Portfolio Update Presentation - Research Inquiry
Speaker transcript from presentation seminar, (Sharp, 2024) :
“This is my portfolio update presentation for the major project practical work that I have been doing this term. These have followed production paradigms across pre-industrial, industrial, and post-industrial approaches, and have been within either professional and commercial circumstances, or creative circumstances, or a mix of both. The purpose is that they supplement the research to develop and deepen my own understanding of the application of that research in practical circumstances.”
The Kites - “Just Say When”
- A commercial studio production.
- An industrial / post-industrial approach.
- Repertoire development following from The Basement Tapes.
- Release arrangement & liasoning (out 31st October!).
- Guided by professional recommendations from industry resources.
“So the first production track was a commercial studio production that I did with local four-piece Merseybeat band called The Kites - and it was for a track of theirs called “Just Say When”, and this was an industrial / post-industrial approach where we utilised the SSL suite at SAE Liverpool. We went about tracking each element one by one starting with the rhythm section as the guide, and then going into all the other various instrumental components. It was a development off of their repertoire from the basement tapes - cause as I worked with them during the basement tapes, they did three of their tracks in that live setting and then from there we thought it would be cool to, you know, go into the studio and make a finished version of one of them. It's been a success in that regard, it's releasing tomorrow which is quite exciting, and yeah it's been guided by the professional recommendations from industry resources that I've been gathering.”
NZanZu’s B-Sides & Radio Edits
- A commercial & creative studio post-production.
- A post-industrial approach.
- Repertoire development following from the Operationalized LP production.
- Guided by professional recommendations from industry, with considerations towards creative aims.
“Yeah so that was the professionally oriented studio production, the second was then the B-sides and radio edits that continued on from the Operationalized LP production. That I did in the professional development scheme which was with NZanZu, who's a friend of mine and a great local artist who's got a very nuanced kind of creative drive and aims with his work - and takes quite unorthodox approaches. So it had a little bit more of that in the consideration towards its final output and its sonic quality and sound. It was a post industrial approach, mixing within the the Audient suite at SAE Liverpool, and it was focused in around providing supplementary material to go along with the LP - in the form of B-Sides, and radio edits of some of the LP tracks.
It was a really good experience working with NZanZu for his LP, and also going along and developing the kind of other supplementary material in his portfolio. Dumbass was a particular favourite of mine, I thought it was very expressive and exploring that kind of expressive aim in obviously music production circumstances is very important - and as alongside the professional approaches, those kinds of considerations are always very much worth investigating and following through.”
Wicker Witch Woman
- A commercial & creative studio production.
- A post-industrial approach.
- Debut release planning and development
- Guided more so by considerations towards creative aims, with recommendations from industry informing practical process decision making during production.
“The next track that I've been working on was a studio production that I was working on with kind of my band - a loose kind of studio group - and it was a post-industrial track and aimed at a kind of debut release planning for the kind of joint collective which is Googie & The Imaginary Band. It was guided more by considerations towards creative aims so it was less so focused on strict adherence to the recommendations given by the professional standards that I was using - and more so from the Insight that I'd gained from a production engineer - Malcolm Chisholm - and that further kind of developed into what is the next section. This ones called Wicker Witch Woman.
That one followed more of a focus on the post-industrial approach where recordings and the experimentation of tracking is more focused in the box. Done in a less kind of natural format, and more in an over production kind of way hence the big sound to that track. It's still in it’s post-production phase, it's not been finally mastered yet and there is still I think one portion of vocals to put onto the track before it's then finally mixed and mastered. Unlike the other two, well the other five tracks previous which are all mastered and completed at this point.“
Sessions V [Wormwoods, Wicker Witch Woman Accompaniment]
- A creative live studio production.
- An industrial approach.
- Repertoire development for live performance & release support for single project.
- Guided by creative aims & documentation process, guided by professional recommendations from professional production practitioner case study.
“The other project that goes along with the Wicker Witch Woman single project is what is currently just denoted as Sessions V, and this is a creative live studio production with an industrial approach. So that's also pre-industrial really, which is going way back it's using a 414 Tascam tape machine to record everything. The limitation of which is then making the production focus in and around the live performance capture of the group, and in this way it's following production methods presented by Malcolm Chrishom. Which focuses on organic performance capture and those kinds of approaches to recording sessions, rather than post-industrial or track by track methods. So it's more guided by creative aims, and has followed those processes put forward by Malcolm Chrisholm to inform it still in that professional regard.”
The Ocean of Motion & Potions
- A creative post-production artefact.
- A post-industrial approach.
- Repertoire development following from the exhibited PDS LP project, returning to outset plan of two release sets.
- Release arrangement & presentation planning.
- Guided by creative aims & process, counterstancing professional recommendations.
“The last one is kind of a finalisation of post production in the creation of what are two artefacts essentially as one. It's a post-industrial production again and it's developing from the professional development scheme LP project - Revisiting The Ocean of Motion - which saw the combination of two LPs, or kind of an EP / LP, that had the mostly instrumental back catalogue tracks that I’m wanting to finish - so that I can move on next in my own repertoire development essentially.
They've been guided more by creative aim of processes and they counter stance the professional recommendations to present an argument of what can be produced when professional recommendations aren't completely sidelined and ignored, but being focused more so on creative aims and process. So the one track that I've got here is from the ocean of motion and this is accompanied by a visual element which was a kind of fun exploratory approach to present the tracks. Kind of going back to the editor roles that I was undertaking with the basement tapes but in this project I've been working with some different material for the visual aspect.
Okay yeah that one's yeah been a really fun project, it's provided a very insightful different counter stance angle to production processes generally and I think it really well articulates the creative considerations that are always prevalent in music production as a venture or a undertaking more generally, and that is all of them so far. I wish I could show you that video there unfortunately I can't make it not private currently because it's not released.”
“Cool, I mean that's grand I look forward to seeing it with the submission because it sounds like a really cool like you say counterpoint to the others - yeah nice distinct sounds across those recordings.”
“Thanks yeah, I was very happy especially with the “Just Say When” track especially. I mean I think that was really good studio production, and the band especially were very happy with it - and that was very gratifying after working with the band in the first module, and that didn't go well it was... yeah very good to have that opportunity that went successfully as well, so that was good. “
“Are you are you planning on putting any of the feedback from the artist / other people that you're recording into the submission?”
“I have done, those kinds of feedback and inputs have been quite continuous and very momentary - however documenting them during the sessions was quite difficult because of the action of doing the sessions themselves took the focus. I think that the inputs and feedback and all of those kinds of decisions that the artists have presented are evident throughout the development of each piece of work. There are areas where I've touched on specifics to that, however data collection of all of that in a quite neat way has been quite difficult - however it is recognized throughout that those inputs have been very important and obviously directed the quality of the work or the direction of the work.”
“Okay cool yeah, I mean you can use them in as appendices or something if there's anything like tangible and written down or screenshotted.”
“Yeah I've got a few kind of little quotes and stuff but it's mostly just like the band was very satisfied with the output and although it's not got quite the qualitative depth that could be useful - it does serve the good purpose of verification for the work and for how it is.”
