What I learnt?

From this unit, I learnt to think and listen to music more critically and analytically. Looking a the works like moor mother and Rashad Becker opened my eyes to a more experimental type of music, which involve messages not usually portrayed in most songs, which sort of change my overall perspective to how I view music.

Doing research into melodies and harmonies for my presentation. I learnt in the process how to critically and effectively create my own harmonic interactions with tracks in my own music, allowing me to explore and create more intricate, deep and meaningful pieces.

How does it benefit me?

A benefit of me being able to listen more narrowly and analytically is evident in my mixing techniques. I am able to finalise a well balanced mixed piece to my music. I am able to identify things such as phase issues or muddy mixes, which usually was a big issue for me as I’d only notice these issues once I had exported a whole .wav of my piece. I start to use other techniques in my mix such as compression, eq and effects like reverb to now achieve certain emotions from my tracks, just like I’d observed through artists like Rashad backer and moor mother

Another benefit is an improvement in my sound selection. Listening to artists like RZA has allowed me to understand the use of vintage drum kits and patterns, which I now use in my own production, this is important to me as I tend to produce in a genre like hip hop and RnB where drum patterns become essential laying the foundation of the track.

Overall, I think that this unit has helped me to become holistically a better producer as well as a better listener and criticiser. It has helped me improve my selective hearing skills, which as I mentioned translates into my production methods like mixing.