Week Reflection

WEEK 1 -

PROPOSAL



WEEK 4 -

Target :- Research on Neo soul chords and try to put it in my work

Summary :- This week I looked up on different Neo soul chords and learnt that most Neo soul chords are mostly in minor 7 chords which gives it that jazzy sounding. I know the chords used now i need to know how its used. I also try to put in my work but it was harder to put it in my work then it is researching it. the problem i was facing was that the chords was really complex and hard to play.
http://www.hearandplay.com/main/neo-soul-chords-minor-chords

Refection :- This week has been successful in terms of research but in terms of adding the chords into my work hasn't been to successful since these are really complicated chords. for next week My plan is to do some more research on Neo soul chords and how they used and try to get a track going with those chords.




WEEK 5 And 6-  half terms

Target ;- more Research

Summary :- These two weeks is half term and most of the time I've just been looking up on artistes in RnB, and Hip Hop. I've also listen to hip hop artist that has used or uses Neo soul chords in there music and understand how its used in there music

Refection :- In these weeks I think I understand how I should use the chords when i'm making my track with the chords. I've also decided what I'm going to do for my RnB track and hopefully it will be successful. week I will be doing my mid point presentation



WEEK 7 -  Mid Point Presentation

Target:-  presentation


Reflection:- The feedback I got from my peers was sensible and totally helpful. one feedback was to combined each track into one track and use the three elements in the three genres I decided to work on. it was a good idea but I felt like that wouldn't be challenging enough for me so I kept it as a backup plan.






WEEK 8 - work on a Neo-soul track

summary- in this week I started on making chords for my Neo-soul track which by the help of Olly, help me understand Neo-soul chords better.

reflection- so far I've got a 4 bar loop of my Neo-soul track beat and I really like how it sounds so I would say its a success for this week. next week I will work on a hip hop beat I am making with the sample I found on youtube.


WEEK 9 - hip hop beat

summary- I have started on my hip hop beat which is based on a sample I found of on youtube and putting in the drums for the track with logics UltraBeat plug in.

reflection- with this beat I found it hard to come up with the melody for this so I need to work on this a bit until I have the perfect melody that fits with the sample.the drum are a bit slow but i think it works well with the sample and the bass. next week I will try to come up a track for RnB.


WEEK 10 - RnB track and research

summary- In this week I have made a slowed tempo beat with chords for the main part of the song and know what I want in my track. I also research on vocals in RnB which help me with coming up with the harmonics for the track.

Reflection- I feel like I could do better with the vocals to make it better sounding so I need to work on that perhaps next week and also record drums for the Neo-soul track.


WEEK 11- Recording and mixing

summary- In this week I recorded drums for my Neo-soul track and also guitar and picked out and edited the ones I wanted in the track. I also finished and started mixing my hip hop track for the final stage of my project in that area.

reflection- the mix for the hip hop track needs a lot of work and need to know how to use compression and overdrive in my mix. as for the Neo-soul track, the guitar gave it its melody and it sound good and is ready for mixing next week ill do lyrics for my hip hop and RnB track.

WEEK 12- recording vocals

summery- This week i records lyric for my RnB track and now is ready to be mixed and put up for the deadline.

refection- for the lyrics if i had a little more time i could perfected them so they sound great which I might not have time for. With the lyrics I wrote about being in loving in someone.next week i will be focusing on my other written side of the of my project that needs my attention.

WEEK 13- write up for my tracks

summary- this week was the deadline for my music and now need to do the right up for what i did for the tracks.

Refection- I feel like I've achieved new skills from these tracks but i feel like i could of done better with the tracks if i had more time.

my neo-soul track

I had some trouble with my Neo-soul chords but after I got some help with my teacher I knew what I was going to do. for this track, I used an electric piano for the main part of the track made up of minor chords. I was listening to a lot of different hip-hop beat and songs and most of them have Neo-soul chords and I thought that would be great to put in my music more often. I also used the live recording in my track which is the bass and guitar.

This was when I was recording the guitar for the track. I used a D.I for the guitar with had a paddle which gave it more body to the sounding of te guitar instead of the raw sound it was giving off. for both the drums and guitar I picked the best takes and cut them up with the parts the sound good.

my RnB track

This is a RnB track I made with lyrical. I got the idea for the track from listening to Devvon Terrell and how he uses RnB vocals. for this track, my intention was to use harmonies on the track like most artists now days do. I looked up on the weekend's way he writes his lyrics and what he does is sing one part with less energy in the track with more energy in his vocals and the opposite with the chorus. I tried to do that in my lyrics or at less close to it. for recording the vocals I used the Titan because it's a condenser microphone and can pick up more frequency and the polar pattern are changeable but I choose cardioid to can vocals from all directions.  

This is a plug in called pitch shifter. what i did with this is harmonased with the chorus for the first part then used touch mode to automate it for when the second part comes in the plug in effect is gone. reseaon for theis in because it didn't sound good in the second part but on the frist part it sounded great.  

The lyrics for the track are:

Hook: I want to be your one x2 (4 bars) I want to be the one you choose 

I want to be the the one that you choose x2 

I want to be the one that stands out to you 

Verse 

It's been a long time now 

Got something on my chest right now 

I just gotta say it or I'll go crazy on this beat now 

We've been talking talking talking talking talking nothing hasn't change now 

How I'm I suppose to keep these feelings inside 

You see the thing that I like u Im hoping one day you'll be mine 

Showing you off to my friends like a prize 

Telling them I found myself one fine queen 

I don't want that as a dream 

No 

Reality ain't a seem

So 

you and me should be team 

Step back and acknowledge me

Ohh

Hook: I want to be your one x2 (4 bars) I want to be the one you choose 

I want to be the the one that you choose x2 

I want to be the one that stands out to you 

Verse 2

I want to be the one that stands out to you 

I want to the on that's loyal to you

I want my name the one you call 

I want to be the one the one the one 

The only one 

Whenever you say name you feel confutable  

Whenever I'm around you feel Safe 

Not worried at all about damn thing 

That's my role 

Bridge 

The only one x2 

Hook

my hip hop track

this track is a hip-hop track I made based off on different drum patterns I've  heard from people like j cole, logic, Kendrick Lamar, Ect. In this track, I have included my research to do with hip hop drum patterns. I used a sample from Youtube and build the bass and melody around it.

after adding all the melody and bass I wanted I focused on the drum pattern I wanted. when making the drum pattern I was listening to a lot a logic songs. and one that stood out to me was the song called "soul food". I wanted to make a slow beat to making a mellow beat. 

for the kick drums, I EQ the kick drums and overdrived it to giving is more beef to it. Then copied the kick channel to give it more transient.  

case study

For my project, I have decided to do 3 tracks each containing hip hop RnB and Neo soul. For my case study, I will solve how to play Neo soul chords.

Neo-soul chords are quite complex in terms of the way it's played and how it's played and used in Neo soul music.
http://www.hearandplay.com/main/neo-soul-chords-minor-chords
(Accessed 11 May 2017)

This website show how Neo soul chords are played. What I got from this website is that they mostly played in minor 7 which also give it was jazzy feel to the chords.

This is a tutorial of Erykah Badu's song other side of the game. in this video, the person goes through the chords that are in the song which is neo-soul chords. 

the chords are:

                     A

♭

 

 E 
 F
 B 
 G

♭
 
 E

♭
 C
 D

♭

this tells me that Neo soul is mostly played in minor chords.

how I plan to use this method is to play most of my chords in minor chords and a lot of nice clashing notes to giving a sense of fullness to the piano sound.

this is a score for the chords i played in my track. The chords are:

F# maj7

F 7

Db maj7

Ab

Bb m add 9

Bb no 3 5/7

F# add 9

Ab 6

Bb m

F 7 sus4

F# add 9

F m 9

F# mak7/#11 sus2 

F# 6

F#

F

this is the start of my Neo-soul track. for the chords, I used a lot of clashing notes and minor chords as I researched with Erykah Badu track. 

RnB research

for my RnB side of my project i will be researching how RnB artistes use there vocals in their music. the artistes i will be looking at are Devvon Terrell, Usher, and Chris Brown.

this a cover by Devvon on the song humble by Kendrick Lamar using RnB vocals. in the original song kendrick dose not sing on it but raps throughout. what makes this cover so unique is that Devvon uses RnB in and a way that he's sing but also singing too.

http://blog.discmakers.com/2015/02/how-to-sing-rb-and-deliver-great-vocals/ this like is about how RnB artistes uses there vocals on there songs which was help for to know. RnB artistes uses vibrato and phasers to give off a sense of feel to there music,

bibliography

References:

Attack Magazine. (2017). Drum Programming: Chillout, Raw Hip Hop - Attack Magazine. [online] Available at: https://www.attackmagazine.com/technique/beat-dissected/chillout-beat-raw-strip-hop/ [Accessed 31 May 2017].

Disc Makers Blog. (2017). How To Sing R&B and Deliver Great Vocals | Disc Makers Blog. [online] Available at: http://blog.discmakers.com/2015/02/how-to-sing-rb-and-deliver-great-vocals/ [Accessed 11 May 2017].

Hear and Play Music Learning Center. (2017). Neo Soul Chords: Exploring Extended Minor Chords. [online] Available at: http://www.hearandplay.com/main/neo-soul-chords-minor-chords [Accessed 11 May 2017].

MusicTech.net. (2017). Logic Tutorial: The Compressor. [online] Available at: http://www.musictech.net/2015/09/logic-tutorial-the-compressor/ [Accessed 25 May 2017].

Openmicuk.co.uk. (2017). BREATH CONTROL EXERCISES | BREATHING EXERCISES FOR SINGING. [online] Available at: http://www.openmicuk.co.uk/advice-for-unsigned-singers/breath-control-exercises#.WQNQnuErL [Accessed 11 May 2017].

YouTube. (2017). How To Play Hip Hop Grooves w/ Beatdown Brown *MY VERY FIRST VIDEO*. [online] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tg6rUq8NmBo [Accessed 26 May 2017].

YouTube. (2017). Modern Hip hop - R&B drumbeat by Gareth Gale. [online] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LrOdFGGLKj4 [Accessed 26 May 2017].

YouTube. (2017). Voice Lesson: Finding YOUR Voice. [online] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=niU9s2WwkpE [Accessed 2 Jun. 2017].

mid point presentation

This is my mid point presentation. For the presentation i talked about what my project is and what i've been working on.

the feedback i got was really helpful and give me idea of what i could do for my project. one feedback i got was that I should combined all three genres into one track. I thought that was a good idea but the point of my project was to challenge myself to push my musical skills and i thought that wasn't as challenging the making three track with each genre. But, if I for see that that might not work or i'll run out of time, ill consider that idea.  

neo soul

today I had some help from my teacher Olly regarding neo soul chords and help break them down for me

He showed me how jazz minor chords focus more on the 3 and the 7 so no matter i play i must have those in my chords. he also showed me that playing all those chords in the same voicing sounds rich but very muddy and suggested that i should play the root note a bass note and leave it at that.

This is a major g and what he was showing me was all the things you can do with the chords. 

so far after learning that i've came up with this neo soul track 

question for philp

how can i mix the drums

what do u think of the melodies in these tracks

vocals research

for my EXP project I'll be including vocals in my For RnB tracks or even all 3 tracks. What I'll need to know towards this side of the project is how RnB vocals phrases words, the techniques they use to make their music interesting. I'll also need to look up on different vocal warm up and breathing to help me with when i try to embed vocals into my work

In this track i added RnB vocals to a hip hop beat. All i did to with vocals in just harmonised with each other. 

I cam back to this track and didn't really like it. instead i took off the vocals and just left it as a hip hop track and added vocals on an RnB track which sounds much better.  

(Accessed 2 Jun. 2017)

This video is about of to use your full range with your voices and get the colour that may be hidden by tension in the throat. To get the full sound of your voice you have to just relax your body. This is a useful research cause it goes towards my vocals for my RnB track or any track that i've decided to include lyrics. Another tip that was said in this video was to sing in your talking voice and not in someone your not.