Evaluation - sound

Me and my partner had to set up the microphones. There was 4 microphones we had to set up, each of the microphones had their own color so that we would know which one was which in the mixer. We also had to set up the piano, acoustic guitar and the bass - each of them had individual color too. The reason why did this is so that we could keep everything organised. There was one problem in the speaker one wasn't working, so we got that sorted immediately by replacing the speaker. We did sound check on everything (instruments and microphones) and they worked perfectly fine. When the event started my partner was doing the mixing on the mixer while I was walking around checking the sounds, I was checking the reverberation (whether if it needed more reverb or not) and I was also checking the speakers to see if they were both working. While I was walking around the audience I also had to inform my partner that 'this instrument needs to be turned up/ the vocals need to be turned up'. We were both communicating a lot. There was no reverb on the vocals but there was a nice natural reverb when I was standing at the back of the audience.
At the end of the show we had to pack up a lot of equipment and take it back up stairs. Overall the show was a success and it was really good.

Role Evaluation

My role was to manage the box office, I had to take in the peoples money and give out the tickets. I had to also communicate with the people by saying " Hi, welcome to the show... This tickets gives you half price on drinks " ect. My other role was also to pack up the equipment and bring it to the performer's truck/car.

I was responsible for the money, equipment, tickets and making sure the people were having a enjoyable time.  If something went missing then I would be the one to get in trouble or my other partner.

I believe that the event went really well, everyone had a good time. We had loads of positive comments on what a good job we did. The people loved our service as well, we were all respectful and sensible according to the public.

The only part that I needed help with was packing up the equipment because I couldn't do it all myself. Other than that I didn't need much help since my role was easy.

What I would do differently is I'll do different job roles next time, so I can experience different job roles for future references.

Smart target

My target is to finish off my coursework by December the 6th, 12th and the 20th of December . Also I have to finish my Instrumental Mixtape called 'The Keys',  the deadline is December the 5th. What I'm doing at the moment  is mixing and mastering the beats on my mix tape.

EP plan

EP plan
My name is Steven Williams AKA StevieBbeatz, I am a musician. I play the piano, compose and I produce as well. My goal is to become a professional Producer, to work with artists with no worries however my main goal is to work with known artists and make some beautiful music. In the music industry I see myself as a professional producer working in a studio with a few singers / rappers and engineers to support me, I also see myself teaching kids about the technical side of music. 

The genre I mostly do is urban & ambience, I do a lot of Hip hop, rap and R&B on the other hand I can do more genres but these are my main ones. My genres fit well with me because they are what make who I am, I grew up listening to these genres. The ambience is one of the mains that fit with me because it describes my personality - I'm a calm person and ambience is about calmness. My influence 4040 got me into ambience as I love his work so much and I would like to work with him one day also to produce for drake as he is drakes main producer - friend.

 The content of my EP is going to be R&B and Rap, the reason why I chose this style of music is because I know the elements in urban music, I know how to make it, the chord progressions and so on. To add on I always listen to these type of genres on my phone and on the laptop so R&B/Rap is my speciality, it will be blendid with a bit of ambience to it... One of the examples that I am talking about when I say 'blendid with amhienfe' is Drake Pound cake. The production in that track is mixed really well, it's nice and calm also it's easy for rappers to rap over it. 

The people I plan to collaborate with: 3 singers (Baran, Danillo, 1 session player (Andre) 1 pianist (Lamar) 3 Rappers (Kieran, Naga, Chucks) These people will bring a great aspect to my project because I know that they have the skills and abilities to achieve the goal that I want, they will give me ideas to make wonderful music. I will hire a session player because I would be the writer of the music & i'd tell the session player what to play. I would probably need a bass session player so I can get that live bass. I don't think I would need a composer since I would be the one writing the chords but at some circumstance i probably would need one as the composer would have more knowledge upon composition than me. Composers and session players are very different, composers are the like writers too , they write the chords, melodies and more however for a session players they are the people you tell what to play. **AS COMPOSERS, OR SESSION PLAYERS?**  **WHY WILL YOU HIRE PROFESSIONAL MUSICIANS**

Firstly I plan to get the pianist, in a production room with me, we will discuss about what sound we want to make(rap or R&B), once we have made the sound, me and the pianist will decide who we want for our song if it was a singer and a rapper we would need to see who has the right voice for our sound. I will tell them what the track Is about, if I feel that I want some live bass into my track then I would bring the bass player into the studio to give us that live bass sound.

 In the studio there's different roles such as studio engineer, technician, engineer, instrumentalists, Layer and more. In the Music industry you need to pay people to mix your tracks & to master them. All of the roles that I just listed exist in the industry but they're not that known. I think that I would need a studio engineer to set up the instruments for the artists + instrumentalists and a engineer to mix and master my tracks (but in these terms I might not need one since I would be doing this job myself).


** MORE DETAIL FOPR EACH ITEM OF EQUIPMENT **

The equipment that I would need the most is the midi keyboard and Logic, this is because these are the main things that I would be using since I'd need to make the beats.

Midi Keyboard - A midi keyboard is a keyboard that transmit data to logic pro, it's the same as a normal keyboard except you can't play it live. This is the keyboard that helps me create my beats and sounds.

Another Equipment I would need is the Microphone (C414) one reason is it's a condenser microphone and it gives brilliant quality when recording with a rapper or a singer however it is quite sensitive... but I'd still need it. I wouldn't use a dynamic at this Case because the quality of a dynamic mic isn't that great in terms of studio recording, condenser mics are more better as they have that nice crispy - clean sound. Whereas a dynamic it's abit more flat.

The pop shield will also come in handy so that the plosives from rapper's doesn't damage the microphone..
Also I will be needing the Mic booth so that there wouldn't be so many reverberation when a singer/rapper is recording, it will absorb the sound towards the singer/rapper back at him/her.

To add on the stage box would be needed so I could plug the XLR cables into it so it can transmit data to the mixer and Logic.

I have 12 weeks to record my stuff, since I have free facilities at college and my old school that I can use... I would need to book the production room/studio at certain times, I would also need to book them often in college. So my schedule would be:
Monday - 11Am - 4/5Pm (At school Studio, working on the beats/Mixing/Mastering)
Tuesday - 11Am - 5/6pm (At school studio, working on the beats/Mixing/Mastering)
Wednesday - 1 Pm - 4-6 pm (At College Studio, working with an artist thinking of ideas, maybe with a pianist too for some extra ideas + recording)
Thursday - 11:15am - 12:30pm (At college studio recording with an artist)
Friday -  10:30 - 12pm - (At college studio recording *If finished recording, I would be mixing the vocals*)

Equipment costs:
sE Metal pop shield : £52.00
Mic Vocal booth Roughly: £60
C414 Microphone: £1,410.00
Microphone Stand: £15
Midi Keyboard: £80
Studio hire full day 10am - 7pm : £325
I would probably need about 30 Cd's to release which would cost about £30,
this is because I would mainly be releasing my EP online...
TOTAL COST: £1,415,62

but if my EP wasn't free it would be about £5 on Itunes/Bandcamp.
The promotion I would be doing myself, my group of collectives would be also helping me as well as my very known friends will help me promote.
In future I plan to release my finished product on my soundcloud, also on Itunes. I will be sending my EP online, to loads of artists to listen, also to my friends, maybe a couple of DJ's as well. My EP will be a free download as it being free will get a lot of exposure especially from the people that will definitely help me with the promotion. My product will be promoted on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and so on. This will attract other artists to see more of my work - to get them to contact and work with me.

Deadline of this EP, before June.

Sound Design

                                                            Sound Deisgn

What is a Synthesizer?

A synthesizer is a instrument that creates a wide range of sounds, it's operated by a keyboard using different signals and frequencies of sounds. They can emulate a variety of sounds such as, a helicopter, a voice and much more. Synthesizer's isn't exactly natural sounds, they're more a frequency and a electronic sound. In Synthesizers there's different waves such as Sine, Triangle, Square and the saw wave.  Back in the 70's there was only one wave which was the Sine wave, it was the mot basic sine wave ever it had no control over pitch.

ADSR envelope

The ADSR stands for:

A- Attack

D- Decay

S - Sustain 

R - Release

It's a tool used to shape sounds. What the envelope does is it controls the impact and length of the sound, It opens and closes the sound. The ADSR has different roles to them which is:
A: The attack tells us how quickly the sounds want to be hit at a high amplitude, a short attack has a instant reaction, the slow attack has a slow reaction.

D: The Decay is the time taken subsequent attack level from designated sustain level.
S: The sustain is the duration of how long it will go on when a key is released
R: The release is how long it will take for it to decay from the sustain level 0

The wave forms and plug ins
Synthesized sounds are made from these basic sign waves: sine, square, triangle and saw. Back then they wasn't able to combined 2 wave only one. This is what the waves look like:

.

Between these 3 waves, the cleanest is the Sine, as there is no distortion, fuzzyness or anything. This wave sounds more polythonic than others. The triangle wave is almost the same as the sine except it there's a deeper bass in this waveform, as you can see on the diagram above^ the triangle picture almost matches the sine, it's just more sharper.
Comparing the Triangle and the saw tooth they both do not look the same but when it comes to sound they are about 60% the same. The Square sounds like it's combined with another sound, it's clean with harmonics and it has a higher pitch. The Sawtooth is the distorted sine wave, it has that fuzz-buzzy type of sound and it's low pitched compared to the other sine waves.

Nowadays we are able to combine more than 1 waveform to create a variety of different sounds by using software's such as Logic for example. We do this by using the ES2 Synthesizer we can also tweak the sound to create another sound. This is what it looks like:

This is the ES2 Synthesizer as you can see we can now manipulate synths using this. We can combine Waveforms to create new sounds, add distortion, change the key and many more. This is the main Synthesizer plug in where we can create our Synths, Synths like Pads, Leads, Basses or anything by just using this plug in. It may look complicated because of the different options there are but it's not as complicated as you think, as you can see there's different options/diagrams/areas each of these areas work as one. The most important area of them all is the one on the left and the middle. 

This is where the Sine, Triangle, Square and saw waveforms are located. This is how we can now combined more than one, where it says '1,2,3' that meas if we want to combine either 2 waves, 3 waves or just leave it at one wave. In the middle option where it says filter, we use this to tweak the waves around, we can add Resonance for high frequency fx, we can also add drive which makes the sound fuller. 

Another plug in we can also use for Synthesizer's is the EXS24 sampler. It has some features of the ES2, it's more of the easier version when using Synthesizers or tweaking Synthesized sounds. The features it has that relates to synth's is the cut off, drive, LFO, resonance, bandwidth and some other's. The features that it doesn't have is the 'Sine/Triangle/Saw/Square' option. In the middle section you can see it has 'cut off' ' the cut off is like an Envelope if you move that green line right and left contently then it would create an open and close type of sound. If you bring it all the way down to the left it would give you that warmth type of sound.

ES2 or EXS24?
Similarities: They both have the same features such as Resonance, Drive, Bandwidth, LFO option and so on. They can both tweak Synthesized presets, they can create a variety of sounds and manipulate them to create more interesting synths,
Differences: The EXS24 is more of a sampler than a Synthesizer, it doesn't have the Sine/Triangle/Square/Saw option, it doesn't have that much options to create the sounds you actually want and there's not enough presets.
The ES2 is not a sampler it's more a synthesizer, you can create any type of Synths, you can choose more than one waveform, change the key of it, add distortion and many more.
In my opinion I would choose the ES2 for making Synth sounds, this is because it's a Synth type of plug in. There's many options to choose from if you want to create different sounds such as the Envelope, cut off, LFO, pitch and many more. Although it looks complicated It's actually quite sophisticated and more intelligent than the EXS24 when it comes to Synthesizers.

History of electronic music - development of electronic instruments

 Moog Synthesizer/Robert Moog
Robert Moog

Is the founder of Moog Music, he is an American Electronic pioneer, he is also the creator of the Moog synthesizer. The Moog Synthesizer was the first used Electronic musical instrument, widely ever used. He's created more things such as bass pedals, The Moog minitaur, The Minimoog and many more.

This is him telling us about the history of the moog Syntheiszer, how to use it and so on.

Before there was any type of phase distortion synthesiser or any synthesizer at all, the first ever Syntheiszer was the 'MOOG Synthesizer'. The Mood Syntehsizer is a analog synthesizer that you have to create sounds manually, it was made around the 1960's. This synthesizer has been used frequently in the 60's/70's to create synthsised sounds. Back then there was only one waveform which was the sine wave, they could not manipulate sounds by using different kind of waveforms. The Moog synthesizer has a keyboard attached with a couple of wires, these wires are the Eq's/LFO's/Filters and so on. This Synthesizer has 4 type of waveforms which is Sine/SawTooth/Triangle/Square.

This is another demonstration of the Moog Synthesizer. When he presses a key it sounds like a triangle waveform, he then twists the knob which is the filtering knob to increase the low frequency's, he tries another oscillator to manipulate sounds. He uses 3 triangle waves with the filter all the way open to create new and wild sounds.  He then uses another waveform the saw tooth to get a fuzzy sound, he adds the same waveform on top to create that buzzy/fuzzy type of sound, it sounds like a Synth lead.




Cz Series 
The CZ series are electronic instruments, they are phase distortion Synthesizers they are produced by the Casio family. They were once made in the mid 1980's. They were about 8 made synthesizer's. These keyboards have a Midi input so people can use this for live performances. It also has a pitch bender, so you can manipulate the sounds.

The first make was the CZ-101, it was released in 1984. It was one of the first polythonic synthesizers, this keyboard had only 49 keys instead of 61 keys. The CZ-101 used miniature keys. It has a good stage of a 8 envelope design, it uses phase distortion synthsis which creates brilliant sounds.  The Casio
CZ-101 has it's own digital synthesis straight from the mid eighties, these sounds are often found in the CZ family. On the other hand if you want to get these sounds then you would need to modify the sine waves to create those sounds. This synthesis can create wild new sounds and some notable sounds.
Although this is the first make it's the mini version of the Cz-1000.

Casio Cz-1000

This Electronic instrument is called the Casio CZ-1000 Digital synthezier. " Casio Developed some of the first high-quality, low cost digital syntheziers . Modelssuch as the CZ-1000 helped bridge the deep gap between cheaper 'home' Keyboards and expensive instruments, and they were used by some amateurs and professionals alike. " - Source Martin Susan.
It was introduced in 1985, it is the 3rd ever made synthesiser and the second programmable phase distortion synthesiser. It's got 32 batches which includes 16 presets  and 16 user. It's succeeded by the CZ-3000 and CZ-5000.
The Casio CZ is most known for the 8 stage envelope. It used a phase distortion so with this you can manipulate with digital waveforms, for example sine waves and create your own varrious of sounds.
There are 3 sets of 8 envelopes sections, they are used to modulate your sounds. The first is used to modify the 'DCO' (Digitally controlled oscillator) Pitches. A DCO is like a digital electronic oscillator or analogue.
The second 8 stage in the DCW (Device Control Word) is used for modifiying phase angle time, which is the filter - they use this to either cut off bits/take away highs or lows.

The way he was using this synthesiser, is he was playing it like a keyboard and he was using the pitch bender on the left to manipulate his sound.



Casio CZ-1

The Casio CZ-1 is the most advanced and recent synthesiser in the CZ Series. It has doubled the memory compared to the eldest synthesiser's, it's got 3 modes - one is called normal, tone mix and key split. Each of these modes have different controls in terms of channels. It's also got a backlight just incase your power is out for example, the rest of the series do not have this feature. This Synthesiser is a Phase distortion synthesis, however compared to the other ones in the CZ series this one has new & improved features. The Casio CZ has effects that allows you to manipulate with the sounds  so you can create new sounds of your own. It also works like a normal keyboard because it has different presets you can use such as strings, orchestra, guitar and many more. This keyboard has external controls, you can use it for midi (logic) or for live performance.
Example of someone using the Casio CZ-1:

The way this person was using the Casio is he was demonstrating the way how the Casio works he was also showing us what type of 'presets' it has. It's got many many sounds that you can play around with.

Kraftwerk

Kraftwerk are the most known electronic musicians ever. These are one of the musicians that use a electronic keyboard.  This is them live performing as you can see one of the member's is using they keyboard/synthesizer

BlastBeat event @02 Arena ( defining events )

                                                               BlastBeat
The Event that I am studying is the BlastBeat competition. The people who organised this event before the finals + semi finals was year 10's, they had to promote around the whole the school by putting up poster's, an album ( that supported the advertisement ), presentations in assembly's & so on. It was auditions first, the talent scouts from Blastbeast were the judges there was 3 judges there. The capacity of people that was there which was in the hall was about 50 people. The stage in the Assembly hall was big and it wasn't flat on the ground.

As we proceeded to the semi finals, the place was in liverpool station in a lounge (near bricklane). It was a small lounge and it was a small stage, this type of stage was stage that it was kind of on the floor.
The amount of people that was there was between 20-30 people. Here is a video of an example:
This was where the finals was. The venue was in the 02 Arena. The Capacity of people that was there was  02 Arena 20,000 people. In the finals, there was many people +  many schools that were there to support their act on stage, there wasn't any empty seats at all. But in my estimation there was probably about 15,000-20,000 people supporting the BlastBeat acts. We was each given tickets to come into the 02 Arena to watch the event. It was free because we had a teacher to organise our tickets for us.
The acts had different genres upon them, there was a rock band, Urban band, dancer's, pop band and even a Choir. Acts of all ages were there, even primary school students were involved in the competition. awards were giving at the end after everyone has finished performed, Also there was guest stars performing there after the awards were finished giving out, they were called The Saturdays, Tinchy Stryder and DJ Ironik. On the stage there was many many spaces for the acts to move around it wasn't cramped together or anything, the act that I was supporting had 5 people on it, one rapper, one singer and 3 dancer's. There was 3 dancers behind the artists dancing to the song while the artists were at front. This is the video of them:
Each act lasted about 3-4 mins per song, most of the acts performed 3 songs, so in total minutes of their act it was 9 mins. When the act was finished 2 hosts appeared doing a little bit of comedy, to entertain the crowd while we had to wait for the other acts to perform on stage. The break (Comedy bit) would last about 10 mins, so it would take about 10-15 mins for the artists to get ready and perform on stage. These 'presenter's/comedians' were called Don & Boa. This is them: As you can see there was spotlights and multiple of lights being controlled by the lights technician


BlastBeat is a huge business that deals with events, competitions, helping people set up their own events and so on. For this competition everything was set in the 02 Arena.

Technical
I saw a technical team, who had Black T shirts on and a walky talky. These people were the ones who dealt with the music, the sound engineering making sure that everything sounds right and nothing goes wrong. The team were the ones who was normally at the back of the stage or whenever there was a break they would re-set up the microphones (any other equipment) for the other performer's. Without a Technical team for an event then there wouldn't be anyone in charge of the engineering or the set up. It would be a complete mess.

Shops
There wasn't really any 'bar's' but there was shops you could go to, where you could get popcorn, sweets, Nacho's and many more. The 02 Arena is a big place so there was pretty much a lot of takeaway shops.

Promotion.
BlastBeat is a really massive business/Fund-raiser. They use the same logo on every leaflet they handle out, especially if it's for online promoting. I think they do have a promoting team as well.

Venue too full?
Although the 02 Arena was packed with about 10,000 people, it wasn't full at all. Which was a great thing. BlastBeat chose the perfect place to hold the finals.

Security.
There was a security team and they were wearing green shirts, colour code is really important so things doesn't get mixed up with the technical team. These were the ones who were mostly on guard with the front of house and inside the 02 Arena.
Security is really important for events so that no trouble doesn't happen, it's the securities job to sort out anything bad that happens.

Front of house.
Front of house member's are really important, at the 02 Arena there was a couple of them. They would either take your ticket and then rip the top it just a little or they would take it away. These people are important because with no front of house - anyone can just walk in by.

Project plan

EP plan:

To compose at least 2 of your own material and work with an artist by creating 3 tracks for them you have to be able to use at least 3 plug ins on logic/garage band to make your tracks really interesting & you have to mix & master everything yourself. It must sound professional. You should also release it on soundcloud/YouTube. 

You must write about what you did in detail, it must also cover what you did in logic in terms of Mixing & Mastering.
Unit: 31

Criteria:

• Be able to undertake a range of roles in the recording and production of contrastingmulti-track material

• Be able to complete effective stereo mixes of the multi-track recordings
• Be able to edit and master the material 

Q1: What is equalisation, and how has it changed the working process since the early days
of studio recording and mixing?
A: Equalisation is a process that is commonly used for the Frequency response of a audio system. It has simple filters, that can make bass and treble sounds. Frequency nowadays has changed because nowadays we have things like 'Logic pro' and other softwares. In logic there's a 'EQ' plug in that has things like low frequency and high frequency. The high frequency is the bottom shelve while the low frequency is also on the bottom shelve but on the right handed side. There is many EQ's you can pick from in our day time... the EQ that I just explained is the 'Match EQ', but there's more. Other EQ's such as.. 'Linear phase EQ', 'Match EQ', 'Channel EQ' and many more. They all basically have the same effect of the Match EQ. The Match EQ is more used that the others. In the early days, we also have a mixer that has the EQ on it as well. Comparing the old days into the new one, there has been a lot of improvements and upgrades... in my opinion I would prefer using the Early days EQ more than the Olden days. The reason why is because in the Olden days it seemed more difficult and complicated just to EQ things.. but nowadays we can just use a plug in logic for example.

Q2: What is the polar pattern called that the U47 used for recording vocals? What is the polar
pattern of the other microphone that was used previously? Why do you think the
directional ability of the U47 helped in the recording process in this particular case?
A: The polar pattern that is used for the U47 is called the Directional pattern. The polar pattern that was used for the other microphone previously is called the 'Bi Directional'. The reason why the directional ability of the U47 helped in the recording process because the U47 has a rising characteristic to the mid range and a bright high end. This pattern also helped out because the pattern favored the voice and it didn't allow it to be drowned out by the Orchestra.

Q3: : What is meant by the term 24/48? Why do you think, in this case, using 96k was not
suitable?
A: I think the Term " 24/48 " means " 24 bit or 48 bit ".  The reason why 96k is not suitable because it has too much space and it slows down the compression.

Q4: What is the job of the ‘converters’? How important are these in a modern studio?
A: The job of converters is to turn a LOGIC/PRO TOOLS midi region into either a MP3 or a WAV file (audio). It's basically another word for changing. These are very important in modern studios because this is the main thing when it comes to music so that the producer can either ship off a instrumental or whatever. Converter's are needed so that data can be transferred to a CD or online, if it's converted to a WAV file then that data would need to be on a CD, if it's MP3 then it could be on your phone or online. They play a big role as this is how the music comes out from the Midi regions in Logic or Pro tools. These are also important because they change the region into an audio file.

Q5: What other benefits do using DI boxes give an engineer in the studio?
A: You can use a DI boxes for recording instruments such as Guitars..Bass and many more. It turns your unbalanced signal into a balanced signal, which means more suitable line level for FOH.  A DI box has a Thru jack.. you plug a cable from the jack into a bass amp and it sends the DI box to two different places. the Amp and the mixing board.

Q6: What would you suggest?
A:  I suggest getting more drum mics, 2 for the snare. One dynamic and one condenser. If anything I also suggest the Akg rhythm pack... maybe a mixer with more inputs because things might sound muddy. A DI box for the guitar amps... I also think the guitar should be running out an amp into the condenser mic, it would come out with a good sound.

Finding faults

The beatles - Yer blues (2009 stereo Remaster)
The instruments in the song is slightly panning to the left and it should be in the lift. The song should be straight in the middle. The drum beat is panned to the left about 50 degrees when it should be in the middle, because it's the main instrumenti n the song. In 1:32 it randomly echoes when it shouldn't be like that. The vocals should be turned up more. The bass should be in the middle and not panned 15 degrees to the left, the reason why it should be in the middle is because the bass is one of the main instruments as well, it gives drums a boost and a bit of bass to it. Another fault is that the guitar lead should be in the middle and not panned because it's the main melody in the song, the melody is something for the audience to remember it by. The drums should be louder than the other instruments that's playing. In my opinion (if this was made using with Logic)  the drums should be panned to the middle and not the left - the drums are the one that keeps in time with the track, the guitar that's panned on the right should be panned in the middle, the vocals should be compressed. The reason why the vocals should be compressed is so that the vocals could have a better quality in the song... the echoes should be taken off because it just came out randomly - also the echoes made the vocals a bit quiter.

Love - You set the scene
There's a big problem in this song as the main melody is panned to the right at 50 degrees, when it should be in the middle also it's very low, since it's the melody - it should be panned in the middle and it should be turned up more louder, the reason why this is a problem because as the song starts people wouldn't think that their earphone/headphone is not working on the left side.
The bass and the drum beat should not be panned on the left so much, this is called a " hardcore pan " , this makes the track really empty in the middle. At the moment there's so much space in the middle that only the vocals are there, although the vocals are in the right spot... there's too much emptyness and another fault is that vocals needs to be louder as well. At 5:15 the drums comes off time with the bass...
What I think the producer should of done is that, they should of panned the drum beat in the middle, the bass in the middle, the guitar (melody) in the middle and the vocals in the middle. While the other instruments are panned either to the left or right. This means that the main things are in the middle and there's space in the track for other instruments playing, but they shouldn't be panned to much only atleast 20 degrees to either the left or right.

I live in a dream
In this track the vocals needs to be louder because the vocals are what the audience is going to remember the song by. The drums needs to be EQed as the bass of the drums are quite low, they should be EQed using the Top shelve by just a bit so the drums doesn't clip/distort.

Track 1 (production diary)

Then Till now

Equipment list

In this picture it shows the Microphone (NT1000), headphones, pop shield, Mic stand and the reflection filter.

The reason why we used the Rode NT1000 (mic) because this was the type of microphone we had to use to record in the studio because it's a condenser, it has better quality than the dynamic ones. Condenser Microphones can handle power, ( as it needs phantom power to use ) but dynamic microphones can't handle the power, also Condenser microphones are more sensitive so they'll pick up more sound... as dynamic is less sensitive so it would not pick up that much sound... 

We used headphones to record our song, the reason why we needed headphones is because if there wasn't no headphones then we wouldn't be able to record the song as the artist wouldn't be able to hear the track playing through or the metronome. 

The next equipment we used was the pop shield. As you can see it is placed behind the mic... the reason why it is there is so that no spit could go on to the mic when the artist is either singing/rapping... but this is mostly for rapper's as some of them spit a lot when it comes to rapping fast. This stops the spit from damaging the condenser (as it is sensitive ) it would damage it quickly.

Next up... is the Microphone stand! The microphone stand is the one holding the microphone and the reflective filter. This was used to make the microphone stay still, so that it doesn't drop or anything like that. Also it's there so that no one has to hold the Microphone when recording.. the microphone was the main essential of the equipments.

XLR Cable. The XLR cable is plugged from the splitter box into the Microphone. It has 2 ends... one is the female end and the other is the male end. The Female end goes towards the Microphone and the Male end goes into the Splitter box. This is used to connect to the Microphone.

The next equipment we used was the reflection filter. When recording the reflection filter is used to stop the Reverberation, the 'hush' sounds and other sounds.. 

Jam Hub

This is called a Jam Hub, it is a conjuction with vocals, instruments, pre amps and many more. the reason why we used the Jam hub is because it was needed to plug into the 'Stage box ' ... the jam hub was also used to send the channel numbers to the mixer.. onto Logic, so that we could know what is recording where for example.. the Microphpone was in channel 7-8 so it was sent to there and we had to use those channels to record what we want.

Stage Box

 The stage box is where XLR cables are plugged into. You only use this if you're recording.. we used this to connect it to the jam hub. The stage box has channels.. as you can see the Yellow cable that is connected into the Jam hub is the Microphone cable, this is where microphone channels was sending to the mixer.








Recording
I first recorded my sounds with Midi the reason why I recorded using Midi because I had to make the instrumental first before putting audio on top of it... also I think that using Midi is more compatible with me as I use it a lot. All of the sounds such as the electric guitar..drum beat, bass etc was recorded using the Midi keyboard. The Midi keyboard is a keyboard where Logic understands the language of Midi, it transmit data from Midi into Logic. My Track doesn't contain any live recording. It has many instrumets into it though, there's also instruments I tweaked as well. I played in everything myself, using 3/4 chords, all the other instruments that has notes in them, Improvised them by myself and built around the beat. I velocitised all the notes in every instrument, in piano roll so that they could have the same levels and the same dynamics. One of the instruments I edited in piano roll was the electric guitar and changed ip the dynamics, the way how I did it is that.. first of all I selected all of the notes in piano roll and went to 'Fixed velocity' this changed all of the colours to one colour which was orange, I then highlited one bar and used tool box (the velocity tool) to drag down the colour to green and then I dragged the last bar abit up so it could be abit more red. I did this so there could be a build up in the instrument.
I used a lot of panning as well, to create space for each instrument so that everything isn't cramped together in one space which is the middle. 2 of the sub drums went towards the left and the other 2 went to the right.. while the bass drum was in the middle. The electric guitar is in the middle because it's the main instrument (melody) that people will remember. All the other instruments were either panned to the left or right.
In the chorus I used a effect called 'high pass filter' the filter drops into the chorus which shows that there is a change in the structure.. after the second bar of the chorus it rises up to do a build up and then you hear a radio sound which drops into the second verse.
Instruments:

• Electric Guitar
• Synth Pads & a tweaked synth pad
• Drum beat ( 4 sub drums and one main bass drum )
• piano
• Bass
• Random sounds (nature & radio )

The electric Guitar is the main melody in the song, that is why it is the loudest in the song. It's alongside with the vocals & the drum beat.

The synth pad in the begining is the one I tweaked... I tweaked it using the ES2, the way I tweaked is that I used the 'RND' tool on the bottom and I dragged the ball towards the right, to make it increase the percentage.. the more you drag you more random & new sounds you would get.

The drum beat.. in the recording there is about 4 drums.. but they are all turned down so it doesn't distort. One of them has bass drum and that is the loudest of the other drums. The reason why it has 4 drums is because I needed the drums to be a bit more louder and to have a better quality. At the time I had one drum and it was the bass drum.. although compressor could turn it up - make it a better quality, it was distorting a bit. I added sub drums ( the 4 drums I mentioned ) which had no bass into it so it could have that punchy feeling, I also Eq'ed the drums (the ones without the bass).

Piano.. at the end of the track you could hear that the piano sounds a bit weird... 

The reason for this is because I used a reverb on it and the reverb I used is called 'Space Designer', I used a a plug in. I used this specific effect because I didn't want the piano to stay boring, I wanted to be creative in the reverb.. Another reason why I used this one is because this reverberation has space.. while the other's don't - meaning when the piano is playing you would carry on hearing the sound until the Reverberation has stopped.

Audio recording... After layering everything out in the beat, I decided that it needed some vocals on it, so first of all me and the artist had to set things up before we recorded anything. We set up the microphone onto the microphone stand first, we had to screw it on, tight so that it doesn't fall off or anything  Then we got the XLR cable and plugged one end in the microphone while the other end went into the stage box... afterwards we got another cable and plugged it into the Jam hub while the other end was plugged into the Stage box.

Mixing using only midi first
The way I mixed the midi first, I compressed a lot of things... for example the drums, the reason why I compressed them was because I wanted the compressor to raise the low volumes and lower the highs.. BUT! I used the gain to turn them up and I turned down the threshold. The reason why I turned down the threshold is because the threshold makes the compressor work by raising the gain reduction. I did a lot of panning in the mixing, the things that was panned to the middle was the bass drums, the electric guitar and the bass. The reason why the electric guitar was panned in the middle is because it is the main melody in the song. The other instruments (the extras) the were panned either to the left or right, they were panned this way so that everything is not in one space and also so that theres space between the left, right and the middle.

Mixing using Audio
I personally think that mixing the audio was one of the hardest things to do. First of all I had to record Kierans vocals on to the track and we had to take a lot of takes to get it right. We recorded the first Verse, Chorus and the second verse. for the first verse I had to use one of the audio because it sounded more better than the other takes we did - the reason why it sounded better because when we was recording some of the words he was saying in the other takes sound a bit wrong like muffled and that.
we also recorded Ad libs as well.
The way i mixed the vocals in the track is that I turnt down Kierans verse by a bit, I also turnt down the electric guitar is it was clashing a bit with the vocals... another thing I had to turn down was one of the bass kick because it was making the track a bit distorted. I made the vocals all the same level with the other vocals such as the chorus, and verse 2.
I also made Terells verses and chorus the same level of Kierans. I added some reverb on to Kierans vocals in the chorus. I did this because I wanted the chorus to sound like there's some extra space when saying some words and so that it doesn't sound flat + straight.
At the end of the chorus (the near end of the track) I added a echo to Kierans voice, to add a bit of flavour to the song.

Mastering
In the Mastering I bounced the track to a WAV format, the reason why I did this is because this is the type of format you must use when putting on a CD.
I didn't do as much because I mixed it pretty well.
The things that I used was the EQ:
The reason why I used the EQ was because I had to turn down the kicks a bit by lowering the top shelve, the kicks were sound a bit too loud and it was making the track a bit distorted.
Another plug in that I used was the limiter, the reason why I used the limiter is because the track was clipping a lot.
This made my track to go under the clipping bar. I then turned down the gain to -o.5dB. I did this because I wanted the track to go a bit under the volume level.
I then used the Level meter to check if it's going to peak over or not, I think this helped me because although I should be listening to check that it's not distorting or anything, this also helps me too see meter.

Listening style..

Macklemore - Can't hold us

This song structure starts with an:
- Intro
- Verse 1
- Chorus
- Verse 2
- chorus
- Bridge
- chorus

Instruments

1. Synth lead
2. Claps (from real hands - not from Logic)
3. Kicks (real kicks from human feet & a deep club kick)
4. Piano
5. Bass
6. Horns
7. Percussion ( hi hats, tambourine )

The producer of the song is called Ryan Lewis him and Macklemore are like duets - together. I think the genre of this song is Hip hop, with just a hint of Pop because of the time signature (4/4), it goes in 4 beats per minute. The rhythm of the kicks go in crotchets and so does the claps but in 2:05 it changes to semi quavers.

I like The claps and kick because it represents the sound of what church/gospel people do when their making a beat while singing. They do this when they stump their feet.
I can tell that the kicks were recorded as real life stumping from people's feet, in the intro, also the claps are recorded from human hands.


Everything about this song is perfectly mixed & mastered. Many instruments are levelled such as the kicks and the claps, they are levelled out together which means they are balanced. I can tell that the piano has been velocitsed which means that the chords in the piano has the same level of volume.
In the mix there's a nice deep - Bass (club) kick, it's been used very good. I can also tell that the producer 'Ryan Lewis' used a good sense of Compression on to it, I can tell because of the quality of the kick. It's really punchy and quite bassey as well. The attack of the kick is really good I would say that the attack on the kick is around about 40-60%. Although it is a deep bass kick, there's not much of bass on it there's only a little bit. In the mix if the  song is that the vocals is the loudest first, second is the drum beat, then third it's the piano & the horns.


What I also like about this song is that the Piano is the main melody and it's easy to remember for people.  The chords for this song is, Em, Dsus, Bm, C and the bassline is E , D , B, C. This is how the chords go in order:

• Em x4 + bassline E
• Dsus + bassline D
• Bm + bassline B
• Then it goes back to a C x4 + bassline C

Business plan

Releasing a/EP 

Objective 
My objective is to release a EP online on a website called bandcamp, the reason why I picked bandcamp is because they won't take any money away from me... also I would stay in contact with those who purchased my EP as I would get an email from them.
My main aim is to grab a bigger audience/bigger fanbase also I hope to gain more artists to listen to my beats - so that they could get at me to make them instrumentals for a fee.

Target audience
Tto everyone who likes my music mainly for Artists so that they could use them, for me to gain more exposure. Mainly for those 15-23. The reason why it's mainly for Artists is because once they hear my EP, they would probably contact me and decide to work for me.

Timeline of planning 

I would be making a lot of instrumentals and working with artists for my EP. I would need to book some studios but I should have some connections, so I wouldn't have to pay for studio time. I think that on the weekends I would do recordings with the artist because that's the time I mostly be available. The editing & the mastering I would do it in my free time unless I have a deadline which I woould then plan out when I should edit & master the tracks.

Promotion

I would be promoting on Twitter/Youtube (Previews)/ On my team of collectives page/Facebook and more. Loads of people such of my friends would help me promote as well, and I'll also get other known people to help me promote as long as I do things for them... I negotiate small deals just so that they could help me advertise.
Cons: The cons are that some of the people won't have social networks to reach my music
Pros: Most of my target audience are on social networks so they could listen to my music.

Marketing Strategy 

I plan to release a beat mixtape first, so I could get more exposure and so people would know that I would make a EP afterwards. If I make this beat mixtape, people would probably buy my EP as they probably would like my beats.
This would not be free on Bandcamp.. I would probably release 3 tracks so that the audience can get a taste of it first. The EP might also go on Itunes.

Budget 

Design prices for the front cover (artwork) should be around £30-£50 or I could get someone to do it for free (that's I have connections with people)
-The format of all tracks would be MP3, because it's not going to be released on a CD it's gonna be released for digital download.

Contact details

The contact details of the beat Mixtape would be on the back... so would the EP as well.

The contact details would show my Email address.. my website... Twitter & Youtube.

Freelance (task B)

Producer
As a producer my role is to get known to the public so that I could grab the artists attention/non-artists attention to listen to my instrumentals, to work with me and so on.  This is my role because loads of producer's need to work with artists and the only way that could happen is if their music gets advertised a lot. Also another reason why is because producer's need to make money. The way that I plan to promote myself is...

Marketing Materials

- My LOGO/My sign. If people see this sign, they would know that this is " STEVIEBBEZTZ " and only him.

• Soundcloud - Www.soundcloud.com/StevieBbeatz

SSB - ( Myteam of collectives) this would help me because this group is quite known as well, also the producer on the right is more known as well. This could help me get more exposure.

T shirts - (StevieBbeatz/Stevie-Bbeatz) - I plan to make more T shirts like this one which I made personally for myself, the way I plan to do this is to make more T shirts and sell by myself for the time being if sold I would keep on repeating in making more T shirts and selling. I also plan in making a LOGO if possible. If  I amsuccessful, I would try to get a few connections in helping to sell them in a store. 

Another way that I could promote myself while wearing this T shirt is to appear in videos, so that people could recognise what my t shirt says and hit me up.

• Facebook - Www.facebook.com/StevenProducer

(Facebook page so people could contact me - personal fb & producer)

• Youtube - www.Youtube.com/Steviebbeatz

(Youtube, where all of my videos are and songs)

• Twitter - Www.Twitter.com/StevieBbeatz

(Twitter - Producer & personal twitter)

• Blog -  http://steviebbeatz.blogspot.co.uk/

These Marketing materials would help me a lot because they would help me to become more knwon, the ones that specifcally will help me the most is Youtube, Facebook, Twitter & soundcloud. I think these are the main ones because for Facebook I could get a lot of friends to share my music, I can advertise them on Famous artists pages, peoples wall, my wall & more. For Youtube I would put my music up there, videos and things like that - Youtube would help me get views, I could even pay for advertising it on a lot of Youtube videos at the beginning of the video. Soundcloud would definitely help me because I could also put my music up there, people would be able to Download them as well & they could spread the word as well. Youtube & soundcloud are main marketing materials because this is where I would put my music up on. I think Twitter is one of the main ones too because I could hash tag rappers like this "#rappers" to follow me, dm me about using m instrumentals or to make them a beat for more exposure. I could also tweet a lot of artists as well, which is more easier.

Target Audience
As a producer my target audience would be for everyone who likes music, preferably teenager's/young adults because they would promote my music more than adults, as teenager's/young adults would enjoy it more. This is because my music would mostly be the genres of this audience would listen too. Not only teenager's/young adults would listen to it maybe street promoter's/manager's (of clubs) would listen to them so that they could play it in their club or in a building, but the main audience that it would be directed too is artists so that i could work with them. This would help me in getting a bigger fan base for myself.

Royalties

Writer's Royalties & Rights
The way a writer gets their royalties is that when their song has been recorded or performed then they are entitled to a royalty or a payment. Companies would have to pay a synchronization fee that's If their song gets played on TV, film or radio which means the companies would have to pay them and the rights from the writer's to use them.

There is another royalty called the " Mechanical right " this means that every time a track is written & recorded the writer must be paid. The way a Mechanical royalty works is that if the track gets put onto a Vinyl for instance then that's when a Mechanical royalty comes in. The MCPS (The Mechanical copyright protection safety) HAVE to negotiate on the publishers half, with other record companies, broadcaster's or more, if they wish to have a song.

Performer's royalties & license
performer's would also get royalties if their used in a recording as well. The way a performer get's their royalty as well is that if they performed a song that they recorded in the studio as well. performer's rights are owned by the people who plays instruments most of the time. If a performer wants to use their part in a song, they would need to get permission from the writer in order to use it.
If you are an artist there could be a royalty payment which means that they get paid a percentage of each record sold in a shop, Things like clubs, shops, bars, hotels or whatever

'A company called Phonographic Performance Ltd (PPL) collects the license money and then passes a share on to the musicians. Royalties Reunited is the simple way for you to claim airplay royalties that are owed to you.' (ref: http://www.venturenavigator.co.uk/content/499 )

How much they get
This all depends on what deal they've signed/what distributor they've signed or what the contract says. They should get about 10-20% of money, this means that every record that's sold they'll get that amount but it all depends what it says on the contract, for example they'll either get 10-20% of the retail money,whole sale, distributor price or something else. Sometimes the percentage would be more than 10-20% it just depends on whatever the contract says. You have to be real negotiable if you want a good contract.

However you must be real negotiable, this is because some labels would include 'clauses' which means that labels would reduce the amount of money your supposed to get, they would do this in contracts, this is why you must read carefully when getting a contract. 'Bear in mind that record companies will often try to include clauses in their contracts with artists that reduce the amount they have to pay them' (ref: http://www.venturenavigator.co.uk/content/499 ) . Some of these deductions would come from making copies, advertising, poster's all them kind of stuffs.

A better way in making sure you get ALL of the money/royalties to yourself is to be independent (by creating your label), selling the records yourself and much more. This way you won't have to be concerned about any contracts or have a fuss about things. On the other hand when making/having a independent label it would be a lot of work because you have to take control in everything and do it yourself. This way is a better option because you won't have to pay back anything back, everything goes to yourself and you could be in partnership with other acts/ small labels to use their recording studios for example. This option is way better than signing any label record and the reason why is because they would give you money in advance - then you would have to pay the money back to them.

Stevens Screen cast (Mix ass)

Aural Perception

SONG 1 (GC. 2)

• The notes are 1,1 6, 6, 1,1 6, 6 4, 4,5, 5 1, G# Dimenshed
•  These chords convey the meaning of the song because the chords  they are simple type of chords, the sound of the chords go together with the vocals - really well. The chords and the vocals have the same type of tone because of the sadness on the chords espedcially when he says " minor 4 and 5s " it changes into a Dimenshed *G#*
• It is G# minor dimenshed7 or E7
•  

SONG 2 (G.C.1, G.C.2)

• The notes for the guitar Bb,F,G,E, The intervals are P5, m7, m6
• The chords of the first 3 notes is Gm7

SONG 3 (G.C. 3)

• The time signature is 12/8 and it goes in Quavers
• The rhythem of the main theme is quite fast
• The Composer changes the speed of the violins to make it sound faster by making it aggressive as well, more instruments come into it as well.

TONALITY (G.C. 4)

• Once in a life time:
• Black ants:

Grants Assignment

Music industry, Roles and Contracts!

The Music industry
I am going to talk to you about the music industry things like Recordings/labels ect. There's many roles in the music industry such as producer/rapper/engineer/studio engineer and so on. Some of these roles play a big part in the music industry, I personally think that the Producer plays more of a big part in the industry. This is because the producer is the one who does everything such as making the beat, Chords, samples, recording and more. I will also talk to you about contracts upon producer's/engineers and there responsibilities.

Producer
The role of an music producer is that they have to work with artist, make sure that the production is Excellent and up to top standard.

Salary/working hours and environment
The salaries of a producer is that they can earn over £13,000 to atleast a £1million depending on who they are producing for and what the percentage is. People like Timbaland, Noah 40 Shebib, Dr Dre make about £500,000 or over per year, this is because they producer for big artists in the music industry. Their working hours accumulate about 10 hours atleast or over - depending on what their deadline is. The way they work, is that they work in recording studios or they could work in their house, which is known as a bedroom producer.

Duties
The duties of a producer is that they need to make sure they know what they are doing, they can't make any mistakes. They also need to have a lot of experience in software's such as Logic pro and Pro tools, these are the main softwares in the music industry that a lot of producer's use. Producer's cannot act like a fool when they are working with an artist even if the artist is stuck up they need to always have a positive atitude, when it comes to production. Producer's have to mix the track after it's finished, they need to do all of the production such as making the beats, the editing, recording and so on.
Skills & Education
For a Producer the skills you need to have is honesty at all cost, you need to know what you are doing, you got to have a lot of experience and you have to act as a professional. As a Producer you should be able to know how to play a piano which would give you a big advantage and also you should know how to work out things with your ear. The education you need to a music producer is that you need to know about the music business, how it works and what goes on in the music business. The other part of the education you need is that you need to know about the Theory when it comes to music for example if it was a piano you should be able to know how to play the piano by sheet music, read the sheet music, write sheet music, know where the notes are on the sheets and yes obviously the ear test. A producer needs to know how to mix, how to use mixing equipment, use compressors (know about compressors too), EQ's and to use recording software's like Pro tools/Logic Pro. A producer is useless if he/she doesn't know about the basics or know how to record. The big part when it comes to the education is that they need to learn and know what to do when they are in a studio, they need to how to use mixer and the channels.

Job satisfaction
As a producer I would be happy to have this job, the reason why I would be happy is because I enjoy working with people and making beats for them. This job is something I have a passion for I find it fun but hard working, just making incredible music with/for the artist is really exciting. The pros and Cons for being a producer is:

1. Pros: You get to work with the artist and create good music
2. Get paid a lot if you do your job properly
3. Meet new people/famous people

1. Cons: It is very hard working and tiring
2. You'll properly be stuck with an artist you don't like or he/she could be fussy/bit of a diva
3. You get paid by a percentage depending on how many records the artist sales.

Contracts
The type of contract there is for a music producer is the " The Producer agreement ". This type of contract is like a protection type of contract, this type of contract is more of the label record contract.
Another type of contract there is.. " Production agreements " , this type of contract means that the producer will often work with the artist on songs, create a group of musicians around the project.
I think that the best contract between these 2 types would probably be the "Production agreement" this is because this type of contract would make the producer more money as the record would be released to a thrid party label if it is successful. In my opinion I think it is better without an contract as you can be more freely on what you want to do, you would be able to create whatever music you like - especially if the artist likes it. You won't be owned by a contract which means that no one won't own you.

Payment Method
The way a producer gets paid is that they get paid with percentages but they get more of the percentage than the aritst, this only occurs if the artist signs a contract, they are in a record label or they are a well know/big producer. Unsigned/underground Music producer's would occasionally sell there beats online for a small fee for example £30 or something.

If a contract gets terminated
As a producer their contract doesn't last forever, it would often get terminated or expired. If I was a producer and my contract got terminated, then I would have to do a lot of research to look for another contract or I would work with artists - with no contract.

Studio Engineer

Salary/Working hours and environment
For a Studio Engineer there salary is about £13,000 a year but if they have more experience the salary rises up to about £20,000 to £40,000. When it comes to working hours, they would need to be flexible and consistent about their working hours. They may have to work during evenings/overnights/the whole day ect. The type of working environment they work in is in studios.

Duties
The duties of a studio engineer - They need to set up the studio by setting up the Microphones, microphone stand, making sure that everything is plugged in correctly and so on. Studio engineers have to get the right sounds for each instrument as well, this often takes a long while but this is one of their main duties. Studio engineers work as a producer as well but they do have different comparisons  studio engineers deals with the mastering, mixing and the recording.

Skills & education
The skills you need - to be a studio engineer is that you need to have a trained ear, you need to have the skill to disect a track by making one hit and not a flop! They should have good practical skills and paitnece ect... A Studio Engineer should know how to Pro tools, they need to have the skills to master a track. You got to have the knowledge to know about the digital equipment things like mixer's/compressors and many other things you need to know about. The education you need to be a studio Engineer is that you should have a degreee in music, you should know about the music business and the music technology.

Job satisfaction
I think I would be a bit happy to have this job. This job relates to what a producer does, except that this job is more of the technical side. Having a job as a studio engineer seems to be a lot of hard work.
Pros:

• You get paid quite a lot of money
• Work with artists who are new
• It is interesting for the people who likes the techinal side of an engineer.

Cons:

• The pay may take a while to process
• You would need to work with horrible sounds & you have to make them good.

Contracts
Studio Engineers work full time, so they would have a " Fixed Term " contract which it would sometimes last for atleast a year. This means that for there contract they have to work in the studio, almost everyday like a 9-5.

Payment Method
A Studio engineer will sometimes get paid hourly depending on how good they are or what there contract says.

Risks of termination with a contract
As I said before If I was a studio engineer I  would do more research or I would meeet & get in contact with a couple of people to help me out, getting another contract.

Listening Assignment

Track 1
Gangnam style
Are the stands having any impact on the music/sound? If so, what? 
I think that the stand is having an impact on the music because the stands keep the reverb in so that there's no so much reverb happening. For example if there was no stands I think that there would be so much reverberation happening. The stand doesn't have a MAJOR impact on the music.

Why do marching bands have so many instruments, and loud ones! 
Marching bands have so many instruments because the audience wouldn't be able to hear just one Trumpet player play the song - even if it's a loud instrument the audience wouldn't really be able to hear it. This is a good idea for marching bands to have so many loud instruments because the crowd would be able to hear perfectly clear what the band is playing... There was a lot of loud instruments because the louder it is the more the crowd can be able to hear.
Is this music suitable for the acoustic environment? Why?

I don't think this music is suitable for the Acoustic environment because the song isn't really personalized to be acoustic as it is a Pop song. In a pop song there is many elements that an Acoustic doesn't have, this is also a jumpy - dance type of track. The tempo is fast for it to be an acoustic, it's an upbeat song, there's some instruments that contains pop such as the synths and also the Melody is repetitive. 

Track 2

Can you hear any reverberation. Do you think that comes from the room or might there be some digital reverb? Give reasons for your answer.
I think that the Reverb is digital because if they were in a bigger room, such as a hall/church then that's when you can hear proper reverb. This type of Reverb is Digital as it's a small room with not that much space for the vocal to echo silently. 
Do you think the guitars are recorded through a mic or down a line?
I think that the Guitars are recorded through the Microphone because the microphone is facing forward towards the guitar players.
Describe the texture of the music. Does the acoustic environment suit the music?
This music definitely suits the acoustic environment because of the guitars, which is the main instrument when it comes to Acoustics. The vocals suits the Acoustics as well.

Track 3

Describe the texture of the music (it is not the same throughout so mention where it changes.

The Texture of the song is calm, it sounds really church type. At 2:15 the song style changes. I think that this is a Monophonic Movement as the music has one set mood throughout the entire piece. If it was polyphonic you'd hear two separate melody's in unison with each other and I didn't hear that.  I think that the Reverberation time is long because it's happening in a big room, also the surfaces of the walls are hard so it reflects the reverbation back. The music is very slow & this does suit the reverberation time because if it was fast the reverb would be going all over the place.

Is the music suitable for the space / is the space suitable for the music?

I think that the space is suitable for the music because the space makes the music sound like it is echoing, it sounds like there is reverb on it as well, so the space for this music is definitely needed.