Rationale:
The concept and idea behind the project was that of the client. But Morgan and I chose to work together on this project as we both felt like we were well suited to working on an emotional piece of film. The main influence that we took for this piece was one of our other original ideas that we have created prior to our first meeting. We shoed this to Max and he liked what we could do. Both myself and Morgan had already completed a module for composing to moving image so we both knew the processes involved.

Planning:
The above images are the total culmination of our contact with max, this does not include how long we spent in the studios and what was said during that time. We decided to only contact Max through Morgan, as to not confuse any of the information we pass along. We arranged multiple sessions for myself and Morgan to work on the actual sound track. Once the visuals had progressed along enough we started to include Max in all of our future sessions so that we may make live edits, especially when fitting to visuals. We predominantly utilised the Kontackt plugin at the university so that we could find the best sounds.

Execution:
As far as the execution goes, we hit every target each week that we then got feedback for and immediately actioned. My specific part in the creation of the music was to be the mixing engineer and supervisor. I created the mix that we used for the full song, Morgan created the actual melodies and rhythms whereas i glued them together and had creative influence when changing melodies, rhythms and instruments. I also help with some small sound design decisions that helped the song become whole. When we were in the studios with Max, towards the end of the project, I was the mixing engineer who helped interpret what Max wanted. This inclusion of the client into the development side of the music allowed us to be really malleable and accommodating to the changed wanted for during the film. Whilst we still had the full song unchanged playing at the end. We just extracted elements from the track to be play at key moments during the movie.

It’s a Nice Day Today FINAL.mov (One drive Link)

Reflection:
I really enjoyed working on this project, it felt like i was actually part of a professional film production. Working as one of many other working and moving parts was a real enjoyment. Working within a strict time frame helped with engagement, which vastly improved the quality of my own work. Aldo due to the feeling of doing this for someone else, who is a friend, helped to motivate myself towards perfection as much as i could. In contrast to my previous project, the amount of communications for this project, helped with making it feel like a professional business. The execution side of this project also felt like i was a part of a company or business. This whole experience has really shown me that teamwork is vital and collaborations are a key to success in the current industries.

Rationale:
My creative process behind this project was pretty streamlined as i had to work to my clients brief. Fortunately i had creative control of the studio setup and recording style. I managed to record every member of the group at the same time in the same studio room. This was done so that they could have a more natural and performative aspect to their recording as opposed to just static individual performances. This group recording also helped to prevent any timing issues as they were all playing together. We had setup sound barriers in-between the artists so that they could still see each other whilst preforming. The choices of microphone setups was pretty simple for the entire kit however we also chose to include a stereo pair of overhead microphones to help capture the whole sound of the drumkit.

Planning:
The planning process of this collaboration was quite a simple one due to the fact that the client we worked with was a student, who was also partaking in the same module. We had a couple of in person chats about recording a song for him. The chats were mostly to discuss when and where we would do the recording and how we wanted to perform the recording. We had decided upon a single day when all of the performers and the techs were available and we booked out the studio for the entire do so that we could do the recording. On the day of recording, myself and the other tech, Morgan, went in early so that we could set up and organise microphones. It was at this point that we had decided to do the recording as a whole and to split up the room to have everyone performing together.
During the actual recording session, myself and Morgan were acting as tech for Rory who was the artist who wrote the song. However we did also like to include Rory in the creative decision making of the recording, as it was his project that we helped him to record.

Execution:
The recording session went without a hitch, we had several takes and an excess of time to work with so we had no timing issues or feeling rushed. we recorded the whole song from start to finish in just a few takes. This meant that we could start to some simple mixing and balancing with Rory in the studio without having to worry about capturing more of the song. We did do some additional recording on the same day as overdubs to increase the harmonies or to add extra solos whilst maintaining a balance in the mix. There was one additional brief recording session that we had rather impromptu, It was just a 5 minute re record of the vocals so that there was a clearer line without bleed of the other instruments on the vocals.

Reflection:
Overall, the session was very streamline and efficient. I had a great sense of achievement of being able to fulfil the brief within a single day of recording. The decisions of adding additional stereo mics over the top of the drum kit did pay off as it allowed us to get a well rounded sound that complimented the overall mix. Though there was a large lack of official and professional contact between myself and Rory, i believe that the informal chats was sufficient enough for this whole project to be successful. However, formal chats and contact would have been better practice for business and client experience.

Evaluation 3/3: Analysis and Predictions

Despite the complications that arose earlier in the project, i believe that project captivate itself has been shaped into something unique. I would not have arrived at the current iteration of project captivate without having gone through several previous trial and error projects that each influenced the current project in unique ways. I discovered that melodic elements don’t feel as good as they sound when played through the vest and headphones. Similarly, i found out that reverb heavy sounds and those that are very vibrational work extremely well when played through the vest. Unfortunately, I discovered that typical melodic and rhythmic elements that are played though the vest, are more difficult to discern amongst the music that you hear. Ultimately i decided to just use simple sine waves and made them long and vibrational to allow for the widest range of sounds to be experienced.

When doing a listening event to demonstrate Project Captivate to as many people as i could, i got an overwhelming amount of positive feedback, with some people saying how it made them feel uneasy and shocked. Given proper preparations and additional time, i feel like i would have been able to create more of a public following and would have been able to advertise the event to a wider range of people. With how long and how many iterations of my project it took to get to where i am today, i feel like additional time would allow me to develop this idea further to a point where i could have a queue of people waiting to take part in this experience.

I predict that in the future, with additional time and a clearer goal, i believe that i could create a virtual reality slice of a game that demonstrates everything that the current project captivate shows as well as an introduction to further spatialisations. In terms of distance traveled between my original idea and the current project, i feel like i have embarked on a technical journey that explored this new and upcoming piece of technology and shows a glimpse into the possibilities of haptic feedback.

Evaluation 2/3: Audience and Markets

The target audience for my work was simple to identify, but it is rather niche at the current moment. Due to the fact that my target audience is people who have haptic vests, virtual reality gear and gamers, i have a small market to work with. My audience is generally associated with the gaming industry as they mostly would use virtual reality or play games. I feel like the introduction of haptic equipment into the current market is creating a space for content creators and users. By posting my work onto youtube and marking it as for use with haptic vests, i should attract people who already own vests and are wanting to expand their own possibilities and experiences.

Overall, the complete strategy for my project is to create a slice of a game that shows the possible future of this technology. By showing what can be done to integrate haptics into a game setting whilst also keeping it musical. This hopefully will allow the future implementation of new and experimental sound settings and scenarios, within both the music and game industries.

The market for my work is very broad. I will be aiming at the experimental side of the music industry whilst also making it appealing and relevant to the gaming industry. This approach to the target market should allow this project to become a benchmark of its own within its category. However, there isn’t any promotions that are out and aiming at the aforementioned markets, because the work still undergoing developments that will give it more of a place in the current industry and to make it more appealing and accessible for a wider market.

Evaluation 1/3: Background, Concept and Idea

The whole premise of my idea is to take a piece of technology and use it for a different purpose than originally intended. The Woojer vest that I am using was designed primarily for virtual reality gaming. Because of this, I decided I would use the vest to create an experience that would allow me to show off the utility of the vest whilst also making it a unique experience that pays homage to the technologies original intended purpose.

Originally my intended project was a listening experience with an additional element of the vest. I had planned to utilise a 22.2 surround system in combination with the vest to create something that is spatialised but also localised to the vest. I started to create loops of audio and placing them in the surround system. Whilst also copying the loops and transposing them down into a range at which the vest would be able to provide some meaningful frequency additions.

Unfortunately, this idea had to be reworked after extensive testing. The melodic elements of typical music and loops were not as compatible with the vest as originally predicted. The lack of meaningful vibrations in relation to the music is the main reason this idea failed.

Fortunately, due to the need to rethink my idea, I tested out some more vibrational audio as opposed to rhythmic and melodic elements. The vibrations and spatialisation of the gong sounds that I used provided me with a solution. I settled on a simple sine wave at different frequencies to create interesting relationships between the head and the body.

This change to sine waves leads to the need for headphones instead of the full surround sound system. To enhance my sine wave frequency idea I decided to research binaural beats and how to create them and what they do.

Finally, I have prefaced this whole project under a game guise. I wanted to create a slice of a game that could be used to demonstrate the potential of this technology. I wanted people to feel like they are being targeted and warped by the frequencies that are being played through the headphones and vest.

I made some advancements with rooting out my target audience and determining why my skills would be suited in the professional world. I have looked into a broad spectrum of areas which my skills and vision could lead me to.

This first area of music that i located was one which focused around access-ability, mostly referring to deaf people and how the experience sounds. There are seminars and talks that are focused around deaf people for deaf people. These talks had the whole audience wearing haptic feedback vests and showed mostly visuals for the crowd to enjoy.

Secondly, i found some areas in musical therapy that are well suited to my skills of immersion. However they are mostly focused on the elderly generation and i am aiming for a younger and more technically able target. The theory behind using haptic feedback and immersion for therapy is one worth exploring, just rather niche.

Finally, the last area that i discovered, where my skills would be useful is on of virtual reality and immersive experiences or shows. The VR side would be the up and coming market of potentioal consumers, whereas the immersive experiences would allow me to demonstrate my skills as more of an art form than of a technical piece of consumer goods.

This is a Presentation that demonstrated the different Haptic vests that are the top rated. Some of these are not publicly available. This mostly demonstrates the variety of equipment that is out there and being developed, leading to a future of haptics eventually.

Here is a link to a video i have made, outlining some of the mixing and mastering techniques i have used to create my tracks.

https://connectglosac-my.sharepoint.com/:v:/g/personal/s1710897_glos_ac_uk/EWKxCErDwMJJgfqGN8R5sGoBcTApj-PYxwJ1r9Y5OJG3CA?e=GModat

This is a ling to my latest Mixes and their Masters, for my assignment.

https://connectglosac-my.sharepoint.com/:f:/g/personal/s1710897_glos_ac_uk/EsCEZ9lxuVlGkxbVlYrj2zUBW3bFXvwbd_xdWm_Y12E6Gw?e=XbU7gm

The Proposed Project: My project would be a MiDi wavetable controller, that would use pressure sensors and heat/infrared sensors to control most/ if not all wavetable plugins. By making it partially programmable. With customisable analogue potentiometers.

The Rationale: I want to develop this product so that can quickly and easily control a wavetable plugin. This ease of use would allow me to be more creative and productive. I believe that with this piece of hardware, many more sound creators would have an easier time using wavetables.

The Plan: I plan to make a simple scale model, probably out of cardboard, with positions available for the multitude of sensors. Then I plan to rig up as many sensors as possible, if not them all, to check for functionality. Extensively test the compatibility with my chosen DaW, Ableton Live. By creating MaxMSP patches of my Teensy board, to ensure a clear communication between hardware and software. The next step would be to create a more permanent housing for the sensors to live in, with the space available for potentiometers included, as the more imperative functionality is going to be based within the pressure and infrared sensors.

The Risks: The functionality may be effected by the limitations of the sensors I am able to use, I fear that motion/infrared sensors would not be able to detect the whole range of movement I’m planning on having available for this wavetable controller. Time would be a large constraint affecting my project, as I would  have to spend a lot of time adjusting my sensors to deliver the desired effect. 

The Legacy: If this project works then I would hope to be able to make a more permanent wavetable controller. I expect this to make the production workflow easier for the musically minded.