As I’ve said, the project aim for me, is that I want to make an impact on people, similar to how songs have done for me. An example is the song, ‘Dogs’ by Pink Floyd which is a track that really made me enjoy listening to music because it was just so complex, yet also somehow quite simple. The little tom fills and use of the crash cymbals are just perfect on that song, and I dream to be able to achieve that with my music. The effect it had on me as a listener was incredible and I’d love to someday be able to capture that in my songs, and have that affect on people myself. This project will help me get closer to learning how to do that, although it won’t get me the whole way, it will give me an idea.
Pick three specific, important and central ideas for development during the project which are informed by your on-going research…
Writing: The first idea I am going to develop through this project, is writing. I have never had the chance to write my own original material before as I’ve never worked with a band that doesn’t do just covers, so it has given me the first look into what this will be like. Writing music can be hard for me as I don’t always feel my ideas are very creative. However, with these songs, I feel like it has shown my potential and I am impressed with what I came up with. I asked Lewis to describe how he wanted the songs to sound, and he used the words ‘dreamy’, ‘complex yet simple’ and ‘bold’. I took this on and used these words to infiltrate what I wrote for the music and I would say that it has become those three things for sure. The dreamy part, would be the swung ride cymbals and snares. The complex yet simple, would be the grooves in the songs and the little fills I add every now and again. And finally, the boldness of the songs, would be the fills at the ends, where I include a load of crashes and toms. The brief Lewis gave me, helped me with deciding what I wanted to get out of the song, and I am really proud of myself for making three drum parts for these original songs, as it’s something I’ve always wanted to be able to do. This skill of writing is vital and is something I definitely need to spend more time on, to progress my talent on the subject and also my skills. This is just the start to developing this idea, and I think my Unit 13 is the perfect place to start as it can give me a real perspective on what it’s really like to do it under a time limit, and make it feel more challenging. I hope to develop this skill much further in the future, as well as right now.
Playing: Secondly, another skill I wanted to develop was obviously my playing. This is the most key part of drumming for me, and also for this project as I can’t complete anything without it. I’ve managed to play a lot in my life time, on stage and just in general as I’ve been playing drums since I was twelve. Over the years, the main way I’ve wanted to carry on playing, is from watching videos on YouTube such as Tiny Desk, which is what I talk about in the research section below. But basically, it has helped me realise that I want to keep playing and make this part of my career, and this Unit 13 project is going to help me finish college and enable me to keep playing. The tiny desks I watch are mainly because I enjoy watching how simple yet complex drums can sound on a song. I take great inspiration from it and try to implement it as best as I can, to further build my ideas of playing and what I want them to be. Seeing the simplistic style that they’re made to play in for the show, just amazes me that they can make a piece of kit so small, sound so great. I want to be able to capture that in this project and use everything I am given and play to my full potential. I want to develop my playing in the studio too, as I haven’t really had much of a chance to be in that environment, so this will be a good eye-opener as I will be recording in there.
Inspirations: Finally, my third idea I want to develop is my inspirations for music. Working on this project has inspired me to continue on with this career after I finish college, and made me realise how much I want to work in this industry. The unit has really opened my eyes so far, and shown me what it means to be a musician. I know it probably isn’t that similar to what process a professional artist would go through to succeed in a project, but it has given me an insight to what it is like. The inspirations that helped me decide on this project was mainly ‘Jeff Buckley’ and wanting to produce songs that had the same impact as his did on me. So far in these original songs, I have genuinely had that impact from them which is amazing. I am actually really pleased for the band and I, for writing such good songs. Jeff Buckley is a big influence and helped me write the way I have for these songs, and I you can definitely see his influences, reflecting off our music. Inspirations are what helped me to get where I am today, and I think he is the biggest reason on why our project has turned out how it is today. I am forever grateful for these songs I have helped write, and I can’t wait to see the final product of it all. All of these ideas above are already being developed and I know I will come out of this process, a much more skilful musician, with so much more knowledge on certain aspects in the music industry.
How does your project help facilitate your career?
This whole project facilitates my career path in someway, as there are two careers that I want to possibly go down the path of. The first being a session musician/performer, so this is great as it’s helping me use my creative skills, to write three drum pieces to my own songs with the band. It has become a way of me conveying my skill set through the project, and can show what talent I have as a musician, and it’s also giving me the chance to feel what the studio is like and working in it for multiple sessions. It interests me greatly, as I take a lot of inspiration from drummers and how they spend their day to day life, managing so many different jobs as a performer. For example Chad Smith. I have actually attached an article below about him and his life as a drummer for the research part of the project as I find it super intriguing. Secondly, I want to be on the business side of the music industry, although I am not entirely sure on which specific part just yet. However, this project has helped me learn how to handle time management, deadlines, pressure, writing skills, decision making etc, which is all a key part to being in the business side of the industry, as well as the performance side. Having a project set for me and being given a deadline, has shown me what it feels like to have a huge challenge put in front of me and also being given a certain amount of time to complete it in. I have enjoyed it thoroughly so far, and I can’t wait to see the final result. I hope that all the skills I have listed above, are enriched through Unit 13 and how I go about it. The project itself, also leaves me with a very useful final product, as I will end up with three complete original songs, ready for release whenever me and the band decide to do it. It is certainly a strong addition to my portfolio of achievements as a musician so far, and will be used to show people my talent as a drummer. I want to use the final product as something to help me at university for example. Someone could ask me, “What have you done as a drummer?” and I would give them the link to the songs on Soundcloud, whilst incorporating other past things I have done, as it creates a good answer for that type of question or situation. It also shows you how much I’ve worked over the last two years at college, and how much I’ve learnt from my tutors because they have helped create the drummer and person that I am today. The project results, will be how I sum up the two years I have had, which will hopefully be amazing.
Research:
What is the key research that you have done and continue to do as a musician?
Most of the research I do in general, as well as just for this project, is studying YouTube videos. Mainly ‘Tiny Desk’ but I will also sit and watch full live performances, just to understand how they perform and take into account, how they play each song, and then also compare it to their versions that are on Spotify. The reason being, one of the songs we are doing is live and the other two are in the studio, so I want to get a feel for the two different versions we will cover. For example with the live one of ‘Fun People’, I know there is definitely more room to allow for mistakes as we want to try and get it in as few takes a possible as if it were live, as of course things always go wrong! But, below I have attached four different sources and explained how through researching them, they have helped me progress through my Unit 13, and how they have influenced me as a performer in general.
I take a lot of inspiration from this video as it’s just so unique in comparison to any others that I’ve really seen. In all the videos I am attaching for this section, I have a different reason for watching them and will be explaining why. This one I have studied quite a few times, as it has shown me that being unique works so well, and it doesn’t matter what you’re playing as long as it sounds good. The reason I have used this as inspiration is because I have always been quite insecure about playing this type of music that I am using in the project. It’s original songs, so for me that’s already a reason to be worried as my biggest fear is peoples judgement, although I know it shouldn’t be. However when I watched this video, it made me realise that no one really minds what and how you play, as long as it sounds good, and I think the songs we’ve written are brilliant and I’m so proud of them. The video here inspired me so much and I researched the band quite a bit after and I really enjoy their songs, and I’d love to be as cool as them. Some of the songs I enjoy by them are ‘Number 9’, ‘St. Louis’ and ‘Red Sky’. Moon Hooch have just helped me feel more confident and made me want to perform own my music that I’ve written with the band. Although the research is mainly this video with them, I’ve watched it so many times because I just find them incredible due how different they are. The research interested me a lot, and I’ve been inspired to be seen like this through my project.
Above is a video that I think represents exactly what my band and I are trying to achieve with these three original songs we are writing and recording for our Unit 13. Jeff Buckley has probably been the biggest influence on us as a band, as we are all big fans of his work. The style/genre we play is definitely similar to his, although I’m not actually sure what it would be called. Possibly alternative rock? But anyway, when anyone who’s heard of Jeff Buckley has heard our originals, they have mentioned how we sound similar to him. I take this as a huge compliment and find that really kind of someone to say. Because of this, I decided to research some of his live performances so I am able to study how his band and him actually perform, instead of listening to just the original song on Spotify. This song in particular ‘Lover, You Should’ve Come Over’ is so inspiring and I keep rewatching it because the simple little drum fills in it, make a huge difference in the song, as it’s relaxed and then will build from a simple fill. This is what I have been trying to achieve with our original songs and I am sure it has worked. I want to use the drums to control how the listener perceives the song, a bit like what it does in the video above. Of course this is all my opinion, and maybe it is just that I am a drummer and am able to notice that, but I am hoping the drums in our songs do make an impact on how the song sounds. This video above, and most of Jeff Buckleys live videos, have truly encouraged me and I have researched and watched the footage of him and his band to gain more knowledge on how to approach the drums I have written for our own original songs.
Above is an article that I read recently when I was researching Chad Smith as he is the most influential drummer to me. This is mainly because he was one of the reasons I got into playing the kit and also, I am a huge fan of Red Hot Chilli Peppers so I’ve listened to them since I can remember. The reason I have included this source above is because I was reading it the other week. As part of the project, I wanted to see how a musician really lives when they’re involved in such big tasks, as this is my first taste of working on a project whilst having other things going on in my life, and also having a deadline instead of doing it for fun. I have attached this because in the interview, it just talks about his life and the past events he’s been up to the last few years or so. It interests me a lot as I’d love to pursue a career in drumming so to get the real feel of it from this interview did help, as it’s someone who motivates me and I do want to be like him someday! I’ve used this as some research because it helps me realise how to handle a project. I wanted to take an interest in learning what it’ll actually be like to be a drummer someday and have it as a career, so I thought I’d research about my favourite drummer and see what he gets up to throughout the last few years and how he balances his work and personal life. I have found this article really useful as it has just given me an insight to what it could possibly be like someday, although of course he is much more famous than I ever imagine to be! It has helped me challenge myself in this project, and also helped me understand that this is something I want to continue after the Unit 13, and keep writing original songs with my band. The article gives you a good look at how a successful drummer 50 years on, has come to terms with what he’s accomplished over the past, and how much his life has changed. The interview conveys how he doesn’t just perform now, but has hobbies on the side and is able to balance his work/life schedule.
This is a video I discovered recently when I was researching people who have inspired me for this project! Kate Bush’s persona on stage is something I find so intriguing and it really does pull me in. However, the reason I have added this video to the research is because of the drum part in the song. It is a direct influence to how I play today and has helped me work towards this project, and develop ideas for the songs the band and I have written. There is heavy cymbal use straight away and also the use of toms in every fill! This is something I thought really brought a lot of character to the song and gave it so much energy. I have really tried to used it in this way for my songs in Unit 13, as it’s something that I believe can completely change a song. In all the tracks, I play a reasonably simple groove, however I add things to make it a little more complex for myself, and I enjoy doing that lots. But what I make sure I do, is make the fills different from the song so they have a real impact and create an energetic atmosphere for the song. Kate’s song really gave me some ideas for the tracks with how I wanted to approach the fills. For example, in ‘Snowball’, I use an ‘eighties’ type fill and it just changes the song from groove to a big finish, and really delivers the song the way we want it. It’ll suddenly be big, and then go back to building up again. Also towards the end when Kate stops singing, the music breaks down and the drums play at a slower tempo, and they just use a really simple groove but with niche fills, giving it a different character to what it was originally like when she was singing. I want to somehow be able to use the drums in my project, to change the songs energy completely and be able to control how it is all made to sound. For me, the crashes and toms are a huge part of making this happen, so that is what I’ve attempted to put in mine. I think this is a great piece of research as it shows in my actual project, how much this has influenced me. This song was a great discovery as I had never heard a live version of it, and it’s made me love it even more.
Document all of your ongoing research during the project…
Some of the on-going research I have covered, is mainly from watching and studying live music performances on YouTube, as that is where I get most of my ideas and inspirations from. I wanted to start this section by telling you where the project really came from… I think the idea was subconsciously developed back in the first year of the pop course, because the biggest inspiration to the project musically, is Jeff Buckley. The reason I mention the first year of this amazing music course, is because it is where we first performed one of his songs, which was ‘Grace’. I will attach the video of us playing it below to show you. But the plan for Unit 13 was decided here on this day, because it was the first song we all really played well together on, and everything just fell into place. I knew straight away that I wanted to play with Harvey and Lewis at college because they are both so talented, and we all seemed to come alive on our instruments when we played through this song! The track ‘Grace’ became second nature and it has influenced pretty much every single part of this project since the beginning. Throughout the three tracks that we have written for Unit 13, especially ‘Home’, you can tell that I have researched and listened to this song countless times, and been able to gain ideas of what to do for my parts of the songs from this. I have taken great influence from Buckley.
Over the first month and a bit of this project, I decided to research some more about Chad Smith as he is a true idol to me. I think it’s important to listen to the people you admire as it can help motivate you, and encourage you to keep going with what you enjoy doing. In this video he talks about how having good chemistry with the band is important. I completely agree with this and would say my band has that too. Lewis, Harvey and I, get a long so well, and it’s great because our personalities mix really well together, although they’re quite different from each others. But I feel like the difference is what makes it work! Chad Smith also talks about how he feels and acts before his shows etc, which is something I really did want to research because one thing I struggle with is nerves, even in the studio. When the nerves will really hit me, is when we record the live take of ‘Fun People’ as that has to be exactly right in the moment. So, hearing Chad Smith talk about all his pre-show rituals was actually really interesting to me, although it might not seem so to most. And I hope to be as relaxed yet still super confident as he is someday. I think this research has proved useful as it just helps to hear advice from a big influence in your life.
I decided to research more about how we could record our version of ‘Fun People’, as we knew the approach was going to be ‘Tiny Desk’ style. On the week of 16th May, I researched and tried to find some recent videos that might be similar to what we were trying to aim for. I came across this video below, which was actually released the week before I found it. This research ended up really benefitting our project for this track in particular as it enabled me to discover what I wanted our song to sound like. Lewis has said he wanted to change from electric to an acoustic with his guitar, and this performance just provided us with more evidence to back his ideas up on why that would be a good plan. The laid-back drums and bass worked so well together in the performances in this tiny desk video. The drums were quiet, yet really effective as they kept the timing perfectly, but they weren’t overshadowing the rest of the instruments too much. The vocals are also very clearly heard, which is exactly what you want. You want to find the right balance and mix between all three instruments, which they have in this video. I think this was really useful research, and I am glad I found this video, as it has been very helpful in guiding me with how I want to approach ‘Fun People’.
Below is the most recent research I did for some inspiration of how the band and I could mix and master the songs, so they sounded in a particular way. I came across this video that came out on the 25th of May, and the piano tone in it is so dreamy that it caught me off guard straight away. It is definitely a similar vibe to what we want to achieve with the song in ‘Home’. We wanted the guitar to sound dreamy, and as if you’re floating, if that makes sense. For the song to slowly elevate you and slowly build up so you can feel the song and get into it. Although ‘Home’ isn’t as long as the tracks played in the video below, I feel that it still has a similar affect in a way, as it is something that carries the listener from start to finish, with simplicity, yet just enough to keep them listening. Similarly ‘Home’ is a very interesting song and actually more complex than it sounds, like what is seen below. The video below provided great research as we are now in a mixing stage of the song and Harry O’Neil (a boy on our course), has helped mix it and he has achieved tones similar to what is below. This video truly inspired me and it has captured the essence perfectly, of something the band and I really want and hope to achieve, in my opinion.
Problem Solving:
What are the problems that you face in realising your ambition for the project?
Below I am going to be writing and dating all the problems I will come into contact with over the weeks of completing the project for my Unit 13.
5th April – Today was a bit of an issue as it is half term and Harvey, Lewis and I were planning to book a practice room at a nearby studio called ‘Unit One’, about 10 minutes from college. I had messaged the guy who owns it and he mentioned that he was away for the week so wouldn’t be there to let us in. However, he had told us that he could get someone to open the rooms up for us, so we can still go and rehearse. We had this planned about a week ago, and this evening, I got a message to say that he couldn’t find anyone to open it all up. Of course this is no ones fault, however it just gives the band and I, no time to practice together over half term. I would suggest we can all go to my house, but unfortunately my parents and neighbours wouldn’t be happy with all the noise. Although this is quite a setback as the half term is two weeks long, we have all agreed to just practice individually and listen to the demos we had recorded on Soundcloud to guide us a little, even though we have obviously made some changes since them demos were made. I know this isn’t the biggest issue, but I thought I’d note it down, as it seems a big deal to me because it is stopping us from being able to rehearse and get our songs better.
28th April – Today was a bit of an issue as I missed a day off college. I had a good reason to though, which was because I was going house-hunting for university in Brighton. The only reason I had to do it today was because the lady who I am meeting with to look round houses, only organises these meets on Thursdays as they are the best days for her. Although of course that is a risk for me, due to missing a whole day of college for it. As I am writing this though, it was definitely worth it as I was successful with the hunt, however I did miss a day of college where I could’ve been working on my project. Lewis and Harvey were practicing today as far as I know so luckily they were still making progress. It’s just a shame that I had to miss a Thursday at college, of all days! This shouldn’t have caused too much of an issue in the project, it’s just set me back by a day but I should be able to recover from it reasonably quickly and make up for it.
5th May – A major setback happened today, which caused a lot of time wasting, although it was pretty much out of our control! What happened was, I was in the studio this morning with Harvey and Lewis, and when I got in, none of the drum kit was set up like it usually is, so that took about 15 minutes of my time, plus 10 to set up the microphones. But what ended up happening when I was asked to do soundcheck by Lilac (one of the tech students), was that we couldn’t get any signal from the right overhead microphone. This caused a massive issue as the cymbals were something I really wanted to capture in this song in particular. When we finally got it working, the low tom microphone cut out as well, and this then created a new incident! It set us back by 1 hour and 45 minutes of studio time, and it made me and my band very frustrated as we know we are on a time limit with getting these recordings done. We eventually were able to get some takes of the song and I was really happy with the final outcome of the takes. However we could have done it so much quicker, and completed even more if it wasn’t for the issues at the start!
9th May – I have been getting on with a lot of coursework today and have managed to complete a huge amount of it! However it somehow has all disappeared and I am now re writing it all, which is of course not the end of the world, but it isn’t the greatest start to my week. I am hoping I did press save and it’ll all be back at college when I get in on Wednesday, but if not then I will have double the amount to catch up on. I will get back to you and let you know how it is resolved. UPDATE (two days later)… I am still having a few issues, however I have written it all up again, and this time it doesn’t seem to have disappeared. So, I am just going to copy and paste it all onto a Word document, so if I am to somehow lose it again, it can be re-uploaded. Hopefully this isn’t an issue in the future as it could become a serious issue if so.
11th/16th May – The issue that the band and I ran into on these two days, was technical difficulties due to the desk in studio one at college. We used the studio on a Wednesday morning and also the next Monday afternoon. Unfortunately we managed to run into the same issue, not knowing why and getting the bare minimum completed in the studio for the drums. What we worked out had been happening, was that the wall inputs apparently couldn’t handle more than six inputs (although it shouldn’t have been an issue). We would usually have eight inputs and would always get confused on why specifically the low tom and right overhead just didn’t pick up any signal at all. We would change both microphones multiple times, and also swap the leads over with different ones at least three times. In the end we would input them straight through to the desk instead, however by the time we had worked this out on the Monday, we had about 20 minutes left and only got on take done. Which ended up being a good take, but still, we could’ve just gotten even more completed if we hadn’t ran into the issue in the first place. However now we are aware of what is going on, we are able to hopefully avoid this for future uses with our project.
31st May – I have unfortunately run into an issue the day before this is all due in!! What’s happened is that there is still no vocals on the tracks ‘Snowball’ and ‘Home’. This isn’t too much of an issue for me as all my parts are finished for the songs so I have completed my part of the project. But, Lewis just isn’t getting the lyrics recorded as he didn’t actually turn up on Monday this week. Although I am sure he recorded some lyrics last Thursday. I have worked so well with Lewis throughout this project, but over the last week or so, it has been hard for me to keep in contact with him, as he hasn’t been replying to my messages much. Anyway, what I wanted to write about was that to fix these issues, I have agreed with Harvey over the phone, and we are both happy to upload the final project without the lyrics. We are both very proud of the results and how good the songs sound. If Lewis is able to get the lyrics done by tomorrow on the deadline, then that would be amazing, however if not, Harvey and I have still accomplished our part of the tracks and the instrumentals are still spectacular. So with or without lyrics, we are all happy with it. I also have mentioned it to Lewis and he is alright with that luckily, as it would be unfair that we have done it all and not be able to upload anything, due to him not recording his lyrics. I wanted to write this onto the blog as although it comes across making Lewis sound like a bad person, he isn’t. Harvey and I are just looking out for ourselves as this is our project too, and we want to show off our talents in our final product, whether it is instrumental or not.
What measures have you put in place to diminish or solve such problems since the beginning of the project?
I think that the first thing we made sure we put in place to not cause as many problems, was good communication with each other in the band! It’s very vital if it’s a group project, as you need to keep everyone updated with what’s going on. It’s important to talk about your issues you may have with the project as an individual and also as a whole. When we decided to work together for Unit 13, we spoke on our group chat about how we need to be clear that if we have any problems, we raise them and make the band aware of what’s going on, so we can sort it out and resolve the issues. Without the communication, the whole plan can basically fall apart as it is a project that involves more than just myself, so I need to make sure my bandmates are working as a team with me. This is so we are able to make everything run smoothly and that if anything is to go wrong, we have it sorted as soon as possible because we will all be making each other aware of the issue.
Another way to solve possible practical issues, is that we need to plan in advance, whether that’s for using the studio, or even using the practice rooms. For example, if we need to record one of our songs, we need to book the studio and can’t just assume it’ll be available, as other people will of course be in need of it too. To use the practice rooms, we need to be on time/ turn up early to secure a room with a drum kit in, and all the amps and equipment we will need for rehearsal sessions. If not, it can definitely cause massive problems as if we aren’t rehearsing, it’s a session wasted and down the drain. Meaning we’ve lost a day and cost ourselves a lot of time where we could’ve been making progress. Being on time and turning up to the right places when you are needed, is key to making this project work, as it is what will cause the day to go well, or bad. Time-wasting will be a huge issue if we let it happen, as it can cause massive problems. Whether that’s us messing around ‘jamming’ in the practice room instead of focusing on the tracks we are rehearsing, or whether it is us taking too long to set up in the studio. Either of these can cause a delay with our project, even if it is by the smallest amount. With planning in advance, this shouldn’t happen.
The key rule is communication as I’ve mentioned above. It is super important to be able to complete this project as best as we can, without running out of time as we have set ourselves a pretty high standard. Our band group-chat is used most days to let each other know the plans for the week when are in college, and also to let anyone raise concerns/issues or changes they may want to talk about. Communication is so important for a project like this.
Planning and Production:
Comment on your original plan and write about the “in project” planning that takes place in addition to the original plan…
To be completely honest, the only way the planning changed throughout the project, was mainly just with how we approached things. For example, we expected to just be able to book the studio, however there are twenty other people on this course trying to do the exact same thing. What we decided to do was just approach it differently, by planning out when exactly we will need the studio, and discussing exactly what we will be doing in the studio, so we aren’t wasting anytime. If not things can go wrong easily, and time wasting can cause huge issues, as we have a deadline and don’t want to be messing around thinking of what we could be doing. Not only could we have been using the studio in a useful way, but someone else could’ve benefitted from it instead, as they would be in the studio working on their project. The key was to stay organised and plan ahead more than a day or two, and plan ahead a week in advance so we were able to get it all sorted more easily. This did work out for us well, and I’d like to think that I took charge with that side of things, as I would always be in first and get things sorted for us so the other two were ready to go as soon as they turned up. I did like taking this role as I like having everything organised and being done correctly because I can get stressed easily, plus Lewis and Harvey are surprisingly a lot more laid-back then me, so it was important that someone took charge with the planning, as without it, things would not go as smoothly as they have so far.
Secondly, another example of our original plan being slightly changed, was how we approached the completion of the project. As of right now when I am writing this, the plan is to have the lyrics added to the final products of the songs that are recorded. The live version of ‘Fun People’ will already include them due to it being a video. However, Lewis hasn’t really been involved as much since the actual recordings in the studios have been done, because of him being ill, and also due to him not being happy with the lyrics he has written. The reason I am using this as an example of the original plan being compared to the in-project planning, is that we have decided this is still a group project, but the real aim is to get our individual parts completed for our Unit 13, to show what we have done. What I mean by this, is Harvey and I have managed to complete all of our practical parts for the project, which is amazing as it took a great amount of work from both of us. However unfortunately Lewis has taken a lot longer to finish his parts. This paragraph is being written on the 31st May, so the day before the deadline, as this is the last piece I have to write luckily except from the final evaluation after the finished products are uploaded. At this current moment, the instrumentals for the two recorded songs ‘Snowball’ and ‘Home’ are complete. Yet the lyrics are not, and it’s because Lewis hasn’t been in and because he keeps rewriting lyrics, as he isn’t happy with the ones he has for them. If he gets them done by the deadline then that will be amazing and I’ll upload the final products with the vocals on them too, however if not, I will just be uploading the instrumental version as it still shows all that I have worked hard for, and what I have recorded. He is aware of this and is completely okay with it and he understands that he is running out of time. If it isn’t done, it is his own fault and I feel that Harvey and I have still worked super hard. Lewis has too, but his time management just hasn’t been as good as he must’ve originally planned. Overall, what I am trying to say is that, even though it takes all three of us to complete this song, sometimes you can only do so much to help others, and then you just need to be happy with the parts that you have completed. I have worked really hard on these three tracks, and although on the original plan, we were going to have lyrics for the songs recorded in the studio, if we don’t, I have still completed my part of the project. I have three songs that’d be ready to release as an instrumental. To me, the three songs are just as incredible with or without lyrics. I am unbelievably proud of how all three of us have taken on this project, despite the changes we have made to the plan down the line, whatever the outcome is, I know the band and I, have worked super hard on these songs and the outcome will be astounding as the songs are brilliant.
Practical Skills:
Evidence the gains that you make through the project…
For this, I will be uploading any recordings I make of the tracks I am working on for the project. Some may be voice memos, and some will be videos. The reason some will be voice memos, is because I haven’t had a lot of storage to be able to record all the videos, however the voice memos should be sufficient evidence still. Also sometimes I wasn’t always able to get a great angle so I would just put voice memos on instead. All of them will have a small explanation below to tell you what’s going on, and also the date they have been recorded! I shall try my best to place them all in order from oldest to latest so they make more sense. Here you are…
Below, are the demos we made around the middle of March, after we had learnt the songs roughly. We decided to get some demos down so we had something to reflect on and be able to change. It was really fun playing them in the studio and getting used to the set up that I’ll need for the actual recordings. We have already changed a lot of the songs since making these demos, however I thought I’d upload them to my blog as it is important to show the differences we’ve made over the months. Below is ‘Snowball’, ‘Home’ and then ‘Fun People’. Fun People we have now decided is going to be recorded completely different, and we are going to do it ‘Tiny Desk’ style in West Wing band rooms at college.
In this video, I recorded the demo version of ‘Fun People’ which is odd, as now it’s not even going to be recorded in the studio. I really liked it and although we have changed a lot, this version shows we had a pretty good feel for the song already, and the structure was there, considering we had barely rehearsed it ar the time. It was recorded live, with Lewis playing as well because the time signatures change multiple times in the song. It goes 6/8 to 4/4 three times, so the metronome was really hard to make change if I was recording on my own. We did a live take and it didn’t sound too bad but it was good enough for a demo as we just wanted a rough idea of the song to see how we can make changes. One of the changes obviously being that we don’t want to record it in the the studio and that we would rather do a live take instead, in the practice rooms. It would give the song much more groove and give us room to improvise as I feel it’s a song that can be changed around in the moment (drum wise) depending on how confident I am feeling. Looking at this video now, I realised that the changes we made were definitely for the better and I am happy with how much it’s improved.
For this video, I didn’t manage to film the whole song as I really struggled with storage on my phone, which continues throughout the project unfortunately, so a lot of the evidence is voice memos. But, I struggled quite a bit with the timing for the fills, as I was playing them too quickly, and there was too long a gap between me finishing the fills, and then going back into the groove. So, I obviously needed to sort this out because it wouldn’t sound any good if I didn’t get it right. Here you can tell in the video that I couldn’t hear the metronome. I struggled a lot in the studio with genuinely hearing the song as the headphones I am wearing, don’t have great sound quality. However, it eventually got turned up and I was able to hear it clearly. This retake of the end was done in one take which was great. I also mention another issue at the end about my sticks but don’t really explain what happened. What happened, was I did the fills at the end in the original take fine, except the timing, but I would knock my sticks together when I moved to the low tom for some reason. I think it is something to do with how I sit as I am quite tight with my arms so they often get in the way of each other, so I need to work on that.
This is just footage of us reacting and listening to the demo first time in the studio. I wanted to capture it as I was really excited to hear what it sounded like as Lewis had found a great tone for his guitar, and Toby had made all the signals level out with each other so the drums sounded amazing with it. It’s just a little clip of us listening to it, but I thought I’d upload it so you can see us having a listen and enjoying it. The song has changed a reasonable amount now, but even this version I really liked because I was just so proud that I had written my own drums to an original song our band had made. All we needed to add to this was the bass, and then vocals if Lewis was able to write any. Overall though, I was super impressed with how all of these demos turned out, considering there was very little time spent doing it.
This is the demo of ‘Snowball’ that was uploaded to Soundcloud, the mix was done by Jorja Hills who is on the music tech course at my college. She did a really good job, but this is just a rough version so we didn’t make it to an amazing standard, as we didn’t really need to. I didn’t get any footage of me recording the song unfortunately but I think it was because we did it very quickly and I almost forgot to get evidence as I wasn’t sure the take I was going to record was any good, however it was alright!
For this take, I attached the video at the beginning of the practical skills section, so I have already explained how it went. I managed to do it in one take and I think this song sounds really cool. Of course now with focusing on making the song for the project and getting it to a really high standard, we have decided to do it live in a band room instead. This will make a huge difference to the song as although I like this version, it would suit the song much better in a room instead where we play live instead of in the studio. plus, it shows that we can do both, performing in a band room live, and also recording songs in a studio. This song sounds great and I can’t wait to hear the final product and see the changes we’ve made to it since this demo.
Above is the demo of ‘Home’ which is probably my favourite song of the three currently. That’s because I find it the most enjoyable to play, and also I just think that it really is a good song that shows all of our skills off equally as a band. I enjoyed playing this song a lot in the demo, although I struggled with the ending a little so that took a few takes, but with more practice playing it before the real recording, I should be able to get it right straight away, and hopefully do it in the first take, although I’m sure a lot of changes will be made by then.
Above, I have attached photos to show you the set up of the kit I am using, to record the two songs ‘Snowball’ and ‘Home’. I used a kick, snare, high mid and low tom, a hi-hat, two crashes and a ride. The kick was miked with a Shure Beta 91A. The snare used two SM57s for the bottom and the top of the drum. I think I then had PG52s for the three toms, but I can’t always remember the names of them. I then used two overhead PG81 microphones so I was able to get a rich cymbal sound for the songs, as that’s something I really wanted to capture in the songs.
This is us rehearsing ‘Home’ and playing around with ideas for the drums in the song. In this voice memo, I play the first verse with no hi-hat, and I straight away knew it just didn’t sound good, however it was good I did it as I could then rule that out as being a no for the song. It was important we went through possible changes and spoke about them as a band because with working as a group, we need to communicate and be honest with each other to make it work. This really helped as its made us tighter as a group, and also its enabled us to feel comfortable enough to share our opinions on the project. The no hit idea seemed good at first but I am glad we’ve ruled it out because it didn’t sound good at all, however it was definitely worth a try.
This piece of evidence was pretty major actually, as originally I was playing the snare the whole way through the song. I had considered changing it and seeing if it sounded good as a rim-click but never got around to trying it out with the band until this day (24/03). We dedicated most of this day to practicing and talking to each other about any changes we may want to make, and it was successful as we changed a few bits, which made the song sound even better. The rirclick enabled the song to gain more of a build up towards the chorus, and therefore making the change after the first verse, sound bigger and more interesting because it changes the dynamic entirely as it becomes a louder song, instead of being all dreamy and quiet.
For playing ‘Home’, there was a key part of the song that we had to get perfect, or it would throw off the entire song, and also just make it sound awful. The part we had to get was a pause in the song where we counted two bars, and then had to come back in and continue. Well, this was the original plan before lyrics were written, however now there are some, we have to time it to the lyrics instead of the counting. You hear us attempt it, and then Lewis go through it with us to help guide us and let us know when we are meant to come in. The lyrics are ‘Oh, I’ve been waiting for you to come back to me”, and the ‘back’, was when we all joined back in as a band. It was really difficult at first as I think Lewis wouldn’t always sing the lyrics at the same speed or maybe he’d do a slightly longer pause just before he’d say the word, which obviously wasn’t intentional but luckily we got it in the end, as you can hear from the end of the video. This was then practiced a few more times after I finished recording so we could get it right.
Although the video above includes vocals, it didn’t include the intro that we put at the start where I come in with a drum roll. Which actually sounds very cool when I play it live with the band, however we did actually take it out eventually, further down the line of this project. But the main reason I caught evidence for this certain rehearsal was because Lewis was testing out this lyrics for the song ‘Home’ and I liked them a lot, and so did Harvey. I think Lewis is quite a perfectionist, a bit like me, and he is quite worried that his lyrics aren’t any good, so he asks for our opinions a lot. I gave mine, and Lewis became pretty confident about it after which is great as we need a confident vocalist for the song!
This is a video similar to above, where Lewis is showing us the lyrics he has written in particular for ‘Fun People’ and I instantly approved of it. I got Jeff Buckley vibes from it straight away and thought it sounded so cool! He seemed so much more confident with his vocals on this song, which is why we’ve made the decision to record this one live, as not only will it be better technical wise as it’ll be hard to do in the studio, but it’ll also capture the true essence of our band and show how much we really love to play this track. This was the first original we played together as a band so I am really happy to see lyrics be put to it, as it’s just completed it and it sounds so amazing to finally hear them properly!
This take shown above, is a really bad take as you can see in the title, because I could just never get when the fills came in, which continues throughout this project unfortunately, but I promise you I do eventually get them. Also the little bit at the start doesn’t entirely matter but it was just us discussing some ideas about the song. But in this video it takes me a while to eventually get the fills right as although they’re not too hard, I just kept getting the timing wrong because I didn’t communicate with Lewis properly about when I should’ve come in. This is something I took as a learning curve from this practice session, and I soon asked for him to queue me before the fills, and the I eventually was able to just play it and know where it was luckily!
This is another take of ‘Snowball’ which was recorded just after the voice memo above as we knew we had finally gotten it together and I knew I was finally playing it correctly! Also, I love this fill a lot, it’s completely different from any sort of fill I’ve played before but what I decided to do, was just follow Lewis’ guitar when he first played the song to me and the fill just came naturally, and I think it sounds so different and cool. This take shows us go from halfway through the song, and me getting the fills in the correct place. The quality of the song sounds a lot better too as I moved my phone a little further away and that made everything sound better as it wasn’t as close to the kit. This practice really benefitted me for the band, as it was helping me get ready and used to the song more for when we got to the recording session.
Here is a rehearsal of ‘Home’ which includes me attempting to do the intro, although for some reason we played it a lot longer. The introduction just didn’t go right at all as I struggled with the timing, however the rest of the song I think was played pretty well on my part. I took out a few of the hi-hat opens, which was suggested by my teacher Jim and I think Michael as well, because it was repeated to too often, and didn’t give as much of an affect due to being overused. I have toned that part of it down a lot, which has definitely made a difference as now the hi-hat open sounds really nice and is just a cool little feature to the verses. Harveys bass is just getting better and better for this song in my opinion and what he’s written sounds amazing! You can’t tell from this as it is annoyingly a voice memo due to low storage on my phone, but we were all really getting into the playing the song. You can maybe tell from the end when Lewis shouts “Woo” into the microphone and because of that we all had smiles on our faces and from this rehearsal, I came out of the band rooms, really looking forward to finally recording this song.
In this video, I could not tell you how frustrated I was. We had a huge amount of technical issues with the microphones. in particular, the right overhead and the low tom microphones. We couldn’t get any signals from them at all, however it was pretty vital that we caught all the toms as I wanted the fills to sound really intense, and for the sound to be picked up from each tom individually. In this video, I was just getting frustrated at the technical issues, not the other people of course, as they were being so kind and trying to help sort it out. However I was super stressed because I was waiting for about an hour to get it all done and I was constantly sound checking the kit, yet we made no progress at all unfortunately. Of course, this always happens and it can’t be helped if no one can work out what’s wrong, but I am sure you can understand my frustrations, as I have worked so hard to get this recording ready, and we couldn’t even do it that day because the technical side to it all didn’t go well. Again this was nobody’s fault at all and eventually it did get sorted luckily, but we didn’t have much time left.
During the small voice-memo above, you can hear me attempt to record the intro for ‘Home’ which is a snare roll, that I just cannot quite get and I struggle with it lots. I still to this day, do not understand why I can’t play it in the studio, as for some reason I was able to get it spot on when I played it live with the band in the practice rooms before this take. However, no matter how hard I tried, I just couldn’t do it sadly. The intro isn’t the most important bit of the song anyway, so I was more then happy to keep it out, which I’ll explain more below after the next video.
This video is another attempt at me recording the whole song. It actually goes really well, despite the awfully-timed introduction snare roll. But instead of cutting out the intro and redoing it, I did think I could do much better with the grooves and make them sound louder as I wasn’t pushing the kick drum pedal, as hard as I would normally, so I asked to do it again below…
This video shows the final full-take that I ever actually do of ‘Home’ which includes another drum intro on the snare, which at the time I think sounded pretty decent. However it was quite out of time when I listened back to it at the sound desk. Due to this I presumed I was going to have to re-record the intro next week, although I didn’t want it in the song anymore as I knew it would never sound good. But what I didn’t realise was that my friend on my course, Harry O’Neil, was in the recording studio at the time, and what he agreed to do for us was actually just to cut out my intro and have me come in when I normally would’ve for the verse. Once I heard this version which was played to me around a week later, I instantly knew that the take I had just took in this video, was actually exactly what I wanted for the song, and all it took was to cut out the intro, as I think that was just playing on my mind.
Here is me attempting to do the ending fills in the studio for ‘Home’ and what kept going wrong was the timing of when I came back into the groove from the fills. There was too long a gap in between the fills finishing and the groove starting again. The reason behind it, wasn’t because it hadn’t been practiced enough, but because the studio version is much slower than what we have played live in a band room together, so I think I was just too us3d to that one and forgot to slow it down.
Here is the second take I do for ‘Home’ and it is still out of time which I noticed straight away, which was due to the metronome being quiet and me getting confused on the counting. Due to the tempo slowing down on the song from what we had played together in a practice room, I wasn’t used to do it so I was counting a bar of 6/8 whilst playing a fill. That is probably one of my bigger weaknesses in general for drumming as I find it hard to count in 6/8 when I am not playing something that matches the exact counting I am doing, if that makes sense.
Finally it is here, the final take of the ending for my favourite song ‘Home’. The metronome was turned up and I could hear it perfectly and I managed to get the fills spot on. One thing I forgot to mention was that Lewis and I, came up with an idea to change the ending of the song on the drumming part. I played two big fills at the end, them both originally being exactly the same and hitting all four toms. Yet now, it is only that for the first drum fill at the end, and the second one is on the snare, but the same rhythm and sticking is used so you get the same effect. It just gave the ending a little more complexity from what it originally was, which was still amazing and sounded difficult. This however, just gave the song more of a dynamic ending and we finished on a punchier snare sound instead of a low echoey tom sound. I am incredibly proud of this song and am so amazed at how it was all achieved, despite the issues we had on this day due to technical difficulties, I managed to work through it with the others, and get the song finished on my part.
This video, shows Lewis (the guitarist) recording ‘Snowball’, I attached it as I wanted to show you more then just me every now and again as although it is an individual project, it has taken two other people as well as me, to get these songs so great. Lewis spent a lot of time on the tone for his guitar, which really helped the song because we wanted a very specific tone for each song, which was what’s made them feel even more original, as we have such vivid ideas for each song specifically. This was just some evidence so I could show how hard he worked for his guitar parts, and how good he also was at recording so quickly.
This is the first and only take of ‘Snowball’ which I am over the moon to show. I spent a lot of time working on the fills to get them right and learn all the queues so they would be in the correct place, and I had Lewis at the sound desk to guide me just as a backup too. The snare sound is incredible on this song and the tom fills sound unbelievably good. I am impressed with how well it all turned out after I had worked hard to practice and get it right. Also, at the end I ask if I was out of time, and it turns out I wasn’t so I managed to get it done all in one take, which I am so happy about! ‘Snowball’ is now officially done with in the studio, on my part, and I cannot wait to provide you with the final product.
This is the band and I rehearsing ‘Fun People’ as we are due to record a video of it with our tutor Michael soon, and we wanted to go through it so we could make it as tight as possible (although that doesn’t actually end up going to plan, further down the blog). Lewis does make a few minor mistakes in this, and to be honest, I think it’s mainly because we hadn’t played this as a band in quite a while as we had been mainly focused on the two songs in the studio. The one thing I could say about this video as that we just needed to get it a little more ready, and we actually went through it quite a few times after this was shot, which is great! And, we also made a new change to the song, which is down below. But this video was just evidence of us practicing as I realised I hadn’t gotten any footage of us for a while as we had ben focused on other tracks, which is a shame really, as this song is of course just as important. But, now all the recording for the studio songs ‘Snowball’ and ‘Home’ are finished, we can really knuckle down and concentrate on this song to get it to a great standard.
This is a voice memo, showing a change that we’ve made to the end of the song ‘Fun People’, which I get wrong at first, but you can hear in the second time that I get it correct. I think it sounds super cool and it has dragged the end out longer, and also builds the drums up once again, to create a much better ending in my opinion! Now, I am playing a basic 4/4 groove over where I’d usually fill, but I leave that for a little bit so you can also hear the guitar well, and then I come in and do the final fills after so it ends on that, but has something just a little different before, to add even more to the song and make it interesting and also more challenging. The reason I say this, is because going from a 6/8 snare roll, into a 4/4 groove instead of a fill, was quite challenging for me, and you’ll see that in a video further down where I struggle to get the timing right! I managed to get it in this video, but it was due to practicing it in the moment just beforehand.
I really enjoyed making this video, and also watching it back because it’s just showing us playing ‘Home’ without feeling any pressure because we had officially completed it in the studio already (despite the vocals part). This section was played with Lewis singing the vocals though and it sounded so good! I’ve grown to really love this song, and I am super proud of it, it makes me realise how much I enjoy playing with this band that I’ve formed with Harvey and Lewis. This video also shows just how well we know the song now, because of how much we’ve played it, and the fact we did it so well in this video! This is actually the last time we played it before the end of this project, but we are hoping over the summer, to possibly get a few gigs as a band, so we have a chance to show these amazing three songs, to more people.
This video above shows our first take of playing ‘Fun People’, and although Lewis ended up stopping anyway due to messing up, we listened back to the small recording we had made with Michael to check the sound, and the drums just didn’t seem right. We worked out that this was because I was playing with sticks and it became way too loud, considering its meant to be ‘Tiny Desk’ like, which is simplistic and with a great balance of instruments. My solution to this was playing with brushes instead, and it made a massive difference. I ended up realising it’s one of the best changes I’ve made throughout the project as it sounded so much cooler with the light ride cymbal sound and the less punchy snare. It gave the song more of a laidback feel, which is something we didn’t initially capture too well, and this did perfectly. As soon as I changed to brushes, Harvey, Lewis and I all gave each other a look and knew instantly that this was a brilliant idea.
This video straight away conveys just how much better the song sounds with brushes instead of drum sticks! The ‘tiny-desk’ vibe is reached and the song sounds much cooler then originally as we’ve achieved the sound we actually wanted from it. The only issue in this, was Lewis made a minor mistake with his strumming pattern so I think that threw him off, and also he then forgot to do the bridge as he was already annoyed at the mistake he’d made so it just went quite wrong after that! But, we had found the sound we wanted, so we had gained something that we didn’t have before, even if we didn’t get the take we wanted.
This video was super embarrassing as we finally had the perfect take, and I majorly messed up at the end! I played into the bridge which involved me building up a drum roll in 6/8, to then end up sounding loud and going into 4/4. However it did not go as planned and I came in way too early with the groove that came after the drum room, and it made me go out of time with Harvey and Lewis as even though I recovered, it wasn’t something you could just edit out. I think it was because I stopped counting and just listened to the guitar instead but somehow that confused me more! I was disappointed in myself as I managed to ruin it for everyone and they had played so well. But, mistakes happen and it happens sometimes. Luckily we had the next week to film another take instead, although we didn’t record it through microphones, we just played it live to the camera which I still think is good. This video was hard for me to watch back but I needed to upload it to show the progress I have made since for the actual final video which is down below, at the end of the blog. However I knew from this moment, that I needed to work on that one thing, so I did and it helped so much!
Upload every workshop performance you’ve done since the start of this project…
During the workshop performances, all of them were voice memos I made so I have shared a screen-record of me playing them to you. In the workshop voice memo videos, I am playing the vibraphone, which is sometime hard to be heard in the audio but it does definitely pick it up. Overall though, these voice memos have picked up a pretty decent recording of our workshop performances and although you can’t see it, I think it still sounds amazing! Enjoy:
I absolutely loved doing these workshops, as although I wasn’t playing drums, I found a new instrument that I really enjoyed playing and I look forward to the lesson every week! Having the chance to just play a new random song every week, and always have it sounding pretty decent after a few practices, is so impressive and it really boosts my confidence that I am able to pick it up so easily most of the time. Even if it is super hard, I make it work somehow and my talented friends always make the songs sound incredible!
Also, here are some photos that I took over the various workshops we did! I didn’t manage to take one every week but here are the ones I do have…
Evaluation and Reflection:
For my evaluation, I am going to start with doing one for each week, starting from the 21st February, and basically write out everything we’ve covered that week, and the gains we are making in the project. Instead of a chart, I will just write it out with the date at the top as it’ll make it easier to find, and i’ll be able to write a lot more information that way. I will go over the aims for the next week at the ends too, and talk about how I feel with the project…
21st February – On this week, beginning 21st February, I have begun my Unit 13 project! We were told the assignment brief on the Monday and I spent most of the day writing down ideas of what I could possibly do, however I wasn’t entirely sure! I ended up messaging my bands group chat and asked them if they had any ideas on what they wanted to do, and then suggested we did a group project. We then came to the conclusion we would write an EP of three songs! The standard was set and we said we’d write and record the songs, and have them ready to release by the end of the project. Luckily we are all happy with the idea and have made a start! Lewis is the guitarist and he has already got one song down that he wrote a year ago and I always said I really enjoyed listening to him play it. On the Thursday in the practice rooms, he played it to us and we ended up working out some simple bass lines to it, and for me, a drum beat that would go with the song. It ended up sounding quite cool and I think we have a rough idea of how we want it to sound. Plus it has set the vibe of the EP and has helped Lewis with ideas on how to write the other two songs as we want them sounding connected in some way. At the end of the week, we have ended up with a song already which I am very impressed with! And we are going to hopefully start to work on it and make it sound much better. I am happy with what this project will turn into and I am glad I am choosing to do a group project as I was struggling with ideas on what to do on my own. I think this project will challenge me but it also excites me.
28th February – This week we spent more time brainstorming songs, and Lewis actually has some ideas for another two which is amazing! As a band, we have made the decision to stick to just three songs for the EP, as we know it’ll be super challenging as it is, so we don’t want to add even more pressure with trying to come up with a fourth. However if we somehow have time for an extra song, we will consider it possibly being part of our Unit 13. On the Wednesday we asked if we could use the studio to record a demo of our song called ‘Fun People’, which is the name of the first one we have all written. We got quite a lot practiced last Thursday and because it was a demo, we were able to record a rough version. The drums were done in one take, which I was pretty impressed with, and I’ll see if I can find the video for it and attach it above in the practical skills, as I think I recorded a video of me playing on the song. As a band we have unexpectedly made a lot of great progress this week, because we already have a rough demo of this song and it’s only been a week, so we are all quite pleased with ourselves. I will upload the song in practical skills as Lewis has uploaded the demo to Soundcloud. What we also managed to rehearse in the band rooms a new song called ‘Home’ which Lewis played to us. I instantly worked out a groove for the songs and we pretty much had it straight away, but the ending took a bit of practice as I want to do two fills before the song finishes. I think it went pretty well, and we hope to practice it more soon. But, overall I had a really good week and was impressed with how much we got completed. One of the questions I wanted to answer from the assignment brief was ‘What makes you procrastinate so much? And why?’. I think the only answer for that is feeling unmotivated a lot of the time, which is of course nobody’s fault but mine, although I find it hard to control. For example, when writing the blog for this project, I would struggle to concentrate sometimes because I knew I wasn’t in the right mindset, so my writing wouldn’t be to the standard it actually should be. However when I am motivated, I get an impressive amounts of work done because I am able to concentrate and work harder. I think the procrastination is caused by the lack of motivation, but I am not sure why! It could possibly be because I have something going on that day that I am looking forward to, or it could be anxiety as I have had both issues come up before, and it has gotten in the way of me completing my coursework. The aim for next week is just to keep practicing these songs in the band rooms so we are able to get it to a much better standard. The other goal for next week is to work on another song, which Lewis already has some ideas for.
7th March – This week, our main aim was to record some demos of three songs for our project, and we managed to record one of them on the Wednesday of this week. We recorded a new song that we have written called ‘Home’ which we worked on intensely last week. This ended up going really well, although it did take a few takes as I was kind of sat at the kit at a bit of a funny angle because I kept hitting the low tom wrong, and it didn’t give the sound we wanted. However, I eventually got it done and thought it sounded really cool! The fills weren’t too complex but I came up with them the day before and am happy with how they sound in the song. In the afternoon, Lewis told us he had third song for us, and that it was reasonably easy so he played it to use and Harvey and I, loved it. I was shown a video by Lewis as he envisioned a particular groove for the song and I managed to come up with something similar which is cool. Unfortunately I didn’t get a video of my take of this in the studio however I do have the demo of it, attached in the practical skills section, a long with the other two. Overall, this week has been incredibly successful as we have written a full three songs, excluding lyrics but I know Lewis is working on lyrics for them hopefully. These demos were done super quickly so they don’t sound nearly as good as the final product will eventually be, but it’s something to look back on and use to work on what to improve about the three songs. I am sure we will end up changing a lot with them all. The aim for next week is now to just begin to complete some coursework, and to continue to practice these songs in the band rooms when we are in college.
14th March – This week, beginning 14th March, the band and I just spent more time listening to the demos and discussing what we wanted to change about the songs if we felt anything needed changing. We had discussions about putting a longer intro into the song ‘Home’, however this could change. We also know we want to get a much better tone on the guitar to give it a more ‘dreamy’/’wavy’ feel if that makes sense. I think that it would give the song a more of a chilled approach which is what we wanted and for it then to slowly become something bigger, which is what happens at the end. I also mentioned how I want to get another persons opinions on the songs so we have asked one of our teachers will give us an opinion this Thursday. But today (Wednesday 16th), we spent most of our time with the demos instead of practicing. However I did take part in some practical when I did the workshop lesson which is my favourite part of a Wednesday currently. We played ‘Ok Love You Bye’ which we studied in a theory lesson on the Monday of this week. I was once again on the vibraphone and managed to be able to play the song reasonably quickly. I have attached the voice memo I got of it in the workshop practical skills section, and you can listen there to how great it sounded. On the Thursday this week, the band and I ended up getting quite a bit of feedback from our teacher Jim. He seemed to really like our song ‘Fun People’ and that made me glad as his opinion and also my other teachers, is important to me. One thing he mentioned was to just add some little simple fills in every now and again which I definitely will from now as I agree that it can make a huge difference. Overall though, he seemed impressed and now just wants us to perform on stage at some point to the class which I really want to do! One of the questions asked on the brief was, “Is there anyone your age who would do your project better?”. My answer to that is yes, there definitely is. I am not the most confident drummer so sometimes I feel that my ideas get unheard and in some cases it’s because I am too afraid to talk about them. A lot of other people with more confidence than me on my course, like my friend Ellis Goodall, would be able to raise his thoughts on something straight away. However, I do plan to work on this weakness as getting more confident as a drummer will impact me greatly. The aim for next week is to work on improving the songs more and work on what we wanted to change from hearing the demos.
21st March – This week we explored new ideas for ‘Home’, drum wise… We have decided that the intro verse will be played with a rim-click which I actually think sounds even better and it gives it more of a build-up instead of already being on snare. We also tried it where it was just kick and snare, without hit on the first verse but it didn’t give as much of an effect as we still had the snare being too punchy. The rim click seemed to sound the best with the song so I think we are going to stick to that from now on! This week I worked a little more on updating my coursework, and then spent the week just rehearsing the songs we plan to do for our project again. I also did two song covers in Michaels class with my classmates on the vibraphone. We played ‘Password Change’ by Olivia Dean and ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’ by Nirvana. It challenged me and I enjoyed that as it helps me gain and boost my confidence and lets me prove to myself that I am a good musician. Overall, this week was good but it definitely could’ve been more productive. I think the aim for next week will be to finish up my Unit 12 coursework, and to continue with the rehearsing for our songs because we go to half-term after next week.
28th March – This week was our last week before half-term and I’d say it was reasonably successful. I completed a lot of coursework which is great as it has made me feel more relaxed. There isn’t as much to write about this week as I was mainly focusing on coursework, however I have continued to practice changes of the songs with the bands, and just keep running through them so we are able to get them right when we go into the studio at some point. ‘Home’ sounds so much better with the rim-click and I am glad we made that changed as it has made the song sound cooler and I like the way the groove goes more. The rest of the week I spent in 403 doing coursework so there isn’t much to say. Although one thing I have done, is message a guy I know called Wayne, who owns a local rehearsal space/studio that we can rent in the half term. As a band we have been there once before, and as an individual I have been six times! I love it there as the kits are great quality and the renting is for a good price. I am hoping he will get back to me soon as I have asked if we can book a space there on a few days over the half-term to continue to practice as it is half-term for the next two weeks. The aim for next week is to meet at this rehearsal space, providing he writes back, which he always does. However if not, our back up plan is just to rehearse on our own.
4th April – This week, was the first week of easter half term, and we didn’t manage to meet as a band sadly. This was because we were meant to go to a nearby studios and rent out a practice room for a day, but unfortunately the man who owns it, was away on holiday. I wrote more about this issue in the ‘Problem Solving’ section of the project. But we realised that we can’t go to each others houses to play as I am the only one who has room for a drum kit, but my parents aren’t happy with the idea of loud music being played for a while as my dog doesn’t like loud noises. This is obviously a bit of a problem but we have all said we will just work on our songs individually, using the rough demos to play along to instead. I did this a few times this week just to mess around with the groove and see if I can come up with anything more to add to the song. Overall, this week went alright, but I wish we could’ve all met up and rehearsed still.
11th April – There is not that much to write for this week sadly. We are still in half term until next week and are still unable to book the studios! But we have all been keeping up to date with each other and have been talking abut some little changes to the songs. For example, with snowball, we are going to let the cymbals ring out like normal at the end, but Lewis will keep playing and slowly fade out. This is instead of just stopping abruptly at the end of the song, and it just gives it that little bit more in my opinion. I have also just been practicing little rudiments by myself on my practice pad, and also jamming in my room on my kit to just make sure I am keeping myself busy and practicing the songs. This week we didn’t make any progress at all as a band, but individually, we all have taken the time to focus on working on our parts of the songs. Next week we are back to college again, so we are just going to spend some time rehearsing all of the songs.
18th April – This week was a bit of an odd one as were only in two days, however we managed to get quite a bit completed luckily. This was due to Monday being a bank holiday so we obviously didn’t have college. On Wednesday this week we did ‘Hate To Be Lame’ by Lizzy McAlpine featuring Finneas, and it went really well. I attached the audio of it in the practical skills section, but it was great fun to learn and although I found it challenging, it made me very happy when I was able to play it along with everyone else. On the Thursday, we actually got into the studio after deciding to book it the day before. We weren’t intending to get into the studio until next week, however we realised that the songs ‘Home’ and ‘Snowball’ are pretty much ready to record. So, we got in there and recorded the bass and guitar for ‘Home. I didn’t spend too much time in there as I knew we weren’t going to have enough time to set up the kit and get a decent take, however we plan to record the kit next week. Lewis and Harvey stayed in there to work on the guitar sound for the song though, whilst I went to room 403 and did some coursework for the rest of the day. It’s been a reasonably productive week and we got a lot more done then I’d anticipated and we didn’t even think we’d have started recording yet, but it will definitely get much more productive as we get closer to the deadline.
25th April – This week beginning 25th April, I made a bit more progress with my coursework, by uploading some workshop videos for my practical skills, to YouTube. It’s something I’ve been meaning to do for a while but never found the time to. Luckily I was able to screen record and upload some of the voice memos as it won’t let me share it any other way. It took about 45 minutes to sort out but I managed to do it at home so it didn’t take too long. On the Wednesday when we were in, I was only in until around 1pm due to having to go up to Brighton that afternoon. I thoroughly enjoyed my morning in college though, as we have a workshop lesson 10:45-12:15 with our teacher Michael, and it is a lot of fun as it teaches us to learn songs quickly and get them to a good standard. In these lessons, I play the vibraphone and this is something I’ve only started to play since these lessons. We were challenged to play ‘I Miss You’ by Adele, it went really well. These lessons really make me enjoy learning to play another instrument, and help me work with my college friends that I wouldn’t normally play with. It definitely tests my ability to be able to quickly understand a song and its structure. Anyway, on the Thursday I was away in Brighton as I have been house hunting with my friend for university. This caused me to miss a whole day of college, but as far as I know, Harvey and Lewis spent the day practicing in the band rooms at college. The reason I had to miss college this day was because the lady who is helping us find a house to move into, is only able to set these meetings up on Thursdays, so there’s no way I could actually avoid missing college for a day unfortunately. This week wasn’t very successful unfortunately but I know that next week I will dedicate a week of rehearsing to the band so we are able to get our songs more tight. Hopefully next week we will make more progress.
2nd May – This week, beginning 2nd May, we started to make some more progress with the recording side of the songs! Which I am really relieved about as I am definitely starting to stress about finishing this project to the standard I want it at. Mainly because we have struggled quite a bit with studio time etc, and also finding the time to rehearse, as well as complete coursework! However, on Thursday this week, we managed to get my drums recorded for ‘Home’ which I am so glad about. We had an issue that morning which I explained in the problem solving section of this blog. But what happened is that we took just under two hours to get the kit set-up to be recorded. This of course wasn’t our intention but we came across a lot of issues, for example, a lot of the leads for the microphones just didn’t work and we’re broken. We also struggled with the signals reaching the desk. But I went into more detail about it above. At the end of the week though, we ended up with a full song recorded, the guitar bass and drums! I am really glad and it has definitely made me less stressed, however we do of course have two songs to record still, and Lewis’ vocals on all three. This will eventually get done, it’s just taking longer than expected but we will get it completed. The aim for next week is to catch up on coursework and try and get another song recorded and hopefully finished! As I have been saying though, I knew this would be a real challenge, but luckily things start to be going on track!
9th May – This week, beginning 9th May, I ran into a bit of a setback when it came to the coursework, as I took a lot of my time on the Monday, trying to complete parts of it. I uploaded multiple videos and also answered some of the context sections. However when I got home that night to carry on, it was all gone. Yet I was confident in the fact I had saved it multiple times. The problem was soon resolved as I just re-wrote all the work I did again that night. But it made me lose half a days work and I spent the other half trying to work out how to re-write it all. Hopefully this doesn’t happen again or cause anymore issues. On the Wednesday Lewis was sick so he didn’t come in, but we were meant to be in the studio. However, we moved that to the Thursday and I spent my Wednesday afternoon doing more coursework luckily, so the day didn’t go to waste. I also got a new laptop finally, after not having one for over a year. Which means when I am home, I am able to easily access my coursework, instead of doing it on my phone or having to use my mums laptop. On the Thursday, we managed to get our song ‘Snowball’ nearly complete, except from the vocals which Lewis will add at some point over the next week or so. It went quite well, I managed to record my drums in one take which is cool! Once again, we had an issue with getting a signal from the low tom and one of the overhead microphones, but it was sorted within 10 minutes, thanks to Toby from the music tech course. Unfortunately the drums have turned out to be out of time, after Lewis and Harvey recorded their parts, so I will be redoing it next Wednesday when we are in college. Hopefully this gets sorted that day otherwise we will be very pushed for time. Overall, this week was pretty successful because we have started to finish another song! I think we are making good progress and I am not too stressed about the deadline for this project yet. I have also been catching up much more on my coursework which is great. Next week, the aim is to finish all of the recordings, including the vocals. This is so we can focus on just finishing in Unit 13.
16th May – On the Monday of this week, we used the studio and managed to get the drums for ‘Home’ recorded finally, and it went well! One thing we have changed about it though, is that the two big fills at the end are now different. So I will hit all the toms on the first fill like normal, but on the final one, I will use the same sticking but just on the snare instead. Personally I think it sounded really cool, and I am quite happy with the change! I managed to get it in only two takes so the only thing left for that song now is to add the vocals which Lewis has ready luckily. Other then that, I just spent the Monday doing coursework and also did quite a bit of it at home. On the Tuesday I used my day off to complete the context section of my unit 13 and finally got that done. On Wednesday we unfortunately didn’t get much done at all but this wasn’t anyones faults. What happened was, there were English GCSE’s taking place so we couldn’t enter college until 3pm. Our final lesson was just band rooms so we spent an hour and a half practicing our three songs and also for the recording of ‘Fun People’ which we did on the Thursday. The Wednesday was a good day considering we were only in college for that small amount of time, and I am glad it didn’t go to waste, as we did benefit from practicing ‘Fun People’. This is because we have changed the ending slightly and made the outdo longer then it originally was. This has added a cool new dynamic to the song and I managed to get a video displaying that. On the Thursday we managed to record ‘Fun People’ although it wasn’t necessarily up to the standard we wanted it, however I am happy with it. We decided to record it ‘Tiny Desk’ style instead of in the studio as we wanted more of a relaxed version for this song because within that’s what would show its full potential. I think if we have time then we may do another recording but just video it instead of record it again. But we may just stick with the one we recorded this Thursday. I made a minor mistake in the song which I think is the only reason we aren’t the happiest with it, but we think it will make do. The mistake is definitely noticeable, but with it being ‘Tiny Desk’ style, I feel that there is room for mistakes as nothing is ever perfect, compared to being in a studio as with that it’s easy to re-record or cover up the issues. Also it is usually a live-recording in one take for their YouTube videos on the Tiny Desk channel, so it shows how performing truly works and that things can go wrong, although it is annoying. I am quite happy with how this week went, considering we were basically off for one of the days and weren’t able to access the studios much at all. The aim for next week is to completely finish the recordings and start to finish my coursework so it is ready for the deadline, but the most important thing is to finish up the practical side of the project as this is our last week.
23rd May – This week is basically the last week of work! So stress levels are very high but I am pretty sure I am going to finish everything done. Monday, we didn’t manage to get into the studio but we have tried to book it for Wednesday morning to finish the drums for ‘Snowball’ so hopefully we get that sorted by then. So today (Monday), I have managed to just get on with my coursework, and I also helped Lewis as he asked me for some advice on some lyrics for our songs as he is going to record vocals this week. It was a reasonably productive day as I am also doing coursework this afternoon (right now) as I just want to finish it so I can get it all done in time! On the Tuesday I spent the whole day at home, taking the time to upload all my evidence from my camera roll to YouTube, which took me quite a few hours due to how long it took to edit and get re uploaded due to them not being backed up by my iCloud. However I eventually got it done and made a start to the explanations under each video for my evidence ‘practical skills’ part of the project. On Wednesday I was in the studio by myself in the morning as Lewis was ill, but I actually had a great day! It turned out that I actually had all the drums recorded for the studio songs, which I was over the moon about. Originally I came in that morning, thinking I had to re-record a song, but it turned out my friend Harry O’Neil had been mixing the songs and they sounded amazing! All that was left was the lyrics which Lewis had to do, so I’ve left that to him and hope he can get it done, but if not I’ll just upload the instrumental to Soundcloud as it still includes everything I do and I am really happy with the outcome and how it all sounds on my part. That night I then did coursework, and I am starting to get to the end of it luckily, as it has taken a while. On the Thursday we got another take of ‘Fun People’ and it was so much better, it was actually recorded in one take perfectly, which really shows how much practice we’ve put into the song and how hard we’ve worked for it. I really liked the outcome of the video and will use that for my final video so that is below in the final presentation of the project. This week, I ended up finishing all of my practical work and I am so relieved as it was stressing me out a lot as we have struggled a lot recently with the technical issues and also having time in the studio, but now it is all done! One of the questions asked by the brief was, “Is competition healthy?”, and I thought I’d answer that in this weeks evaluation as I am starting to complete my coursework. In my opinion, competition is healthy under the right circumstances, but not on this project! Of course it might be healthy if it is something like wanting to be as good as an actual professional recording like a Lizzy McAlpine song and compare it yours. But the way I get competitive is by comparing myself way too much to others through coursework. At the moment I am really struggling to feel accomplished in my coursework as I always feel that I have never done enough. However comparing myself doesn’t really make sense in this case as everyone is doing completely different projects. Yet, I still do it and it is difficult for me not to. I like to aim to be one of the bests normally and I have accepted that I probably can’t do that in this project as it is not a competition, but when other people show their work, I will always subconsciously find something great about theirs that I don’t have in mine, which makes me feel like my project is nowhere near as good as theirs. I am working in this though.
The aim now is just to finish the coursework side of the project, and to upload the final results.
30th May – On the Monday of this final week!! I can’t believe how quick it’s gone, but I did a load of coursework at college that day because I have no practical work left to complete. I just need to finish my little evaluations/explanations under the videos I have uploaded for the ‘practical skills’ section and then I am kind of done. However I am going to go over anything and just add anything I feel that is needed to make my written work, as detailed as I can get it. On the Tuesday, I spoke to Lewis and he mentioned how he is not sure about the lyrics being done for the songs (I have written about this in my problem solving section for the blog). However I called Harvey and we have both agreed to just upload the instrumental version and Lewis said he is alright with that, because it isn’t our faults if he hasn’t finished that bit in time for the deadline, and it would be unfair on Harvey and I if the project seemed unfinished on our part because we had actually completed everything. I hope that makes sense. Also, on the Tuesday I completed all of my coursework and I am relieved about that and I think I have put a great amount of detail into all the sections, and completed to to the best of my abilities. On the Wednesday things went great for the final day. I completed all my coursework, and also uploaded my final project. Unfortunately Lewis didn’t turn up, and I am sad to say that the songs will be uploaded with lyrics. Lewis didn’t finish them and he didn’t even come to college today. This of course doesn’t change my project, as my sections of the songs are all finished so it doesn’t affect me. However it does affect him. I am sad that we can’t upload the tracks with lyrics, because Harvey and I worked hard on them, and the lyrics were what would complete it all. But needless to say, my part of the project is still finished. The final product being without vocals doesn’t affect the drums in any way, so I am still happy to upload the instrumental. It will show all my skills and how much effort I have put into these tracks. I can’t believe I have completed the tracks, and I am super proud of myself for working so hard on them. This product has helped me become a better drummer, and I am so pleased with how it has turned out, despite the few issues we had to deal with.
Presentation:
Upload your completed project media…
Here it is, the final version of ‘Fun People’ which we recorded live in just one take!
The final version of ‘Home’ which sounds absolutely phenomenal!
And last but not least, the final version of ‘Snowball’ which is amazing!
Evaluating my Unit 13:
Finally, we come to the evaluation of my Unit 13. Above are the links to my final product, containing three songs. ‘Fun People’, which is a live video take. Secondly, ‘Home’ which is a studio recording. And thirdly, ‘Snowball’ which is also a studio recording.
This project, was one of the most challenging tasks I have ever taken on. It was enjoyable to take part in and I think I chose well with my project. I decided to write three original drum parts to three original songs. This was then going to be recorded in some way and uploaded onto Soundcloud. I managed to complete all of the tracks within the time limit to my best abilities. I put in one hundred percent in the studio when recording, and I did my best to make the drums sound as great as possible. My friend Harry O’Neil helped mix our two tracks that were recorded in the studio. He made the drums sound more echoey as if they were being played in a big venue, for the song ‘Home’. I helped him and gave him my opinions and told him what I wanted them to sound like. For ‘Snowball’ I asked for the snare drum to sound bold and punchy, and he did that for me. Little things like that help develop the song more and give it more layers. I am very grateful for how Harry has helped us, as he has helped us make our tracks sound even better. For ‘Fun People’, we played it ‘Tiny Desk’ style, as all we had was a bass amp, and a vocal mic for higher quality sound. We wanted to keep it simple just like NPR do, and not use many microphones. We then use an acoustic guitar, bass and a kit. For the kit, I used brushes to make it sound more gentle and quiet. It bought a great sound to the song and it helped us reach its full potential. The brushes made it quite, yet gave it more of a gritty sound with the snare, and I think that it made the song very cool.
I spent so much time on this project, and I have done an incredible amount of work for it. It took motivation, confidence and being keen, to complete this Unit. I thoroughly enjoyed every single part of it, and even though we had a few issues on the way, it worked out very well in the long run. I now have something I am able to show to family and friends, and also add to my portfolio for future needs. The coursework side of the project was intense and I spent many hours completing it, however I enjoyed it too. It took a lot of effort to complete it and I managed to do it, and am so proud of how much I’ve written. On the other hand with the practical side of the project, I worked hard on writing original drum pieces. I had never done anything like this before and to then be writing for three songs, was challenging. In my opinion, I think I did a great job of it and as I’ve said many times, I am incredibly proud of what I have achieved over these last few months.
When I uploaded the two tracks to Soundcloud, I sent ‘Home’ to my auntie Ellie to get her opinion on it. The reason I asked her, was because she was a drummer in her teens/twenties. My aunts opinion means a lot to me as I know she will honest with me, plus she knows what she is talking about. I have attached a screenshot of her reply below so you can see exactly what she said about it.
The comments she made above boosted my confidence and it made me feel more certain about my final project being great. My aunt is one of the reasons I started drumming when I was younger, so to hear this from someone I truly admire, meant so much to me. She is a very confident drummer and she performed for around a decade, back in the nineties with her band. They were only local to Hertford, but she was successful around there and I trust her opinion with the song I sent her.
Although the final product didn’t involve lyrics, I am still incredibly proud of what the band have accomplished. I personally think that I have grown as a drummer over the course of this project, and I can’t wait for people to see what I have made. To have something I can call mine, means endless amounts to me. I’ve always wanted to create my own original material, and to have created it with two talented musicians, was unreal. I will be sending the links for Soundcloud, to all my close friends and family, and will possibly even announce it on social media. I am excited to hear peoples opinions on it.
This project has given me the chance to improve my writing, playing and coursework skills. I had never written much for songs before, and during this Unit, I was able to give it a go. I used my six years of drumming and my knowledge of it all, to write these songs and I incorporated a lot of my favourite bits to play in general. For example, we made two of the songs 6/8 because we all enjoy playing in that time signature so much more. I also included little drum fills that I have enjoyed playing in the past when I have just been ‘jamming’ with my friends in band rooms. And lastly, I included some great drum grooves as I have always been told that is one of my strengths. The strength being, holding a groove and keeping it solid and in-time, whilst also being able to improvise. I was able to be as creative as possible with this project and I put my all into it.
Overall, I am incredibly proud of this project and what it has turned out to be. I have enjoyed making this my project for the last few months, and I am looking forward to whatever the next one may be. I hope you have enjoyed reading my Unit 13, and are as pleased by the end results as I am.
Bibliography:
This is the bibliography, and it has been placed out below, in order of when the videos have been posted on the page, so from top to bottom. Hope that makes sense:
http://www.youtube.com. (n.d.). Moon Hooch: NPR Music Tiny Desk Concert. [online] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wwBhxBBa7tE [Accessed 24 May 2022].
http://www.youtube.com. (n.d.). Jeff Buckley – Lover, You Should’ve Come Over (from Live in Chicago). [online] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vLHcHWDvgfQ.
Ferraro, R. (2021). Chad Smith interview: Chili Pepper uses drums to channel his passion onto canvas. [online] NJArts.net. Available at: https://www.njarts.net/chad-smith-interview-chili-pepper-uses-drums-to-channel-his-passion-onto-canvas/ [Accessed 24 May 2022].
http://www.youtube.com. (n.d.). Kate Bush – James and the Cold Gun | REMASTERED (Live at Hammersmith Odeon 1979). [online] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6JVS_nJLUkQ [Accessed 24 May 2022].
http://www.youtube.com. (n.d.). GRACE | JEFF BUCKLEY (final performance) cover. [online] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G7efZMNzWOk [Accessed 31 May 2022].
http://www.youtube.com. (n.d.). Chad Smith (Interview). [online] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4tRTY2j8p9E&t=186s [Accessed 31 May 2022].
http://www.youtube.com. (n.d.). Aoife O’Donovan: Tiny Desk (Home) Concert. [online] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HJDx_8PIqxk [Accessed 31 May 2022].
http://www.youtube.com. (n.d.). Svaneborg Kardyb: Tiny Desk (Home) Concert. [online] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M1mg0yLDzvU [Accessed 31 May 2022].
http://www.youtube.com. (n.d.). demo recording of Fun People (2nd March). [online] Available at: https://youtu.be/QuBZRjJ9IEQ [Accessed 24 May 2022].
http://www.youtube.com. (n.d.). Ending of Home demo (9/03). [online] Available at: https://youtu.be/KtFlrTBHsMo [Accessed 24 May 2022].
http://www.youtube.com. (n.d.). Listening to Demo of Home (9/03). [online] Available at: https://youtu.be/Get38ayb0zA [Accessed 24 May 2022].
soundcloud.com. (n.d.). Snowball Lewis Demo 1.0. [online] Available at: https://soundcloud.com/user-118740911/snowball-lewis-demo-10 [Accessed 24 May 2022].
soundcloud.com. (n.d.). Fun people – Demo 1.5. [online] Available at: https://soundcloud.com/user-118740911/fun-people-demo-1-5 [Accessed 24 May 2022].
soundcloud.com. (n.d.). Home Lewis Demo 2.0. [online] Available at: https://soundcloud.com/user-118740911/home-lewis-demo-20 [Accessed 24 May 2022].
http://www.youtube.com. (n.d.). home (no hihat) 24/03. [online] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PHrTOU_JOYs.
http://www.youtube.com. (n.d.). home (rim-click) 24/03. [online] Available at: https://youtu.be/wFKheTI9YXQ [Accessed 24 May 2022].
http://www.youtube.com. (n.d.). home (practicing the pause) 21/04. [online] Available at: https://youtu.be/EnzW1W9x8i0 [Accessed 24 May 2022].
http://www.youtube.com. (n.d.). home with vocals (21/04). [online] Available at: https://youtu.be/bS2tELCLX-8 [Accessed 24 May 2022].
http://www.youtube.com. (n.d.). fun people – take with vocals (21/04). [online] Available at: https://youtu.be/_wz261_k7fA [Accessed 24 May 2022].
http://www.youtube.com. (n.d.). snowball (bad) take (21/04). [online] Available at: https://youtu.be/SktjbblD_LU [Accessed 24 May 2022].
http://www.youtube.com. (n.d.). snowball take (21/04). [online] Available at: https://youtu.be/RTTQem5vS7Y [Accessed 24 May 2022].
http://www.youtube.com. (n.d.). home (practice room take) (21/04). [online] Available at: https://youtu.be/_zhKZwWTsH4 [Accessed 24 May 2022].
http://www.youtube.com. (n.d.). soundcheck gone wrong!!! (5/05). [online] Available at: https://youtu.be/XecAuCplfL4 [Accessed 24 May 2022].
http://www.youtube.com. (n.d.). attempt at intro of Home (5/05). [online] Available at: https://youtu.be/ppIlEcas05E [Accessed 24 May 2022].
http://www.youtube.com. (n.d.). recording Home (5/05). [online] Available at: https://youtu.be/uRwLOPRoNKo [Accessed 24 May 2022].
http://www.youtube.com. (n.d.). Attempting the final take of Home! (5/05) altho the ending gets redone. [online] Available at: https://youtu.be/P4R_nRnWvPQ [Accessed 24 May 2022].
http://www.youtube.com. (n.d.). Home take 1 ending (5/05). [online] Available at: https://youtu.be/-r9jXauuzP4 [Accessed 24 May 2022].
http://www.youtube.com. (n.d.). Home end of song take 2 (5/05). [online] Available at: https://youtu.be/7_RgI_ZUn8c [Accessed 24 May 2022].
http://www.youtube.com. (n.d.). Home take 3 end of song (5/05). [online] Available at: https://youtu.be/Ho3cfsj8D_M [Accessed 24 May 2022].
http://www.youtube.com. (n.d.). footage of Lewis recording ‘Snowball’ (12/05). [online] Available at: https://youtu.be/ibBKKtgVd0k [Accessed 24 May 2022].
http://www.youtube.com. (n.d.). recording of Snowball (12/05). [online] Available at: https://youtu.be/lXXN_FyqLLk [Accessed 24 May 2022].
http://www.youtube.com. (n.d.). rehearsing ‘Fun People’ (18/05). [online] Available at: https://youtu.be/M5YzuCNIp2A [Accessed 24 May 2022].
http://www.youtube.com. (n.d.). new ending to fun people (18/05). [online] Available at: https://youtu.be/aPIa8AUzlMA [Accessed 24 May 2022].
http://www.youtube.com. (n.d.). rehearsing ‘Home’ (18/05). [online] Available at: https://youtu.be/XnHjZpKEVBY [Accessed 24 May 2022].
http://www.youtube.com. (n.d.). Tiny Desk ‘Fun People’ – with sticks (19/05). [online] Available at: https://youtu.be/lfutBdUbuxs [Accessed 24 May 2022].
http://www.youtube.com. (n.d.). Tiny Desk ‘Fun People’ – no bridge (19/05). [online] Available at: https://youtu.be/wMgcXBY_QBQ [Accessed 24 May 2022].
http://www.youtube.com. (n.d.). Tiny Desk ‘Fun People’ – my big mistake (19/05). [online] Available at: https://youtu.be/IJZgKMmU3Eo [Accessed 24 May 2022].
http://www.youtube.com. (n.d.). Ok Love You Bye (1) – Olivia Dean cover. [online] Available at: https://youtu.be/V5v4gDY1308 [Accessed 24 May 2022].
http://www.youtube.com. (n.d.). Ok Love You Bye (2) – Olivia Dean cover. [online] Available at: https://youtu.be/N7qIRRVMyYQ [Accessed 24 May 2022].
http://www.youtube.com. (n.d.). Password Change – Olivia Dean cover. [online] Available at: https://youtu.be/cFLseIk7n7c [Accessed 24 May 2022].
http://www.youtube.com. (n.d.). smells like teen spirit – nirvana cover. [online] Available at: https://youtu.be/6D-7gxevgL8 [Accessed 24 May 2022].
http://www.youtube.com. (n.d.). I miss you – Adele cover. [online] Available at: https://youtu.be/QbioBtcmmD4 [Accessed 24 May 2022].
http://www.youtube.com. (n.d.). hate to be lame – lizzy mcalpine cover. [online] Available at: https://youtu.be/AixzxklWIFk [Accessed 24 May 2022].
http://www.youtube.com. (n.d.). orbit trip ‘attempt’. [online] Available at: https://youtu.be/potQXO8Nhuc [Accessed 24 May 2022].
http://www.youtube.com. (n.d.). selfish by jordan rakei cover. [online] Available at: https://youtu.be/ZI9V58flSfQ [Accessed 24 May 2022].
http://www.youtube.com. (n.d.). silence by dave thomas junior cover. [online] Available at: https://youtu.be/3MuqelEfCn8 [Accessed 24 May 2022].
http://www.youtube.com. (n.d.). Fun People (Druid Girl) – Final Take!!! [online] Available at: https://youtu.be/0vFbzosHYiA [Accessed 30 May 2022].
soundcloud.com. (n.d.). ‘Home’ Project Final (instrumental). [online] Available at: https://soundcloud.com/user-276038595/home-project-final-instrumental?utm_source=clipboard&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=social_sharing [Accessed 31 May 2022].
soundcloud.com. (n.d.). ‘Snowball’ Project Final (instrumental). [online] Available at: https://soundcloud.com/user-276038595/snowball-project-final-instrumental?utm_source=clipboard&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=social_sharing [Accessed 31 May 2022].
Fran Adams Drums 