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.