Mp4

I got given great feedback from Hussein on my Mp4 track, He enjoyed how i combined both of our genres together to create this deep R&B/Trap mix.

He enjoyed how i made it into "British Trap" and compared it to a track made by R&B artist "Timberland"

This was great news as he was exited to hear what it would sound like after all the mixng 

XMas bangers

The first track i have chosen is Alex's (awful) one. His track began in a confusing but brilliant way. The first synth came in playing the original jingle with a click snare behind it, playing on the half beat. The next organ synth came in and began to play over it with high hats behind it. He also added a his own little bit which i though was great.

The second track i chose was Josh's which i also enjoyed. His track consisted of high pitch bells which was followed by a synth an then a piano. These three were working well an then a nice smooth synth lead played across changing the mood of the original one. And after two bars of the synth lead coming in the bells then switched and played an amazing final bar as it faded out. 

The third track i listened to was done by L.G.Beatz. His track was fairly simple but was a genre that i listen to alot. He began his piece with the original christmas jingle but in a bells form. He then brought in a choir playing the jingle aswell. He also added a familiar drum beat to me which is the young chop drum kit which consists of a snare drum kick drum abd high hats 

Tupacs track started with the basic jingle that everybody used until it's slightly faded out after teo bars. The synth was then I did in the with the high hats and then I kick drum was Added in. He also Added claps in but I felt that it took a bit too long to kick in. But when it had kicked in it was very catchy and i enjoyed it.

Daniels was pretty mad. It started from early with a synth organ and a snare at the beginning of every beat. The snare drums got Faster and faster until the kick happend which was built with odd bells

Kick drums and a tringle playing on each note of the bell. To be honest i didn't really enjoy it because of how mad it was.

My Skills review

Music Theory
At the start of the year I felt that i was not the most confident when it comes to music theory. I knew little about chords and came with the memory of 'Ragdesh'
When i had my first lesson with Philip i started to remember it bit by bit and at this moment o time i am very familiar with chord sequences and 'the circle of fifth's.

Composing

Composing is something that I feel I do well and is one of my best aspects in my opinion when it comes to music. When composing I often stick to one genre which is mainly chat on the phone my GCS the music I did pick two of those which was a world track and an R&B song. When composing, I have done what Cubase allthough most of my work is done on logic pro X which leads me on to...

Logic 

I feel that I am very confident on logic and being in class on Wednesday mornings and the rest of the time that focuses on the application helps me to discover new plug-ins, instruments and the ways of doing things quicker than I originally what I've done them. 

I do also feel that I help classmates out when needed and I am a reliable source when it comes to logic.

Dj'ing

Until this year I had never did it before and doing it in this college has actually been A brilliant experience and I feel that with a lot of practice and help from Phil I will be prepared for the concert. Learning new skills every week will actually really help me out for the future and I feel with my timing when it comes to music not punctuality unfortunately! I feel but I am pretty good with

Studio techniques

During the beginning classes. I did struggle when coming to remember the names of the mikes and how to set up properly because I am a producer I'm not a performer and that was all new to me but the new class that we have been putting another we are on a new subject I feel that I am pretty confident in the classes and I do know some of the answers which Grant gives us which are pretty hot to be honest.

Recording vocals

As some people may know I have been recording with Sonny and Taylor and Josh and some of the producer rooms because I do rap occasionally. We have recorded some vocals and they do sound pretty good to be honest LOL. But doing this I have learned how to edit the effects with Sonny but I'm sure that there is a lot more to learn about it and grants class and Phil's lesson will definitely help with this

Equipment 

Doing grants lesson and Olleys lesson every week helps me learn how to pack up treat the Equipment  with respect . Also when we were taught about how to plug in microphones, plug-in the MIDI keyboard and take apart the Mac and put it back together including the ethernet cable was and the main power of course.

Instruments

I do not actually playing instrument although Olleys lesson has helped me to learn many different things about playing the keys and for future I feel that buying the keyboard or even a piano would definitely benefit me and my work on music. For my GCSE music I did actually play the guitar although I am pretty shocking about you and have tried to forget the embarrassing memories of me believing that I lived the rockstar life!

Performance review

On the 28th if December i watched a local performance if Hannah Grazia at a local youth area.

When I went to see Hannah perform it felt involved in the performance as she was stood a few metres away from my seat. This was an amazing feature because she engaged me by making eye contact and i was actually also impressed with the way that the stage was arranged so that she was able to face everyone an occasionally pick out particular audience members. 

The lighting was dim of the set and there was a light that was controlled from above that followed her as she moved around the stage, which also reminds pf how well her actual movement was as in she would really try to involve everyone. 

Her voice was just perfect; the control she had, the notes she hit and the emotions she could portray by through the lyrics. I remember at one point that she had sung 'loving you', and the way she sung that was truly incredible. It was one of the opening songs and she was a but shaky and hadn't really found her form. She had a slight shakiness in her voice which in my opinion changed the whole atmosphere in the song. It created a completely different mood to it which was amazing.  

Her whole performance only lasted 35 minutes which was fairly disappointing   But whilst she was singing it was brilliant     

Evaluation

Evaluation

Overall progress
After the first half term i had increased my skills in Logic Pro X, My understanding of key signatures and my engineering skills have got allot better from what it was.
After the first term i had completed 5/9 studio quiz's but i corrected all of them including the ones that i had not completed.
I have struggled most with the theory and studio work because most of it is new to me, but if i focus on it and practice the work i will easily become good at it.
I am happy with my project because it is all completely to good enough quality in my opinion.

Technical skills
I have learnt allot over the recent months
Research

For both of my projects I reviewed Michael Jacksons album and highlighted the main things that I thought were influential which were the melodies, vocals and the order that the drums were organised. I was able to bring these individual techniques into both pieces by thoroughly listening and pin pointing what I could put into modern use. For instance the vocals on my second track were very similar to the vocals on a number on Michael's tracks on his album. I maybe could of replicated a melody of his, but by experimenting and playing around on the Steinway Piano I found a hook that fitted it perfectly.   

Gig review

I watched hanna grazia peform in Dulwich kingsdale. She performed a number of covers and also some original songs that she had created.

Allthough she is only 17, she controlled the stage impressively using techniques such as; eye contact, projecting her voice and interacting with the croud by using comedy at times which was quite interesting. 

Allthough she didn't have the best voice she made it a night to remember using Her personality and looks to be honest. 

 The lighting was very simple, it started off with the one main light aimed on her. 

She started off singing soul and as she progressed the lights became more adventurous and she became louder. 

Also the genre of what songs she was singing changed when she began to sing covers of 2000 r&b hits 

The dress code was also simple being a slim black dress and black trainers. This could have been just her choice of clothes, but i feel that it was a fashion statement to her performance. 

Her performance made me appreciate misè en scene when it comes to music. I noticed the lighting, props and how she dressed. I enjoyed the gig because of all of those features.