Methods
Here is a list of the most important processes, equipment and software I used during planning, songwriting, production, release and promotion of the project. These were all crucial methods necessary to create the finished album. I have used some of these before in my creative process but some of them are also new to me.
Creative Processes
I prefer to write music at home rather than in a studio. I find it is where I am most comfortable and peaceful. In the past few years most of my musical work has had to be done at home so that is probably why I don't resent it as much as others would. I liked my space to be bright when I'm working on my music so I keep the blinds open. I think that being able to see outside was especially important for this project since it is based so much around the outdoors environment and the changing of seasons.
Of course, it is difficult to write music about all of the seasons during only autumn and winter. I felt that the dreary atmosphere would be useful for my Autumn and Winter EPs but I needed further visual inspiration for my brighter EPs. I used Pinterest to create seasonal boards for visual inspiration. These boards are separated into the four seasons and feature many different images that I used for inspiration while writing these songs. You can find my Pinterest with all of these boards here. I have never used images in such a way when writing music and I feel that having these themes in front of me were very useful in finding stories to write about in each song.
I tend to write music while it's light outside. I'd say that during the Autumn and Winter EPs I was writing later due to the darker nature of these songs. Writing in a darker environment emulated these sadder emotions that I was trying to convey. I'm lucky enough to have a lot of free time this year to work purely on my project, so I was able to write music almost 7 days a week. Having this time to work on every song and give them all the same amount of attention was paramount in creating a cohesive album with all songs being of a similar quality.
At the very beginning of the project I tried to focus on writing songs for Autumn and Winter. However, there were a couple of ideas that I had that I wanted to keep in mind for the Spring and Summer EPs. I would have ideas for melodies, chord progressions and lyrics that I would note down to work on at a later date. These were really useful to me while I was focusing on writing these final two EPs and I'm really glad that I took the time to come back to these ideas rather than scrapping them. Of course, not every idea made it to the final album and there are even a couple of songs that had to get completed canned. I hope to work on these songs further into the future and I have kept all of my ideas to allow me to do so. I tried my best to not let any of my ideas go to waste and I believe that I did this really well in the project.
I always struggle taking breaks and I'd say I struggled the most with it this year. In previous years I've been working on other projects or personal goals. In BA2, I was working towards getting my driving license which took up a lot of my time. In BA3, I was working often with my cover band Dysfunctional. This year, I was spending much more time working on my project and I didn't have many other projects or goals happening at the same time. I found myself working on my university work for up to 10 hours a day everyday and not allowing much time for myself or my other interests. I started taking more breaks at the beginning of February and I found that this was beneficial to my writing and production process. I went on walks, spent time at my local driving range and read more often. Taking a step back from working on the project cleared my head and gave me a fresh perspective. I believe that these breaks improved the quality of my work overall. I think that getting outdoors and going on my walks was the most helpful. I struggle to do this during the colder months but towards the end of the project I was able to do this more often.
During my time at university, I've had the opportunity to write music in a variety of different ways. I've written music in a group setting, in a duo and individually. I've found that when writing music for my own project I enjoy writing on my own the most. It means that I have total creative control. I would write the complete demos by myself but I did allow my vocalists to have more creative freedom with their parts. They know their own voices much better than I do and they know what they are capable of bringing to the music. If they needed minor changes in lyrics or the melody I allowed them to do that. They never strayed very far away from what I had written anyway and I made sure they were aware of the key themes of each song so they didn't alter anything that could be detrimental to the seasonal theme of the project. I did have the opportunity to write lyrics for a few of The Beat Porters' songs this year. I have writing credits on the songs Neon, Turn Down The Lights, and Thunder. Chloe Peacock has also asked me to write lyrics with her for her debut album later this year. We have a 12 hour relay for CRUK in August and we're planning on spending some of our time at the event writing music together. Although I enjoy writing my own music alone, I do still really love collaborating in this way and I think it has been important to me to still have these co-writing opportunities this year alongside my own project. It has helped to inspire my own writing when I am alone.
Although I wrote my music alone this year, collaboration was a huge aspect of the project. I have included this in my creative processes as I believe that collaboration was important in the production of this project. I believe it would have sounded very different if it were just me on the recordings. During my time at UHI, I have vastly improved my network of professional musicians. I was fortunate enough to have many talented vocalists and instrumentalists featured on these songs. It is just a fact that the album would not have sounded as good if I hadn't had these collaborators. The vocalists are much more talented than me and they all bring their own tone to each song. I have no skills on the drums, so it was necessary to have a professional drummer on my tracks, otherwise I would have had to use MIDI drums just like on my debut EP Elevator Fromage. I helped a lot of my collaborators out with their own projects this year as a way to repay them for the work they did on mine. Most of my collaborators were very easy to work with, with just some issues with time management with some. They were crucial to the creative process and the songs would sound much more like demos if they hadn't featured on my tracks.
Having clear communication with my collaborators was key to having a smooth production stage. I didn't need to formally communicate with any of my collaborators as we've all become good friends over the past few years. Therefore, most of my communication with them about the project was either through messaging or face-to-face communication. I sent them demo files through the website WeTransfer. Although this worked well and was easy to send files with, sometimes I had to re-send the files over if they hadn't opened it within a week. After a week, the file would erase itself from the website and would not be available to view.
In my debut EP, Elevator Fromage, using samples was a new process to me and I explored in thoroughly. I didn't want to use them too often in this project but I did want to use a few different Logic loops. Two of the most crucial loops I used are at the beginning of my first song, Smiling Not Blue, and the ending of my final song, Dreaming Of. The album starts with rain fall, signifying the dark season of autumn and it ends with the sound of the ocean and birds signifying the bright season of summer. I liked how they were both themed around water and could bring the album to a full circle. I edited these audio loops using EQ and various effects to make them fit into the songs. These were my favourite and most important use of loops this year. I also used a drum loop in The Mirrorball because I felt that the song needed a fast paced drum part to go alongside the MIDI drums. I used more samples in the Summer EP because of its pop inspiration. Other EPs such as Autumn needed a much more natural sound that these Logic loops could not provide, which is why I used them in moderation throughout the project. Unlike my writing of Elevator Fromage, I did not write any of my songs around these loops. I added them in during production rather than using them as a songwriting tool.
Voice memos were crucial for me during the writing stage. If I had an idea for a melody line I would record it to use later in my demos. In my blog's media you can find many of these audio files. Ideas came to me at many points during the day and it was important for me to remember these ideas the second I had them. Working on so many songs at once it was very important for me to document these ideas.
Instruments
The electric guitar I recorded on the project. I have had this guitar for around 10 years now and I have used it on every single track I have ever recorded for my own projects and other artists' projects.
The acoustic guitar I recorded on the project. I have not used this guitar as often as I used to in recent years, but this is the acoustic guitar I always use during live and recorded performances. I have also had this guitar for at least 8 years. The image to the right is of me performing at the Caird Hall with the Dundee Schools' Guitar Ensemble, showing how long I've used it.
The kalimba that I recorded on Pumpkin Patch. I bought myself this kalimba during one of the lockdowns in 2021. I had spent some time learning how to tune it and played covers on it to pass the time. These skills were useful this year, when I started using it as a tool in my songwriting. It was important for the creative process while writing the instrumental melody for Pumpkin Patch. I don't usually write using anything other than my own voice, my guitar or my keyboard, so this was a brand new process for me. It has shown me that there are many different instruments to be used to write music on and I should try out new instruments such as this more often.
Drum Kit
Two kits were used during the making of this project. One was the drum kit in Eastlake 1 and the other was Ben's Mapex Mars Series kit at his own house. Although I'm not familiar with or knowledgable about drum kits, I am very happy with the sound of these drum kits.
Bass
When recording bass Ben used the Overwater bass from campus.
Recording & Mixing Equipment/ Software
Logic Pro X
I've been using Logic Pro X since BA2. The first project I produced using it was my Elevator Fromage EP. I would say that I am familiar with the software now but I am still constantly learning new skills while using it. This year, my mastering and quantization skills improved the most. I also tried a lot of new effects that I wouldn't usually use in my music such as flange or different types of reverb rather than the basic room setting on Logic. I also downloaded some new plug-ins such as Spitfire Audio's BBC Symphony Orchestra or Auburn Sounds' Graillon 2 pitch corrector. I found that these sounded much better than the Logic plug-ins and made my MIDI instruments and vocal tracks sound more natural.
Macbook Pro (2020)
I also bought my Macbook Pro at the beginning of BA2 for my songwriting and production. Getting an Apple laptop was the best way for me to use Logic which I was getting used to using in the college for my HNC DAW class. It made my work portable meaning I could work wherever I went. I take my laptop everywhere with me so I am constantly able to work on my music. My laptop is the most important piece of equipment to me because it carries all of my work. Even if I don't have an instrument on me, I can still create demos by using the MIDI instruments on Logic. This is one of the best parts of being a DIY producer rather than relying on an audio producer to work on tracks in a studio.
This microphone came with my Scarlett Solo Studio bundle, along with my audio interface. I bought this bundle at the same time as my laptop, and before this project I had only used it to record guitar. This year, I started using it to record vocals, backing vocals and my kalimba tracks. It isn't the most high quality microphone but it picks up vocals very clearly and gives me a great foundation to build upon in the mixing stage. I have to be very careful with setting my levels as it can be quite sensitive, but this is an important step in the recording process anyway.
I use the Focusrite interface from the bundle. It is also very portable. It only has one XLR input and one jack input, but that is really all that I need as a DIY producer. I have worked using smaller interfaces like this since my Music Technology class in secondary school in 2018-2019 so I am very familiar with setting it up for recording sessions. To connect the interface with my Macbook, I use my Dodocool USB C Hub. This is an essential for all of my recording as I wouldn't be able to work directly on my laptop without it. Although it is small, it is just as important as any other piece of equipment.
Small Mic Stand
This is an old image taken while I was using the stand to record guitar for my EP Elevator Fromage, but this is the stand that I used at home to record most of my backing vocal tracks and my kalimba. I was sitting down while recording most of my backing vocals, which I think is fine considering it wasn't ever a lead part, however in the future I would like to invest in a proper standing mic stand to record lead vocals properly and with the correct posture. This set-up was great for the kalimba though and I enjoyed experimenting with different placements to get the right sound for Pumpkin Patch.
Pop Shield
I used one of the pop shields on campus when recording my lead vocalists, however I also bought one for myself this year to record backing vocals at home. I used a similar placement to this YouTube video by The Recording Lounge. I usually place my pop shields in this way because I find that it removes the most pops and clicks. This gives me the best sound recording to work with. For some of the Autumn/ Winter songs such as Pumpkin Patch, I wanted it to sound a bit breathier so I increased the distance of the pop-shield. This meant more work to do in the EQ but I'm happy with the more natural sound it gave me.
Drum Microphones
When drums were being recorded at Ben's home rather than on campus, he used his Yamaha EAD10 Electronic Acoustic Drum Module & Sensor. I was happy with how similar these picked up the sound to the ones in the UHI Perth Eastlake studio and it only really needed that extra bit of reverb to make it sound less dull.
Shane would bring down some of the headphones from the Eastlake studios for me to use while recording in college, however during mixing I tended to use my Marshall headphones. I actually had an older pair of Marshalls but they broke at the very beginning of the project so I upgraded to these newer ones. I believe that they did well for me considering I am on a tight budget when it comes to buying new equipment.
The Production Room
I felt that this was important to include. As a DIY producer, I spent a lot of time mixing around my own home on my laptop. I also found that a lot of my time mixing was spent in the production room on campus. I recorded most of my vocalists here as well as the bass parts for the songs. At the beginning of the project I used my own audio interface, however as time went on I started to use the Focusrite Clarett+ 8 Pre to record the vocals and bass. The speakers were also great for mixing because it gave me the best idea of how my mix was sounding rather than through my laptop speakers or even my Marshall headphones.
Eastlake 1
Shane Serrano also helped me to record some of my drum tracks in Eastlake 1. I couldn't get all of them done here due to limited booking times but I believe all of my drum tracks sound of similar quality no matter how they were recorded. It was good to have some experience recording in a studio this year even if it was limited.
Other Equipment/ Software
Final Cut Pro
This came in my Apple Education Bundle when I bought Logic Pro X and I used it to create the lyric videos for this project as you can see to the right.
Canva
This is a graphic design website which I used for my social media campaign, posters, cover art, merch designs and lyric video intros/ outros. I designed all of the graphics for this project myself so having a simple software what I was used to was crucial for this. I ended up investing in a Canva Premium account for this project so that I had access to all of the stock images and elements available to me. This made it easier to create a variety of content.
Google Calendar & Notion
I pride myself on being a very organised person, so when it came to time management for this project I was ready to stay on top of things. I used Google Calendar to create a colour co-ordinated calendar for my project. The calendars default colour was light blue, which I used when noting down recording sessions. These allowed me to remember who I was recording and when. I then used different colours for each EP submission and release date because these were some of the most important dates for me to remember in terms of deadlines. I also set myself songwriting goals nearer the beginning of the project, setting myself the goal of writing 6 songs by the end of November and then 6 songs by the end of December. The December goal was quite ambitious but I very almost managed to make it to that deadline, only running slightly over into January. I also used the software Notion to write my daily to-do lists for this project. I find writing down the tasks that I have to do much easier than trying to remember it all and it allows me to manage my time more efficiently.
Tunecore
I used the distribution company Tunecore to get my releases on all streaming platforms. Some of the main platforms are Spotify, Apple Music and YouTube. I chose to invest in their Breakout Artist Plan for this project. Before releasing any of my Seasons EPs, I decided to test the service out by releasing my debut EP Elevator Fromage. This worked really well and I was confident to continue using the service for my future releases. This was a really easy service to use and all of my releases showed up on these platforms on time. I only had one issue with them when they changed their form layout, meaning the artists on my Winter release weren't showing on these platforms. I got this sorted with their customer service team really quickly. My plan will renew yearly for £24.99 and it gives me unlimited releases on platforms. In 2019, I released Cucharas' single Black and Blue using Spinnup, another distribution service. I didn't have a great experience with them so I was dubious about this new company, but I am now confident enough to release more music with them in the future.