Case Studies

Case Study
In the beginning of this project my initial idea was to make an EP which was mainly Latin influenced, the reason I wanted to do this was because in my opinion, summer time is when the Latin market is the most popular which could be a good approach to engaging an audience and promoting my EP for the summer. However, as the first month went past and the half term break approached, I started listening to a lot of music and I realized that it would be good to have a contrasting EP to show a contrast of styles and to make successfully grab many audiences attention rather than sticking to one genre. However, regardless of this, Latin music has influenced me a lot in this EP because it is the type of music I enjoy making and that makes me dance. I looked at various songs and artists such as: Drake, Maluma, CNCO and many others and the way they introduce this into their music. A very simple approach to this was to evidently make the beat have that Latin feel to it. By this I mean the way the pattern of the kick drum and the snare is used, in many popular Latin music the typical beat is: kick, snare, kick, snare, kick, snare, kick snare, kick, snare, kick and snare. The pattern is quiet simple, but the simplicity of this drum pattern is what makes people dance and enjoy the music. Here is one key example of this technique.


From the 1900's, Latin music also shares parts of its sounds from African music from slaves who were transported to America by European settlers, they would bring there instruments when they were forced into slave trade to create sounds in order to communicate. Due to them coming to America and introducing beats that were completely different from the music that was being put out in the 1900's, this then eventually started to spread through out America and this specific genre of music started to become successful. As this continued to happen through the years Latin music has become much more popular and has become successful world wide. The Latin music is mainly known for its catchy rhythm and betas that make people dance, this is a big part of why I chose to do this for my FMP because Latin music creates a very positive vibe and makes everyone want to dance.

Another way Latin music has influenced my music making is also in my vocals. In one of my songs, I used the contrast between speaking English in a Latin influenced track but introducing Spanish into it, even though I am not Spanish, I can speak Spanish fluently which is a positive technique to use to make the music stand out and this is also a way to promote myself not just in England or America but also in places such as Spain and Colombia. Using Spanish lyrics could help me build an audience from different parts of the world because even thought the production itself is Latin influenced, it doesn't necessarily mean that they will like the song or the fact that song is in English so introducing Spanish into my music could be beneficial in relation to building an audience and even myself as a musical artist by singing in another language.

Case Study
During the process of this final major project, I have had a number of things that have influenced the way I make my music and the way I perform my music. One artist that has influenced me massively is Charlie Puth, I would say even before this project had started, Charlie Puth is an artist that has influenced the way I choose to make my music and strategies and techniques that make my music sound more professional and enjoyable. In his interviews he mentions the way he makes his music is mainly based on what the song is about and how it should come across, what I mean by this is that it is all to do with what the song is about. For example, if the song is about heartbreak, he would use production skills to make his music somehow represent that anger or sadness from the story in that particular song. He explains this technique in one of his interviews and mentions the effect of layering vocals and even beats. This is a technique that in my music I have been able to use, once this technique comes to use, it can be very helpful in terms of making your music sound fuller and richer in sound. In my song featuring Monet, I used the layering technique by another layer of the phrase in the chorus but in chest voice on top of the falsetto to create that mix of the vocals and create more emotion during that part of the song. Since the chorus is the most important part of the song that people get hooked in to, it is significant for me to use this technique to make the listener feel the emotion of the song.