Evaluations ...

Evaluation

I feel I have completed what I aimed to set out to achieve to a professional standard. The finished product covers a lot of areas in which I can continue to push after this course has finished. This includes;

• Creating mixes
• Recording audio
• Producing high quality material

The last week of this assignment has been rather hectic and stressful as the artist I needed to record unfortunately broke his foot which was a logistical nightmare with regards to getting him in front of a microphone. However, this was eventually achieved and the final outcome was excellent. This was the only major hiccup in this assignment, but I am glad it happened as it really tested and pushed me to meet the deadline. It also showed that in this industry anything can happen and you must be prepared so it was good to experience this and come out on top.

Throughout this 5 week task, I feel my technical and studio ability has shined through and I am very pleased with the final product. I also believe I have been organised and made some good contacts along the way. I must give special thanks to ‘Digitech Media’ for the website design and I feel together with my brief a strong website has been developed.

With regards to a self evaluation, I think I need to concentrate on using ‘Word Press’ so I can continue developing the website (www.benxtreme.com) as I am still getting my head around using it. The audio side of things I am very happy with the outcome. However, I will now push myself to use other DAW’s that I am not so comfortable with such as Logic. As a Mac user I would like to adapt my skills onto the Logic platform as Cubase is my current primary DAW.

I believe I have now set a benchmark for my work, and now I will strive to continue pushing myself to this high level.

Mentor Feedback

"After seeing and hearing the final product, I am very impressed with Ben’s project. The CD looks and sounds great and is produced to a high standard. Apart from the unfortunate foot breaking incident I think Ben has done a great job in completing this task, and staying on track to meet the deadline (I know Ben was worried that things were not going to completed on time). The artwork and website looks great and is an excellent way to show the professionalism of the CD and will hopefully lead to a lot of interest from promoters and other artists in the music scene. Excellent work :)"

Todays Plan ...

This will be the final day I can work on my project due to leaving for Spain in the early hours of the morning!

So..

I am now in the process of splitting my mix up into tracks in preparation for burning the promotional CD's for the Showcase.

Once completed I am going to send my tutor (Mike Uwins) a .ZIP file containing the tracks, artwork, and final description in order for it to be placed on an iMac incase of any delays when returning from Spain.

I will then add my evaluation as my final blog entry.

:)

Current Update ...

Website is now live at;

www.benxtreme.com

CD Completed - All artwork is now finished and printed. I have also printed on to the CD's to give the professional look (Examples below)

(CD Design)

(CD Case - Front)

Action Plan

• Split mix into tracks and burn to CD's for Showcase
• Write a Final Description that will explain my project
• Mail CD artwork to tutor
• Final Evaluation

This will be completed this evening / tomorrow morning.

Completed CD Artwork ...

The above image is the final CD artwork for the promotional album!

Todays Plan of Action ...

I have just spoke to my MC artist on the phone and he has told me that he is now able to just about limp around! :)

He is still unable to drive so I will be driving up to Sheffield this afternoon and bringing him back down to my house to record some vocals!

Website content is also coming along nicely ... there is also an integrated live Twitter Feed so viewers of the site can also directly see my latest Tweet and follow me from my page!

If all goes to plan today I should be able to finalise and process the MC recordings tonight, and get the mix mastered ready for duplication.

This Weeks Plan ...

This is going to be a very busy week for me!

• Complete CD cover design
• Finalise MC Recording (Due to a broken foot I will have to go and pick up artist)
• Website Content
• Print / Manufacture some promotional handout CD's for Showcase

I also need to arrange a meeting with my tutor at the end of the week to go over my Showcase plans and my project as I will not be in the country on the 13th June.

Due to unforeseen circumstances out of my control, this week is now going to be very busy and hectic finalising my Showcase and project. At the moment everything is in place, but at a stand still until I can get some MC recordings on to my mix. Due to my artist breaking his foot, this has proved to be a big disadvantage to me and this project and getting it completed on time.

However, I am confident in myself to work hard under this pressure and get my project and Showcase finished by the end of the week to present to my tutor.

Initial Website Design ...

Here is the link to the initial website design and content skeleton;

http://web155.extendcp.co.uk/benxtreme.co.uk/featured/test-featured/

The website has been designed so I can easily edit content within my browser through the back end of the site.

This will be updated and added too over the weekend

Showcase Proposal ...

With regards to the Confetti Showcase I shall require a computer in one of the Mac suites.

I will highlight my work by loading the mix onto the computer, allowing people to come and listen as they please. The website will also be on show, allowing people to see artwork, and other general information about the record label and artists.

To accompany this I will also have some hard copy CD's to distribute to people who show interest during the day.

Recording Delay ...

The MC I was hoping to record this week has now broke his foot and currently unable to walk!

I know I am cutting it fine with the deadline of the showcase but I am hoping to get him to my home studio at the start of next week in order to get some vocals down for this project then get the final mix finished and pressed by the end of the week.

If this fails I will have to replace the MC with someone else and at short notice this may be a hard task.

In other news, the website is nearly complete and will be ready to go online soon.

Website brief..

On 25 May 2011, at 14:21, Ben Edmonds wrote:

Hi Ollie,

I have been advised to contact you in regards to a website design. This website will be used to help promote my personal services in the music scene, aswell as a promotional CD I will be releasing featuring myself and MC Keyes and tracks from our record label.

From the website I would require;

1. CD Release and Download Information
2. Artist Booking Information
3. Track clips / Download and Purchase Links
4. Pictures
5. Social Network links
6. Record Label Information & External Links

Could you let me know if this would be possible to achieve?

Thanks, Ben

From: info@digitechmedia.co.uk Subject: Re: Brief ... Date: Wed, 25 May 2011 14:33:35 +0100 To: djbenxtreme@hotmail.co.uk

Good Afternoon Ben,

Thank you for your enquiry we can certainly help you out with your needs. What we would like to offer you is a full functional website incorporating everything you have requested. All of our websites come with a fully functional CMS (Content Management System). For our CMS we use Wordpress purely for the fact that there is lots of user friendly tutorials online which makes after care of your website a lot easier and less expensive in the long run.

The website would be laid out in a blog template with the option of unlimited pages so you can expand your site to suit your needs in the future.

If you would like to proceed with this please could you email a small design brief including style of site and colours to be used. Also any logos that you want to be used can you send those over to.

Hope to hear back from you soon.

Ollie Brown

Digitech Media.

Thanks Ollie, that all sounds perfect for what I will require.

With regards to the design brief, I think bold colours that will stand out. Such as electric blue and yellow, with a black background.

Style of site would be mainly pictures and link based, with the blog option you mentioned before to keep people updated with what is going on. As I initially want to use the website to help promote the release of the mix CD we are creating then I would like this to be the centre point of the page.

I will email you some logo's / pictures to be included now.

Thanks,

Ben

(Record Label Logo)

(Artist Pictures - Ben X-Treme)

(Artist Pictures - MC Keyes)

(Artist Pictures - Ben & Keyes)

(Example CD Artwork)

Mentor Feedback & Mix Evaluation ...

Mentor Feedback

I received the following mail in regards to my final audio mix.

"Ben sent me the mix as a .WAV file and I was very impressed with the finished product. The overall sound and quality is of a professional mix CD that you could expect to find on shop shelves. I will now look forward to seeing / hearing the final product.

Excellent work"

Own Evaluation

From the e-mail I received, I was very pleased to hear that my work was described as "professional quality".

I en-counted no major problems when working with the audio to create this mix. I am quite competent when using Cubase as a DAW so audio editing was quite simple for me to achieve my goals.

I have also sent out invites to people who may wish to attend the Confetti Showcase using the following link;

http://email.easymailing.co.uk/t/r-BBED2B3502297845

Action Plan (Will update at the end of the week)

• Finalise brief to send to website designer (Will be completed this week)
• Arrange studio time for MC to be recorded
• Discuss CD cover artwork
• CD duplication arrangements

Update ...

Website Update

Spoke to Ciaran (Mentor) and he has advised me to get in contact with 'Digitech Media' with regards to the web design and email them my ideas.

I will make initial contact today with the designer and send over a brief with my needs and requirements. This will also involve the artwork design for the finished CD product.

CD Update

I will be arranging studio time for next week at Confetti (hopefully in S214) to record my MC (Mc Keyes) so I can finalise the mix CD and master it.

Once this is finished I will be able to press the CD's ready for release.

iPhone App Update

I have decided not to pursue this idea further, initially it was a good idea to help promote my services but I think as I will not able to complete this on my own I shall just use the website to full-fill this need. Maybe in the future I will look into creating a suitable iPhone app based on the website content, but for now I will focus all my efforts into creating a professional release quality CD product.

Progress ...

Current Assignment Progress

Mix stage is now complete.

Digitally mixed in Cubase for optimum sound quality.

I will now export the mix as a .WAV file ready for vocals to be layered over the top. Once this is completed I will master the whole thing together.

Next Steps

• Arrange studio time for the end of this week / start of next week with MC.
• Sort out artwork and cover design
• Arrange website details

Initial proposal sign-off sheet.

Signed by Dan Livesey

Initial Proposal ...

Individual Assignment Proposal

Ben Edmonds - H102-C

Mentor - Ciaran Carmody

• Proposal

DJ / MC mix CD - Mixed, compiled, and mastered by myself.

MC will be recorded and added over the top.

The whole mix will be recorded and engineered by myself as artist promotional material.

Once completed the mix will be mastered and pressed with full artwork to coincide with the mix and record label. The completed mix cd will be used to promote the services of the artists on the CD, and also promote a record label I am involved in.

To complete the product promotion, I will also provide an online artist/label website & possibly an iPhone application that will be a copy of the website. These will consist of;

• CD Release Information
• Artist Booking Information
• Recorded Mixes
• Videos
• Track clips / Download links
• Pictures
• Social Network links
• Record Label information & external links

I will speak to my mentor who has experience in website design and event promotion to discuss if there will be any major issues with this and anything I should perhaps add. The website and possible iPhone application will be outsourced with a detailed brief of my ideas.

The reason to outsource this is due to the fact that I feel the website would need to also be of a professional and high quality to match that of the CD I will create.

• How My Proposal Will Meet The Criteria

The final mix CD will be an artist showcase product for promotional use in the music industry.

My proposal will meet the required criteria due to my current studio and mix knowledge. I feel I am able to work at a professional standard to create a commercially available product. From the examples on the brief, my proposal will involve;

“A commercial service or product related to music technology.”
&
“Studio based music production.”

From my proposal, the final product will also coincide with providing a service from said artists.

• Mentor

Ciaran Carmody - Long time personal friend who has a lot of website knowledge. Currently studying a IT degree at Sheffield University. Ciaran also has promotion expertise that will help me create my product and promote it online.

• Summary of Work

So far I have started compiling my mix CD, and contacted a webpage designer recommended by my mentor. I will upload a copy of my brief to the designer once initial communication has started with regards to content, design and ideas.

• Action Plan (Week commencing - Monday 16th May)

• Complete mix CD to a professional standard.
• Contact web designer to go over ideas / Artwork.
• Arrange studio dates for MC recording.