Project Evaluation
In this evaluation, I will explain my creative process, describe my progress and compare my plans with my completed project.
My original plans for my project differ quite drastically from the actual result. I set out to create a 4-song EP in the genres of pop, rock and funk; and that's far from what I did.
The first song I made was an ambient instrumental piece I named 'Cluster' - its name stemmed from its 'spacey' sound inspired by the video game 'Outer Wilds'. Produced over the course of 3 days through the gradual accretion of layers, it has three predominant movements and signified my first real experimentation with Logic. While throughout the song I attempted to create my own synthesiser sounds from scratch, to my consternation, I was unable to and reverted back to the stock sounds with a few tweaks. Alchemy provided some customisation with a mostly user-friendly interface, however, the EFM synths and other synths were much more difficult to decode. In the future, I would definitely attempt to learn how to utilise these synthesisers.
After Cluster, I worked on my only real pop song: Not Giving Up Yet. The arrangement is incredibly simple, though the song taught me a lot about vocal mixing in Logic. Although I'm familiar with some vocal mixing techniques (compressor, EQ, de-esser, compressor and reverb on a separate bus), the double-tracking, panning and vocal harmonies were new to me. Not Giving Up Yet also left me unsatisfied, though, due to its simplistic nature and my inability to create my desired bass sound. Others factors I also dislike looking back at it are the out-of-tune note in the chorus, the contrast of the low energy in the chorus to the high energy in the verse and the lack of more compression to even out the verse double-tracked parts. My dissatisfaction and lack of focus is to blame when inquiring why the song is so short, lasting only 2 verses and 2 choruses.
Then, I worked on my cover of 'Don't Think Twice It's Alright' by Bob Dylan. Evidently, my songs follow a general pattern of being quite stripped-back, and I feel I didn't push myself enough with the software. Despite this, I do believe there is a hidden beauty in not pumping extrinsic detail into every piece which is portrayed by this cover. I focused heavily on the singing aspect of this piece, so although I recorded this piece while unwell, I am delighted with the vocals (especially considering how tragic my singing was at the start of the year).
My last original on Logic was a song named 'Five Days', a piece in which I take pride. It is a folk song comprised of jocularities pertaining to the risibility of this year at college. What's vital is that you understand this song is not meant to target anyone specifically, rather to express in music the trials I've been made to withstand in the 2025 school year. The caustic manner of the song is inspired heavily by John Prine, my favourite folk singer of all time, and by cross-referencing his music with mine it becomes clear the correlation. I was also pleased with the vocals in Five Days despite my ailment. And despite the final line of the song, I did dedicate a lot of effort to it so I'm glad to see that's reflected in the song (in my opinion).
Now, my last song for the project was '(It Was Over) Before It Even Started'. You'll notice a drastic difference in the level of the composition and production: this is because I used Ableton to create this song. While I wouldn't say I'm experienced with Ableton yet, I've been using it for a year so it's a lot easier for me to produce using it. You'll also notice a massive shift in the genre, it being a rap/singing song inspired heavily by Mac Miller (see Party on Fifth Ave and Under the Weather) and generic Latin piano. You can tell I'm no Mac Miller if you listen to the song, especially given my unconvincing American accent, but I really love the production and the vocal hook. In terms of improvement, I'd definitely want to improve the vocal mixing in this song since I can definitely hear some phasing, and I would want to add more variations to the choruses to make them more interesting.
In terms of research, you can find evidenced in my music that I learned a range of information surrounding Logic, largely through YouTube tutorials. These techniques included quantisation of audio (for making vocals and guitar in time), utilising shortcuts to cut audio and quickly navigate through interfaces, double-tracking and EQing of vocals and educating myself on the use of reverb. Given that I'm relatively familiar with Ableton already, I was able to transfer some of my skills and knowledge to Logic, however, the DAWs are much different than they might seem so there was (and still is) definitely a learning curve.
I am aware that it will still take a long time for me to produce anything remotely listenable using the full capabilities of Logic, but this project gave me an opportunity to get to grips with the software. There are factors that certainly held me back, like being sick and having little time between studying for exams.
All in all, I'm quite content with 3 songs out of the five - if I could, I would just scrap Cluster and Not Giving Up Yet - but I know it's a learning curve and I'll look back at the songs and laugh at them some day. You can find all of the songs attached below.
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