This week I have been researching different lyric writing techniques and learning composition, a bit of music theory, and production techniques, I have also made a rough draft of the lyrics to my first track, and a rough idea for the track.
I have learnt lots of different skills this week. I have watched several YouTube video tutorials on different production techniques I wanted to learn, I have been reading a music theory book on my kindle. And also used google and researched how to write lyrics concisely, different rhyming schemes and how to portray a message/story concisely.
I have also used google to help me with the scales and chords. ( Over this project something I want to improve on is learning music theory for computer musicians, we had a swap over of teachers in my high school when learning this, and unfortunately, the new teacher thought we had learnt it all, so didn't teach us the basics, he did apologise afterwards, but it was too late, I feel like I know which notes sound good together and play them correctly, but I would like to know the names etc for each scale and chord and memorise them)
The production techniques I have been researching are learning how to get different effects on vocals, by adding reverb, or by changing the pitch up to create a harmony with the original vocal maybe adding distortion. these are things I have heard commonly in other songs, I didn't know how I would go about creating that effect in a DAW, this had been really interesting and is going to help me with my project, as I will use some of these techniques on my vocals for the first track.
the skills I have learnt this week will help me in my future career as a music producer, and also as I am researching sound design, it will help with my future progression route as an acoustician as well.
Here are a couple of the sources I used to research lyric writing.
I have written lyrics for my first song "Ocean Of Life" And found the female vocalist I would like to hire to sing my lyrics for me, she has the perfect voice and style for what I'm looking for in this song.
This song is mainly about past mistakes, and being stressed I have tried to make it seem relatable but could do with being vaguer, I think the lyrics are good but are also in a rough stage and I would like to spend the next week researching more, and perfecting the lyrics before I hire the vocalist to sing them.
This is going to help largely in my future career aspiration of becoming a freelance music producer, if I build on my lyric writing skills I could not only work on my own projects but also be a lyricist and write lyrics as a side job, for other artists. it will also help me make it in the industry, as I feel a lot of songs that end up making it have vocals in them.
By the time I finish my second song I will have gained more experience in lyric writing, my aim is to learn how to write poetic and vaguely so that when someone listens to and reads them they will be able to relate them back to an experience they have had, and everyone that reads them can have a different take.
I want to focus on problems with mental health so people can read them and feel calm and better that someone else has also had a similar experience so far what I have written does this but is too specific which narrows down the number of people that could relate to it and the target audience.
Here is the first draft of the lyrics for "Ocean Of life" The rhyme scheme is AABB
Lyrics one
Ocean Of Life
There's a battle inside my head
and I'm drowning in regret
Too many mistakes left Untouched
overwhelming I must confront
These memories illusory as they seem
Making sense of everything
diving for answers in the depths of the ocean
treasuring those intense emotions
theres a hunger inside to change the past
seems like it all went so fast
a quarter of a century faced
how much more time can I waste
Pre Chorus
PTSD can not sleep
Gotta take another leap
I was young and naive what was I supposed to do
run away when I learned the truth
ADHD can't sit still
ruminating without free will
160 tabs open in my mind.
Remembering what they're for this time
Chorus
I'm just feeling stressed you guessed
There's so much on my mind
But I'm feeling blessed the test
of life I’ve overcome
The present moments where I feel the best
but there's something on my mind
seem to stay in the past and regret
but this happens all the time
Verse 2
Struggling to keep afloat in the ocean of life.
can't seem to find which boat is mine
waves are crashing time to fight
or flight , am I gonna make it tonight .
The present moments all we have
whatever happens now will soon be past
The past will never ever change
but the future will
So make a difference and rearrange
Pre chorus
PTSD can not sleep
Gotta take another leap
I was young and naive what was I supposed to do
run away when I learned the truth
ADHD can't sit still
ruminating without free will
160 tabs open in my mind.
Remembering what they're for this time
Chorus
I'm just feeling stressed you guessed
There's so much on my mind
But I'm feeling blessed the test
of life I've overcome
The present moments where I feel the best
but there's something on my mind
seem to stay in the past and regret
but this happens all the time.
I like these lyrics, but I do want to improve my skills in lyric writing and work on these some more. They are not vague enough, they tell a story but it's not relatable to everyone and is more about a specific thing rather than a vague idea that can be related to multiple different situations, and they are too revealing. I need to look into how to write better lyrics this is something I'm struggling with, but if I changed my approach to lyric writing they could work out how I want them to be, this is a learning process and is something I will be improving on over the next week. and over the project as a whole. I may not use these lyrics as the final lyrics for my first track.
This is the chord progression I came up with for my first track Ocean Of Life, I spent some time finding out which scale I wanted to use for this song, and I chose D Minor in the end.
I also searched for a vocalist online on a website called fiver. after lots of searching I found the perfect vocalist.
The vocalist I have chosen to sing my lyrics for me has asked for a melody track so she knows what notes to sing over the song, so looking at the lyrics I have made this melody for the pre-chorus.
And then created this melody for the chorus
This is the basic composition for my first track "Ocean Of Life"
Here is a sample of the track
It's very basic at the moment, it's just so I can get a basic idea of how I want my complete track to be. It sounds okay but I'm not sure I am completely happy with it, the intro is really long, and there is too much reverb on the piano, the drums sound nice but need lowering, and I'm not sure I like the melody, if I am looking at releasing this song commercially I just don't think it will make it, the melody is fairly catchy, and the drop is decent, I just don't think I see a commercial future for this song, I am going to carry on working on it, and see if it works, but if it doesn't that is okay.
Conclusion
In conclusion, I have learnt vocal processing techniques, had a go at writing lyrics to my first track, and made a start at my first track. I'm not 100% happy with the first track, but I will see how it goes.
These techniques I have used and learnt this week will help me with my future career, and although I'm not 100% happy with the track so far, I have built on skills anyway, so my next track will be better.
Overall I would say have achieved my goal for the week I have checked the things off from my project management app that I have achieved. For next week's blog, I want to have either written new vocals, or enhanced the lyrics above, and also have a backing track ready to send off to the vocalist.
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