Evaluation

During the course of the year, I have greatly enjoyed my music technology lessons. From studying technology I have learnt that my strengths definitely lie in the creative/design side of music technology, as opposed to the the more traditonal side of music technology such as recording. Having not previously studied music technology before, the module has opened up a whole side of the music industry I didn't know too much about.

Throughout this year I have improved upon my knowledge of using Apple Macs and their software. Halfway through the year I did choose to buy my own Macbook computer as I was inspired by the software I had been using. As a result of this year I have experimented with the use of GarageBand in my spare time, a program that i learnt how to use in technology lessons. I was very suprised with how easy Garageband was to use, particuarly with how easy it was to make a podcast, for instance.

Studying technology has given me foundation of knowledge within the field. Although i only have basic knowledge, I feel I would be more confident in a recording studio or live setup environment. I would like to study these areas in greater depth however to gain a deeper understanding. I would also like to study computer software recording programs too, like Garageband and Logic to use them to their full potential. The module has allowed me to see what could be possible when creating music - making the creation of music a lot easier than I would have thought before studying this topic.

I have definitely decided that I want to pursue a career in online music PR. I will therefore need to coninue to pursue learning about online technology in order to succeed in this area. I have decided that online/design technology is where my strengths definitely lie, and studying this technology module has reaffirmed this for me.

I have had a very enjoyable year, which has now inspired me to continue to learn about music technology. It plays a very important role within the industry today and it is vital that I keep up to speed with technological developments within the music field.

Music Photography

I have always had a strong interest in photography. Since studying at A-level I have worked as a professional studio photographer and have also been commissioned to photograph bands both live and for promotional shoots.

For Christmas, i was given a Nikon D3000 DSLR - a high end digital single lens reflex camera. I used the camera to take promotional shots of the band 'Zap Zap Zap' and also a number of live shots. When taking promotional shots I had to make sure the shutter speed and aperture were set correctly to ensure the shots were not blurred. The camera can be adjusted to shutter priority or to aperture priority to make life easier for the photographer. These modes allow for the photographer to adjust the shutter speed and the camera picks the aperture setting, or vice versa, making the process of taking photos a lot quicker.
When taking photos in a live setting I had to use the camera in a manual setting, adjusting both the aperture and shutter speed myself. Gigs are difficult places to take photos as lighting is low which requires a small aperture setting (a larger hole in the lense for more light to be let through). However, onstage action is very quick so a fast shutter speed is needed. A fast shutter speed and low aperture setting are very conflicting so a lot of test shots need to be taken in order to get the settings right. Please see pictures I have taken of the band above. I have also included an image of the model of camera I use. I edit the photographs in iphoto, adjusting the levels of colours as required. iphoto also allows for the addition of effects such as black and white and reducing the hue to change the appearance of photos.

Web & Graphic Design 2

I recently used web and graphic design skills to re-design a bands' myspace page. I chose to not use dreamweave but to write my html in a standard word document, as my main HTML coding consisted of positioning a banner at the top of the myspace profile. (pictured above). I had to be careful as the myspace terms state that their adverts must not be obstructed by any html coding. I then used other HTML coding to change the colour of the background, scrollbar, body text and link text. I also inserted images of their new demo cover which I created previously on photoshop. I had to insert an image over the 'contact' area as a DIV overlay, to make the links look more interesting and fit with the theme of the page. The profile can be viewed by clicking here

Recording Studio

During this lesson we were taught basic skills of how to record in a studio set up. Aside from experiencing a basic recording studio set up at home, this was the first time I had been inside a proper recording studio setup, consisting of a control room and a live room.



We began by setting up instruments in the live room and micing them up. We used an assortment of mics including AKGD112 for the kick drum, Shure SM57 for the snare, floor tom and rack tom and condenser mics for the cymbals. Electrical instruments were channeled straight through to the mixing desk. I found setting up the instruments very interesting as I was able to learn about what mics were appropriate and just how moving the mics slightly affected the sound. I also learnt the importance of making sure all wires were safely taped down to avoid trips and falls.



We noted all mics and instruments onto a whiteboard in the live room to ensure we could identify what each channel on the mixing desk was being used for.



We recorded the instruments using the mixing desk and the recording software protools. Compressors could also be patched in using the patch desk. We had to sound check each individual instrument to ensure the levels were correct. We found we had to adjust the mic on the snare drum as it was capturing a sound of just the drum skin being hit without the snare. We made a basic recording of a band playing a cover song.

The session in the studio was very interesting, i did feel I would like more time within this environment so I could learn more about how to work a mixing desk and how various compressors work and the different sounds they make. It was very useful for learning how to mic instruments but i believe more time is needed to fully learn the workings of the studio.

Music Videos

Making a Music Video

In this lesson we were tasked with creating our own music video. We were given sessions hours to make our video, with one session being dedicated to filming and the following session to editing.

when making out music video we had to take many things into consideration such as -

The choice of song
Location of the shoot
Story Boards - to direct the narrative
Actors
Sound
Lighting

We chose the song - StarStrukk by Katy Perry and 3OH!3 and used a Canon MV600 to film with. The Canon MV600 is a mini DV camera - that records onto mini DV cassettes. Although the filming on these cameras is not the highest, it suited our needs for the project, being small, portable and easy to use.

As this was our first experience of making a film we wanted to make it as easy as possible so we could grasp a clear understanding of the process. We chose to shoot in Manchester Piccadilly gardens using the fountain as a backdrop for our actors and also we shot a lot of scenes inside a car, driving around Manchester. I had the idea that filming out of the window whilst driving, would look very good in the video if we sped up the footage to a high speed.

The following session we uploaded the footage to a computer using a Firewire connection. It is a preferred connection choice over USB as it is quicker and can transfer more high quality data. This is why most miniDV cameras and Apple computers are fitted with Firewire capabilities.

We then loaded our footage into imovie. The software enabled us to edit our footage, cutting out sections to create slides, and add various effects. imovie made it incredibly easy to edit our video. We were able to make a basic sequence of our footage to make an effective narrative.

Rather like podcast software in garage band, we had to import our film (audio in garageband) onto a timeline, adjusting the length and size of clips when needed. Individual effects could be applied to clips also, such as speeding up of footage which I mentioned previously.

Creating a music video was not as challenging as I thought it would be. I very much enjoyed the process. The simplicity of the cameras we were using and also of our editing software, imovie, made the process of making our video very simple. It gave me a definite grounding in the creation of music videos and a good understanding of what needs to be considered when embarking on a movie project.

Graphic Design

Graphic Design Skills

Graphic design skills are often needed within the music industry, whether it be designing flyers and posters to promote gigs, to design websites, logos or to design CD sleeves.

There are many computer programs that can be used for graphic design purposes, this include:

Paint - to draw basic shapes. Images are of very low quality in this program. Basic text can be added. It can only be found on Microsoft Computers

Adobe Fireworks - Used for the editing of Bitmap and vector images
Adobe Illustrator - A Vector graphics editor. It can be used to create Graphics from scratch or to edit scanned in sketches and drawings
Adobe Photoshop - Maninpulation of photos and images

JPEG - Joint Photographic Experts Group - Compressed, good for photos
BMP - Bit Map Picture - Uncompressed
AI - Adobe Illustrator - Illustrator's own
PSD - Photoshop Document, these can only be opened in Photoshop
GIF - Graphic Interchange Format - A Bitmap image format, good for a small number of colours like those found in logos
TIFF - Tagged File Format - Top Quality
PNG - Portable Networks Graphics - Widely supported on the Internet for widespread use. Another Bitmap format, intended to replace GIF.

I have used both Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Illustrator to create images.

I had a designer draw a basic sketch for a CD sleeve design, which I then edited in Adobe photoshop. I made all lines darker, adjusting the brightness and contrast of the image to do so. I then looked in the filters, effects menu, and chose a dotty effect to make the image look comic-book like. The image was used for the band Zap Zap Zap for their self titled demo which was given away at gigs.

I also created an image in Adobe Illustrator, made entirely of vectors. Following an online tutorial I created basic vector shapes and added various effects and skewed shapes. The end result was a cartoon octopus. Using Illustartor took me a fairly long time as I was not used to the program. It was fiddly to manipulate the shape of the vectors into looking how I wanted them to appear - it probably would of helped if I had used a mouse in order to make the shapes!