Critical Reflection

In September, my goal was to create 4 EPs based on the seasons, culminating in a compilation album titled Seasons. I successfully wrote, recorded, produced, released, and promoted all 12 songs, and have already released 9 of them. The final EP will be released at the end of May. The project remained largely unchanged, with only minor adjustments made during the writing, production, and promotion stages, which will be discussed in this evaluation.

Creating 4 EPs based on the seasons provided a creative and original approach for my project. With 12 songs representing each month, I had the opportunity to experiment with different sounds and themes in each EP. Spring and Summer were lighter in tone, while Autumn and Winter were darker. This approach allowed for unique lyrical choices to capture each season, diverse instrumental choices to convey the environment, and distinct visual elements, including cover art, Spotify canvas, promotional content, and social media content.

 

Considering I had only written lyrics a handful of times before this project, I am very happy with them. They were all well-written and effectively conveyed the emotions that I intended for each song. I used lyrics to describe the environment that these stories were set in which helped to cement their inclusion in a certain EP. In the Autumn and Winter EPs I used the imagery of falling leaves, wind, snowfall, ice and the cold often but I also tried to create a cosy indoors environment as well especially for songs such as Bitter Chocolate. Spring and Summer often used flowers, sunshine and beach imagery to convey their seasons. Although sad songs are usually typical in Autumn and Winter and happy songs in Spring and Summer, I had both happy and sad songs in each EP. I needed to find a way to convey the seasons in these happy Autumn/ Winter and sad Spring/ Summer songs which I did through the lyrics. I also found ways to do this more through the music as well, but I will touch on this later. As I was basing my songs around months, I struggled with finding themes for some of them. One month that I surprisingly struggled with was February. I knew that I wanted it to be themed around love because of Valentine’s Day but I didn’t want it to be just another love song. This was a theme that I already covered a lot in these songs anyway and so I needed something different. I made it much sadder than I had originally intended by making it about a person who has frequent unrequited crushes. I also struggled a bit with the Spring EP themes, but I decided to theme the songs around self-love, the realisation that a relationship might not be working and growth. This was to fit with the idea of new-beginnings that are attributed to spring. I usually figured these issues out within a week or so of writing each song and I could find new seasonal stories to write. When it came to writing melodies I wrote down what I felt would flow well with the song. I actually did this before writing the lyrics because I felt that it would flow much better that way. I’m also better at finding lyrics to go with melodies rather than the other way round. I tried to keep the songs diverse to create a unique sound for each of them, but I also wanted the EPs to flow well together. I’d say that some songs such as When I Look at You in the Autumn EP and Starting Up Again in the Winter EP kind of jump out at you a bit but I wouldn’t say that it ruins the flow. When I Look at You is probably more of a shock in terms of genre, and I think I could’ve toned it down a bit and maybe added some similarities from other Autumn songs such as more autumnal themed lyrics or acoustic instrumentation. Other than that I’d say that the EPs flowed well together due to similarities in lyrics, instrumentation and production. This was important to me because I wanted it to be obvious why I grouped these songs together into one season. In terms of writing I actually think I could have maybe written a few extended versions of the songs for the final album, but this was an issue with time management more than anything else. I didn’t always have a lot of time for recording sessions with the vocalists and it would’ve meant pretty much doubling the workload for some songs. I think this would maybe have been a nice side-project if I’d had more time. I also feel like if I had the time I could have expanded on some of my scrapped songs like Never the Bride or the Summer song I got rid of. This could have been released similarly to Taylor Swift’s 3am version of Midnights, where she added bonus songs that didn't make it to the main album. I did a lot of research on Swift this year for various modules, and this was something that I noticed her doing. She released her main album Midnights but then came out with an extended version with extra songs merely 3 hours later. This would’ve been a brilliant concept to explore, and it could have given the entire album something extra rather than just being a compilation album, however, again, it was just the lack of time I had to complete the project that stopped this from happening. I have no doubt that I will re-visit these scrapped songs in the future, perhaps using them in other concept albums or EPs.

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In terms of collaboration, I'm really happy with how it turned out on the project. I collaborated in various ways and with many different people. I had the opportunity to work with Shane Serrano, setting up drum mics in Eastlake 1 to record some of my drum tracks. I also had more of a DIY experience with Ben, who recorded the rest of my drum tracks at home with his own kit and drum mics. I was happy with the end product of both of these collaborations. I recorded most of my vocalists on campus in the production room, however, Ceara recorded most of her tracks at her house with the same DAW set-up as me and Chloe Peacock recorded hers at her home studio too. Again, I was happy with the quality of both of these types of collaboration. I find that during projects I like to use a hybrid of in-person and remote collaboration. I think that this makes the project management of releasing an album flow much easier. I wouldn't have had the opportunity to include Chloe Peacock in the project at all if it weren't for this remote approach to recording and sharing tracks because she is living in Aberdeen at the moment and can't come home to Dundee very often. I reached out to these collaborators about my project very casually, either in-person or through text. I did have trouble with a couple of my collaborators just not showing up to my recording sessions which was very irritating and meant altering deadlines I had set myself. I touch more on this later when speaking about time management. Most of my collaborators managed their own time very well, especially those recorded closer to the end of the project. I would also count my industry contacts as a form of collaboration within the promotion stage of the project. Communication was also very important during the distribution and promotion. I contacted many different radio stations, magazines and blogs. I decided to email as many of these organisations as possible with my press releases to increase my chances of getting radio plays and reviews. I kept my emails professional, and in my introductory emails to new organisations I always tried to mention an aspect of their work that I admired. This worked really well and I managed to get a couple of reviews and multiple radio plays on different stations around the UK. Some of these stations would regularly play my music, showing that I managed to establish some good connections with them. I also communicated with my distributor with some minor issues with releases and these problems were solved very quickly once I reached out to them.

 

I have mixed feelings about the production of this album. There are certain areas that I believe I did well in. Of course, I had the added security of Ben double-checking my mixes for any major issues. The tracks were panned well, and I believe that my levels are fairly consistent throughout. I made sure to master each track in each EP at the same time to make sure it sounded consistent and that nothing was peaking. Mastering wasn't something I was familiar with so I did some research and followed one specific YouTube video about mastering on Logic as a starting off point. I was really happy with my MIDI instruments, especially the orchestral ones. I was so pleased with their sound after receiving feedback from the expo that gave me the correct tools to make my orchestra sound alive and less-robotic. I was also happy with my synth sounds throughout and was happy with the automation and panning I used on them to create minor dynamic changes, adding more depth to my arrangements. Many of my collaborators have told me that this is in my head, but I personally am not one-hundred-percent happy with the sound of the guitars. I was happy with Ben’s guitar recordings, and this makes me think that it’s maybe more down to self-consciousness of my own playing. I don’t believe my rhythm guitar was perfectly on the beat and this is why I quantised those tracks so much. I was definitely most critical about my own recordings and would regularly take up to 50 takes of the same section just to get something I was happy with. I need to work on my patience with myself during recording as I was often getting annoyed with myself when playing the rhythm guitar, especially on the Spring EP. I had very minor issues with vocal recordings. Some of these were done in the production room and others were done remotely by my vocalists but the consistency with the quality of each track remained the same which I was very pleased about. I had worked with some of these vocalists remotely before and others I hadn’t so some of these recordings were a bit of a risk. One of my vocalists sang a lyric incorrectly and at first I was really concerned. Eventually I grew to like the new lyrics more than the original one and it’s a good thing that I did because there was no time for a re-record in time for the EP release. There was also another vocalist who added an ‘s’ onto the end of a word that meant the sentence didn’t make sense grammatically. This was really simple to fix because it was a pretty instrumental heavy song, and I automated the extra letter out. I was actually really proud of this because I managed to pinpoint it so that it wasn’t at all noticeable. I believe that using automation as a tool to fix errors in the vocals such as this was one of my strengths in mixing this year. Considering the equipment available and the software I was using, I’m pretty happy with how the vocals turned out in the mix. This was my first time mixing vocals myself. I did a bit of research on the amount of reverb I should add and used the logic EQ presets as a jumping off point when tailoring the EQ to each vocalist. This year, a lot of the university’s microphones were going missing, so it was difficult to get ahold of a decent one. I think my recordings would have sounded better with one of their more professionalmicrophones, but I also didn’t want to use one of theirs only to have it go missing and having my recordings sound inconsistent. I did invest in a pop-shield for recording at home and just in case the one on campus went missing. I did very minimal backing-vocals at home which I was initially embarrassed by, but eventually grew to like in my music. Although I wasn’t a lead vocalist, this pushed me out of my comfort zone and might even be the jumping off point to record music, with vocals, that is completely my own. Another new concept was the recording of my kalimba. This is quite a high frequency instrument, so it was important to get the distance, reverb and EQ just right. I think I could have cut the highs slightly more on this as it is quite loud in the mix. I wanted to include field recordings initially in most of my songs. I decided that this would become quite boring and predictable, and also difficult to actually record myself. I couldn’t guarantee when the weather would be right for recording and my microphone isn’t built to be waterproof for any wet weather. Therefore, I decided to modify just two of the Logic loops, one in the first song of the album and one in the final one. I used rainfall at the start of Autumn, in Smiling Not Blue, to signify the season and then the sound of the ocean and birds at the end of Summer, in Dreaming Of. I kept these sounds as dull as possible using EQ and automation. I also used water-based sounds to create that link between the very first song and the last one which I thought just tied the whole album together nicely. The rain in Smiling Not Blue also sounds a lot thicker than the light ocean sound in Dreaming Of. I thought that this could signify the deeper meaning of the autumnal songs and then the gradual lightness brought in by summer. Of course, the EPs featured songs with different themes and moods, signifying the highs and lows of emotions we feel throughout the months we experience during our lives, but the overall environment needed to feel much brighter and lighter in Spring/ Summer than Autumn/ Winter. I think that these sound recordings alongside the instrumentation, rhythm, tempo and lyrics really helped to convey that in the music. I think that volume levels were relevantly consistent throughout the songs. I don’t think that they are all perfectly the same, but they are definitely all very similar. One thing that got lost in the mix was the bass sections. I need to learn to improve my EQ and recording techniques to make this stand out, especially in songs such as When I Look at You. The sound for each EP did remain consistent and stuck to the theme of each season. I also didn’t want every song on each EP to sound the same as one another so there were some changes in style and instrumentation throughout. I believe that all of the songs fit in to the album together production-wise and they all fit into the concept well. This isn’t just attributed to the production though as most of the seasonal imagery is in the lyrics.

 

I believe that the marketing of my project went quite well, considering I had never organised the promotion of a release such as this before. I can measure the success of my digital campaign through analytics and figures. This was a really crucial part of my Social Media Campaign Management module which I’m glad I took on this year. The module taught me the importance of these analytics and how to use audits to refresh my social media platforms and achieve the best results. My engagement and reach grew on all of my platforms throughout the year, and it definitely spread awareness of my project and generated more listeners. I had a good amount of radio plays which you can see on my industry contacts page. These were crucial to increase awareness of my project nationally. I think this is the reason behind my Spotify streams outside of Scotland and even outside the UK, however this can’t be guaranteed. My posters also increased local awareness and I’m really happy with the way that they turned out. I was really proud of my graphic designs for this project, which I did by myself using Canva. I feel like my brand was more recognisable the more I put out content on social media or printed new posters. My designs all featured different colour palettes and photos depending on the season, but the layout was the same, tying the image to me and my brand. There weren’t any major challenges with distribution or marketing. I realised about halfway through promotion that I could create my posters in A3 by using the copy function on the university printers which I did immediately. I also realised that I could add a QR code to these posters for easy access to my music, which I also did as soon as possible. These were ideas that I could implement into my strategy pretty quickly, so it wasn’t an issue and, therefore, didn’t become a missed opportunity. I also emailed as many industry contacts as I could possibly find and took the opportunities from new contacts that were given to me through my current network. For example, Chris Clouston recommended me to Breakthrough Fusion Radio which helped boost the campaign. I took as many opportunities as possible during the promotion stage. I was featured on a number of radio stations and given a few reviews of my EPs as well, which I’m very happy with. I didn’t have many issues with distribution which I’m super happy about. One small issue was when my featured artists weren't showing on my Winter release, however this was fixed very quickly.I thought that I’d have issues with Tunecore rejecting my cover art because of the blurry background but they were fine with the design. This would have meant changing my cover art which would have been really annoying for me because I loved the way they look so much. With distribution running smoothly, it gave me less to worry about and more time to focus on the music. I wanted this project to show the promotion stage, so I chose to release all of my EPs one after the other in the lead up to the Seasons release. This meant that I wasn’t releasing them all during their respective seasons. It would have been better to have longer to work on the project so I could still show the promotion while spacing out the EPs more and having them in their own season. I actually ended up toning down the Christmassiness of Bitter Chocolate so that it didn’t sound too much like a Christmas song being released in March. If this EP had been released in December I could have promoted the EP as a Christmas EP. The same with autumn, being released in February rather than September - November. I did try to film and take photos in these months so that I had autumn and winter themed content to post during the promotion. My countdown stories were actually videos taken months in advance, during the cold season. I also had the added luck of the March snowfall this year to use in my promotion for the Winter EP. My Spring and Summer EPs didn’t have this issue as they were being released in April and May, just in time for the end and start of their respective seasons. This made it easier to post seasonal content. My lecturers had suggested holding off and releasing the EPs during their respective seasons. I could have released them from Spring to Winter, starting in spring 2023 and ending in winter 2023 or from Autumn to Summer, starting in autumn 2023 and ending in summer 2024. I only very briefly considered this because I was adamant about showing the promotion of the EPs as it was planned to be a big part of my project with my social media campaign, industry contacts and promotional materials. If I were to do the project again and without a deadline, I would probably have released them within their seasons.

 

I managed my time effectively throughout this project and made sure to schedule recording dates well in advance. I did this by noting down my recording sessions, submission deadlines and release dates on a Google Calendar to make it easy to see what needed done in the project and when. I've always been a very organised person so planning throughout the project wasn't a problem to me. The main issue I had was actually the time management of my collaborators. Some of my collaborators, mainly my vocalists, wouldn’t show up to recording sessions at all which was really annoying, especially since I commute from Dundee to Perth for them. They also tended to cancel on me weeks after they had agreed to sing on a song. This would push recording dates further back, impacting on other recording sessions. Chloe Hawkins and Ceara Campbell were great when it came to issues like this. They were both happy to fill in on songs that I had other vocalists drop out of and it meant that I could still have my mixes done and sent to TuneCore by the deadlines that I set myself. I wish that I had spent more time on the recordings for the project. I think I could have done this by having a conversation with the collaborators that weren’t showing up on time, or at all, and take them off the project sooner rather than later. This would have given me much more time to mix the last minute vocal tracks that I needed to put on some of the songs. If I had recorded the entire project with myself on vocals I am sure that I wouldn’t have had this issue, but I wanted skilled vocalists on my songs. I’m glad that I had a chat with Chloe Hawkins early on in the project asking her to be a back-up, just in case, because this was really crucial to getting this project finished on time. Ceara was even up for doing this last-minute. I’d say that these issues actually brought me closer to them professionally and we now all help each other out even more than we did in previous years.

 

Overall, I am pretty happy with how the project has turned out and I have gotten some good feedback from friends and family on my music. I am proud of my lyrics, considering I had only written lyrics a handful of times before this project, and I believe that my aesthetics fit each season very well. I think that one main area that I could improve on is recording and mixing. If I was doing this project again I would maybe try to get a studio and audio engineer to do my recordings and mixes for me to create a more professional sounding product. I had actually planned for, audio engineering student, Shane Serrano to help me mix and master my tracks but he was too busy with his own project and the Beat Porters. I am happy with the mixes considering they were mainly done using my DAW, but it would be good to have experience recording in a studio too and get a cleaner, more professional sound. When I got feedback from listeners of my releases they all praised me for my production abilities. There are strengths within my DIY production but I can definitely hear some areas that need improvement, particularly in the guitar parts. Personally, my least favourite EP is Spring and my most favourite is probably Summer. I think that the stress I felt during the making on Spring might have something to do with this as it was a very chaotic month, but I also just don't like the sound of the mixes as much as the others in the project. 

 

I am now more intrigued with the idea of concept albums, and I believe it is something that I will re-visit in the future. During the latter stages of this project I started to think of other concepts that I could focus an album on. One of my favourites was the planets which I thought would be a nice concept to explore. I could focus on their planet type, colour, name and history to create a musical characterisation. I feel like this would be better explored instrumentally though, using loads of experimental sounds to achieve the music of the planets. 

 

After completing my degree, I intend on having a career in arts management, but I am adamant that I will continue writing and recording music part-time. This project has improved my relationships with my collaborators, meaning I have more industry connections going forward into this endeavour. This project has been a great starting off point for me to continue making my own music after completing my degree. The promotion has helped me to increase my audience, considering I didn't have any audience on streaming platforms before, by connecting with the fans of my collaborators. I want to focus more on music with lyrics now that I have steered away from instrumental music. I’d still like to re-visit instrumentals in a concept album, but I am considering releasing short EPs with lyrics. I also believe that doing backing vocals on some of these tracks has boosted my confidence. I may start singing on my own tracks and releasing them to the public. This would be a big step for me as I’m not a singer, and if you had asked me a year ago if I would even just sing backing vocals I would have told you no.

 

Overall, I really enjoyed working on this project with so many different collaborators. It has been a worthwhile experience and I would love to carry out a similar project in the future.