Creative arrangement

Creative Arrangement

For my creative arrangement i have chosen to do a cover of Nirvanas "Smells Like Teen Spirit" in the style of Electro Pop. Singers such as Lady Gaga, Owl City and Ke$ha are all well known for this genre.

General features of Electro Pop

Stylistic origins include electronic, pop, synth pop, disco and post-disco. It started in the late 1970s an early 1980s, primarily in Europe, Japan and the United States. the typical instruments are synths, keyboards and various guitars ie -  bass, acoustic and electric. Electro-pop songs are electronic and pop songs at heart, often with simple, catchy hooks and dance beats, but differing from those of electronic dance music genres in that songwriting is emphasised over simple danceability. Electropop is characterised by a distinctive low frequency synthesizers which might variously be described as crisp, crunchy, crackly, fuzzy, warm, distorted or dirty with a continuous bass line 

Sequencing Assignment

How to set up a project

A Digital Audio Workstation (D.A.W.) is a computer program that is exclusively designed for the recording, editing and playing of digital audio files. A D.A.W allows you to edit and mix multiple audio sources simultaneously and to visually see how they line up as you record. 

The DAW that we use is called Cubase. To use this software you dont have to be a genius, you just need a small amount of D.A.W knowledge.

 This is an empty file of Cubase, this is practically how you start off any project.

 This is the cubase toolbar, simply put you use this to modify the beats per minute (bpm),  put the click track on and play, pause and record audio into your track.

 To add audio tracks you hover your mouse over project to highlight it ,

 then you highlight add track in the project menu and  find instrument you then click that to add audio in and this box pops up.

On this you you should click on the drop down box saying "No VST Instrument"

In the drop down you have these options, you hover over synth then click on the option of "Hal Lion SE"

when your "Add Instrument Track" box looks like this you're ready to add in audio.

 you simply just drag over the page to add in the number of bars you want to add audio into 

 you simply just drag over the page to add in the number of bars you want to add audio into 

This shows the specifications of the computer operating system. The computer im using is an IMac. you can see in the image that it is a fast paced and good quality computer for creating audio tracks and using the software we use.

Setting up a track with Hal Lion SE

MIDI ,short for Musical Instrument Digital Interface, is a technical standard that describes a protocol, digital interface and connectors and allows a wide variety of electronic musical instruments, computers and other related devices to connect and communicate with one another. A single MIDI link can carry up to sixteen channels of information, each of which can be routed to a separate device. something used with MIDI's is a general MIDI General MIDI or G.M is a standardised specification for music synthesizers that respond to MIDI messages. 

How to use the KeyStudio Keyboard to input notes

Midi Connections

The cables terminate in a 180° five-pin DIN connector. Standard applications use only three of the five conductors: a ground wire, and a balanced pair of conductors that carry a +5 volt signal. This connector configuration can only carry messages in one direction, so a second cable is necessary for two-way communication. Some proprietary applications, such as phantom-powered foot switch controllers, use the spare pins for direct current (DC) power transmission.

Opto-isolators keep MIDI devices electrically separated from their connectors, which prevents the occurrence of ground loops and protects equipment from voltage spikes. There is no error detection capability in MIDI, so the maximum cable length is set at 15 meters (50 feet) in order to limit interference.

Most devices do not copy messages from their input to their output port. A third type of port, the "thru" port, emits a copy of everything received at the input port, allowing data to be forwarded to another instrument in a "daisy chain" arrangement. Not all devices contain thru ports, and devices that lack the ability to generate MIDI data, such as effects units and sound modules, may not include out ports. 

Midi controllers

There are two types of MIDI controllers: performance controllers that generate notes and are used to perform music, and controllers which may not send notes, but transmit other types of real-time events. Many devices are some combination of the two types.

Performance controllers - MIDI was designed with keyboards in mind, and any controller that is not a keyboard is considered an "alternative" controller. This was seen as a limitation by composers who were not interested in keyboard-based music, but the standard proved flexible, and MIDI compatibility was introduced to other types of controllers, including guitars, wind instruments and drum machines.

Auxiliary controllers - Software synthesizers offer great power and versatility, but some players feel that division of attention between a MIDI keyboard and a computer keyboard and mouse robs some of the immediacy from the playing experience.Devices dedicated to real-time MIDI control provide an ergonomic benefit, and can provide a greater sense of connection with the instrument than can an interface that is accessed through a mouse or a push-button digital menu. Controllers may be general-purpose devices that are designed to work with a variety of equipment, or they may be designed to work with a specific piece of software.

Synthesisers

 Firstly what is a synthesiser? A  synthesiser (usually abbreviated as "synthesiser" or "synth", also spelled "synthesiser") is an electronic musical instrument that generates electric signals that are converted to sound through instrument amplifiers and loudspeakers or headphones. Synthesizers may either imitate the still existing sounds (instruments, vocal, natural sound, etc.), or generate new electronic timbres not existing before. They are often played with a musical keyboard, but they can be controlled via a variety of other input devices

Synths tend to have envelopes for example an ADSR envelope this means 

Attack – Determines how long it takes for the gate to fully open and let all the sound release

Decay – How long it takes for the sound to get to the sustained level of sound

Sustain – Tells the gate how loud the sound will be when a note is sustained over a period of time

Release – Determines how long it takes for the gate to close and the sound to dissipate

Sine – A sine wave is a pure fundamental tone that can be thought of as a building block of sound. Each frequency in the frequency spectrum can be denoted as a sine wave. All sounds are created by a bunch of sine waves.

Square – A square wave only has odd harmonics but still has the same -6dB per octave slope that the sawtooth wave has. Square waves have a hollow tone to them.

Square – A square wave only has odd harmonics but still has the same -6dB per octave slope that the sawtooth wave has. Square waves have a hollow tone to them.

Triangle – A triangle wave also only has odd harmonics but has less amplitude in those harmonics. The slope in volume is -12dB/octave. Triangle waves sound pretty similar to square waves.

The song that I have sequenced is Rather Be by Clean Bandit featuring Jess Glynn it is linked below

Rather Be Recreation

Brief 3 - Planning for recordings

DI boxes

A DI unit, or more generally DI,  is a device typically used in recording studios to connect a high-impedance, line level, unbalanced output signal to a low-impedance microphone level balanced input, usually via XLR lead. DIs are frequently used to connect electric instruments to a mixing consoles microphone input.

This is the back of the mixing desk that we have in the recording studio. the black female XLR ports shown in the the image are what you plug the XLR lead into in order to use it if you were using it for a microphone.

However if you wanted to use the mixing desk as a DI box you would use the jack leads shown in the picture below the back of the mixing desk, these generally are used with electric instruments (for example an electric guitar or an electric bass guitar.)

Oasis- Wonderwall

BPM: 88

Instruments to use:-

• Acoustic Guitar- 2 mics - 2 tracks

• Piano- 2 mics - 2 tracks

• Vocals- 1 mic - 1 track

• Tambourine- 1 mic - 1 track

Lyrics and Chords

However in my i took

Verse 1:
Em7      G
Today is gonna be the day
             Dsus4                  A7sus4
That they're gonna throw it back to you,
Em7        G
By now you should of somehow
   Dsus4                A7sus4
Realised what you gotta do.
Em7                  G       Dsus4           A7sus4
I don't believe that anybody feels the way I do
          Cadd9 Dsus | A7sus4 ||
About you now.

Verse 2:
Em7            G
Back beat, the word is on the street
         Dsus4                 A7sus4
That the fire in your heart is out,
Em7             G
I'm sure you've heard it all before,
        Dsus4              A7sus4
But you never really had a doubt.
Em7                  G       Dsus4           A7sus4
I don't believe that anybody feels the way I do
          Em7 G  |Dsus4 A7sus4 ||
About you now.

Bridge:
    C                D                Em
And all the roads we have to walk are winding,
    C                   D                 Em
And all the lights that lead us there are blinding,
C              D                   G5      G5/F#  G5/E
There are many things that I would like to say to you
      G5         A7sus4
But I don't know how.

Chorus:
        Cadd9  Em7 | G
Because maybe,
       Em7                   Cadd9     Em7 G
You're gonna be the one that saves me,
    Em7   Cadd9  Em7 | G
And after all,
          Em7   Cadd9  Em7 | G Em7/B | A7sus4 ||
You're my wonderwall.

Verse 3:
Em7       G
Today was gonna be the day,
            Dsus4                  A7sus4
But they'll never throw it back at you,
Em7        G
By now you should have somehow
   Dsus4                   A7sus4
Realised what you've gotta do.
Em7                  G       Dsus4           A7sus4
I don't believe that anybody feels the way I do
          Em7  G  |  Dsus4 A7sus4 ||
About you now.

Bridge 2:
    C                D                Em
And all the roads we have to walk are winding,
    C                   D                 Em
And all the lights that lead us there are blinding,
C              D                   G5      G5/F#  G5/E
There are many things that I would like to say to you
      G5         A7sus4
But I don't know how.

Chorus 2:
        Cadd9  Em7 | G
I said maybe,
       Em7                   Cadd9     Em7 | G
You're gonna be the one that saves me,
    Em7   Cadd9  Em7 | G
And after all,
          Em7   Cadd9  Em7 | G Em7 ||
You're my wonderwall.

Chorus 3:
        Cadd9  Em7 | G
I said maybe,
       Em7                   Cadd9     Em7 | G
You're gonna be the one that saves me,
    Em7   Cadd9  Em7 | G
And after all,
          Em7   Cadd9  Em7 | G Em7 ||
You're my wonderwall.

Outro:
        Cadd9  Em7 | G
I said maybe,
       Em7                   Cadd9     Em7 | G
You're gonna be the one that saves me,
       Em7                   Cadd9     Em7 | G
You're gonna be the one that saves me,
       Em7                   Cadd9     Em7 | G Em7 ||
You're gonna be the one that saves me,

Ending Instrumental |: Cadd9 Em7 | G Em7 | Cadd9 Em7 | G Em7 |

How it will all be recorded

Piano- This shall be a 2 track recording due to the fact that I shall record this using two AKG C1000S microphones one placed on the left and the other on the right. This is called stereo recording, this will help me achieve a more equal sound I shall position the mics away at the distance of 15cm

Vocals  and Tambourine- These separate 2 tracks shall both be a 1 track recording therefore I shall be only using the one microphone Rode NTA1 for both. This is the only vocal microphone we have in the studio. This will be a mono recording due to it being a singular recording and because it has a cardioid pattern therefore getting a pretty much all surround sound. The mic placement of this will be about 6cm from the pop shield  

Acoustic Guitar- This shall be recorded using 2 tracks as i shall position one microphone on the neck and the other near the sound hole. The microphones I will be using are AKGC1000S. This is called stereo recording, this will help me achieve a more equal sound. The microphones will be placed bout 15cm away from the sound hole and again 15cm away from the neck of the guitar.

The polar patterns for all of these microphones are cardioid- cardioid microphones are more sensitive to sound at the front and least sensitive at the back. Their unidirectional pickup makes for affective isolation of unwanted ambient sound and high resistance to omnidirectional alternatives. Cardioid microphones are essential when considering a mic for live performance.

The Final Recording 
wonderwall - cover

This is the overall track that i covered. I added some EQ, reverb and also compressed the vocals a bit. i used a copy of the the vocals to create a call and response style vocals in the chorus. This created a depth to the audio.

individual tracks of wonderwall cover

In this link above there are labelled individual tracks of the whole cover.
The first audio track is the sound hole of the guitar was recorded in the studio so we had sound proofing and little to none background noise. I had few issues when recording except from the software not setting up correctly. The quality of recording was good due to it being in a studio, with all the right equipment and correct microphone placement. This evaluation also applies to the track labelled copy sound hole due to it literally being a copy of the first one just used in different ways.
The second audio track is labelled neck acoustic. I added panning to the far left on this audio track. Overall I think that its a good quality recording however i need to reduce the panning so its not so far left. Again with the track labelled copy of the neck acoustic, it is panned but a little less, again this still needs to be panned more central or less far left.
The next track is piano right. It's fairly decent, however the gain on the mic was not high enough and too central, for it to give the audio appearance of the right hand side of the piano. Similarly with the audio track labelled Piano left, its a little more to the left and the gain is better, however its slightly muffled on the higher notes, overall though its a decent recording.
The tracks labelled vocals and copy of vocals in my opinion are fairly alright, however the vocals are almost overpowering.however an effect i used which was particularly effective was call and response in the chorus. This, again,created a depth to the audio.
A problem that occurred when uploading the individual tracks was the fact that the tambourine track didn't and refused to many time to upload.

Final Recording - Planning

Planning for the final recording

Location of recording: Studio
Date of recording: 9th October 2015
Time of recording: 9:30-10:50
People working: Maisie Goodman, Georgia Tomson & David Cuff.

Roles of personnel in the group

I shall be setting up Cubase , sorting out the gain for the recordings so the music is loud enough and not too quiet and generally being in the control room for my recording due to my knowledge of how to use the software correctly.
Georgia will be playing piano for the recording due to the fact that as a person i think that for the recording piano would be the best to do as you can get a stereo recording also I think she's a really good player
David will be playing drums for my recording due to the fact that it will show my understanding in recording better due to the more complex recording of it. Also he will be setting up the microphones for the recordings of drum and piano because then he will be able to further his knowledge of microphone placement.

Group dynamics and Skills required for each role

We will all cooperate as a group to get the recording done efficiently and well. We will do this as a group using communication and listening skills. we will communicate in the studio using the talk back button fitted into the mixing desk in the studio. We will use the knowledge that each member of the team has of the software being used for the recording (Cubase 7).

What problems you may face and how you will overcome these

There a few things that could go wrong when doing our recordings. One thing that could go wrong is that Cubase could Crash and this could cause lose of recordings or set ups, if this was to happen we will have to restart the Mac and start a new Cubase file and if we have lost the recordings do them again or reset Cubase. Also something that could go wrong is that the microphone could malfunction, in this case we will troubleshoot the problem to see if it is XLR lead that doesn't work. if this is the case we will change the equipment that is broken and then make sure that it works by testing it again.

Considerations for your recording

Overhead microphones

Microphone - 2x AKG C1000S

Position/Distance - 1 m above the Cymbals, 1 to the left about the 16 inch crash cymbal, 1 to the right between the 18 inch crash and the ride cymbals

Type of Microphone - Dynamic

Polar Pattern - Cardioid

Frequency Response - 50 - 20,000Hz

These will be used for the overhead microphones because they will be able to pick up the full range of sound that comes from the cymbals.

Kick Drum

Microphone - AKG D112

Position/Distance - 10 cm away from the hole on the Kick Drum.

Type of Microphone - Dynamic

Polar pattern - Cardioid

Frequency Response - 20 - 17,000 Hz

I will use this microphone because the frequency response will pick up the lows that the Kick Drum will give out.

Toms/Snare

Microphone - 4x Samson DMC 100

Position/Distance - 5 cm above the 3 toms and the snare

Type of Microphone - Dynamic

Polar Pattern - Super Cardioid

Frequency Response - 50 - 16,000Hz

These Microphones are specifically made and used for these parts of the drum kit.

Hi Hat

Microphone - Samson C02

Position/Distance - 15 cm above the Hi Hat

Type of Microphone - Condenser

Polar Pattern - Super Cardioid

Frequency Response - 50 - 20,000Hz

This microphone is made specifically for using for Hi Hats because of the Type of Microphone and the Frequency Response of the microphone.

Guitar

Microphone - 2x AKG C1000S

Position/Distance - 1 microphone 20 cm away from the sound hole of the guitar, 1 microphone 20cm away from the neck of the guitar.

Type of Microphone - Dynamic

Polar Pattern - Cardioid

Frequency Response - 50 - 20,000Hz

We will use these microphones because they are good for recording acoustic because they are Dynamic Microphone and because of the frequency Response they will pick up the full range of sound of the guitar.

Vocals

Microphone - AKG C1000S

Position/Distance - We will have the microphone 10 cm away from the mouth of the singer.

Type of Microphone - Dynamic

Polar Pattern - Cardioid

Frequency Response - 50 - 20,000Hz

We will position the microphone 10 cm away from with a pop shield in front of the in between the microphone and the singer. This is to limit the amount of air that will get to make the microphone to make sure you don’t get wind noise in the microphone.

Evaluating our final recordings

final recording drums

• The drums were record in the studio, therefore there was no background noise. the microphones were all correctly positioned so they drummer had no chance of accidentally hitting one of them and ruining the recording, causing us to have to start the recording again. there were no slip ups in this recording bar from when we were setting the software up and it kept shutting itself down, therefore we just work it out and restarted the Mac.

Rather Be

• In this recording there was some background noise due to there being no soundproofing equipment in the small room that we recorded this in also it was due to the fact that there was no control room, so Georgia, David and I were all in the same room as the singer. The singing quality was good however the singer needs to control her voice better.

guitar recorded on mixing desk

• There was some background noise due to there being no soundproofing equipment in the small room that we recorded this in. The quality of playing by Dan was brilliant and we had barely any slip ups when recording.

Production characteristics of "The Queen is Dead" by The Smiths

CLASSIC TRACKS: The Smiths 'The Queen Is Dead'

Producers: Morrissey, Johnny Marr

Engineer: Stephen Street

Running time: 36:47

Released: Spring of 1986 

Genre: Indie

The Smiths 
If any band predominantly defined the UK indie style of the 80's- jangly guitars, complex bass riffs and an unglamorous image- it was the

Manchester based group The Smiths. though they had very few top-ten hits, they received critical acclaim and continue to have an extremely dedicated fan-base The Smiths' sound refuted the then dominant Goth scene, rejecting their gloomy baritone vocals and angular guitars in favour of Morrissey's occasionally falsetto croon. They also shunned the increasingly popular synthesizer from their music

 
The song title of "The Queen Is Dead" was pretty characteristic of Britain's premier indie rock band of the 1980s. The eclectic Mancunian outfit built a bridge between new wave and guitar rock, combining punk ethics, rockabilly sounds and guitarist Johnny Marr's jangling pop melodies with front man Morrissey's theatrically self-absorbed crooning and poetic, melancholic, angst-filled lyrics.The Queen Is Dead is the third studio album by the English rock band The Smiths. It was released on 16 June 1986 in the United Kingdom by Rough Trade Records based in London and released in the United States on 23 June 1986 through Sire Records.

This is my favorite song from the album The Queen Is Dead, it is in one of my favorite films from when I was growing up and I quickly became obsessed with Morrissey's crooning and poetic voice and Marr's jangly guitar style.When I heard it the first time i felt as if the song was a perfect interpretation for the life of love. You can hear strings on the recording which they recorded rather than a synthesizer. In the 80's contemporaries were experimenting with synthesizers like Human League and New Order. The band's "non-rhythm-and-blues, whiter-than-white fusion of 1960s rock and post punk was a repudiation of contemporary dance pop" – the style popular in the early 1980s. The band purposely rejected synthesizers and dance music. 
The guitar of Johnny Marr is now seen as iconic. Marr's jangly guitar-playing was influenced by Roger McGuinn of The Byrds, Neil Young's work with Crazy Horse, George Harrison (with The Beatles) and James Honeyman-Scott of The Pretenders. Marr often tuned his guitar up a full step to F-sharp to accommodate Morrissey's vocal range, and also used open tunings. Citing producer Phil Spector as an influence, Marr said, "I like the idea of records, even those with plenty of space, that sound 'symphonic'. I like the idea of all the players merging into one atmosphere" Marr's other favorite guitarists are James Williamson of The Stooges, Rory Gallagher, Pete Townshend of The Who, Jimi Hendrix, Marc Bolan of T. Rex, Keith Richards of The Rolling Stones and John McGeoch of Magazine and Siouxsie and the Banshees.Marr said in 1990 that it "was a 50/50 thing between Morrissey and me. We were completely in sync about which way we should go for each record". 
 
Morrissey's lyrics have been described as "dramatic, bleak, funny vignettes about doomed relationships, lonely nightclubs, the burden of the past and the prison of the home". He is also noted for his unusual baritone vocal style (though he sometimes uses falsetto), his quiff hairstyle and his dynamic live performances. In the media, Morrissey's forthright and often contrarian opinions have caused many controversies; he has attracted media attention for his strong advocacy of vegetarianism and animal rights. He describes himself in his autobiography as an animal protectionist, therefore making him a love or hate figure.

Recording

The album was produced by Morrissey and Marr, working predominantly with engineer Stephen Street, who had engineered the band's 1985 album, Meat Is Murder. Street recalled: "Morrissey, Johnny and I had a really good working relationship – we were all roughly the same age and into the same kind of things, so everyone felt quite relaxed in the studio". The only downside in this situation is that at the time the group was having difficulty with its record label Rough Trade. However, according to Street "this didn't get in the way of recording because the atmosphere in the studio was very, very constructive. Morrissey recorded his vocals in the live room, screened off so no-one could see him. At the time Street used a U87 on him, and the recording would be done in two or three takes.  
 

This album was recorded in a variety of different places. While the basic track for 'The Boy With The Thorn In His Side' was recorded at a small eight-track facility in Manchester, and sessions for 'Some Girls Are Bigger Than Others' and 'Bigmouth Strikes Again' took place at RAK in north-west London, tour dates preceded the recording of the bulk of the album, which took place along with the mixing at the residential Jacobs Studios in Farnham, Surrey, during the winter of 1985/86. While overlooking the swimming pool of the Georgian mansion that is Jacobs, the Studio 1 control room also connects to two recording areas: the live room, formerly a drawing room, has a recess with large, five-sided bay window that accommodates a grand piano, while the converted stables, with their cobbled and oak floors, beams and joinery, feature three different floor levels and corresponding ceiling heights, as well as a couple of booths and a secondary isolated live area. Street says "The stables looked quite cool, but to be honest, the acoustics in there weren't all that brilliant," Street remarks. "And although we put the drums in the live room because it was brighter in there, it was a bit too live. That's why 'The Queen Is Dead' had to be assembled in a slightly piecemeal fashion, with the snare and bass drum recorded separately from the cymbals and tom-toms."

Comparison to our recordings

David, Jacob and I stayed behind the scenes and set up the mics for the recording in the studio for guitar and piano. i stayed at the mixing desk and set up the tracks so really i was the engineer. Whereas Georgia (pianist) and Dan (guitarist) played for us. Dan's guitar was recorded with similarities to Johnny Marr's recording for example though we didn't use the same microphones we set them up similarly to how The Smiths did. For both the piano and guitar we used the cigarette microphone more commonly known as AKG C1000.Group dynamics when recording in the studio were pleasant as we all got on and worked well as a team. However, when The Smiths were recording the album The Queen Is Dead, they were having problems as a group due to all the large characters in the group. Some constraints that we found were that some of the software we used (i.e the Korg D888) however with some perseverance we figured it out as a team.

Bibliography

Sound on Sound: Classic Tracks The Queen Is Dead- The Smiths

Wikipedia- the Queen Is Dead

YouTube: The Smiths The Queen Is Dead

Book resource: 1001 albums you need to hear before you die

Book resource:Pop music the text book

Research Log (bibliography)

Secondary source	Relevance to my project
Sound on Sound: Classic Tracks The Queen Is Dead- The Smiths	I found in this magazine the view point of the sound engineer and about the microphones they used and where they recorded
Wikipedia- the Queen Is Dead	I used Wikipedia to find out general information about the band and the album for example when it was recorded and the running time of the album.
Book resource: 1001 albums you need to hear before you die chapter known as “the eighties” page 560 & 561-By Robert Dimery	I found in this resource about the bands playing technique and style of music they played. Also I found out the running time of the album and the label The Smiths were with.
Book resource: Pop music the text book chapter 6 page 84-By Julia Winterson	In this resource I found the genre of the music they played. Also I found more background information on the band (example- Morrissey was an extremely controversial figurehead for Indie music)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dJVaxD8GDWw	I used this resource to listen to the entire album and to find out the instruments that they used on them, also to find out the genres usual techniques such as whiney vocals, complex bass riffs and jangly guitar riffs

I skimmed and scanned three secondary sources to find out more about the Smiths album ‘The Queen Is Dead’. I annotated these articles and found out the following information background information on The Smiths, where they recorded the album and also the microphones they used for recording. I also found out techniques and production characteristics and the genre of ‘Indie’ music used and the background information on the band The Smiths album “The Queen Is Dead” whilst they were recording, the band were actually going through some hardship with their record label at the time but yet they still managed to make a brilliant album. The purpose of my research is to discover as much as I can about the classic album ‘The Queen Is Dead’ by the Smiths for the Magazine article we have to write about a classic album. I also want to find out what techniques the genre of ‘Indie’ music used and the background information on the band The Smiths album “The Queen Is Dead”.