Composing Task 2

song 1 -
In this song, I tested out different songwriting techniques in order to create a song, however, the one technique I managed to use was cut ups and I wrote down phrases which corresponded to the topic of love or relationships. I wrote down phrases and then used some of my own lyrics from my mind to make the lyrics link together. I was inspired by this idea as artists such as David Bowie have used this way of writing their own music.

I used the structure: Verse, Pre Chorus, Chorus, Verse, Pre Chorus and Chorus. I wanted the song not to contain a bridge because I wanted the song to be short and sweet. By this I mean, the change in melody and avoiding boredom is mainly relied on the vocal more than anything and not so much on the production. This relates to why I used my falsetto to change the way I was singing the song. Additionally, in the pre chorus, I decided to use a seventh on the last two chords to make build up to the chorus sound more intense and rich. Another way I made the song sound richer and fuller is by using harmonies, harmonies particularly have the objective to create brightness and smoothness in the vocal which is what I intended to do otherwise the listener will eventually get bored and the song will sound plain.

In terms of constructing the song, I started off with a simple four chord progression on the  which lasts through out the entire song. In the third and fourth bar, the chord is played in staccato and on the off beat, this is an element of funk which makes the song sound more funky and slightly soulful. I had to use the quantiser (1/16th note) to quantise those off beat notes so it didn't sound wrong or be in the wrong place of the bar. For the drums, I used a simple drum beat using the Boutique using the bass and snare. I chose to use the tempo at 115 beats per minute because I wanted the song to have a fast but danceable tempo to work with.

Apart from using the piano, I also added strings using the same exact chords in order to make the song sound more intense which creates suspense. For the chorus and intro I used a Vintage Clav which is normally associated with R&B or soul, this was certainly inspired by Stevie Wonders music which contains a lot of soulful melodies. When the song is heard it has a very rich sound regardless of it being the only instrument with no actual chord progression and more of an instrumental riff. The bass carries the same melody through out the song, it simultaneously has a pop vibe as well as an R&B vibe, it makes the listener move and dance as it is a groovy melody to listen to.

I used the velocity tool in order to make the beat vary between powerful hits and weaker hits, this has a big impact on the way the song is heard because if the velocity is more or less the same through out the song, it will sound robotic and too technical, therefore, using the velocity tool makes the song sound more natural and relaxing to listen to.


In my second song, I used the same technique in relation to writing the song. I used cut ups in which I wrote different meaningful words to create a song to do with relationships. This technique was taken by David Bowie which helped me in a great way to write lyrics faster and more meaningful. As well as the lyrics being to a certain extent quiet simple, the way I vocally introduce my voice creates a lot of emotion and feeling which makes the song sound more emotional. I chose to use one perspective in this song which in this case would be my perspective (the male perspective) as the song was about a past relationship which didn't end positively I chose to use back vocals in which the lyrics are more in depth and are more understandable of the content behind the song. I used the structure: Verse, Pre chorus, Chorus, Verse, Pre Chorus and Chorus. The reason I chose to structure the song in this way is because in the verses their is a lot more information to do with the content of the lyrics whilst in the chorus the use of different phrases creates more mystery and suspense as not much lyrics are used but the strength of the production increases. Also, the reason I chose to use a pre chorus is because it is the intense build up to the chorus.

Behind the production of the track, I chose four simple chords which are played repeatedly throughout the song to maintain a base. In the pre chorus, my vocal range increased in pitch as I used a seventh and ninth chord to make the pre chorus sound mysterious. The increase in pitch creates more variation as it avoids the chance of boredom. I used strings and a Saxophone in the chorus to create an 80's soulful vibe. I took this saxophone idea from Stevie Wonders song "Sir Duke" in which the Saxophone is played in the beginning of the song at a faster tempo, but in my song, I used the Saxophone in the chorus with a slightly slower release.