Final project draft

Rationale:

For our final set list we decided to perform 3 originals and 3 cover songs, . We feel confident in our ability to write our own material due to our progress as musicians and as a band, and our ability to re-work a cover song and make it our own. A big contribution to our confidence to make a song sound our own is at the beginning of the year we were all in the same band with each other and we have great chemistry together as musicians which is why we all decided to play together again as soon as we had the choice. While we have only wrote one song together, we have all progressed in song writing in our own right. Myself and Jerome remained in the same bands together and we have had a lot of experience in writing with each other, this is also true for Nathan and Millie who were in the same band last term. For my own personal progress I have improved drastically since I started. At the beginning I had no idea of how to construct a song, had no theory knowledge whatsoever, I didn't know the names of any chords or scales and did not feel too confident with my playing due to lack of knowledge. Since then I have learnt a great deal which has made me a drastically better musician and player.

What I've learnt since the start of the course:

Music Software/sequencing:

I have learnt a lot about the cubase software since my first time using the program, some examples are how to record a guitar through a DI box into computer, how to record multiple audio tracks, how to cut and edit the audio tracks, and applying affects to my recording.

Learning to use effects on cubase:

Using just my guiitar to record the composition, i had to make sure i had a number of different effects, sounds, and tones to the guitar to differentiate the differant audio tracks. I used "Amp simulator" on cubase to acquire the tones that i wanted for differant parts of the scene, for example i used a clean sound on my slide guitar parts, but then used a "bluesy" tone for the latter part which required a lot of bends, and it was the exact tone i wanted. Now i also required some effects to give my piece some "atmospheric" sound to it. To do this i used another option on cubase which gave me a vast selection of "reverbs", testing many differant options i found the desired effect which started to make my composition feel more alive.

Learning to edit audio recordings and add multiple audio tracks on cubase:

While recording my guitar, i used many audio tracks to do so. I did this so that i could overlap certain parts, such as recording chords first, then going back and adding another track to record a scale of those chords. After i added another audio track, i would then add certain effects to each individual track, (most had similar effects, with some being very different) to give myself a wide range of sounds to use on my composition. I soon became familiar with the editing tools, such as cutting, moving, deleting etc. While recording some audio tracks, i would have parts where i may have made a mistake, or simply a part which did not fit the scene. Using Cubase I would cut the certain parts out, or if i still wanted to use the audio for a difference scene, i would simply cut and move it. Another tool i used towards the end of recording, was adjusting the volume on every different audio track. This was vital to make sure all the volume levels were equal to every other part, and to make sure that the composition's volume wasn't overpowering the movie dialogue.

Studio Techniques/Recording Instruments: During my first year I have gotten to grips with using the studio using the mixing desk, recording instruments, and using the software. I have mic'd up the drum kit multiple times now, as well as learning how to mic up guitars, understanding different positions of the mic will give different sounds. I have also learnt on how to use a mixing desk, though at first it seemed like a daunting thing to learn how to use it was simplified to me and I understand what does what on the desk. Finally learning how to set up channels on the desk to the mics we would have set up for the instruments and setting the correct levels for said instruments.

What new skills I have learnt regarding guitar and music theory: I have learnt a lot more on my instrument since I started the course, at the start I couldn't begin to fathom how one would write a song but now I have wrote original material and have a great understanding on how this is done. I'm going to talk about a few techniques and skills I have learnt which has lead to my new found understanding. Keys: Something that I learnt fairly quickly was understanding keys, what are they and how do use them in creating songs. This was a big revelation for me as I finally understood what makes a song, as before you do anything you have to decided on what key you want to play in. This decides what chords you can use in the song. Major/Minor/Pentatonic scales: While I did know the first position of the pentatonic scale I didn't know what it was or how to play anything else other than this first shape. I have since learnt all 5 shapes of the pentatonic scale which has made my fretboard much clearer to look at in terms of knowing exactly what my options will be for a solo. This goes in hand with understanding keys, as now I can solo/jam over any song I hear once I figure out it's key, I then apply the 5 pentatonic shapes to the key and there are my options to play. Chord Structures/Music Theory: After learning keys, I then started to learn what chords work with said key. I have spent time learning why the major scale and chords work, which has made it much clearer to me what chords I can use when I write a song in a minor or a major key. I've spent time learning all the notes that are on the guitar and by learning this I have begun to understand how to read music to a degree. An example of this is If somebody asked me to play a 1-4-5 chord progression in the key of C, I know exactly what they are asking of me and I can play it for them.

After learning all these things I feel very confident with original material and creating ideas. This led to our intention on 4 original songs, however only finishing 3. My main interests are still developing my guitar solo work, learning to include different scales into our original to expand my arsenal in what I can create in terms of guitar solos, and also to learn as many chords as I can to increase my options when it comes to song writing.

Learning these skills over the year has led not only myself but my band in general on why we decided on our final 6 songs. By having really good chemistry with each other and adding in how well I've improved with my guitar playing and knowledge,has raised our level of standard much higher. When it comes to writing original material It has come much easier to us, while we had 3 original songs finished for the final gig, we also had another 2-3 songs that we didn't get to finish. This is a testament to our creative capabilities. With my vast improvement of my instrument adding significantly to the creative process in the band.

Learning how to rig a stage:

I had no prior knowledge on how a stage is setup or even exactly what is required to have a stage functioning. Since the beginning of my time here We have on multiple occasions taken apart the whole stage as a band, and had to put everything back together, and then perform a song once we had everything working. I felt this was a great exercise as I always learn more by practically doing things rather than just sitting at a desk.

Through this exercise and having nick set us questionnaires, quiz's, and more I have learnt that needing a PA system is a must, what types of leads instruments,microphones, and speakers all need, and understanding what types of monitors are e.g. passive and active.