Showing posts with label Unit 8. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Unit 8. Show all posts
Tuesday, 14 May 2019
Friday, 16 March 2018
Unit 8 Evaluation
You need to write a blog post evaluating how successful you feel you have been in actively supporting your own progression. Things to think about are how many courses you looked at and applied for, how many new skills you developed over the year, how well you prepared for auditions etc.
Please label this 'unit 8'
Please label this 'unit 8'
Demos
How do you let people know about your music before you have a release? What if you have a varied sound? What does demo mean?
Demo
~n
A recording made to demonstrate the capabilities of a musical group or performer or as preparation for a full recording:'We recorded a three-song demo'
It used to be that bands/artists would record a few tracks on a tape or CD, duplicate them themselves and then send them off to magazines, promoters and record labels in the hope that their s would get listened to and they'd get a review/gig/record deal. You'd also make a rough demo of new songs for your label so they could see what the album might be like and that the producer would have a reference to go from.
Then technology advanced, the internet arrived and most people had (or had access to) computers. MySpace came along and you could upload 4 songs as mp3s, add some photos and collect 'friends'. You could even send a link to your MySpace in an email - how radical!
Physical demos were still used, although tapes were now obsolete (I bet some hipsters love them but they'd be hard pushed to find anyone with a tape player!) Briefly, USB sticks were used to send files over. the problem was, although you could add files of photos and bios etc, they were small so you had to compress the music a lot and hardly fit anything on there.
There was even a phase of using tiny CDs that fitted into the middle section of a CD drawer - if you tried to put one of those into a mac CD drive, you'd never get it out again!
Things got simple again and soundcloud/mixcloud made life easy for musicians. With SoundCloud, you can upload tracks, set privacy settings (do you really want the whole world to hear your rough versions?!) and share links wherever you like. And with MixCloud, you can upload longer tracks; ideal for DJs trying to get work.
Facebook allows you to make an artist page with a music player although you might not want to have demo's up there as it's such a public forum.
But where is the first place you'd look now if you wanted to find to more about an act? And do you have the attention span needed to sit and listen to just music with no visuals?!
YouTube trailers - linking into film terminology since music has become more multimedia. More and more people are making a 'trailer' of their music, with moving image, showing a much broader 'demo' of what they do, partly because music is so much more than just music these days. If you are working on a project but don't have anything fully finished, you can mash up your files to make a trailer of what kind of sounds might be expected, and a trailer for an album also works as a very effective marketing tool before any full singles have been released.
How much does it all cost? these days, it shouldn't really cost you anything - you don't even need to buy blank CDs!
Collaborate- double exposure if you have a film making friend as they can use your demo and part of their showreel.
Free stock footage
Useful stop-motion software for iPhone
TASK: How can you 'Demo' your music? Create a plan on your blog
For you Unit 8 assignment, you need to find 3 ways to present yourself and your work. So far we have looked at applications/interviews, creative CVs and now demos. Please ensure that you have started work on this....we only have one more to look at.
Demo
~n
A recording made to demonstrate the capabilities of a musical group or performer or as preparation for a full recording:'We recorded a three-song demo'
It used to be that bands/artists would record a few tracks on a tape or CD, duplicate them themselves and then send them off to magazines, promoters and record labels in the hope that their s would get listened to and they'd get a review/gig/record deal. You'd also make a rough demo of new songs for your label so they could see what the album might be like and that the producer would have a reference to go from.
Then technology advanced, the internet arrived and most people had (or had access to) computers. MySpace came along and you could upload 4 songs as mp3s, add some photos and collect 'friends'. You could even send a link to your MySpace in an email - how radical!
Physical demos were still used, although tapes were now obsolete (I bet some hipsters love them but they'd be hard pushed to find anyone with a tape player!) Briefly, USB sticks were used to send files over. the problem was, although you could add files of photos and bios etc, they were small so you had to compress the music a lot and hardly fit anything on there.
There was even a phase of using tiny CDs that fitted into the middle section of a CD drawer - if you tried to put one of those into a mac CD drive, you'd never get it out again!
Things got simple again and soundcloud/mixcloud made life easy for musicians. With SoundCloud, you can upload tracks, set privacy settings (do you really want the whole world to hear your rough versions?!) and share links wherever you like. And with MixCloud, you can upload longer tracks; ideal for DJs trying to get work.
Facebook allows you to make an artist page with a music player although you might not want to have demo's up there as it's such a public forum.
But where is the first place you'd look now if you wanted to find to more about an act? And do you have the attention span needed to sit and listen to just music with no visuals?!
YouTube trailers - linking into film terminology since music has become more multimedia. More and more people are making a 'trailer' of their music, with moving image, showing a much broader 'demo' of what they do, partly because music is so much more than just music these days. If you are working on a project but don't have anything fully finished, you can mash up your files to make a trailer of what kind of sounds might be expected, and a trailer for an album also works as a very effective marketing tool before any full singles have been released.
How much does it all cost? these days, it shouldn't really cost you anything - you don't even need to buy blank CDs!
Collaborate- double exposure if you have a film making friend as they can use your demo and part of their showreel.
Free stock footage
Useful stop-motion software for iPhone
TASK: How can you 'Demo' your music? Create a plan on your blog
For you Unit 8 assignment, you need to find 3 ways to present yourself and your work. So far we have looked at applications/interviews, creative CVs and now demos. Please ensure that you have started work on this....we only have one more to look at.
Creative CVs
This DOCUMENT is really helpful and full of ideas for designing a creative CV that will show you at your best.
This ARTICLE also has some great templates
Examples of musicians' CVs -
http://benwoollacott.com/
http://www.chanvox.com/
http://chloeherington.blogspot.co.uk/
http://www.zelfiredrums.com/
TASK: Create a suitable CV for you to use in real life, either as a musician or for a part-time job.
This ARTICLE also has some great templates
Examples of musicians' CVs -
http://benwoollacott.com/
http://www.chanvox.com/
http://chloeherington.blogspot.co.uk/
http://www.zelfiredrums.com/
TASK: Create a suitable CV for you to use in real life, either as a musician or for a part-time job.
Drafting your CV
Please use the following bullet points to draft your CV. You can then format it to make it look all swish for your assignment/applying for jobs.
CONTACT:
name
phone/email
[no need for address or date of birth]
STATEMENT:
A short paragraph about yourself - this is the bit where you get their interest so that they continue reading. If you find it difficult writing about yourself in this way, ask someone to write it for you!
QUALIFICATIONS & SKILLS:
If you have good grades, write them, if not, don't. Skills can be just as important as qualifications so make sure you list them all i.e PC/Mac use, Logic X & 9, Photoshop, (using different software shows that you can learn quickly and adapt), driving license, speaking other languages.....
EXPERIENCE:
All all paid and unpaid jobs, work experience, volunteering, projects you've been involved in, shows you've done....just because it wasn't paid doesn't mean it wasn't experience.
For each of these, say what/where/when it was and the responsibilities you had and the skills you gained.
INTERESTS:
Interesting interests, not typical things like socialising, reading blah blah.
CONTACT:
name
phone/email
[no need for address or date of birth]
STATEMENT:
A short paragraph about yourself - this is the bit where you get their interest so that they continue reading. If you find it difficult writing about yourself in this way, ask someone to write it for you!
QUALIFICATIONS & SKILLS:
If you have good grades, write them, if not, don't. Skills can be just as important as qualifications so make sure you list them all i.e PC/Mac use, Logic X & 9, Photoshop, (using different software shows that you can learn quickly and adapt), driving license, speaking other languages.....
EXPERIENCE:
All all paid and unpaid jobs, work experience, volunteering, projects you've been involved in, shows you've done....just because it wasn't paid doesn't mean it wasn't experience.
For each of these, say what/where/when it was and the responsibilities you had and the skills you gained.
INTERESTS:
Interesting interests, not typical things like socialising, reading blah blah.
Musical Skills
Which of the following can you already demonstrate?
How can you develop the skills you still need?
* these are the skills that were identified by those that were here as needing to be developed by people.
Ways you can develop these skills are:
PRODUCTION
|
YES?
|
PERFORMANCE
|
YES?
|
LogicPro 9
|
Notes on a keyboard
| ||
LogicPro X
|
Performance experience
| ||
Logic shortcuts
|
Learning something ‘by ear’
| ||
How to record audio
|
Reading music notation
| ||
Which microphone for what job
|
Writing music notation
| ||
Mixing Skills
|
Coming up with harmonies
| ||
Making a ‘beat’
|
Writing lyrics
| ||
Programming Drums
|
Reading/writing chord charts
| ||
Apple Loops
|
Key signatures
| ||
Advanced editing techniques such as flextime, flexpitch etc
|
Time signatures (other than 4/4)
| ||
Collaboration
|
Collaboration
| ||
Creating a Logic score
| |||
Do you have more or less for the course you plan to apply for?
* these are the skills that were identified by those that were here as needing to be developed by people.
Ways you can develop these skills are:
- Practice!!!! Book access time and practice.
- Use your ears - listen to what sounds right and work out why.
- Make use of your classes - we are here to teach you so if you want to know more then just ask.
- There are loads and loads of really useful books about microphones, mixing etc that are available to you. Just ask. Soon they will be in the rehearsal room corridor for people to access. Also ask Grant as he's an expert in these things.
- Ask your classmates - you all know different things at different levels - learn from each other.
- Go to The Roundhouse
- Make friends with 2nd year production - they have studio access and may be willing to let you sit in on a session so you can see how they work.
Transferable Skills
There is a difference between 'transferable' and 'musical' skills. Musical skills are skills that you need specifically for music i.e using LogicPro, knowing the note names on a keyboard etc. Musical skills are not going be useful in non-musical jobs/courses. Transferable skills are skills that are useful to many jobs and situations such as time management, collaboration skills and being a confident leader.
Here are some ideas:
Here are some ideas:
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| Examples of transferable skills
TASK: copy and paste the following and complete it, using the paper version you used in class. Please label this 'unit' 8 as it is task 2 of the brief.
Transferable Skills Audit
Read through these statements and tick YES or NO in the relevant columns. Please answer for each statement. You can then see skills that you may want to develop and you can update this audit later in the year. There is space at the bottom for you to add any other skills you have that are not listed. If you are stuck for ideas, see the ‘wordle’!
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