Review and Reflection

Review and Reflection



The main goal of this project was to sequence a track a Logic that is representative of the genre hardcore punk. I feel as though I was successful in this project, despite the fact that aspects of my initial plan did not come to fruition. I feel as though my track is an accurate representation of my chosen genre, it has the very fast and frantic feel of hardcore punk tracks with very simplistic power chord riffs, iconic to the genre.

The guitars were recorded into Logic using digital amp simulators rather than recording them in the studio as I had initially intended. This was due to the time restraint given, however I feel as though I was able to craft a guitar tone that fit the genre regardless and allowed me to become more famaliarised with Logic and more confident in my ability to record using the software. The guitars themselves I feel were dialed in appropriately; they are distorted enough to make it sound aggressive and intense whilst also not being too distorted for the riffs to be discernible. The bass in the guitar amps were turned quite low, with high mids, and the treble sitting around 12 o'clock on the dial. This allowed for the guitars to stand out by themselves and not get drowned out by the bass or drums.

 The playing style is very rough and somewhat out of time. This was done intentionally in order to emulate the playing style of hardcore punk bands in the 80's, which were often very loose and out of time due to the inexperience of the artists.

As with the guitars, the drums in the track are programmed using Logic rather than recorded in the studio. This was due to drummers being unavailable for me to collaborate with. However I was able to create a drum track using Logic's drum programmer that sounds genuine and human by utilising the humanise feature in Logic to make the drums slightly out of time, giving the track a much more loose feel, appropriate for punk. This feature also varied the velocity at which the drums are hit, adding a further dynamic to track. The drum patterns themselves are typical punk drumming patterns used commonly in the genre, except for the chorus in which I created a very fast and intense drum pattern that fit the chorus riff I had created well.  Despite this, I feel that the track would be greatly improved with a genuine drummer since programmed drums will always have somewhat of a syncopated feel to it that feels unnatural with this style of music. I feel as though this is one of the biggest shortcomings in the track and something I would work to change if I could redo the project.

The mix of this track is slightly more polished than records of the genre usually were at the time due to the artist's inexperience. It was for this reason that I felt it necessary to give the track a more detailed mix in order to showcase my abilities and how I have progressed over the year. I used compressors on each of the instruments except the bass in order to separate the instrumentation slightly and give them more clarity. I also used E.Q with a low and high pass filter in order to filter out any low frequencies that may be making the recording muddy and remove any high end that may make the track sound fizzy and fragile. This isn't completely representative of the mix in 80's hardcore punk recordings, however I feel I was able to create a balance between the rough recording style of the genre at the time with more modern influences, allowing all the instrumentation to be heard with clarity while maintaining the chaotic feel of the genre.

The biggest shortcoming in the track is the lack of vocals. This is something I would have liked to have added to the song but couldn't due to time restraints. I feel as though vocals would have tied whole song together and been a good representation of what the genre was like at the time. My intention was to use the typical shouted vocals of the time with political lyrics as this was a very common theme at the time. Even though I wasn't able to add these lyrics, I feel I still achieved my goal of making the track political in a certain aspect with the intro; using the snare rolls reminiscent of military marches with the rough and out of time guitar lead, emulating an anthemic lead melody in order to create an almost mocking and sarcastic interpretation of patriotic national anthems. This allowed me to make the track vaguely political without adding any lyrics.

The structure of the track is very simple, as is common with a lot of hardcore punk recordings due to the artists' inexperience with music. The structure in this track is as follows-- intro-verse-chorus-verse-chorus-bridge-chorus-verse-outro. This is a very simplistic structure that represents the song structure that bands would have made at the time as there was not much regard to it.

To conclude, I feel as though I was successful in my goal of sequencing a hardcore punk track in Logic; the guitar riffs are fast and intense but clear enough that every note is discernible, the drumming follows typical punk drum patterns with a tempo of 180bpm to create some quick and frenzied drumming at points much in the style of hardcore punk, the bass in the track follows the guitars in order to create a really thick and strong guitar tone. The two main aspects I would improve in the track would be the drumming, in that I feel the song would be improved with a human drummer in order to give it a more genuine feel. I would also add vocals in order to tie the whole song together and make it completely apparent the track is a hardcore punk track.