Reflection 15: Revenge of the Reflection

Well... that's it, huh?

Song is done, and I've presented it. So what have I learned?

For one thing, I am a horrible presenter, but that is besides the point.

Learning the FL Studio program was an interesting process. Throughout it, I was worried that I would eventually become frustrated, that I would just give up in the middle and say that I can't do it. But it didn't happen. I kept my cool. I didn't even try to keep my cool while working on this project.

I suppose that doing what I enjoy leads me to less likely become upset about it if things don't go my way. I'm usually prone to getting flustered and confused whenever I do any project of the sort. I got especially frustrated when I did practiced the piano when I was younger, even so when I was in middle school. So... what was different?

Some mental conditioning was one thing that kept me focused and more mentally stable. Although it was a long process, creating the song didn't feel tedious. If anything, I enjoyed experimenting with the noise, seeing what would sound the best.

I now notice that i'm talking more about the mental challenges of the project than the project itself, so let's move on to that instead.

The song's reception was mixed to positive, at least form what I've gathered. I know that the quality of the song isn't the most important aspect of the project, but I was pleasantly surprised to see how well the song was received from my peers, especially it being my first song. The changes I had to make in the process didn't hinder progress that much, considering that this was purely experimental. The keyboard couldn't be used be used because of half-second delays, and the length had to be doubled because it felt incredibly short in hindsight.

I certainly want to create more music over the summer, hopefully up exponentially better quality than my first song. That's the point, right? Improvement.

This will be the final blog post from me, Alex, A.K.A The Smorski.

If anyone reading this is interested in listening to the song, here is a Soundcloud link to it.

https://soundcloud.com/the-smorski/humanities

Alex, out.

Reflection 14

The song is completed.

It's been a long while, but the song is done. I'm generally happy with the initial song. A couple changes were made from the original plan:

-Song is now about 2 and a half minutes instead of the intended one minute. This was because I felt that the song was a lot shorter than I had wanted, so I extended it.

-I ended up not using the keyboard for this project. The delay between the program registering the keys made it too awkward to be used effectively.

Besides that, I accomplished what I intended to create, an electronica piece. I probably will do some touching up of the song to see if I can make it sound a bit better, if I can. I won't be doing any heavy-handed work however, since presentations for 20% are around the corner. I had some people I know, including my band director and band-mates, look over the song to see what they thought of it, providing me with valuable insight on what to improve on. 

Overall, I am content with what I have created, and I'm more than willing to continue using FL Studio at a later date.

In the meantime, Alex out.

Reflection 13

The song has been progressing. I'm close to finishing the entire song. Then I will move on to changing it if needed, doing sound modifications, or fixing any unusual or unnecessary issues with the song. It's been very interesting using the program for this second portion of the year. FL Studio is a very resourceful music production program. It takes a while to get used to it, but once you understand the majority of the mechanics, which doesn't take too long, it is pretty good. I've enjoyed my time making this song, and once I finish it, I hope I will go on to make more music.

In the meantime, Alex out.

Reflection 12

This week has been tough, in terms of both FL Studio and scheduling.

First, the program. A recent major update has been released for my program, and I've been trying to get it installed. However, for one reason or another, I am unable to update it. I guess this isn't that big of a problem. I don't have to relearn a UI (User Interface) that this new update offers, since the previous one was a pain to learn already. I'll upgrade some time after this project when I get the chance.

Scheduling has been the other issue. Marching Band is starting to roll in, and one of my instructors in pushing me to do drum core, which i'm already having doubts on doing. I guess i'm just worried about taking to many things on. The song was put on hold for almost the entire week because of these upcoming events.

I plan on working more on the song this week. Nothing is hindering me at the moment from accomplishing this.

In the meantime, Alex out.

Reflection 11

A new marching band season is ahead, and practices have been keeping me on my feet, literally. It helps since it keeps music on my mind and let's be not forget what I've learned for the past decade. It's also nice to get feedback on my song from the people there, both the students and the instructors.'

It's another week of production. I've added a few more measures of music, and I plan on spiffing it up to make it sound nice. I feel like it will be almost done, since it really shouldn't be that long. Maybe i'm over thinking the song, believing that it should be the best minute possible. But that's just me.

I guess that's it really. Can't say much else.

Alex out.

Reflection 10

Another rather unproductive week unfortunately. First problem was the program.

The program refused to open, crashing on start-up for some inexplicable reason. I decided to re-install the program to only be greeted with the same issue. I went on to the interwebs for a solution, and ended up screwing around with the program settings just to get it working. It finally worked afterwards, though it took a day.

Second issue was band related scheduling. Lots of events for the upcoming marching band season had me coming to my local high school after school so I can go to leadership meetings and the such. That reduced my time from using the program, as well as any school work that I needed to do after I returned home.

I can't say too much about the progress this week, since it was hindered by meetings and my technical faults, so I'll have something better to say for next weekend.

In the meantime, Alex out.

Reflection 9

The song has been progressing slowly but surely. I perhaps have wasted a bit of time messing around with the sound effects instead of actually making the song, but that is still progress nonetheless. I know what I have available to me. This week shouldn't be an issue, since I don't have anything on my plate at the moment (finally).

I had an interesting experience with music outside of the current project. When I was returning from a class trip last Thursday, I had a chance to enjoy some 70s and 80s music with a friend sitting next to me. As I listened, I heard how influential some of this music is to modern today, even with some unheard of artists that I was listening to during the ride. I was thinking about how I could implement what I was listening into my song, but decided to hold off on the idea before it went soaring. I don't want to re-write all the work I had done for the past couple months.

I am considering trying to see how I can add a bit of that old music into what I am making, since it sounded really good, but it's not definite.

In the meantime, Alex out.

Reflection 8

The song did not get much work in this week unfortunately, mainly because I had rehearsals for my indoor percussion for a performance that happened this weekend. There were also a lot of projects that were due during last week and this week. I did learn about Effects however, which allow me to create sounds using already pre-made sounds. It essentially lets me alter the sound of instrument, which will definitely help it making it sound clean. Besides that, it has been a pretty quiet week for this project.

In the meantime, Alex out.

Reflection 7

A week of freedom from school means a week of progress, right? Wrong.

Procrastination all around the bored this time around. Not afraid to admit it either. Doesn't mean I didn't work on the song at all, but I didn't work as much as I would've liked. Too many distractions, especially the computer that I'm typing on right now.

In terms of progress on the project, things have improved. I feel like i've chosen whatever sounds, whatever instruments, or whatever assets that will be used in the song. Since that is all laid out, I can work on the sequencing of the song A.K.A actually making it in full. After that, a bit of rough sound-engineering should do the trick in making the song sound like a hot track... if a hot track means amateur electronica you can hear on Soundcloud.

I've gotten to see first-hand experience of physical electronic instruments on stage at a performance in the Union County Performing Arts Center. The Polish pop-rock band Kombii, who my father met back in the 80s, had a gig there, and I got to see synths and sound-engineering up the wazoo. What makes this more interesting is that alot of the background comes simply from the person controlling the synths, since he controls what loops and plays in the background most of the time, as well as playing regular synth parts. It seems simple to some musicians to create music by the touch of a button, but time was spent to create and organize electronic music, and that is no exception in my case.

Just thought I might share a personal experience during the break. In the meantime, Alex out.

Reflection 6

I finally am able to work on my project on the go. Instead of my original plan to put the program on a USB and simply plug it in so it can be used on other computers, I instead put the program on an old laptop that was lying around in the house. The main reason was because the licensing for the program had to be put into the computer registry, which saves information like serial keys and other important program information. Basically, I wouldn't have been able to use the program on other computers without the license being on the computer itself.

Besides that, I managed to add a flowing bass line to the song, albeit rudimentary. It's a bit jerky to the ear, but some modification can make it flow much better. I've been trying to order out specific parts in numeral format, e.g Drum 1, Bass 2, etc. This helps identify what the part it is and puts it in a neater format. This especially helps since i'm not a very organized person.

That's about it. In the meantime, Alex out.

Reflection 5

It was tests galore this week, but I managed to make a bit of progress with the song.

For one thing, I managed to find a good background loop for the song by noodling, or playing around, with my keyboard in my room. It's simplistic, but it will definitely do to make up for empty spots of the song. I'm getting into how to alter the audio of the different instruments, where it either cuts out or it begins to ramp up.

I'm still working on trying to get a mobile copy of the program working. The main issue is the licensing of the program. I'm trying to fool around to see if I can by-pass it somehow. If I can, I will be able to work on the song in school at my own whim, with the program and song trustfully stored in my USB.

In the meantime, Alex out.

Reflection 4

This week has been a bit unproductive. I had to train my focus on music outside of this project, namely my high school band. However, I have been listening to a composer by the name of Rob Dougan. His music was used in the Matrix films, namely "Clubbed to Death" and "Furious Angels". His style of music, which is a genre-blend of trip-hop and electronica, is giving me some ideas on how to compose my song.

For the song, I am first adding in the beat and the melody. Afterwards, i'll work with fine-tuning it, placing audio changers spots that require either crescendo or decrescendo, softness or bite, and cues and cut-offs.

Altering the instrument noises will be the main thing that controls how the song sounds. I'm trying to utilize MIDI, or Musical Instrument Digital Interface. What it does is that it allows multiple instruments to be played from a controller, which in this case is my keyboard. MIDI can be controlled by the user to create cues, velocity, audio pitch, etc. It's gonna become my best friend as I make this song, since it will be what helps me control what instruments are playing and how they sound.

In the meantime, Alex out.

Reflection 3

The week has not been a productive one. PARCC testing, outside extra-curricular activities, and school work have enveloped my time, preventing me from focusing on the project.

However, I've been talking to other people about my project, specifically percussionists (drum players mostly). A common thing that I can never grasp is that repetition IS ok is some cases, and a background beat is no exception. I never liked repetition in music, but it's actually quite necessary in order for the song to actually have a distinct unique sound to it, and identity to be precise. So, I've asked for some possible loops that could be good to apply to my song, and I managed to get a few. 

I've also been listening to quite a bit of music recently. Half of it is of amateur YouTube musicians and the other half being Polish tracks from my father's days as a DJ. Listening to these artists are helping me determine what would be a good theme for my song. Although the genre will be Electronica, I feel that music from other genres can shape songs to something that is more unique. One Polish band I am listening to is "Wilki", and alternative rock band that is certainly influencing how I will be making my song. 

In the meantime, Alex out.

Reflection 2

A fair bit of progress has been made thus far, mainly in the tech aspect of the project.

What I mean is that I managed to connect my electric keyboard to my computer!

There are obviously a few issues with this:

-Very uncomfortable space to work in.

-Moving the piano to that spot is difficult and time consuming.

-Cable management is kind of an issue with the set-up.

The other issue is the fact that there is a noticeable delay with the keyboard's reaction to the program. Basically, the sound doesn't come from the keyboard itself, it's actually being registered in the program's digital keyboard. There is a setting to reduce the delay, but I can only set it to a certain point. If I try to reduce the delay any more, a strange popping anomaly will begin to happen, and that will not sound good with the song.

However, I can use my abilities in piano with the program now! Although it is slightly hindered with delay, I can still utilize the piano well enough to where it can be used for the song.

In other news, the song is finally in the works. After fooling around a bit with the program, getting used to the layout and the features, I've been working on the song. You can barely see the small bit that I started out with on the computer screen. There is a feature called the Piano Roll, which is essentially a keyboard display that can let me alter the length, pitch, and position of notes in the song. It will be responsible for the melody. I've also been working on the percussion part of the song, which I'm still trying to fool around with. Anyway, it's been a good week of progress with the project, but PARCC testing is gonna be a hindrance for this week.

In the meantime, Alex out.

Reflection 1

I'm starting off the project by looking up the basic functions of the program FL Studio 11, which I will be mainly using throughout the project. Although the tutorials, both written and videos, are good to explain how each feature of the program works, I am going to have to dig deeper and find the program out myself from personal experience. I'm also going to look at examples offered in the actual program, as it includes a full song to listen to and look at. A hopeful possibility is to perhaps utilize my keyboard with the program, so I can use my personal experience with piano along with the programs utilities. This can significantly give me a better handle of the program as I can both include a realistic synth or keyboard part and alter it however I wish, changing tone, bass, treble, etc. I'm still trying to figure out how to cut out certain parts, since some sound effects go on longer than I wish. I plan on talking to a few people about the percussion parts of the song, since I know only a bit about drums and the such, and electronica songs don't sound great without a decent drum part. One thing is certain, some of the parts in my song may be reminiscent to other songs in terms of beat and melody in some cases, but I don't plan on making it too similar to the point where it is blatantly copied.

In the meantime, Alex out.

2nd Semester 20% Proposal

For this new semester, I've decided to create a song using the music production program FL Studio. I got the program as a gift for my Birthday/Christmas. I've fooled around a little bit with it for the past month or so, getting used to the menu layouts and listening to the instrument assets included with my version. The main goal is to create a 1 minute song using what is given to me on FL Studio. I'm at a strong advantage with this project since I've been playing the piano for a decade, and can easily use my knowledge of music theory in the creation of this song. My main enemy is procrastination, the passive inhibitor for any long-term project.

I still haven't decided what genre of music I will be making, but it will most likely be within the Electronica genre. I plan on learning how to use modulation to make the wubby, wavy sound that you can hear in many Electronica pieces. I also would like to incorporate some Synth clips to had a melody in the song.

So much WIP. In the meantime, Alex out.

Reflection #13

This marks the last Reflection blog for this 20% project. It's been a very uneventful time unfortunately, with the constant delays and unexpected changes in scheduling for getting the project approved. It was agreed upon that today would've have been the day to speak about the project idea to Mr. Esposito. Unfortunatley, Mrs. Linnett could not come in today, so i'm gonna have to present my idea and what was planned for it during my collaboration with Mrs. Linnett. 

The plan is not dead, however. I will still pursue getting the project green-lighted. A plan is lined out for discussion with Mr. Esposito, and I am sure that it will allow him to reliably bring the project towards the administration at UCVTS.

If you have been following my blog posts, I am happy you joined me on this project. I will see you with my next 20%. 

Reflection #12

As the dead-line for the first 20% nears, I am in a rush to STILL get the project accepted by my Principle Mr. Esposito. He's been in quite a few meetings recently, and Mrs. Linnett is doing her best to schedule a meeting with him. It's somewhat frustrating that this has been the giant brick wall that is impeding the progress of this project. Fortunately, even if this does not get accepted in time for the dead-line, I will still pursue the project in hopes of getting it green-lighted. Magnet, outside of it's vocational engineering courses, carries a group of talented individuals. Some of these people are musicians like myself, practicing for several years or just starting to grow interest in music. A piano like the one in the MHS lobby should not be abandoned. It is a a powerful, not to mention expensive piece of musical ingenuity. I wish for this piano to get fixed up and maintained, even after I leave Magnet. There are people who will play it, spread music and harmony through the halls. That is what a piano is meant to do, not to sit and rot in a lobby.

This will be my second to last reflection for the 20% project. If anyone has been following this, I am thankful for your interest and I hope my peers will do well in their 20% works.

In the meantime, Alex out.

Reflection #11

The proposal still hasn't happened, and the time to present the 20% is nearing. Mrs. Linnett wasn't present at school for the week, so I wasn't able to get a mediator for the proposal. It's just inconvenience striking back at me. It doesn't help that I've been bombarded with projects from other classes. I can't move any further in progress unless I get the project approved, so I can't start asking for donations or plan fund-raising just yet. In the meantime, Alex out.

Reflection #10

Well, Mrs. Linnett managed to mark a date for the presentation, which is next Monday, December 15th.

Getting this project approved will mark a major milestone in the progress of getting the baby grand piano repaired to good playing condition. The next course of action is to request a inspector to investigate what needs to be fixed and replaced. I'm hoping that the price won't be too high, or this project will take a while. From what I've seen, the piano requires some repairs mainly in the pedal system, and there might need to be replacements of the strings and the hammers. That's as far as I could gather, since I am not allowed to mess with the piano. Today, i'm going to ask my local high school band directors if they are willing to make donations towards the funding of the piano repair project. Knowing them, i'm sure they will be interested in its progress and make a small donation towards its repairs. I will also come in contact with the PSA once the project is approved. In the mean time, Alex out.