Recording My Song

I recorded the song using Cubase, which is professional recording software. For the vocals we used a Shure SM-57 microphone which is a dynamic microphone with a cardiod polar pattern – meaning the area around the microphone picks up sound.

Bon Iver recorded the whole of his ‘For Emma, Forever Ago’ album, featuring the song ‘Skinny Love’, on an SM-57. It’s a good microphone because it has a large frequency range, from bass up to vocals. The guitar and microphone were fed through an M-audio fast track 2.

The vocals were gated and then equalised before we compressed them and finally ran them through a reverb effects channel. Gating them removes unwanted sounds at quieter parts of the track but still lets main audio through. Equalising removes unwanted frequencies, bringing clarity and tone to both the instruments and vocals. Compressing ensures the audio doesn't peak and create digital distortion.

The song is entitled ‘Real Love’ and is about realising the strengths of a relationship during an argument and deciding to make it work. It is in 3/4 timing. The tempo increases throughout the song as the lyrics get happier. It also ends on a key change and altered chorus.

Composing My Song

Having wrote my song I then needed to establish a chord progression. I have a very limited knowledge of guitar chords and so my initial melody was very simplistic featuring only Em, Am, C and G - which I can play myself. I asked my boyfriend who is a guitarist to play my melody and he suggested developing the chords into a slightly more complex melody.

After I had selected the chords and was comfortable with my melody I experimented with using a capo, so that I could sing slightly higher which was more comfortable for me. Last semester I wrote in ¾ timing, something I replicated this time round. I think it works for ballads so much better than 4/4 - far more swoony and romantic with a natural momentum to it.

I then made the song into a duet. I initially decided Luke would start the song and sing the first chorus. I would then take the second verse and chorus before we both sang the bridge and final chorus. This was mainly because his voice was better suited to the start of the song, which was lower. However, upon hearing it back I realised that the song would work as a call and response style, which would also add to the sense of an argument, therefore Luke sang the first section and I the second with us both on the chorus – which we then repeated.

Lyric Writing

Before I started writing I listened to other material with the same themes as mine. For example; Adele’s “Someone Like You” which is about moving on after a break-up. Taylor Swift’s “Stay” which is about arguing with her boyfriend and Ellie Goulding’s “How Long Will I Love You” .

I found that these songwriters write with compassion and they feel what other people feel. Which makes for a song that people can find themselves in. The melody and lyrics of the songs are very sincere and written with great passion, something I wanted to replicate. Artists like Sheeran, Swift and James Morrisson also compose their own music, again something I wanted to do.

I noted down lyrics with resonance to me, which I took inspiration from in my own song.

“I’m pretty sure we almost broke up last night, I threw my phones across the room, at you.” – Taylor Swift, ‘Stay’, Red (2013)

“How long will I love you? As long as you want me to, and longer if I can”- Ellie Goulding, ‘How Long Will I Love You’. (2014)

I find writing about personal experience the easiest way to create meaningful lyrics and so I started by recounting memories and feelings and then began to try and make rhyming couplets. Once I was happy with my verses I began my chorus, I found this slightly harder as I felt a bit like I was repeating myself which was very frustrating. However I eventually had lyrics I was happy with and then I began constructing a melody. I wrote about an argument I had had with my boyfriend late one night and how we had made up.

Duets

A duet is a song sung by two artists, unlike harmonies or singing in unison, both artists have a solo role within the song. Duets are often love songs.
My inspirational duets were “Everything Has Changed” by Ed Sheeran & Taylor Swift. “Up” by Olly Murs and Demi Lovato and “Broken Strings” by James Morrison and Nelly Furtado.

"Everything Has Changed" was released in 2012 on Taylor Swift's album "RED" and features Ed Sheeran. "Everything Has Changed" is a guitar ballad combining folk and pop genres about "wanting to get to know a new lover better" - Rowe, S. (NME. 2014).  It's written in the key of G-flat major and has a moderate temp of 84 beats per minute. 

"Up" by Olly Murs features on his album "Never Been Better" (2014). The track also featured on the deluxe version of Lovato's fourth album, "Demi". 

"Broken Strings" by James Morrison from his album, "Songs for You, Truths for Me", and was released in December 2008. The song is a duet with Canadian singer-songwriter Nelly Furtado. According to Michael Menachem from "Billboard",

"Broken Strings offers two of the most vulnerable performances yet from each artist, venting an obvious metaphor for the struggles at the close of a relationship beyond repair. Their voices are richly expressive, harmonizing in an aural marriage as the midtempo ballad quietly builds to an intense climax as they belt: "Oh the truth hurts and lies worse/How can I give anymore when I love you a little less than before?" (2008) Producer Mark Taylor energizes "Broken Strings" with just enough accompaniment to showcase the paralyzing performances.

Every artist I researched is a singer/songwriter, meaning they not only performed these songs but worte them too. I also looked at how duets were broken up, for example whether to write my song as each person takes a verse, like Ed and Taylor. Or so that person 1 takes the verses and person 2 the choruses, like Olly and Demi.

Influential Artists

At first I researched artists who sang about love, Ellie Goulding and Adele. I also read an article entitled "Piano Ballads Are Hitting A Crescendo" on Grammy.com, which is about John Legend and A Great Big World and their success, "making a splash with only their voice and the ebony and ivory of a piano" (Britt, B. 2014 / GRAMMY.com). I also research Demi Lovato and Taylor Swift, who perform ballads with a guitar.

When looking at guitar artists I remembered Ed Sheeran and Taylor Swift’s duet “Everything Has Changed” which is also a love song. I realised how many love songs are performed by couples and so I decided to turn my ballad into a duet. I think the blending of two voices connotes love and adds a dimension to the song. Throughout history duets have been used as a statement of love, Sonny and Cher’s “I Got You Babe”, Sinatra’s “Something Stupid” even Elton and Kiki’s “Don’t Go Breaking My Heart” not too mention the Dirty Dancing classic “Time of My Life”. Duets are a popular form of modern music and something I haven't yet composed. So I set myself the challenge.

"To sing a duet together means sharing with someone both the pleasure and the responsibility of making music for an audience which is there to feel enjoyment through music." - Andrea Bocelli

My Individual Piece

For my individual assessment I plan to compose a ballad played on piano. I also aim to write the accompanying lyrics and record the vocals. I planned to use a piano because it was different to anything I had done before as I only have experience with guitar. Also, when researching ballads they are the most commonly associated instrument, especially in love songs because of the way they sound. When asked why naked piano balladry has all of the sudden taken off, John Legend opines that the "phenomenon is about audiences seeking more humanity and musical austerity in contrast to the searing intensity of most popular music." (GRAMMY.com 2014)
"I think we need a break from doomp, doomp, doomp," he says, emulating the automated rhythms featured in an increasing number of modern pop hits. "Sometimes you need some clarity, something that goes straight to the heart. I think [piano balladry is] more striking when you hear it." - (Legend, J. 2014)

I looked at Nate Bosch, a piano teacher and songwriter’s video “Writing a love song on piano”. 

“When writing loves songs, you want to remember the theme of tenderness, and the emotions that are going through you. So, how do you translate that to the piano? I kind of like the key of E flat, I think it is a pretty sounding key that is good for this type of music. When you play the E flat chord, try adding a 9th note to it (you remember your intervals don't you?). The 9th note adds a little something to the chord. Maybe try going up an octave after a while. Whatever you do, just remember to focus on creating that tenderness.

“Four chords that are really good for a love song are the I, IV, VI, and V chords. In the video I play a little progression starting on the root, then moving on to the four then the six, then the five. From there I move on to the two chord and walk back up to the five. Then I take the song in sort of a power ballad direction, really digging into the root chord, the four chord, back to the root, then back to the four before ending the chorus with a five chord. Remember the five chord is great for ending musical phrases before going back to the root in the next phrase. The root is the perfect chord to end a song on. After the chorus I return to the root chord and the song gets soft again.”

Of course, I had no clue what any of this meant and I began to realise that even though I wouldn’t be playing the piano myself in the piece I was really going to struggle writing the melody for someone else. Because of the time constraints of the assessment it wasn't going to be feasible to learn enough about piano in such a short time to pull off a successful piece, therefore I stuck with what I know and wrote my song on guitar.

Live Performance Technique

Our 70’s piece solely relied on our vocals and so it was important to research vocal and also microphone techniques. “The most common mistake is holding the microphone too close or too far from your mouth. This results in your singing sounding muffled and distorted, too distant or no vocal sound at all. To avoid distortion, ensure the mic is held no closer than 2 to 3 inches from your mouth during normal singing. You will have to experiment a little as the distance is dependant on the individuals natural power and ability to project.” Vocalist.org.uk. (2001). This helped greatly with my breathing and my projection in live performance.

When discussing music technique it was agreed that as performers we must display a high level of skill and understanding of our work. I think I did this well as I managed to master an entirely new instrument and style of play in the weeks leading up to performance, albeit at an amateur level. I think my research of vocal techniques helped developed my vocal skills and my live performance was strong. As Williamson says “For musicians to enhance their performance, it is instructive to understand how performances are perceived and evaluated by others.” (2004:4). 

Our stage tech was kept relatively simple which benefited both our performances. It meant that we had space to move during Rock n Roll Farm and the space for our movement break during Burn. These dance interludes also added to our performance persona’s on stage. Our lighting complemented the performance, especially our spotlit solo sections in Burn. 

One of our greatest strengths within the group was our audience interaction. During Rock n Roll farm the audience joined in by clapping and singing along. I think this was due to our on-stage presence. During the performance we were smiling and enjoying ourselves which passed into the audience. We maintained eye contact and encouraged audience involvement which made the piece more lively and therefore more in fitting with the genre. Kirchner states that “Entering a state of flow, in which there is total absorption in an activity, allows for the possibility of any ensuing anxiety to become facilitative, rather than deliberative” (2011:289). I think this was true of my performance, before the show I was nervous of remembering my lyrics but once we had stepped on-stage everything came to me naturally and our performance flowed.

Final Perfomance!

Let's just bypass the part where I accidentally pull my guitar out the amp and accidentally knock my microphone stand, at least I handled these slip-ups professionally, which shows my...professionalism. I'm not even embarrassed because I think it was humorous, which set the mood perfectly for our first piece, and added an extra depth to my on-stage persona. Many a professional performer slips-up live on-stage and there's nothing you can do - accident's happen, but recovering from it and getting the audience to laugh along with you is a performance skill.

Anyhow, I think our Folk Rock performance was successful. I managed to play the piece correctly and fluently. There were no mistakes in performance which is always something to strive for. I thought our performance persona was also evident and we had a good rapport with our live audience who clapped along to the drum solo on our backing track. We added a last minute dance break to the piece which I think helped give a great feel to the piece and the overall message of the song which was just to have fun. I was proud that I played guitar live as this was an aim originally set to me by my tutor at the start of the semester and I'm glad I could do so successfully.

Folk Rock

Folk rock is a sub-genre of country music, derived from a fusion of Country and Rock in the 1960's and early 1970's. Musicians recorded rock records using country themes and vocal styles with additional instrumentation, though still very guitar based.

Bob Dylan is infamous for his work with Folk Rock, along with artists like Emmylou Harris, the Eagles and the Doobie Brothers. "Folk rock influenced artists in other genres, including The Band, Grateful Dead, Creedence Clearwater Revival, The Rolling Stones and George Harrison's solo work. It also played a part in the development of Southern rock." - B. C. Woodstra and S. T. Erlewine (2002)

"Rock and roll has often been seen as a combination of rhythm and blues with country music, a fusion particularly evident in 1950s rockabilly." - B. Horner and T. Swiss (1999) and there has been cross-pollination throughout the history of both genres, however, the term country-rock is generally used to refer to the wave of rock musicians of the late 1960s and early 1970s who began to record rock records using country themes, According to John Einarson "From a variety of perspectives and motivations, these musicians either played rock & roll attitude, or added a country feel to rock, or folk, or bluegrass, there was no formula". J. Einarson (2001)

Performance Feedback & Final Tweaking

60's - Folk Rock

Rock n Roll Farm

- Learn words off by heart
- Have more confidence with instruments
- Choreograph instrumental



70's - Soul

Burn

- Tighten dance moves
- more flowing/free vocals, inflections etc
- add a bass line
- confidence

Now that we have our two pieces we just have to rehearse and get them polished. Today we choreographed our dance routine to go alongside Burn. It needs work as the movements need to be stronger and in sync. Vocals aren't very strong on the video so there's also the soundcloud link.

Our Folk Rock Peice

For our 60's piece we managed to experiment with every genre under the sun before we finally produced an outcome we like. We initially had chosen to devise a bubblegum rock piece yet after a group discussion it was clear we did not have the instrumental skills needed for a rock piece. As two of us play guitar however we thought a country-styled piece would be much more achievable.

We brainstormed what 'country' meant to us and arrived on the idea of a farm, and so that's what we wrote about - a farm, or in this case, the rock 'n' roll farm. Although not technically Rock n Roll the name sounds catchy and our piece is derivative of Rock n Roll, which was a major genre in the 60’s.


As I'm only just starting out on guitar, the main melody and Drums were pre-recorded by our friend Luke. I'll play bass guitar in the performance. We've kept the chords simple with a capo on 1st meaning there's a lot less finger work with the bass chords - as transitions between chords are my weakness. Jess will play the keyboard part and together we will provide backing vocals whilst Chloe sings the main melody. Our lyrics are as follows;

Cruisin' in my tractor through the pastures green,

pedal to the floor I'm doing 23,

sowing seeds for the crops I yeild,

growing food to make a tasty meal,

come along because we mean no harm,

this easy life, on the rock n roll farm!

My name's Maureen and I make the tea,

my kids Jack n Jill feed the cows for me,

I take a seat whilst i sheer the sheep,

the birds in the barn the tweet and cheep,

it ain't easy but it's the life for me,

workin' hard, livin' wild n free.

It's the rock n roll farm

(rock n roll farm)

and we mean no harm

(we mean no harm)

there's a party in the barn

(party in the barn)

at the rock n roll farm

(at the rock n roll farm)

When the sun goes down we have a jamboree,

Nana rocking out with her ole' fake knee,

Jack n Jill, they pour the mead,

That's the only drink we'll ever need,

We dance around the barn for half the night

til the sun comes out and lights the sky (whaa hooooo)

(Guitar & Drum solo)

So come along if you want some fun,

working all day in the burning sun,

but at sunset we come alive,

on the rockin' farm, that's where we thrive!

You may laugh but can't you see,

the rock n roll farm is the place to be!

It's the rock n roll farm

(rock n roll farm)

and we mean no harm

(we mean no harm)

there's a party in the barn

(party in the barn)

at the rock n roll farm

(at the rock n roll farm)

It's the rock n roll farm

(rock n roll farm)

and we mean no harm

(we mean no harm)

there's a party in the barn

(party in the barn)

at the rock n roll farm

(at the rock n roll farm)

Yeah!

Developing Our Soul Piece

I say developing but really what happened is we scrapped the entire thing and started again.

Upon meeting up and rehearsing 'Brave' we felt restricted. The song was limiting what we could do with harmonies. We wanted a solid soul piece and we couldn't achieve some of the key elements of soul with this piece. We added 7ths and 9ths to the original melody, hoping that including jazz chords would give the piece a more swing vibe, however it just didn't blend with our voices and our harmonies needed more scoops in the voice and more 'doo wops'. So we ditched it and returned to the drawing board.

Our initial plan had been to devise a Motown piece, we had re-arranged the melody of Ellie Goulding's 'Burn' (2013) and added stronger, more fitting harmonies. We realised that it may be easier to transform this piece into our Soul performance, allowing us to keep all the work we had done creating our scooping, doo-wop harmonies which were a key feature of soul music that we'd struggled to achieve with 'Brave'. We slowed down the track as the original is an upbeat pop song in the key of  B♭ minor (B-flat minor.) and added backing vocals behind the lead melody. We were lucky in that the lyrics to 'Burn' also hold a social comment, necessary in a soul piece. The song is about empowerment and being strong and lighting the metaphorical fire within and allowing it to burn - hence the name of the song. This is expressed through lyrics such as "We don't have to worry 'bout nothing" which shows confidence. "They're gonna see us from out of space" shows that opinions will be seen and heard. "Strike the match, play it loud" is encouraging people to stand out and do what they want.

After analysing the lyrics and agreeing the song was appropriate for the genre we created a backing track on garage band. We used a saxophone and other jazz instruments as well as recording a piano and guitar part. This means we can perform the song as was typical of a soul performance and not play instruments on stage so that the focus is entirely on our vocals and harmonies.