MY FIRST ORIGINAL – Part 1 – The Demo Stage

I will be posting a multi-part series as I chronicle the creation and production of my first original track — currently titled “Bright Wide Eyes” — from start to finish!

For my “Independent Study Project” or ISP this semester, we have been given the task of recording a song that includes a unique instrument played by someone outside of the program. To complete this task I have chosen to write an original song to record which I will subsequently sell online (but more on that in my future “SOCAN PLAN” post).

Over the Christmas break, I began demoing a track I figured I would be able to somehow mold into the ISP I hadn’t yet been assigned. I’m nowhere near the finish line, but now that it has been assigned, I think I’m going to do just fine.

In the Music Industry Arts program at Algonquin, we are diving deep into ProTools as our primary DAW; however, I feel most comfortable in Ableton… so that’s where I made my demo which can be heard here: https://soundcloud.com/djfunknasty/bright-wide-eyes-demo.

As a budding producer, I’d be the first to say I have a shitty workflow. After failed song attempt after failed song attempt, I decided to take the “rip-off” approach to get this song off the ground and see where it took me. This lead to me deeply analyzing the first 32 bars of “Do What U Want” by Lady Gaga and R. Kelly (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A3jzMyYgPQs). Taking the time to completely break a song down and analyze every piece of it seemed to be all I needed to simply get started, focus on finishing something, and really fill the soundscape of a song. After the creative juices took their toll I had some loops that were a different key, different chord progression, and altogether different sounding 32 bars. Day one was complete.

To push the song further all I needed was a little bit of weed and a bit of manic episode to run its course. After a few hours of insanity I had the structure to a new song that I loved which only whispers remnants of Gaga.

I have a butthole’s load of more work to do and a million workflow kinks to work through, but I’m on my way to releasing my very first original song and it gives me boners every day!

Here’s what I used in the creation of my demo:

• DAW: Ableton
• Drums: xfer’s Nerve
• Toms: Ableton Core 707
• Main Synth: Dave Smith Mopho
• Synth: Arturia Minimoog V
• Sweeps and Pads: Native Instruments’ FM8
• FX: Camel Crusher and Ableton’s native effects

Final Stretch

Three weeks!

I will have reached my most empowering goal to-date in three weeks!

My last day of school is April 26th, and although it will be bitter sweet for this semester to end, I cannot contain my excitement for this September. All of my hard work and focus will finally bring me to the captains chair… sitting in a state of the art recording studio, making music baby!

It’s crazy how quickly the time has passed since my first day of school back in September. I can vividly remember my new teacher explaining the articulation agreement Algonquin had within itself. I was told that anyone who passed “Introduction to Music Industry Arts” (the program I am currently in) with a 75% average or above would have a seat reserved for them in the full “Music Industry Arts” program the following year. This was the greatest news I had heard since being accepted into the intro program in the first place. Having a seat reserved for me was significantly more assuring than having to apply for one of the 80 spots with the other 600+ applicants. I just needed to stay focussed and determined, which luckily is an easy task when dealing with one’s passion and life goal.

It’s even more nostalgic for me when I think back about two or three years ago to when I learned about Algonquin’s brand new studio and music industry program in the first place. I remember reading how competitive it was to get in and thinking “I would die to take this program, but there’s no way I’ll ever get the chance.” But passions don’t fade away quite so easily. My only option for getting a taste of some music education was to start from the ground floor and take the part-time “Digital Audio Production” program Algonquin was offering evenings and weekends while I worked full time. The next step was Algonquin’s full time “Introduction to Music Industry Arts” program, which acted as my nexus to receiving early acceptance into the program I swore I would never be lucky enough to enroll in, Music Industry Arts… the mother land!

My hard work along this path has introduced me to a sense of pride that I have never known before, and can only imagine experiencing by following my heart and chasing my dreams.

I’m so excited for the rest of my life!