I spent this week focusing on research for my EP. This included finding reference songs that I want to inspire my music with, finding sources to help with my songwriting and contacting anyone I need to help me with my EP. I’ve started this project with no real idea what genre I want to make my EP. I listen to so many different genres that it’s hard to choose. I decided my best bet was to list and listen to a bunch of my favourite tracks that have inspired me over the years, and try to come up with a genre or subgenre that fits all the styles and incorporate that into my song writing.
My list of reference songs include:
Nick Drake – ‘One Of These Things First’
Mike Oldfield – ‘Tubular Bells’
Iggy Pop – ‘The Passenger’ (Vocal Effect)
The Beatles – ‘Eleanor Rigby’
Dire Straits – ‘Brothers In Arms’
John Martyn – ‘May You Never’
This Is The Kit – ‘Bashed About’
Tame Impala – ‘The Less I Know The Better’
I have been writing songs for years but never thought my lyrics were particularly special. I knew that I wanted my EP to be meaningful and philosophical but I’ve found it very difficult so far. But I realised that one of my favourite bands were arguably the greatest songwriters to ever live. So I looked online and found a book titled “The Beatles Lyrics”. The book was a collection of the lyrics from almost all of the Beatles songs they’d ever released.
I read through and found that although their early work was still amazing, their later songs were some of the most well written and constructed pieces they ever made (until they started going a little insane). I decided to choose three songs of theirs to analyse. This included the structure of the song and the theme.
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/The-Beatles-Lyrics-Complete-PaperBack-Futura-1974-Rare/254196927400
‘Eleanor rigby’:
– written in the third person
– tells the story of two antagonists; Eleanor rigby and father mackenzie
– the theme is loneliness and hopelessness. The song touches on the fact that no one will remember them once they’re gone and asks the questions: what is their story and how did they become alone?
‘The long and winding road’:
- Written in first person
- This song can be interpreted in many ways but the idea that is clear throughout is that the path is metaphorical for his life and his battle with his emotions. He expresses anguish and longing for a new start but he always ends up back where he started.
https://www.lyricinterpretations.com/beatles/the-long-and-winding-road
‘Blackbird’:
- Written in the third person
- Tells the story of a newborn blackbird finally learning to fly
- Although it can be taken literally, the song has a deeper metaphorical meaning. The bird could represent a child, growing and maturing, finally becoming independent and leaving their home. Just as a newborn bird would eventually leave its nest.
Contacts:
For each of these contacts, I will be filming questions that I’ll ask
– I have arranged to meet and talk with ‘Gomez’ band member Tom Grey to discuss songwriting and music business.
- I have also arranged to meet Iain Archer, a songwriter who has written songs like ‘Hold Back The River’ By James Bay, he also worked on many songs by ‘Snow Patrol’ and ‘Jake Bugg’. We will also be talking about songwriting.
- Finally I have planned to talk with Nick Hugget. Huggett is best known as the exec who signed Adele to XL Recordings in September 2006.
He most recently joined Because Music in the UK as Chief Creative Officer following a role at Parlophone. I will be discussing the music industry with him.
My conversation with Iain Archer:
At (6:46) in response to my question on how I as producer can get myself noticed Iain replied. “Its all about good ideas. It doesn’t really matter how technically good you are. If you put all the good ideas together everybody’s gonna love it”. He goes onto explain that you can always bring people in to help with certain aspects for example writing lyrics, but if there isn’t a good foundation of a song or video then no one will be interested. I found this really interesting as usually I would work solely alone when it came to writing the chords, melody, lyrics and recording my music. However, Iain suggests working on the good ideas and then bringing in people to help you with the technical stuff like lyric writing and record.
Doctor who theme:
- I’ve always loved the opening theme to Doctor Who. More specifically the main synth that plays the lead melody. It’s an iconic sound that I’ve wanted to recreate and use in a track of mine for a long time now. I found a video on Youtube titled “Recreating the ‘DR WHO Theme’ in 2 mins| KORG Sound Icons”,
uploaded by a channel called ‘Gak’ which is also a well known music store chain.
The synthesiser used In the video is called the ‘ArpOdyssey Mark 3’ which he explains is the modern version of the original synth used in the show. I thought it would be a good idea to see if there are any digital versions or plugins that are similar and could get me the same result. After a long look I found that the only free plugin available was a download for windows and did not allow Mac access.
Amazingly, I found that my college has that exact synth available for students to use. I’ve come up with a melody line that hopefully fits my new song ‘Waiting’. I will record my experiments with the Arp Odyssey Mark 3 once I’m back at college.
- Synth and Guitar Effects used in dire straits – ‘Brothers In Arms’
The Lead guitar played by Mark Knopfler in ‘Brothers In Arms’ is arguably the greatest guitar sound ever made. In my opinion at least. I knew that I needed to get a similar guitar sound for a track in my EP. I have at home an old 1970’s Fender Stratocaster which is one of the guitars Mark is known for playing, although it may not have been the one used in ‘Brothers In Arms’, it will most likely work well with the effects added.
I found a website called ‘Mark Knopfler Guitar Site’ with an article by a man named ‘Ingo’ who created a Youtube video explaining how he made the guitar sound that closely resembles the one from ‘Brothers In Arms’
Equipment used:
- Morley Volume Pedal
- MXR Analog Delay
- Amp: Music Man 212 HD 130
- Mic’ed with: Shure SM 57
- Watch Video for Amp setting specifics
Soundcheck Brothers in Arms – the Music Man 212 HD 130 for distortion
http://www.muzines.co.uk/articles/keyboards-with-dire-straits/1651
Drum recording techniques
When researching tracks for the drum sound I wanted in my song ‘You’, I found that I loved the style in Pixies – “Where Is My Mind?”.
The producer on the track was Steve Albini, a well known American record producer and sound engineer. Albini has worked with many famous bands such as Nirvana, Pixies and The Breeders to name a few. Now I had a simple drum beat that I wanted to record, so I wasn’t too bothered about setting up and mic-ing a full drum kit. The three parts I wanted to focus on where the snare, kick and hi-hat. The main component I wanted to work on was the snare. I found a Youtube video by a channel named ‘Mix with the masters’ titled “Tracking snares with Steve Albini”.
Albini explains at (2:40) that he prefers to use small or medium diagram tube condenser microphones such as the ‘165’ usually positioned at the top side as seen in (2:36). This is because it has a very good bass response which is good for a rock/pop song such as mine as it provides a lot of power. This is exactly the sound for the snare in my song that I am looking for. Fortunately for me, I will be recording the snare drum separately from the rest of the kit so I won’t have to worry about the bleed from the other parts of the kit when mixing.
For the kick, I found a video by a channel called ‘Learn Audio Engineering’ titled “Steve Albini Kick Drum Microphone Techniques”. To sum up, Albini uses two microphones when recording the kick. For inside the drum Albini recommends a figure of 8 (Ribbon) microphone. This provides a balance between the beater attack and the low end of the resonant head, whilst also rejecting the internal resonance that causes the horrible “Basketball” sound. The Ribbon alone may lack punch and attack so to build on that, we can also use a dynamic lavalier microphone dangling on the outside of the kick drum as seen at (2;03).
I have found the perfect amp and amp settings to use on my new track ‘Waiting’. However, I am not particularly knowledgeable when it comes to recording electric guitar. With me in the studio I had a SM57 and a AEA 81 Ribbon microphone. Through Youtube, I found a video by a channel called ‘Soundpurestudios’ titled “Electric Guitar Recording Techniques – Blending Ribbon Mics with Dynamic Microphones”.
They explained that the Ribbon had a very smooth, warm mid range. The reason for using two microphones is to give the same effect as EQ without having to use any, “Blending” the two together. The Jazz Chorus 120 (the amp I’m using) is perfect for this technique as it has two speakers. At (1:42), he explains that “Anytime you use two microphones, there’s the potential of a phase issue”. This could be due to bad recording techniques which can hurt the sound rather than help It.
I have had no previous experience recording or mixing piano. I’ve mixed software instrument piano from logic but they’re usually pretty well mixed before I’ve even added any effects. So to help me understand a little more about how to EQ a piano, I watched a video by a channel called ‘SoundOracle’ titled “Piano Tutorial: How To EQ The Perfect Piano” which seemed very fitting. At (3:02) he suggests that I cut the frequency around the lower end with a little dip near 80-120Hz. This area is a little thicker and can class with the low end instruments like bass guitar or kick drum. Also getting rid of the low end as we don’t typically need it for the same reason. At (3:30) he talks about the ‘presence’ of the piano which is usually around 2.5-8K. This is an area that you can slightly boost. And finally the ‘crispness’ and ‘hammer attack’ are somewhere around the 10k region which you can boost. I will be using these techniques on my practical skills page.
References – Harvard Referencing:
Reference list
Albini, S. (2018). Steve Albini Kick Drum Microphone Techniques | LearnAudioEngineering.com. [online] Youtube.com. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ii5kbXNxG9Y [Accessed 7 May 2021].
Albini, S. (2020). Tracking snares with Steve Albini. [online] Youtube.com. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tEoCNOdBIDk [Accessed 4 May 2021].
Carr, S. (2019). ARP ODYSSEY:Tutorial and Demo. [online] Youtube.com. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yNV11Rwo6Cw&t=48s [Accessed 7 May 2021].
Gilby, P. (n.d.). Keyboards With Dire Straits. [online] muzines.co.uk. Available at: http://www.muzines.co.uk/articles/keyboards-with-dire-straits/1651 [Accessed 1 May 2021].
Grainer, R. (2017). Doctor Who Theme. [online] Youtube.com. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ddAzhAz4Jbo [Accessed 6 May 2021].
INGO (2009). Soundcheck Brothers in Arms – the Music Man 212 HD 130 for distortion. [online] mk-guitar.com. Available at: https://www.mk-guitar.com/2009/12/08/soundcheck-brothers-in-arms-the-music-man-212-hd-130-for-distortion/ [Accessed 25 Apr. 2021].
Luke (2020). Recreating the “DR WHO Theme” in 2 mins| KORG Sound Icons. [online] Youtube.com. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-XHJekCcxUw&t=13s [Accessed 12 Apr. 2021].
Pop, I. (1977). Iggy Pop – The Passenger (Official Video). [online] Youtube.com. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-fWw7FE9tTo [Accessed 4 Apr. 2021].
Productions, R. (2018). Piano Tutorial: How To EQ The Perfect Piano | Soundoracle.net. [online] Youtube.com. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=975Ho1vqToE [Accessed 17 May 2021].
Records, M.S. (2020a). How To Record An Upright Piano (Recording an acoustic piano in the studio). [online] Youtube.com. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SA83EiU_ITc [Accessed 19 May 2021].
Records, M.S. (2020b). How to record the acoustic piano – (Upright piano recording). [online] Youtube.com. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GyXi5yFQbDc&t=319s [Accessed 16 May 2021].
Richmond, J. (2012). Electric Guitar Recording Techniques – Blending Ribbon Mics with Dynamic Microphones. [online] Youtube.com. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y-AcDWHOQAA [Accessed 18 May 2021].
Straits, D. (1985). Dire Straits – Brothers In Arms. [online] Youtube.com. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jhdFe3evXpk [Accessed 9 May 2021].
Watson, H. and Ltd, V. (1974). The Beatles Lyrics Complete PaperBack Futura 1974. [online] Ebay.com. Available at: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/The-Beatles-Lyrics-Complete-PaperBack-Futura-1974-Rare/254196927400 [Accessed 22 Mar. 2021].
Level 3 Music Tech (Second Year Blog) 