Begining my semester with the MTV indent I was able to get a good idea of the sound i was looking very quickly. I wanted a plasticy, bubbley and alive sound. I was able to produce this with the liberal use of automation giving the soundscape a evolving sound not staying the same for long at all. The rumbling bass comes in first as it sweeps in the starange vocal synth lifts though the mix, droping in properly as a "beat drop" this coensides this the bubbles popping. A very simple beat (only a kick and snare) comes in along side a bass pluck giving the track the low end it needs. I also used an air burst sound to soth the bubbles popping. As the balls rain down towards the end I eqed out most of the other sounds to let the arpeggio come in as it sparkles down. This made for a simple but effective use of sound.
After working on the ident we began work on the advert, for this I wanted to give the theme of power yet quiet and subtle use of sound, especially with the fan blowing the chair over it was quaint yet strong. As its a small car I avoided big car sounds if that makes sence, focusing on the smaller moments that the videography showed i believe if i did this again though i would give it a more musical sense, maybe a grand classical composition or classic rock.
I used heaps of little noises for the clicks and clacks of lights, timing these was a lengthy process but it turned out well. I also took advantage of whooshing sounds to mimic the sound of the camera moves, this paired well with the theme of a car advert.
I used electrical noise and a heart beat to give the the video a sense of space. I really believe unlike the ident this needs to sutbly influence the visuals and the audio has no place to take over.
For the non linear portfolio peice i was able to work in my DAW of choice, I still struggle with using Mac as they have different key layout and short cuts but this was more likely than not a very good thing, It meant i had to focus on using the out of DAW equipment with the M-Audio oxygen pro49 coming in extremely handy. Its large array of mapable faders and pots gave for a very exiciting and intresting way of changing the music live. Because there was only 4 stem tracks avalible it allowed me to use them very experimentally, the original tracks where as follows
A piano track, isolated vocals, very clean drums, and a synth solo that only some of it make it into the original track, while my modified version had a total of 7 tracks in the mix. Mine contained the chopped vocal sample, a sample of the synth that i used as a bass peddle tone though out the track, piano samples, i used midi to sequence drum hits, a E-piano also pedaling one chord arpegiating randomly though, then finally the two separately chopped up synth that I used Abletons random setting on the arpegiator to then used this jaggered sound to become both a lead and a pad.
I then created a macro controller inside each instrument therefore I would be able to control each paramitor of the effects that I wanted at any given time. I took heavy advantage of this especially to pull the song away from its original instrumental style to create a psychedilic spacey sound, and then to push the effects back and bring it back to its softer and more cohiesive ending
These months coming up I will be working on a new album, this will be next semesters main project and I will primarily be focusing on post production and marketing of my most resently completed album and ep. I am going into this recording project building apon all forms of my prior work.
Starting in 2024 I was able to spend 4 days writing and recording an EP with my good friend ZJP, this was a collmenation of years of jaming so we focused on a rock agasent sound with most of the production being very simple and having just a balance of garage rock and light neo psychedelic style. Later in the year I began to focus on my electronic work this widened my production skills an incredible amount and I released an album
More resently over summer break i have been into folk music and i wanted to make some folk so ZJP and my self spent a long time writting and working on a short selection of songs, we later desided to put them along side some other rock songs we had written creating our eclectic unreleased album "What are we now" a quite funny name for an album thats only focus was about moving out of the country and in to a city. This combined with "ELIXIR" an collabritive electronic album heavely inspired by DJ Roswell and the album "NONE OF THIS IS REAL" that we started working on as mostly a joke as we got drunk in my room with 4 other friends. then later spending about 3 months working on the mix and production for more tracks, i hope to use the same fun and experimental vibe to this next project
Zach and myself have resently added someone new to the band, he is keen to play guitar with us, and will be joining us for the recording of the album. He is a very grounding force in the writting room and production wise as he has a very "old taste" in music; to say he doesnt like over production is an understatement. This will intoduce a new challenge and dynamic to the band
Instrumentaly i have composed acouple of ideas on guitar and piano, i am hoping to create songs with cohiesive yet evolving sounds through out, for example a folk acoustic song that slowly becomes a shoe gaze track, then a shoe gaze song that slowly gets more "kraut rock" and electronica elements switching from distorted guitar, smashing drums and pumping frettless bass to sparkily clean guitar hypnotic drum patterns and a 303 acid bass, each song i want to have a sonic switch and grow
This project will be advertised through documentry style videos of the process filmed on an old digi cam uploaded to tiktok, in studio preformances uploaded to yt, and a live prefromance at the end of the year just prior to the albums release
We will also be working with a close friend that ZJP and I wrote a metal EP with on the drums, he is extremely skilled and versitial as he also has played in jazz bands
For the albums art work myself and zach are visual artists but we will likely work with one of my other artists friends either Louis or Jack, they will work for commission but i will figure art out atleast after the recording is done
Ashley is also a film maker we have worked together on a music video for our electronic work, and he would be excited to work with us again on this.