My name is Max Burns, and this is my Davidson Capstone. I will hopefully be graduating in 2019.
For my capstone, I recorded a concept album. I used synthesizers and drum machines that I recorded onto a 4-Track tape recorder, and I had my mentor write a story to accompany the album.
I started writing songs and making demos in November of 2017, but February 1st, 2018 was when the project truly started. I finally finished the album on April 25th, 2018.
All recording was done at my house, in my room.
MENTOR:
Pratchi Roy, [email protected]
TIME LOG:
2/1 - worked on For When the Stars Fade Away, 4:00-6:00
2/18 - wrote The Lady and started recording, 3:00-5:00, 10:00-12:00
2/19 - finished recording and started mixing The Lady, 1:30-5:00, 6:00-7:00
2/20 - recorded Overseer, 5:00-5:20
2/21 - practiced some guitar parts, 5:15-5:30
2/26 - recorded Overseer, 6:10-7:00
2/27 - recorded Overseer, 7:00-8:00
2/28 - recorded Overseer, 4:15-5:00, mixed it 8:50-9:10
3/1 - mixed For When the Stars Fade Away, 5:35-6:00, 6:45-7:00
3/3 - mastered For When the Stars Fade Away & mixed Overseer, 0:25-0:55
3/4 - mixed Overseer, 4:15-4:35
3/5 - recorded After Glow, 6:30-7:40
3/6 - recorded After Glow, 6:40-7:30
3/7 - recorded After Glow, 4:50-5:40, mixed it 6:40-7:00
3/11 - mixed Overseer, 7:40-8:20
3/18 - recorded Winter song (scrapped), 4:45-5:35, 6:55-7:30,
3/19 - mixed After Glow, 12:45-1:20
3/26 - worked on Summer sequences, 4:50-5:15
3/27 - rehearsed Summer section, 6:45-7:30
3/28 - rehearsed Summer section, 6:15-7:05
3/30 - wrote and recorded Frozen Reflection, 5:40-6:20, 7:05-8:25
3/31 - recorded Frozen Reflection, 2:15-3:20
4/1 - recorded guitar for Frozen Reflection, 4:50-5:15
4/3 - worked on Summer section, 6:25-7:10
4/4 - worked on Summer section, 6:45-7:25
⅘ - rehearsed/demoed Summer section, 5:55-6:30, 7:50-8:10
4/10 - mixed Frozen Reflection, 5:30-5:45, 7:50-8:10
4/11 - recorded Summer section, 6:05-6:30, 8:10-9:40
4/12 - recorded Summer section, 6:00-6:25, mixed it 7:05-7:40
4/16 - edited/named Summer tracks, 1:40-2:00
4/17 - recorded Intro, 6:40-7:05
4/19 - mixed Intro, 7:10-8:15
4/22 - recorded Greyscale/You Start The Fire, 1:00-2:20, 5:30-5:35, mixed them 9:10-9:30
4/23 - mastered album, 1:25-2:00
4/25 - mastered album, 1:45-2:15, 4:00-4:40
FINISHED ALBUM: April 25, 2018, 4:40 p.m.
TOTAL TIME: about 35 hours and 20 minutes.
DOCUMENTATION
2/1/18 - Today, I started working on a track called For When the Stars Fade Away. It’s an ambient track that uses a tape loop I made. It’s a five second loop of a guitar melody that I’m running through the filters on my Korg MS-20 Mini, and I’ve also put some delay on it. It almost doesn’t even sound like a guitar anymore, which I like. I will also be adding synthesizer chords over top.
2/18/18 - I’ve started working on a new track that I plan to perform at an open mic. I want to do something different and combine ambient/drone with house music. I’m making slow, reverb-drenched chords on my Ensoniq ESQ-1 and adding a house beat with my Drumbrute under it.
2/20/18 - I am revisiting a song I wrote back in November on my guitar, although I’m adding more to it. I’m working on another chord progression and I plan on adding a beat and synth bass.
2/28/18 - I finally finished Overseer. It took forever because I kept messing up the guitar part. Now, I’m working on mixing it. I plan on adding some reverb to the guitar and synth to give the song a more psychedelic/spacey feel, but the beat will remain dry so it’s not too overpowering and stands out in the mix.
3/5/18 - I’ve started working on an experimental ambient track called After Glow. It has slow synth chords playing throughout. For the chord progression, I decided not to stay in one key, but instead just focus on making a progression that sounds good. I am also recording two separate guitar parts. For the guitar, I put the tape in the other way when I recorded them, so they will be reversed when I play the tape back the right way.
3/18/18 - I’m working on another guitar based track, although I keep messing it up while recording it like I did with Overseer. I’m thinking I’ll just put this track aside for a while and practice it more. Maybe it will appear on my next album.
3/26/18 - The first portion of this album (Summer) will consist of one continuous psychedelic house set, so I will record the entire thing in one take. I’m making various sequences for each track, and I will split them up on the album. I’m using the ESQ-1 for making the sequences, as well as playing most of the synth parts. I am using my Drumbrute for the percussion, and the MS-20 Mini is making the bass lines.
3/30/18 - I’ve started working on a track called Frozen Reflection. It’s slow, psychedelic tune with guitar, synth strings, and an echo-y drum machine. I tried to experiment with polytonality, which means playing in two different key signatures at the same time. The guitar and synth chords were in B flat, while the lead melody was in C. The bassline switches between B flat and C.
4/12/18 - I finally recorded the Summer section, and I am now working on the mix. It’s heavily inspired by old school rave music from the late 80’s/early 90’s, but I want to add elements of psychedelia to set it apart. I put some delay on the synths and the drums and added some light reverb to the track.
4/17/18 - I made a little intro track to the album. It’s nothing much, it just sets the tone of the album. I added some heavily-delayed piano chords over top of the synth and panned it left and right to give it a “swirling” sort of sound.
4/22/18 - I am re-recording the first two tracks I demoed for the album back in November. The first one is a drone track, it has a more tense sound compared to the rest of the album, since it uses some dissonant chords. It is also atonal, since it never stays in a certain key signature. The second track, however, is much more calming. It’s mostly just a piano-type synth playing in the key of A flat. One thing that sets it apart from the rest of the album is it is all played live, while the rest of the album is mostly programmed/sequenced.
4/25/18 - I’ve spent the past couple days mastering the album, meaning I’ve put all of the tracks in audacity, making sure they’re all a consistent volume, and fading them into each other. I have completed this process, which means the album is done.
REFLECTION
For my capstone, I recorded an electronic album with hardware synthesizers on a 4-Track tape recorder, and only used a computer to digitize the tapes. It was definitely a project I gained a lot out of. I’ve been making music for about two and a half years now, and this was my first full length album. This is the largest music project I’ve taken on so far, and although it’s not perfect, I feel like it’s an important step into my future career as a musician.
There were many important skills in music production that I practiced and improved while working on this album. Mixing is one of them. My releases before this one all sounded flat and muddy, although this time, I worked extra hard to make sure the mixes sounded clear. It does still have a lo-fi sound, but for the most part, it does sound a lot better than my previous releases, since I’ve been trying to spend more time getting everything to sound just right.
Another important skill I learned was collaboration. All of my projects before this one were done completely by myself, but this time, I worked with my friend Pratchi. I got the idea to make a concept album (an album that tells a story), so I wanted to have a written story to accompany the album. I am awful at writing, but Pratchi is a great writer, so I got them to write the story for me. I gave them the basic outline of the story, and they fleshed it out into a full 21 page narrative.
The story was split up into three chapters, so I split the album up into three parts. Each part would contain multiple tracks, but they would all flow together. I would read a certain part of the story and make a track for it, while doing my best to capture what the protagonist was feeling. Pratchi would also give me advice about how a track should sound, and what musical techniques I can use to acheive that feeling.
Overall, this project was a great experience for me. I really tried to push myself more than I ever had before, and I will continue to do so. It’s not necessarily a good album, but it’s an improvement of what I’ve done in the past, and I can hear what I need to improve.