SHR4C004M-003 Song Prod. & Write Up

Task 1: Three Minute Song Production (70%)

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

When I first began writing this song, I composed it entirely on my acoustic guitar and vocals and therefore built the rest of the song on top of that foundation. Despite the simple beginnings, the guitar part that I wrote consisted of an upbeat rhythm part and a melody line that became prevalent throughout the rest of the piece and was further developed with other instruments such as the sampled guitar line that appears in the later parts of the song.

The first part of the song I recorded was the acoustic guitar with an AKG C414 and an Oktava MK-012, and then a guide vocal as I wanted everything to build up around that main guitar part. This was first implemented at the first chorus in which a sampled kick drum and simple bass line were introduced as a way to emphasise the importance of the section and therefore indicating that it was in fact the chorus, and not just a new part of the verse. Along with this, I also recorded single chord strums of the acoustic guitar using different inversions in the chorus in an attempt to boost the energy of the section in comparison to the upcoming verse as the instruments that have been added would continue and therefore the change in energy would be less noticeable as they were when first reaching the chorus.

When reaching the second chorus and approaching the bridge, I found that the songs energy needed to be built up more, so I included a piano part and a shaker to help fill out the sound as the piece had begun to feel quite thin and there was a clear lack of texture for that section of the song. When entering the bridge, I also included a snare to hold the beat down as the song continued to become more intense. The snare sound was created using 2 different snare samples which each had good qualities in specific aspects of their sounds which I wanted to bring out. At this point in the song, I also included the previously mentioned lead line which was created by a single note played on my guitar and put through a sampler. This created a neutral sounding tone which was easily manipulated into a sound that I found worked best for the melody that it was playing.

These elements all continued until the end of the song where it returns back to just the guitar and vocals repeating the first line of the song, which also contained the song title, that being “Cigarette Ends”. This creates a satisfying finish to the song due to the familiarity of the ending as it had already been played once before with the same instrumentation, but also due to the repeated use of the title, that being the closing lyrics, allowing everything to come full circle, whilst also making the song title more memorable in the process. Along with this, the guitar goes from the V chord and finishes on the I chord, creating a perfect cadence which is known for its satisfying sound. This all culminates in a song with a melody and title that is easy to remember whilst not being boring or too repetitive.

Also included throughout the majority of the song is an atmospheric swelling sound which was created through sampling. This was done by taking a snare sample and looping it so many times in a short period of time that it began to take the form of a note. I tuned this sound to be perfectly on pitch and added reverb onto it which resulted in a violin like sound. I then bounced this sound out and put it into another sampler so that I could change the pitch and create a virtual instrument. I added more reverb to this new channel and kept the volume fairly low in an attempt to keep the sound as background ambience that would populate the quieter sections of the song. This eventually became a key part of the song, with it appearing most clearly during the first portion with limited instrumentation and during the gap between the last chorus and the outro, in which I boosted the volume and higher frequencies to make it stand out more in the mix as there was no obvious lead melody at that moment in the song.

When more instruments began being introduced, the vocals easily became lost in the mix. To combat this issue, I recorded vocal doubles and panned them far left and right in order to make the vocals sound wider and more prevalent. This was first done at the first chorus when the bass and kick drum began, but they again became harder to discern from the rest of the track when it approached the bridge and last chorus. This was solved by recording harmonies, different octaves and different tones of singing that were all incorporated in conjunction with the main melody that helped to bring out the lyrics and make them understandable without just raising the volume of the vocals and drowning out the music underneath.

When I first wrote this song, it was initially just used as an acoustic song with little else going on instrumentally, but as I continued to work on it, it began to evolve into more of a pop ballad, similar to the likes of Ed Sheeran and Damien Rice. I believe it works well in this genre due to the memorable vocal melody and lyrics, catchy lead lines and instrumentation, and finally the overall style of composition and structure that is often seen in this genre of music, with it starting small and slowly building up to a peak, before coming back down and ending at a satisfying resolution.