EVALUATION

EVALUATION 

Throughout units 9 & 10 I have had multiple ups and downs to do with the project. I will begin talking about what went well, my initial plan was to create a track that represented the contemporary blues genre, as well as putting together an EPK as an example of what would be sent to a Record label. These units were being used by me as a trial project for my FMP, this gave me a chance to get a feel of what I wanted to do for my final project, and see if taking the artist route was what was right for me. 

Things that went well included my research, I feel that I managed to get a good amount of research together, though I had a few setbacks throughout the project, I still found time to complete my written research and use it to inform the reader of typical things to consider when becoming a musician that wants to release music, or send it off to a record label. I also believe that the final product, my track, turned out really well. Its a song that I really enjoyed writing and performing to the college and at a live event in town. I believe it to have been a good representation of the contemporary blues genre and I really enjoyed collaborating with Harrison on the project. 

Some flaws in my project include the fact that I began wanting to have the track as a finalised piece of music, thats release ready, however it ended up becoming a demo version due to the recording standards. The recording studio I used was my home studio, though this is perfect for guitar recording, straight into the computer, It was not created right to be used as a vocal booth. The general quality of the vocals wasn't that great in the end, I don't feel I know enough about mixing vocals to have been able to fix it either.  I also feel that when taking part in the live performance at college, I was so under the weather the whole performance was terrible. Listening to it back, I have found that I was not singing anywhere near as well as I usually can, due to the fact I was so ill. Performing is hard enough as it is, let along hitting every flat note possible whilst not being able to project your voice, its even worse when its your own music. I also had trouble understanding what I was meant to be doing at first, because I was not eating the brief thoroughly enough, making everything a lot harder for me. 

Though there were more negatives than positives throughout these units, I have decided that for my FMP I will be following the same pathway, using all of the faults I encountered in this project, and making sure I do everything 100x better.  For my FMP I will be mirroring this project, however I will be researching more into the production routes of music, as well as creating 4 songs, not just one. This mean that I will have to work really hard in order to complete enough work for the project, I am aiming to get a distinction in the final project too. Though the projects have all been q bit of a challenge for me, I believe that I can complete a body of work to a really high standard for the end of the year, I feel confident that I can do this. 

RATIONALE

Rationale:Contemporary Blues

For my project I have decided to compose a contemporary blues track, and gain a collection of relevant information for an EPK. In this day and age, hearing modern contemporary blues music happens to be a rarity, however this does not mean that it is totally in the dark, there are a select few artists who are continuing the 4/4, soulful and passionate genre, essentially, reintroducing it with a twist.  Blues music can be a song about anything, not just a break up or a bad day, it can be about a bad mood or a rubbish job you have, or even a love story, so I am really looking forward to recreating it with my own spin.

I would like the artist name to be SWEET TOOTH, this is a duo I started up a few years ago that died down, we created a lot of good music together, so having a good working relationship with each other, as well as constructive musical ideas is a great start. We could create a brand new track, we could create a new facebook page as a fresh promotion platform, and have an original, great piece of blues music. In general sweet tooth was always a multi genre duo, so using different techniques i have picked up and trying out new genres would be amazing. Harrison, who is the guitar player, bass player and backing vocalist will be able to come into college and get a track we create recorded with me or even come to my home studio and record it, depending on the environment and end recordings.

My skills include being able to sing, play the piano and write songs of multiple genres. I have also been taught how to record in a studio, as well as edit and mix down audio for a track within Logic Pro X. I will use these skills to help me perform and produce a song of a contemporary blues genre, whilst getting it recorded and released/ready to be sent to a record label.

I know of a few people who took graphic design at college etc, so having a logo made up by someone who knows what they are doing would be something I will consider, I also know a few people who have taken photography so getting album covers and other bits photographed will be fairly easy. My initial idea is to conduct a small EPK project, allowing myself to experience what needs to be done in preparation for a larger project, my FMP, looking into photoshoots, logo designs, songwriting, recording and creating a small portfolio.

As a generalised statement, blues music is slowly dying out, artists are finding it a lot harder to get gigs at paying venues due to the lack of ticket sales or interest in the genre, this is mostly for up and coming artists who are trying to make a living. Reading stats on the contemporary blues demographic, there were annually no fans under the age of 21 attending any gigs, and only 3% of fans were between 21 and 30. This shows us that the demographic itself is mainly targeted at around 30 to 40 year olds.

Contemporary blues music has been known on a global scale since its introduction, however its demand went down for a long time, nevertheless, it is being seen a lot more in modern day music, generally by artists who have released songs as a one off blues style track, not necessarily blues artists themselves. The “female powerhouse” Ellie King released a track called “Ex’s and Oh’s”, that made the top 10  on the hot 100 songs list. This proves that blues is still being used for music today, however some listeners may not even realise what it is they are even listening to.

REFERENCES

www.forbes.com. 2018. No page title. [ONLINE] Available at: https://www.forbes.com/sites/hughmcintyre/2016/02/22/blues-is-the-cool-new-genre-in-music-again/#1c6b3d9f2586. [Accessed 13 September 2018].

MusicRadar. 2018. 25 new blues artists you need to hear! | MusicRadar. [ONLINE] Available at: https://www.musicradar.com/news/guitars/25-new-blues-artists-you-need-to-hear-266210. [Accessed 13 September 2018].

Making A Scene!. 2018. Selling the Blues – Making A Scene!. [ONLINE] Available at: https://www.makingascene.org/selling-the-blues/. [Accessed 13 September 2018].