3-MINUTE PRODUCTION
INTRODUCTION
My aim for this project was to create an original, three minute song with lyrics recorded by me. I wanted to push myself by recording my own vocals for the first time, as I am very interested in using my own vocals for future projects and assignments. The genre that I decided to make the piece of music in was a blend of indie and grunge, as although it isn’t a genre I make often, I want to experiment with producing lots of different types of music.
The influence of songs like “Mud” by Slow Pulp are evident when it comes to the production of the track. I recorded a mix of acoustic and electric guitars within Logic Pro X (where I primarily did my recording) , to encapsulate the feelings that are given by both the indie and grunge. I then added several effects and accompaniments alongside the electric guitars in FL Studio (where I primarily did my mixing) such as reverb and delay, further helping give them a grungy, sloppy feel.
For inspiration when it came to the track’s vocals, I looked to Daniel Caesar’s “Son of Spergy.” In Caeser’s newest album, his vocals blended surprisingly well with the indie-folk vibe that I tried to achieve.
RESEARCH & INFLUENCES
Most of the research I conducted for this project was regarding vocal recording and mixing. One piece of primary research that I conducted was analysing Billie Eilish’s official “Ocean Eyes” demo on Logic Pro X. I figured this would be a good way to prepare me for the mixing of my vocals, which is something I do not have much experience in. Through this, I learned about techniques to make my vocals more full (like panning repeat takes left and right) and I was able to see first-hand what an example of a good vocal chain was, being able to take out, rearrange, and mess with the vocal as I liked in order to see how the sound was achieved.
I was also influenced by the instrumental in “Root of all Evil” by Daniel Caeser, where there is a very stripped track consisting of almost just acoustic guitar and drums. I think his song has a very different feel to the majority of his other albums, as it is easy to tell how genres like indie have influenced and shaped his newest sound.
METHODS & PRODUCTION PROCES
To get acoustic-sounding drums, I used Addictive Drums 2. The plugin itself has a lot of live-sounding drums, and with them, I knew I would be able to give the illusion that I had recorded acoustic drums in to the average listener. To help achieve this, I slightly adjusted the timing of each drum to be off-the-grid, as well as altered the velocity of all the drums so that no two drums were the exact same level of loudness.
I held several songwriting sessions in studios like 420, in which I played my instrumental (at the time) over and over, coming up with a fitting top-line and lyrics that would match the vibe of the song. I decided to have the song’s theme be about heartbreak, as themes associated with it work well in tandem with indie and grunge music, which is why a
When it came to the production of the track, I experimented with manipulating sonic audio by programming some synths using plugins like Serum 2. Using one of the synths, I programmed a wub-like effect by putting a LFO on the ‘LEVEL’ knob of the oscillators on my synth, and making a triangle shape in the LFO display. This gave my synth a pulsating, phasing-like effect all within the instrument itself.
I layered my vocals within Logic Pro X, finding harmonies that worked well and adding them layer by layer. Before recording vocals, I ran through warm-up exercises that I had researched prior. After recording vocals, I made my layered vocals sound more full by hard-panning multiple takes of the same line to the left and right.
COMMERCIAL POTENTIAL
I believe that this song has quite good potential commercially, as it is an easy-to-follow song that I would describe as ‘safe’ in terms of the indie scene (who would of course be my target audience). By releasing the song on platforms like Spotify and Soundcloud, I believe I could amass a small following that I could build up as I improve upon my abilities as a vocalist. Another way to build a following is by setting up a brand and image for myself on social media sites like Instagram, and promoting this song on those sites.
EVALUATION / CONCLUSION
Overall, I am quite pleased with the final result of this track. I am particularly happy with how the drums sound, and the fact that I have pushed myself to start recording my own vocals in the first place.
However, there are quite a lot of things I have learnt throughout this project about vocal recording and mixing, and because of that there are a lot of things I would do differently next project.
For example, there are lots of vocal takes that I felt I did not perform to the absolute best of my ability, and instead of rerecording them in, I settled for ones that didn’t match my full potential. This meant that I had to spend a lot more time in the end making the vocals sound good, and in some takes I had to value being in the correct pitch over not having my vocal sound too robotic. Next time I decide to record my own vocals, I will make sure that they are good enough to a point where I will not have to do as much work on the takes, which will hopefully give me a better final result in the long run.
