Christina Harris : 2013

Monday, 10 June 2013

Finding Faults

Finding Faults

Beatles - yer blues

RECORDING

The mix is poorly done as the levels are not balanced well, also the panning of the instruments such as the 3electric guitar, it sounded very far away.
At the beginning of the piece, The bass guitar is very loud and overpowering, it cancels out the vocals. The strings on the bass were plucked to hard which gave a very trebbley sound which sounded uneasy on the ear.

PERFORMANCE
The bass drum is almost none existent as it is very faint and not prominent, this is due to the lack of mic'ing up the kit correctly or having the microphone a long distance away from the bass drum.
There are numerous aspects of the drum which can be improved, the faint bass drum, the unclean ride symbol and the snare drum which is loose and has reverb on it, creating a very rough sound.

The Guitar was constantly giving feedback as you can hear in the recording, this could have been easily erased and gated off on a recording software yet is was left in the recording.

love - you set the scene

PERFORMANCE

Due to the guitar being acoustic and slightly out of tune, the steel strings clash against the wooden fret, creating a rustic uneven strum pattern. The acoustic guitar was recorded with of a microphone instead of a pre-amp or interface for an acoustic sound. you can hear the high frequencies on the acoustic guitar instead of the whole mid, high and low frequencies.

RECORDING
The balance is very uneven, the bass guitar is panned to the right and the acoustic guitar is panned to the left, simultaneously its is very dissonant on the ear, this can be solved my mixing and balancing them so they levelled creating an even sound. The vocalist tone was very mellow and seemed to not be trying very much

As a whole the mixing was just terrible it was very mono tone, everything was on one level and too compressed to have any dimension

weird war - I live in a dream

PERFORMANCE

The guitar which is playing an octave higher from the other guitar is very painful to hear is it has played the incorrect notes on numerous of occasions, this could be improved if the musician leaned the parts and tuned the instrument.

RECORDING

The vocals are very quiet is has been drowned out by the instruments. This can be fixed by turning down the instruments or turning up the microphone on the vocals.

There is alot of reverb on the vocals, the lead vocals is unclear as the reverb has muffled the words making them indistinguishable, also I suggest a better microphone to pick up the different ranges of his vocals.

Drum kit is mic'd up well but is mixed too loud, the high hat ,Symbols and bass is so prominent.

Friday, 7 June 2013

Unit 16 Music & society: Event accounts

Music in society: Event accounts

The summer gig consisted of 4 sets during a 2 day period. As a team we were knowledgeable of the summer gig and all the preparation needed. We were told we had to plan the event and was allocated roles in which we had to work on as a team and in some cases individually. We held small meetings months in advanced to prepare for the gig, choosing songs for the set and rehearsing them in lesson and in our spare time. We decided on the dress code and the order of the set list. We all agreed on a name for the show, which was 'Signed'. These little meetings were really pivotal as they built the foundations therefore we could work from them to deliver a great gig. We were assisted by the L3 production class, which did the sound engineering.

Planning

The roles involved in order for the gig to successful are as followed.

The Sound engineers (level 3 music production) they handled the technical side of things,they were being assessed so we had to be patient. In preparation for the gig, the engineers had to set up all the equipment, all the hardware, including the microphones, mixing and balancing them to get them ready for the musicians and the artists. There were many sound checks as each song had to be balanced. I thought they did a great job as the sound side of things sounded great and they were very helpful as a team.

The Artists/Musicians (Paige, amber,Bea, Sinai, Daniella, Shevelle, John, Josh, Roy and I ) we were responsible for delivering a great performance. In preparation We were constantly rehearsing the set, also the musicians had to practise their instruments.
However we took it in our stride and we delivered a great performance.

The Stage managers (Josh and Shevelle) made sure people know where they are supposed to be on the stage at the appropriate times, reassuring them of their tasks.

The Bartenders (Amber, Sinai, Roy) they served the drinks , alcoholic and also non-alcoholic throughout the the night. The bar got Busy during the interval as there was a large sum of people wanting beverages so we were constantly having to restock. This is a very tedious job but was made easier as they didn't have to handle the money side of things. They could accepted the tokes Which was purchased for the box office in exchange of a drink.

The Visuals/Lighting engineers (Christina, Sinai and john) Sinai and I were responsible for asking class members what visuals the wanted for their songs. Weeks before the Gig as a team Sinai and I sat down and individually asked each artist what lighting, smoke machine, props and backdrop they desired. We explained the choices of colour and spotlight options, after discussing this with them. I uploaded the information to the blog where Chloe passed it on to the visuals planner and magic was made.
http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1430931558441299266#editor/target=post;postID=1627793080723915756;onPublishedMenu=allposts;onClosedMenu=allposts;postNum=11;src=postname

John was in charge of creating the poster, this is a job which required a creative mind. John had a great idea of making us sign our signature on individual pieces of paper and embed it onto the pre-made poster, which creating a beautiful collage of signatures. We put up the posters around the college trying to promote the gig in hope of out fellow student to attend

The Promoters (Roy and Bea) had to promote the gig, getting as many people interested as they can, they did this by shouting about it via social networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter and blogger, we also put up posters around the college, another promotion techniques is to talk to people, spreading the news trough word of mouth to family and friends.
https://www.facebook.com/events/135684696623332/permalink/139843346207467/

The Box office workers (Christina, Paige and L3 production) was incharged of selling tickets to the costumers, they also sold drink tokens to the customers so they could get drinks at the bar. Money was involved so we had to pay attention. We recieved a float, a guest list, and drink tiokens and a tally chart as we were to chart the income. Being on the box office was very stressful as a stream of constant customers were gushing in purchasing tickets, Also during the interval there was a large amount of people coming to purchase drink tokens so it was very busy.

The Roadies (Roy, Josh, and I) helped the band unload their vans we also help setup and reload the trucks after the gig. we had pervious experience setting up equipment so this job was very easy. They were really nice people so it was nice to work with them and get the experience of witnessing how things are set up and how heavy the equipment is.The band really appreciated this help and text our teacher to tell us their appreciation.

The DJ's (Josh and L3 production) were in charge of setting up the turntables and the mac computer in the spot. they are trained DJ's so good music was expected and they delivered.They supplying the audience with music before, during the interval and after the gig.

Summary
The set list was constantly upgrading, acts were cut and tensions were high. We all tried our best to deliver a great performance. As a team we all pulled together to put on a great show which was enjoyed by the audience as we received great feedback.

The pros of the gig was the turn out, the promoters did a great job getting people there, putting westkingmusic on the map. Due to them we wear able to profit for the gig. The artists and musicians were excellent performing to the best of their abilities. The Dj's did a great job setting the scene for everyone,as were in a good mind set, audience and performers. The DJ's played in the interlude, the music played a huge part on everyones attitude as people were enjoying themselves which meant purchasing drink tokens which benefited us.

The cons of the gig was the guitars not being in tune, If we were to redo the gig to make it better as a whole i would, buy extra drinks in advanced so that were not constantly running the corner shop purchasing beer, however we wernt to know the turn out. Also I would hire a musician to tune the guitar after each song.

Due to all the planning in advanced I felt that the gig was a success a saw how adapted quickly to the different layout of the stage as there was 2 stages, an acoustic stage accommodating the acoustic songs and the main stage were the big live bands performed. We organised the set list very well as it was like a story from the uplifting 'lockied out of heaven' at start the gig to the acoustic stage 'Lost soul' and finally the Erase me, an uplifting reggae song. There was a range of genre which made the set enjoyable for the audience and also the performers.

BY Christina Harris

Music & society: The budget

THE BUDGET

Tuesday 21/05/13 (FIRST SHOW)

10 x full price tickets at £6 each - 10 x 6 = £ 60

17 advance tickets at £5 each - 17 x 5 = £ 85

Guest list at free 13 x 0 = £ 00

Students at free 0 x 0 = £ 0

DRINK SALES on Tuesday 21/05/13

33 beer/wine/juice at £1.50 each - 33 x 1.50 = £ 49.50

DEDUCTIONS

Band fees (£60/£40)-£100

Ice, fruit juice- £7

TOTAL AFTER DEDUCTIONS £87.50

Wednesday 22/05/13 (SECOND SHOW)
0 X tickets sold as it was a free show
14 x beer/wine/juice at £1 each 14 x 1 = £14

(sale due to audience was mainly students)

TOTAL SALES £14

TICKET SALES Thursday 23/05/13 (THIRD SHOW)
36 x full price tickets at £6 each - 36 x 6 = £ 216
7 x advance tickets at £5 each 7 x 5 = £ 35
8 x guest list at £0 each 8 x 0 = £ 0
2 x students at free 2 x 0 = £ 0
36 beer/wine at £1.50 each 36 x 1.50 = £ 54
9 juice at £1 each 9 x 1 = £ 9

OVER ALL TICKETS+DRINKS SALEs £314

DEDUCTIONS

band fees: £160 (£80 per band) £160
extra bar stock £64.49

PROFIT £89.51

TOTAL PROFIT FROM ALL GIGS
£87.50 + £14 + £89.50
TOTAL £191.01

Total Bar Epediture over three nights:
Beer: (30 units bought in) 30 x £1 = £30
Wine: (4.67 units bought in) 4.67 x £6.99 = £32.71
Ice: (3 units bought in) 3 x £0.89 = £ 2.67
Fruit Juice: (5 units bought in) 5 x £1.22 = £ 6.11
Total: £ 71.49

The bar was supplied with drinks so there was no need to purchase as there was stock. For the first two nights, the bar stock was already purchese so there is no need for deductions. However, on night 3 we ran out of drinks rappidly. and had to restock. It was defiantly worth having a bar as we made such a huge profit selling the drinks so cheap at £1.50 and £1, we purchased the drinks in bulk was so cheap at £0.33, this means that it is more likely for people to purchase more than one. The bar was very busy (especially in the interval) as people were constantly purchasing drink tokens. I felt that we were meeting the needs of the consumers by supplying drinks at the gig as made a worth while profit at the end. There was a slight problem as we ran out of Drinks on numerous occasions as the customers were purchasing them so often, this was anticipated as the turn out wasgreat and as the drinks were so cheap.

The stock 

(Beer bought) Per Bottle: £0.33
(Beer sold) Per Bottle: £1.50
PROFIT Per Bottle: £1.17

(Wine Bottle) Per Bottle £6.99

(Wine Bottle) Per Cup £1.50

On Tuesday we found that there was more tickets being sold online than at the door, this shows that people are purchasing tickets online more and more so for future reference selling tickets online is the way to go. There was a also a discount being on the guest list and every one loves a discount so people purchased online.

I Think that band fees were fair, as they were a great band and they delivered a great performance and even though it dented the overall sales it was worth it as without their fans we would have sold few little tickets and would probably be bankrupt.

The audience was aimed at anyone that enjoyed their style of music which was post-rock, experimental, although we did attract some indie, punk rock fans. The lack of student that attended was predicted as student cannot afford to be purchasing gig ticks for £6 full price also they might not understand the music and not be to their taste.

The ticket fees was a £6 which is a bargain, as at a regular gig you would expect to pay more. Also the drinks were cheap so it did make up for the cheap tickets. We could potentially Expand the fan base and more do advertising via social networks to promote the gig.

After adding up all the expenditures of paying the bands, buying of the drinks, fruits, out over all profit was £ 71.49 a figure I cannot argue with.

Thursday, 6 June 2013

UNIT 32: Sequencing Systems And Techniques

UNIT 32: Sequencing Systems And Techniques

As I am a keyboard player I decided to record the piano in real time.

I wasn't confident enough to play without the click so I used the cursor to activate the click. I then dragged the cursor over the tempo marking and dragged it to my desired tempo which was 130bpm.

When recording the keyboard in real time with the click I found that I needed to use the quantise button often to make sure things were precise and on the click.

The little shortcuts I used to make the task easier are..

The scissor tool which is located on the top right hand side of the screen.

I also used the alternative method of pressing the (Esc) button which gave me a list to choose from, I then clicked on number 5 on the keyboard to select the scissor tool. I also used the split by region tool to multiple tracks

The shift key was used as it opened up many doors and when manually inputting motes with the keyboard when a midi keyboard was not available.

The Copy tool was used a lot. I pressed down the (CMD + A) key to copy data and in addition to that (CMD + V) to paste data.

I could easily shorten and lengthen the note duration by dragging the cursor left and right of the note.

I used the compression tool by going into the plug-in section and selecting dynamics and selecting the compression tool and using the cursor to manipulate the sounds.

The velocity tool was used the alter the volume of the notes dragging up and down depending on preference

When adding Channel EQ to the track I used the cursor to select a plug-in + dynamics + selected channel EQ. I then altered the levels by using the cursor.

The glue tool was used to conjoin notes and sections together by pressing (Esc + 6)

The hardware used to create this Track is an iMac which has the logic software version 9.1.7 installed and ready to go, this is connected to a midi keyboard which has sound modulation and pitch blend, is is connected by a standard midi to usb cable.

Wednesday, 5 June 2013

Music Technology in Performance resubmit

The Electric Guitar

The electric guitar is the core instrument of any band. It comes in all shapes, sizes, colours, materials, pitch and scale length. The guitar is a flexible piece of music technology that can play any genre of music and is manageable and maneuverable, especially in it's solid body form. A guitar uses direct electromagnet induction technology to convert the vibrations from its tightly wounded metal strings to electrical audio signals to create beautiful music. For an electric guitar to be heard it must be plugged into an amplifier via 1/4 inch jack to jack lead. The electric guitar was invented by George beau champ in 1931 and wasn't available for commercial use until 1932.

Developments of The Electric Guitar

1931: The Rickenbacker “Frying Pan”
1935: The Rickenbacker “Electro String”
1941: Les Paul “Log”1947: Bigsby-Travis Guitar
1948: Fender Broadcaster (Telecaster)
1952: Gibson Les Paul
1954: Fender Stratocaster
1979: Van Halen “Frankenstrat”1982: Jackson Randy Rhoads
1994: Ibanez 7-String Guitar
2008: Guitar Hero Controller

Guitars are valued by the parts they posses such as their pickups, their body, bridge, neck length, quality of the tuning pegs and many more aspects. I will go on to analyze 2 different versions of a pacific part of the guitar, weighting up the pros and the cons.

Hollow body vs solid body electric guitars
Some guitarists prefer hollow body guitars as they are lighter and sound more airy and as anaocustic tone to it. However, solid body guitars are heavy in weight, they also have a nice strong, whole sound to it. The early electric guitar's body was hollow, to this there were many issues attached to the hollow body guitar there was feedback and unequal volume, this was later fixed by Les Paul who came up with a Solid body in 1940. Also in 1940 Sidney Wilson then addressed the unequal loudness issue by inventing the first fully electric guitar. In the 1950's Seth lover invented the humbucker.

Single coil pickups vs humbucker pickups
Pickups capture the sound of the strings, Guitarist can choose which sound they prefer, the pickups can be easily removed and replaced. The Gibson les paul is famous for their humbucker pickups. Artists such as Jimmy Hendrix, John lennon and many more use Gibson's because of their quality humbucker Pickups. Its gives a clean sound which is effective in live performances. There has been a big problem with singe coil pickups pick up unwanted electrical noise and have a lighter sound cancel out the electrical hum which can be heard on single coil guitars and therefore allow guitarists to play louder and with more gain without also amplifying the electrical hum which at loud volumes would become very irritating where as humbucker cancels out the noise and provides a fuller sound and allows heavier distortion with less feedback.

Developments in tremolos
Tremolos are small metal objects with holes onside it is a bridge that holds the strings and inotation, they are located at the bottom end of the strings on an electric guitar, they are used for changing the pitch, add vibrato and drive the bomb they make A wavering effect in a musical tone, this is produced by rapid repetition of a variation of a note.

The 1st was the Bigsby trem, it was top mounted and worked by changing the string tension slightly with the arm movement.

The 2nd was the "Vintage"/ Stratocaster trem, this system was built into the inside of the guitar with the springs accessible from the back, when the bar is pressed down it pulls on the springs and loosens the tension, however it only works for down pitching.

The 3rd was the Floyd Rose is a floating trem which is the main system used to change pitch in both directions this was invented in 1977, they are attached at one end to the spring claw, which is hooked to the sustain block at the other end.

Amplifier An electric guitar in not a live instrument an amplifier is required to amplifier the sound of the electric guitar. You can equally play the electric guitar without an amp when practicing, but when doing a live performance an amplifier is required.

Development in amplifiers
An amplifier is essential when performing or practicing with an electric guitar as it amplifies the sound of the guitar, you can manipulate the sound on a amplifier, altering the gain, volume and treble. The first audio amplifier was invented in 1909 by lee De Frost, these early studio power amplifiers were based on valves, By the 1970s, valve technology was replaced by the silicon transistor this is what they run on now a days. There are certain setting a guitar amplifier acquires: Gain, Reverb, Distortion, Drive and the invertible volume control. Inter modulation distortion was discovered by Matti Otala this type of distortion was cause by increasing the voltage in the audio input device. The amplifier plays a major roll in musical technological advancement with out the amplifier we could no hear. Every electric guitar player uses an amplifier, AC/DC used Marshall amps in the 60's this is a very popular brand in amplifier even now.

Conclusion
To conclude, the electric guitar is still on the market as a technology advance piece of machinery, owned in many households across the world. The electric guitar continues to flourish and improve. The use of midi instruments exempts the need of using live internments, but the electric guitar will not fall victim to software programs.

Aural Perception Skills - DISTINCTION-level assignment

Jeff Buckley- Hallelujah

1a)   The Chords used form 1:00-1:46 are
        C, Am, C, Am, F , G, C
C, F, G, Am, F, Em,G, Am
        Am, C, Am, C, G, C

1b) The vocals leaped with the chords complimenting them as they move up in steps.
The lyrics read 'The 4th which is F and 5th which is G, The minor 4th which is Am and finally and the major lift which is G. these intervals are actually were minor 4 and a major chord lifting the piece

1c) Under the word 'composing' there lies Em notes which is made up of E, G, B another name for this chord is a G6 its is relative mimor of G major.

Pink Floyd- Shine on you crazy diamond

2a) At 3.56, a 4-note motif is played on the guitar, the 4 notes are G2, F3 D E
The intervals are MIinor 7th, Minor 3rd (down), Major 2nd.

2b) The chords make up the triad of G Minor

2c)The chord underneath changes to a B

St Paul's suite 1.V finale

3a) The time signature is in 4/4, this is very common in classical music and the tempo is 145 bpm

3b)

3c)

Tonality

The tonality of 'Once in a lifetime' by The Talking Heads is A major this is very typical in alternative music, they do not follow the conventional major, minor tonality

The tonality of 'Black ants in sound' by Dust is Modal, this particular genre of music is likely to obtain these unusual types of tones.

The tonality of Alfred della oakl and the ash is D mixolydian .It has been beautifully sung by a male falsetto. this tone is very common in classical

http://philiptheory.blogspot.co.uk/#!/2013/04/aural-perception-skills-distinction.html

Grant: Technical Theory

The Rode NT5 would be an appropriate microphone to record a Classical acoustic guitar with as they come in pairs, this means you can place the microphone at either end of the guitar at the body and the neck. This will capture the slides and the hammer ons at one end and the strum and the finger picking at the other end. Especially if it is a live performance the rode NT5 will make clean sound recording. Simultaneously you will have a stereo recording picking up all the intricacies of all notes of the guitar. The Rode NT5 is a condenser microphone with a cardioid diaphragm, it has a 20Hz -20,000Hz frequency range which would benefit this recoding as it can pick up all the frequencies high or low at all ranges. As this is a condenser microphone it requires phantom power as P48, P24. Its is vey compact weighing 100g each.

Monitor speakers comes in different shapes and sizes they are used for many different reasons depending on room size, frequency you want to hear and may more. With a Nearfield monitor system you get more bass and undertones basically lower frequency sounds, a great example of a nearfield monitor is the KRK Rokit RP8 G2, it frequency ranging from 45Hz-20kHz accommodating a range of sounds to play comfortably at 70watts. This speaker can connect straight to an interface with a XLR cable, so it is easy to set up. Mid-field monitor system is all the middle ends of the sound, there is more treble another example of a great Mid-feild monitor is the Genelec 8250 APM is a mid-feild monitor speaker frequency ranging from 38kHz- 38Hz, at a maximum of 120dB. Full-range monitor systems is everything, all the sound everything coming at you, just a full sounding sound all the high, middle and low frequencies merged together. You can hear different sounds spectrum from different monitors this is why there is a range of different speakers.

A mixer is a collection of channels which can be manipulated, balanced and played through computers and speakers. On a professional mixer you will expect to find as few channels as 6 and as many as 100, these can also be called faders which control the volume also the sets the levels . I would expect to see a pre-amp on a mixer so I can see the levels and adjust it with the gain knob which can be altered to balance the sound to an appropriate level. There are faders, knobs, buttons such as the cue this is particularly useful as it allows the producer to communicate with the artist/band though the glass buy activating at. You can also add Imputs, plugins for musical instruments and microphones, basically anything Midi can be plugged in to the mixer. A mixer can also be used as a audio interface so that you can record straight in a recording software. You can also connect midi keyboards to it and use it on the logic software. Certain parts of the mixer controls certain thing such as the EQ and balance.

Roles in The Music Industry resbumit

The Music Industry

In order to be successful in the music industry as an Artist/Band you must acquire a healthy dose of Talent which can set you from the 'norm', You must have new and upcoming creative ideas that will reach out to your target audience and likability factor as you have to build a fan bass. As a Artist/band back up from a musician union such as PRS, PPL, MCPL, and AIM is vey important, they are there to argue on behalf of the artist: if they have been mistreated in the industry or cheated in anyway.

Record companies

Record companies are the backbone of every Artist/Band they exist purely to benefit the artist as they support and promote their music. Record companies compensate artist with enough money to make a decent album, they take a percentage of the album sales. There has been terrible strain on Major record companies as they survive purely on album sales and nowadays consumers are not purchasing music as music as much as they used to. So major companies are loosing money and eventually going bankrupt . There are 3 major record companies around today. Sony entertainment, Warner music group and universal music group. These labels controls about 70% of the worlds music market.

Artist management

Managers are responsible for the Artist/Band in every way. They are also responsible for the business side of things they read every document offered to the Artist/Band and sign on behalf of them. Managers have to make sure that the Artist/Band is safe at all times they make sure that the Artist/Band are punctual to all their gigs and run herons for them. They work around the clock 24/7 tending to the Artist/Band every need. They can earn as much as 100.000 depending on the success of the artist.

Music publishing

The music publisher works with the artists and the composers they also collect royalties and distributes them to the songwriters and composers. They register the song and deal with the copyright issues so the song cannot be used with out their consent and manipulated in way with out the consent of the artist. They deal with all the press, this is an important job as good publicity helps the label sell records which produces income. The publicist shouts about the artist, getting them in the news, radio, on the t.v etc.

Live performance

As an Artist/Band live performances are crucial as showing your face shows people that you are not afraid to share your music and it shows confidence. Performing songs from albums or even singles at small gigs, radio interviews, podcasts, talk sows and doing charity gigs really get you on the map and people will remember your music. At huge gigs you can hand sell merchandise and hand out free CD’s this shows the fans that the Artist/Band care. This act of genorisity will make people spread the word and enlarge your fan base.

Bibliography

http://www.mpaonline.org.uk/music_publishing

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Music_industry

By Christina Harris

Saturday, 1 June 2013

Musis in society: Events accounts

Musis in society: Events accounts

The summer gig consisted of 4 sets durng a 2 day period. The set list was always been upgrading, acts were cut and tensions were high. We all tried out best to deliver a great performance. As a team we all pulled together to put on a great show. I felt that that the gig pulled us togher. We had to adapt quickly to the differnt layout of the stage as there was 2 stages an acoustic stage accomdating the scaousic songs and the main stage were the big band performed.

The roles involed in order for the gig to successfull are as followed.

The Sound engineers (level 3 muisic production) handled the technical side of things they were being assesed on this, I thought they did a great job as the soundside of things sounded great.

The Artists/Musicians (myself, paige, amber,Bea, Sinai, Daniella, Shevelle, John, Josh, and Roy) were responsible for delivering a great perfromance. We were constantly rehursing the set which was constantly changing on the day, this change was not antisipated and cause confusion. However we diliver a great perfomance.

The Stage managers (Josh) made sure people know where they are supposed to be on the stage at the aproprate times.

The Bartenders (Amber, Sinai, Josh, Roy) serverd the drinks such as Beer,Wine, and juice. they could accepted the tokes whci was perchassed for the box office.

The Visuals/Lighting engineers (Christina, siani and john) Sinai and I were responsible for the visuals, meaning the lighting, smoke machine and any props. As a team Sinai and I sat down and individually asked each astis what visuals they would like, we explained the choices of colour and spotlighting. after discussing this with them I uploaded the information i collected to the blog where Chloe a passed it on to the visuals planner

John was in charge of creating the poster, this is a job which required a creative mind. John had a great idea of making us sigh our signature on individual pieces of paper where he placed it on the poster and printed it out creating a collage of signature. We put up the posters around the college trying to promote the gig in hope of out fellow student to attend.

The Box office workers (Christina, Bea, Paige) worked all through set the selling tickets and drink tokens to the customers. Knowing this role required my brain to be switched on as money was involved it was. Being on the box office was vey stressfull as a stream of constant customers coming in purchase tickets and ticking people off the guest list.

The Rohdies (Roy, Josh, John) helped the band unload, setup and reload the trucks. This made the job well worth it as The band really appreciated this help.

The DJ's (Josh) was in charde of suppliying the audience with music in the spot befor the gig, during the interval and also 5after the gig..

D1 comment critically on different roles that are linked

to the organisation and delivery of a professional live

music event

D2 as part of a team, contribute competently,

confidently and with interpretation and artistic flair to

the planning and preparation for a live music event

D3 as an individual, carry out appropriate

responsibilities competently, confidently and with

interpretation and artistic flair, in preparation for a live

music event

Term 3 listening OR "why do i dig it"

I will be talking about the sonic and musical components of...

Ziggy Azalea - WORK (stripped)

I think this is a great song as this it is lyrically driven and is accompanied by a live classical instruments. I can honestly say that I prefer the acoustic version to the studio processed one as is sounds more sincere and real. The 'Stripped' version says it all, the song was dissected and stripped to the bone. Recording the song live really breaks it down so the story can be told and the music accompanies the vocals so well.

The song is in the time signature of 4/4 at 134 bpm, this is very common for a Hip Hop dance track.
The original tempo is 142bpm. The tempo was changed to fit the retirements of a acoustic set.
It is very uncommon to have a live string quartet in hip hop music however it creates a unusual, yet subtle texture. The live instrument had to constitute for the synth that was used in the original.
The tonality of the piece is Major, this is very typical in Hip Hop music as there is not a lot notes possibly 4 notes repeated in different variations and sequences.

The Band consisted of an acoustic drum kit, A string quartet which consisting of a Double Bass, Cello, Violin and Viola. Having a live Double bass apposed to an electric bass guitar really makes the song sound acoustic and punchy. The Keyboard on a grand piano setting, this was interesting as they could have easily bought in a grand piano. No other instruments, or plug ins were included in this recording. The instruments were mic'd up and mixed in the studio with minimal affects added. The vocals was recorded with a wireless SM58 due to her rapping and the live recording can hear the "pha" in the recording this shows the rawness of it all. The pitching was flawless as it was on key and didn't over power the band.

At (0:00-0:12) You hear the male voice in its rawest form. The cello, violin and viola are tuning their strings, this sound was artificially placed in to create a acoustic ambiance as this song is recorded with live instruments as an acoustic stripped cover. The space is so huge reverb is automatic as there is a longer reverberation time.

The music really compliments the vocals, when the vocals are less frequent the music is simple, repetitive, very calm and laid back even the piano is playing dream like arpeggiated chords. However, as the song progresses and intensifies and the rhythm get more complex the music becomes more frequent so does her vocals, the instrument work beautifully with the vocals as blended beautifully they carried each other.

At (1:11-1:24) this shows great use of stop time effect as the string and piano stops completely so we are left with the snare drum and vocals and a strings using their bows pressing heavily on the strings and pulling very slowly this created this unusual raspy sound.

also At (2:36-2:43) the quartet worked together to replicate and resemble a synth sound with was in the original recording.

The texture as a whole is very balanced as the keyboard is low, the violins are high and the vocals rest beautifully in the middle. The structure is was well planned as the song is airy and spacey this is when the instruments take advantage and come in with their filling riffs.

I really ''dig" this song as it has all the component of a great song, interesting vocals, supporting live band who's instruments were mic'd up well to capture the audio, Interesting rhythm and just a clean sounding song.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ve7gsfBootk

Monday, 27 May 2013

Music & Society: Video Killed The Radio Star

Video Killed The Radio Star

A very common conundrum for musicians and artists is the willingness to abandon the major music labels and potentially trying doing the self sufficient D.I.Y method. Doing their own marketing, recordings, gigs and so forth. The main reasons many artist choose to be self sufficient is because they want to be independent, not wanting to be /owned carried by a major label or to be controlled. Most importantly they want to make their own decisions, having all the creative choices, they want to have complete control. It has been said they when bands are signed they eventually sell out and start making commercial music abandoning their beloved fans and their morals. Along this independent journey there lies corporate business who want to either sponsor and endorse you. Subliminally these corporate companies are like record labels trying to control you as these corporates have as way of always making you associated with their product even after the contract has expired. Back in the days music labels would just give the artist/band a fee to record an album in return the records sell, astist/band reimburse the label. Now adays people are not purchasing records so lables will give the astist a fee and due to lack of sale artists and bands would go into dept therefore the lable goes in dept, money is lost and now they labels rely on selling merchandise.

Getting Endorsed is when a Company supplies you with their product, weather it being as small as a guitar string or as big as a Guitar, by supplying you with the item you gig, you are promoting the item companies often supply big names as they are conscious that they have a big fan base or entourage, meaning the followers will on and perchance them they want to have the same product as their role models. this is a way of getting in the clients subconscious, subconsciously brain washing. However, Corporate Sponsorship are huge businesses is all about promotion. The plus side which is free stuff, exposiour in the indusrty, promotions, they also pay for the musics videos and occasionally gear.
There are many major venues such as the O2 wireless, also mobile networks holds festivals promoting the network and making it visible as much as they can, advertising at every nook and cranny There are many more Mobile phone networks such as Vodafone, Blackberry that do this. Alcoholic beverages companies obtain successful businesses they know that people love alcohol. These companies are all about branding and having their logo out there as music as possible, weather it be visibly holding it, having wearing it, seen publicly drinking it, tweeting about it, the brand appearing in music videos, the is been advertises everywhere.

At (05:35) Lady Gaga is clearly promoting Poloriod cameras. They dont even place in in the background subliminally apperaing, she is actually using the product this goes to show the length coroprate companies go to to promote their produch. the poloriod is censored out on various version of this song. These companies rinse it out hanging their logo every where possible all, for the sake of promotion.

Pre-industrial Britain where music was valued and was hard to find good venues, quality of the music was great, it was treasured and purchased with hard earned cash by loving fans purely for enjoyment. where musician had the ability to make a living of this, as there was a solid income coming in as records were constantly been purchased, is was a sense of pride on own, a Tape, Cassette, Vinyl and CD's. Through the years the whole sense of pride music evaporated in the fabric of time as today music is being torrented. Music has been consumed in terrible quality, mp3 files has this has seem to replace wave and Aiff files, the quality has been so compressed all the hard work the musicians has gone through, the recording process, all the producers hard work, all the mixing, mastering and manual labor has been in vein. This has put a major strain on music creators and major music companies. Currently There lies 3 major music labels, the music industry is disintegrating due to the leakage on the World Wide Web. A company can only survive if there is market, now a days there doesn't seem to be a wide enough market as money there is a dramatic decreases on money spent on purchasing merchandise.

However, the music industry is a hard thing to break in to and even harder to be successful in and earn a consistent wage on, this is why musicians often work part times jobs, working full time as a musicians if your not successful and constantly going gigs is futile.

Having such advanced technology has clearly benefited musicians in the 21st century. Nowadays musicians can be excessively productive as there is technology that makes lives utterly easier on musicians. Owning or being able to access A Macintosh and an audio interface and a decent microphone, you can create a home studio. this is very efficient for musicians. They can work at their own speed instead of booking out a studio for a ridiculous amount of money. Technology has advanced since wax cylinders, tapes, cassettes, CD'S Mp3's. this means the quality of the music is. Due to the lack of people purchasing DVDs, CD's in shops as most of it is being illegally downloaded online. The business side of things is plummeting, name brand music shops have gone into administration meaning less jobs, this puts a massive strain on the musicians and also the people who's been made redundant.

There is financial pressure to promote certain genres especially pop music. Ttoday there is a battle for the spot light in this ever changing industry. Every one wants to be popular and 'make it' in the industry. Back in the days to succeed in the industry you would have to have the talent/voice. Now a days having a great recording voice is not expected and futile as music today contains so many effects the purity of the voice is squashed, having a good Voice is not crucial as technology can make any music you desire.

Business is constantly evolving to find a new market. There are so many genres out there, it is most likely that there is a genre that can relate to every one. Also everyone wants to be a pop star or a rockstar and there are many bands out ther today trying to make it.