E11,12,13

Assignemnt brief keypoints and idea planning : 

 E12 . PLANNING AND PROJECT  

task 1 - planning

task 2 preparing 

task 3 - performance role 

task 4 - technical role 

e11 - defined technical role - contingency plans , what and why equipment is needed , 

represent a technically proficient level of capability , essential impact with creative decisions 

e12 - showing leadership , 

ability to to respond to others and work with others and their ideas . ( Roxy's bass line , singing it in their key ) 

E13- APPLY MUSIC SKILLS THAT HAVE CRUCIAL IMPACT , musical creativity , form , presentation and musical elements . 

fully account fro presentation format and use of audience to inform and inspire finanal outcome ( inteviews, comments , feedback  ) 

E11 - TECHNICAL ROLES , 

ROADIE 

DOOR 

FRONT LINE - REDBRICK 

CREATION OF The SONG 

E13 - WHAT YOU CREATED 

EVIDENCE OF THE PRODCT AND A CONCLUSION  

INTERVIEWS 

My collaborative project will be to help organise and perform in a series of gigs to promote an album with one one of my own songs on and also to promote my own original material, I will be collaborating with others to make and perform these songs . My target audience for my songs will be for a younger crowd talking about more adolescent issues  however the gigs will be aimed to reach a variety of people to help promotion to its most optimal level . For example one gig will be done a a church in an an acoustic setting whereas the other will be held at a more underground vibe type setting to attract a variety of people. I will keep diary entries of the writing process of my songs , the planning for the gigs and creation . 

First I will take about the creation , recording , mixing and releasing of my original song Haven for the strode live 2024 album .  I will talk about  how I collaborated with other people to make my project a success and also about the constraints i faced , I will also talk about the different musical elements and my creative choices that lead to the creation of my song and will get feedback about my song from audience members. 

Unplugged gig and my original song 'Haven' 

CREATION OF HAVEN FOR THE STRODELIVE 24 ALBUM 

 I would like it to be indie folk/ pop genre and I have been deeply influenced by people like sufjan Stevens and the neighbourhood both lyrically and through their production both create quite a dark but peaceful type of listening experience which I would like to capture in some form in my music whether through lyrics/ production or both . 

*. Overall , depending on how the next few weeks ago , my main aim is to make an original song and promote it via the strodelive album   * 

My overall aim for this project is to get something recorded that is an original piece of music to work with others to record , produce and perform my song/s. I will need to collaborate with people more trained in production however I will see it as a good learning curve for my soft skills in production like adding eq , compressing , automation , effects etc ... 

PLAN FOR THE CREATION OF MY SONG 

WEEK 1 

Writing - this week I will focus on writing lyrics and chords . I will work with Maya and show her chords progressions I had made to hear what they're like on piano . I will find inspiration by hiring out poem books from the library , listening or reading to music . I will have to book a good room for that factors in quiet and is a good writing environment . I will have to consider what themes I want write about and consider whether I will want other musicians on the song . By the end of this week I will hope to have at least two of my songs written . 

Videos I intend to watch : 

1. https://youtu.be/zuP1YVs6m7M?si=i1xAR6zyffADn8IP 
2. https://youtu.be/QKW4E1lT-ro?si=Fl2ZVcctkU8l-usI 

WEEK 2 

Writing and rehearsing - This week I will finish writing any lyrics  that I don't have . I will then need to write up these lyrics from off my phone so they have in a more physical copy then just on my phone . This week will be focussed on figuring out what session musicians I need ( if any ) and teaching and rehearsing it with them or maybe just to hear the song on a different instrument to give e more inso if needed . I will have to write out the chords for them and have a means of communicating with them via phone . ( insta etc ) just to make sure I can organised and keep up good communication skills. 

WEEK 3 

This week will be focussed on recording my first song . I will need to have someone in the recording with me so will have to collaborate with the producing inclined students such as Leanna and Grace but I will have to  communicate with people to see who are free . I will be watching videos on good recording techniques videos  I intend to watch are : 

1. https://youtu.be/lOAETrx2pXk?si=XigExIsCvra29Ar8
2. https://youtu.be/Ja_emre9Wwc?si=P08DNJBsb48JQwPP

WEEK 4 

This week will be focussed on recording my second song . I will need to practise recording to a click so as I can add other edit my song song  with more . I will be taking videos of myself along the recording process so as I have footage to post into my blog to break up the continuous writing and add more detail to it . 

WEEK 5 

Recording and mixing . By this time I hop i can have at least 2 songs recorded to save some Time for the mixing and mastering . At the this point I will also be looking at starting tasks for my promotional material like looking at inspiration for website design and also creating more social platforms I promote my music on like a TikTok account . 

WEEK 6 

Mixing and mastering . the week I will collaborate with producers on the course to help me mix and master my track . And I  will overlook and give my input so as I can learn about mixing. 

Constraints : 

• finances - the problem is paying for abobe premier pro and getting the finances to pay for it over the time i need it 
• availability to others - im going to need help from other musicians with 
• working with social media algorithms 
• Recording room availability 
• time 
• personal creativity issues 

Target Market : . 

Being a young person myself it makes sense that my audience is for more adolescent experiences and therefore my music will probably click with a more younger audience  with an appreciation for thought provoking lyrics . My song won't be very heavy so may appeal more to people that like more relaxing music for a car ride or a coffee shop .  My songs will be based around the indie folk and pop genres . 

Skills I want to develop : 

• Production skills - to do this this I will be mixing my song myself ( I am not a producer and don't know much about it but decided  to take on the role as its for my personal project and will help m learn ) 
• Recording skills - I will watch videos on recording techniques and try to add some of their tips into my creation process 
• Stage confidence when performing an  original - I really struggle for confidence when performing originals however over the next six weeks hope to develop this . 

objectives

• record it in the studios 
• mix it 
• release it digitally 
• make a video of some some sorts 

resources needed 

Physical recourses 

• studios
•  cameras 
• editing software
• guitar 
• Mac 
• notebook 

Human recourses 

• session musicians ( in case I want to add more instruments )

• someone to press record button wen im recording 

WEEK 1 : 

This week I decided to collaborate with my class mate Maya I have some voice recordings of chord sequences I had came up with and thought I would be more inspired I heard them on piano . 

We booked out a room and decided to work together to make a song . 

I used the chords g , bm , am , d and d7 

I was inspired by Eddie Veder's 'tonight you belong to me ' which is wear I magpied the d7 chord from for that vintage feel to my song . 

I had these chords wrote down a while back in my notepad  but only managed to write lyrics for them when I got a piano player in to play them on piano I booked c20 and brought Maya in and I tried improvising some lyrics  . here is a recording of me trying to find lyrics for the song in todays practise : 

I came home and I managed to finish the lyrics for the song ...

HERE THEY ARE : 

This week there was a gig wich my fellow classmate needed a team for so I said I would work with him as a performer and to help with promotion . 

I used this gig to break the confidence barrier I have with performing my originals in front of people . I didn't feel confident enough on guitar yet so Maya played piano for me but I managed to sing it and it went well :) 

 I made a poster this week for the gig wich was to help raise money for charity but also good to help promote my song and spread the word around the college I didn't know how to add a qr code so ad to ask Dylan how to do it  . This was a good environment to play my song as it is supposed to appeal to an  audience of youth as the song its about self development and learning to move on from people . Which I think is a topic lot of people can resonate with particularly younger people 

This is the poster I made for the gig and I told my peers to put it on their stories . 

CONCLUSION AND LOOK BACK FOR THIS WEEK :

A lot of the time I kept changing my lyrics cause I kept feeling like they were bad but one of the constraints I face is my self confidence , It  made it difficult for me to diffenreciate between whether the lyrics were actually bad or if I just wasn't believing in what I wrote enough .  I am currently behind schedule due to the funerals but will try and scrape my way back. 

WEEK 2 

This week I wanted to start recording my song . I asked mollie to help me to record as Maya wasn't in . 

We had to use c18 and set up with ribbon mics , mic boosters etc 

This is the set up I used . 

. ribbon mics 

my research on ribbon mics : 

Ribbon 

• figure 8 ( picks up sound from back and front but rejects at sides ) .This is good for maybe playing guitar so the mic can block the guitarists breaths and noise and focus on guitar noise.

                                                                                              FIGURE  8 :          (behold the artistic talent)

ADVANTAGES

• capture highly dynamic ; high fidelity sound (good for detail ) 
• allows for a more natural room sound and reverb  than a cardioid

DISADVANTAGES

• expensive 
• adds a dark effect ( 'basey') 
• not good for stage as foil inside can rip (delicate)

 

I was finding it very difficuilt to record in c18 as there is always a drummer In the next room and the ribbon mics which are quite sensitive to noise pick it up fairly easily. So I had to tell them to be try and be less loud but it still kept picking up , eventually when they finished I started recording again and over 20 takes late still couldn't seem to get it right withought it buzzing , I decided to play farther away from the mics thinking that might make a difference which it did a little bit but still didn't sound that great . 

After showing someone the recording so far they actually said they liked the recording and it sounded quite lofi so I decided to stick with it . 

Mollie and I recorded the guitar main line wich took me around 3 takes we then recorded the main line again twice over and panned it left and right so it gave the recording a more fuller effect . 

I also addd some base riffs over the top which I thought added a nice descending fill on transitions from the verses to the choruses and a vintage type sound . 

We tried to record vocals in c18 however there was a slight fuzzing noise and there was no pop shield on the mic so I decided to add a sock over the top to act as a pop shield . It took us quite a few takes for the vocals but managed to get the main line recorded for the day . 

                                                        GRINCH SOCK ↓

WEEK 3 

Funeral week 

This week I will just be focussing on getting the harmonies finished . 

I love the intimate feel of Phoebe bridges songs and after watching a YouTube video on her recording techniques I decided to try ad incorporate this into mine for example singing quietly and closely to the mic. 

My initial idea for the harmonies was to have lots of harmonies on the chorus but then have stripped back verses . 

I got it into c18 and after listening to it back I couldn't ignore how I had played the intro riff too slow so I decide to re-record the  intro riff again  in a different track I kept finding this really difficult as  to record it so it was in time with the harmonies . 

Once I had recorded it , I had to cut down the initial track intro ,however,  I didn't trim it right and the two tracks didn't merge together well and created a popping noise after the intro had finished . 

After trying many different things ( I tried gluing, automation, compression , etc ) I couldn't get rid of the pop, I realised the only thing that would fix it would be rerecording the whole guitar part wich would then mean I would have to re-record the  guitar harmonies as  I never recorded to a click , wich is something I did for all my other songs apart from this one ,  and I just didn't have time to re-record so had to keep it in . I decided to just keep it in and after I had recorded all the parts get someone to ix and master it and see if they could do anything about it . 

WEEK 4 

For the verses I decided to add harmonies on the second verses and then little sprinkles of harmonies throughout the third and forth  .  

This is where I am so far with the project : 

There's a lot wrong with this that I need to fix , the harmonies don't match on the ' falling down ' part and there's a whole chunk of vocal that's dissapeared . but at least I have som harmonies down. 

Today I continued recording and fixing the harmonies .

 I ended up realising where the missing vocal line went it turns out just covered I just covered it with  another piece of audio and when I moved it the vocal line was there again ! 

Instead of having all those harmonies on the ' falling down' part I decided to just double track that part too. 

I personally think it sounded better.  

This week I learned about vocal recording I learned a lot about mic skill and how to re-record good harmonies for a fuller sound. 

WEEK 5 

At the Start of this week I released unmastered version the song onto Soundcloud and at the end of the week I got someone to master it and then we uploaded to Spotify . 

Week 6 

This week I spent rehearsing for the gig which I will be playing my original at and also a cover with a band which I will talk in more detail about in the 'organising the unplugged gig ' section of my blog further down . 

I made a video and uploaded it to YouTube to help market and promote my song and then put it on my story informing people they can see it at unplugged . 

 EVIDENCE 

HERE IS A LINK TO MY WIX WHERE YOU CAN ACCES MY SONG HAVEN ON SPOTIF : 

  https://davisscarlet621.wixsite.com/sc4rl3t

Here is the demo of my track I released on Soundcloud : 

I had help from one of the producers in our class to get rid of the popping sound at the start of my song . 

ORGANISING UNPLUGGED GIG 

WEEK 1 

We first wrote up our marketing plan : 

This week we decided to assign everyone their roles o as we all knew what we were doing . We have meetings every Wednesday to make sure everyone's on task and see where everyone is at . I was assigned with these roles for the gig : 

these were the roles given to others : 

These were the roles given to me : 

I wrote  out the roles that were given out to me on the job roles list as they were late roles added , writing out the job roles is a good of keeping everyone organised and so everyone knew what they were doing . 

We had a discussion about the gig and who it would be aimed for . The gig is an acoustic gig and the venue would be in the Holy trinity church . We would use the gig to promote song from our strode live 2024 album release and also other material . As it is an unplugged performance it will be a more calm chill environment good for people of any age including older people as it won't be extremely loud and mesmerising . There will be seats so everyone is able to sit down which is good for people who find Loud , crowded,  busy environments and therefore maybe be better gig to advertise our music to a more mature crowd of people as well as a younger audience too . 

Contingency plan for the job roles : 

I gave the opinion  to put more then one person on each of the job roles so as everyone had something to write about in their blogger and so if someone couldn't do something there would always be someone else there to do it . This I feel will help with the development of this gig . 

I had decided for unplugged I waned to do my original and also I wanted to do a cover of starlight my muse . To do this I would have to put a band together so I asked around who wold want to do starlight  I managed to find a drummer , pianist guitarist and bassist by asking them in college and also messaging them . I then made a groupchat so as we have a more sturdy way to communicate with one another .

WEEK 2 

This week I decided to start filling in the marketing plan sheet . This helped with evidencing things we'd learned about marketing and by writing it out will help us hone these skills for the future . 

The fact that I started making  the marketing plan gave the people in the  marketing team a bit of a push with  actually creating the promotional material . One of my peers in the marketing team started on the poster . He managed to get some idea designs down: 

this was one of the first posters he made an the used level 42 as a test run for it . As we currently do not have the time of the gig or ticket prices. 

In our Wednesday session today we had to decide on ticket prices and times of the gig. 

We had put it to a vote on how much tickets should be as we wanted to make it an inclusive for a price that everyone is happy with . 

some people were saying £5 some were saying £15 my input into the discussion was that people pay about £5 now for a coffee so I think it should cost more then that to watch a gig ,however,  £15 was a bit too much so I decided on £10 . 

We decided that there should be other tickets for like families and students. Student should get in for cheaper as they earn less and are apart of the college we are raising money for and family tickets should make it easier for families to pay. I also gave the opinion as the gig is a gig where family performers will be more obliged to bring older family members s it's an acoustic set to have a concession ticket price as well . 

In the end we decided to keep it simple we would have two different ticket prices £8 for adults and £6 for Kids , students and concessions . 

Dylan managed to make the poster . 

Today we rehearsed starlight for the gig after singing it realised it was too deep for so asked wondered if they could transpose it up by 2 to make it more in my range . 

I asked Katie if she could send me a video of her playing the guitar part of starlight so I could practise it at home , Katie sent me a Logic file of her guitar part but then also the other instrument in it too ( absolute legend.) 

insert logic file

WEEK 3 : 

This week will be focused on sharing the poster about and spreading the word we made

e a week plan for who was gunna put the poster on what day on their stories so as to achieve optimal story posting and views this is important because if we shared the story all at one time people would forget about it easier . 

We also started learning about where we can and cant put posters and started asking shops if we could put our poster in their window ,I also put the poster up on my work notice board  so as coworkers could know about it . 

This week was interrupted for as I had to work as a roadie and for a music video . 

This really helped me develop my Collaborative skills tho . 

Music video work experience side project write up : 

Dan got sent an email from alumni of the college asking him if he could film a music video for scenes of their new music video .He asked me if I would like to be a runner to for them to get some work experience for music video creation and I said yes as I thought it would be a good project to part of to hone some skills in video making . 

I was ccd in some of the emails from dan talking to the director about when they would be meeting up . I emailed Will coutts who was the director just so as had talked to him before I had actually met him to show proffessionalism 

These are some of the previous emails set to my tutor and that I was ccd in : 

They said they were coming in for the Thursday , however , on Thursday my lessons start at 11 and I wasn't told to come in before that but I decided to take the precaution ad come in earlier anyways . I waited around in the canteen and saw them come in at about 9:30  and I got to meet them and their camera crew who had flew in from LA ! I managed to get their instagrams and they followed me back ! As we were waiting for them to set up their camera , I met the other runners for the music video who were media students . 

Taking the precaution of coming in early turned to my favour when they asked for extras to be in their music video which I said id do . An issue we ran into was when they had lost one of their props me and the other runners were sent to go look for it and t was eventually found - few . 

We then filmed the scene we were positioned and then had to act as tho were laughing at the girl . 

After doing this we had to help bring the equipment down outside as we were filing another scene which I was also a part of - we had to walk into the college . This took us a few tries as people kept walking through the scene that weren't meant to be there . 

We then headed off into the the swimming pool area as we did this the director asked me if I could run back to the from to the college to get his writing pad he had left, so I did . When I came back I was sent to go and get a bag of props in one of the music rooms . One of the other runners offered to help me . It was a lot running about but this was what being a runner was about ! 

We watched over the swimming pool scene and I helped with holding and placement of the props . I learned a lot about filing In a humid environment during the scene , I remember the camera people said not to open the door as it makes the lens more foggy due to the condensation creation . And also to have the camera warmer than the room to stop condensation . 

Unfortunately I couldn't stay for the full day of filming as I had to use the rest of the day rehearsing for unplugged . I practised stalight and haven . 

I asked for the email of one of the creators for the music video so as I could get details about what would be happening the next day and I got this email back which I sent to the others . 

The next day I was told to go to a farm in the odcombe area for 2:30 however the time had changed to 4:30 as they were running behind schedule . 

When we got here we had food and then we were asked to take footage and pictures to help with the marketing and promotion of the song one of th creator mentioned using it for a behind the scenes video  . Here is some of the footage and photos  I collected : 

Then  me and Heidi ( media student runner ) were given hi-viz and we had to stop cars and slow them down when they were filming a scene on the road . I held up a sign to inform road users to slow down and also gave hand gesture to inform them filming there was a car coming . 

There were a couple scenes where me and Heidi had to run down the road so as to avoid being in the scene ,  as the camera was on the car and the car was moving towards us . 

Overall,  the work experience with Honne was very beneficial for me . Due to my new connections with the media students I was able to ask them to record for Unplugged and both said they would do it . They both also said they would be happy to make a music video with me at some point in the future with me which could be a potential project fro me in the future . Other contacts I made are with the director , band and camera crew of wich I I now have contacts via insta and gmail . I managed to help them carry and find lost equipment pivotal for the music video and also to take behind the scenes footage and b-roll , I learned about different camera skills and techniques for example how they rode on the back of the car whilst filming the bike scene this  required  stabilisers for the camera  . Furthermore I learned about filming in a more humid area such as a swimming pool -  they had to  warm the camera up before taking it  so as to mitigate fogging up of the camera also they told us to not open the doors as it would create condensation on the lens.

The music video came out and they gave me a credit in the end . Bring a part of this music video is great for me to talk about in cvs and also for future auditions and for anything im applying for . I leaarned  lot about using the camera music video making and communication. skill during this experience. One of the things I learned for example was how much effort and work it takes to shoot even the simplest scenes . A good example of this was the bike scene this was very difficult to shoot as he couldn't see through the mask so could only do short distances at at time and also involved us having to signal them when road users came by stopping the scene we were filming . 

This is how the music video turned out : 

WEEK 4 

This week we held the audition week I was on the audition team and we watched the first years perform the songs and we had to narrow it down to the best most prepared ones given your advice some of the songs went not so well and as they weren't practised enough we cut them I gave feedback about how the song choice was good but it just wasn't prcatised enough and also for some other bands on how I like the fading gout of the guitarr and how maybe they could prolong it for more of an effect . 

From the person in charge of the running order managed to create the running order : 

As we now had the running order  we could make the  tech spec and equipment list . I helped ask some people what they needed and told Leanna what my band needed as well . 

This is the equipment list we all told Leanna  about what we all individually needed and she managed to form this . 

As we had a lot of strings playing we had to have a lot of music stands so we brought 4 . 

We planned to bring our own PA system ( QU16 , Maui speakers , foldbacks etc ) which meant more carrying over ,however, as it is only across the road it would be manageable . 

The drums would be micd up with sm57 and the vocalists would be using sm58 mics , with some other overhead mics provided for by dan.

The cajon will be provided by Barnaby.  

I said It would be a good idea to bring stools so as those who may feel less comfortable playing while standing could sit down and stools are more practical for performing , in comparison to the arm chairs that the church provided .  

We chose the Odery cafe kit because it was more practical and compact for the space and also because its more focused sound for the space . 

For the QU16 we use a d snake multicore for the unplugged gig due to transport as it is more compact than the standard multicore . This was also beneficial for stage set up as it was easier and also less hazardous . 

The cajon was supplied by Barnaby ( student) .

we used Dan wooden bass cab - provides more focussed sound for bass guitar . 

I was thinking that Unplugged should be filmed however we would have to get in contact with some media students . Since I made friends with a couple of media students from making the music video I sent them messages asking them if they would be interested,  both of them said their tutor mentioned something about it however they didn't  think much of it ,however,  when I sent them a message both of them seemed keen to do it and I managed to get my new media friends to film unplugged for us ! 

INSERT MESSAGES 

. 

WEEK 5 

I was put in charge of the run through day this meant I had to make a run through list for the day .This list would have to be flexible around the break and lunch times of both the first and second years and also It would have to suit the times that the  different groups are actually in for lessons . 

I spoke to Dan ( my tutor ) about the times of break and lunch and whether it would be best to have the first years do a run through for the morning or the afternoon . From the information I gathered I made this checklist on docs : 

The run through day went smoothly we followed my run through order and as I made sure to account for the different amounts of songs people were playing in the time allotments we didn't fall behind of schedule.   

Gig Day   

Before I came into college I wrote down a list of things I needed to remember : 

• CAPO 
• TUNER 
• GUITAR 
• LYRIC BOOK 
• HAIR CLIP ( in case hair was in face while performing ) 
• MONEY FOR FOOD 

We were all given a day plan as created by one of the fellow gig organisers to keep us organised. 

  

Today was the day of unplugged we started the day by bringing equipment over from the college from the class to the church we set up and designated an area for guitars and also an area for where performers would sit wich was behind the stage area .Then we we had our soundcheck . 

Me and my band got a practise room and decided to have a last runthrough of our songs I find it best routine for me to get may voice ready is to sing a lot in the morning and then not sing for the rest of the day until the gig in the evening . I find this is best for me as it allows me to practise and stretch my vocal but then also give it time to rest up . 

Our soundcheck went ok we were running behind schedule a little bit but we all managed to go through our songs so it was fine . 

Are run through of starlight went ok I asked for my vocal to be turned up and I got Leanna to do my vocal as she had done mixed my vocal before so probably knew it better . 

I also did a soundcheck for my song Haven . It went well but we top and tail sound checked it to save time. Top and tailing is a technique we used so as to get through the soundcheck faster . 

Before the gig we hd all planned to go down to Wetherspoons and get food and get ready this is a crucial bit of planning as we all needed to have food so as to have energy for the gig we we all communicated on the group chat our food plans and also who would be bringing in different things we needed to get ready for the gig such as hair accessories and clothes - this was necessary as the way we display ourselves to the audinece is a big part of performance as it showcases the type of artist we are . My outfit was a long red 'gypsy  style'  skirt , black top and white cardigan . I feel this went with the venue as it was quite an old fashioned looking outfit and also went with my character as an artist being a gypsy myself . Furthermore I typically like to incorporate the color red with my outfits when performing just cause I like the strong symbolism of the color and also cause my name is scarlet so it kinda goes :) 

The outfit : 

THE GIG 

TECHNICAL ROLE : 

My technical role for the gig was that I was on the door collecting tickets, money and also handing out leaflets and trying to collect donations for the strode live students course . 

I had to count the float before the people audience arrived to make sure we had enough change for if people overpayed. We made sure we had hand sanitiser due to the handling of money for health and safety reasons . People started arriving too early so , as I was on door , I took it upon myself to inform people who were waiting outside in the cold that they could wait in the theatre foyer across the road and get refreshment and a lot did . This made getting the last minute prep for the gig less stressful as we knew the people had somewhere to go instead of them being right by the door . 

Eventually when people did start coming in I asked for donations and handed out the programmes . Jess and Tyler collected the money for the tickets .  

I managed to raise around £10 in donations which was fairly good as it was optional . 

When the gig had started I decided to move away from the door a little as I was blocking peoples exit and I stood by the camera . One of the media students had asked me if I could do anything about the lighting as it was too bright for the camera so i knew jess was in charge of lighting so I went over to her and asked her to change the lights from the bright color she had to a darker colour. This helped the video come out a little clearer than what I t would have been . 

During the break I managed to tune my guitar and get my lyric book ready I sat in the performers area with the band and waited for the second half to start . 

I was particularly nervous for starlight I think it was because it felt a little too high for me in the practise ,however,  it was a good challenge I managed to hit all the notes; even though I could have sang with more power behind them . I feel I did hold back for some parts and hope that this will put me in the mindset to not hold back for my next gig . 

The next song I was performing was my original .  Just before I went on stage I realised that I had wrote the lyrics out in the lyric book wrong ! This made me panic before my performance but I calmed down and played it and managed to remember all the lyrics fine . 

CONCLUSION FOR UNPLUGGED ND HAVEN 

Overall,  I would say unplugged was a a success although ticket sales were slow at the start we managed to get a lot of ticket sales in the last week and ended filling all the seats which was accomplishment as before we thought we had sold only 50. 

I would our performance as a band went pretty well after all our practise we managed to get a good run through of the song and my voice didnt crack on the high notes wich iw as worried about . For my solo song I remembered all the lyrics and sung with a good tone to my voice .  I had a lot of feedback with people messaging me to say that It sounded beautiful to comments on my original saying how much they liked it . 

In the future I would like to feel more confident singing and not hold back , I could probably do this by next time picking a song that fits my voice better and is more my range however for the sake of the band I wasn't gunna ask them to transpose the song last minute so kept it the way they had learned it . 

My technical role went well too I managed to direct people to the foyer to wait , decreasing pressure on those getting ready , greet people give out programmes and raised around £10 for strodelive . Furthermore I helped communicate the issue of the lighting from the media students the person in charge of lighting . 

I had gained skills and experience from working in a band from communication ( group chats , face to face convos ) to planning ( room booking and communicating what we need .) 

I understand that if this was an out of college project how much more difficult this would have been to complete for example the financially . I did research into local recording studios near me and the average price of booking out a recording studio for a day was £200 a day . Furthermore, having a place to practise and rehearse isn't something to be taken for granted as well as in an out of college situation we would of had to find a different place that would have room for a drum kit and all the equipment wed need ,plus, a space where we could be loud that doesn't have a strangling time limit for how long we could stay . 

Not to mention things like equipment moving , time it would take to set up and even having the equipment in the first place as we used the college mixing desk, amps ,cables , monitors etc . 

However by doing this with the college it has taught me everything I do need and how things are meant to go/happen so in the future I can run my own gigs or play in gigs and feel as though I know what im doing. 

REDBRICK  AND ORIGINAL SONG 'HOPELESS '

For Redbrick I wanted to do a heavier song with 'Belty'  vocals as I felt this was a better venue for it as compared to the more relax acoustic vibe of unplugged . I am very much inspired by artists like Avril Lavigne , Alanis Morisette and Demi Lovato who I think are all strong female musicians with powerful and unique vocals .I love the attitude to their lyrics and they way they hold themselves on stage - something I wish to embody in my own performances . 

 My aim for Redbrick is to make , write and collaborate with other musicians to create an original piece of music .   Knowing the constraints I face , for example not having a lot of time to write an original song and also not being in a band yet I have a lot to start with . 

As this is our last college gig I want my song to act a bit of a catharsis to my college experience and reflect  my emotional journey throughout the last couple years  . I hope this song would resonate with lots of people my age who feel  as though they haven't made one right decision but , actually,  its just cause they don't know what there doing , who there trying to please and what there trying to get out of it . 

WEEK 1 

I haven't  wrote a song yet but I have a couple ideas for what I could do . I recently purchased logic as I felt it was a necessity to help create music . I asked my tutor if I could hire out a home recoridng kit which I signed out and took home . Being fairly new to logic I experimented around and created the rough start of something . 

This evening I decided I needed to contact people to start getting bands together for the red brick gig wich is coming up soon . My goal is to do a cover of exs and ohs by Elle king  and an original  originals  . I talked to a couple classmates about it and managed to get a guitarist and bassist to do the cover with me  however I needed another guitarist and a drummer . 

Later this evening my guitarist messaged me asking me to do another song as well as exs and ohs for red brick and I said I could . She also said she would ask another classmate to play the second guitar for exs and ohs , collaborating with Katie here really was beneficial for me as she managed to get a second guitarist and ask me to do another cover with her also .

Reheasrsing for the redbrick building. 

Today I am practising the covers with the band I  booked out c18 , however only Theo , Katie and Dylan were in  and we were missing our other guitarist . We spent most of the time learning about the songs and making sure it  was in a good key for my vocals . Katie had to learn the piano chords  for the chorus .  We had a couple run throughs and decided we'd go over it again tommorow. 

This evening my classmate messaged me asking if I wanted to do a cover of this charming man with them which I said yes to . The only issue is I need to start focussing on  working on my orginal for redbrick because at this rate im just going to be doing a bunch of covers wich Is NOT want I want I just need to find the courage to suggest my song idea . 

Today the full band was in and we managed to go over both songs  however we only had limited time as people in the band  needed to practise for something else also the guitarist who wasn't in yesterday had to learn the guitar part for 'against all odds' . 

When we went over it he said that he thought the chorus would sound good with some guitar noodling over the top so we tried it out a little and he said he would practise  .

Today I also practised with the second band . 

I feel writing about the different bands is going to get confusing so i'm going to label them band 1 and band 2. 

Band 1 = exs and ohs ( cover ) and against all odds ( cover) 

Band 2 = This charming man ( cover ) and original  

Today I was practising with band 2 and suggested my song idea and told them I wanted to do an original for my project . They seemed on board so I showed Leanna the guitar chords and Roxy made a bass line from that and Tyler made a drum beat for the verses . We then looked at the chrosus and the transition from the pre chorus to the chorus . Because  the vocal part gets louder we suggested to the drummer that the drums should be played as straight hits that get louder . 

The bassist came up with this great little descending bass line part wich really made the bass stand out which I liked .

we were able t get a recording and that evening we made a group chat to help share recordings and communicate better . 

This is a really rough run through of the song , we were just all trying to figure what sounded well and what didn't . 

we realised the song sounded a bit basic and the vocal parts needed work but at least now we have the foundations of a song we can work on . 

Audition day : 

I was on the audition team for redbrick and today we were auditioning the first years.

I was on the audition team as one of my roles additionally I was also in charge of the tech spec so as each band came up I asked them what they needed . 

and formed this tech spec: 

1/05/24 

Today was our Wednesday session we went over the redbrick building gig and the ace audio dj night and talked about what needs to be doing . 

First we talked about the ace audio night my technical role for that gig has been to promote it my practical role is to do the lighting for it . We were informed  in an email how 3 bouncers may have been a better option as its gig for 18 plus wich means everyone there will be of age to drink . 

On bouncer is 120 pounds so 3 

Ace audio - venue wants 3 bouncers 

 £120 per bouncer 

£7 a ticket 

Redbrick - get some first year videos and videos of people for promotion 

people to contact to advertise it : 

clarks board 

instagram stories 

Facebook pages 

first year issue with the running order  

less here is to underpromise and overachieve 

During our meeting today I realised how my original song  wasn't on the set list and how it should have priority as it is an original and also im a second year so I asked about it and now it has a slot .  

Furthermore , we went over the setlist and realise how a lot of first years were playing songs that weren't on the album . We had a vote to say whether we should change the running order so as only first years with songs on the albums could play or if we should just keep it as it is  as we had a lot of people playing .  

We decided to cut some solo performances and  cut a couple songs but we decide if we can do the change overs swiftly we should be able to keep most people . 

Today I made the risk assessment : 

2/05 /24 

today we practised this charming man, we had booked out c15 for this ,  Roxy was rehearsing with another band so I asked another bassist to fill in . We spent the morning going over that and got a video . It sounded pretty good as everyone had been learning there parts at home however the ending part needed some work as the guitar hadn't been completely learned yet . 

I also went over against all odds today for Katie band h, we had booked out c19 for this . Most of the band wasn't in at the time so it was a very rough practise . 

Grace needed me to send her over the tech spec so she could make the Chanel list I had only done the first years tech spec and needed the 2nd years tech spec so spent the afternoon going around to each band and getting their tech spec . Imaged to get all of them apart from Requiems band. My plan for Tomorrow is to rehearse for redbrick as I have booked out c18 and also to record with mollie for a song I want to get a demo recording of .

Today I also had to talk to a few first years about the running order and why some of their songs were cut as they weren't on the album .  

Other things I have to do  include : 

.record the vocals for that song already recorded in 17 

.ask josh for his mixed version of haven 

. ask Leanna for her mixed version of ghost 

. listen to recordings in c18

. getting promotional videos for it

. 

Promotional material ideas : promoting it as an end of year college gig , 

3/05/24 

I spent this morning Recording guitar for one of my tracks . I collaborated with Molly who helped me record and set up in c17 . I recorded the main guitar and then I recorded the guitar riff over the top, I then decided to record  quick guitar riff separately as it was hard and took a few takes . Mollie played it on a loop fr me and it took me around 20 takes to get it right . 

Later i went over songs for redbrick ,  I practised ex' s and ohs and against all odds . Katie added some extra guitar fills in between certain parts which we all thought sounded really cool . Then we practised against all odds Im taking my inspiration from the Mariah Carey version ,however, the end part is very hard vocally and I have been practising in rehearsal but I have been singing an easier version . My aim is to attempt the hard part in practise so I can do it for the gig. 

This is a recording of our band practise: 

After practise today I messaged my guitarist telling her how I liked the guitar part in the second half of the song before the the last chorus and also how she followed the vocal melody on guitar . 

Today I promoted the gig on my instagram page getting approximately 200 views . 

WEEKEND MADE SONG 

Today the music video came out ! 

7th

 today I practised this charming man I practised it by going over the chorus over and over to help Leanna get it right

Later this evening I have been playing the chords of my original and made up and extra vocal part for the end in case the end feels like it drags I doubt Ill do this part as ill have to play the slides on my guitar whilst singing which i'm not particularly confident with. However it gave me the idea of calling the song hopeless . I realised my song was still down as haven on running order so I messaged Theo ,who was in charge of the running order, and asked him if he could change the name and he did . 

8th 

Today we managed to brush up the original and I added my vocal part to the end . 

 I also finished the equipment list but had to ask Michael about whether or not we were using redbrick PA system which he answered by saying the wants to try and bring of our own stuff as possible so I wrote down on the equipment list what we needed . 

9th - RUN THROUGH DAY 

today 

picture of channel list - made channel list 

run through day had. a hospital appointment wich was a constraint . - I had been diagnosed with stereo clavicular joint instability this is why I have been finding difficulty playing guitar just lately , this will be a constraint I will have to be able to work around in the future and will do so by strengthening my back and playing my guitar standing up for the majority of the time. 

I helped give advice about day plan for run through day with Blaise 

we performed the song 

this charming man - Leanna still hadn't learned the chorus and the bassist played the chorus too early , I tried to pick it back up by starting up on the next verse but the drummer got  confused and we had to restart swiftly and the second time round went fairly ok . 

Hopeless was a bit of a mess too I hadn't plugged my guitar in ,it might have been the nerves just making me forget and also the fact im not used to playing guitar especially electric so I absent mindedly started the singing withought plugging it in . 

I got recording of me and Leanna going over how it went it reflects on what we need to work on . Leanna was finding it difficult keeping herself positive about the song as she was finding it difficuilt I used my team work skills and tried to keep her positive about it . 

Redbrick gig day 

Morning 

Today  me and  band members all decided to come in early so we got in extra practise considering the fact that yesterday didn't go as well as what we would have liked it to have gone . We spent the morning brushing up the charming man and it was mentioned to Leanna that she should practise the song faster than the original speed so that when she plays it normally it feels easier . She did this and finally managed to get it . 

By the time we had got this charming man practised it was time to start gathering up equipment. 

I helped get leads and lighter things being careful of my arm so as I wouldn't have a painful arm for the evening and ,with that in mind, I also asked Theo if he had room in his car for my bag and guitar so I wouldn't have to carry it to redbrick and he said he could. 

-input equipment list - 

After I had 

Before lunch we all had to make a plan for food ; where we were all gunna meet 

and who was was going in who's car. Me and one of my bands decided to stay in college through lunch and rehearse whilst the others went to kfc came back pick up our bags and one person in their car as that's all they could fit and then the rest of us walked . 

We all got into the redbrick building and one of my technical roles was to help set up I managed to get some pictures of set up ; as we were setting up we realised there was a lot less room on stage then what the thought . we had the guitar amps on one side of the stage and we decided that we should move the bass amp around and have a guitar amp on either side of the stage to optimise the sound . 

we were getting a lot of feedback and decided that we would bring the decimals down to - 20db . 

We then  met  Tim ,the manager, and Dawn , who does the door and we introduced ourselves.  

Then there was a man there who was doing interviews for a podcast I was interviewed I managed to talk to about the album and shout  out my track haven I also talked about the original I was performing this evening . 

After this we got ready , we decided to get food in Tesco as it was close and save more time as we only had an hour and then get ready in red brick . 

After this we had a tech run the tech run went ok we top and tailed all the songs so as we could get through it quickly and efficiently . I asked that my volume be turned up as I couldn’t hear my self over the guitar . 

The gig 

Before I went on stage I went to the back to tune my guitar and get my lyrics ready . 

I would say my peformance went pretty well . 

First I had my original , i remembered to plug my guitar in and with the little bit of time at the start I talked about how I would be realeasing it soon . 

I made a couple of mistakes on the ace one verse as I messed up the lyric so instead of stopping and fumbling under the pressure I managed to make a quick fix and switch two of the lyrics around whilst I was singing to make it work . Vocally I feel I sang it very well I managed to get the raspiness  especially on the pre-chorus part wich was the hardest part to sing .  I  managed to sing and play guitar to signal the end of the song wich we managed to wrap up pretty nearly . This is a video of the performance : 

Next I sang this  this charming man the song that everyone in the band had struggled with. I remembered to sing it three time at the end and managed to sing the rest fine as well . It was a pretty low song for me as I sang it in Morrisey’s key but I managed it fine . 

My next performance was with the second band the first song we did was ext and ohs . It went down very well , I managed some good stage presence as well I think my lil tactic of wearing my sunglasses helped with my confidence as I couldn't see the audience as well , this also allowed me to sing with more confidence . We had some great audience feedback for this song such as ' I loved ur vocal  and ' the song was so fun ' these were just some random comments from the viewers I recall . 

I managed to get a video of the performance : 

After this song we did the calmer one however the one vocally was more tricker , I felt the glasses didn't suit my part for this song so before we went on stage my drummer said he'd want to wear them so I gave them to him in the little transition between the two songs . 

The song went ok , however I  feel I messed up the vocal at the end as I didn't feel confident singing it  I miscalculated my vocal and pushed it to hard and so it just sounded off . We still got compliments on the song however , I had a lady come up to me after saying how that was her favourite song and it really moved her to hear us play it . 

During the the pontoons gig the guitarist dropped his pick and I could see him gesturing for someone to get one for him . No one could find one so I ran over to another guitarist I knew would have one and got it of her then ran back over to give it to him as swiftly as I could . Here is footage of me front lining : 

The song was played through fine and dropping the pick didn't seem to make much difference to the sound especially after I managed to find a new pick for him . 

                                                                               At the end of the gig I helped pack down I coiled cables took down stands and helped take equipment to the cars . 

Conclusion for Redbrick : 

I feel overall the performance went very well . I managed to perform three out of four of the songs well and the one that I messed up on I only messed up on the ending as I was slightly off key . We didn't run too much behind schedule for the run-through and managed to get through all the different constraints we faced. 

Here is a list of some of the constraints we faced 

KEY : 

Red = constraint 

Green = solution  

Blue = example 

F or the future what I would have done differently is I would have given myself more time to practise my original so as then I maybe wouldn't have messed up the lyrics and have been more cinfident on guitar. 

I would also have given it my all in practise too , I never sung the end of against all odds in practise as I was scared to sing it however I feel it would have went better if I had . 

I have learned to give peroformances my all and not hold back I feel in this redbrick gig I was a lot more confident then as in comparison to my unplugged one which I am proud of . 

OTHER MINI PROJECTS : 

the writing and recording of my song foxglove . 

performing in the what cook gig 

working in a band : wet paint 

FOXGLOVE ( side project song original ) for this song I worked with producers on my course such as grace, mollie and Leanna to mix bandmaster the track . 

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Davisscarlet621 · Foxglove