To begin, I was very clueless on the aim of my project, you see, I draw from a large number of influences and I went through a lot of different song ideas that had been burning in my head, the way I landed on my noise rock composition through everything is because I feel that it is one of the genres that has most highly inspired me despite my continued overlooking of it. Bands like Pixies, Sonic Youth and Dinosaur Jr. clearly had such a hand in the formation of grunge, which is one of the genres I love to play the most, even being in a grunge band myself. To pay homage to the noise rock genre and how it influenced countless genres which are within my regular listening and songwriting rotation, I decided to elaborate on a small chord progression I created prior to fit the genre. 

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The first track I came up with was the rhythm guitar, this is where I decided to look at post hardcore, specifically Title Fight, which is a definite byproduct of noise rock. With this foundation I quickly created a full structure of triad power chords to build upon. I looked back at Dinosaur Jr. for the lead guitar part, using a flange effect to give that overwhelming fuzz feeling associated with the scene and genre I was going for, this was amplified by my usage of a fuzz bass tone using a tube screamer. My drum part was going to be using terraced dynamics (quick and sudden dynamic changes) a lot to give that signature 'loud, quiet, loud' feel that late 80s noise rock is synonymous for. With this I had a fully written track but i was yet to record or outline any other details apart from the influence and songwriting. 

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The next thing I needed to do was to understand how to record and produce all the elements I had to a suitable degree for the project. I started researching mic placement for guitar and  bass amps, room mic placement for drums all within my chosen genre. I then realised that EQing the different elements would definitely be a challenge with the tone I desired for the guitar and bass, this became evident when I recorded a demo which sounded extremely cluttered. One of the main reasons for this was the fact that I used presets on logic for my tone which made it very hard to get any sort of a coordinated sound. I then re recorded a demo using a preset drum beat instead of metronome which helped with a large array of severe timing issues, I also used my tutor's helix stomp XL for more accurate and easily modifiable tone, this helped a lot when it came to recording the drums, so Ashton (my drummer) could distinguish sections and their dynamics (as the drums were the main indicator of differing dynamics within the composition). ​Another small change which helped with the context of different sections of the composition was me writing the lyrics to a melody, which I then mimicked in certain sections with my lead guitar track to fill the missing space yet.

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I then got into the studio to record the drums with Ashton. I went over the song with him a few weeks prior to give him a general idea but I had to revise his knowledge of small changes I made within the structure and mix. We recorded the drums in 2 parts (the first and second half of the song) as we only had an hour and a half in the college studio to fully mic up the kit and record. We miced up the kit as normal, but for some authentic reverb I was wanting with the drum part, we set up a room mic situated far away from the kit but turned up the sensitivity so it would pick up on the echo of the playing Ashton was doing. With the time constraints I had, I was not able to record a vocal part and Ashton was not able to drum the whole song (either halves) with no flaws.​

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When I got a chance to finally produce the material I had recorded, I spliced Ashton's drum takes together to create a fully coherent drum part, I also turned up the room mic to create more reverb within my sound. I panned some of the tracks to different ears and then release the song to Soundcloud for feedback. I got some quite positive feedback but also needed criticism, this included people saying that they had lost tracks in certain places and the dynamics were not done well enough, most people pointed to the bass and lead guitar tracks for these errors. The composition was praised however. I went back to produce the track again with the critique I had received, I went to use automation on the lead, rhythm and bass guitar so that the dynamic changes and overall sound wouldn't be as ambiguous. I then panned the room mics separately to get a disoriented feeling. The EQ was one thing I was very stuck on, but after around 2 hours of messing with the bass, I got rid of a trebly mumble that was nagging the whole song, I also used this on the other guitar tracks to get a cleaner sound whilst still keeping the distorted tone I had set out to keep. I then deleted the first mix from Soundcloud and uploaded my new demo.

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I am overall quite satisfied with the turnout of my project, especially considering the aimlessness I had at the beginning of the assignment. I was able to create a logic track which was fully produced by me and kept nearly everything of my original vision which I had during the songwriting process. I could have definitely managed my time better and recorded vocals and got a more solid drum take together which I wouldn't have had to splice together. My takeaway from this project is learning the gruelling differences between the songwriting and recording production stage of music and helping me fully understand how much time and effort is put into everything during the release of professionally recorded music. I also gained a lot of knowledge on how to work logic to a basic degree to help me record and produce guitar music for my own solo and any other upcoming projects. The only thing I need to improve on in the future is my time management skills so i can record everything to its best abilities without cutting any corners, this will make it so i can express my musical creativity and technical ability to its best. To fully write, record and produce my own material all by myself was a great stepping stone and project that the college has assigned me in learning these lessons for my future in the music industry.