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MeghanPanditReflections Day 1- Day one was meant for introducing ourselves to Rahul and understanding what we wanted to work on individually. I wanted to work on synthesis, getting the basics clear and to just make music more complicated than I have made before. Day 2- We learnt the basics of Ableton. I programmed a simple beat and played around with the synths that generated my melodies. I got a better understanding of ADSR and explored different settings to see what kind of sounds would be produced. I have not had any official training in music and getting these basics clear has helped me out a lot. I have a better grasp on synthesis, which automatically provides a small way over any creative blocks by giving me better control over my sounds and by giving me more options to choose from. Another problem I have is I end up creating 'loopy' or monotonous sounding music, which I am trying to avoid for this workshop. This gets down to music theory, but goes hand in hand with understanding any plugins I am using, as I can change the sound of a melody itself instead of the notes. Day 3- I used FL Studio again and noted down some key differences from Ableton. These differences have to do with mostly the layout and how the same functions in both the DAWs are to ne approached differently. But understanding how to use Ableton has helped me with using FL Studio because the basics are the same, and doing something in one DAW and trying to replicate it in another helps get a good grasp on how both of them work. The plugins are different, the way to put effects on is different and laying the production out is different. I revisited some of my older music to try and add the things I've learnt. I used a Harmor, a plugin in FL, and got a better understanding of how it generates sound. I played around with the oscillators, the effects, the envelope and various other small functions. Day 4- I opened some of my old projects to see what I could do. The most difficult part of continuing to work on them was the fact that nothing I added later could capture the feeling of the track. We were taught more of Ableton and how to have multiple patterns for the same instrument while adding effects. Moving back to old tracks, I played around more and asked for advice on how to move forward. Listening to my inspirations and making notes was a great suggestion because then I had a direction. Day 5- I started a new track inspired by 'Jewel' by Flume based on the previous sessions advice. I tweaked a lot of settings and knobs in Harmor to get a glitchy-glass sounding pluck which I used for a melody on a trap beat. An effect I had been using for a while now is Gross Beat, which is some sort of a repeater and volume adjuster. I did not exactly know what it did but I had a general idea and could manipulate the melody through it enough to get the sound I wanted, which was a decent step towards synthesis, as in the past although I had done a lot of it, this time it was more controlled. After what I had made for the day starting sounding good, I decided to stick to it and make an experimental electronic track for the class which would cover both of my goals. Day 6- While nothing happened in class, I continued working on my track and added to what I had done over the weekend to it. I produced and used more sounds and made longer melodies to give variation to the track. I was not focused on arranging it as much as making something complex which would stand on its own without sounding like a loop. I also observed 'Jewel' multiple times to understand its structure and to breakdown its layers. Day 7- I got to learn more functions in Harmor by exploring small filters such as subharmonics and strum. I also switched around the order of all the effects I had used, slightly tweaking the sound each time. I also started working with another plugin, Nexus and got into the synthesis there as well. I found out about the LFOs and several filters it offered. I learnt about gates, modwheel and after touch. I also looked into Gross beat well enough to understand what exactly was happening, forming my own presets as well as tweaking pre-existing ones to create something new. I also worked on the arrangement, giving a proper structure to the track. There are infinite possibilities and it can get overwhelming, but understanding something from the scratch, or why it was implemented in the first places gives a lot of control over any track. Of course, a lot of improvisation can happen, but once one knows how and why something sounds good, one can take any improvisation and include it in the track much better than before. Day 8- We did a peer review session and I got an understanding of how people approach their projects. Different levels of understanding show different approaches. Someone completely new to production would want to explore as many instruments, plugins and effects as they can, while someone with basic knowledge can start working on a vision straightaway. Since this class is an introduction, everyone is stepping out of their comfort zones in a sense, adding to which, 'experimental' means doing something out of the ordinary. So, the how much experience one has matters only when they are trying to better themselves, as everyone is in the same boat more or less. |