Mariana Bagulho

For my solo piece and for my group piece, I used similar techniques and electronics. For both of them I used my Akai MPK mini keyboard and assigned my own instrument sounds and effects on the drum pads and knobs to change between them. The one thing that I used for my solo piece and not for the group one was having to stop and play loops, for my solo that was something that I had to focus on, my song was mainly loops that I myself had to turn on and off and also record live while performing and in my group song I mainly played my part live only focusing on effects.

The most interesting techniques that I explored while doing both songs, was the fact that I can perform alone whilst having multiple instruments in my song, without me needing anyone else playing them; with the use of looping and assigning instruments on my drum pad so that I don’t have to stop or play them using my computer, everything is assigned to my midi keyboard.

The artist that I found most inspiring to me is called Chet Faker. He mostly performs his music alone and uses various equipment techniques that I had explored myself. Most of his music is electronic and computer produced. He uses a lot of pianos and synths, in which I really enjoy using and having in my own songs. His live performances mostly influenced my solo performance, he usually sings whilst playing an instrument and whilst using other equipment around him, for example controlling the effects on his microphone.

I will most likely be using live electronics in my future performances, whether it be for solo pieces or even group songs. I very much enjoy having mostly electronics in my songs instead of live instruments and I also enjoy having control on what I do in a performance, whether it be controlling the loops live and recording them live and controlling the effects throughout a song so it does not sound the same until the end.

For my group performance, I explored different kinds of technologies in which I could use for the creation of our song. These technologies being, types of equipment and potential sounds or plugins that I could use for my part. Since our group song could not be performed live, I had to make sure that I explored technologies that I could use with the equipment I had in my disposal, at home.

From the start of this group project, we decided that our songs would be dark ambient with some game soundtrack influences and for this type of music I had decided to mainly play synths. For synths sounds, I thought to use something soft and dark sounding instead of something loud and funky. I thought of using some synths from Spitfire LABS that I have downloaded from spitfire Audio’s website, these are quite nice sounding and different from the one’s you get in Logic, but I did not end up using those since every single member of my group would have to download and instal them on their computer since we had to send the Logic file to each other in the process, so I just decided to use two different synths from the Logic library and to make them different I used delay effects (which was used on the one synth), different reverb effects on both of them and EQ. The equipment I used to play my parts was an Akai MPK mini midi keyboard, this is a small keyboard with a drum pad, a pitch knob and six other knobs. When playing my part, I used the drum pads to change between the two synths I was using, each drum pad was assigned to a synth and I just had to press one of them for it to change, I also used the pitch shifter knob on one of the synths in the last section of the song and the other knobs on the keyboard were assigned to the delay and reverb effects so that I could choose how much of those two effects I wanted when playing.

If this were to be played live, the technology I used would benefit not only me and my sections of the song, but it would also benefit the entire groups performance because I would be in charge of my own effects that I chose to use and I would also be in charge of switching between both my instruments, instead of my group members doing it for me or me using the laptop to change it.

For our group performance I will mainly be playing with a midi keyboard, using different synths sounds from Logic Pro X  and switching between them throughout the song. The keyboard I’ll be doing this with is an Akai MPK mini which has drum pads that I’ll be using to change from one synth sound to another and also I’ll be using that for looping and the keyboard also has eight little knobs which will be used for controlling the effects while I play.

My group members are: Taneka, who will be focusing on vocals and bass on a midi keyboard; Daniel, who will be doing all the guitar parts and using various pedal effects and Natalie who will be playing both live drums and electronic drums.

As a group, we have decided to create something that shows everyone’s personalities and abilities and since the song has to be at least seven to ten minutes, we have decided to make it two songs with a nice transition between them. Doing this we will be able to either use different effects on our instruments or even change what we play and also have a mood change instead of it being the same all the way through. Our idea was to make the songs sound dark and have an ambient feel to it, we also talked about the instrumental being similar to a game soundtrack since most of the group, including me, like playing games and enjoying the soundtracks that come with it; this can easily be done with a couple of softer synth types with reverb and/or delay effects.

Our collaboration will mostly be over text and online calls since we can’t rehearse or meet in person. We will have one Logic file that we will be sending around to each other, making sure that the name of the file either has the date it was last modified on the title or the version number instead, just so we don’t get confused and work on an outdated file. Each of us will be mixing the song as we go and the last person who has the file will be making sure it sounds good when everyone is done with it. This last person will also be editing our video that will go with the song and we will most likely get in a call so we can all input on the editing.

In preparation for my solo piece, I had been watching other artists live performances, mainly artists who had performed at home, or in a studio, or somewhere that didn’t have a live audience and was filmed themselves. I watched these kind of live performance videos because it would be closest to what I would have to do at home.

In the last post I talked about an artist called Chet Faker; he was my main influence for my solo piece. His music is quite slow and calm and he mainly uses electronic instruments, like synths keyboards or midi in his performances plus using his own vocals. I decided to do something similar to his music since I had similar equipment at my disposal.

Here is what I used: MacBook Pro Laptop with Logic Pro X Live Loops, Akai MPK mini keyboard and Shure MV7 microphone.

For this project I had to incorporate electronic sounds and live looping while also playing an instrument live; I chose to play a piano and synth part on my keyboard and sing. The way that I had decided to play this song live was to make some loops beforehand so I could activate and deactivate them as the song went on, I did this because I didn’t want to create a full backing track, I wanted to make sure it was all played live as much as possible. Most of the loops I had created were linked to the drum pads on my keyboard for easy access and I also had a delay effect on one of the knobs on the same keyboard, next to the drum pads, for my microphone so I could manually add how much of the delay I wanted on my voice.

Performing with live electronics was very different than any of my past performances which were on stage with a real audience and performing solo or in a band with every band member playing an instrument. This time, I was mainly relying on electronics, more specifically the premade loops I had recorded previously and the software itself. If both the software and my loops had broken or stopped working then I wouldn’t of been able to perform, this wouldn’t be a problem in my previous performances but then again anything can go wrong even if without electronics.

The feedback I had gotten was quite positive, most of my peers really enjoyed my song and enjoyed the atmosphere I had created with the background and lighting which suited the song very well. One of the feedbacks I got was the camera positioning, it could have been at a wider angle so the viewers could see more of me and my set up at the same time.

What makes music live, to me, is going to a venue and watching performers on stage playing live instruments together (for example drums, bass, guitar and vocals) with the audience experiencing the liveliness of it; no live performance is the same. With the use of electronic equipment like drum machines and the ability to loop tracks, one could say that the performance is no longer “live” since there not many or no live instruments being played by someone, in my opinion using different electronics make the overall performance more interesting since you can see the artist using it on stage.

Chet Faker performing “1998” Live on KCRW

This Chet Faker performance was filmed in a small studio. The artist performed by himself using only a Korg synthesizer, 3 effect and drum machine pads and his own vocals.

When watching the performance, one can tell that the artist didn’t pre record his instrumentation, he is controlling every instrument sound he has on his effect pads and making it feel like a live performance instead of a normal music video or even a performance in which the artist already has the instrumentation recorded beforehand.

What makes this performance feel live is the fact that not only he is using his various electronics to make the base sound of the song, but he is also adding and taking away effects when he feels like it; he is also using the looping and layering of the instruments to his advantage, which allows him to play some chords on his synthesizer keyboard and sing. He does this throughout his performance.

Although there is not much interaction with the audience, or in this case interaction with the camera, this still gives me the experience of liveness in a performance. I say this because at about 0.52 seconds the artist makes a small mistake, he attempts to play the keyboard but forgets to turn on its sound and has to, on the go, turn it on and not mess up the song. Additionally the vocals also make this performance feel live due to him singing into the microphone, using the electronics at the same time and us, the audience, watching him do so.

Dope Lemon

Promotional Material Link

Facebook Website Link

Dope Lemon has a very 70’s influenced style which is represented and seen throughout his social media pages, posters, CD’s, vinyl, his own dress sense and when performing live with his band. His text font is very unique, it is used in all of his online promotional materials and suits his 70’s style very well. Overall, when just looking at his websites and photos, Dope Lemon has a very recognisable aesthetic that works well together and also works well with his music which I will be writing about later on.

Just by looking at some of the images on his websites, it seems that Dope Lemon style and music is quite laid back and not so much upbeat like some pop songs nowadays or even in the 70’s (since it has that vibe). If I didn’t know this artist, his images suggest that his genre of music is either indie rock, psychedelic rock or even something soul or folk like. I would probably expect their live performance to be very chill and not too flashy meaning that he wouldn’t have any dancers on stage or strobes flashing everywhere.

Here are some quotes describing Dope Lemon and his new album “Smooth Big Cat”:

“Smooth Big Cat is that blue moon music, songs for when the eve is about to turn into something special. Music to enhance your moment, a record for wild hearted escapades and fuzzy, melty moments laying back on the rug. Say hello to Smooth Big Cat: a record with all the swagger, wit and vibe of its namesake.”

“To begin a Dope Lemon disclaimer… The recommended way to listen to smooth big cat is whiskey in one hand, smoke in the other. Deep in northern new south wales wilderness, down the dusty road from angus stone’s lush, secluded ranch, lives the tale of the smooth big cat.”

– Quotes from https://www.gigantic.com/dope-lemon-tickets

In my opinion, these paragraphs describe the artist and the album in a very unique way, it makes it all sound very chilled, relaxed and for some reason very country or cowboy like. I feel like by the way he uses adjectives and how he describes his music, it really entices the reader to go see him live or to buy his albums because of how it’s written and how he creates a story. It also makes the reader understand that his music and live performances aren’t directed to children or teenagers but more directed to young adults and adults due to him writing this “To begin a Dope Lemon disclaimer… The recommended way to listen to smooth big cat is whiskey in one hand, smoke in the other”.

What I find most inspiring from all of Dope Lemons online promotional materials is the art, his own style and the photography. I would want to not only focus on the music to perform, but to also focus on what style me and my group will have or which artwork we could have for our websites and our own promotional materials. Another thing for me and the band to consider is how we’re going to write our bio, we’ll have to use unique adjectives to describe our music and ourselves and we could consider what Dope Lemon did, create a story for the album which makes the songs more interesting.

In this blog, I will be discussing my Black Box tech training.

I had this training session because me and my band, for this project, will be having a gig in which we will have to choose what instruments we want to use. For example, amplifiers, DI boxes, different microphones, various instruments for each member and, of course, different effects on the instruments we use.

For our performance we will be needing various different equipment:

• 2 Korg keyboards with 1 DI box each if seperated on stage
• 1 complete drum set with different microphone set up (on kick drum AKG D112, snare SM57 and possibly hi hat also SM57)
• 1 electric bass with a DI set up and a bass amp
• 1 electric guitar (guitarist will bring his own), a guitar amp and pedals for effects (guitarist will also be bringing his own pedals)
• 2 SM58 microphones with a microphone stand each set up next to the keyboards
• We will be needing monitors playing back sound next to the drummer and possibly 2/3 more at the front for the singers/keyboadists, guitarista and bass player

Examples of DI boxes plugged into both an amp and a bass into the mixing desk, using jack leads.

The reason that some instruments are plugged into a DI box and not straight into a mixing desk is because the DI gives it a much clearer and warmer sound on stage, plus since the sound is clearer it’s easier to add effects on to it if needed, using the mixing desk. Example: EQ, compressor and reverb.

For the mixing desk channels each instrument will be put into it’s own one, drums being first occupying about 3/4 channels which will be put into a group after sound check for easy use when performing, bass is second, followed by the guitar then keyboards and lastly the vocals which will have some reverb effect on it.

Mixing desk that we will be using.

Radiohead – Paranoid Android

I chose Radioheads “Paranoid Android” song because it has a interesting and uncornventional approach to time signatures, tempo and rhythmic patterns.

The time signature changes throughout the song. It mostly changes every three to four bars depending on the section (verse, chorus or solo), from 4/4 to 7/8 which is unusual for contemporary rock music. The tempo also changes. The first part of the song is at 84 bpm (beats per minute) and it changes to 63 bpm for the guitar solo, which happens near the middle of the song.

The beginning of the song starts off quite slow, it has a bit of a latin feel and uses a clave instrument which accents the third and fourth beats. The rest of the song is played in a more standard rock beat and the changes from 4/4 to 7/8 which makes it more interesting and draws in the listener who tries to figure out the change.

This song will definitely be influencing the song I will be working on. I think that the most important part is the change in time signatures since it makes the song sound unique and more interesting to listen to, especially if I make one section of the song in 4/4 which is the most common in music nowadays and change it to somethiing more uncommon like 6/4 or 7/8 like Radioheads song. The change in tempo will also be a good thing to work on and i think it will be even better if i change both time signatures and tempo at the same time in a section if the song plus having different drum beats and bass lines with it.

My group members for this project are: Dan, Reece and Tove.

Dan – Main instrument is guitar but also plays keys and sings. His music influences are progressive rock/pop, ambient music and black metal and his band influences are Radiohead and Muse.

Reece – Main instrument is guitar but for this project he will be playing his second main instrument, drums. He likes playing in a range of styles and his influences are Nirvana, Radiohead, Gorillaz, Alpha Male Tea Party and All The Witches.

Tove – Main instrument is voice and keys. For this project we decided that she should play the bass and sing since we don’t have a bass player in our group. Her influences are 90’s Brit Pop and electronic indie.

Me – Main instrument voice and keys. My influences are Chet Faker/Nick Murphy, Dope Lemon, Psychedelic Porn Crumpets, Joji, Fyfe and Radiohead.

Our Influence for our first piece: Sigur Rós – Varúð

Sigur Rós is an icelandic band. Their main genre is post-rock, avant-rock and ambient music. We decided that we’re going to make an ambient style song similar to the one I linked of theirs.

We want it to have different dynamics throughout the piece, soft synths chords, multi-effects on the electric guitar for solos/improvisation, big build ups on the drums and soft vocals with reverb for spacey harmonies (vocals will come in in different parts of the song, not consistent).

We will be using simple and different cue systems for communicating with each other, for example changing the cords for one section, bringing in and taking out instruments and starting and finsihing the song. We will have free improvisation in one section of the song, which will be decided with a cue from a member and finally we will be avoiding simple song structures, like most pop songs have nowadays (verse, chorus, verse, bridge).