Oh Mama, Mama, the Creation of Four Songs, from Start to Finish

Abstract

There is no one way to create a song from start to finish, no set rules on how to proceed, but there are tested and tried methods, which have produced results and are shared every day on the Internet by teachers, scholars, and individuals. In this thesis, I looked at my artistic process of making a song from start to finish as the songwriter, singer, recording engineer, mixing, and mastering engineer. I will be analyzing four songs that I have written, arranged, recorded, mixed, and mastered. Compared to my earliest musical works which I wrote, arranged mixed, and mastered, I will be looking at the new songs and what has changed – the sonic quality, the choice of instrumentation, arrangement, mixing, and mastering. This project aims to convert implicit knowledge into explicit one. It also aims to document tacit knowledge learned by experimenting with music technology tools and resources. Writing this thesis has inspired me to reflect on my future goals and the direction I intend to go with music and technology.