MPP - Level 4 - PA4012 : Produce an EPK

Produce An EPK

Say What You Wanna SaySylvana

00:00 / 05:12

Dear Friend Sylvana

00:00 / 03:34

Down By The RiverJade,Rhyanne,Sasha,Sylvana,Aghigh,Emma and Kieron

00:00 / 04:04

EPK Essay and Production log

Collaboration theory: Summarise key theories and concepts of the 20th and 21st Centuries, relevant to your creative collaborative practice. (COI, SID, CID) Theories and concepts in creative practise of the 20th and 21st centuries should’ve been dealt with in Tim’s lectures. Here you should compare your collaborative work with some theoretical models (academic or otherwise) that have happened in the past.

We were told to collaborate with the production team; it was a very quick and easy decision for me to be in a group with Jade because she was in another group with me before but had to leave because she was in a different course. Basically our old group came together including Jade Shambrook, Sasha Paige Edwards, Rhyanne Renee Gasper and myself. Emma Heath and Kieren Smith-Helder were friends with Jade and Aghigh was new to our class. So we all decided to come together. Our initial meeting was about discussing genres and everyone’s strength.
The song our group created is called “Down by the river” the genre of our song is Electronic dance music (EDM) / pop (popular mainstream music). EDM originates from the 1960s, considered one of the great decades of rock music. The Beatles introduced the use of electronic instruments to their productions – most notably the ‘Moog’ synthesizer that was used on their Abby Road album in 1969. (The DJ Revolution, 2021) The elements of pop within our track are characterised by catchy verses and repetitive drumbeats. The theme of our song was a Super Villain vibe we portrayed this well with the use of heavy synthesisers which are a dormant stable of EDM music. Our song was a female lead vocal made to empower and uplift all generations.

Evaluate modes of collaboration across a range of disciplines, making reference to key practitioners and practices. (COI) List examples of successful collaborative projects from the past, whether they were remote collab’s or “in person”, etc. List what worked and what didn’t work in these and compare with your own project.

A useful example of a music collaboration is 30H!3 song- Starstrukk featuring Katy Perry. A radio-only album version was released featuring singer Katy Perry in September 2009. The version had considerable success worldwide, peaking within the top ten of the charts in Australia, Belgium, Finland, Poland, the Republic of Ireland, and the United Kingdom (Wikipedia, 2009)

Katy Perry's power house voice worked really well with 30H!3 distinctive sound. This song is an excellent combination of EDM / pop fusion that compliments the feeling the music and lyrics portrays perfectly. The same could be said when It comes to our group EPK. The individual depth and variety in the sounds of our voices complimented the EDM vibe and overall pop feel. That being said working with the EDM sound proved to be challenging to some members of our group because it was an unfamiliar genre to them.

Evaluate collaboration skills involved in the development of creative projects, considering professional values and practice. (SID, EID, COI) As discussed in class, i.e. communication, time-keeping, brainstorming, etc. List professional values and practice. Highlight your best skills and the skills of the collaborative partners in your group and evaluate how they’ve worked in your group.

I feel like our communication was quite good, after one of our initial meetings we made a WhatsApp group chat where ideas and the plans for the whole project were being discussed often. We could not meet up as often because of the time difference in our lesson timetables but we did have some physical meetings which were very insightful.

Ideas were being brainstormed at these meetings. Like what genre people were comfortable working with or not.

Evaluate key specialist roles and skills sets in the development of creative projects. (PID, SID, EID, COI) Again use your group as example and list the specialist roles as applied in your project. Point out your specialist role and describe in detail.

Every individual in our group brought their own flavour to the project Jade began the process by providing us with a phenomenal track Rhyanne did a great job at structuring the lyrics that were provided by Aghigh, Sasha and by myself. Emna played the piano and Kieran played electric guitar. Jade also mixed and mastered the final product.

Evaluate a range of methods for project planning relevant to creative practice. (SID) How did you plan your collab project? List some other methods of planning and evaluate them

I think our group was very efficient, we were very clear and concise about our plans like I said before the track was already done by Jade and structured by Rhyanne after the basics were laid down Jade recorded the chorus and then Rhyanne recorded her verse and chorus.

Then it was my turn to record a verse and chorus. And after that Aggy and then Sasha.

After all the vocals were recorded, Rhyanne and Sasha did some harmonies and added ad-libs. Then the final product was sent to Jade for mixing and mastering.

Evaluate research methods relevant to creative practice. How good are the various methods you have used to research the collab project? List others that might have worked better.

When I first met Jade I remember her mentioning Marina and the diamonds being one of her favourite artists; I was also familiar with her work. So the track give me some pop rock vibes and I feel like I understood the feel that Jade was trying to bring to this track.

To bring the track to life, I used my own knowledge and references; not only of Marina but also of the super villains I had seen and being a make-up artist I have myself dressed up or cosplayed certain characters so the three dominant colours in my mind were purple and green and black and I did some visual research as well.

Production Log: A diary style report of the project. From first meeting with the group until completion of the song(s). • Production AND song writing (incl. Lyrics) skills you have learned and applied. • Who did what in your group, communication, writing, recording, mixing etc.... • Rehearsal/preparation for final performance • Describe your experience and expectations of this project and how it worked out • List new skills that you have learned, technically, musically and personally (interaction with the other group members) and how you have implemented them • Include photos and/or screenshots of your group/Logic project

Production Log:

Week 2

Week 7:

This week we decided the theme, genre and concept for our songs and assigned ourselves and each other the tasks we were most comfortable and excited to do.

Week 8:

Jade sent us a backing track that she had produced. I started to think about the whole vibe of the song because I was absolutely in love with jades music it was something that I quite enjoyed it had an element of theatricality in it. being a visual artist I was quite inspired to write on this track I could even imagine a music video for it.

Week 10:

Rhyanne had arranged all the lyrics that me Aghigh and Sasha had contributed and structured them all together so now we had the track and the lyrics,

all that was left to do was to record the song.

Week 12:

In the final week, as mentioned above we all put our vocals, piano, guitar down for the song and sent it to Jade for mixing and mastering.

Reference list:

Figure 1 : https://www.pinterest.co.uk/pin/509680882831825728/

Wikipedia website, 2009

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Starstrukk

Bubblegum bitch by Marina:

https://youtu.be/VOn6i2spFIY

The DJ Revolution website, 2021