Whatever Happened To Glenn Miller?

This is a track I am extremely proud of. In this track, I wrote the lyrics, all guitar parts and all bass parts. I also recorded, produced,
mastered and performed the electric guitar on this track. I used Cubase as the software to produce this track, live recording each
instrument separately. I began by micing up drums (2 overheads, 2 toms, snare and kick), followed by recording my own guitar by
micing up my amp. The bass was recorded through DI, which I felt gave it a purer tone that I wanted. Lastly, the vocals were recorded in
the studios vocal booth, as well as any whistling or maracas etc. Last summer, a few friends and I decided to start a band called Cats
With Waterguns', to fulfil our passion to play live. I based our inspirations around other indie bands such as Bombay Bicycle Club and
Peace, yet adding my own sound to the track. The themes and ideas around this song display the concept of teen infatuation and
relationships, hoping to relate to a younger audience. The run up to producing this track meant that I would urge all members of my band
to practice regularly as a group in a local youth space, so that we were tight and all professional in playing our parts. To record this track,
I booked time at our school studio, over the space of 2 weeks to record and produce it, meaning I had lots of time to work on it, as well as
having no financial charge. After this song was finished, we decided to release it for free and gained a lot of local recognition for it,
including slots on BBC 3CR introducing, including interviews, and other local radio stations like Diverse FM. We gigged continuously,
receiving offers from record label representatives which were sadly turned down as our lead singer was set to go to university in a few
months. Over our time, we supported some major names, including Amber Run at the Horn in St. Albans. I aimed to make this song
appeal to a younger, teen audience, which from the turn outs at our shows, clearly suggests was effective. I am happy with the effect this
song had on my band, as it successfully pushed us into the local music scene, as I intended to do. Being put in real, studio scenarios
feeds my ambitions to work in music and is something that I really hope to continue throughout my life, as it is something I feel I can
work creatively and effectively in.
Join Me In a Tomb
To show versatility in my portfolio, I have added in an electronic song that I co-wrote, co-produced and mastered. Sharing a class with
friends in Music Technology led to a great advantage, as many would teach me about different music as I would teach them back. This is
an example of what others teaching me has concluded in. This track was produced purely in one night at a friends house. We set out by
aiming to create a weird, experimental electro song, unlike other artists. So to begin, my friend wrote the piano riff and then I added the
brass piece over it. After that, we both agreed on what the percussion should sound like and wrote that together. Then I found some vocal
samples online and began to edit them. This one in particular is the acapella of Somebody That I Used To Know by Gotye. I pitch shifted
the sample, reversed it and really played around with the waveforms to create a vocal riff of un-readable words. I then mixed it, took it
home and quickly mastered it. As I finished this piece, it was evident that we had successfully done what we had set out to do, and
created an experimental piece of music that was yet still fun and interesting to listen to. This track was never released or seriously
pushed forward as we saw it was practice and a way to develop our musical skills. However, it is a genre I would like to work more on,
and especially this song.
Bring Her Head Back
This track is a cover from a song I heard in the film Malice In Wonderland. It intrigued me due to its dark, yet childlike emotion in the
song. Grunge is a genre I liked a lot when I was younger, but never performed it live, as Ive only been in Rock and Indie bands. On this
track, I performed the guitar, bass and vocals. The drums were samples put through the Logic Pro drummer, which I altered to match the
original track. This was all recorded in my home studio, where I began with the guitar, put through my compressor and then my audio
interface. I manipulated the guitar sound in Logic Pro X, giving it that crunch guitar sound through amp simulators. There is one guitar
sound in the last chorus where I heavily reverbed the signal and tremoloed the notes to make it sound like a distant, un-describable
sound heard at 2:20 (the lower sounding ooh sound) and at 2:53 (the high pitched squeal). The bass was recorded in the same manner
as the guitar, as well as the vocals. Im particularly proud of the drop at 2:20, as I feel that I worked hard to really make that part sound
fluent and natural. I produced this track in the short space of one night, mixing and mastering it, as I was keen to hear a finished product.
The purpose of this track was to develop my personal skills in performing and producing, which I felt worked, as it was the first piece that
I performed and produced solo, giving me confidence and enabling my skills to do so.
Bridge
This snippet of music is meant to closely represent a cross fade between psychedelic and indie/alternative music. This is something I
have written, performed (guitar and bass, drums are logic drummer) and produced myself when sharing musical ideas with friends.
Initially, this was intended to be part of a song in my old band (Cats With Waterguns) but we split before I had the chance to evolve it.
However, this is still something I would like to work on, especially when I get to university and can flourish with other musicians. What I
like about this track is the integration between the two guitar parts, sitting perfectly together, as well as the reverbed guitar creating a
mysterious, psychedelic feel to the song. This track was recorded and produced identically to 'Bring Her Head Back', in my home studio.
Indie
This track is a demo I had been writing to help create a catalogue of songs I can take with me to university, as I am eager to jump
straight into the local music scene with the surrounding musicians. Again, identically recorded and performed to Bridge and Bring Back
Her Head, in my home studio. The influence for this track comes from the old EPs of Bombay Bicycle Club, especially songs like Maybe
More and Pedestal. I feel like it could be a song off one of their old EPs, which shows that I have correctly written and produced this
track in the way I wanted. The use of reversing guitar waveforms worked to my benefit as it allowed me to create a proper sounding uplift
into the verse and choruss. This is the sort of music I would love to continue writing and perform live as I feel that it is uplifting and fun
to write and play.
Chase The Sunset and Down.Falls.Society
These 2 tracks were from the short EP that my previously successful band, Anti-Hero State released. For these songs, I played all the
guitar parts as well as wrote them. The lead singer and I would write these songs together and then share them to the band where the
drummer would have his input on the drumming and the other guitarist would play the parts we gave him. For both songs, I wrote all the
guitar and bass parts, the singer would write all the lyrics and our drummer would write his parts. We gigged as a band for a good 2
years, with some impressive stories to follow, including being the headline band at Waterside Festival in MK, playing to over 2,000
people. I organised practices to be every Saturday so that we stayed committed and played tight. When it came to recording this EP, we
funded it ourselves through our part-time jobs and went to Lucid Cut Studios, where artists such as Jay-Z and Andy Abraham have
supposedly recorded too. The whole idea of the songs were to reach out into our youths generation and discuss subjects such as broken
homes, relationships and educational issues, therefore aiming our music at a young/teen audience. Once these tracks were released, we
were flooded with copious amounts of positive feedback. We were invited to BBC 3CR introducing as well as performing live several times
on other local stations. Our YouTube music videos received over 10,000 views at the time, until taken down by YouTube. My band were
placed on many digital platforms, including iTunes and Spotify to name a few. Our gigs suddenly became very successful and would pack
out venues. Ive attached a picture of us performing to illustrate how ecstatic audiences would get and how it represented the age
demographic of what we aimed to reach. Getting this deep into the music scene and receiving such positive and polite feedback is
something I feel incredibly liberating and is something I wish to continue for a long time.