#dbsmusic

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Overcoming stress, depression and motivational issues

I often found myself struggling with stress and motivational issues, especially due to being in lockdown during the coronavirus pandemic which has heavily affected my mental health and has worsened my depression. I have found it very difficult to complete three modules at the same time and the stress I have taken in has been hugely overwhelming. I have felt times of wanting to give up and quit but I have pushed myself to continue. I also created a schedule to balance my time between modules which has helped me to spread out how long I spend on each unit. My dissertation has been a huge obstacle, being very time-consuming and has taken away much of the time I’d rather have spent doing this module. I tackled these challenges by spending all the time I wasn’t at work on my uni assignments and I also had many early nights and turned off my phone often to reduce the chance of distractions.

I have found it difficult completing this module with the responsibility of working 5 days a week all through the pandemic which has been a huge struggle for me. Starting at 5:00am and coming home to get straight on with work has really been a challenge for me and the tiredness I have experienced this year has been extremely draining. I have overcome these problems by keeping a positive, healthy mindset and by getting more sleep so my focus can be at its best for the completion of my coursework.

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Week 8 - 15/03/21

This week’s progress on my project involved the creation of my bandcamp album page. I have created an album for my EP that is available digitally on bandcamp at a price which I think is reasonable at £3.00 GBP. Album art has also been started which is available to view below. I created this artwork using https://pixlr.com/ which is a free online photo creator and editor and so is affordable and ethical as it is free to use and easy. The use of this website means I don’t have to pay out for more advanced editing software such as photoshop, keeping my product very low-budget.

I have also created the artwork for my first track, “Feelings”. Each track’s artwork will involve an image of each room focussed on for that track to show what the song is based on.

My first track which was based in my bedroom involves an image from my bedroom showing the type of environment the samples were recorded in which I think is a good idea for effective artwork for my product.

Charlie Barrell has provided me with midi files and vocal samples for use in my project which shows collaboration and industry engagement.

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Week 7 - 08/03/21

My EP product was developed this week and I made good progress with my track. I have manipulated many of my sounds and interpreted them into my track. Examples of some of the sounds I created can be found below.

I have recorded many various sounds from around my bedroom which will contribute to the construction and production of track 1 of the EP. Sounds can include door slamming to create a kick drum, tapping a desk to create percussion hits and other unique sounds that have been reversed, warped, time-stretched and transposed. Many creative results have been generated during the creation of this track and I have been able to successfully involve a range of new samples that contribute to the  objectives of the proposed product.

Further examples of sounds recorded and the processed versions of these samples are included in my project portfolio on google classroom.

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Week 6 - 01/03/21

During this week’s progress, I developed on the construction of track 1 and the manipulation of the recorded sounds. I have utilized many tools such as time-stretching, warping, repitching, downsampling and reversing functions. I have taken use of the different warp modes available as shown, including beat, texture, repitch, complex and pro. From my experimentation, each mode has came into use but is dependent on the sound that is being edited. For example, I have found the texture and repitch function really effective on unusual experimental sounds and percussive elements and have found vocals to be much smoother when using complex pro. This is a new feature to me so is something I have learnt for future production use and it has become very handy for my product. The sites below have allowed me to familiarize myself with the different modes and have been a highly useful research material. Researching these methods of time-stretching has also taught me more about warping and has influenced the experimentation of many more sounds in my tracks.

https://liveproducersonline.com/archives/ufaqs/what-are-ableton-warp-modes

https://patches.zone/warping-ableton-live

The selection of different warp modes are shown above.

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Week 5 - 22/02/21

This week involved the continuation of recording sounds around the house. I gained inspiration from YouTube videos and tutorials that influenced me to take the ideas gathered and interpret them in my own way. I found the research of other professional’s work very effective as it allowed me to create a foundation for my project. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UXvIMi5Sa_k&ab_channel=B%27Rowen https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=idPsH42sPt0&ab_channel=MonFloralGarden

I am aware that YouTube videos won’t give a very comprehensive and in depth collection of research to take away compared to other sources such as forums or production websites, but I find they offer a way to establish techniques and build on my creativity. I have found them very useful towards constructing my sounds and projects.

I have now gathered a complete selection of recordings from my bedroom which will be used in the first track. They are shown in a folder below and I have utilized the sounds for the rhythmic parts of my track. I have found the selection of items to record less significant in a bedroom as opposed to a kitchen, for example. This is due to the limited range of sounds that are available in a bedroom. The kitchen offers much more items to include in my work, which will be used in track 2.

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Week 3 - 08/02/21

From this week, I started the production process on my product. I started to lay out my tracks and create fundamental ideas for each track. In doing this, I got some main ideas and concepts down in each Live project and started to work on some melodies using my own original presets and sounds. Regardless with the fact that my product is all about sample recording and sound manipulation within my musical pieces, I will still allow myself to utilize presets and synth ensembles to construct the style of music I want and to specify each track’s genre. This also allows me to meet my product’s aims by creating music within the house/dance genre. If I was just to use all samples, I believe I would struggle melodically and would find it difficult to grab attention from any distribution companies or labels for release. I think it is vital, I get a prominent, main sound fixed within the mix to define my track and give it purpose. Of course, samples will also be used, but I have chosen to use them more rhythmically, than melodically. I also aim to experiment with these recorded samples to see what I can do with them and what I can get from them. I now have all three songs on the go and throughout the week, I will continue working on these. For the following weeks, I aim to start bringing the tracks together and working on them more to a point where they are almost ready for mixing and mastering. I also would like to start some collaborative work and get some ideas and influence from another producer’s point of view which will help me build upon and finalize my tracks.

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Week 2 - 01/02/21

Today, I had a look into a method of distribution for my E.P. I was recommended this by Josh Hayes during a breakout exercise during the lecture. It has grabbed my attention because spotify is a great place to grow as an artist and is very popular worldwide. I have taken the time to research more into this service and have identified that you can pitch an unreleased track to spotify in the attempt to get a release on their platform. This can be accompanied by promotion on social media to build a following. This is an idea I will take into mind but will also have back up plans to fall back on if this method is not successful. I have other services such as bandcamp and Distrokid that I will be researching in the coming weeks to see if my E.P. will be suitable for release. In the next coming weeks I am also going to be working on my E.P. and creating more tracks to go towards my final product. I am hoping to focus on more production work in the next few weeks before I look further into distribution but will be building on my research at the same time as producing my music.

[sammywightman]

dBs Music Plymouth

dBs Music in Plymouth is an amazing place to study as a student.  

Why not have a look at the website and check it out.

https://www.dbsmusic.co.uk/plymouth