COMPOSITIONAL BLOG / ALBUM RELEASE
This section of the blog is dedicated to following the production of my debut album 'What We'll Miss Most'.
This blog will follow much of the work which has gone into the making of the tracks including the arrangements, influences, field recordings, artwork and the developmental process of writing this album.
blog post _1
TIME MANAGEMENT
Album Track Listing Progress Chart
At the very start of writing this album - I wanted to keep a logbook of the ideas I had for track listings and the concepts around the pieces.
Really exciting to see some of the tracks being marked as completed for both arrangement and mixing.
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SOCIALS
Leading up to the album release, I thought it may be a cool idea to create a 'mixing series' on my instagram which shows the end result of each of my days spent mixing the album.
This was designed in hopes to not only begin to promote the album in an organic and authentic way, but also to contiune too improve on the quality of my instagram content.
N.B - you can differentiate the tracks by the coffee mugs!!
blog post _3
COMPOSITION
I wanted to capture the natural soundscapes of an actual coast to reflect the concept and nature of the albums.
The are 2 tracks in particular that I really wanted to feature some organic sound compositions of waves, seagulls and other noises you may found on the coast.
Unfortunately - due to the pandemic I could not source a company which would allow to rent equipment. The equipment which would have been my choice would have been a Zoom F8n, Sennheiser NTG3 Shotgun Condenser.
However that didn't stop me from attempting to collect some decent field recordings, and although the sound was not captured as clearly as I would of liked, I can always appeal that I was going for a 'lo-fi' approach!
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CONTENT
In the hopes of building a small and organic audience for the album release, I am creating short visual trailers of each track for the album and posting them via my instagram account.
January the 11-13th is going to be dedicated to finding external promotional services and companies to use as tools to promote the album further on their platforms. Self promotion has always been something I have shied away form as to me it always comes across as false and has a sense of me shoving my music down peoples throats - so I decided I really wanted to pursue external companies with a rough budget in mind of £200-400.
More information to follow.
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TIMELINE UPDATE
In the hopes of building a small and organic audience for the album release, I am creating short visual trailers of each track for the album and posting them via my instagram account.
January the 11-13th is going to be dedicated to finding external promotional services and companies to use as tools to promote the album further on their platforms. Self promotion has always been something I have shied away form as to me it always comes across as false and has a sense of me shoving my music down peoples throats - so I decided I really wanted to pursue external companies with a rough budget in mind of £200-400.
More information to follow.
blog post _6
PROMOTIONAL
Really pleased to show that I have secured promotion for my release via these instagram accounts which are all centred around classical music compositions.
Finding promotional services and accounts to market my type of music has been quite a tasking challenge.
Every where you look there seems to be a new ad for promoting hip hop / trap and edm artists, but finding honest sources for neo-classical instrumental music with a focus in film production? A bit more tricky.
blog post _7
PROMOTIONAL
Submitted 2 of my singles from the album to BBC Introducing Radio Stations.
I was specially targeting classical / film music compositional stations such as the ones listed above, and despite there potentially being a long wait before I hear anything, just another step in hopefully securing some promotion for the release to a wider audience.
blog post _8
CONTENT
Spent this morning creating some more visual content for one of the singles I have scheduled a release for on 5th February, prior to the album launch on the 9th.
I spent the morning learning how to create an audio spectrum affect in Adobe After Effects, which I then exported and imported into Premiere Pro syncing the adjustment layer of the visual spectrum to the wav file of the track.
Posted to my IG account in the hopes of generating further anticipation to the album release.
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SOCIALS AND PROMO
Some lovely organic comments and interest in my releases stemming from these mixing posts I've been creating for the album release.
I've actually found that these times of posts where the quality of the visuals is less focused on and the content is displayed in a more authentic (rough) way the reception can be much more positive - I suppose it stems from audiences liking to see how things are put together, not just the finished product all the time.
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Track Listing
Prelude
I sampled my dad's vinyl player, capturing the sounds of the needle drop, the hiss and crackle which was looped, and then the needle behind dragged off, emphasising that the album was now beginning, bringing the listener into the present with the theoretical start of the album, The Tide Retreats.
N.B - You may be curious as to why I gave this piece it's own track instead of just using it as the beginning to The Tide Retreats, and the reason for this is partly due to playlist consideration via BBC Introducing and Spotify's own curated playlists, but also as the album is designed to be listened to in running order, the labelling of the tracks is not as significant as possibly other solo albums by other artists.
Prelude is the opening track on the album and the concept behind starting the album in this fashion was due to a great discussion with my album supervisor, Philip Reeder (30 Pounds Of Bone, Producer) .
Much of the concept around the album is the theme of memory and reflection, about thinking back to a time where things were simple and peaceful, and for me the imagery of a couple who have separated returning to their local coast, which is explored in the title track 'What We'll Miss Most'.
So I wanted to have the album begin by taking a segment from the strongest chorus, and emulating it through a vinyl player.
I then mixed the chorus from Something Calls To Them to sound as if it were playing through the vinyl player, through a wet plate reverb, and EQ'd all of the low end out, boosted and mids, and cut the treble.
As I mentioned above, this is theoretically the first track of the album.
The opening piano is very much influenced by composers such as Max Ritcher and Johan Johannson with a simple evolving almost duo-phonic melody, creating these slightly fractured dyads, with left hand playing the root notes, and the right hand playing raised harmonies.
Evolve is a great term to use to describe the track. With each passage and phrase, something new gradually gets added, first with a soft synth pad over the piano dyads, then the solo violin phrase accompanied by felt piano brush percussion and arpeggios which gradually build and guide the listener into the first chorus of the album.
The Tide Retreats
For me, this track captured as lot of the sonic content I wanted to create for this album, particularly through the dry/organic solo violin lines and the big electronic, lo-fi / hybrid orchestral chorus, so therefore I felt that this was a good place to start the album, as it introduces the lister to many of the themes and soundscapes they can be expected to hear throughout these tracks.
What We'll Miss Most
This track is very deliberately placed within the track run order.
What We'll Miss Most is a big departure in not only tonality with it's more conventional diatonic structures and stepwise melodies, but also it's instrumentation.
So far, the listener has been introduced to largely classical instrumentation with pianos, strings and percussion, but it is through the title track where the soundscape completely shifts and we have the appearance of vocals.
Recorded and performed by a guest vocalist Sarah Walker, What We'll Miss Most explores the concept and themes of the album through the careful choice of lyrics, embodying these feelings of nostalgia.
I wanted this track to feel like quite a juxtaposition for the listener, breaking away from the at times quite theoretical classical compositions with a more traditional folk / pop track, with an emphasis on the organic approach.
Something Calls To Them
Something Calls To Them is another track from the album which I felt really embodies what I am trying to achieve with the sound, which was also the reason why I used to chorus segment on the opening piece 'Prelude'.
Structurally and sonically, it is very similar to The Tide Retreats with it's soft and organic opening felt piano which gradually builds and swells into a massive sprawling collection of organic orchestral score fused with electronic and lo-fi beats and textures.
The mix on this is very much designed to embody more of an EDM feel with it's production as I wanted this track almost be the heart of the album, emphasised by the low end which really surrounds you.
It is with this track, where a side narrative begins to appear.
I originally wrote this track 4 years ago, follow a night I spend down on a local pier front, watching the ships coming in and leaving the tide.
I had this image in my mind of a victorian era where works would be called and set out to see for months at a time, leaving their loved ones waiving them off as they set out.
I am in currently working on another release for this track post release, which I will strip down instrumental to just felt piano and light string work, featuring vocals which will capture the narrative that as focal point for creating this track :
'Something Calls To Them
To Wave Goodbye,
To Those That Leave
On Morning's Tide'
Solace
Solace is a single I had previously released from my album.
Solace is a very simplistic piece, consisting of mainly a felt piano and some light string and ambient accompaniment.
This track is placed in the middle part of the album, as it is intentionally quite a different direction you may expect the album to go in.
It is certainly a more soft and 'filler' piece in the track run, and is intentionally as I wanted a piece that again links back to the themes involved in film production as simple piano pieces are so revered in dramas and film music.
Solace was also intentionally created for playlist submissions and 'study music' playlist considerations which are so popular within the scene with this type of felt piano and minimal design.
The Moments We Spend Waiting
This track is in a way a homage to much of the influences compositionally for the album in terms of the arrangement and techniques, as well as continuing the concept and themes in the album such as reflection and natural imagery.
A specific image and visual I had in mind when composing The Moments We Spend Waiting, was the female perspective of the narrative, sitting in a window and looking out through a raindrop covered glass pane, shown through a blue crushed social realist colour grade.
The composition begins with solo legato strings, swell in and out playing the tonic and 3rd notes.
Continuing the thematic writing style of evolving pieces and gradual builds, the string section beings with accompaniment with a soft felt piano and a solo violin mixed in a dry room, played with expression and vibrato.
One important stylistic trait I wanted to avoid was repetitiveness, specifically to the rallentando / envelope swelling dynamics of the string passages.
To contrast the pauses between the passages, I began alluding to more rhythmic string work by adding staccato violins in between the legato steings, to add interest but also allude to the where the track would end up which again is a percussive, hybrid approach to fusion electronic percussion and grooves with British and contemporary Neo-Classical soundtrack composition.
Bloom
Bloom is the last but one track on the album, with utilises a lot of natural sound design and soundscape captured by myself. Featuring the sounds of winds, rain and lashing waves.
It was combining these sounds and naturalist design with very organic composition with acoustic guitar, minimally added effects and EQ and closely mic'd drums and percussion where the heart of this track comes from.
The last two tracks of the album are Bloom and Lanterns which are intended to roll completely into each other with a long tail of Bloom's bright soundscape, fading into the more ominous and minimal outdoor soundscape of Lanterns.
Lanterns
Lanterns is the final track and is essentially the conclusion to this album, finishing with an epic and emotive odyssey conjuring all the themes and musical language used through the album.
Lanterns begins by blending the previous soundscape of into a darker and more minimal soundscape of a dock.
From there, the track builds from atmospheric acoustic guitars and reflective lyrics, tying in themes and unison with references to themes from Something Calls To Them, before the string arrangements and synth textures build.
The theme and concept behind closing the album of on this piece, is to bring the second narrative which began with Something Calls To Them to a close, following the Victorian era imagery of sailers being called out to sea, leaving their families and wives on the shore.
Lanterns gradually builds throughout its sections before reaching complete cinematic climax with punctuation staccato runs, cymbal rolls, timpani percussion and soaring synth and violin melodies.
As this is the final track of the album, it was important that I was able to capture this sense of an ending, much like a film.
Bringing the epic dynamic of the climax to a complete stop and fading back in the opening acoustic performance from the introduction to Lanterns, allowed me to complete the arrangement with the same cadence of chords first heard in the chorus of Something Calls To Them, bringing the narrative and album, to a finish.
blog post _11
PROMOTIONAL
Album Trailer shared on Piano Worldwide Instagram account & Classical Music Worldwide as well as organic shares and story posts from a number of followers I have amassed through the promotional posts of the album.
