0117Chronicles

This is the finalised artwork collaborated with Thor Porter, I’m really happy with the underground minimal style of the work.

Having the opportunity to play out in Bristol is excellent with regards to testing new music which has enabled me to gain real time feedback from the crowd on tracks that I’ve been working on that feature in 0117Chronicles. These are just a few of the flyers from busy nights where I’ve played solo or as part of my collective Inkline Drum & Bass.

During the production process I was able to gain valuable feedback from likeminded producers along the way during critical analysis sessions alongside online feedback from previews such as this one posted and shared on my social media accounts. 

This is an unmastered preview version of the track ‘Same Story’ featuring vocalist Nikieh. The full and mastered version should bring out far more clarity in both instrumental and vocal parts.

I conducted research into the best ways of working with vocalists and made careful consideration to take specific factors such as preparation into account. Alongside existing knowledge I looked further into how I could best process the vocal sections.

https://insideaudio.net/en/blog/producer/techniques/a/5-essential-tips-for-working-with-vocalists

During the production process of the album, with particular regard to the Drum n Bass tracks I often sent demo versions to contacts in industry made within the Drum n Bass scene such as DJ Agro (Ben Carvin), owner of Sub-Liminal Recordings. 

Alongside music production for the album I’ve had close dialogue with my graphics designer and Co-Founder of Inkline DnB events in Bristol. 

Drillz MC prod. Radical

This is an excerpt taken from the High Focus Records website, it’s Dirty Dike’s commentary regarding Ocean Wisdom who exploded onto the scene after...

“a chance studio session gave birth to his debut track ‘Walkin’. Recorded in one take with no hook or ad-libs, just raw, unfiltered energy and originality this track kick started his meteoric rise”

Sometimes certain artists you know you may not see very often or are fairly unreliable who have personal problems are often the most passionate in their work. It’s audible in expression, aggression and emotion. With ONE TAKE I recorded ‘Gone Widdit’ over a Grime instrumental I produced earlier this year during a catch up with MC Drillz who had recently been released from prison and is now, once again facing the challenges of homelessness, drug addiction and the return of bad habits. Organised crime is normalised in many individuals lives, it fuels the previously mentioned problems Drillz faces and paints an accurate picture of how rough Bristol can be on the streets.

I took inspiration from the production of Dizzee Rascal and Wiley, in particular ‘Spin Ya’ helped me generate ideas towards big, distorted 808 basslines. Every 16 bars a features a breakbeat in the mix, I felt this an important feature of the track to remain consistent with my sound and the overall style of the EP in addition to adding some variation to the drum arrangement. 

inspiration reference:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=StpI-BJSq0M

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kmq2XpTPpgs

During my creative process when making Drum n Bass, Hip Hop or Grime I will usually establish a 16 or 32 bar processed drum arrangement that I’m completely satisfied with to then combine with the sound design of synth leads and bass. In real time as the drum arrangement plays I actively trial various notation from synth patches and tweak parameters to suit the movement and timbre of the drums.

My intention across the EP is to exhibit multiple Bristol urban music timbre’s and genres - painting a diverse musical and cultural picture of the cities music scenes. This resulted in highly varied sound design through many different techniques in order to attain specific desired sounds.

Inspirational artists that influenced my Drum n Bass sound design consisted of Roni Size, Break, DLR and Voltage. Hip Hop production influence came from Roots Manuva and Havoc from Mobb Deep whilst Preditah and Faze Miyake were artists with distinctive sounds that influenced the production of Grime.

Across the EP I’ve utilised VST’s Serum, Massive and multiple different samplers in order to achieve specific sounds that mesh well with the intended underground timbre of the track, frequently I combine differing sampling and synthesis if I cannot achieve certain attributes of a bassline or synth as accurately as I’d like. 

Below is an excerpt from Voltage - Takin Over. 

I was really inspired by the deep, aggressive and heavily distorted reece style bass that is prominent in this track which influenced the creation of the bassline in Orbit. Here is the massive patch for reference

Vinyl sampling is simple in its early stages, once the sample is captured digitally then it is open to endless manipulation. I’ve chosen to sample specific segments of records for multiple tracks across the planned EP. I considered this an an important choice for the desired timbre with regard towards standard hip hop production techniques. The source and inspiration of the sampled material derives from Bristol popular music, specifically tracks such as Roots Manuva - Swords in the Dirt, Krust - Set Speed & Portishead - Glory Box.

Potential issues surrounding the copyright of certain samples may influence the sampling featured in the final project. To avoid potentially problematic sampling I intend to take inspiration from some original samples and replicate certain elements using VST’s.

I intend to use a mixed sampling approach for the work, sourcing samples from both Vinyl and digital formats. The advantages of this, in particular with drums is to achieve an old school warmth in conjunction with enough ‘punch’ when layered with digitally sourced samples.

Pictured is Roots Manuva’s LP  ‘Run Come Save me’ from which I sampled the break in ‘Swords in the Dirt’.

DJ TechTools. (2019). Shaking off the Dust - Sampling Vinyl - DJ TechTools. [online] Available at: https://djtechtools.com/2015/03/12/shaking-off-the-dust-sampling-vinyl/

I began by choosing a field recording environment. Situated in Ashton Court, it is a burnt out and abandoned old hotel that overlooks the city. This location provided much inspiration towards my work stylistically. Its location on the West side of the city at the start of my proposed visual and musical journey is ideal and the graffiti, broken glass and burnt out timber gave a good visual and audio representation of themes of urban decay. This works well with both the intended timbre of the tracks and planned accompanying visuals.

The field recordings were captured using a Zoom H4N, processed in logic then bounced to be incorporated into the tracks. 

My main inspiration to research and implement field recording methodology was Chris Watson. He has been recording and making experimental music since he was a young man and is highly regarded for his work with the BBC. Watson uses a multitude of different microphones and recording techniques in order to accurately capture the audio of the environment he is in. Watson uses field recordings as a compositional tool and views them through a unique perspective: “There is no such thing as documenting a reality. There is no divide between documenting and creating.”

BBC. (2019). BBC - A Life in Sound: Chris Watson. [online] Available at: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p01qcldf

Creativefieldrecording.com. (2019). Revealing Field Recording Craft Through Location: Interview with Mark Ferguson | Creative Field Recording. [online] Available at: https://www.creativefieldrecording.com/2017/10/04/revealing-field-recording-craft-through-location-interview-with-mark-ferguson/

Flint, T. (2019). Chris Watson: The Art Of Location Recording |. [online] Soundonsound.com. Available at: https://www.soundonsound.com/techniques/chris-watson-art-location-recording