Table

of contents

Introduction

04 Digital audio workstation (DAW), technology and sequencing

05 Musical styles and influences

Track 1 Zhana Sanctuary of love (Bamber Remix)

06 Brief

07 Drum patterns

08 Drum effects and arrangement

09 Bass midi recording and key

10 Bass EQ and compression

11 Bass side chain

12 Piano groove and effects

13 Piano automation

14 Pads layering

15 Pads automation

Track 2 Crawlspace (Original Mix)

16 Brief

17 Kick sampling

18 Kick EQ and saturation

19 Snare

20 Hats stereo width

21 Chord synth envelopes

22 Chord synth automation

23 FX

24 Percussion and or vocal


25 Sends (reverb and delay)

26 Mastering

Events management

27 Elysium Events brief and artwork

28 Promotion and role allocation

29 People management, safety, financial records and teamwork

30 Photos from Elysium Events

Work Experience

31 Work experience in France

UCAS

32 UCAS, motivation, goals and ambition

Summary
33 Summary

My digital audio workstation (DAW)

I am a big fan of Ableton for its session view and super fast workflow.

I have been producing for around 2 years now, over the course of which I have
developed a fairly solid grounding in editing audio and midi. I feel comfortable
using Ableton and have produced hundreds of different tracks.

Technology and sequencing

In the picture above you can see my home studio set up. Firstly, you can see my
studio monitors, which offer a flat, neutral frequency response, which means
theyre not adding any color to the sound like a hi-fi would, so that you can
objectively judge your mix. I have set my monitors up so that there is an equal
distance between both of them and my head, this is to ensure that the sound is
balanced and Im not hearing one speaker louder than the other.

I dont have enough money for a proper acoustically treated studio so I have
made small adjustments to my room prevent the sound from bouncing around
too much and make it easier for me to mix my music. For example having
curtains instead of blinds and carpet instead of a wooden floor.

I avoided setting up my studio in the corner of the room to avoid the bass getting
trapped. Im also going to eventually buy some foam panels to use at the angle of
first reflection (the part of the wall where the sound hits first) to stop any
rattling and again prevent the sound from bouncing around too much. These
small adjustments arent compulsory and some producers create amazing tracks

without any acoustic treatment, but with treatment it is a lot easier to achieve a
cleaner mix down.

Pictured you can see obviously my computer, the midi controller I use to
physically play midi into ableton, and also my external TB 3 hardware synth. I
find using hardware and also having a midi controller helps the creative process
as it brings you away from the screen for a minute and allows you to physically
play your music into the DAW. Finally, at the back right hand side I have set up
my soundcard basically so I can connect my computer to my gear.

Musical Styles and influences

My musical style is predominantly house and techno music, this is the music I am
most inclined to make in my free time for fun and also the music I play out when
I DJ.

However, when I am just chilling out I listen to a variety of different genres such
as real dub step (more minimal deep medi styles), disco, ambient and a lot of
more vocal orientated stuff.

I suppose I enjoy listening to other genres when Im relaxing because Im not
over analyzing them and thinking about how they might have been made. This
music still has a real element of mystery when I listen to it and its much easier to
just sit back and drift off. I think its really vital in music production to listen to a
variety of genres so that your creativity is not stunted and your mind is kept
open to new creative possibilities.



During this portfolio I will go through 2 different contrasting productions that I
have made and explain some of the different audio and midi creative and editing
processes that I used. Each of the tracks are of different genres and I approached
them in very different ways.



I will also attach both files in mp3 and provide a couple more links and mp3s for
other tracks that I have made for reference.

Track 1:

Zhana Sanctuary Of Love (Bamber Remix)

Genre: Classic House

Link: Zhana - Sanctuary Of Love (Bamber Remix)

Brief

I knew that I wanted to create a track filled with 90s nostalgia, but at the same
time keep it fresh and modern. I found that using the Korg M1 VST (a digital soft
synth based on the classic Korg M1 synthesizer) helped me achieve the vintage,
old school vibe I was looking for.

I decided that breaking away from the usual four-to-the-floor rhythm pattern,
found in a lot of disco and electronic dance music, would allow my remix to be
more original and distinct. In doing this I opted for a break beat drum pattern
found in more electro styled tracks.

I added hazy vocals from Zhana Sanctuary of love and a relentless piano riff
with the hope of achieving euphoria in my mix.

Drums

First off, to make my drums I chose to use the 808 drum kit that comes as
standard with Ableton. I found that the 808 kit, whilst being digital, offered
warm analogue qualities that I couldnt find in within my samples. Saying that, I
did actually drag in a couple of samples, one for my snare hit (as I felt it was
punchier and fitted the track better than the standard 808 snare hit) and another
one for an extra hi hat to simply add more groove.

Pictured above, you can see the drum pattern I have manually written out in
MIDI notes with my mouse. With regards to sequencing, I went for a regular
snare, simple, conventional 1/8 sequencing for the kick and a closed hi hat on
every other 16th note. I also added in an open 808 hat at the end of every bar and
an extra kick drum at the end of every 4 bars to add more variation to the drum
loop and avoid monotony.

At the very top of the sequence, you can see the hi hat sample Ive dragged in. As
I mentioned before I have used this extra hi hat to create groove, add swing to
the track so it sounds like its actually being played in live.

I achieved this in a couple of ways, one of which was by slightly offsetting each
note off the grid lines (Pictured above). Another was by reducing the velocity of
each note being played (the small lines pictured below). Velocity is how hard a
note is hitting. Doing this just adds variation and is pleasing to our ears as they
cant adjust to the overall sound of the drums as easily.


Then, I added a saturator with 5.71 Db of drive to the whole drum chain, I did
this to effectively glue all of the drum samples together and make them sound
more solid together. This is another bonus I found from using the 808 kit as all of
the samples are actually designed to be played together, sometimes it can be
difficult to find samples that work well together especially if your gathering them
from different sources.

At this point, I had a solid drum pattern that I was happy with. Looking back
however, the drums do sound abit dry. I could of probably added some reverb to
the hi hats and snare to put them into their own space and gel the drums
together even more. I could of also added abit of delay onto the closed hats to
create further movement.

Finally, I took my drum arrangement from session view, dragged them onto my
timeline and arranged the pattern accordingly so that the track could easily be
mixed in an out of by a DJ. (Pictured above)

This is common in electronic dance tracks, I.E starting with just a kick drum and
building up adding claps in at the end of 16 bars and so on. You can also see
where Ive added labels such as mix in and breakdown to help me visualize
how the track will play out. I know these arent the most technical terms but I
feel like if it helps you then you should do it.


I mixed this track down around a year ago and have learnt new skills since then,
and as I mentioned above there is a few things I would do differently if I was to
mix the drums again. I find that with production its a forever growing learning
process and the more you know the more you realise you dont know.

Bass

Now for the bass line. In my experience over the past 2 years Ive been producing
music, the bass line is the element that I struggle with the most in regards to
mixing. This is due to its large presence in the low end and trying to find the right
balance of punch, weight and subtlety all without allowing it to fully engulf and
take over your track.

I started off by choosing a good preset (by good I mean that it works well in
relation to other elements in my track) from the Korg M1 VST so very little
processing had to be done for me to achieve the sound I wanted. In my opinion
starting off with solid, high quality samples is key to making music as you dont
want to make things any harder than they need to be.

Pictured below, you can see the arrangement of MIDI notes I have played out on
my MIDI controller. Midi is a protocol, which allows an electronic instrument and
a digital musical tool to communicate with each other. So in this instance, I am
sending midi signals through the notes I am playing on my keyboard to the Korg
M1 VST on my computer. It is then being recorded into a live session window in
Ableton ready for play back.

I decided what key I wanted to write the base line in and that I would make sure
other elements in the track, such as the pads and the piano, would adhere to this
key so that the mix would be harmonically pleasing.

There are no rules that are set in stone in music production, just general rules of
thumb. I know that in some techno records, producers will choose to ignore the
key of elements in their track and it will sound brilliant. However, in other
circumstances where key is ignored it can sound, at least in my opinion, dreadful.
Again its all a matter of personal preference.









Pictured above, you can see the EQ eight I used on my bass line. An EQ shows the
levels of frequency response in an audio signal and the controls allow their
adjustment. With bass being very prominent in the low end I decided to roll of
frequencys from 40hz and below with a high pass filter. This added clarity to my
mix and helped me define the bass line as it got rid of the low-end rumble below
40hz, which was basically just taking up a lot of space in the mix. I opted for the
high pass filter with a more sudden decline, as it sounded tighter and punchier.

I very slightly boosted the frequency at around 50hz to add thickness and rolled
off the top end from 135hz with a low pass filter. Rolling off the top end allows
more space in the mix for things like pads, hi hats and pianos to come through, as
they are not interfered with by the top end harmonics of the bass line.

I didnt feel the need to cut frequencies out of the bass for the kick drum to punch
through as the kick drum is prominent in the mid/high range and the bass is
prominent in the low end. I always try to avoid over processing as this can
sometimes ruin a mix, especially since I was already happy with how it sounded.

In an electronic dance music track, two of the most important aspects are the
kick drum and the bass line. I use compression on a bass line mainly to shape the
tone and add punch and definition.

The bass notes are fairly dense in this track so I made the release relatively short
so they wouldnt take up too much space. Back when I made this track, I wanted
to use a medium attack time because I thought with it being a fairly laidback
house track I wanted a nice, slow, rolling bass. However, looking back I think the
bass definitely would of benefitted with a shorter attack and that little bit of
extra punch.

10

In the picture above, you can see that Ive side chained the bass to the kick drum,
this means every time the kick is triggered it pushes down the level of the bass..
As a result the kick can punch through the mix clearly. I have only reduced the
threshold a little bit as I wanted a subtle effect that cleans up the bottom end but
overall cant be heard within the mix. When the threshold is reduced too much it
creates a pumping effect that I dont like. As I mentioned before I definitely
should of reduced the attack time in order to get the most out of the side chain
effect.

Above you can see the full rack of audio effects I have used on the bass. The logic
in the order I have set up the effects in is that firstly, I wanted the EQ to take out
undesired frequencies and boost preferable ones, then I wanted the saturator to
add warmth and depth and then finally the compressor to shape and define the
final sound.

I didnt want to over complicate the bass line by adding too many effects,
especially avoiding anything that would create stereo image. Stereo image on my
bass line would complicate the mix by adding too much width.

11

Piano

As I mentioned before choosing the right starting sound is vital, for the piano Ive
gone for the classic Korg M1 house piano. This preset is an absolute beast and
has been used in countless house tracks over the years. Because the preset is
already so good, it was fairly simple to sit it in the mix.














Above, you can see where Ive played in the chords from my midi keyboard. Not
all of the notes are the same length even though it is the same pattern and a few
of them are slightly off grid. Ive done this on purpose to give human realism to
the track because when music is being played out live by a musician, there is
human error and not everything is perfectly timed.

I find that when making a house track with groove if you try and finely tune
everything it can begin to sound unrealistic and mechanical. However, straight
robotic patterns can sometimes work really well in certain techno tracks and
make them sound punchy, aggressive and hard-hitting.

You can see in the effects rack, Ive used very simple EQ to roll off the low end of
the piano to create space for the kick and bass and rolled of the high end to make
space for the hats whilst also reducing some of the harshness in the top end (I
could of used chorus but didnt feel it was necessary).

I have added more saturation to warm the sound, a different compressor plug in
called kick start which shapes the tones of the piano slightly differently to the
standard Ableton plug in and have added more side chaining within the kick
start compressor.

12

Finally, Ive added a low pass auto filter and very simply automated the
frequencies. The diagonal line I have drawn will automate the low pass filter and
in effect fade in the piano from being completely silent (low pass not letting any
frequencies past) to gradually opening up to the desired frequency.


I used this technique to gradually introduce the piano to the track and build
excitement and anticipation. This is a technique commonly used in the build up
to a drop or through out a production to create movement and keep the track
rolling.

This is an extremely simple example of automation and automation can be used
in countless different ways, which I will elaborate on later.

13

Pads

For the pads, I layered 3 different sounds together. In the picture above, you can
see Ive labeled and annotated each individual pad. I used one for the low end,
another for the mid range and the final one for the top end. By doing this I built
up a warmer, thicker and fuller sounding pad.

I use this technique a lot with different elements, for example I might make a
kick drum by using a sub kick for weight and then layer a more clicky high end
kick on top so that it cuts through the mix but still retains weight and drive.
Using this technique gives elements more dimension and character, and also
your being a bit more creative making something thats original to your track
rather than just using presets.

I have used the grouping option so that each pad is gelled together and so that I
can affect them all at the same time as if they were the same signal. You can see I
have labeled where I have automated the track volume. By writing this
automation into the group master channel the volume will now effect every
element in the group at the same time. This saves time as I dont have to write
the automation into each individual pad.

Ive added compression
to the group master
channel to glue the pads
together even more and
auto pan to give them
stereo image and width
across the mix.

14

Above you can see Ive automated filter frequency on each different pad, granting
me further creative control as I can drop out the low, mid or high of the pad
whenever necessary.

15

Track 2:

Crawlspace (Original Mix)

Genre: Techno

Link: Crawlspace (Original Mix)

Brief

Below is a screenshot of a project I made around half a year ago called Crawl
space. Its a fully original mix and Im very happy with how it turned out. With
Crawl Space I wanted to focus on making each element in the track as powerful
as possible, which is something Ive struggled with in previous tracks. I knew I
wanted to produce a deep, dark, driving techno track aimed at the club to play
out in my DJ sets.

16


Kick

Some producers say that a kick drum can be 90% responsible for how well a
track works when producing Techno as it is strongly oriented around a four-to-
the-floor kick pattern. I wanted to use a kick drum sample that wasnt overly
processed so I could add my own processing and make it unique to my track.

I started off by dragging a drum rack onto my empty midi channel
and labeling it Kick.


I then added a few kick samples from my library into
the drum rack and wrote a simple 4X4 kick pattern
in midi notes.


I moved these notes across
each kick sample so I
could hear how they
sounded when actually
being played out.

Once I decided on a suitable kick drum I cut the sample to get rid of the excess
noise I didnt want that would clutter up the mix. I then reduced the decay time
so that the kick would die away quicker after Id triggered it keeping it punchy. I
left the release time as long as possible so the kick would have a long tail and
more time to return to 0db thus giving it a larger, booming warehouse quality. I
felt like the signal was coming in a bit hot and loud so I tamed it by using a fast
attack time to shave the front of the transient and get the kick under control
before it got too thumpy.

Moving onto the effects I used to process the kick, I opted for a utility
because a kick doesnt have a wide range of frequencies and a utility
effect pretty much expands or shrinks the spectrum of sound. So by
reducing the width from 100% down to 0% I dialed in on the most
prominent frequencies in the kick (as they are in the middle of the

17

frequency spectrum) and

emphasize them making the kick
even larger.
I arranged the audio effects in the
most logical order I could, with the
utility emphasizing the most
prominent frequencies in the kick
first for the EQ to then boost and
reduce them. Normally I try to
mainly cut frequencies with the EQ as boosting can quickly muddy up the mix,
however with this track I was trying to make everything as powerful as possible
so I decided to boost a large 5.5db at 52hz. I find around 50hz-80hz are good
frequencies to boost for subs. Then I boosted 4.4db at 100hz for more low end
and cut at around 330hz to tighten things up. The dip at 330hz makes it easier to
distinguish between the low and hi end of the kick which is why it sounds
tighter. I think its also important to note, that when cutting signals its better to
use a narrow bandwidth (Q) as it is more precise and when boosting its better to
use a lower Q as it boosts the frequencies more consistently.


Now with the newly shaped sound and
undesirable frequencies taken out, I could
add thickness and warmth up by adding
in a saturator with 4db of drive.




After this I added the kick tweaker plug in
which allowed me to tighten, deepen and define
the final sound of the kick drum using the
macros. I used Curve 1 which is essentially an
EQ, to enhance the attack and reduce undesired
frequencies in the mid range whilst using Curve
2 to give the kick more punch. Tighten was used
to obviously tighten the kick and add warmth
and finally squash which is a limiter to bring the
attack and release to a consistent level.

18

Snare

When choosing a snare I followed the same process as I used with the kick by
dragging samples into the drum rack. I then added a snare shaper to add
brightness in the high end, scoop out frequencies in the midrange for tightness,
saturation similar to the standard Ableton saturator and transient designer to
reshape the transient response.

I rolled off the low end with a hi pass filter from around 200hz, even though
there are sometimes useful frequencies around there for low end punch in a
snare I felt the kick was providing most of the punch so I chose to roll it off and
give the kick more space. I then made a narrow cut at 330hz for tightness and
boosted 400hz for thickness. I slightly boosted at 2500hz for high end snap.
Balance is key to a good mix down so if youre cutting out a certain frequency its
good to boost a more desirable frequency to balance out the sound.


I added in a 909 snare roll just before the drop for impact and used the same EQ
process, both snares are never triggered at the same time in the track so I knew
the frequencies would not clash.

19

Hats

To build up the hi hats in this track I used a combination of a open hi hat and 2 hi
hat loops. In my opinion the hi hat sounded like it had already been processed in
regards to having a fast attack time, short sustain and short release so I didnt
need to add much.

I added a drum strip for punch, tightness, a bit of room reverb and
brightness. I also added a simple EQ rolling of below around 320hz to
allow space in the bottom end of the mix. I cut frequencies at 6600hz to
reduce some of the harshness that came with boosting 6.5db at 15,800hz.

To the right you can see the simple delay Ive added, and basically Ive
delayed the right hand side by 12.7ms so that the sound from the left
speaker will reach your ears 12.7ms before the right speaker and in turn
this will create stereo image and width which will make the hats sound a
lot larger in the mix and as if they have more space.

Above you can see the hi hat loop Ive added, this hat was more prominent in the
mid range as apposed to the open hat more prominent in the high end so they
layered and complimented each other nicely. The loop consists of hi hat hits in
different velocities so I looped one hit for the first part of the track then opened
up the loop once the track had dropped to create more movement and variety.
Even though you cant hear the variation clearly when its in the mix it still creates
movement and tricks your ears. I think loops are fine to use. as long as you are
using them creatively in your own way.

I then added a final loop to create groove, as the
hats were sounding too straight. I processed
this loop in the same way as the previous, apart
from this time I used the transient envelope
from 100 to 70. Turning the envelope down
creates a sort of scattered gating effect and the
shorter the envelope the shorter the fade.
Basically the transients have been shaved down
by the envelope fade getting rid of excess noise
in the loop and created more space.

20

Chord Synth

Like I said before, there is no harm in using loops as long as you use them
originally. Below you can see below how much I have chopped and changed the
chord loop across the duration of the track, starting with single parts of the
chord introducing and teasing extra parts to add anticipation and excitement to
the arrangement.

I guess the main talking point about the chords is the envelope modulation Ive
used. I reduced down what started as a four bar loop to just one bar and looped
it over. I didnt want the main percussion hit in the loop I just wanted to keep the
surrounding percussion so using the envelopes setting I reduced the volume of
the clip to 0db at the area I wanted to remove and to gradually brought the level
back up to where I wanted the signal to start again. I didnt want to do this too
abruptly as it would of effected the over all rolling feel of the track.

I changed the preserve transients envelope down from 100 to 60, basically there
are transients located across the loop and this setting means that when the end
of each transient is reached the loop it will stop playing until the next transient
comes along. This makes the loop more punchy and precise eliminating
unwanted noise and allows it to be more prominent in the mix.

I also sometimes enjoy using the different warp
modes pictured on the left, they all have their own
unique sound I find the complex setting to be very
effective at cleaning up stop-starting crackly vocal
samples.

21

Here you can see the audio effects Ive used, again extremely minimal as most of
the processing has been done on the loop before hand. The low end is rolled off
but not too drastically at 118hz so a bit of low end grit is left in, then a synth
modulator is added to automate the loop. Ive added a small amount of pumper
which is a side chain effect, band limit, metalize to add metallic harmonics and
pan mod modulate the pan of the synth in the stereo field.

Here you can see where Ive added automation to the diffuse setting. I found this
useful in the breakdown of the track as it uses a washed, reverb filter and
transforms the loop creating all sorts of new tones and shadows in the sound.

Here Ive automated the presence as the track is rolling, the presence focus on
little details and brings them to the front of the mix.

22

FX

For the effects I decided to use DIVA
VST, however with it using such a
massive amount of CPU my computer
couldnt handle running it. So I
clicked the record button inside an
empty audio channel and chose the
audio from option and routed the
channel to the midi channel diva was
on. I then clicked the record button in
the audio channel and played the
effects I wanted to use on diva synth.
By doing this I had very high quality
FX samples (pictured below) in my
audio channel that I could then
manipulate without Diva using up all
my computers CPU. I did this multiple
times with different sounds and
effects from diva to create around 15
different samples that I could use
through out my track. These included
things like risers, strange noises,
sweeps and bleeps (pictured below)

I then grouped these FX together

and added synth modulator and
auto pan for width, to the FX
group master channel. EQ was
then used to roll of the low end of
each channel and sit the FX
further back in the mix.

23

Percussion and/or vocal

With my percussion I did actually include a vocal sample which was glitched and
warped to the point where it more or less sounded like percussion.

I achieved this by using the glitch machine. You
can see the different parameters it has in the
picture on the left and the red square means that I
have applied automation on that specific macro.

Ive automated random glitch for random crazy glitch patterns and I did this
completely randomly throughout the track so that it would take longer for me to
get used to the pattern and the track would stay interesting and varied.
Then (On the left)
the decimate
setting which
applies overdrive
to the vocals and distorts them giving them a much darker scarier vibe, helping
me reach my final goal of creating a dark techno track. I did this with each of the
macros tuning them to my taste, mostly just randomly drawing automation in to
see what it would sound like, this was probably the most fun part of the whole
track to make!
You can see on the left that I did end up grouping my
vocal with my percussion as it ended up being much
more percussive than a vocal. Ive panned one of my
percussion samples to 9L and another one to 9R I
made sure to use samples that were almost a call and
response of each other and panned them by the same
value to achieve balance. This technique is another
useful way of adding stereo image to a mix so that
everything isnt just hitting straight down the middle.

Glue compression was added to the
master percussion channel, with a
longer attack to allow the front
transients of the percussion
through to get extra punch. A
longer release was used so the
percussion had a little more
breathing time and wasnt to sudden. A compressor is
probably actually the most musical tool for sound design as
you can massively alter the feel of a sound and chill it out or make it much more
aggressive by basically changing how fast it triggers and returns to 0db.

24

Sends

I havent mentioned reverb or delay yet as I have been saving it for now. At the
far right hand side of the screen on ableton you can set up sends to effects.

For example (on the left) I set up a send to a large factory
reverb labeled A and also a ping pong delay labeled B.

Here on the right you can
see where I have added
different amounts of the
sends onto each of my
channels. On the vox
channel Ive wet the signal
around 55% with factory
reverb A and added a
little bit of automated
delay onto B.

I have done this across all
of my channels according
to taste, this means that I
can use the same reverb
across the whole of my
mix which is beneficial as
it will sound as If all of the
elements are in the same
space. I know that using
individual reverbs on
different channels can also
be very effective but in
this instance I chose to
experiment this way and see how it would
sound.

I increased the pre delay on the reverb so that I would bounce more and sound
as If it was in an even bigger space. I added EQ to the reverb channel reducing
clutter in the low end and rolling of some of the top end because sometimes I
think the top end on digital reverb can sound a bit synthetic.

25

Mastering

I kept the final master
bus very simple using
a maximiser with glue
compressor to gel the
mix together, stereo
bright to widen and
brighten and a very
little bit of tube
saturation. I found
adding too much just
made the mix sound
muddy but adding a
little bit added nice warmth and then finally maximize to make the full mix sound
fat and loud.

After this I added -0.38db of limiter to limit the overall signal of the track,
prevent red lining and keep the mix at a consistent level.

I understand that this isnt the most elaborate master chain but I want to over
complicate things and maximizer has a lot of the fundamentals I needed. I would
of liked to use some multiband compression but I am still not entirely sure on
exactly how it works.

26

Events Management

Moving onto events management, I have been part of a couple of events in York
over the past few years the main one being Elysium Events. Together with my
friend Stevie we decided to put on an event that would showcase well-known
headlining DJs and also show the local talent York had to offer. This would give
us an opportunity to DJ and hopefully turn over a decent profit along the way.
The event took place at Fibbers Live Music Venue in York.

Below you can see the artwork that was created for the first two events we put
on. This was created by a friend of Stevie, Igor Hadzic for discount price and we
were happy with how it turned out. We thought it was important that we used
the recourses we had to our advantage and save money wherever possible. We
found we could save money by DJing ourselves, having a close friend create all of
our artwork (logos, cover photos, posters, tickets) and booking upcoming local
DJ talent in order to save expenses on travel, accommodation and high booking
fees.

Having a consistent and artwork is vital to running a successful event because
people will take you a lot more seriously, and will associate certain trademarks
with your brand (In our case it was the consistent purple theme).

Running an event requires a lot of effort and ensuring it runs smoothly is all
down to how much preparation you put in before hand. A lot of the preparation
for us was promotion, as it doesnt matter how good your event is if people dont

27

know about it they wont turn up! Firstly, we set up an Elysium Events Facebook
page so we could post regularly, sponsoring our posts so that they would be
higher up in the news feed and reach a wider audience. We set up an Elysium
Soundcloud where we would feature weekly guest mixes (artwork pictured
below) from different DJs that would be playing at our events giving the public a
taste of what they could expect to hear at Elysium whilst generating buzz and
building hype.

Pictured to the right, you can see a
competition that we ran via Facebook,
which included 2 VIP guest list tickets to
an Elysium Event, an Elysium t-shirt and a
bottle of Moet & Chandon Champagne. All
the public had to do was like and share
our Facebook post to be entered into the
prize draw. We used this competition as a
promotion technique, generating a buzz online and getting people involved with
Elysium Events to push our brand forward.

The promotion we did for our first event clearly worked well as it fully sold out,
however despite our best efforts the second event didnt sell anywhere near as
well and we ended up loosing money, this was probably down to being overly
complacent and just assuming that people would come back based on the
success of the first event.

Between Stevie and I, we decided to allocate roles that would play to our
advantages. Stevie had good contacts, knew a couple of good booking agencys
that trusted him from previous events he had run and also knew the manager of
Fibbers so that we could hold our event there. As we were close friends and
trusted each other we decided his brother would be ideal to be our accountant
and manage our expenses.

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Above you can see the cash flow for Elysium Events that was created by Stevies
brother, this would help us visualize our expenditure so that we could manage
our costings and also potentially save money.

I was largely responsible for using my friends and contacts around york and on
social media for promotion, Djing as a resident and going 50/50 with him on
investment as neither of us had enough money to start up Elysium on our own.

We were both responsible for managing our employees. For example, we needed
to hire promotion staff, who would hand out flyers in hot spots like town and the
university, a trusted friend to run the till and take money on entry, a
photographer and also someone to stamp peoples hands as they come in on the
night of the event as we knew it would be fairly busy when the doors opened.

We were both also responsible for ensuring safety for our workers and the
visiting public, making sure that they were not exposed to any safety risks. We
did this by ensuring that there was a clear entry and exit to the club at all times,
managing the dance floor when it was getting over crowded and also escorting
people out of the club when it closed at 4am to avoid any potential noise
complaints.

Along the way I have learnt that working well with other managers and being
able to agree mutually on decisions is the most important aspect of running an
event, as sometimes you have slightly different goals, visions and expectations.

Another thing Ive learnt is compromise and the importance of generally being
nice to everyone you speak to and work with as they could help your event grow.
Having a good reputation is literally everything.

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A couple of photos from our first ever Elysium Event Featuring DJ Q

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Work Experience

In the following winter after the first couple of Elysium Events, I secured a job
Djing across in Les Arcs in the French Alps. The opportunity was too tempting for
me to miss so Stevie and I agreed to part ways until there was another clear
opptertunity for us to work together.

I know DJing isnt at all related to music production but it allowed to me work
and get paid for doing what I love and take a bit of time out from regular life.

I DJd at a bar called Club 73 aka Soixant Tres playing 3-6 hour DJ sets multiple
times a week.

Reference

Club 73

Thomas Laratta

Tel: +33 6 12 17 83 59

Place Du Charvet
73700
Bourg-Sant-Maurice

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UCAS

With regards to UCAS, DBS music and further education, I believe after spending
time out learning about how events are run, producing literally hundreds of
tracks and spending time out travelling abroad I feel like I am now ready to
return to education. After doing this I feel 100% more motivated to do well and
really make an effort with university.

My end goal would be to be a more confident and well-refined music producer,
knowing that every track I produce has reached its full potential and there are no
loose ends. I would also love to be able to produce music for adverts, film and TV
and for people to really respect my craft.

I believe an opportunity to study at DBS would really help me in the areas of my
music production that I am currently struggling with. For example translating
my production into a proper working environment, being encouraged to meet
deadlines and leave no work unfinished. Also having the opportunity to learn
with other like-minded people, collaborate, expand, network and work with new
people who all share the same interests will greatly increase my knowledge of
music production.

Having help and assistance from a real professional who I can actually
communicate with in person, rather than trying to teach myself from a YouTube
tutorial would be extremely beneficial to me.

After living in France for the past 5 months I am ready to move down to Bristol
and continue learning about music, at this point in my life nothing else is as
important as music production to me and I feel like breaking away from my
regular patterns in York and having a new, exciting fresh start in Bristol will help
me grow as a music producer and also become a more well rounded person.

The only negatives I can think of would be being nervous about meeting a whole
new circle of people (which is also the best most fun part) and the distance, but
distance isnt too much of an issue for me as I have a car!

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To summarize

After a few years out I feel really motivated to come to Bristol, return to
education and have new exciting experiences. I have a newfound desire to do
well for myself and pursue music technology.

DBS music can help me progress 10-fold as a producer and I would love this
opportunity.

Please consider me for a place on your Electronic Music Production Honors
degree course.

I wont let you down.






















You can also check out a dub step/grime track that I made in the link below, I
will attach all the mp3s to an Email and send it through to you.

Trilla - Lord Of The Mic (Bamber Remix)

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