Personal Research Project: Recording and Producing your Own Music

There are many different careers in the music industry but I have chosen this subject for the personal research project because as part of my FMP I am required to record a composition to show my knowledge of a studio and recording equipment and ability to compose music, I will show my skills and knowledge of technical job roles in the music industry by recording my own music which demonstrates my level of composition and performance through writing guitar tabs and notations followed by recording and programming various tracks into Cubase. Additionally I have done and will continue to participate in technical live music job roles such as lighting operator, sound engineer, tech runner, and part of the load-in/out crews, evidence of this is within the musician vs technician activities.

How can someone write and record music on their own?

To start recording and composing music you will need some kind of studio setup and a selection of instruments specific to the music genres being recorded, most of the time a MIDI-Keyboard or drum kit, a guitar, bass guitar, and a series of dynamic and condenser microphones. Studio setups can be very basic and inexpensive and also cost hundreds of thousands like the setup at SAE university in Oxford, which can mean that knowing what a good setup is can be quite confusing, however a studio setup consists of up to five main components, a computer, audio interface, digital audio workstation (DAW) software, headphones and/or monitors (speakers).

There are many arguments on the internet over what computers are best for recording music, generally Apple Macs are the standard within the music industry however can be fairly costly for a basic studio, therefore a more cost efficient computer would be needed but as long as it meets the software's specification requirements there should be no major problems, however higher quality machines will have better audio latency reduction and will likely run more smoothly when under high load with lots of audio tracks than more basic computers.

Audio interfaces are additional hardware components that connect to a computer (usually via USB) and allow XLR, jack leads, and other musical cables to be connected to the computer. Most audio interfaces have both female jack and XLR connections, and some have connections for MIDI inputs allowing the use of keyboards and synthesizers which are useful instruments to be able to use when recording because of the vast variety of sounds it it possible to create and can also be used to program drums using the keys on the keyboard or synthesizer.

Recording software takes the analogue audio from the instrument and turns it into a digital signal which can then be edited and manipulated using preset effects that come with the DAW or additional plugins from an external source. DAWs also allow the recording of multiple instruments simultaneously or individually making it possible to record an entire band live or construct a composition in stages with just one person. Some DAW software is exclusive to Apple computers like Pro Tools for music production which I feel has an easier UI (user interface) than that of Cubase which is what I have been using for my project.

Ideally it is best to have both headphones and two or more speakers when recording and/or producing music, however if the room that the studio is set up in is not sound treated it will be difficult to get an optimum sound quality when recording due to room reflections caused by sound bouncing off of walls and being scattered in different directions instead of being deadened by sound absorbing materials and textures, this can also increase the chance of something feeding back due to the scattered audio waves.

Production and Songwriting Techniques

At the start of the second year I was unable to join a band and therefore ended up researching into people who record and produce their own music by themselves before taking on the project myself.

"Moog (Blair Joscelyne) Moog is a similar songwriter to the project I am currently working on at the moment being mostly instrumental and the only main artist creating most of the music is himself, for these reasons he is one of the main influences on the music I will have produced and the way I create a variety of different sounds within my music in these two videos Moog explains how he records music for film scores and how he records with a guest artist.

Ken Hill This songwriter chooses to start with the rhythm section when writing songs, He then goes into the lead parts of the song to break apart the repetitive sound of the rhythm sections, and then adds bass guitar to support the rhythm guitar and create a deeper dynamic texture to the lead guitar, Ken Hill then goes on to explain why he had not focused on drums until now as despite being one of the fundamental elements of a song the drums need to be appropriate for the sound and genre of the song, a rap song relies heavily on a percussive sound and an orchestra has very little to no percussion as it would be out of place within the combination of instruments. He then concludes by mentioning "ghost" instrumentation which increases the replay ability of your music and makes the listener feel like you do care about the music you are making, ghost instruments are short pieces of instrumentation that either use existing instruments or bring completely new instruments into the music and support important or specific emotions within the music and/or lyrics making it more meaningful for the listener to listen to and will keep them listening to your music.

Darren The songwriter lists key points to remember when writing songs and has a more business like approach towards music production in which he identifies that letting people into what you're doing is a good thing to help you develop ideas to get feedback and that it is important not to aim to write a "perfect" song every time by making mistakes and not letting failure overcome what you are trying to achieve means that you can accept failures and not let it stop success, he also promotes the idea of being unique and flexible in song writing by using opposite effects like staccato and legato and finding new ways to do or say things to make your music stand out from everyone else's.'

Ken Chapple Here a different songwriter explains how to find song writing ideas in everyday life and he also explains that it can be beneficial to creating and evolving new ideas, this approach to song writing speeds up the creative process and allows you to keep writing when there is nothing you can think of, and because he is using the outside world and everyday situations it makes the music that is created easier for the listener to relate to and this engages the listener to listen to your music again." - From blog post "Update On My Second Year Project & Techniques and Rehearsal Methods For A Solo Musician When You Are Not In A Band"

Employment and earning money

A songwriter/producer is for the most part self employed in which royalties are collected by membership organisations like the PRS (performing rights society) and/or the MCPS (mechanical copyright protection society) who protect music written by a songwriter from any copyright infringements, another membership service musicians use is the Musicians Union which independently protects and supports the artist against a wide variety of things, some of which aren't covered by the MCPS or PRS. Because a songwriter is self employed they have to pay tax on their income unless signed by a record label who may at times organize tax under an agreement contract. When recording, writing and guesting on a piece of music an artist/s may need to sign a songwriting agreement contract defining the restrictions, ownership, and terms of use for the piece of music. Typically work for songwriters and producers is very inconsistent and some projects may not always pay out as much as originally expected, as a result of this musicians and producers also work secondary jobs in teaching, selling equipment and instruments, or working entirely from the music industry completely.