Goals

Plan: 

• Apply for BIMM. Get on the Electronic Music Production course. 

• Become more familiar with multiple DAWs and studio setups.

• Practice

Outcome:

My time at BIMM has helped me improve my music in some areas and has helped me familiarise myself with a professional studio setups. However I wish I went for a songwriting and production course to help me work on lyrics too.

The majority of practical techniques I've learned during my time at BIMM  have been through Youtube. Which is what I would recommend over university for anyone who is trying to improve their own music production. 

I got a degree, but that doesn't help production!

Plan:

• Try different microphones and mic-setups 

• Use software and hardware to process vocals 

Outcome:

After many attempts I finally found a method that I liked for my style. However I wish to refine this as my technique is overly complicated. 

I used a two mic setup. One clean from the mic to interface and DAW. And the other running from mic- through a TC-Helicon vocal processor- interface and then DAW. 

Each microphone is processed differently in my DAW using various techniques learned over time, and then I blend them together. 

This works fine, but it's very time consuming and resource heavy. I have a new vocal processor that automatically blends a clean signal with it's processed. My next plan is to try and use this with a single microphone, recording just one vocal track and refining my processing methods to achieve the aesthetic I want with halve the work and CPU usage. 

I am currently working on a slightly different approach to my vocals and hopefully land on something I feel is definately MY sound. I will have to reach out and work with other producers to help me find this. 

Plan:

• Produce an EP with songs worked on from before my time at BIMM to the final year to show any improvment

• Apply techniques learned throughout to acheive professional quality audio and recordings suited to my aesthetic

Outcome:

I was relatively happy with the outcome of my EP MyMask. It was the best quality music I have produced to date. However I am a little disappointed too. I feel like I still need to find the correct vocal technique for my style (as mentioned in the outcome of Goal 2). On top of that, the one thing I hear the most is "less is more" which is something I struggle with. I tend to over produce or add too many elements, which although I like, I think takeaway from my intial goal. I was happy with the song Am I Ill? as this was once of my most minimilist songs and one of my favourites, 

I have several songs in the works which I plan to work on once I finish uni. I will take what I've learned from this EP to try my best to improve for my next single and make up for the time I lost.

Plan:

• Create moodboards

• Write narrative

• Complete story board and shot list

• Work out locations and equipment

• Find dancers 

Outcome:

Not yet completed. Progress so far: I have chosen a song to produce my first music video for: True Hate. It is one of my darkest songs. I have produced mood boards and been location hunting. I have produced a story board and shot list with all equipment in mind. 

The idea is to contrast the dark with some beauty, showcase the internal struggle of hate and love. I will be using ballet dancers for this contrast and i have a narrative in place to follow the song. 

I have dancers lined up and waiting on choreography before proceeding. I am a little nervous about this as I'm struggling to visualise it completed. But I'm very excited and hope to complete this. 

So far I'm waiting on the dancers which has slowed down the planning by a month already. As well as this i only have one camera operator and two cameras to use. I also require another person for the main plot line of the story and may need a third camera. 

I will be using a 360 camera for some interesting shots and to minimise takes by being able to adjust the viewing angle in post. However 360 cameras are not great in low-light settings and the entire video is shot at night. The other camera I have is a high quality trail camera, which is great for low-light but has no stabilisation as its intended for stationary use. 

We will see what happens with this and how to overcome issues as we go. Updates on the progress will be made to my music video page. 

The footage has now all been filmed. I had such a great team to work with. Unfortunately the video editing side has been quite the letdown with unreliable help. So I now have to teach myself how to use adobe aftereffects and premier to attempt to do it myself. 

Plan: 

• Perform in front of 1 person

• Perform in front of a small group

• Perform on stage in public.

Outcome:

Not yet completed. Progress so far: I have performed in front of one person. This is a difficult goal for me to complete. I am incredibly  nervous about performing on stage. I'm not sure if I'll be good enough and one thing I have learned is: never wait until I feel "ready". I think this is something I just have to jump in and do. By the end of 2024 I plan to perform live. Even if I'm shit, it will be a huge moment for me in doing something I didn't think possible.....*fingers crossed*

Plan:

• Produce a song or EP with another artist and/or producer

With my progress so far I feel like I would benefit from having a producer to collab with. To polish my tracks and help me achieve my full potential. Also to exchange ideas and learn from each other to improve our works. 

As well as that I would like experience working with others in a studio setting. 

I have also felt some of my lyrics I'm proud of would work better as a feature instead of a whole song. Not to mention the experience of working with others which is vital in the music industry and not something I've had the chance to do first hand. 

I am currently collaborating with Lucy Dunn for my True Hate music video and Loreleix on a track in progress which will be continued after I'm finished with university.

Outcome:

Not yet completed. Check my music video page for progress on the True Hate video. 

Plan:

• Find a sample game online or within Wwise and create audio for every aspect to a professional standard

• Create my own game

• Work on game audio professionally?

Outcome:

Not yet completed. Progress so far: I have completed the Wwise 101 lessons and produced audio for a game for one of my assessments  at uni.

I want to use one of the free sample games available online to produce audio from the music to SFX in my own style to go with it and see the results.

Once done I will post a video showing my work. And then move on to potentially creating my own mini game which has always been a dream of mine to do. Maybe leading onto building my first app. 

The hope is to be able to work on game audio professionally in the future. Whether full time or on the side I'm unsure yet. But Wwise is powerful software and something I found fascinating to use.