Firstly to begin with my project unfortunately did not go as planned due to a small amount of complications that had risen during the past month. I originally planned to record 3 tracks all with vocals and to mix these 3 tracks. I was unable to do that due to the fact that I spent too much time working on the songs in the songwriting process as this delayed the recording process by a few weeks. This is because I just wasn't satisfied with the result I was getting and I knew I could do better. Secondly we couldn't record actual drums due to the fact that Josh didn't have enough time to learn the songs due to the fact that I sent them over with only a few weeks left to the submission date. This is my fault and next time I shall be more organised. Next up I also decided to only record 2 songs due to the fact that I just didn't have enough time to record all 3 of them and mix them. This mean't that now I was recording a single instead of a EP as 2 tracks was too short for a EP. For the actual recording of the songs, Kris was mean't to record the bass tracks but due to reasons beyond our control he wasn't able to do that. This mean't that in order to not waste time as the deadline was quite soon I had to record the bass. Lastly After both tracks were recorded and ready to mix I had the recording of the vocals as it just didn't save, I was lucky enough to still have a unmixed mp3 file of the song though. In order to over come this in the future I will need to use my own usb stick to store all of my work in one place where it'll be safe. Moving onto the timetable that I set for myself, I struggled to keep up with it due to the fact that I wasn't satisfied with the tracks at the beginning and so I had to work on them for longer than I thought which delayed the whole process. Next time I will make sure to be a lot more efficient with each task as looking back at the very beginning I took my time composing the tracks and if I did that sooner then I would of gave myself more spare time. In the future I will think through my timetable plan before I write anything down so it's all well thought out which will enable me to stay on track. This will result in a organised process when composing and recording music.
My personal contributions that were made was composing the tracks as well as recording guitars and vocals. I also managed to record bass in the end but that was improvised due to reasons beyond our control. These contributions I feel were very important especially for me as I was contributing with people mainly during the recording process and so I had to make sure that there was material that would be ready to be recorded. Iain had also helped me when writing the songs and he recorded 2 guitar solos, one for each song which also was very important due to the fact that lead guitar parts are not only difficult to play but also to compose and so this had saved me plenty of time. Josh on the other hand had helped me a lot with programming the drums as I wasn't too confident when creating the drum tracks but Josh managed to come up with some great ideas like for example in the song "Revenge of the fallen". Josh had also later on helped me record guitar by being in charge of the desk. Lastly Kris had helped me when creating the bass lines but unfortunately was not able to record them.
Next moving onto the research I feel like it helped me a lot especially when recording the instruments as I had a idea of what I was doing and what I wanted which saved plenty of time. This had also allowed me to be more confident when recording due to the fact that I haven't had much experience of using the studios before. In the future I will want to do more research during such processes especially when composing songs as this may not only give me new ideas but it will most likely save me plenty of time as well which would of been helpful.
The main problems that I had to face was firstly composing as I haven't of had much experience composing before but also I had to not only think about my own instrument but also think about the other instruments parts which was difficult as for example I'm not a drummer which made it hard composing the drums and so I was very fortunate having Josh help me when programming the drums. Another problem that I faced was having to record bass as I didn't have much time to prepare for the recording. Later on it was also difficult to book a studio to record as summer show was taking place and many people had to rehearse but also I had to play at the summer show meaning I couldn't record or practice on that specific day. Next up after I recorded my vocals the audio files didn't manage to save which I found out later on meaning I couldn't mix the track but at least I had a unmixed mp3 file of the song. In the future I will make sure I give myself enough time to overcome these problems with ease, for example if I had more time I would have recorded the vocals again and would have worked from that but unfortunately I did not have enough time. My overall strength's in this project where improvisation and the recording part as that went quite smoothly except for recording vocals. This is as I managed to get down my parts quite fast and so I was able to make up for taking so long composing these songs. I will definitely need to work on my organisation in the future though and I will also need to improve my songwriting so that I could finish composing the songs sooner.
In conclusion I am overall satisfied that I managed to complete the 2 songs even though I am not happy with how long it took. I am also not satisfied with the quality of these songs due to the fact that one of them I couldn't even mix. In the future I will make sure that I will give myself more time by setting myself dates sooner than the actual deadlines as then I'll have some spare time if any problem arise. I have also learn't a lot, I am far more confident with using the studios at the college and I am a lot more confident composing music. This will be very useful in the future as it will surely save me time when completing similar tasks. In the future I will also make sure I do more research on topics that I am not so confident about as I don't want to end up having to rush certain tasks like I had to during this process.