Greg Lester

My aims for project 4 were to write extensive and in-depth research tasks which will aid me during the project and help me acquire knowledge in the fields of sound design and compositional skills, write a song in a genre out of my comfort zone and collaborate with a vocalist. During all of this, my goal was to document all of my progress in session diaries. I was able to complete all of the tasks in time, handing them in on the deadlines, I stuck to my original action plan and proposal and which helped me complete all tasks on time and structure my free time to work on the project.  Currently, I’m working towards a distinction which I was aiming for and I am very happy with the incredibly positive feedback I have received from my marker. I have learned a lot in the last eight weeks, explored new techniques and broadened my musical horizon. A lot of this is due to the fact that I ventured into a new and unknown territory and went out of my comfort zone to write something very e...

In my last entry I stated that I would re-record the vocal but after long and careful consideration and some more feedback from friends and tutors, I decided to keep the take we had already recorded. My reasoning behind choosing not to re-record the vocal is that I really like the take, I think that we captured the emotions of the song. There are a couple of intricacies of her performance which I think could not be replicated. I tested the Rode NT1A with Lauren and in my opinion, it does sound better than the TLM 103 by Neumann. Her voice sounds fuller and more natural but I think for this specific song the TLM 103 was the right choice because the vocal is a bit more breathy and almost heavenly. It’s quite hard to describe but the sound of it melds well with the instrumental. On Monday in sequencing skills, I presented my track to the class and my lecturer Shea and received very positive feedback. He said that I should sit down and mix the vocal again but not re-record it. W...

Current version of song which I showed the people giving me feedback: https://clyp.it/dvawbtpy Today in Professional Industry Practice I approached a couple of my friends and my tutor Colin Doran to give me feedback on my song. I received very positive feedback overall and the main improvement points from my friends, Callum, Chloe, Alex, and Christie were to record some harmonies with the vocal, add some toms to the buildup before the chorus for extra tension and to make the vocal a bit louder in the parts where Lauren is singing quite low. Colin was very critical about the track but he said it is a very good song and has incredible potential. He suggested to rethink some parts of the arrangement because I the piano melody is very strong and needs to show a bit more sometimes, this could be achieved by some volume automation. The vocal sounded a bit muddy to him and he told me to experiment with different microphones and possibly record some counter melodies and harm...

On Wednesday the 13th of June 2017 I booked Pro Control to record the vocals with Lauren Walton. The session started at 16:00 but since Lauren had a tutorial since 17:20 I used the time that I had to set up the mics and prepare a logic project. Unfortunately, I forgot to take pictures of the recording session.   I used a TLM 103 by Neumann to record the lead vocal because Lauren has quite a high voice and because the TLM 103 is so bright and airy it really fits. I went for a very clear and clean sound so I used a pop shield to get rid of excess air and sibilants. Because I wanted to try something new and experiment I recorded the sound of the room with the AKG C414 by setting it up further away next to the mixing console on the left to the singer, with this mic I planned to capture a duller and darker sound to blend with the crisp and clean lead vocal. Since there was, unfortunately, a second band playing in Demo 2 I had to set up the mics so that they wouldn’t pick ...

Songs Covered: Song 1: “Mick Gordon - BFG Division” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QHRuTYtSbJQ Song 2: “$uicideboy$ - Antarctica” https://soundcloud.com/skatings-gay/uicideboy-antarctica Song 3: “Golden Features feat. Julia Stone - Wolfie” https://soundcloud.com/foreignfamily/golden-features-wolfie-feat-julia-stone “Mick Gordon - BFG Division” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QHRuTYtSbJQ (Gordon, 2016) Introduction: BFG Division is part of the award-winning videogame soundtrack of DOOM 2016 which was released on 28th September 2016 and composed by the Australian producer Mick Gordon. The soundtrack draws from inspirations of the previous DOOM video games, the artwork and of course gameplay of the current DOOM game. He worked on the album for about two years and dedicated a lot of the time to experimentation with analogue synthesizers and effects to create incredible soundscapes, a unique effect chain which I will later refer as the “DOOM Instrume...