Linkedin to advertise their high tech design facility and showcase that they can create pre-production concert renders (see appendix 2).

The week prior to the third song’s render, Olly had created pre-production renders for Hannah Laing (as seen in appendix 2) using the skills he had refined whilst working with me, and subsequently the final song in my opinion is the best visually, as he took lots of elements from the Hannah Laing show and managed to create a refined, clean render for me- in his words “I’m kind of in a programming rhythm so have (lots of) ideas”.

During the design process, we encountered lots of problems. Certain effects that I wanted were not possible in the software, and I discovered that the software is not optimized for music, meaning certain elements in the video do not align with the tracks so my ideas had to adapt (see appendix 7 for conversation about that). This proved challenging, especially when I first visited and began giving input. The second time I visited, I learnt to work within the confines of what was possible, trust the designers and be less picky, meaning we worked faster on creation. One of the ways I did this was by creating timestamp sheets with directions references on for Olly and Jack to look through when programming (see appendix 14). In these sheets I included references to real world productions that they had worked on, or linked videos so they could see what to do.

If I was to do this again, I would have liked more time to work on different tracks. The last 2 tracks I’m really proud of, however I don’t like the first one as it was the first to be completed but feels rushed, and lacks the qualities of its successors. I also developed a better creation process at the end of the project compared to when I started, so feel as though I could’ve created something of higher quality.

Olly gave me some insightful feedback about the first track when we were programming visuals- I asked for his opinion and he said “it doesn’t really go anywhere and takes too long to get going once it does”. He then showed me multiple reference tracks to contextualise his feedback which helped me understand further (I also agreed with his point). For the next 3 weeks, I created the other 2 tracks with this feedback in mind and he said he much preferred them as they had progression, unlike the first.

Using Gannt charts (see Appendix 17) helped me stay on track as I knew I had certain targets to achieve at the end of the months, and helped me divide my time up better between university projects. To stay even more on track in the future, I will set weekly checklists which accumulate into monthly goals to help me stay on track even more. I would definitely use these methods of planning again as they were very effective and successful.

In case anything went wrong, I had a project lined up with a graphics student at Leeds Beckett who was working on TouchDesigner to create images that react with sounds. The songs that I had created would’ve been appropriate for this project and equally could’ve yielded a successful project, however thankfully nothing went wrong. Other contingency plans included Olly working on this in his free time, in case he had a large workload, or us working on this remotely, which we did for the final track, in which give him feedback along the way via text.

5. Reference Material/Inspiration

As I mentioned previously, my tracks were created in the dance/ EDM world, so my aim was to create songs that you would see at a music festival like Creamfields. I was creating these songs with visual design in mind, creating textures and elements that the lasers of SFX could latch onto to accompany the music. I researched artists that have strong visual elements in their live shows and studied the musical techniques that work best when synced with visuals. Martin Garrix is an artist renowned for lasers and visual design in shows, and because Olly is his laser operator, I took references from Garrix’s shows to give to Olly. I used songs from a live video (see appendix 3) to communicate what specific effects I wanted on the lasers until I learnt the technical terminology that allowed me to communicate effectively.

Each one of my tracks is inspired by different parts of songs or features used by artists within these genres. My first track took inspiration from “Time” by Swedish House Mafia, taking a minimalist approach with development and drop.

The idea for my second track came to me when I watched a live video of BUNT, and saw the impact that a long intro with washed out vocals and a simple pad and piano combo made. I fused this with similar sound design found in the song Language by Porter Robinson, an EDM classic. The drop was influenced by Anyma’s melodic techno style of music, which involves lots of rhythmic rolls in the lead bass, which has a harsh, deep tone to it.

My third track had a lot of influences in it and took the most time to fully complete. The intro is inspired by “The Fall” by The Chainsmokers, using an LFO to create a stuttery effect which the laser follows. The drop was inspired by Clarity by Zedd, as again I watched a live video of the song being performed, seeing and feeling the impact created by the sound design and way the music flows and drops. Pianos from tracks such as “Leave The World Behind”- Swedish House Mafia and “Blessings” by Calvin Harris (hence the name “Pianos Like Blessings”) were also staple sources of inspiration for my chord movements and phrasing, as these are effective features of the listed tracks- see Appendix 8 for my inspirations playlist.

Overall, I wanted the songs to come together to create a cohesive set with huge highs and deep lows, creating feelings of tension, euphoria, hope and excitement- all things which you feel when watching a DJ set by any of my musical inspirations. Watching live performances was such a huge inspiration to me (see Appendix 3) because I could physically see the impact the music had on audiences, as well as the way it made me feel physically; I wanted to make songs that could create these extreme feelings and reactions to the music for me and others.

6. Use of Technology

All of these tracks were created in Ableton Live, a DAW synonymous with creating music of this genre. Lots of my sound design was created using the VST synthesiser Serum, which is used heavily on the most iconic dance and pop tracks. Using this iconic synthesiser allowed me to create sounds synonymous with the genre and also helped me develop my sound design skills. Often I would have very clear ideas of how I wanted specific parts to sound, so would either craft the sound myself, or reuse patches I had created either in the past or over the course of making these tracks- this resulted in the sound design being quite cohesive throughout the 3 songs, which was another goal a mine.

Plugins which I used a lot during this process were the LFO tool plugin Flux, which creates a choppy sound that marries really well visually with the lasers- I used this on every song to create texture and for the lasers to latch onto, particularly in my third track, where I try to emulate the intro from “The Fall” by The Chainsmokers- see the video of this performed live in appendix 3 showing how the lasers react to LFO effects.

Valhalla Supermassive and UAD plate reverbs were used to create large spaces for the vocals and give pads and pianos those huge feelings necessary for builds and drops. A big reference point for reverb tones on the instruments and vocals during the intro of the 2nd track was “Language” by Porter Robinson, however I wanted the space to be felt more so that’s why it’s more apparent, especially with delay on the vocals.

To achieve a strong, punchy low end which could be felt, I used lots of saturation and compression on the basses to boost those frequencies without distorting them, and I’m very happy with the end product, as it feels great in both headphones and on speakers.

To achieve a great feel in the drums, I learnt from Josh Baker’s Syntho video on how to create house drums (see Appendix 4)- this allowed for my tracks to have strong EDM lead lines, but deep flowing house drums, creating a nice fusion of genres. I also learned from the Syntho videos how to use automation on filters effectively to create movement on basses, drums and lead lines- a technique featured heavily throughout this project.

Transitions between the tracks were created using reverb and filters, in the same way a DJ would transition songs to give the effect of the video being a live performance, and to make the video more engaging via its seamlessness. My aim was to make these tracks feel cohesive, so using similar drum sounds, synth patches, samples, sound effects and transitions was key to create that cohesion.

Mixing these songs, I followed a tutorial on how to mix electronic music, also using advice gained from talking to professional mixing engineer Mark Maitland at a masterclass earlier this year.

I mixed all the songs in the mixing studios at University because the speakers and room treatment allow for the most accurate sound. I made sure to balance all the songs at peak -17 Lufs using the YouLean loudness meter plugin (see appendix 6) to ensure that the songs were levelled correctly on the master.

If I were to do this again, I would have liked to have used a physical synthesiser to create more unique tones and do something out of my comfort zone- one of the reasons why i didn’t do this was because i am very prone to changing my mind, and its easier to change midi notes than it is a recording. I did try this out initially (see appendix 9), but no ideas came from the 2 synth sessions I did.

“One More Time” Production Vlog

“Walls” Production Vlog

“Pianos Like Blessings” Production Vlog

7. Evaluation

Evaluation

Overall, this process was extremely rewarding for me. Not only did I sharpen my music creation skills and become more efficient in my creative processes, but I also learnt new skills in the form of creative design and direction, deepened existing relationships and created a piece of work I am very pleased with that I can use to exhibit my music production and design skills.

When I presented my work to my peers, it received a good reception, lots of people appreciated its uniqueness and potential for development and relevance in the industry. Some of the comments (see appendix 18) picked up on the negatives I mentioned such as the low quality of the render and presence of visuals that couldn’t sync up perfectly with the audio, which unfortunately cannot be changed. I also received very useful feedback on how to better create this document, and mixing advice on balancing the subs in the project, as they were quite overpowering on the speakers in the classroom, so taking this forward helped me better my work via receiving fresh input for improvement.

Compared to my viability study, I stayed on track well with my timeline and plans, even achieving milestones earlier than expected. Personnel changed and Tom Stead was unavailable to assist, with Jack Webber working on the SFX instead. I also didn’t mix the songs together using my DJ decks, as I thought that that would worsen the audio quality not be as accurate as using automation within Ableton, which is what I opted for instead.

Potential for development

Going forward, I would like to do this professionally for real world productions, expanding on the skills I’ve learnt from this project. I have an avenue to do this, as I will be working with BPM again this summer. Now they are aware of this skillset of mine, I can help out with creative input or learn more about this field over summer, applying these skills to a real world, professional setting.

As I mentioned in my viability study, Allied Market Research valued the global events industry at $1.1 trillion in 2019, suggesting that market trends show a rise in event sponsors, and that sponsorships create a larger pool of financial resources for organisers, allowing them to increase event quality through higher production value, infrastructure upgrades, and better overall execution. (Allied Market Research, 2023) This means that there is huge potential for development in this field, as it’s more desired to have high production value and pre production renders available to artists and management teams before shows.

Conclusion

I definitely achieved my goal of creating a highly captivating video displaying my musical production skills contextualised and amplified via SFX and lasers. This provides a proof of concept for further, real world development for both me and the company I collaborated with, as this work aligns with industry standard practices and expectations for a product such as this. I’m very proud of what I’ve achieved over the past 8 months and look forward to what this project has kick started for my career.

8. Bibliography

Anyma (2023). Syren. Available at: https://open.spotify.com/track/3hGXZKj3lYKKRQtKE8XN55?si=99463041c23c46e4.

Anyma (2025). The End Of Genesys. Available at: https://open.spotify.com/track/5WJhBV5ZHOWaRtZwnfYurJ?si=fbf69acefdfd49e4.

BUNT (2024). You. Available at: https://open.spotify.com/track/3C2OYWQFRVEo4QoHZKTNBK?si=fd7e3ccdb64a41be.

BUNT. Music (2025). BUNT ‘in the round’ @ Electric Love. [online] YouTube. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fymynxNKFI4&list=PLt-FAftofKPD4-ePwxQvjoHgZfU3bi2X_&index=7 [Accessed 16 Apr. 2026].

Hannah Laing (2026). Hannah Laing – doof Liverpool. [online] YouTube. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5L12tUHv3gc&list=RD5L12tUHv3gc [Accessed 16 Apr. 2026].

Harris, C. and Douglas, C. (2025). Blessings. Available at: https://open.spotify.com/track/78nx0HDJIFD5xDq2L5420Z?si=9f8110ced5e54506.

https ://www.alliedmarketresearch.com, A.M.R. (2023). Live Events Industry Market Size, Share, Trends | Forecast 2032. [online] Allied Market Research. Available at: https://www.alliedmarketresearch.com/live-events-industry-market-A156718.

IAMSRR (2025). Zedd – Clarity ft. Foxes (LIVE at Ultra Music Festival 2025). [online] YouTube. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_LUaJHDcQZ8&list=PLt-FAftofKPD4-ePwxQvjoHgZfU3bi2X_&index=8 [Accessed 16 Apr. 2026].

Porter Robinson (2012). Language. Available at: https://open.spotify.com/track/3NRDLYyqIXja0UElvdzjkB?si=01571dc1583a479c.

Shin -garrixer- (2025). Martin Garrix – GMO SONIC JAPAN 2025 Live Full Set. [online] YouTube. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ctxe2yLvUaA&list=PLt-FAftofKPD4-ePwxQvjoHgZfU3bi2X_&index=2 [Accessed 29 Nov. 2025].

Swedish House Mafia (2023a). Leave The World Behind- Live From New York. Available at: https://open.spotify.com/track/01Pz3W8UMafuNseEDKw3Ll?si=e1fd97131c7544e9.

Swedish House Mafia (2023b). Time/Reload- Live from New York. Available at: https://open.spotify.com/track/7py4IFxSHYHiVQ3HpwxIhU?si=9570b9c9881f4a80.

SYNTHO (2023a). House Music Drum Essentials. [online] YouTube. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JgqQ9GjytoU [Accessed 12 May 2025].

SYNTHO (2023b). Killer Basslines for Dance Music (ABLETON). [online] YouTube. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1_mezMzhnIo.

The Chainsmokers (2022). The Fall. Available at: https://open.spotify.com/track/5FvGI8KtImlEbOsvEW3pfX?si=d3718fda2f654640.

The Chainsmokers and BUNT (2025). Spaces. Available at: https://open.spotify.com/track/0T5kfKhXEN6EQlR6UKUkdx?si=3c26f2bc8ae54af0.

Underdog Electronic Music School (2022). The best mastering chain for music production. [online] YouTube. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VKNDB6JhuDw.

Unreleased EDM (2022). The Chainsmokers – The Fall (Live @ O2 Brixton, London 15.5.22) OUT SOON. [online] Youtu.be. Available at: https://youtu.be/Gw0VqV90-2k?si=9HNZW6pFNndhtC_E [Accessed 16 Apr. 2026].

Zedd and Foxes (2012). Clarity. Available at: https://open.spotify.com/track/60wwxj6Dd9NJlirf84wr2c?si=eaeeea53a4904ad3.