Research Notes

I’ve put the 3 pages of research into one to keep them all together – Matt
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Aaron Tennant:

01326 311288

5 degrees west contact number

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wwO-wo892pI&feature=related … cool to watch

Matt:

Smashing Pumpkins – Today – Nice use of degraded video, filmed with poor quality equipment on purpose. Also really good distorted guitar sound made by layering various parts, up to 40 in some of their songs. Heathens cite these as an influence, which I interpret as their guitar sound.

Air – Sexy Boy, Lemon Jelly – Nice Weather for Ducks – More animation-like, but some inspiration for what we could do in after effects with green-screen footage.

Massive Attack – Unfinished Sympathy – Urban Deprivation, and

RATM – Sleep Now in the Fire – Spencer mentioned Rage Against the Machine as an example of a sense of chaos and so on in a video. We can’t exactly close down the London Stock Exchange for the day but if we decide to go down this route then this is pretty apt.

LCD Soundsystem – Daft Punk is Playing at my House – Interesting and good connection between song and video timing wise.

Nirvana – In Bloom – I saw this and had the idea about perhaps setting the video in various different eras, flipping through the decades as the song goes on, I think it’d give us a lot to work with, and could be mainly green-screened if done carefully.
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Tom:

Following on from our discussions about the feel and type of video we might want to produce , I’ve put together a few video links that I think fit the ideal.

Animated colour block idea

Sony Bravia TV ads
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CLUAbkRUvVQ – the most interesting and closest to what im thinking

Smarties TV Ad mid 90’s

Interesting mix of live action and basic computer animation

Robyn ‘With Every Heartbeat’

XTM-Fly on the wings of love

Dire Straits – Money For Nothing

Gritty on the streets idea

The Beatles – Free as a bird

Rolling Stones – Like A Rolling Stone

Prodigy – Smack My Bitch Up

Anyway see what you think and we’ll take it from there. Tom.

B207 – 210 Music Marketing Unit Guide

B207-210 Music Marketing Project

This assignment requires you to devise a marketing strategy for a musical act of your choice. While the central focus of this project will be a music video of a single track of your chosen performer(s), you should consider and realise a supporting web presence which will be designed and developed in your Web Production sessions with Matt Collins.

The stages of the production process for the music video component will be as follows:

1) Form production groups of four students, each of whom has a responsibility for a particular aspect of production (i.e. Production Management, Audio Production, Camera and Lighting, Video Editing and Post-Production; (Week One)

2) Identify musicians who will be willing to come to UCF to record a chosen piece of music (Week Two);

3) Work with the performers, as your external clients, to visualise a video from/for the music (Week Three);

4) Develop detailed storyboards, with notes, explaining the process of connotation, through camera/lighting/editing in relation to the visualisation (containing no more than thirty seconds of material showing in the artists) (Weeks Four and Five);

5) Record and mix the music (minimum duration of three minutes, maximum of four) for the video in Media Centre recording studio (Weeks Four to Seven);

6) Shoot the video demonstrating control of the connotative process (Weeks Five and Six);

7) Edit the shot material, with digital video enhancement if appropriate, in terms of the originally conceived outcome (Week Seven);

8) Complete the project within the timeframe and resources allocated/available.

In addition to the learning outcomes in their individual units, students will be asked to demonstrate ability to:

a) Negotiate visual ideas with the external client(s);

b) Convert ideas into images through storyboarding;

c) Create video material that is considered in any way that connotation is achieved, beyond obvious denotation;

d) Develop complex and considered relationships between music and images.

To familiarise you with the creative possibilities of Adobe After Effects, there will be sessions

with Pete Felstead in the Digital Production Suite on Tuesday October 6^th as follows:

Group A – 09.30-12.30; Group B – 13.30-16.30

A further session on using keying within green screen will take place in the DPS on Thursday 15^th October. Group A – 09.30-12.30; Group B – 13.30-16.30

There also will be a series of lectures and seminars from Brendan Byrne to raise critical and historical debates around music marketing. These sessions will take place on Wednesday for the first five weeks of the project (commencing October 7^th) at the following times:

Lecture (all students) 09.00-10.00 DM Seminar M

Seminars (Seminar B) – Group A: 10.00-11.30; Group B: 11.30-13.00

All work relating to units B207-210, i.e. the finished music video artefact on Mini-DV tape and DVD and the additional material relating to your individual roles as detailed in your unit guides, should be submitted on another DVD to the Tremough Academic Office on Friday 27^th November between 1 -2 pm.

B203 Web Design

The issues arising from your considerations of genre and audience in relation to the music video will, necessarily, be reflected in the design and development of the web presence. The web-site will host the video that you produce, alongside other content that you consider suitable.  In doing so, it should deploy marketing techniques and modes of address appropriate to the music’s genre and target audience. This site should seek to engage fans in peer to peer interactions as well as with musicians to create and grow the fan base. This unit will be taught by Matt Collins: sessions will take place in the Media Centre Digital Production Suite on Mondays for 7 weeks starting on October 12^th. Times are as follows:

Group A: 09.00-11.00; Group B: 11.00-13.00

Agenda 23/10/09

It was from this point, that we started on a dynamic agenda, which is always changing. This stopped the confusion of the old Agendas and what has been done.

Agenda 23 October. Meeting Commences 10:55

Present: Matt Stent, Aaron Tripplet, Andrew Cook and Aaron Tennant

The Idea: The Heathenz are part of a victorian freakshow which is part of an underground movement.

Camera And Lighting:

Vertigo – Possible Location for Restaurant/Bar.

Flambards – Possible victorian street location

The House Of Fear – Another possible street location.

The Music is the main element of the freak show.

Actors:

Possible Leads:

Aarons Mate – Luke

Filmcast Cornwall

Audio:

We need to get a list of their equipment.

Mics

How have they recorded in the past.

Re-amping – Comprimise.

Perin. Or Premier Kit.

Insurance:

Matt will contruct a mockup of the song Via Midi.

115 BPM – Check Breakdown.

Produce A Technical Floorplan of Recording Plans. Mic Placement IN/OUT Guide.

Recording Session:

Organise Food

Andy Send Group text to confirm recording time. DONE

Production Management:

Progress Report.

Clarify 30 seconds of the band.

Heathenzs Halloween Horror Show:

Mark has confirmed the gig

Confirm Halloween Gig

P and PR: tell Inside Local Music

Editing:

Behind The scenes content & Rehearsal Footage

Multimedia:

Promo Video – Johnn’s Dead

Aarons Glide Cam Footage

Multi-Cam Footage Rehearsal

Andrew to get content from Inside Local Music

All group to mock-up their vision of website.

The end of next week

Content:

Andy to invite journo to the gig to do write up afterwards and get an interview later to make bio

Tell Chris About The 31st Gig.

Group to decide on photos from rehearsal.

Social Networking:

Look into open source blog software. negative may be less support.

Andrew to manage content.

Matt Stent to design.

My Space – Mark will give us password.

Twitter

Facebook

You Tube

Audio Player

Gig Guide – basic text

Press Section – High Resolution Content – Will Load Seprately
Group to do research on press sections.

Contact Information.

Check Accessibility

Assign Matt Stent And Andrew Cook to Graphic Considerations.

Graphic Design And Visual Idenity:

Agree Visual Identity

Motion: High Res Next Week

Discuss with Chris Photoshoot Times – Music Video Shoot

Get Lyrics To Johnny’s Dead.

Matt – Construct Blog Design

Andrew – Manage Content.

B208 Audio Production Unit Guide

B208 Audio Production

In this unit, you will acquire and demonstrate the skills and knowledge that enable you to serve as the audio specialist in your music marketing production team. To this end, you will undertake the recording and production of your chosen track, and design and produce any supplementary audio material that assists in developing the website and its relationship to the audience community.

Aims

The main purposes of the unit are to:

• To introduce students to studio digital multi-track audio and MIDI technology;

• Extend the students understanding of the creative applications of contemporary audio and MIDI technology;
• Apply newly-acquired skills and knowledge within a production group comprised of specialists in different but complementary areas

Learning Outcomes

By the end of the unit, each student should be able to demonstrate:

Subject-Specific Skills

• Understanding of Digital Multi-track Audio, and its applications;
• Ability to contribute to the production of a programme using studio multi-track digital audio technology.

Core Academic Skills

• Ability to research, evaluate, select and organise material from a range of sources;

• Ability to integrate and apply new skills/knowledge area within existing areas of expertise
• Personal and Key Skills

• Ability to work individually
• Ability to work within a team
• Time and task management skills

Learning/Teaching Methods

• Practical workshop and seminar sessions for skills acquisition and consolidation
• Exercises designed to develop skills through considered gathering of source audio material and its subsequent multi-track assembly;
• Assessed project that ensures that students apply their newly-acquired and pre-existent skills and knowledge to an appropriate production task;
• Development of reflection upon practice through the generation of critical reflective documents to accompany all assessed practical work.

Assignments

Assessed Work:

• Production project: Students will work with individuals drawn from concurrent units in Lighting and Camera, Editing, Audio Production and Production Management to produce a Music Video for an ‘external client’.

• Create an individual Critical Reflective Document for this unit of 1500–2000 words. This should be made on a web page with embedded exemplary portfolio material that illustrates and discusses how ideas were developed and from what sources. You should also discuss the additional audio elements that contribute to the effectiveness of your website’s intention to establish and develop a relationship with the fanbase.

• This personal web page must demonstrate, via specific examples, exactly how your practice work has contributed to the final piece, styles that have informed it and written reflection that makes specific reference to your own clips and examples. All researched examples must be properly cross referenced between your personal crd and the CD-rom.

Assessment

Final production piece 50% (mini dv tape).

Critical Reflective Document/practice work 50%.

Your reflective document and collation of your audio scrap book should be done as an individual web page burnt as a CD Rom for hand in at 13.00-14.00 to the Tremough Academic Office Friday 27^th Nov.

Week By Week

Meetings will take place on Wednesdays at 13.00 in the Recording Studio starting on Wednesday 7th October and will take place across Wednesday and Thursday afternoons in the studio for the following weeks. Sessions on Wednesdays will be with Steve Carter, and will deal with the major technical considerations of studio production, assisting you in developing a sophisticated understanding of studio technology and its application. Thursday’s sessions will be with record producers and music industry practitioners who will offer you insights into the ways in which they work. Your ability to achieve a reasonable level of accomplishment in this area will depend upon you practicing your skills across a range of techniques. The aim is to devise a scheme of learning that enables you to acquire a deeper understanding of the principles, and the ability to ‘problem-solve’ your own recording and mixing sessions, based on the transferable knowledge that you have gained.

Sessions with Steve:

Week One -

Understanding the Studio Signal Path; Microphones: Types, Applications, Selection and Placement

Week Two

Using a Control Surface: Gain, Equalisation, Gating and Compression; Sub Groups, Mixing and Mastering.

Week Three

Recording a Session: Practice session with guest band including organising session files, track-laying etc.

Week Four

Understanding Protools as a mixing/production tool. Working on the material recorded in Week Three, this session deals with: Editing; Mixing; Using Effects and Equalisation; Automation and Mastering.

Week Four and Five

Recording your Chosen Performers: Track laying and Rough Mix

Weeks Six and Seven

Creating the Final Mix

Sessions with visiting lecturers:

In addition to the studio sessions with Steve Carter, there will be a series of presentations by professionals drawn from a range of music production activities. These sessions will take place on Thursday afternoons starting in week 2; details to follow.

Critical Reflective Documents

As you enter the recording and mixing phase of your project there are some areas that you should consider, and that would prove helpful in the submission of your portfolio and Critical Reflective Document.

Having spent time understanding the needs of your band, you should be tuned in to the broad genre of your music and the production qualities that it might demand. To demonstrate your familiarity with those demands, you should provide some recorded examples of instruments, vocals, overall balance/feel etc that illustrate the kinds of sound that you are seeking within your own final mix. Make sure that you understand the production and signal processing techniques that have been used to achieve that sound, in order that you can utilise them to your own ends. It would be useful, though not essential, if you can find material that details the production process of your chosen examples. Reference to the relevant work of particular producers and engineers whose work you admire may also be helpful here. You should also discuss the additional audio production elements that contribute to the effectiveness of your website’s intention to establish and develop a relationship with the fanbase.

The following websites may prove helpful in providing you with additional ideas about the mixing process and details of particular sessions with established bands and musicians:

http://www.saecollege.de/reference_material/

http://www.soundonsound.com/

Mixing is a time-consuming business that requires practice, care and attention to detail. Knowing the sound that you want and the techniques involved will only be the start of the process. Be prepared to put in the hours, and be aware that sometimes a couple of hours careful concentration can be very tiring. For that reason, a number of shorter mixing sessions may be more productive in the long run.

Please ensure that your CRD documentation also includes references to the generic considerations of the sound, and any implications for a final mix that is articulated towards the production of a music video. Please include recorded examples on a track-listed CD, which may also include any experiments with microphone and mixing/equalisation techniques that you conducted prior to recording. The CRD should be 1500-2000 words.

Useful/Recommended Reading

Alkin, Glyn: Sound Techniques for Video and TV

Aymes, Tim: Audio Postproduction in TV and Film

Borwick, John: Sound Recording Practice

Brice, Richard: Music Engineering

John Watkinson: The Art of Digital Audio

John Watkinson: The Art of Digital Video

Kirk, David: PC Audio Editing

Mellor, David: Sound Person’s Guide to Video

Nesbitt, Alec: Sound Studio

Ward, P; Bermingham, A and Wherry, C: Multiskilling for Television Production

Wayne, Mike: Theorising Video Practice

Holman, Tomlinson: 5.1 Surround Sound – Up and Running

Reese, David E. and Gross, Lynne. S: Radio Production Worktext

http://www.saecollege.de/reference_material/index.html

http://www.tweakheadz.com/guide.htm

http://mixonline.com/

http://www.music-recording.com/

http://www.songstuff.com/