Production Journal Final Major

Recording

Ella Lever
Traits Jessica Jamieson
JUNE 2015

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Production Journal

Overview
For my final major recording project, my client is Jessica Jamieson and I will be recording
her EP named Traits. The target genre will be Acoustic pop aimed at around 14-30 year
olds. The EP will consist of similar material to artists such as; Gabrielle Aplin, Lewis
Watson, Ben Howard and Taylor Swift, the sort of singer/songwriter acoustic type
musicians. We will be using SoundCloud (soundcloud.com/jessjamiesonmusic), Twitter
(twitter.com/JJamiesonMusic), Tumblr (jessjamiesonmusic.tumblr.com) and Facebook
(facebook.com/JessJamiesonMusic) to post and promote the finished material.
As a lot of the songs will be acoustic, the aim is for them to be a bit more stripped back
and natural so when mixing I dont want to put any extreme effects on anything, just to
keep the natural sound there. Although I will probably use EQ, compression, reverb etc.
just to improve, brighten and soften guitars and vocals. I will also be mostly using the
microphone to record the acoustic guitar as I think it produces a better sound and you
can also capture the sound of fingers on the string, which will be good for keeping it
natural.
The aim is to record and mix 6 tracks, one being the marketing tool, which is a cover,
and 5 original songs. Two of these songs will be a bit more built up, not acoustic. I will
add drums, bass, keys and more guitars.

Ella Lever

Production Journal

This is the artwork for the EP. Each

picture shown in the artwork represents
different emotions, which expressed
throughout all the songs in the EP. For
example the first picture is a shovel,
which represents, putting something
behind you, which can relate
metaphorically to the action of shovelling
dirt and throwing it behind you.

THAT NIGHT
This song is quite gentle and relaxing, really fitting the acoustic feel to the EP. The
inspirations for this song are; Please Don't Say You Love Me by Gabrielle Aplin, mainly
the guitar throughout the song but also lyrically and Castle Street by Lewis Watson,
both lyrically and instrumental.
The only thing recorded in this song was vocals and acoustic guitar. I both recorded the
guitar through a microphone and DI to try to capture all the sound frequencies from the
strings which really worked well on the sing and it is finger picking, it also sounder fuller
with the two instead of just one. I also recorded some light backing vocals to double up
in the verses at different point and harmonies just too add another layer to the song.
I used quite a bit of compression on this song, as its a bit more of a softer sounding song
it needed to be lifted up in volume so compression was a good tool to use during mixing.
In the end everything was at a better and more equal level. The only thing that wasnt
compressed was the DI guitar as that already had a lot of bass to it, so it was already at
a good level. I also used compression on all the other songs, not on everything, but for
the same reasons as above mainly.
The chords used in this song are; G5, A7sus4, Csus2, Dsus4, Em7/D and Gm7/B. Which
are a bit more familiar chords but still not commonly used in pop songs. The structure is
Ella Lever

Production Journal
very similar to the structure of Breaking Point; these songs are quite similar in style as
they are the more stripped back acoustic songs on the EP.
I think this song ended up being a success; it reached all my aims and came out
sounding very acoustic and relaxing as planned. If I could do it again I think I wouldve
quite liked to hear what it would sound like with some relaxed drums recorded in it as
well, I think I would also record the guitars both through the microphone but with
different microphone placements to create a cleaner more natural sound.

ALL I WANNA KNOW

This song is primarily focused around piano rather than the acoustic guitar like all the
other tracks on the EP. This track is more of a built up song and not acoustic. Midi piano
and strings were recorded in, and then live vocals, backing vocals and drums were also
recorded. The inspiration for this song comes from Taylor Swifts song All Too Well (Piano
version). Jess listened to this song a lot while writing All I Wanna Know which influenced
the piano, and how she lyrically wrote the song. Taylor Swift has said writing her song All
Too Well was like writing a letter so Jess decided to try this technique.
I wanted to keep the main piano and vocals the main element throughout the song so I
doubled up the tracks, which just gave it a bit more emphasis. String were added just to
give the song a bit more depth but they were too prominent in the track so I turned them
down until they were subtly it the back ground, but still made a difference. There are
quite a few layers of backing vocals in the song, theres some repeat lines and
harmonies, and then more layered up harmonies which I think bring out the vocals more
and add to the song.
I used EQ a lot throughout mixing the EP, its very good for cutting out the low
frequencies of background noise etc. that I dont want, which I did to everything. And its
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Production Journal
also great for highlighting/cutting out certain amounts of different frequencies of
different instruments. In this song I put some high shelf EQ on most vocals to brighten
them. And played around with enhancing certain frequencies until I found a good sound,
I started off with a preset EQ I liked then changed it slightly to how I wanted it.
This song is probably the most pop sounding song on the EP; it uses more commonly
used chords in pop songs (Bm, D, A, G but also Gno35/maj7). Again, it also has a very
common pop song structure of intro, verse, pre-chorus, chorus, verse, pre-chorus,
chorus, bridge, chorus.
I think this song was quite successful, I really like how all the vocals and harmonies
sound against each other and in the song, I feel they really highlight the tone of Jess
vocals but also adds strength to them. I think the song overall sounds good, I had a few
problems getting everything in time so had to re-record the vocals a few times but in the
end it came out a success. If I were to do it again, I wouldve liked to add some bass
guitar to it as I feel that would give the song a subtle effect and maybe make it sound
more finished. I also think it suits the pop genre very well as it has a classic pop song
structure.

TRAITS
This is another song which was more built up instrumentally, but it was also still quite
acoustic as there were still two acoustic guitars recorded, as well as drums, a
tambourine, some midi piano and added background vocals. The inspiration for this song
came from two other songs, The Best Thing (That Never Happened) by We Are The In
Crowd, which inspired the meaning of the song and It Could Be Better by Lewis Watson,
which influenced the guitar style and technique, which is used similarly in the verses.
The target for this song was to still have the acoustic style, so I recorded the guitar
twice, just to give it a bit more of an emphasis. When recording with the microphone, it
was placed roughly in line with the twelfth fret on the guitar, which is good positioning to
pick up a good balance of high and low frequency sounds from all the strings. I also
wanted the drums to sound very relaxed to suit the more chilled, acoustic style of the
song, which I think was really achieved.
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Production Journal
The chords used in this song arent very common pop song chords like A, F, C, G etc..
The chords used are; A5add14, E5, C#omit3 and B5, which repeat throughout the whole
song and are just rearranged at the bridge. The structure of this song though is a
structure very commonly used, its referred to as ABABCBB which is intro, verse, chorus,
verse, chorus, middle, chorus, chorus out.
I put a noise gate on both recordings of the guitar just to take out the unwanted
background noise, as well as EQ. I also used the flex tool in parts of recordings just to
move some strums slightly which werent in the time, this was also a good tool to use
when the guitars went out of time at some points.
I think this song was successful; it came out with the sound I aimed for. I really like how
the two guitars sounded against each other and I like how the vocals sounded very clean
and soft, which really suit this song. If I could change anything I would maybe add
another layer of vocals to highlight them, and maybe some harmonies in the
background.

Ella Lever

Production Journal
BREAKING POINT
More like That Night, this song is also mainly just acoustic and not built up. Again only
guitar and vocals were recorded but this song has a lot more layering. The song
Franklin by Paramore lyrically inspired this song with the meaning and missing home
and feeling uncomfortable when being away from home. Also, Keep Your Head Up by
Ben Howard inspired the guitar.
The aim for this song was to stay acoustic and build up a little but with layers of just
vocals and guitar instead of a variety of instruments. Most of the song stays quite simple
but at the end there are two layers of vocals which overlap slightly, then I added a layer
which echos the main vocals, and added a bit of reverb, echo and pan to give it an extra
dimension to the song. I also recorded the guitar twice again, both through microphones
to give it a more natural sound. At the ending where it builds up to a finish there is also
another layer of guitar added, which is a melody played in the song but added in with
strumming it fitted well and added another layer, the strums eventually fade out right at
the end and the song finishes with vocals and the finger picking melody on guitar.
When mixing, I also used a little bit of compression and EQ. I used quite a bit of reverb in
the song, I used a little bit of the main vocals line to soften them a bit, used a little bit
more on the layered vocals at the end to make them seem more in the background and
less prominent and used a bit more than that along with an echo on the echoed vocals as
I just wanted them to be a bit more subtly in the background.
This song uses quite uncommon chords; Dm7sus2, A, Eadd4, F#m7/E, E6sus4,
G#m7b9#5, F#m7 and F#m9. But again the structure is quite a common one in pop
music, in the order of intro, verse, pre-chorus, chorus, verse, pre-chorus, chorus,
bridge/outro. The lyrics are also very repetitive, which is a technique used to make the
song really stick in your head, which is used in a lot of pop songs.
I think this song was very successful, Im happy with the end result. I love the built up
ending with the layered guitar and vocals, I think its really effective. The structure of the
song really fits into the common pop song structure, and the song was kept very
acoustic, which really makes it fit into the acoustic pop style genre. I think the only thing
I would add is maybe another layer of vocals to create a harmony.

Ella Lever

Production Journal

Marketing Tool KING FOR A DAY (COVER)

I chose to make the marketing tool a cover song. Jess performed a cover of King For A
Day by Pierce The Veil. The original song is a pop/punk genre but as my client likes this
genre of music, she wanted to do a cover but she changed it into her own style to suit
the same genre as the EP. This then shows a taste of what the EP will be like, this also
means that this song could create more traffic to the cover/EP, as the band are quite well
know within their genre and have a large fan base who may be interested in listening to
the cover and then hopefully the EP.
As the EP is acoustic pop, we really wanted to show this with the marketing tool. The aim
was for it to be very simple and natural, to suit the acoustic genre. I recorded the guitar
twice, one through DI and once through a microphone; this helped to capture the lower
frequencies from the DI and the higher frequency sounds of the higher strings through
the microphone. This really worked well together to get a fuller sound from the guitar.
Although this did cause a problem as at the end of the song the rhythm was played
differently, so I picked which guitar track sounded better overall, then cut up the other
track so it left just the simple strums of the guitar to the beat of the song, which created
more emphasis and more of a build up towards the ending of the song. I then took out
the extra strums at the bride to highlight the vocals before coming back in stronger at
the end.
I added a little bit of EQ to cut out the low unwanted frequencies on everything recorded
and added a little high shelf EQ on the vocals to highlight Jess vocals, as she has quite a
soft tone which was highlighted. I added high shelf EQ to the microphone guitar just to
brighten the higher frequencies captured. I compressed the guitars and vocals to raise
the volume of both, a little bit but not too much as I didnt want it to sound harshly loud.
Then to finish off I added a slight bit of reverb to the vocals to soften them slightly and
used melody to correct the pitch of some notes etc.
We will be posting the marketing tool on soundcloud, tumblr, twitter and facebook. If we
tag the posts with appropriate tags like the bands name, the song name, the genre of
music etc. hopefully that will create traffic. Jess also regularly uploads videos on youtube
so that will be another way of sharing and promoting the EP.

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Production Journal
I think the final result of the marketing tool was quite successful. I achieved the aim of
the simple and natural acoustic sound and it does represent the genre and feel of the EP.
I think if I were to do it again I would I think I would rerecord one of the guitars and make
sure it was played in exactly the same way so it always sounds in time and fits smoothly
with the other guitar or I couldve come up with an alternate rhythm which could fit into
the song to add another layer. I think I would also maybe add some light backing vocals
to emphasise certain parts of the song, and also I think I wouldve added an intro just to
make the song start slightly less abruptly.

OVERALL EVALUATION
Overall, I think the EP has turned out very well and has been a success. All the
songs fit well into the Acoustic Pop genre and style. Even though I think there
could be improvements made and various things, which couldve been fixed if I
had more time. I think all the songs were well recorded and performed. I think the
songs that turned out the best are Breaking Point and Traits because they were
the more acoustic songs, I think there was less recorded to focus on mixing so I
made sure everything that was recorded sounded to my satisfaction, apart from a
few parts of some songs. I think if I had some extra time I wouldve re recorded
some guitars and vocals because of little mistakes but they are subtle so it doesnt
bring the focus away from the whole song.
I think technically I couldve used experimented with using more tools on logic to
give some songs more of an effect, but I stuck to most of the basic tools like, EQ,
compression, reverb etc. A reason why I like Breaking Point is because at the end
of the song I experimented a bit with echo, filters and pan which I think was very
effective and turned out well.
I think some songs (possibly King For A Day & Breaking Point) could sound
competitive with other acoustic pop style music in the marketplace, especially with
music from people who make their own music at home etc. and post it online.
Some of the other songs I dont think they would really sound that competitive
because I think I couldve used tools in logic more appropriately and effectively to
give the songs more of a clean and professional sound.
If the musical and technical considerations were left aside I think the idea of this EP
would work very successfully, all the songs are well written both musically and
lyrically. A lot of people, in a wide age range like acoustic music and acoustic pop
music, so I think the EP has the ability to gain a lot of listens/views on various
sites. The artwork is appropriate and fits well with the EP, the pictures of the front
of the EP all represent different emotions, which are expressed in the songs. Also
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Production Journal
the tone of the colours fit well, as the songs are all acoustic and more relaxed, the
colours on the artwork are also quite relaxed tones, which enforces the
chilled/relaxed acoustic style of music.
The marketing tool, which was the cover, worked well as a marketing tool as the
genre was changed to acoustic styling which did represent the style of the EP, but I
think the traffic from fans of the original song and band are more fans of pop/punk
music so its less likely they will be interested in acoustic pop music. I think if a
cover was done of an artist who are originally acoustic pop music such as,
Gabrielle Aplin, Ed Sheeran, Ben Howard etc. the whole EP would generate more
traffic as well as the cover, as people who are already interested in acoustic pop
music will be more likely to listen to the whole EP.
The EP could be put onto iTunes as a means of generating an income for the artist,
with enough advertising on various social media sites aimed at the appropriate
audience and age range. Events could promote the EP, thing like gigs where the
music will performed live; this could generate more of an income from ticket sales
to the events. Another way to bring in some money would be to offer some sort of
limited time deal/offer such as; if you buy the EP in the first week of release you
unlock some sort of extra content, which could be another song or a music video
as well as a song.
Here is a link to the whole playlist on Soundcloud: Traits EP

Ella Lever

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