Week 2: 12/11/24 - 14/11/24
Outline of recording/rehearsal session:
A brief outline of what happened in the session this week, remember to give examples
Tuesday 12th on Tuesday we were on the stage of the studio today (a small music venue in
Widnes) and we went through our setlist which consists of (to be human by marina) and
(black or white by Michael Jackson) we also went through our original song. On to be
human by marina we worked on dynamics throughout the song, so the lyrics are the most
Prominet thing in the song in parts as the lyrics get more powerful in various parts of the
song. Furthermore, we also worked on black or white by Michael Jackson, but we can only
get halfway through the song at the moment. The start could be stronger as we do not
have much confidence playing the song as we do not get all the way through the song.
The drummer harry is also having to figure out what to play the song on as black or white
is not played on a drum kit it is a variation of different drums and percussion instruments
for example cowbell and bongos.
Wednesday the 13th on Wednesday we discussed about turning major songs into minor
songs which our original is in a major key, so our tutor Liam was talking to us about
swapping them into a minor key. Then we went away into practice rooms to play the
songs in a minor key (we decided on e minor) so my band have decided to turn it into an
acoustic song so there will be no drums in it.
Thursday 14th on Thursday we did something called artist of the week which is where we
go through the alphabet one letter at a time each week and review 1 artist this week it
was ICP (insane clow possess) with their song hokus Pokus this wasn't a very productive
day for us as a band as we only had half an hour to practice after we did artist of the
week.
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Problems and issues that appeared:
Outline any issues or problems you and/or
your group faced throughout the session Solutions: Give examples of how you were able to work with and adapt to overcome these issues
We all do not know black or white by
Michael Jackson all the way through. As we
have not learnt the song fully We all need to take some time to learn black or white all the way through.
We have not had access to a switch pedal
this week as in the marina song the guitar
changes from being distorted in the chorus
to clean in the verses Guitarists need to have a switch pedal for next week
I am in a lot of bands this term therefore it
is easier on me if I do not have another
song to learn for the next gig
The issue is that being in 2 bands writing
original songs is a lot of work and pressure
so having the write 2 originals will impact
my coursework. We turned our original into an acoustic as the drummer is playing in many different bands this term therefore it is easier on him, and it suits the song better without any drums
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Reflection:
What have you learned from your session and how has this impacted your project?
This week I have learnt that writing songs is difficult in a time sensitive environment.
Targets for next week:
Provide at least two targets you want to achieve next week – give examples of how you plan to achieve these targets.
Learn black or white by Michael Jackson all the way through
Work on my dynamics as a whole
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Week 3: 18/11/24 - 21/11/24
Outline of recording/rehearsal session:
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Monday 18th on Monday we listen to the song (uber by DON BROCCO) we were breaking
the song down into pieces talking about the instrumentation for example which
instruments drop out in certain places of the song. then in the hub we were discussing
whether to do our original song as an acoustic or weather we have a full band playing the
song.
Wednesday 20th in today's session of the hub we worked on (black or white ) by Michael
Jackson as we had only been getting halfway through the song but today we had
managed to get the full way through the song that includes the rap and the transitions of
the song however they still need some work as they sound messy and they don't really
flow together at the moment. We also went through the other song that we are covering
this term (to be human) by Marina as a band we do not think to be human needs any
work does not to it as everything is sounding very tight now. We then did a performance
Infront of the other band in our class and this was the first time we had played black or
white the whole way through.
Thursday 21st in today's session in the hub we were having a play about with our original
and eve considered writing a new one as we were planning to do an acoustic version, but
we are doing a full band original as what we played today sounds good.
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Problems and issues that appeared:
The start of our sessions on some days
were abit slow more so our morning
sessions as everyone is tired We need to just get to it as some days we struggle for time in the sessions as we get talked to at the start and have to do a performance which takes out practice time
We struggled to keep it tight in in black or
white as it was our first time playing the
song the whole way through
We need to practice the song more in a group and even by ourselves as this was the first time we had played the whole song so we all need to start learning the rest of it as we have only been getting about halfway through, this can be improved by just more practice of the song
We need keys for black or white as the part
of the song where it transitions from the
song to the rap, we need keys for as that
transition is too hard to pay on guitar We have asked a member of a different band Alex if he can play keys for us as we are the only band without a keys player so we have asked if he can fill in.
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Reflection:
What have you learned from your session and how has this impacted your project?
We need to get a grasp on the original and figure out what we are playing we also need to
sort out the transitions on black or white as they are sounding very messy at the moment.
Targets for next week:
Provide at least two targets you want to achieve next week – give examples of how you
plan to achieve these targets.
Get the transitions for black or white sounding smoother than they are
We need to start writing lyrics for our original song
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Week 4: 25/11/24 - 28/11/24
Outline of recording/rehearsal session:
A brief outline of what happened in the session this week, remember to give examples
This week was quite a productive week as we managed to re write a whole song this week
Monday 25th today we spend all day working on our original and sorting out the structure
of the song we produced a verse and chorus and a melody but no lyrics now. We then did
a performance at the end of the session in the hub which we performed black or white by
Michael Jackson.
Tuesday 26th we were at the studio today. we focused on our original today with some
lyrics and focusing on the dynamics. of the song in various parts of the song for example
the end of the chorus the lyrics are ‘hey officer, can you please leave that man alone’
which is where the dynamics will crescendo in the song as they are powerful lyrics.
Wednesday 27th today we worked on 2 out of our 3 songs being ‘black or white by
Michael Jackson and our original song. With black or white we focused on getting the
transitions from the bridge to the rap sounding smoother, as at the moment we all sort of
just stop. So, we focused on the start pf the rap today as we all do not really know what is
going on.
Thursday 28th today we also focused on going through black or white by Michael Jackson.
As we need to get the transitions between the bridge and the rap sorted out. However
today we were able to get it to some degree but we were all coming in either a little bit to
late or a little bit to early so today we just focused on that transition today as we did not
have much time today as we did artist of the week. which is where we learn about a new
artist every week going in alphabet order. Learning about how they came into music and
what they were influenced by and what their most well-known songs are and the
meaning of the songs. So, we break down their songs and talk about the meaning of the
lyrics.
Problems and issues that appeared:
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The transitions between the bridge and the
rap black or white by Michael Jackson We have not been able to play the transition as it is on the track as its too fast and too difficult for the guitarist to play therefore, we have made our own one up.
we were worried about not having an
original song in the time that we have had We changed our song last minute so we have been focusing on that all week to make sure we have it somewhat perfect or at least to the standard that we can perform it Infront of an audience.
I have not been recording my progress for
myself assessment Start recording my progress more
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Reflection:
What have you learned from your session and how has this impacted your project?
This week I have learnt from my sessions that writing my own drum parts are quite easy but putting them into a song and fitting fills into the song is the harder part of it as they won't always fit with the beat or the time of the song. They also may not fit with the genre of the song for example when we first started to write the original, I tried to put a triplet fill over the toms into the song, but it didn't work at all as it didn't fit the beat of the song
Targets for next week:
Provide at least two targets you want to achieve next week – give examples of how you
plan to achieve these targets.
Work on the transitions between the bridge and the rap part of black or white by
Michael Jackson as at the moment it sounds very messy because I'm starting either too
early or too late.
Take more recordings of my progress. As I need to show my progress for myself
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Week 5: 2/12/24- 5/12/24
Outline of recording/rehearsal session:
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Monday 2nd today we wanted to focus only on our original song as we will be recording
them tomorrow in the studio and we wanted to get this up to recording standard.
However, I had some issues with the drum fill at the ned of the chorus that is stripped
down to just be vocals and guitar. So, I was struggling what to fit in that gap between the
choruses. So therefore, we had to focus on this part pf the song we ended up going
through the whole original about 5 times today. we also went through black or white
once and we got the transition from the bridge to the rap finished.
Tuesday 3rd on Tuesday we were recording our original songs (our song is called hey
officer) at the studio we were pressed for time slightly due to the first session running
over. I had abit of trouble with the drums on this song still as the structure is very strange.
But however, I managed to play it properly. so, to do this we recorded the instrumental
parts of the song first. And then we over dubbed the vocals and the backing vocals to this
song. After we did this, we carried on with our coursework whilst the other band was
recording their original. I am drumming for 2 bands this term, so the other bands song is
called live in harmony which is more of a rock song this recording took us much longer to
do as we would mess up at various different points of the song due to the vocals not
being there whilst we were playing so we had to keep re doing our recording. When we
were happy with our recording, we then moved onto recording the vocals and the backing
vocals.
Wednesday 4th we played through our whole setlist in order today which is as follows (to
be human by marina) then we played our original (hey officer) then we played (black or
white by Michael Jackson). Then we talked about the transition between the bridge and
the rap of black or white and we decided for me to come in with a crash cymbal to go into
the rap part of the song. I think this adds to the song quite a lot.
Thursday 5th today in the hub we did artist of the week which is where every Thursday
morning we will go through the alphabet and today we were on the letter L and we
looked at someone called lowercase noise who is a post rock artist. we then went into a
practice room to rehearse our setlist.
Problems and issues that appeared:
Outline any issues or problems you and/or
your group faced throughout the session Solutions: Give examples of how you were able to work with and adapt to overcome these issues
I couldn't figure out when to come in for
our original song We kept working and practicing on the orignal so i could learn the drums
The transition between the bridge to the
rap of black or white We worked on this alot and still are to make sure we have it good.
Stage presence We are all very static and robotic on stage so we need to move around more
Reflection:
What have you learned from your session and how has this impacted your project?
This week i have learnt constanly rehearsing things over and over will help me improve
Week 6:
Outline of recording/rehearsal session:
A brief outline of what happened in the session this week, remember to give examples
Monday. In todays session we were talking about times of our whole setlist. In order to
asure our set was in the timings we had been givinen from our tutors. so we practiced
our setlist like we normally would but we timed it this time, and our set ran over our
alocated time by about 40 seconds so therefore we dicided to cut down our first song (to
be human by marina) so we could fit with our times.
On tuseday we had our studio rehearsal session. unfortunately, our lead singer Mia was
ill today. So today we were not at full strength as a band because we didn't really have
any vocals. Even though we did not have a singer we still timed our set keeping it in or as
close to our allocated time as possible (12 minutes) we were only 40 seconds over when
we timed our set however we didn't take setting up into consideration so when we timed
it performing to our class our set came to 13 minutes 40 seconds therefore some work
needed to be made on our set.
On wednesday wednesdays session was curitial as we had to discuss what to cut out of
our setlist so that we would fit into the time we are given. The entire band decided to cut
down to be human into just 3 verses and 2 choruses. This would save us time as we did
not have to play the entire song, as almost all of the band dislike this peice at the end of
the session we had to record and time our performance this includes getting onto the
stage setting up and getting off the stage.
On thursday we worked on stage presence as it is a thing that we have been struggleing
with throught this term. At the start of the session this week we did artist of the week we
were on m this week so we looked at meleine martinez and her diffrent stages
charactoers. And how they corrispond with her music. After this me and my band had a
discussion about stage oresense and how to use the space we have on the stage at the
studio and how to use it to our advantage.