He Just Thinks
"He Just Thinks" is a Indie/Alternative Rock song that I mixed and mastered. Since this was inspired by bands and artists such as The Killers, Briston Maroney, Phoebe Bridgers, and the Wallows, I made sure to incorporate heavy distorted guitars. The first thing I did was to get the guitar tones right. There is a centered rhythm guitar that has a lighter tone with two heavier guitars panned left and right in the intro and choruses. My favorite part of this song is the choruses and how big it sounds. There was a lead vocal track with many background vocals layered on top of it. I panned different vocal tracks left and right different amounts to make it sound like a choir. At first, blending the background vocals was a challenge. There were 16 different vocal tracks during the choruses not including the lead centered vocal. I made sure to make the background vocals sit right under the lead in the mix where it is audible but not overtaking. Another thing I did which made the intro hit harder was I go the first four measures and put band pass filters on those instruments to make it sound small and through a radio. This made the start of the 5th measure much more impactful.
Before mastering, I had the track sitting at -3.6 dB output gain, 14.8 PLR, and LUFS-I at -18.4. First thing I did when it came to my mastering processing was add a linear phase EQ. I put a high pass filter up to 80 Hz on the side EQ to center the low end. After that I boosted the high end a bit to add brightness to the sides. Next I added a vintage optical compressor where I compressed the track 2 dB. Next I added a stereo spreader to make the track sound a bit wider and spreading the high end. Lastly, I added a limited and set the output level to -1 dB and boosted 4.3 dB. By the end of my processing, the track was sitting at -1 output gain, 13 PLR, and LUFS-I -14.1.
Platinum Live
This is an EDM track I mixed and mastered for a live setting such as a lounge or bar. This track is supposed to be upbeat but not distracting from people being able to have conversations with this in the background. Since it is an EDM track, I made sure the bass is present. I boosted around 75 Hz for some low end presence which helps a lot with the feeling of movement throughout the track. To have the drums sound more "glued" together, I took advantage of parallel bus compression. This overall, made the track sound more balanced. The unmastered session had an output gain of -6, PLR of 15.3, and LUFS-I of -18.2. In the mastering session, I used a linear phase EQ where I put a high pass filter on the side EQ up to about 80 Hz which helped center the low end. I then boosted the high end of the side EQ about a dB which helped make the track sound wider. Next I added a Vintage Opto compressor and compressed 2dB of the track. I then added a stereo spreader just to spread the high end a bit more. Lastly, I added a limiter and set the output level to -1dB and bosted 3.4 dB of gain. After all of my processing, I got an output gain of -1dB, PLR at 13.3, and LUFS-I at -14.3. Overall this was a very exciting track to mix and master I learned a lot about electronic music throughout this experience.
Can't Get Out of Love
This is an Indie Pop song I mixed and mastered. One of my favorite aspects of this song was the guitar tone. I made sure the lead guitar had reverb but not too much where it it drowning in reverb but just enough where it sounds big and mixed well with the song. An initial challenge I had with this track was handling the vocals at the last chorus where there is a vocal melody and a counter vocal melody on top of that. I made sure to center the main melody and pan the counter melody left and right so it is out of the way of the main chorus melody. Overall, this was a very fun track to work with.
80/20 Track
This is an orchestral cinematic track that had Japanese instruments such as the koto, shakuhachi, and taiko drums. After the intro, it is mostly orchestral instruments such as violins, viola, cello, double bass, french horns, trombone, tuba, and epic drums.
For the mixing, I made sure the drums and low end was present but not overtaking the rest of the instruments. I used parallel bus compression to "glue" the drums together since there were many layers of different types of drums. There were three horn instrument sections playing the bass notes so I turned those up a bit and boosted the low end in the EQ a bit. In the climax part of the track, there is a flute that is present so I made sure that is heard clearly because that creates a beautiful contrast between the low brass and a bright flute on top.
For the mastering, I got the track to -4 dB output gain, -20.1 LUFS-I, and 16.1 for the pre-mastering levels. For the mastering processing, I started with a linear phase EQ and applied a high pass filter on the side EQ to center the low end and then boosted the high end frequencies. After that I compressed the track 2 dB to knock off the peaks a bit. I then added a stereo spreader for the mid-high to high frequencies to widen the track. Lastly I added my limiter. After all of my processing I got -1 dB output gain, -14.9 LUFS-I, and 13.8 PLR.
Trailer Track
This is an epic orchestral trailer track meant to be used for action movie trailers. The song has huge epic drums and many layers of orchestral instruments. Since it is an epic movie trailer song, I made sure the brass especially low brass was present as well as the drums. There were many layers of drums stacked on top of each other so to make them sound together, I sent the drums sub-mix to a bus where I used parallel compression. Initially there was a lot of muddiness so I made sure to use a high-pass filter to take out the really low frequencies. For the ostinato, I made sure it was present but not over taking the main melody. Before mastering, I had the session sitting at -3.5 dB output gain, 15.1 PLR, and the LUFS-I at -18.5. For the mastering, I put on a linear phase EQ first. I made sure to take out the low end on the side EQ to center the low end instruments in the mix. I then boosted the high end frequencies on the side EQ to make everything sound a bit brighter. I then but on an exciter and then a compressor after that. I compressed the track 2 dB to knock off the peaks. After that, I added a stereo spreader on the high end which made the track sound wider. Lastly, I added the limiter and boosted the track 3.6 dB. After all of my mastering processing, I had it sitting at -1 dB output gain, 13.5 PLR, and -14.5 LUFS-I. Overall, this track was very fun to mix. The many layers that of instruments made me approach the mixing differently.
Lows
This is "Lows" an Indie/Alternative song I mixed and mastered. There were many different layers to this song and different instruments such as drums, bass guitar, electric guitar, keys, lead vocals, and background vocals. For the vocals, I wanted to make sure to keep the overall vintage feel of the song so I added a slapback delay on the lead vocal. This was heavily used in the 50s which fit the overall feeling of the song. The vocals were recorded in a four walled bedroom which had a lot of muddiness to it so I made sure to add a high pass filter on the vocals to add brightness.
Portfolio IV
This is my orchestral song "Final Frontier". This song was inspired by Hans Zimmer and The Machination by NINJA TRACKS. I am a big fan of cinematic orchestral music. I huge part of the emotion in a motion picture is the music. "Final Frontier" is an adventure that starts off chaotic. You hear the taiko drums speed up as the intro progresses. Then there is peace with the french horns coming in, playing the melody. The taikos eventually come right back and starts to build up the momentum then there is the pre-chorus were it gets a but more peaceful. Right after the pre-chorus is the chorus, the finally. This is where the taikos are the most prominent. After the chorus, there is a peaceful outro to end it off.
Portfolio III
Noah Cho
MPB239
Title: For A Minute
Writer: Noah Cho
Verse
When we gained some distance were you sad?
I have never felt so far apart
I gave you everything that I had
I was always patient from the start
Pre-Chorus
I haven’t seen you in months
I haven’t felt any of your love
Chorus
You said that you were okay with the distance
Couldn’t give me your love for a minute?
I had no idea where we are headed
Just wanted your love for a minute
Verse
You were the one missing my calls
Wondered what you were up to everyday
Felt like we didn’t talk at all
I’m the one who thought about you everyday
Pre-Chorus
Chorus
Bridge
Was it just too much?
Was I not enough?
Why couldn’t I get some of your love?
Was I there for comfort?
Never got any letters from you
You just wanted to move on
You just wanted to move on
Chorus
Chorus
Portfolio II
This track “Get Ready” is a hip-hop cue I made meant to be used for commercials or tv shows. For this track I wanted to go for a more mainstream approach. I wanted to make something that would sound like you could hear it on the radio. Some artists that I got inspired by when making this type of cue were Young Thug, Travis Scott, and the Migos. This track is darker than what I usually make. To make it sound like today’s hip-hop, I used hard hitting 808s and electronic drum kits. I used a London On Da Track drum kit I found online. London On Da Track is another inspiration for this track not only musically but also because he went to Full Sail as well. The 808 and drums were my favorite part of making this track. I made the 808 jump around a lot rather than just playing the root note of each chord. The 808s and drums definitely make you feel hyped and motivated. The more difficult part of making this track was coming up with a catchy melody. I wanted to use a flute since it is very popular in today’s hip-hop. I finally settled on the melody you hear now after messing around on the keyboard for a long time. I was constantly changing the notes and rhythm of it and settled on something catchy. This track can easily be turned into an actual song. I would just need vocals and rearrange the track a little bit. This track was a lot of fun to make and I am looking forward to making more.
Portfolio I
“Late Night Drives” is a pop song that is influenced by the Synth-Pop genre, specifically the band LANY. I made my own synth for this song that can be heard throughout the entire song. This is a song that you can jam out in the car, with the windows down, with your friends, not thinking about any stresses.
This song is in 4/4. The song starts off with a 8 measure intro which leads straight into the chorus for 8 measures. The first 16 measures I used an acoustic drum set. After the chorus, I changed the drums. Instead of using an acoustic drum set, I used an electronic drum kick, hi hat, and made my own snare sound using the ES P plugin. When that transition happens, I kept the acoustic hi hat in for four measures to make the transition feel smoother. The electronic hi hat comes in after the verse. The Right after the chorus it is the verse for 8 measures. After the 8 measure verse is the breakdown/piano solo. I have a tom pattern every other measure to give it a dramatic feel. I also do not have the snare hitting every other down beat. I made the kick, snare, and hi-hat have a more Hip-Hop/R&B feel to switch it up. I used a bass guitar throughout the entire song.
This song is in the key of F major. The first 16 measures have a chord progression of IV-iii-vi-I-V (Bb-Am-Dm-F-C). After the chorus, the chord progression changes to vi-V-I-IV-iii (Dm-C-F-Bb-Am) for 16 bars. I did this to have two different parts of the song. I chose to put the IV-iii-vi-I-V for the intro and chorus because it sounded happier than the other progression and I wanted to have the verse more mellow than the chorus. Throughout the song I sang the melody of the chorus and the verse. For the chorus, I used motifs to make it catchy and memorable.
I sang the melody for the chorus and verse. It took me a while to come up with a melody to sing over this progression. I wanted to make sure that the song was catchy. I recorded my vocals using my audio technica condenser mic. I EQ’d my vocals to make it sound more crisp rather than boxy. I then added compression, pitch correction, reverb, and delay. For the delay, I used a slapback delay to give it a more vintage feel. That technique of delay was very popular back in the 50s. I made my own synth sound using the ES P plugin. I used that synth sound because it sounded like a sound that a Synth-Pop band would use such as LANY. The synth I made is on track #22. I also created my own snare using the same plugin. I used that snare for the last half of the song to switch it up from the acoustic drum set. The snare I made using the ES P is on track #5. Another thing I did was that I sampled a guitar from the Apple Loops. I used just the first note of the loop and used that to play any pitch I wanted which you can hear in the first half of the song. The sampler is on track #23.
For the processing of the song, I used many effects. I have an EQ on tracks #1, 2, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9,10, 17, 18, 19, 22, 23, 24, and 25. I used the EQ to cut and boost certain frequencies. I used reverb on tracks #1, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 18, 23, 24, and 25. I put delay on track #25, my vocals. I put reverb on my drums to give it that vintage 80s feel. I sent a lot of the tracks to the same bus to make it sound together.