Zoe Prentice

Cover Listings
JUNE 2015

Introduction - Final proposal

The client for my final project is myself and two other colleagues. As I am not a
skilled musician, I asked two of my colleagues to feature on my track to record in the
parts I couldnt play. Their names were Jess and Ella and they feature on the tracks
performing vocals and guitar.
My target genre was to cover/recreate pop music. I figured this would be the easiest
genre to do as it probably the most listened to in the world. I know that the genre
happens to attract a vast amount attention from the younger generation, hence why I
chose pop as it proved to be a good genre to advertise within. For example, this will
attract individuals who use social media sites such as Soundcloud, Youtube, Facebook
and Twitter. Once my track is published onto these sites it will be easy for me to
attract traffic.
My target audience (as mentioned above) is the younger generation ranging from
teenagers to late 20s. I felt this would be an obvious target choice as myself being
young, I understand what we want to hear and the type of music we listen to. I
understand that people have their own opinion and that it varies but the majority of
the music listened to today is under the pop genre. Knowing how addicted to social
media the young people of today are it would play a major part in my marketing
strategy targeting a market so broad as them.
My album/mixtape I have chosen to create is called Cover listings. I felt this was
appropriate as it is simply 3 covers which are listed. I have created my own album
cover which is shown below.
My overall aim for this project was to produce an album including 3/4 songs which
would be either remixs or covers. I successfully produced three covers although, the
fourth unfortunately didnt feature due to some technical and timing issues which will
be explained when talking about the tracks. This was a big disappointment for me as I
did not achieve the overall goal I wanted to.
For marketing purposes I devised a release schedule so that I could release tracks in
order to create traffic. Below is how I would undertake the release process to draw in
listeners and make not only myself but my music known as well. This however, took
a slight change as mentioned above; I had a fault with producing the right number of
tracks for the overall album.
Release schedule;

Promo release 1 track 2 weeks in (May 8th)

Two track release (May 22nd)
Full album release (June 26th)

Other key marketing tools I thought about was to approach

producers, radio stations or social networking sites and work
with a collected team of people under an umbrella so that
my tracks can go viral. This could range from professional
people right down to my very own colleagues in order to
advertise, publicise and to get my music going viral.

Track 1
Diamonds - https://soundcloud.com/zoeprentice/diamonds-cover/s-dGjho
RECORDING/PRODUCTION PROCESS
When creating Diamonds I used a variety of instruments. The main instruments I used
were drums, vocals and piano. The track I was recreating only featured a small variety
of instruments so I found that it would be a good song to recreate as the instruments
were easily recognised and all played prominent parts to build the song. The drums I
used for this song were all inputted through MIDI data. I used the software Logic that
provided me with both Midi and live kits so I had a good variation. I inputted the
drums myself by using the roadhouse kit. I opted against using a live drum kit as I
found it didnt produce the desired sound that I needed. The original didnt feature a
live kit so I felt it was necessary to avoid them. The drums play a prominent part
within the track as they hold the rhythm so timing was key. I played a simple 4/4 beat
mainly using the kick drum and Hi-hats at the chorus.
I used two pianos for this track, as I wanted to create the same effect as how they
sound in the original. My first piano was a grand piano with strings, all MIDI
inputted, as didnt have either a grand piano or strings to record. Using this piano I
played the main melody and various other little parts for either the bridge or the
chorus. Playing simultaneously with this piano I recorded in an organ, again, through
MIDI to create a layered effect against the grand piano. It gave the piano an unclean
feel, as it was a muddy sound, which I was very happy with. I tried to get the sound as
close to the original as I could.
When recording the vocals I used a female singer as it suited the song best. Rihanna
sang the original so a female vocalist was appropriate. I doubled up on the vocals with
ad-libs and backing to make the track sound thicker and so that her voice wasnt lost
against the other instruments.
Inspiration track
My inspiration track was Diamonds by Rihanna as I was doing a cover.
The link to the original is https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lWA2pjMjpBs
Target Sound/MY MIX
When I decided to recreate the song I had to use a variety of effects to get the desired
sounds I wanted. For example, I wanted to create the muddy piano sound (previously
mentioned above) so combined with both pianos I added reverb and slight delay so
that the sound lost its sharpness. Having a piano that is already combined with strings
also helped to contribute towards this as it extended the envelope of the sound so that
the note is dragged out. Similar to this I added reverb and compressed the vocals so
that they mixed well within the overall mix. I also took the time to double up the
vocals as I felt that they needed to be stronger when the chorus kicked in. I decided
that when listening to the track it sounded stronger when I panned the backing vocals
slightly right so that they werent lost against the main vocals. By using the
compressor, this enabled her voice to sound louder as it was recorded in on quite a
low level due to peaking at certain points in the song. I used a cardiod polar pattern to
capture the best possible sound of her voice. I also used the programme of melodyne,

which didnt prove to give me any major problems. I only felt the need to edit certain
notes, as the majority of the vocals were correct pitch. When editing the drums I
applied compression and reverb the same the vocals just to give them more of a
natural feel. I also EQd them so that the kick produced a thicker sound I cut out all
the high frequencies using a low pass filter by EQing between 80-100Hrtz and
between 5-10db. This provided a strong kick drum and as it was MIDI data it was
unnecessary to use a noise gate.

This is before I
EQd the drums

This is after I
EQd the
drums

Recording and production techniques

The song follows a simple structure so it wasnt hard for me to organise the
instruments. The original has a 4 bar introduction whereas mine features an 8 bar
intro. It then has an 8 bar verse leading into the chorus. The chorus lasts for 8 bars
then drops into another 8 bar verse and back into the chorus before it reaches the
bridge. The bridge is 4 bars long and then finishes with another chorus. I chose to
structure mine different to the original as the vocalist I had struggled to hit certain
notes so I adapted the track so that she was comfortable singing. As its a pop song it
would prove to be very repetitive so there wasnt a great deal of recording needed
however it took time to find desired sounds and effects. So this was more of a
production song as apposed to live recording.
Overall I felt the track went very well. I encountered a few minor issues with the
vocals but this was due to a restructure of the track to overcome it. In comparison to
the original track it does sound very similar which I am delighted with as I was
aiming for a near enough identical copy. As it is a pop song it wasnt the hardest
genre to be recreated, however, it was hard to gain the right sounds during the
postproduction process. I noticed that all the vocals were panned left when recorded
so this proved to be an issue when it came to melodyning. I had to send all the vocals
to a bus on the main mixer and then change the stereo output to mono.
This track was aimed to be a cover, however after having to restructure the song it has
now become a remix. I felt it was more appropriate to stick with covers as it stuck to
one genre and I wouldnt have that many problems acquiring sounds or instruments. I
did consider remixs due to the fact that they could potentially attract more traffic
within the market although, by only using the Logic software, the available plug-ins I
had to manipulate sounds was very limited.
As there is already a broad market for cover versions of famous songs, I felt that by
choosing a worldwide known song by worldwide known artist the market would
already feature a vast amount of traffic, so it would be easier for me to attract traffic
of my own by using certain marketing techniques. Rihanna is known all over
Soundcloud, a social media site used to promote new music. Due to previous uploads
of my own tracks I have already created traffic for myself by on a low-key basis. I
figured that by promoting my cover/remix on there it would have a knock on effect as

my viewers would be listening to the track, reposting it or favouriting it so it would

spread like word of mouth. I could also use other Social media sites to promote my
Soundcloud such as Tumblr, Twitter, Facebook and even Itunes. I could simply
upload my track or I could post the link as invite people to listen and forward. This
could prove very effective for me as I am a student therefore I have a vast number of
people connected with these social media sites so it wouldnt take long for me to
publicise on them and gain a response. Its also given that everybody listens to music
and music features on all of these websites so promoting that way will go in my
favour.
A caveat for this marketing tool is that I could easily annoy people, as it would seem
as though I was spamming them with my track. This would not go in my favour and
potentially could prevent my track from going viral altogether. I considered using the
marketing tool of releasing promo tracks so that it got people interested in not only
me as an artist but the work I have produced. This would attract attention on my
behalf so then the viewers would be waiting for the full release of the track. I think
overall I have been fairly successful with my marketing tool although next time I
think I would reconsider using a different strategy to see if it proves more successful.
It couldve been better however its not a total disappointment.

I think that overall my track could be considered competitive against others within the
market. A main strength of my track is defiantly the piano and main melody. I felt this
is the most dominant in the track as it holds the structure. I think that I captured this
sound the best in comparison to the original. I also think I managed to use the plug-ins
and the use of effects to create a very good replica of the original. I think that for
marketing purposes I feel I couldve done better. I do have a viable product although I
have nothing behind it so I couldve looked into creating more artwork, videos or
even more tracks to publicise my music. I think it wouldve been more beneficial for
me to approach it differently next time to attract more traffic although it isnt a
complete disaster this time. Tying in with the marketing process I think I could
promote through Spotify or Itunes next time so that it can be considered as exclusive
content rather than open to anyone. Although I think I would have to create more
traffic than I already have to achieve this. I could also look into promoting through a
different approach, maybe creating remixs and hosting DJ events to produce my
tracks. Overall I think it was a success for my first track.

Track 2
Worship - https://soundcloud.com/zoeprentice/worship-cover/s-Gn3GP
Similar to the first track I used piano, drums and vocals but added in some extra
instruments such as synths, bass guitar and organs. I found this track quite hard to
recreate as it had several different layers, which proved difficult seeing as I dont play
an instrument so I had to learn and record in the parts myself. Again, I used all MIDI
apart from the vocals, which were live recordings. I MIDI inputted original sound and
changed them using the provided samplers within logic to change the sounds so I
could create a similar replica to the original.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zjKDzsD5jVo&list=RDzjKDzsD5jVo
This is the original track, which I based my cover upon. It is called Worship and its
by Years and Years.
Target Sound/Recording and production
Similar to diamonds, as it is a pop song it follows a simple structure of intro, verse,
bridge, chorus and repeat. As Years and Years a synth based band this track took a lot
of attention to detail when creating and mixing down sounds. I had to use several
synthesizers to layer the track so that I could get the desired sound I want. I had to
process sounds through the EX24 sampler to change them so that they would sound as
similar as possible to the original track. In comparison to diamonds this track didnt
require a lot of effects such as reverb or delay as the synths already provided it.
However it took a lot of different instrument tracks to structure the overall cover
track. I had to use an element of Logic loops as I failed to find certain sounds, as I
couldnt even manipulate instruments to produce it. For example, when the bridge is
played there is a whammy guitar played and as I cant play guitar and was unable to
record a musician at the time, I found the loop provided me with the sound I wanted
and had a preset to edited effects. This perfectly resembled my chosen genre of pop
and was a key feature to the track. I was lucky in the respect that it was the same
melody throughout the whole track. So the chorus were the same, so were the verses
and the bridge etc. This meant I could spend more time concentrating on perfecting
the sounds rather than recording in every eight bars differently.
This track took a lot of time to actually master and mix down. As I had to record the
vocals in last I had to ensure that all the instrumentation side of it was done to
perfection. I did encounter a few issues when it came to mixing the drums. As
mentioned above it was all inputted through MIDI data and they were obviously
drums which already had effects on them. Alas, when played against all the other
instruments they were very quiet. I then decided to put them through a compressor,
which did make them louder, but they started to peak at the level I needed them to be
at. This became an issue for my overall mix as my output was constantly peaking so
my track was distorting and it wasnt a clean mix. I decided that the best way to solve
the issue was to send all the drum tracks to a bus (a new track for grouped instrument
tracks) and put a limiter on them so it did not exceed a certain point ensuring it didnt
peak. I didnt have much of an issue with any of the other instruments apart from
minor tweaking from a compressor or and equaliser.

I again, had to melodyne the vocals as it was a very high pitch song for Ella to sing
and it was a struggle for her range. I am pleased with the overall vocal although in
comparison to my other tracks I dont think it is the best. I carried out this process in
the same process when melodyning diamonds. The same issue occurred for the vocals
on both this track and diamonds in the fact that when put through melodyne, it was
only playing through the left hand side of the channel. This meant that due to my
error, I must have recorded in the tracks on a stereo output meaning that when played
all the vocals were panned hard left. To overcome this, I had to group all of the
effected tracks together and send them to a bus. This meant that by using the little
circle symbol in the bottom left hand corner I could switch them all to mono and it
would all be panned centre allowing me to pan (if necessary) the tracks I wanted to. I
wanted the double ups to be panned however it didnt sound right when I did it. I
used a large amount of reverb for Ella in this song as I felt it was needed to soften the
vocals as they were overpowering against the instrumentation. Some vocals that I
recorded were quieter than others which therefore affected my mix once normalised.
This meant that I had to follow the same procedure as before and put a compressor on
and then a limiter as certain notes like the chorus for example, would peak easily.
My marketing strategy was the same throughout the whole production process in the
respect that I used social media to promote my songs. As mentioned above in track 1,
this is another cover version and I used the same market to promote in. All of the
above links to social media sites are relevant to the marketing promotion process of
this song. The only variation is that I could also tag this genre as electro as the main
instruments are synthesizers. So when posting on mediums like Soundcloud it will be
beneficial for attracting traffic from not only pop genre but electro too. This would go
in my favour as combined genres can produce larger listeners.
My overall evaluation for my marketing strategy is that it was as successful as it could
be. I didnt push for anything large scale I simply stuck to social media sites and saw
how much traffic I could create. There is room for vast improvement within this
strategy as I could budget myself some money to invest in promotion and the release
of my tracks so that it couldve been more publicised. There isnt a lot else for me to
say that hasnt already been explained in track 1 with regards to marketing.
I felt this track couldve been more successful in a number of ways although it is not a
total disappointment. I am pleased with all the elements of my track however I felt
conscious that the vocals would let me down as Ella tried her best and she did
brilliantly but due to how high pitch the song was she was out quite a lot and the use
of melodyne can sometimes cause more of a hindrance than a help. I tried my best to
tune her voice into the right pitch alas it was most defiantly easier said than done. I
did however feel like this track had pushed my knowledge of recording musicians and
the whole production processes and I did expand my knowledge when it came to
using samplers and synthesizers. I felt that I was able to mix down the track
successfully and produce a decent standard outcome to the best of my ability within
the time I had.

Track 3
Girls just want to have fun - https://soundcloud.com/zoeprentice/girls-justwanna-have-fun-cover/s-mYzHo
This track was different to my other two as it was purely live-based instruments and
recordings. I used around 6/7 tracks so this was my multi-track recording. I pre
recorded drums and looped them so that when my guitarist was recording she had
something to play along to as she couldnt play to the metronome. The guitars are
doubled up as I used acoustic so I thought it would sound thicker if I enhance the
sound because it was quite faint against the drums. I also doubled the vocals using the
same process as in track 1. The only other instruments included were tambourine and
bass guitar.
My inspiration track was a Girls Just Wanna Have Fun cover by George Ezra in the
BBC Radio 1 live lounge session. I did consider doing the original by Cyndi Lauper
but I felt that an acoustic cover would be more efficient for me to use. The link below
is the cover that I recreated and the second link is the original.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lK_mWnX4s64
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PIb6AZdTr-A
Target sound/production techniques
When recording this track I had to take into consideration mic placement as I was live
recording an acoustic guitar. I positioned the microphone slightly off centre of the
guitar about 3-6 inches away from the hole. This allowed me to capture the best
possible sound I could using a condenser microphone. I doubled up on the guitars (as
mentioned previously) to give them a thicker sound. I did encounter a few clips where
the track unfortunately peaked but I easily edited them out when it came to the mix
down process.
The chord structure of the track is the same and is repetitive throughout. It is a simple
melody repeated by every instrument. To record the drums I used a loop on logic and
the bass guitar I recorded in via Direct Injection. This was easier than the whole
process of micing up and recording in live.
I didnt really use many other effects than what is already mentioned in the tracks
above. Obviously I used melodyne again to correct the pitch of the vocals although
they didnt really need it for this song as she pretty much hit the notes bang on. I
sorted the obvious notes that sounded ridiculously out during playback. The same
issue did occur with the vocals as mentioned in track 1/2 when I put the audio file
through melodyne. I used the same process to overcome this by grouping them to a
bus. I found it easier to apply reverb, a compressor and a limiter with them grouped to
a bus as it would apply to every single track within it. This made it easier and the
editing process shorter as it didnt have to keep reapplying the same effect to different
channels. I used reverb on the vocals and on the acoustic guitar as I felt it helped them
to blend better. This track took a long time to mix down as I had to edit individual
parts of both the vocals and the instruments. Being an audio file, once cut you can get
a popping noise at the placement of the cut which can ruin your mix. I therefore had
to apply cross faders and in some case automation to prevent this.

I felt for a live recording track that this deliver to a high standard. There is always
room for improvement but never the less this was a strong track for me. I felt I got the
balances right between effects levels and the overall mix produced. It matched the
genre really well and did sound fairly similar to George Ezras version apart from the
fact that the guitar was a different strumming pattern to mine. Overall I was very
happy with the track I produced.
As mentioned above, there isnt much else for me to say, as it was the same strategy
for all of my tracks in the terms of marketing. With this track, it can be considered to
be promoted more as it is highly viewed on Youtube which is a worldwide used
medium. So by uploading a cover I could create traffic from the existing viewers of
that. I did all promotion through social media and I felt that with Soundcloud I could
promote more to the live lounge sessions as apposed to pop genre as I know that they
generate a lot of traffic. This would also be beneficial promoting on mediums like
Twitter or Facebook because If I was to get a retweeet from the BBC live lounge then
my track would go viral achieving the best possible result.

Track 4 I need a dollar (failed track)

This track was a huge disappointment for me as I was unable to complete it due to
timing issues and the let down of musicians failing to attend studio sessions. I accept
on my behalf that I did leave it late to complete although my musicians let me down
by failing to attend when I needed them. I believe for the amount of time I left for
myself to complete this was over ambitious. I did begin to record in some parts of the
song however I was unable to complete the structure or record in vocals therefore not
being able to feature on the album.

Evaluation
As a whole I feel that my work could be considered as competitive against others in
the industry. Although I havent produced the desired amount of tracks that I wanted
to, the quality of the three songs produced compensates for my over ambitious goal of
four. When defining my track as a viable product I think its clear it wont be that
successful as I havent provided as much variety as I couldve. This is my caveat and
it will affect me when going up against competitors producing similar work to mine.
There are many strengths within my tracks but it is equally weighed out with
weaknesses. I would consider Diamonds to be my best track as it is a good overall
mix and it sounds the best quality wise. Furthermore it features fewer instruments
than the other two but yet sounds thicker. It is a very good cover and it does sound
like existing covers that I researched on youtube before starting the song. Technical
wise it isnt a bad mix at all as it has clean recordings for all tracks and delivered well
during post-production. In comparison to the others this track is the best of the album.
The other two tracks do carry strengths but I didnt feel as happy with them as I did
with Diamonds. Worship did meet the genre brief in that it was pop and electro but it
still lacked the coming together properly when all was being mixed down. I think if I
had organised my time better I may have been able to find a more suitable singer
whos vocal range could cover the high pitch notes. This wouldve made the track
sound better as it wouldve have gelled with the instruments instead of being more
prominent. I think if I had have done this it might have had a chance of creating more
traffic and competing against others when I upload it to social media sites. If it isnt a
well-produced mix then people arent going to make the effort to share it further or
repost or even view it.
Similar to this, the live lounge cover, my third track, can be described as a good track
overall although it lacks depth. The overall recording is very dense, there arent many
layers included just single recorded instruments. Take the guitar for example, without
the doubled track it wouldnt sound half as thick as it does. The sound it produces
with just one guitar track was so faint it couldnt be heard amongst the rest of the
track. Again I think the fault comes down to myself not organising my time or studio
sessions properly. It didnt help that I cant play an instrument properly otherwise I
wouldve been able to record half the track in myself, so being reliant on others
wasnt the best option for me.
In terms of marketing I think I done the best I could when it comes to promotion and
publicity. I think as a student I couldnt really advance with any other strategy than
social media. This wont be a massive success but then I could progress further from
there putting my songs on Itunes or websites in which you have to pay to download. If
I can generate enough traffic then it will be easier for me to progress and start
devising plans for a second album or gigs or looking at releasing other peoples work.
This will get me publicity within the industry and taking a risk might even make me a
millionaire.