Trimester 5 Post Mortem - Everything I've done for Studio 3

So the day finally came around... Welcome to my last blog of the trimester! In case you missed some of my project updates along the way or just didn't read them at all, don't fear, cause everything you'll need to know about my trimester 5 is here! Let's get into it shall we?

The project that started them all - 'Glitch'

This track was realistically my first step towards finding my own sound as well as into Bass house as a genre of electronic music. After finally getting my hands on Ableton and Serum it was about time I got to work on some new original music. Throughout the course of making this track, I experimented with a lot of new synth sounds such as wubs and what I call 'DOOPS' (little pluck-like sounds made with 2 oscillators and a LOT of resonance). This track was also the first track I had mastered alone and with stock plugins, meaning it was complete and utter shit :P. However, from this experience I learnt a lot and this track actually wound up gaining a lot of support to my surprise!

'Glitch' almost reaching 500 plays on SoundCloud :)

Comments from other local DJ/Producers including CHRIS ROYAL

Working in post pro one last time with Yasmin Amir Hamzah - the bugs life soundtrack project

Compared to the overall completed product, this soundtrack wasn't really that big but this was my first time composing music to a film to suit a particular feel. Considering that dark sounds and music is what I spend a lot of my time around I figured this would be a perfect way for me to step back into post production momentarily. However, I did not do this project alone as even though I arranged the soundtrack and synthesised the sounds, Jackson was the one to actually mix and master it to the film.

Link to the full project by Yasmin!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pKI6rlbdiYQ&fbclid=IwAR0myOjWOfyi7z0M7xPT5UYw07O3Px1WgQ4y9-gRKKq-RD84XtrW8egQmUI

eMP 2/3 - 'Stare' with Callum Page & INSERT_NAME

After getting off to a bit of a slow start, Richard and I eventually got the ball rolling with our second collab and boy oh boy was this one a rocker compared to the first one. A massive thanks to my good friend Callum Page who came in to the studio one day to assist in the beginnings of this track as without him, the first drop and vocals of this track would not sound anywhere near as good. This track was actually a hell of a lot of fun to work on and make as, while it was still house (love my house music), it enabled me to step into a genre which I had never made before whilst also allowing me to experiment with my own deep sounds and fuse them together. This track also managed to pull a bit of support on SoundCloud although its nowhere near the level that glitch is at. Funnily enough, out of the three tracks I made this trimester, 'Glitch' was the track I was least proud of yet it got a hell of a lot more plays and interaction.

'Stare' reaching 102 plays on SoundCloud with some supportive comments by local DJ/Producer's

EMP 3/3 - My second solo deep house track - 'Who Am I?'

This project was the most spontaneous by far of the 3 EMP's I did this trimester as it was origianlly a completely different track all together. After losing creative motivation for a remix I was doing for another producer at uni, I decided to take that frustration and release it into a brand new, original track all together. After sifting through a few vocal samples on splice I came across one that really sounded like it suited the style of G house which was a genre that I've wanted to make a track in for a while as I find vocals in EDM drops really underrated. Thus, the birth of 'Who Am I?' occurred. Continuing from 'Stare' this track actually had the least amount of plays however, numbers aren't a problem to me as by far this track was the one which I was most proud of. In addition to this, this track was also fully arranged, mixed and mastered by myself in just two weeks after being challenged by my mate KIIPS to have it done by our next B2B at Aviary Fridays, to which I succeeded.

'Who Am I?' on SoundCloud with some more support from local DJ's!

Design/Animation Collabs: Track Art

Huge shoutout to the two design students and animation student (respectively) that created the artwork that went with these tracks!

Nic Faull-Cryan! Viola Babra Chen! Danae Lowe!

Design Collaboration with Nic Faull-cryan

As you've seen about Nic did one of the artworks to one of my tracks this trimester but he didn't stop there, Nic also supplied me with a new header for my SoundCloud page as well as a tonne of photos from a professional shoot (see this blog to see pics!) we did and a new logo!

Levels Banner Logo by Nic Faull-Cryan

acoustic recording - Chase Johnstone 2 track EP

I've talked a lot about recording Chase but this project definitely was a real eye opener for me! After spending a fair bit of time in the EDM game, it was a nice refresher to return to organic recording and working with artists, at least for a little bit. As you'd expect though, I was a little bit rusty when it came to recording and managing artists. Towards the end of this trimester, it became a fair bit of a hustle to get everything done as Chase arrived in week 10 out of 13. Before this, I was essentially on top of everything and cruising through with no stress. When looking back on this project, I wish I had of either been a bit tougher in terms of organisation and time with Chase or just recorded a seperate artist all together as admittedly, this project was not my favourite or the one of which I take the most pride in this Tri.

All of this whilst doing my first gigs as a dj in Brisbane!

Yep, you heard it right, even though uni was getting busy for me at some stages, I knew opportunities to get my name out like this won't come around again for a little while, so I jumped on them. Overall, this trimester has by far been my best yet as I finally started making content to which I was happy with as well as getting proper experience in the field that I want to spend my career in as a music producer and DJ. Not to mention, it was a hell of a lot of fun! Next up, the beginning of the end - Trimester 6! Until next time!

Levels Out ;)