self reflection and peer reviews

Looking back at my own song at its beginning stage (first half of the semester), I feel that I could have been more easy on relying piano and keyboards as the main component of the song. Not only did that take me away from experimenting sounds out of the box, it somehow restricted the song from sounding "flexible". I also could have been much on time with the schedule as the vocals for my song were recorded a week after semester break due to the lengthy time taken to create lyrics. While recording with my first vocalist, I did a huge mistake by over-increasing the gain on the QU-32 mixer. This causes the vocals to have clipping and therefore creating unpleasant distortions. My producer, Nicole and I have also agreed that the first vocalist may not suit the new sound/style (we discussed it to be a mixture of lofi and hippy pop tune) which would be produced, therefore, a second vocalist was invited to record the song in the editing suite. It sounded better and my producer had enough time to produce the vocals and find the "new sound" that we were aiming for. However, due to unforeseen circumstances, she did not manage to save the file which contained the previously-approved production of the new sound. Unfortunately, I only got to listen to the final version of the song on the day we were assigned for mixing engineers and it somehow differs from the previously-approved version. Though I have requested to add more tracks as layers because most of the original instrumentation are subtracted or rearranged, we had difficulties trying to compromise on that particular idea. In order to catch up to the schedule, I somehow had to approve it. In my opinion, I think that instruments like pads and synths are needed in the song to fill in the empty mid range and also the low range to make the song sounds a little bit more supported. Vocals should also stand out as a clear and crispy sound rather than being added with an amount of reverb as it pulls back the voice. I also very much adore the drum beats that she improvised for me. Through this, I learned that it is my responsibility to provide clear and insightful picture as to what I would like in my song to my producer so that in the future, time and accidental issues do not get in the way. Communication plays a key part within a team and we all would have to learn to communicate effectively together.

As a producer for Chloe's song, I managed to record + produce her vocals and add new instruments like drums, strings and pads. I tried to receive feedback from her after every sufficient progress in the producing stage and she provided me constructive feedback which helped me to know what she liked and what she did not. For her song, I had quite an adequate amount of time to produce her song as it only requires simple additional instrumentation and fixing on vocal pitches and timing. Thanks to the clear picture of what she wants given to me and also a reference song, she very much likes and approved the production stage of the song. As a mixer for Shaun's song, first and foremost, I could have really gone through a wider collection of YouTube tutorials as I have recently only realized how helpful and insightful these videos can be. By watching how people mix and achieve the sounds they want, it really helps for beginners like me to know what tools and effects to use while aiming for certain sounds and also get to understand the usage of the tools. What I could have really done better while mixing the song is to speak with the producer and both compromise on a similar level of what three of us would like for the song. The songwriter himself however has given sufficient feedback to the mixing.

In a nutshell, this subject has helped me to identify flaws in listening and develop problem solving skills in order to make the sounds pleasant. I enjoyed the process of producing Chloe's song and mixing Shaun's song as I got to challenge myself with two different styles of pieces that are rather distinct than my own song. I also enjoyed receiving feedbacks regarding to how I managed to execute what was wanted in both of their songs. I wish to learn more technicalities like using reverses, side-chaining, more tips on compressing vocals and recording techniques.