Life of a Year 2 Commercial Music Student: It's Christmas

Hi guys!

Wow. Christmas is 9 days away now. I cannot wait, this has always been my favourite season. I don't know what it is about christmas but I can feel the magic in the air.

So semester 1 at uni is over! Bitter sweet, as the intensity heightens to the release of the EP but it's nice to have a rest. The studios at uni closed for a whole month last Thursday! Shock horror. But gives time to work on the theory side of things. One hell of a semester it's been, literally studio studio studio, essay, studio, essay.

On Friday I submitted assignment 1 for released recording. It was something. 12 ideas and 6 unmixed demos. As everyone wanted to use the studios it was literally impossible to get a studio. And when I did I fainted, yes fainted on the day my assignment was due. I managed to record with my trustee c214 mic despite it and my two friends brought me to safety lol. But on top of that my logic projects didn't bounce in time so I had to work with what I had. This is something that I've learnt a lot this semester. You have to be quick and time does not wait; literally. No pun intended there.

When setbacks arise don't get down and :

Bring on the festivities. Eating & being merry. Stay tuned as I write the top happenings for 2013!! 

Have you got anything planned this christmas? What is on your playlist this christmas?

X

Year 2 of a Commercial Music Student: Flu 2.0

Hi guys!

So I was hit by the flu bug yet again! Where, when, what, why how?!?

It seems to be going around at the moment. But this bout hit me harder than the last and I thought that was flu. This knocked me for six since I haven't been ill for a while. So guys I've come to the conclusion I need to juice up! I bought £8 worth of fruit and vegetables determined to juice.

So last week I was productive. Managed to record a basic instrumental for my next track I'm working on 'Look What You did'. The main chords with the melody is a harp. I then added some drums, and percussion, and next plan to add some kind of bass. It's sounding good so far. Think Ryan Leslie with the drums. If I could just have the drums from his track with Jasmin Villegas I would be a very happy girl lol!

The six songs so far for my EP in no particular order  singer/songwriter edition is:
1) Better than Before
2) In Retrospect
3) HeartStrings
4) Look What You Did
5) Blind
6) DJ (Care Less Party More)


Stay tuned and more to come all. Next week is a very busy one.

X

Year 2 Of A Commercial Music Student: Goal Digger

Hi everyone!

This week has flown by. As part of our course we have Professional Development, as intense as it can be thinking about the future regarding chosen career and field and planning HOW to get there; once done a weight is lifted off your shoulders. Felt awesome! Taking these goals and creating weekly objectives to make progress.

In terms of studio I've been everyday this week. Definetly improving. My friend singer/songwriter Diamant Ballou recorded a rough demo of 'Better Than Before'- I felt like it would sound great with her voice. To hear a singer sing your songs is a great thing especially when delivered exactly how I imagined. And this is just a rough. Also on Wednesday I recorded a rough demo for 'HeartStrings'  , I recorded the keys using the standard logic Yamaha plugin, I was so thankful to be in CR4 this studio has a full sized keyboard great for a piano player like me, no fussing with shifting octaves etc. for both vocal recordings I used my favorite mic AKG C214. Out of all the mics I've used at university so far this one is great, I love it for my vocals. 

For this upcoming week I plan to finish up the rough demo with my Chica Diamant and shorten the actual instrumental, as it's 8mins long! True Ekeisha fashion. Also see what I can do with HeartStrings, I feel it needs something eve though it's a rough demo.  Also I wrote a new song last Thursday enroute to uni 'Look What You Did' this has a Cassie vibe to it. So need to get that idea recorded too. As you can see guys I'm working, working hard.

Hope you all had a great weekend.

X

Year 2 Of A Commercial Music Student: Getting There

Hi guys !

So this week I've been finishing off songs that I've written. I can't believe how quick time is going! 

The song I wrote 'Care Less/Party More' is in production and J (producer) is working with the vocals and mixing it down. It's already sounding like a summer hit. 

Tomorrow is Saturday and I plan to record two acoustic demos: 'Heart Strings' and 'Better than Yesterday' for the EP. I'm going to use logic to do this. First record the piano, and try to get the most realistic sound as possible. My friend suggested even adding a little bit of reverb to do this. I will then record the vocals and harmonies. After our tutorial on Ableton on Tuesday I may even experiment with it next week. I've got live installed on my laptop so why not I say? What's your pref logic, or Ableton guys? a lot of producers use Fruity Loops too and Reason how could I forget. So many options!

Next week I plan to work with two producers and collab some more. Colab,colab, collab they say. Love it. 

Any producers out there looking to collab or feature music or anything creative hit me up. I'm nice I promise lol.

X

Year 2 Of A Commercial music Student: Progress

Hi guys!

So this week was Reading Week at uni, it is not a holiday but there are no classes. So I decided this week would be creative week, writing, recording etc. It went SO fast!

I was productive though, worked on the swap track for The Released Recording. Having never recorded my vocals in a studio before I'm so proud of myself because I know my way around now. Feeling like a boss I managed to record the whole song yesterday. The swap track has been through a lot I must say. I wrote two songs to the same beat both with completely different meanings.

 The first 'What's Love' is about love, a girl goes through a break up and questions whether what 'they say' loves means is true with the chorus: 'They all talk about love/But do they even know what it means...See I've heard it all before/ But do we even really know what it means (what it means)'. I felt like the track was too fast for the lyrics even though melodically it went and  didn't not reflect the upbeat club tempo of the track or the vibe. The second song I wrote to the track chorus is : 'Dj/DJ/ Just keep playing the songs (keep playing the songs) DJ/DJ/ Yeah tonight we're caring less and party more..DJ/Dj/ Got us in the zone/ care less and party more/ me and my girls killing the dance floor/ bass rhythm and heat/ the guys can't take it/ can't take it.' This just goes perfectly melody, vibe and the lyrics much more than the first. This song 'Care Less/Party More' is about a girl who wants to let go of the burdens of the world, not caring what people think and just party. Now that I've got the skeleton recorded, I can work on the bridge, and harmonies and work to getting it mixed in the next two weeks.

X

Year 2 of a Commercial Music Student: flu strikes

Hi guys!

This week was a short one really. I've been ill and haven't moved from bed for the past two days.

Tuesday was the day we played a further three 30 second song ideas to the rest of the class. Cringe. Lol. There's just something about sharing my ideas mayn lol. I was pleased though, my two favourites were best received. The song 'Better Than Before' a piano based song about living though tough experience and becoming  better, wiser, stronger as a person. The second 'Don't Break Me' is a piano based song, about a failed relationship where one pleads for the truth and no more lies. This was also well received with nearly the whole class raising their hands to having it on their iPod. My third song played is one I wrote to a beat rather than composed, it was inspired from an instrumental on Jay Z's album called 'somewhereinamerica' was less well received as less than a third of the class raised their hands to this one. But since working with a writing partner I've finished writing it, and decided to slow it down with different chords, looking forward to record it and see what everyone thinks. Our tutor says feedback is key!

So today I was recovering and learning at the same time. Pointblank online has some great YouTube tutorials. Check them out if you are looking to learn more about music production. The videos I was watching were based on electronic music but included important stuff such as Chord Progressions, Inversions, Complex Chords etc!

Hope you have a fab weekend!

X

Third Week Already: Year 2 of a Commercial Music Student

Hello all,

How is the month of October treating you?

So last week regarding The Released Recording was just myself creating and uploading my initial twelve song ideas which I did. Since then however ie been creating, changing things here and there. 

Last Friday wa my first time in the university studios since level 4 ( year 1) ! Luckily before I entered the studio I saw my friend, who I met at his audition to actually get onto the course. We ended up having a creative session, after I played him some ideas. It's amazing what you can do with a few words and some chords. 

X