(2024)
Paragraph 1: Initial Plan and Reversal of Plans
In this course we were asked to create a 10-minute EP that would have a harmonious and artistic coherence, as it would highlight the technical skills we have and have acquired through this course. The process was both productive and creative because there was both an individual effort and a collaboration with fellow students.
At the beginning of the course, the course was to create an individual piece from natural noises. While we had started the process of recording and collecting sounds, the project changed and we were asked to collaborate as a team and create a 10-minute musical piece that would consist of at least two musical genres.
Paragraph 2: Initial Discussions and Decisions
Discussions begin to arise about what we could do and which genres to involve to make the piece special. Our initial idea was to create a track based on Ambient, Rock and Classical music. I was assigned to find samples of vocals that would fit the track while some other members of the team edited the creation of Ambient and Classical Music. So I chose the acapellas that I thought were suitable for achieving the task. In the final part of the song, guitars and bass were added which were recorded from natural instruments with the help of the other students and our professor. The rhythmic part consists of a combination of two drum breaks which we processed with the rest of the team.
While the project was completed to a certain extent, it was decided that the elements of the various musical genres did not stand out, as a result of which we decided to re-create the project with genres that would be easily distinguishable in the final sound result but would also be intertwined with each other.
Paragraph 3: Final Song and Genre Decisions — Initial Editing Steps
There was a general confusion in the class about whether we would have time to start over and re-create a song from scratch, so we had to make quick and drastic decisions that would benefit everyone and not delay us in time. This way we approached the project completely differently. So a member of the group was assigned to choose three vocals from R&B and Soul songs, which would be accompanied by a rhythmic drum pattern that we would create. The vocals I chose are the following:
Beyonce -Halo
Aretha Franklin -Sweet Bitter Love
Whitney Houston -Where Do Broken Hearts Go
So I put the songs into Ableton Live and started creating rhythmic patterns that matched the vocals. Since all the students brought their own personal work, after much discussion we decided that the genre we would create would be Industrial, Soul. The genres were chosen both for their different tones in their sound, as Soul has a soft timbre, while industrial is dominated by mainly rough sounds, and for their socio-political action within the history and evolution of music. (Reviewed by Angela Mendelovici, 2018) (Luncefoord, 2022)
With all four students having three tracks, we democratically decided through voting which ones we would keep for the creation of the EP. In the vote, the songs that were decided were:
1. Marvin Gaye – Let’s Get It On
2. H.E.R – Comfortable
3. Erykah Badu – On and On
After the vote, the course leader assigned roles. I was assigned the quantization of Marvin Gaye’s voice in the song Let’s Get It On, while it was agreed that the song would be quantized at 80 bpm. Admittedly, it was a rather time-consuming process as Marvin Gaye in the original song does not sing with a metronome and does not follow a rhythm, there was a difficulty in how to quantize the entire song. There were several versions of the attempt to arrive at the final version that was decided to be this.
For the final Version, the decision was made to select the lyrics that were considered important and to do a complete quantize on them instead of the entire piece so that the process would not become more time-consuming and time would be lost from the rest of the process and development of the piece.
After I finished the voice process, some procedures followed to create Industrial - Soul music that would follow the piece. Having set the basic melodic linearity, electric guitars and electric bass were then recorded. From the recording stage, we did not keep all the elements since each piece had its own individual approach. In the Marvin Gaye piece, I chose to use a few more chords and sounds to approach the Industrial element. I kept the Soul element from Marvin Gaye's voice and approached the industrial sound.
Paragraph 4: Final Arrangement
Having created a skeleton for each track as a group and individually, each member of the group chose a song for which they would be responsible until the end of the project. I continued and had Marvin Gaye -Lets Get It On since I felt more at home having a track that I had already worked on. The primary plan was to complete the final arrangement. This was done in Reaper. Using markers and regions, I chose which elements I would like to keep on the EP. By editing, I chose at which points the sounds would play, while I created common chord progressions for the verses and choruses and the result was presented to our fellow students so that we could agree and move on to the next stage.
It was decided to continue the project in Ableton Live, exporting the multitrack of the orchestration. All the rest of the editing that everyone wanted to do to the track happened in Live 11, as sounds were added and the mixing was done, it was done with stock sounds and effects. Concluding that the final productions have the desired end result and structure for mixing the soul and industrial genres, the projects were exported in stems format.
Paragraph 5: Mastering
The final stage in the production process of this EP was the mastering, which was again done in Reaper. The initial step was to integrate all three tracks into a new project after the mastering was done in stems.
Starting with the sequence, we set the intensities in each stem so that the overall result of the track was in balance. Once all the stems reached the desired intensity result, we created headroom by setting everything to -5dB intensity. The chain used during the mastering in all the stems exists as an insert a channel strip consisting of pre amp, eq, and compression with minimal settings which highlights the sound groups.
Completing the settings in the sound groups, the mastering chain followed, aiming for -14 Lufs-I.
The mastering results during the single cut export are:
Erykah Badu – On and On (-14.0 Lufs-I)
HER – Comfortable (-14.1 Lufs-I)
Marvin Gaye – Let’s Get It On (-14.0 Lufs-I)
After exporting the tracks as singles, we took the mastered tracks and created the final project in which the export was made in EP format, with a clear intro and single-track flow.
The intro begins with a cassette representation, through which the original tracks are played and end with the intro of the first track.
The effects concern the intro group, while they are located as inserts, without affecting the already mastered tracks. In the final export of the EP master, a true peak compressor was placed without interacting through its settings with the sound ensemble, without exceeding -1dB true peak.
All Links for my projects can be found at my Portofolio.
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