Unit 8 - Week 13
It’s the final week!! This project has passed by so quickly and I feel I’ve learnt so much. I’m very excited for this final week but also nervous about getting everything done. We took quite awhile recording all our respective parts in the band so it’s left the mixing to the last minute which I’m a bit worried about but I think we’ll be fine.
Monday I’ve spent mixing Paper Notes and One Day as this is the week of the deadline. During the afternoon, my band and I all gathered in the upstairs studio to discuss and tweak the final mix that we would be releasing together independent of our personal mixes. I adjusted the volume of the vocals in a couple songs and added some minimal effects to I Get It to give the effect of a slightly raspier voice. Alongside this, I actually removed quite a lot of the effects on my voice from the other songs such as distortion as it just felt too processed and dismissed the sound of my actual voice. I adjusted the tracks so that the guitar was a bit louder since I see it as a main focus point and I also asked if we could turn the MIDI orchestra down a bit as they’re not an original part of our band and I felt this decision really helped Amber’s guitar shine through.
Tuesday. Unfortunately, I’m not feeling too well today so I decided to stay off college and instead dedicated my time to working on my blog and ensuring I’ve got all my evidence and research in the correct places. I’m going to attend college tomorrow and spend all my time in mixing so I can make sure I’m completely happy with the sound of each song before the deadline. Tonight, I’m also going to watch a couple more videos on mixing which I’ll list below so I can feel confident in my skills and scope out so new techniques I can use whilst mixing also.
Wednesday! On a usual Wednesday, I wouldn’t be in college as it’s my day off, however, I decided to make the most of this week and come in. I spent today finishing off Paper Notes as I came in later on in the day since I wasn’t originally planning to attend. Despite not getting loads done, I’m glad I took this day to really listen to Paper Notes and make sure I was content with it.
Thursday. It’s the second to last day! Stress is really starting to build now. All of today was spent sat at my desk finishing the mix of One Day. I actually really like how this mix turned out which is a relief considering how I’ve struggled with how to edit this song throughout. I also started and finished mixing Drowning In Flames today. At first this song was very irritating to edit as the way I imported the files caused the guitar to jump to the wrong place in the song, ruining the timing and making everything out of sync. Luckily, I tried importing it an alternative way fairly early on after attempting to edit that version and the second import had no problems. This was a nice song to mix and a great way to experiment with different effects on my vocals. When I go home today, I want to write up a blog post on each song which will include a soundcloud link to each track, lyrics and a short walkthrough on how I mixed them. Tomorrow I need to mix the longest track on the EP, I Get It and write up a blog post on that too. Apart from that, the only thing left to do is write my evaluation and hope for the best!
Friday has finally arrived! It's the final day and there's a lot due in. I spent today finishing off my mix for I Get It and making sure it was as good as possible. After that, I've been cleaning up my blog, ensuring all the fonts are equal, everything is in order and easy to view. After all that, I spent my time writing out an evaluation on the project as a whole. I found it very difficult to clearly say everything I wanted to with the 500 word limit and kept going way over.Eventually I managed to cut it all down to the correct amount and I feel I still managed to incorporate most details. Part of me is very relieved to have finished this project but I'm also a bit sad it's over! I've really enjoyed the independence of making my work and I'll miss my second years too as they're all so helpful whenever I need it. I'm confidently handing my work in today knowing I've stepped out of my comfort zone this unit and trying need things vocally as well as learnt so much more than I thought I would, especially about mixing and setting up microphones. All in all, I've really enjoyed this year at Llwyn Y Bryn and it's nice to see how my confidence and work has changed especially since the beginning when I was too scared to even perform.