Wednesday, 20 November 2013
Target
My main project - which links to unit 17 - is to build myself an epk (portfolio) - in order to successfully showcase my work.
social media - sound cloud,youtube,Facebook - make all of these and upload my tracks.
photos - get a friend to take professional pictures of myself.
audio - upload recorded tracks
biography - write a biography stating how i got into music my genres ext
videos - make a music video and put it up on my blog / youtube
fb page - https://www.facebook.com/GreenEnvyProduction
youtube page - http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCnd6ZHKmKfvHiErSKXzHnLg
soundcloud - https://soundcloud.com/green-envy-london
Save this as a pdf with the links so i can send it out to companies ect.
From now 20th November until the 31st December i'm going to put up instrumental tracks that I make. I will also put up photos of myself to market myself better an look professional. I will regularly update my fb page with pictures of what i am doing ect.
Basically, the kit should introduce yourself and your music in an engaging, concise way while also piquing the intended audience’s interest so they want to learn more about you as an artist. By combining video, audio and photography, you can create a high-impact impression of who you are and what your music is all about.
My epk should have :
Photographs
Website links to my social media
A bio (either written or recorded on camera)
Live performances
Audio tracks ( my ep)
My second target is to have an 8 track EP starting from: 27th november - 27th January
Over 2 months I plan to have all 8 tracks recorded, mixed and mastered and strung together as a mix on my sound cloud where people can listen for free. If I have enough funding i would like to then get this EP onto a CD for release and to possibly hand out to record labels.
Thursday, 7 November 2013
History of electronic music
Loop pedal:
The idea of the loop pedal stemed from the idea of tape loops. These tape loops would record and replay sound in order to give more tone - or through effects - a new sound. However the main effect was phasing which would alter the frequencies (filter). By doing so - a solo artist who has a relatively monotone sound can add their own harmonics. Considering live looping machines were invented in the 90s - a great era for acoustic/electric bands; ultimately, solo acoustic or electric sets would not be as harmonic and live performance is key to success. Having a live looper would create the presence of other musicians where as it is one person solely creating a larger piece. Not only does this show more of their creativity but it enables a solo artist to have more girth in their music. This is ironic as electronic music, which had already been invented provides that. Therefore, solo acoustic artists could put on shows that stretched out musically and were ultimately more interesting.
The idea of the loop pedal, properly started in the early 1950s; by a man named Terry Riley. This figures as he was one of the key figures of minimalism. The musical art of adding/subtracting/diminishing a piece of music through layers of the same thing - however with slight changes. The first use of tape looping came from ideas from musique concrete - where they would record sounds such as trains ect - to make music. Terry riley, however, would use the tape loop to create long delays in his music. Most likely by keeping the same recording playing over and over by taping it together. He would then perform over the top of this. Loop pedals are great for acoistic artists as it allows them to do more than 1 or two things and add more natural harmonies. It also gives more scope to performances as a lot more can be added - even if one were in a band.
An example of a product that would give a lot more to a performance would be the Digitech JamMan Stereo as it can hold up to 35minutes of CD-quality loops in 99 internal memories. Also, with an SD memory card an additional 16hours in an extra 99 slots. Therefore, one may not even need to use an instrument live but simply mess around with the order of the loops.
In my opinion, the art of the loop pedal has stemed onto more creative sample instruments - for example maschine. The idea of a loop was then transferring i to the idea of samples which were just pre recorded things that were used now and again for emphasis. The main genres that started to use these were dub, hip hop, drum and bass ect. However, samples can be strung together more easily now through music softwares such as logic and abelton as to copy and drag is very simple. Where as on a tape loop you would have to have the measurement exactly right for it to play over in time. And on tape - when using analogue equiptment - one would have to do a lot of cutting - as trial and error would be a cause for concern as it would take a long time to get things perfectly in time. Hence the fact that samples used in the 70s were not often occurring.
This is a video link to a loop 'tutorial' with Ed Sheeran.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qX2eJsj9MiQ
In this modern era in music he is one of the most well known for using a Loop pedal in live performance. As he is a solo artist and guitar player - all can be achieved to give a full sound in terms of musical and rhythmic ideas. He puts all of this together without the help of any other band members. Although a Loop pedal can enable one to have more dynamic music - one must be virtuosic with this piece of equipment by understanding harmonies and different forms of composition; possibly minimalism. In this video - the Loop pedal is used at its finest. Firstly he starts making the main body of the song by recording the main chord progression. He then records the snare sound by muting the guitar and strumming. He loops this idea over through a kind of minimalist rhythm by having the 4/4 then kind of scatting a slightly syncopated version after. After this he records a layer of melodies - the first being 2 notes playing rhythmically. He then harmonises with this by playing two different notes which are also a bit syncopated which emphasises them. He then records the final rhythmic element being the kicks and a snare (reproduced by smacking the strings) while the strings are muted. He doubles this over to make them ultimately sound louder. One could almost say this is mixing - however this just goes to show his virtuosity with the machine he is using as obviously he cannot alter the levels of his recording whilst playing. This technique is also used when recording in studios.
This is a video which shows the use of the BOSS RC-30 Loop station
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K06DVyZ9rQ8
Other than making the whole piece from scratch - one can upload pre recorded samples to the record over. This is what fundamentally started loop use in the 50's. In this video the man playing uses a pre recorded drum sample which gives more clarity to the track - instead of recreating the drums himself. However, in my opinion both are good ideas. The same principles are applied to his recording however much more detail goes in. The better the musician the more one can gain from using a loop pedal.
Loop Station Tutorial
This loop station tutorial states that one can practically mix their audio. This is done, instead of faders but knobs which control the recorded and sampled drum tracks. This is possibly why in Ed Sheeran's performance he doubled the drum beat over as he could not physically make it louder. You then have a knob where you can select the phrase (recorded riff). There is also the mode knob which changes the mode of what you want to do. For example, if you put it on auto you are in a recording mode and need to press the pedal to begin and to stop. If you choose the musical note - that means to play the selected phrase.
In terms of art forms I guess you could use a loop station when performing spoken word. This can give the performance more of a musical element by having an important word or phrase on loop whilst the speaker is still talking. This would be an easy way to add effects and depth to the work.
This is a video link to a loop 'tutorial' with Ed Sheeran.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qX2eJsj9MiQ
In this modern era in music he is one of the most well known for using a Loop pedal in live performance. As he is a solo artist and guitar player - all can be achieved to give a full sound in terms of musical and rhythmic ideas. He puts all of this together without the help of any other band members. Although a Loop pedal can enable one to have more dynamic music - one must be virtuosic with this piece of equipment by understanding harmonies and different forms of composition; possibly minimalism. In this video - the Loop pedal is used at its finest. Firstly he starts making the main body of the song by recording the main chord progression. He then records the snare sound by muting the guitar and strumming. He loops this idea over through a kind of minimalist rhythm by having the 4/4 then kind of scatting a slightly syncopated version after. After this he records a layer of melodies - the first being 2 notes playing rhythmically. He then harmonises with this by playing two different notes which are also a bit syncopated which emphasises them. He then records the final rhythmic element being the kicks and a snare (reproduced by smacking the strings) while the strings are muted. He doubles this over to make them ultimately sound louder. One could almost say this is mixing - however this just goes to show his virtuosity with the machine he is using as obviously he cannot alter the levels of his recording whilst playing. This technique is also used when recording in studios.
This is a video which shows the use of the BOSS RC-30 Loop station
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K06DVyZ9rQ8
Other than making the whole piece from scratch - one can upload pre recorded samples to the record over. This is what fundamentally started loop use in the 50's. In this video the man playing uses a pre recorded drum sample which gives more clarity to the track - instead of recreating the drums himself. However, in my opinion both are good ideas. The same principles are applied to his recording however much more detail goes in. The better the musician the more one can gain from using a loop pedal.
Loop Station Tutorial
This loop station tutorial states that one can practically mix their audio. This is done, instead of faders but knobs which control the recorded and sampled drum tracks. This is possibly why in Ed Sheeran's performance he doubled the drum beat over as he could not physically make it louder. You then have a knob where you can select the phrase (recorded riff). There is also the mode knob which changes the mode of what you want to do. For example, if you put it on auto you are in a recording mode and need to press the pedal to begin and to stop. If you choose the musical note - that means to play the selected phrase.
In terms of art forms I guess you could use a loop station when performing spoken word. This can give the performance more of a musical element by having an important word or phrase on loop whilst the speaker is still talking. This would be an easy way to add effects and depth to the work.
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