#23

Wadha Al Nabti
Music Production 9
3/6/14

Process Journal #23

My aim is to finish half of my song, since I have two weeks left. My aim for next week is to finish my song ; the musical part and the producer part. Meaning the panning/volume/EQ will be all done at ready to be presented. This lesson I had one major problem, which was the BPM for the intro, I worked day& night trying to make the song have alternate BPM's throughout it.Sometimes you try and fail which happened to me.I feel as though no vision in the beginning lead to all these problems that I have encountered. I genuinely wish I could go back in time and scream to my old self to plan in the future because now I'm honestly really worried for what the teacher will hear, and hope he will forgive me since I'm not musically talented.What I learnt this course is that you have to emphasise on the planning process on anything that you will create, an architect can't create a house without blueprints, WHICH SHOULD BE EMPHASISED WAY MORE IN MUSIC PRODUCTION. Anywho I would like to thank Mr. Ball for teaching me as I will have to sleep in my grave tonight after listening to what I have </3. Any new thing part I try to add to my intro or to my song generally becomes slower which is a major problem because I'm new to all this musical terms and rules meaning I'm new to making music with a certain beat per minute. This has caused a major crash to any new music I'll be making in the future!!!!!!!!!!! The problem is that Mr. Ball himself couldn't help me, even when he tried to with the manual it didn't make any sense. Also the second lesson my Logic X Pro started having problems with sound thankfully it fixed on its own later. 

Advice:

" Make your intro/ending longer" Ella

Thank you Ella for reminding me about the 3 minute minimum

"It's not that bad except for the newest thing you added" Darwin

Thank you darwin, the newest thing I added was the music that I thought was nice until the set BPM changed it.

"You have to find a solution to the BPM mistake" Mr. Ball

Thank you for allowing me to be so independent, which I will begin to cherish :) 

Photo: (BPM and the types of instruments im using -.- *face palm at my stupidity*)

#22

Wadha Al Nabti
Music Production 9
27/5/14

Process Journal #22

My aim for this week is to write lyrics for a whole song. I'm being asked to be creative while making this song. Nothing worked except for writing poetry, which can be turned into a  song with a bit of modernising. My lyrics are very shameful, because I expected more originality. However you can't expect perfection in such a short time, since beautiful things take time to perfect. Also it's hard to write a song with such a genre. For those of you who don't know, my genre is alternative for now meaning it can change in any moment since the intro was very general and open. I can specify my genre when I finish part a + b. The only reason I'm so focused on the lyrics is because I've hit a stump with the musical part to this song. As you can see not much has happened this week since my juices haven't been working in my brain, but it isn't so surprising seeing as I'm not a musical person to begin with. My lyrics are very dark because that's what I can express for now, which helps me predict that so will my genre and the rest of my music.

Advice on lyrics:

"I expected more from you" Habiba

I honestly love how you have such high expectations from me, I hope I will meet them once the lyrics are completed and altered. 

" It's not that bad" Samid

It's good to know that even the simplest of words can boost my self-esteem thank you Samid

" I don't see it flowing with the music you have" Jibrail

I agree Jibrail, but you haven't heard my final product so please don't judge me. 

*No picture of the lyrics because I need to fix it before I am prepared for anyone online to judge it*

Video: (on how to write hit songs)

#21

Wadha Al Nabti
Music Production 9
17/5/14

Process Journal #21

My aim for this week is to start on my chorus, which is complete. My aim for next week is to be halfway done with the chorus, which would be complete if I was able to tell the future. This week we were welcomed back from the WWW break and we were told to, as always work on our song. I was welcomed late as I was absent on Sunday. Anywho I started working on my song seeing what I could add to make the chorus spicy and intriguing. I realized that my best choice was to make a mix of a hint of classical while still hitting it retro with the Low Down Dub. I chose to add a string ensemble using the chords of C Major root position, 1st & 2nd inversion. This really made my song more lovable, which I didn't know I was capable of. Other than that I decided to think of creating a mode (which is going by scale, but choosing a different key to begin with). What didn't work this week is that I've really hit a stump while trying to make a song. I can't find anything to go with the chorus because its very unique and complex. Meaning it's hard to add anything that really clicks with my funky chorus.

Feedback: (on intro)

"it's a good into that hooks the listener to keep listening till the end" Reem

"The introduction is a great hook" Yara

"I think you need to make sure that Elastic lead and Low down dub align together. After that I like the string ensemble that keeps attacking and the intro." Habiba

Video on the uses of EQ:

#20

Wadha Al Nabti
Music Production 9
27th April 2013

Process Journal #20

My aim for this week is to complete 30 seconds of the intro, which I've successfully done. My aim for next week is to start the chorus. This week as always we were asked to continue working on our songs as they were due in the end of the year. So as always I started working on my song. Remember the melody I made last year with the piano? Well, I kinda removed that. I saw it as a complete waste of creativity and lacking the hook that my old melody (Low Down Dub) had. Also I removed the second melody because I realized the Low Down dub can be an intro end and middle since viva la vida never changed their melody from the beginning to the end. Let I remind you that Viva La Vida was a wonderful song, which won 2 grammy awards (more than the band Queen). What didn't work this lesson was that I was very distracted because all I could think of was WWW. Furthermore what distracted me was the fact that I wasn't given a piano as there was a shortage and had to get used to musical typing, which wasn't that hard. Moreover what didn't work this week is that I get bored easily and some lessons I have no inspiration while at other lessons I get a sudden urge to create 5 songs at once, this can lead to many days of inefficiency, which is a trait of mine I hate, but cannot control sadly. 

Feedback: (on which melody is better)

" I think it's really up to you, anyways you should choose one genre so I'm going with the Low Down Dub" Ella

Thank you Ella for your input :) I chose the Low Down Dub because my genre is pop funk not classical

"The piano melody is just horrible, no offence" Shahad 

Thank you so much for being frank with me Shahad, I agree with you 100%

" I feel like the piano melody isn't very pleasant to your audience and who you're attracting" Maha

You are correct Maha my audience is teens myself included why would I listen to classical music over pop????

Viva La Vida:

#19

Wadha Al Nabti
Music Production 9
20th April 2014

Process Journal #19 

My aim for this week is to add strings to the melody. My aim for next week is to have my intro at least 30 seconds with a variety of instruments that creates a very harmonic sound that makes the listener keep on listening. This week we were instructed to continue on with our work as we have to finish the song before school ends so we better get working. I continued working on my song, specifically the intro as I felt I needed to add more to it to hook the listener, I just love to go out of my way to go overboard and make things more beautiful than they are. I believed that the Low Down Dub at the time wouldn't be my melody because it was a synth and I didn't want to go down the Electro path. My melody consisted of three chords, which I shouldn't mention as non of them were in the c major scale leading to an off scale bit in my song. My new "melody" only helped mebody (<- see what I did there) to shut down as it couldn't continue listening to my song, yes it was that bad! The second lesson Mr. Alcodray was invited to our class to show us how to work a vocorecorder. After he left he left with instructions on how to use the vocorecorder incase we would forget. In that same lesson I attempted to use the vocorecorder with the lyrics of stronger by Daft Punk, it made the song horrid, but I think if I went a little more electro the vocorecorder would be perfect with it. Maybe I shouldn't judge the vocorecorder so fast as I haven't tried all the types of sounds allowed to be recorded through, after that I will judge the vocorecorder as a whole. For now I should focus more on autotune as I can't hit the low keys, which is what I want for my song and as I've said before a song without lyrics isn't the best it can be. JUST TO BE CLEAR I DELETED THE MELODY THAT WAS SO HORRID THAT MY EARS BLED.  

Feedback:

"The second melody is not needed because it doesn't fit with the genre" Shahad

I can finally see the light and I agree with you Shahad. The second melody was just experimenting, because experiments lead to conclusions and statements instead of hypothesises.

"The piano part is off tune" Darwin

I agree Darwin, the second melody wasn't connecting to my key (C Major)

"You should think about sticking to the synth" Sara

Thank you Sara, but thats my choice. I was going to stick with the synth after I heard my piano skills anyways.

Picture of Mr. Ball helping me with LOGIC!:

#18

Wadha Al Nabti
Music Production 9
13th April 2014

Process Journal #18

My aim for this week to make a melody for my song or at least start it. My aim for next week is to add a bass to the melody I hope to complete and to add in trumpets or another form of band tool. What I'm being asked to do is finally go solo on making my own song. I can choose any genre and everything thats in the song is made by myself. For the beginning of the week Mr. Ball welcomed us by teaching us about engineers where he asked me to time him for 10 minutes, meaning only 10 minutes of the lesson would be deducted by Mr. Ball talking. This week I started using Logic X Pro on my laptop to make the song, I made a melody using Low Down dub. I also added a backing, which blends in with the melody perfectly using Gritty Funk. It took me a long time to add the backing because I always want to go overboard meaning I want a lot of things to stand out. This can cause a disturbance to the listener as they will be confused by the ruckus that is being played; I need to learn to tone it down because 5 simple instruments playing at one time is way better than 2 instruments trying to steal the lead from each other at the same time. Moreover this week was mainly experimenting as I had to start from scratch and it's really weird having so much freedom, leading to valuable time being spent just on the genre I wanted, which in the end is pop funk. I believe Music Production is a very great class to tone down and do something you actually enjoy while being very educational and I value each minute I spend in that class greatly, I'd have to thank Mr. Ball for that.

Feedback:

"It’s catchy and the melody is good. Also the backing of the drums is nice. - Reem AbdulMajid"

Thank you Reem for your time and wise words, I'm glad someone enjoys my music other than myself :)

"The melody is very funky" Samid

Thank you Samid, I'm happy you said the word funky as my genre is pop funk.


This is my melody and backing together in Logic X Pro:

#17

Wadha Al Nabti
Music Production 9
20th March 2014

Process Journal #17

My aim for this week is to create a drum part into the song as a whole. My aim for next week is to record lyrics and be done with the song. What worked in this lesson was that we created two separate drum pieces on the arabic drums. This will give our song an arab vibe, while the lyrics will give it a kind of pop vibe. What didn't work this week is that we didn't check if our drum part of the song will blend in with the melody and chorus that we've already created to the song. Also what didn't work is that we spent the whole part of the lesson looking for the computer password by chasing down Mr. Ball, but when we got it the bell had already rung. We were hoping to check if the bass would work with the melody, but I guess that could wait till the next lesson. Unfortunately I was wrong because on Monday I was struck with the flu and wasn't able to make it, so I don't know what my partner Anoud had done while I was away. I believe that we need more time for the song because if the teacher wants quality it will take time, quality isn't born it's made. Moreover I believe our song will be quite simple as I have noticed we have been slacking off as a pair a lot lately and the problem is that innovation doesn't strike us in a minute or two it strikes you when you're in the shower or taking out the trash. 

Feedback:

"Your drums bring in a khaleeji influence" Maha

Thank you Maha, that was just what me and Anoud were aiming for because whats better than going back to your roots

"You should add a solo drum part" Hayaan

I agree with you 100% percent, but that will have to wait till we have the song put together with lyrics to create something stable. 

Photo: This is Mr. Ball explaining music stuff to us in the beginning of the lesson. This is a great example of when innovation strikes me because in my case whenever I'm bored I come up with great ideas.

#16

Wadha Al Nabti
Music Production 9
11th March 2014

Process Journal #16

This week my aim is to write a whole song containing a hook, chorus, and 2/3 verses. My aim for next week is to complete the lyrical and musical part of the song. This week we are asked to continue with your pairs regarding the song we are creating. Also we are asked to prepare for the test on Monday. We basically spent the whole lesson thinking of lyrics and listening to inspiration while Anoud freestyled 5 times. The problem is that Anoud is very shy about what she freestyles so we had to delete it each time. Even though I think it was really good, even better than what we had an pen and paper. Other than that we listened to Superhuman by Keri Hilson Ft. Chris Brown and On the floor by IceJJFish. The inspiration really didn't help because we didn't write any lyrics at all basically we were very unproductive and we even decided to cut out the lyrics from last lesson, which was a step back. The only thing good about this week was the priceless lines that Anoud freestyled they were very raw and unique in my perspective. I think I secretly saved a part of her freestyling I hope I didn't lose it I might have forgotten to save it. I forgot to mention we managed to write two lines of lyrics but they are practically dissing a person in the school.

Feedback: (on lyrics)

- "They're really inspiring" Kareem

Thank you Kareem for your kind words I hope these lyrics inspire everyone to become a better person

- "You and Anoud are lyrical geniuses" Yara

Thank You Yara, but you can't call us lyrical geniuses just because of two lines of lyrics

- "You need more lyrics than that if you're going to make a song" Maha

I have realized that, but Rome wasn't built in a day, Maha. 

Inspiration:

#15

Wadha Al Nabti
Music Production 9
2nd March 2014

Process Journal #15

My aim for this week is to sit through Mr. Ball's boring lectures quietly and attentively. Thankfully we weren't given any lectures instead he told us we can work in pairs or individually to make a song. He explained briefly to us about song writing and that our next assessment would be on songwriting. After explaining I chose Anoud to be my partner and we were given a paper to fill in about how our song will be for instance we had to tell him the genre, bpm, chorus, if there were to be lyrics or not, etc. In that same lesson Anoud and I created a bass and a catchy piano part. The next lesson we went to the studio to work on writing music. Successfully we wrote  about 5 lines of our song, which isn't bad for beginners. The theme of the song was transitioning between the darkness of life into the guiding light of life. What didn't work this lesson was that we couldn't match up the piano part with the guitar part on LOGIC X PRO so we had to quantisize it, which also failed. This took up most of the first lesson. My aim for next lesson is to have at least 12 lines for the song and maximum of 16 lines. The song should also include three verses, intro, chorus, hook, and a outro. 

Feedback:

"The two different instruments don't level up with the beat" (talking about the piano and guitar part) MAHA

I agree with you Maha, but practice makes perfect you can't make a perfect song on your first try :).

"Very catchy tune" TAJI

Thank You Mohammed for your kind comments and it's great that our tune is catchy because thats what sticks in your head. 

"Add in drums" Ella

Just give it time Ella and things will be, but seriously we didn't have drums because we didn't have enough time to think about drums when we were thinking about quantisizing and writing lyrics. 

Our lyrics to the song so far

INSPIRATIONAL SONGS: 

1. Love Sosa - Chief Keef (EXPLICIT)

2. Knock You Down - Keri Hilson Ft. Ne-yo & Kanye West (CLEAN)

3. From Time - Drake Ft. Jhene Aiko (EXPLICIT)

#14

Wadha Al Nabti
Music Production 9
22nd February 2014

Process Journal #14

My aim for this week is to listen carefully to all Mr. Ball has to say and to understand later on in my own time because I feel like he forgets to miss out on parts, but nonetheless he is the greatest arts teacher I've ever had. My aim for next week is to have no suicidal thoughts as Mr. Ball takes class time to explain knowledge and information because I'd rather learn it by reading it or doing it myself rather than have someone explain any information to me. This week firstly we were taught about Max Martin who is a behind the scenes type of guy that is in the music world who wrote 16 #1 top hits in the billboard which is apparently more than Micheal Jackson and barely anyone knows who he is. Max Martin rarely goes on any tv shows for interviews or anything making him really hard to get to and very hard to know anything about him. Next Mr. Ball showed us a mode, which is like a scale but you can start from any other key in the scale. Then he showed us the Top Gun Anthem (the movie with the young/handsome Tom Cruise) which has to do with modes, albeit lead us to Mr. Ball showing us another video of a solo guitarist who was declared an expert at the guitar playing some modes, his name is Joe Satriani. Before that he showed us a showdown between the karate kid playing the guitar against this satanic guitarist apparently. The next lesson we first listened to Love Lockdown - Kanye West, that resulted in the whole class going mental since this song is the best. Mr. Ball told us the song was an inspiration to introduce us to flexi-pitch (aka autotune) and we spent the rest of the class learning about microphones. Including dynamic microphones, which are used for people who speak in front of an audience and another microphone that looked like a rod used in TV's. We learnt that some microphones need phantom power to pick up sounds and that some microphones are ideal to pick up 360 degrees of noise while others aren't. Furthermore near the end of the lesson Mr. Ball taught us what exactly to do to each different microphone on the mixing board including the phantom power button. What didn't work in this lesson was the video of the Australian guy explaining how different microphones work, which was made by the company Shure (it makes microphones). These kind of videos kill me because they are so long. There is no feedback as we had nothing to show for ourselves as all we did was listen to Mr. Ball, albeit isn't that bad.  

Kanye's Love Lockdown: 

Joe Satriani playing normally: 

#13

Wadha Al Nabti

Music Production 9 

16th February 2014

Process Journal #13

This week we were asked to listen carefully to the teacher as the teacher introduced new chord progressions and the 1-8 chords. He told us to take it slow because we really needed to know the 1-8 chords by next year. My aim for this week is to understand the 1-8 chords system. Also my aim for the week is to know what the chord sequence is in a chorus of a song and calling them out by the 1-8 chord system. I honestly do not understand the 1-8 chord system and why the 1 from the 1-8 system can start from C, or D, or G, basically any key. Thank god I'm supposed to know this by next year. Furthermore we listened to The Beach Boys, The Beatles, and One Direction singing the same Beatle's song. The whole aim of listening to these songs were to find the chords and its progression in the chorus of these song. With the exception of the One Direction cover of The Beatles song "All You Need Is Love" in which we compared One Direction's cover with The Beatles'. We concluded that The Beatles' version mainly focused on the instruments while One Directions version mainly focused on the singers voice rather than the instruments. The next lesson we listened to different genre's of music featuring the singers Nas, Big Bad Voodoo Daddy, The Beatles, etc. For next lesson I hope to be able to understand the 1-8 chord system and I am happy to inform that I have learnt all the keys on the piano, which was an aim I set for myself about 4 lessons ago. This lesson I didn't receive advice/feedback on any of my work since the whole week the only thing we did was listen to the teacher. Actually I did receive one piece of feedback, which was to stop being Mr. Ball's second banana, I was quite ashamed that he wasn't honoured that I was his second banana. This was mostly brought up because I was telling him why we didn't have a mixed genre of music to display in the first class, this resulted in me giving in a suggestion of a song for the second class, which is "Teenage Love Affair" by Alicia Keys.

Second banana definition: The most (or second most) important person in an organization

For example: (Luigi is the second banana, whilst Mario is the top banana)

Teenage Love Affair: 

#12

Wadha Al Nabti

Music Production 9 

14th January 2014

Process Journal #12

My aim for this week is to record my synthesized juicy pump bass part into the song. My aim for next week is to complete the song with Reem and upload it into sound cloud. On Sunday we were working on our songs very hard and Mr. Ball taught us how to upload to sound cloud and also taught us how to save our projects on Logic Pro X in a way that it couldn’t get deleted because other group members were having troubles. On Monday we had the test right away and it was quite easy and quick seeing as it was multiple choice, although there were terms I didn’t understand since I didn’t use it ever on Logic X Pro, so I think I flunked my test, but inshallah I didn’t. What didn’t work this lesson was that Reem didn’t upload her piano part, but when I recorded my juicy pump bass and quantisized it to make it fit the tune of the song she made me re-quantisize it because it didn’t fit with the ‘Roots Rock’. This was a problem because first she was bossing me around and I don’t like that and second I told her that I didn’t want the roots rock in this part of the song we were supposed to change all the instruments, which made me really mad because she didn’t listen to me and she never does. I did add a transition from the intro of the song to the mid, which includes the juicy pump bass, drums, and a piano part. The transition is an andre lyrics, which is a man making a weird holy-like sound by his mouth and it’s basically taken from a church choir or something. I believe it’s very great transition because it goes from something holy you hear in a church to something (excuse my French) you hear in a brothel when the dubstep comes in and I want the people who listen to Reems and I’s songs feel a range of emotions. Update: our song is now 1:01:00 long.

Feedback: (on transition, juicy pump bass, and drums)

“It sounds like something you’d hear on the radio” – Habiba

Thank you so much Habiba, insha’allah one day we will hear a song of mine on the radio so I can jam to some good music J.

“I really like it and feel the steady beat of drums is soothing and that the transition is something new” – Ella

Thank you Ella for your time and feedback, I do like the drums and we’d have to thank Reem for that. About the transition it’s a loop, but I couldn’t not put it in the song

The transition: (about 2 seconds long)

Juicy pump bass, drum beat made by Reem, and transition last:

#11

Wadha Al Nabti

Music Production 9 

10th January 2014

Process Journal #11

My aim for this week is to add a part made by myself into the whole song as an outcome, because Reem has been having all the say and doing all the work, which makes me seem weak and mad. I feel like I have no say in anything in the song so if I add my own part in the song I'll finally feel like I belong. My aim for next week is that I complete all my process journals so I can be up to date, seeing as I have been putting everything to the last minute and I am under a lot of pressure and stress. This week I started off being informed that we had a test the next week on the concepts in the Logic Pro x. Mr. Ball told us if we have been working on Logic Pro X it would be very easy with the concepts and it was also a refresh to our memory from our last test so we don't forget the concepts and meanings from specific definitions that we had to study last time. I feel like I failed the test because I hadn't been looking for the meaning behind every aspect in Logic Pro X I just know that this button shape does this action. Also I am glad to see that I have convinced Anoud and Yara to star in our song and sing the lyrics that I wrote. Although getting Anoud wasn't cheap I had to add in the line "money ain't a thing, but a chicken wing" or else she won't agree to be in our song. While Yara was ok with anything and she actually helped me add another verse to my song lyrics so now I have a co-songwriter and a singer as a dear colleague.

Feedback:

“Great, but you should add drums to make the synthesized bass more intriguing” – Anoud (on juicy pump bass that I’m planning to put in the song)

Thank you on your lovely advice Al Anoud and Reem was planning on adding drums already, it’s like you were on the same page there.

“I really like it and think it sound’s quite weird and odd, which is a good thing. You should add more instrument” – Sara

I’ve lately been into odd sounds and instruments since hit songs always have odd synthesizers. Reem will add in the drums and piano as she has already called it.