Composition

This is the first composition I have made thus far, the chords are C, Cmaj7, Dm, and Em. The tempo is 110 bpm.  I composed a small melody on the default "Classic Electric Piano" setting for MIDI keyboards on logic and quantized it to 1/16th notes. Overall, I think there is nothing particularly bad about my composition, but that is only because it is so simple. I believe this is a decent starting point for me and as the year progresses I can be able to build my composition skills and compose more complicated melodies on more instruments. I see this as an essential skill I will be making use of very often.

This is an audio composition made by me utilising the chords D minor, A minor, F, and C at a tempo of 75 BPM. I made this during a lesson with Rhys where he taught us about the C major scale and went over how to compose a chord sequence and melody. I feel that this piece does have a good foundation and the use of Logic's drummer helped me to keep in time and improve the piece overall. However, it falls far from being anything remotely special or interesting, I could have done a better job with the sequence and added a harmony. Despite this recording audio and creating chord sequences are essential skills to have and skills I will be improving over time with practice. 

I made this composition during a composition lesson with Rhys to improve my skills. The chords for the rhythm guitar and keyboard are both C, F, G, and G. I recorded these in real-time to a drum track I made using a MIDI keyboard and quantized it to 1/16th notes to make sure it was in time. I also composed a lead guitar track using individual notes from each chord in the sequence. I feel as though this track was a step up compared to my previous attempts at composition because of the lead guitar track mainly. It adds a lot of flavour to this otherwise bland track. Another reason I think this track is an improvement over my other tracks is because my audio recordings were better. While I am happy with the way it turned out I do think there is room for improvement. For example, the MIDI drum track I made would be better with some cymbals or a more complicated beat instead of just kick and snare. Another way I could improve this track would be if I double-tracked the rhythm guitar and panned it on either side. A bassline also would have done wonders for this track. The lead guitar in my opinion is also lackluster however it is my first time composing a lead guitar track so I will be seeking to improve this side of my composition more. This is a technique I will be using often in the future during my course and otherwise.

This is a compositional idea I made during a lesson with Rhys, This piece consists of three seperate basslines, two MIDI synths and a drumtrack I made using Logic's drummer. I decided to make a track with three bass lines because it is the instrument I am the most familiar with, especially composition wise, I tried using a pentatonic scale shape for the bassline though I doubt I did so correctly. The second bassline is identical to the first but an octave up and each one is panned to the side, the final bassline is periodically playing two octaves at once. Overall I am relatively happy with how these bass lines came out because I feel its unique to me and my style of playing. The synths are there as extra texture for the song, I played them in real time then quantised to 1/16th notes. They are very simplistic and I could have done a much better job with them if I were a better player. Overall I feel this piece is an improvement over my previous works and demonstrates the skills I've learnt but has much room for improvement such as an original drum track and improved MIDI synth tracks.

This is my final piece of composition for this first project and what I believe to be my best work yet. The track consists of a MIDI drum track made by Logic's Drummer which I converted to a MIDI track and modified slightly to suit the track. There are two bass lines one of which is double-tracked, along with 1 MIDI Keyboard and 1 MIDI synth, finally there are. two one shots I got from Apple Loops, one is a riser and the other is a bongo track which I have looped twice. The tempo of this track is 80 BPM. Starting with the bassline which I think is the best bass line I have composed to date, It has a nice groove, and repeatability, with lots of room for variation. I copied the track and panned one to the left and one to the right. The second bassline I believe is a good extra layer in the mix which isn't panned in my hopes it can cut through the mix down the middle. The MIDI keyboard is just 3 chords. The chords are C, Dm, and Em. Honestly, I don't believe I implemented these into the track right, not all of the chords work with the track. After speaking to Rhodri he advised me to use different chords played sharply on the offbeat. I will be sure to implement this in my next composition. The MIDI synth is just an arpeggiator playing a single note. The one shots are both for the "bongo part" in the song, the riser leads into the this part and the bongos are panned to one side while the normal kit is panned to the other side which makes for a neat effect. I utilised volume and panning automation on the drums and keyboard. Along with busses for the effects used on this track such as compression, reverb and delay. I also utilised my mixing skills to try and mix the track and EQ it. This track I believe is the best example of the skills I have learnt so far and a definite improvement over my previous tracks. However I do believe this track can be improved, I think a guitar track instead of the keyboard track would sound much better and my mixing skills definitely need work. These techniques I will be using for all of my tracks going forward.