1. Project Overview

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This project was a collaboration between me and jeweller Blu Bijoux. Over the course of 8 months, Blu made a collection of jewellery inspired by five projects of mine: “Falling For Strangers” (Single), “Honey, Don’t Rush” (Single), “Orchard” (EP), “Dusk” (Single) and “Leave At Midnight” (Single). Three tracks had been released already and two were new, so I produced new acoustic versions for “Falling For Strangers”, “Honey, Don’t Rush” and “Aviary” (the first track from the EP – Orchard), and built “Dusk” and “Leave At Midnight” from their demo state to a finished product. Blu worked with beads to create detailed pieces, like tulip earrings and bow rings.

The aim for the project was to film our process and turn this into a documentary. This would be released on YouTube alongside the collection on Etsy and include a discussion about the importance of self expression in the music industry.

Since then, I have produced, mixed and mastered five intriguing, soulful and immersive tracks – and Blu has made beautiful, unique and intricate pieces inspired by my music. We have been filming the process in order to form our documentary after the academic year finishes, ready to release alongside the jewellery collection and it’s corresponding EP of music. In the monthly diary below, my planning, project management, initial thoughts, expense logging and progress tracking is evidenced chronologically with captions for context.

Credits:

Lillie-Apple – Producer & Project Manager

Blumine Bijoux – Collaborator & Jeweller

Joshua Hanson – Videographer & Photographer

Nathan Kirby – Drummer

Fynn Clements – Bassist

Lauren Askew – Strings Arranger

2. Panopto Video – Final Product (10-12 Minutes)

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3. Chronological Monthly Diary

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14-27/10/25: Blu’s messages

I first introduced myself to Blumine in 14th October after I saw her Instagram through our mutual friend, these are our first messages where I introduced my project and we organised our first in-person meet. We spoke about:

• Our initial ideas for the project
• Our aesthetic ideas via Pinterest
• My music, lyrics and the meaning behind them

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19/10/25: Blu’s First Meeting Notes

These are Blu’s notes after our first meeting, where we discussed how many pieces of jewellery we’d be making for the collection and what colour scheme we’d use or each piece. We decided:

• Five pieces of jewellery inspired by my songs “Falling For Strangers”, “Honey, Don’t Rush”, “Orchard”, “Leave At Midnight” and “Dusk”
• To have signature colours for each piece, like pearls and red for “Falling For Strangers” and light greens for “Orchard”.

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5-12/11/25: Blu’s Messages

These are the messages of Blu and I organising our second coffee so we can organise the shape and design of each piece, originally we had to re-schedule due to an illness however we still made good progress once we could meet.

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9/11/25: Blu’s Notes

These are Blu’s Notes from our second meeting, she had some extra questions regarding the date of my deadline and what the early ideas for my documentary are. We also discussed:

• My ideal schedule for fortnightly meetings
• Design ideas for specific pieces
• Further narrowing down colour schemes

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26/11/25: Viability Study Presentation

My viability study presentation gave me some useful insight into what my classmates thought of my project, I made sure to ask them how they would go about a project like this and whether they would be/know people who would be part of my target audience.

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26/11/25: Viability Study Presentation Feedback

This feedback was vital to the success of my project as it gave me different viewpoints to focus on, like how cohesive the music and documentary would be when put together and how impactful the message of two female owned businesses can be.

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12/12/2026: “Falling For Strangers” Development

Over the Christmas holidays, I used my time away from the studios to develop my songs using MIDI. Unfortunately, the Rhodes at uni was broken when I needed to record it, which led to me recording the Nord through an amp but the audio contained the squeak of the pedal on each chord. I ended up using this MIDI for the final mix of “Falling For Strangers”.

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13/12/2026: “Aviary” Reverse

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14/12/2026: “Leave At Midnight” Development

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13/1/26: Josh’s Messages

These are the first messages between a film music student named Josh and I, who I also met through a mutual friend. I heard he does some photography outside of uni and wanted him to be the videographer for my documentary. We discussed:

• The nature of the project, the collaborators and deadline
• Specifics about the documentary like where we will be shooting and if we need a tripod

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13-14/1/26: Blu’s Messages

These are the messages between Blu and I once I found a videographer for our documentary.

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15-16/1/26: Nathan Kirby Drummer Messages

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16/1/26: “Dusk” Demo

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16-17/1/26: Group Messages

Once I found a videographer, I made a group chat so we could organise future meetings with more ease, this is us organising our first meet with Josh.

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21/1/26: Viability Study Grade & Feedback

Once I had received my grade for my viability study, I felt more confident in my project proposal and my management skills as a whole. The feedback Cat provided gave me a clear overview of my strengths and weaknesses to focus on throughout the rest of the year.

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1/2/26: Coffee Notes Photos

Our first meeting with Josh consisted of him meeting Blu for the first time, informing him on the details of the project, coming up with some content ideas for the promotion of the documentary and booking tickets to Fred Aldous in Manchester to start filming the bead selection.

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2/2/26: Updated Documentary Storyboard

After our initial coffee, I made a more concise storyboard so we knew exactly what was happening within each minute of the documentary before we headed to Manchester. This included:

• Prompts for what we could say during the interview section
• Indications of where the music will go
• Time stamps and markers for who is saying what

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6/2/26: Drum Recording Photos

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6/2/26: “Dusk” New Drums

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2-15/2/26: Group Messages

These are the messages between us after I updated the storyboard, we spoke about:

• Whether Josh’s camera could do any slow motion effects
• If we need to bring a tripod to Manchester
• How we are going to record audio during the interview section of the documentary

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15/2/26: Manchester Trip Expenses

I have kept a log of all of our expenses throughout the project so I can have a clear record of spending in case we do receive any funding.

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15/2/26: Manchester Photos

We took some behind the scenes photos for content to promote the documentary and they turned out perfectly.

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15/2/26: Manchester Videos

Here are some of my favourite videos from the Manchester trip, these will be sprinkled throughout the documentary when Blu is talking about her creative process and what the jewellery means to her.

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1/3/26: “Dusk” Before Strings Recording

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2/3/26: “Dusk” Sheet Music & List

The strings in “Dusk” are a great addition to the song for more romance and texture, I had my friend Lauren Askew from the film music course arrange and conduct the strings players.

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2/3/26: “Dusk” Strings Studio Photos

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3/3/26: “Dusk” After Strings Recording

Sadly, the strings didn’t turn out the way I wanted them to, there were some timing and pitch problems that I couldn’t fix as I’d recorded the strings together using stereo microphone techniques. Ultimately, I decided to keep them out of the track. Here is what “Dusk” sounded like with the strings:

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5/3/26: Blu’s Prototypes

These were the first photos of the jewellery that Blu sent me, it was so interesting to see the collection come to life. These earrings didn’t have to change too much by the end of the project, Blu added some gold earring hoops and removed some petals to make sure they weren’t too heavy to wear. These would soon be the earrings for “Orchard”.

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1/4/26: Bass Recording

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4/3/26: “Dusk” After Double Bass

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4/4/26: Meeting Notes

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4-9/4/26: Marketing Team Email

After the call about our next steps, I contacted Jemma Crane to see if we could use the marketing team’s photography studio for the documentary. Sadly, I still haven’t heard back from the marketing team, but still have some filming to do for the documentary in coming weeks before the interviews.

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12-15/4/26: Studio Shots Planning Messages

Here are the messages in the group chat planning my studio shots, where we filmed me and what jewellery I usually wear in the studio for the documentary. This illustrated the art of self expression in everyday life.

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15/4/26: Studio Photos

These are some photos from the studio shoot, I love the colouring and how professional they look.

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15/4/26: Studio Videos

The videos from the studio turned out perfect for what the documentary needed, these will play while I’m talking about what I do in the studio and what jewellery I wear.

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25/4/26: Blu’s Shots Planning Messages

These are the messages of us planning Blu’s shots for the documentary, where we demonstrated the importance of art, music, inspiration and Blu’s connection to nature.

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26/4/26: Meanwood Photos

These are some photos of Josh filming Blu at Meanwood park, this location was a great decision as it was picturesque and not too busy.

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26/4/26: Meanwood Videos

The videos from Meanwood turned out amazing, the natural light gives such a bright contrast to my studio filming shots. It’s interesting to see the documentary coming together. Now, only the interviews at the photography studio and jewellery showcase are left to be filmed.

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26/4/26: Meanwood Filming Expenses

Because Meanwood was fairly local to each of us, the only expenses from this filming day are my Uber (£6.69) and Josh’s bus tickets (£4).

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28/4/26: Acoustic Guitar Recording

Here is me recording the guitar for “Honey, Don’t Rush”, I wish I had gone for my usual AKG C414 mid-side setup instead of an Aston microphone, as the sound quality isn’t the standard I’d like it to be but this was all the resources desk had on this day.

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2/5/26: All Songs Unmixed With Vocals

After recording vocals, my songs really came to life. My original plan for the music was to have “Falling For Strangers” without vocals, “Honey, Don’t Rush” with hums, “Aviary” instrumental, and “Dusk” and “Leave At Midnight” with lots of backing vocals. Whilst recording, I developed “Honey, Don’t Rush”s hums into main vocals for a thicker sound overall.

Here is what all the music sounds like unmixed with the vocals finished:

Falling For Strangers:

Honey, Don’t Rush:

Orchard (Aviary):

Dusk:

Leave At Midnight:

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5/5/26: All Songs After Mixing

After mixing, my songs sounded more cohesive, soft, and lo-fi. I love the vintage sound of the keys in “Falling For Strangers” and “Leave At Midnight”, the richness of the backing vocals in “Honey, Don’t Rush”, the punch of the percussion in “Dusk” and the atmosphere in “Aviary”.

Falling For Strangers:

Honey, Don’t Rush:

Orchard (Aviary):

Dusk:

Leave At Midnight:

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6/5/26: All Songs After Mastering

Mastering was the final step in the music part of this project, it was affirming to hear my songs come to life over the course of this project.

Falling For Strangers:

Honey, Don’t Rush:

Orchard (Aviary):

Dusk:

Leave At Midnight:

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12/5/26: Final Jewellery Pieces

These are the final jewellery pieces for the collection. What makes the pieces so special is:

• how soft the beads are, there is no irritation on your neck from the necklaces or marks on your fingers from the rings
• their carefully picked colour scheme, resembling the essence of each song they are inspired by
• the time that was put into each of them, Blu worked really hard and referenced our inspiration countless times during the jewellery making process. She even wore the pieces day to day to test their durability, it’s been inspiring working with such a committed collaborator!

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4. Evidence of Planning/Process

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The initial thoughts for the project consisted of:

• being a collaboration with a jewellery maker
• filming a documentary showcasing our backgrounds and why self expression is important as females
• releasing a full jewellery collection inspired by songs of mine

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Below is the initial timeline for this project, including Blu’s jewellery timeline and the documentary filming timeline.

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Upon reflection, the timeline for our project ended up looking more like the chart below, this was due to:

• Me needing more recording sessions in the studio
• Blu having markets in the new year
• Finding a videographer later than expected

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Blu and I made a shared google doc to share reference material for the project, this helped stay on the same page about jewellery designs and documentary inspiration.

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This is the predicted hourly breakdown sheet from the start of the project.

This is the total amount of hours Blu, Josh and I spent on the project by the deadline.

With this knowledge, the predicted payment owed to Blu, Josh and I would be:

• Me: £660
• Blu: £345
• Josh: £180

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Throughout the project, I kept a budgeting sheet with a running costs tracker, this helped me member what we spent, when and what for. This will continue to be added to after the deadline, and will be helpful when it comes to applying for funding.

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5. Reference Material/Inspiration

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The initial inspiration for the jewellery and documentary was:

• neutral colours

• statement beads and accessories

• simplicity and various locations

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When bead shopping and building the pieces, Blu referred to our shared Pinterest board.

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This is a playlist of all the songs that have inspired the music for my collaboration:

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/3zY7y1YJnNvoj4qkemzPT9?si=58568f0c1b5b4684&pt=3a524836854e2fe9dbc47ad800f76ed4

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6. Use of Technology

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This vlog illustrates my use of technology while making the music for my project, it includes topics such as:

• my songwriting process
• my favourite instrument presents
• my favourite microphone techniques
• how I mix and master

7. Evaluation

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Musically, I am happy with the overall sound quality of my tracks. I planned and booked recording sessions with enough time to record everything I needed without rushing, and I had enough time to experiment with backing vocals too. I enjoyed the mix process and how it brought my songs to life, and mastering added the final touches. If I could do this again, I would re-record the strings for “Dusk”, the Rhodes for “Falling For Strangers”, and I have some concerns that Panopto has altered the audio quality of my tracks too.

The jewellery turned out amazing. They are durable, have an inspiring colour palette, have cohesion throughout the collection whilst being unique; they will be appealing to Blu’s target audience and wearable for any occasion. If I could make these again, I would push for the prototypes sooner so we can make any changes earlier in the project. Our next steps are to make duplicates for each piece to sell online and at markets in the summer.

Although the documentary isn’t finished yet, the footage is coming together amazingly. We have filmed in various locations, shooting clear images and high quality videos which illustrates the detail of the jewellery perfectly. If I could do this again, I would make a shared calendar so we could log which days we are free for more streamlined planning.

I feel my project management has improved exponentially throughout this project, I have remained organised and concise with my planning, made sure communication was clear and frequent on the group chat, kept records of expenses and important dates, all while making a five track EP, a collection of jewellery and filming a documentary.

My personal growth has been centred around overcoming impostor syndrome, not striving for perfection and accepting that some plans change. I feel I have evolved alongside this project, and have had so much fun outside of my comfort zone!

8. Bibliography

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DM Music Ltd. “EV RE20 – DM Music Ltd.” DM Music Ltd, 13 June 2024, www.dmmusic.com/shop/ev-re20/?srsltid=AfmBOop3fONFii9_9oK9aVJDI68IHUwHeDB_udFpwkiNKPkLHQiDxVCW. Accessed 2026.

Grande, Ariana. Safety Net. 2021, open.spotify.com/track/14gkWVFMwdxBMyqBw1wmIg?si=2c6e53c3f7074067. Accessed 2026.

Hamilton. Satisfied. 2015, open.spotify.com/track/3dP0pLbg9OfVwssDjp9aT0?si=a9b4ff7983b84da5. Accessed 2026.

Ian Jackson. “Neumann KM184 Pair, Sound Devices MixPre 3 II – Short Test.” YouTube, 3 May 2021, www.youtube.com/watch?v=N2zaLsayq2w. Accessed 2026.

Lillie-Apple. Aviary. 2023, open.spotify.com/track/3qPbCn3bu3jlGp1CfGXCyL?si=e8a1766f0a0a49f4. Accessed 2026.

—. Falling for Strangers. 2022, open.spotify.com/track/3K696HCvWzK8y9ErjGQ4Ka?si=efe08e9e42e4472f. Accessed 2026.

—. Honey, Don’t Rush. 2022, open.spotify.com/track/1R7BwkHxg8wJT9XH7tTgy3?si=99449957cdc64c6d. Accessed 2026.

—. Orchard. 2023, open.spotify.com/album/3IsSuAr40Qs2KaItSZ3pYv?si=42RHetCyTqCiFG1t02D8zA. Accessed 2026.

Neumann. “Neumann KM184 Stereo Set.” Musikhaus Thomann, 2026, www.thomann.co.uk/neumann_km184_stereoset.htm?gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=1581403909&gbraid=0AAAAADuDMCVfoUmOXTJjANuEKVWYIHUe5&gclid=CjwKCAjwwpDQBhAuEiwAa-4WoxHy0MktgTK4A56mLciv0uNKEc1S3M3aZPCzpw2SnNp_jILvucjxLhoCxpoQAvD_BwE. Accessed 2026.

Sell Productions. “Recording Acoustic Guitar Using Mid Side M/S Recording Technique.” YouTube, 11 Nov. 2016, www.youtube.com/watch?v=eok0uoo3MVY. Accessed 2026.

Sullivan, Jazmine. Pick up Your Feelings. 2021, open.spotify.com/track/4k2cAUUPp3VZdK4gwG9pxy?si=33d8155a922c4109. Accessed 2026.

Technical Stage Services. “AKG D112 MkII Dynamic Microphone | Technical Stage Services.” Technical Stage Services, 31 July 2025, www.technicalstageservices.co.uk/shop/sound/mics-di/akg-d112-mkii-dynamic-microphone/. Accessed 2026.