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My Song:

The first thing I had to do was devise an action plan for the song:

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1) Firstly, I will listen to songs in the genre I'm trying to replicate - this will help me to get inspired and write the song.

2) Next, I have to experiment with chords in a chosen key - then, I can base the rest of the song on the chord progression.

3) Add drums and bass - this will make the first part of the song feel complete.

4) Do the other sections of the song.

5) Redraft and mix the song.

Firstly, I listened to some songs - including 'Show Me How' by Men I Trust, 'Chateau' by Djo and 'Tommy's Party' by Peach Pit. I was aiming for a LoFi/Indie sound - and these bands fit with this label. I noticed their extensive use of major 7, and other 'jazz' chords and put this into use when writing my chords. This was a major help to my efforts at a base for the song.

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Then I chose the key of G and came up with a chord progression on guitar - Gmaj7, Bmin7, Cmaj7, Cmin7. At first, this was intended to be my verse, but it later became my chorus.

Next, I thought of the verse chords - Amin7, D9, D#Dim, Emin7.

After recording simple drums and bass along with these chords, I recorded an intro riff, and another melodic guitar part in the chorus. 

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After that, I added bass and and a bridge - made up of Emin7, D, Bmin7 and Cmaj7. Now, I had a rough idea of the song.

Rock School:

In between the next set of sessions, I took part in a summer program called Rock School - where you play covers and originals with other people age 9-16 for a week, before a finale gig at The Wardrobe in Leeds.

As part of this, my group decided to use the basis of my song as the template for an original. This gave me the chance to develop the song with others.

Me with my bandmates at The Wardrobe.

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Photos of our gig.

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00:00 / 03:51

Above is the next version of my track.

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For this, I added a guitar solo, recorded it on my own, carefully recording each part individually - instead of in a band setting.

The mixing process for the song involved compression, reverb and most importantly, EQ in order to make each instrument clearly stand out. I also added a subtle vinyl crackle effect to add to the vintage, lo-fi atmosphere of the song.

Reflection:

Seeing as this was my first original, I was very happy with the result - I had the basic for a song and had achieved my goal of an Indie atmosphere - even learning about mixing along the way.

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However, not everything went the way I wanted; for next time, I need to work on my melody/lyric writing skills - and have a full song with vocals.

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Overall, however, I had come a long way - this was a great step to furthering my skills as a musician and songwriter.

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