Task 1: Three Minute Song Production (70%)
Task 2: 1000 Word Write-Up (30%)
For this project I decided to go for a song in a mixed style of ‘Mk.gee’, ‘Nickname Jos’ and ‘Bakar’ which all create alternative indie music with heavy emphasis on production.
For this genre of music especially, guitar tones are very important. I recorded directly into logic as “Mk.gee has been known to run his guitar directly into a Tascam Portastudio 424” Mullen, M (2025) to try and recreate this I used the UAD Studer Tape plugin in which I reduced the speed to 7.5 inches per second. I did this because the Portastudio 424 that Mk.Gee uses has a high speed of 3/4 of an inch per second – which if I could I would use – so I chose the slowest setting on the plugin. I then pushed the Input gain until it was slightly clipping to get the analogue saturation and put a high pass up to 180hz. I then ran it through the Phat Fx plugin and added saturation and distortion. Finally on the channel strip I added some slight Opto compression because of its smooth response and attack. I then created a bus track with a short room reverb emulator and put it 80% wet 20% dry this makes the guitar sound more like a synthesiser and also created less attack. the further make the track fit into the genre I added a kick drum and then side chained a compressor on the guitar bus to the kick drum to create the pumping effect and also make the guitar strums feel more like a swell. Overall I believe my guitar processing created less reverb and less saturation than Mk.gee but the side chaining creates the feel I desired for the track. Finally I doubled the guitar and panned them left and right to create a more ethereal, spacey sound which helped make the track fit into the genre further.
For the sampling aspect of this assignment I decided to take the guitar track I had recorded and cut it down to 1 bar, I then dragged the audio file into alchemy, tune it down and manipulated the sound using a filter, phaser, compressor and modulation. I then used the arpeggiator set to 4 octaves in an up/down setting to create the feeling of a melody line. I then played it into the track and used as a melody/hook for the song. I then mixed it into the same reverb as the guitar track to aid in getting it to sit in the mix. I added the melody line in the intro and breaks between the verses, this helped the song have the groove and created the instrumental melody.
For the drums I programmed them as it is common in the genre. I created two different beats that worked with the 2 different chords progressions I used. I programmed the snare and hi hats separately to the kick though as I wanted to process them differently so the Kick could hit harder and then the rest of the drums could sit back in the mix more. I did little processing on the drums as I believe they worked well within the song and style of music. I added in stops and breaks in the drums to make the song feel less repetitive, this is common in this genre and can be heard in songs like “Armor” Jos, Nickname (2025) where he uses the drums to put emphasis on changes in the song and bring out different aspects of the productive. I used this by dropping the drums out for a bar in the middle of the song and adding a synth pad which followed the bass and also by cutting the drums early to put focus on the vocals and then bringing them back in. I believe this creates the effect that the bass and guitar are hitting harder when they come back in.
After I had the main instrumentation of the song, I added in Percussion such as a cowbell with a largely wet signal to add more groove to any parts of the song I felt were lacking, I also used the cowbell in the breaks to introduce to drums in a more interesting way than just a kick and snare. I then added crashes in the middle of the song to add more to the middle section as I felt it was lacking.
As I was at home I used an Audio Technica AT2020 for the vocal recording, this microphone is common in the alternative indie scene as many of these artists – including the ones I have mentioned – are ‘bedroom producers’. For the vocal production I went for more of a ‘Bakar’ sound I did this by first using a high pass to cut a lot of the lows from my voice which were interacting with the guitar and making the mix sound muddy. I then used the Studer Tape plugin again to add analogue saturation to the vocals in the same way as the guitar which added more warmth to the vocals. I also used the LA2A compressor and got it reduce by 7db to smooth the vocals out. Finally I added pitch correction as it is a key feature to this genre and is used to add more bounce to vocals. I then added the Remix FX plugin on the stereo output to make the song wind down quickly which I believe works well in the context.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Mullen, M. (2025). ‘He’s not using a guitar amp. He’s using a Tascam 424’: JHS Pedals puts a Portastudio in a pedal to help you recreate Mk.gee’s ‘elastic, lo-fi tones’. [online] MusicRadar. Available at: https://www.musicradar.com/guitars/guitar-pedals/hes-not-using-a-guitar-amp-hes-using-a-tascam-424-jhs-pedals-puts-a-portastudio-in-a-pedal-to-help-you-recreate-mk-gees-elastic-lo-fi-tones.
Nickname Jos – Topic (2025). Armor. [online] YouTube. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xNLmmKP5L0A [Accessed 6 May 2026].
