My composition so far
Song1
Song1
24/09/15 Style: the style of my song is EDM
and this can be seen with the elements such as build ups before a heavy
reverbed melody on the chorus. 5/10/15 The song will begin and end with a 125bpm beat
so it can also be easily used for mixing as well as its primary purpose which
is dancing. The main melody will be catchy and repetitive. 12/10/15 It will follow a
simple 4/4 beat pattern throughout the song and will be prominent during the buildup and chorus. It will follow the main characteristics of edm music but may have a few extras added for the purpose of originality.
Inspiration from other artists
5/10/15A lot of inspiration from other artists were taken during the making of this song. The song was bassed around the sounds produced by edm producers Avicii, and Alesso thus the melody as well as the general structure of the song will follow the conventions of their music.19/10/15 Other edm music from artists such as Martin garrix gave me a lot of inspiration, his buildups which have a very original structure gave me some great ideas as to how I could structure my buildups. 26/10/15 I spent half the lesson just listening to alesso, trying to figure out the melodies he was using in his music.
Melody
2/11/15 The melody is simple and most of
the song revolves around it. The main
chorus is played during the melody and during the intro exit of the song. An Arp
currently on D is played during the verse. It will be very repetitive as to
provide a good hook and entrap the listener. It will be played as smooth as
possible with many effects being used to maximise this 9/11/15 I added some reverb which will add fluency to the note transitions. 08/02/2016 Layering has been used to great extent and detail to allow even smoother note transition as well as a softer more fluid note sound, following the main characteristic of melodies in EDM. 07/03/2016 The main melody will play quitely during the buildup of the chorus and will cut out temporarily when the bass strikes, before blasting out in the chorus.
Chord Progression
9/11/15Used primarily on the Arp during
the build-up of each verse. DDCG is the current chord progression. Still
debating with other chords, I want something powerful and upbeat to add to the
positive dance factor. 16/11/15 Chords are now G, C add 9, G, Dsus4 The chords will move and progress quickly almost to the point in which is begins to sound like a melody or even a short arp. These 4 chords will also play slowly through various parts of the song as proper chord progressions do, through parts such as the main verse and the final chorus drop fading out at the end of the song, a similar effect to Coldplay's "sky full of stars"24/11/15 Chord progressions played as 4/4 riffs will be played during the verse and at the moment are suited to d,f,g,e but are highly subject to change.
Lyrics
No lyrics have been finalised, but
will be based off a similar pattern to Avicii’s “Dear boy” it may not have
lyrics if I can't find anyone to sing for me but if this is the case then I will
forge a new layer of melody playing the sound of the lyrics and then will write
the lyrics down separately. Im also still not 100% sure on the subject the lyrics will be on but i know that it will be written in fairly short lines with the last word of each line ending with heavy reverb, on the final line of each verse it will end in strong reverb, gradually fading out into the arp.
Bassline
15/02/2016The Bassline will not play during
the melody and is mainly just there for the verses. It will overlap the Arps
and possibly have a slower chord progression as well.22/02/2016 The synth used will be
much less sharp than the main melody and will produce a sound somewhat similar
to the melody in avicii’s songs but just slightly less sharp.29/02/2016 The bassline will not be extremely or directly noticeable as it will blend seamlessly with the rest of the song parts because of its fluency which will bring the same effect of the melody. 08/03/2016 I decided that the Bassline would be a combination of other melodies I had used used, and just simply layered.
Rhythm
Drums are played in a steady 4/4
and will drop out completely during each break of the song. A mix of percussion
will form a riff that can be used at the start and end of the song which will
enable the song to be mixed with others. There will be a smooth, but still ever
so slightly sharp sound to the drums etc.. forging a bond between dance and
techno. It will however still retain the fundamental characteristics of EDM with very smooth fluency which is prominent within all parts of the song at all stages. The rhytym must be kept simple and this simplicity must be maintained throughout the song as it is very conventional and popular among young people, which the song will be aimed at. 08/02/2016 I have decided I probably won't include drums during the verse which is going to create a reverbed but relaxed feel. 11/04/2016 I added a drum pattern that builds up just before the chorus.
Verse Melody
12/01/2016 added a verse melody which is essentially just a 3 note progression with the 4th note being a low F and then a high F so the melody follows- A,#A,B A,#A,B A# A,#A,B F
A,#A,B A,#A,B A# A,#A,B F(next octave) this will play with the chord progression which I may acctualy now change to meet these notes as I feel it might give a horrible note contrast, I will experiment with this as well as other chords progressions. I am also thinking of adding a small arp to play in the background just to add a bit of tone to the verse, the verse will be divided into 2 parts, in the second part reverb and the arp will be added. 08/02/2016 I acctually made a new verse melody incorporating a kind of euro-dance style feel, but fits the piece perfectly. It is much simpler and is just 16/4 note pattern using d,f,g,e i think. 07/03/2016 I will need to perform some editing as it is acctualy slightly too fast for my song which is in 125bpm, but I think this riff is in around 130-40
Bridge
12/01/2016 This will play after the second chorus and will act as an almost mashup of all aspects of the rest of the song. It will have around 4 lines and will fade out on the last line, fading into the build up which will be fairly simple- just drum riffs with the possibility of a few chords as well. Just as the buildup breaks into the chorus there will be a drum riff of about 2-4 bars in the style of martin garrix, the 4/4 drum riff will cut out on this part to really emphasise how powerful the actual chorus will sound. 08/2/2016 I actually changed the bridge today to the chorus riff in the remix of the song "if I lose myself" originally by One Republic and remixed by alesso. 22/02/16 I have taken the chorus riff which actually plays quietly during the bridge of this song, and then I turned the notes into a 4/4 pattern. 07/03/2016 I am also going to add a constant note (probably D) which will layer over the bridge, also in 4/4.
How It Went
I think year 10 went well, however I should have done more research into the foundations or building blocks of music (e.g. how to read music) before I actually started my composition, so that I wasn't having to stop halfway through to research or read up on something. This also applies to the mastering work that I did after I had finished my composition. I would also would have liked a better understanding of how to use the software (FL Studio) to do more complex manipulations of my music in order to get small buildups and breaks for example. I am happy with the actual outcome of the composition and I think it sounds good.
Song2
4/4/16 Used this session to work on some new ideas for a song, I experimented using the same notes as before but wanted a slightly different change of tempo and pace. I experimented with tempos ranging from 90-130.
11/4/16 I drew up the basic note pattern as well as adding a 4/4 beat throughout some parts of the song.
18/4/16 I decided that the note pattern I worked on last week would format the main melody of the song and would make up a sort of chorus that would play inbetween variations of the notes that were used for this.
25/4/16 Worked on the bridge and buildup today which was fairly straight forward. I used drums which increased in dynamics slightly as well as layered well with some smooth string bassed synths that I plan to use in other parts of the song. I did some work on the ending which is just the chorus with the all of the synths layered too produce a nice smooth and satisfying ending.
2/5/16 Compiled the song into a basic simple structure with 3 main parts, as well as creating a bassline that runs through some parts of the song, although I chose not to have it running constantly so that the song sounds more interesting when it does kick in
9/5/16 Finished the general structure of the song today with plans to upload it to FL studio after or during the holidays so that it can be exported in optimal quality as well as giving me the chance to master it and make some final changes to reverb and echo effects to give it a more electronic feel.
23/5/16 Finished writing up the song on FL studio, it sounded good now all the elements had come together and I was happy the song was now Completed.
song3
30/5/16 Started to work on my 3rd song, I am enjoying using the notes and chords that I have used in my past song so I decided to use these again as I am familiar with their sounds and how they work together.
6/6/16 I gave the song another slow pace to start with Using around 90bpm I firstly got to work on a good main melody which was made using the harmless synth plugin which I experimented using to get a similar sound as to my previous song but with more electronic feel, so I gave it less deep and prevolent echo and more smooth reverb which made the tone slightly sharper and more like that of the electronic genre.
13/6/16 Spent the lesson experimenting using garage band and a midi keyboard, I came up with some more melodies that I will add in to change the pace a little and give the song more variety, thus making it more interesting to the audience.
20/6/16 Had a blog lesson today in which I wrote some large chunks on music style development as well as doing some more research into in the minimalist electronica genre so that I could get a better idea of the conventions of it and how I could apply this to my music to make it more appealing.
27/6/16 Researched buildups and bridges today and how to make good ones on fl studio as well as garage band, I noted this down so that I could practise it at home and apply it to my song at a later date.
4/7/16 I used the lesson to apply my work and research on buildups and the transition into the chorus I practised it on garage band so I had a good idea of how to implement it next week at home.
11/7/16 Uploaded all my work to FL studio where I arranged it into an order that I Liked and was enjoyable to listen to. The mastering was fairly easy as there weren't any parts of the tone and general sound that I was unhappy with.
Song 4
5/9/16 I again decided straight away to use the same notes as my past 2 songs but now I had a much greater understanding of music, I would be able to make much more use of them. I also upped the tempo much higher this time to give the song more energy and feel to it.
12/9/16 I started with a basic decension of notes, which I layered as the song proggressed with a variety of synths all starting off with the harmless plugin and many being variations of the preset arpinator SF which I liked a lot, found it fitted my style and I could get the sound I wanted with minimal alterations to the outputed sound.
19/9/16 I decided to add a constant driving 4/4 beat through most of the song to bring in that element of house which would make the song more appealing to people.
26/9/16 Had a computer lesson today where I worked on my blog as well as some more research and development of my music style blog page.
3/10/16 I added in a nice chord proggression today which was very simple and was simply just the notes that made up the melody layered over 3 octaves and then reverbed so they fitted in nicely and sounded great.
10/10/16 Had another computer lesson today, in which I further added to my composition progress blog as well as listening and doing some more research into both the house music and minimalist electronica genres.
17/10/16 Played around with some more melodies and ideas today, experimenting with different notes and chord progressions, but I did not like the way they sounded and felt that they did not fit in very well so ultimately I chose not to add in these new ideas and to possibly save them for a later composition.
7/11/16 Wrote up the song onto FL studio today, the structure was simple as I wanted to keep that minimalist element to it, so that it sounded great and was also easy to listen to as I felt this fitted the brief best of all.
14/11/16 Spent this day at home mastering the song, I spent a long while trying to get the perfect balance of reverb and echoing sounds while not compromising the main sounds of the melody or making it sound excessively reverbed which can sound very unpleasant when played loudly through large speakers at an event such as an awards ceremony hall which is where the brief specified it would be played.
21/11/16 Used this session to work on some new ideas for a song, I experimented using the same notes That I had used for my first and second songs.
5/12/16 Made a simple riff on garage band which i wrote down so I could easily write it up again on fl studio.
12/12/16 Wrote up the song on fl studio, layered it in 3 different channels using the harmless synth, and then started making the bass riff. This was very simple and consisted of the same notes used in the main melody, just arranged differently
9/1/17 Now i had the main melody and bass line, I did some arranging and phrasing. I realised I would need another variation in melody and decided I would do this in the lesson tomorrow.
10/1/17 Did some more work on the phrasing of the song today as well as making some bridges by changing the structure and arrangement of the main melody.
16/1/17 Spent this lesson experimenting with a midi keyboard. I did come up with some melodies and sounds that I liked, but in the end I decided to just Leave the composition as it is and instead focus on the arrangement and mastering process.
24/1/17 Did more work on the blog today, writing up progress with songs as well as reviewing the unit 208 power point which is almost complete.
30/1/17 Finalised some blog pieces today and then did a little music mastering on fl studio. I considered using landr to speed up the process but instead opted to do it manually.
31/1/17 Finished mastering the song, exported the file and made sure it sounded nice.
11/4/16 I drew up the basic note pattern as well as adding a 4/4 beat throughout some parts of the song.
18/4/16 I decided that the note pattern I worked on last week would format the main melody of the song and would make up a sort of chorus that would play inbetween variations of the notes that were used for this.
25/4/16 Worked on the bridge and buildup today which was fairly straight forward. I used drums which increased in dynamics slightly as well as layered well with some smooth string bassed synths that I plan to use in other parts of the song. I did some work on the ending which is just the chorus with the all of the synths layered too produce a nice smooth and satisfying ending.
2/5/16 Compiled the song into a basic simple structure with 3 main parts, as well as creating a bassline that runs through some parts of the song, although I chose not to have it running constantly so that the song sounds more interesting when it does kick in
9/5/16 Finished the general structure of the song today with plans to upload it to FL studio after or during the holidays so that it can be exported in optimal quality as well as giving me the chance to master it and make some final changes to reverb and echo effects to give it a more electronic feel.
23/5/16 Finished writing up the song on FL studio, it sounded good now all the elements had come together and I was happy the song was now Completed.
song3
30/5/16 Started to work on my 3rd song, I am enjoying using the notes and chords that I have used in my past song so I decided to use these again as I am familiar with their sounds and how they work together.
6/6/16 I gave the song another slow pace to start with Using around 90bpm I firstly got to work on a good main melody which was made using the harmless synth plugin which I experimented using to get a similar sound as to my previous song but with more electronic feel, so I gave it less deep and prevolent echo and more smooth reverb which made the tone slightly sharper and more like that of the electronic genre.
13/6/16 Spent the lesson experimenting using garage band and a midi keyboard, I came up with some more melodies that I will add in to change the pace a little and give the song more variety, thus making it more interesting to the audience.
20/6/16 Had a blog lesson today in which I wrote some large chunks on music style development as well as doing some more research into in the minimalist electronica genre so that I could get a better idea of the conventions of it and how I could apply this to my music to make it more appealing.
27/6/16 Researched buildups and bridges today and how to make good ones on fl studio as well as garage band, I noted this down so that I could practise it at home and apply it to my song at a later date.
4/7/16 I used the lesson to apply my work and research on buildups and the transition into the chorus I practised it on garage band so I had a good idea of how to implement it next week at home.
11/7/16 Uploaded all my work to FL studio where I arranged it into an order that I Liked and was enjoyable to listen to. The mastering was fairly easy as there weren't any parts of the tone and general sound that I was unhappy with.
Song 4
5/9/16 I again decided straight away to use the same notes as my past 2 songs but now I had a much greater understanding of music, I would be able to make much more use of them. I also upped the tempo much higher this time to give the song more energy and feel to it.
12/9/16 I started with a basic decension of notes, which I layered as the song proggressed with a variety of synths all starting off with the harmless plugin and many being variations of the preset arpinator SF which I liked a lot, found it fitted my style and I could get the sound I wanted with minimal alterations to the outputed sound.
19/9/16 I decided to add a constant driving 4/4 beat through most of the song to bring in that element of house which would make the song more appealing to people.
26/9/16 Had a computer lesson today where I worked on my blog as well as some more research and development of my music style blog page.
3/10/16 I added in a nice chord proggression today which was very simple and was simply just the notes that made up the melody layered over 3 octaves and then reverbed so they fitted in nicely and sounded great.
10/10/16 Had another computer lesson today, in which I further added to my composition progress blog as well as listening and doing some more research into both the house music and minimalist electronica genres.
17/10/16 Played around with some more melodies and ideas today, experimenting with different notes and chord progressions, but I did not like the way they sounded and felt that they did not fit in very well so ultimately I chose not to add in these new ideas and to possibly save them for a later composition.
7/11/16 Wrote up the song onto FL studio today, the structure was simple as I wanted to keep that minimalist element to it, so that it sounded great and was also easy to listen to as I felt this fitted the brief best of all.
14/11/16 Spent this day at home mastering the song, I spent a long while trying to get the perfect balance of reverb and echoing sounds while not compromising the main sounds of the melody or making it sound excessively reverbed which can sound very unpleasant when played loudly through large speakers at an event such as an awards ceremony hall which is where the brief specified it would be played.
21/11/16 Used this session to work on some new ideas for a song, I experimented using the same notes That I had used for my first and second songs.
5/12/16 Made a simple riff on garage band which i wrote down so I could easily write it up again on fl studio.
12/12/16 Wrote up the song on fl studio, layered it in 3 different channels using the harmless synth, and then started making the bass riff. This was very simple and consisted of the same notes used in the main melody, just arranged differently
9/1/17 Now i had the main melody and bass line, I did some arranging and phrasing. I realised I would need another variation in melody and decided I would do this in the lesson tomorrow.
10/1/17 Did some more work on the phrasing of the song today as well as making some bridges by changing the structure and arrangement of the main melody.
16/1/17 Spent this lesson experimenting with a midi keyboard. I did come up with some melodies and sounds that I liked, but in the end I decided to just Leave the composition as it is and instead focus on the arrangement and mastering process.
24/1/17 Did more work on the blog today, writing up progress with songs as well as reviewing the unit 208 power point which is almost complete.
30/1/17 Finalised some blog pieces today and then did a little music mastering on fl studio. I considered using landr to speed up the process but instead opted to do it manually.
31/1/17 Finished mastering the song, exported the file and made sure it sounded nice.
Radley, you have done a very good job of describing your piece. What do you mean by the word 'Arp'("An Arp currently on D is played during the verse"). Do you mean Arpeggio? I like you compare the fading out at the end of your piece to Coldplay's "Sky full of stars". Why did you choose to not play the bassline during the melody? Is it for a contrasting effect?
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