Wrapped In Wires - Personal Goal

This year, me and six other students are all participating in a concept album in the style of prog rock. We have decided to call the album "Wrapped in Wires." Each of us have taken on the responsibility of composing one section each - this includes parts for vocalists (including lyrics),  

Part 1 (Brad Potter) - This section introduces the concept of a family moving into a new house and an introduction to their new routine. 

Part 2 (Martin Robertson) - This section introduces the idea of an extra room in the house. The idea being that from the outside, there are eight windows but inside there are only seven accessible rooms.

Part 3 (George Parker) - The teenager begins searching for the extra room and notices mysterious things around the house.

Part 4 (William Allman) - This is from the perspective of the man in the extra room, describing his actions. We decided that the man's role should be a biographer of every action that the family takes. He is intended as a metaphor for the dominance of social media and how it encompasses modern society. 

Part 5 (Me) - The teenager in the family searches for the room and eventually finds it with the man inside. 

Part 6 (Chris Seldon) - This section involves a confrontation between the family and the man in the room.

Part 7 (Harvey Jones) - This section is the overview of the whole concept. It is intended as a message to the audience, allowing them to interpret the lyrics themselves. 

Each of us need to compose our section, including lyrics and vocal melodies. We also need to gather the necessary band members and make our pieces available to learn for each other. I have written my prog piece in notation and sent my band members a PDF copy each, a recorded version of the MIDI file (for more accurate MIDI sounds), an exported MIDI file (for audio clarity) and a video of a practice session in case they want to look back on it and make any alterations of how they might want to play it. I have also sent the drummer an extra MIDI file of only the drum track because the drums in the original MIDI file were partially inaudible. 

Band Members on my track
Me - Guitar
William Allman - Bass
Mirron Webb - Vocals
Chris Seldon - Guitar/Synth
Seb Baldwin - Drums

Other band members
Guitar:
Joe Lewis
Luke Lewis
Raph Jezukiewicz

Bass:
Martin Robertson
Harvey Jones
George Parker

Drums:
Brad Potter

Other people involved
Kidderminster College Management - The funding will be provided by the college. We will also have access to the college's recording studios to overdub sections at a later date. This means using equipment such as microphones, DAWs and drum kits provided by the college.

Andy Edwards has the role of organising the recording session with Base Studios and overseeing the project.

Phi Yaan-Zek will help ensure material is learnt thoroughly by supervising practice sessions and making creative suggestions. 

Harry Schlanker will act as sound technician. This means he will have to learn the structure of all the songs and control sound levels and appropriate effects.

Joe Davies, Chris Seldon and William Allman will act as stage technicians - This means they will handle gear, including restringing instruments when necessary or bringing gear on stage when it is needed.  

We will require someone to film the recording session as we intend to make a live music video for each track. We will need an audience for this to work properly. These will be invited by anyone involved in order to fill up the room capacity as much as possible.

Everyone involved is responsible for arranging their own transport to and from the 310 gig and recording session. The band members will be mainly responsible for the promotion side of it, primarily through word of mouth. As well as the members in my band, all the members that aren't on my track also have the responsibility to learn and rehearse their parts and organise and attend practice sessions. 

I initially had Ash Field on drums but thought Seb would be better suited to the task due to his spontaneity on the drums. It also works better for continuity because Seb is playing drums on every other track already and this would mean there is no need for a change of drummer mid-show, which might cause confusion in the videos. In this circumstance I think sacrificing Ash's proficiency in following drum notation for Seb's innovation was the correct choice because the drum parts that I wrote were fairly static and slight alterations allow the piece to sound less robotic.

My role in this project includes acting as musical director in my own piece as well as playing guitar for three other people (Brad, William and Harvey). This means that I have had to learn parts for a total of four pieces in order for the show to run smoothly. I have set up a Facebook chat with these band members in order to organise practice times and share files. I sent my composition to each member for them to learn in their own time; this was my main method of reaching an end result. During practice, I have instructed members on learning parts but have also been open to experimenting with new ideas and creative input. This was helpful when I was still in the composition stage; having a band to work with meant that influences came in from different directions.   

We intend to perform this show in room 310 at college in May as well as performing and recording it at Base Studios in Stourbridge on 15th June. This performance will be less pressured than the college gig because we will explain to the audience members that it is a recording for an album. This means that if we make mistakes we have a chance to re-record and correct them. However, we will require more equipment to carry out this recording:

Equipment and who will provide it

310 gig:
PA system with two speakers - College
2 dynamic microphones with XLR cables - College
4 bass guitars and leads - Bassists
6 electric guitars and leads- Guitarists
Drum kit - College/Seb Baldwin
Synth and laptop - Chris Seldon
Seating for the audience - College
Laney bass amp - College
3 Laney guitar amps - College
Pedals - Guitarists/Bassists
Lighting - College

Base Studios gig:
Instruments (except drums) - Band members
2 guitar amps - Guitarists
Bass amp - Bassists
Film camera - Base
2 dynamic vocal mics - Base 
2 dynamic guitar amp mics - Base
Lighting - Base
Mixing desk - Base
Dynamic kick drum mic - Base
Dynamic snare mic - Base 
2 overhead condenser mics - Base
2 dynamic tom mics - Base 
Lighting - Base

Risk Assessment
There are a number of things that could detract from the quality of the end product. These include:

People not showing up - We have discussed this problem and have encouraged each other to participate in the recording session even if we are ill. We discussed the idea of drawing up a contract that means whoever doesn't show up has to pay for the recording session. Although this is effective motivation, we are all convinced it is unnecessary.

Strings snapping/drumsticks breaking/cables breaking - Because it is a relaxed situation compared to a real live show, if strings snap or drumsticks break we will have the chance to stop playing whilst the problem is rectified. We will have a stage technician available with new strings and cables so if one does break, they can quickly change them whilst we remain on stage and discuss what the next step is. This means that whoever breaks the string won't have to take their attention away from the task at hand, meaning a more efficient use of time. 

Instruments malfunctioning - Although it would change the intended instrument layout if one stopped working, it wouldn't mean we would have to stop recording. Each guitar we bring along will be interchangeable (with the exception of Joe Lewis' 7-string) and the recording will still be acceptable with a different tone. However, if a guitar stopped working half way through a song, we would have to restart that specific song because the performance is being filmed as well as recorded. A different guitar appearing half way through the video would cause poor continuity.
  
Parts are played wrong - If sections of particular songs were played wrong and nobody noticed at the time, we would be able to overdub at a later date. Because we are recording each instrument and vocal mic into separate channels rather than recording the whole band with fewer mics, it would be simpler to replace particular sections in the mixing stage.

Few people turn up - There is a chance that the venue will not reach its capacity. We will be filming the gig, so this problem may be overcome by asking the audience to move right in front of the stage to give the illusion on video that the room is full. We will invite students from college, friends and relatives and the gig will be free, to encourage as many visitors as possible.


My goal is to have my own composed material available to the public. By recording this prog gig, I will be part of a concept album that will either be sold or released for free online as a download and will be further promoted by the prog record label that Andy Edwards will run. This is the first step in producing a portfolio of my own material. Prog rock is a style that I have never explored and may influence my future compositions. 

Working with a band in an unfamiliar style has also been helpful because everybody's individual styles and influences have helped in the creative process. I wrote my prog piece in MIDI but hearing it with real instruments changed my perspective greatly.

This project has inspired me to collaborate with more musicians to harness individual strengths in order to produce more exciting and diverse music. It has also introduced me to the idea of effectively transitioning between time signatures - something that I will experiment with further in future compositions.