This project concerns the development of the Indie/Hip-Hop musical brand Morsifire through recorded material, live performance, and artistic branding. The project will see through the writing, recording, and mixing of an EP, live set creation using Ableton Live and full band, as well as visual branding. The goal is to fuse the genres of indie rock and hip-hop in with both recordings and live performance, as well as establish a strong digital footprint to propel Morsifire to the next stage of his career.https://remix.berklee.edu/graduate-studies-production-technology/1162/thumbnail.jp

Seely, John Andrew

English

Berklee Research Media and Information Exchange (REMIX)

       From the Ashes: The Beginning of Morsifire    Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Degree of Master of Music in Music Production, Technology, and Innovation    Supervisor: Ben Cantil      By John Andrew Seely          Valencia Campus, Spain July 2019      2 Table of Contents  Abstract           3  1. Introduction          4  2. Review of the State of the Art        4  3. Description           6  4. Innovative Aspects          7  5. New Skills Acquired         7  6. Challenges           9  7. Future Ramifications         10  8. Conclusion           11      3 Abstract  This project concerns the development of the Indie/Hip-Hop musical brand Morsifire through recorded material, live performance, and artistic branding. The project will see through the writing, recording, and mixing of an EP, live set creation using Ableton Live and full band, as well as visual branding. The goal is to fuse the genres of indie rock and hip-hop in with both recordings and live performance, as well as establish a strong digital footprint to propel Morsifire to the next stage of his career.                 4 1. Introduction  Since starting writing and performing music in 2012, Morsifire has always been searching for ways to improve and diversify live performance. Finding little satisfaction in playing over beats with a DJ, he added guitar to his live set beginning in 2017, and has continued to seek out new ways to improve the live element of his hip-hop sets. Difficulties were presented in trying to book shows and collaborate with others, since Morsifire often gets caught in between the worlds of hip hop and indie rock. Seeing a project through from concept generation to final product, with everything handled internally will ensure that the project will maintain a great sense of cohesion.    The end result of this project is that Morsifire becomes a self-contained and sustainable, yet incredibly high production value live show that can scale in accordance to the venue in which said performances are held, as well as an industry standard, genre bending EP and visual identity to push the value of the brand to the next level.  2. Review of the State of the Art  While there is no doubt an incredibly high standard for large budget, major-label concert event production, the standard for smaller scale productions is not anywhere near as high. “The rapper (and, if you’re lucky, a DJ) show up with some MP3s. Someone presses play, and songs are performed just as they are on record.”1                                                  1 Ben Westhoff, "Live and Indirect," The Guardian, May 20, 2015, , accessed November 25, 2018, https://www.theguardian.com/music/2015/may/20/live-and-indirect-why-is-live-hip-hop-so-terrible.  5 Morsifire strives to change this norm through the use of Ableton Live and playing live instruments on stage. Indie/Emo Hip-Hop artist nothing.nowhere2 is one of the trail blazers in this regard. He blends genre emo with trap beats, often accompanying himself with his Telecaster on stage while singing and rapping. He skillfully weaves it into his set, still allowing himself breaks to perform without the instrument when certain songs call for a particular type of animated performance.  Another deep inspiration for Morsifire’s more involved live set is the Canadian indie artist Grimes. Grimes plays to backing tracks while employing a few live and interactive elements to keep things interesting and the crowd engaged. “She spends an hour bounding dementedly around, head-banging, running back to her workstation to start the next beat, play a keyboard line or trigger a sample.”3 This is a far cry from her earlier work, which found her on the ground, surrounded by synths, drum pads, and vocal processors, tirelessly working to build each song up from scratch by herself. By allowing herself a balance between instrumental interactivity and audience interactivity, she forges a greater connection with her audience and fans.                                                        2 "Nothing,nowhere. - Deadbeat Valentine (Official Music Video)," YouTube, February 13, 2016, , accessed November 26, 2018, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oEaaAPmLDUk. 3 Kitty Empire, "Grimes Live Review," The Guardian, March 12, 2016, , accessed October 26, 2018, https://www.theguardian.com/music/2016/mar/12/grimes-live-review-brixton-academy-art-angels-visions-scream-go-kill-v-maim-claire-boucher.  6 3. Description  The first aspect of this project is the production of an EP from concept generation to final mix. The EP is 4 tracks long, fusing indie electronica, rock, and hip-hop. The songs were initially created and produced in Ableton Live with drum sequences, samples, and software synthesizers. Ableton became Morsifire’s digital audio workstation (DAW) of choice due to its intuitive nature and ease of use. In this stage, collaboration was key. Employing other musicians to feature on his songs, lending their talents of guitar, bass, and production sensibilities filled in the last gaps in the production phase. After production was handled in the digital realm, the tracking of live instruments and vocals began. This entire phase was conducted in Pro Tools, due to the playlist function which allows the user to easily record multiple takes and comp them afterwards, and it’s integration with the Berklee studio facilities. The final phase of the EP was mixing and mastering, which was also handled in Pro Tools with both native, Waves, Izotope, and Soundtoys plugins. The second aspect of the project is a full length set and live performance at a music venue, documented and recorded in high quality. Morsifire put together a band of other talented musicians at Berklee Valencia, creating a 10 song set of original music combining live instruments, backing tracks in Ableton Live, samples triggered with the Ableton Push, and live vocal processing with the TC Helicon VoiceLive Touch. The show itself was documented with multiple cameras, and a multitrack recording of each isolated instrument was obtained in order to be able to create a high quality mix of the entire show.  The final aspect of the project is artist branding. This includes a wordmark, logo, and synchronization across all social media platforms. A part of this was also creating a website that  7 acts as a hub for the entirety of the Morsifire brand, from music through visual media to contact info. The logo was created using Adobe Illustrator, the wordmark using Adobe Typekit, and the website with the service Wix.    4. Innovative Aspects    Through this project Morsifire has blended influences across hip hop and indie to carve out a unique sonic landscape inhabited by only a few residents. In utilizing backing tracks in conjunction with an array of live instruments, playing guitar throughout his set himself, and adding the Ableton Push, Morsifire presents a live show that completely dissolves the idea of genre. It combines the most effective, immediate, and resonant aspects of the genres nearest to his heart, creating an extremely unique genre experience.  5. New Skills Acquired  A plethora of new skills were acquired throughout the duration of this project. First and foremost, the ability to work within an entirely new DAW. Ableton is the most creative, intuitive music creation software on the market. With its ease of use, it unlocked an area that wasn’t before accessed in the creative brain of Morsifire. Being able to quickly put together a sampled drum kit, process audio on the fly, and warp samples allows for uninhibited creativity and broke down the barrier between the creative mind and realizing them in the real world. The second integral skill set acquired is an in depth knowledge of synthesis. Using plugins such as Serum  8 and Wavetable, Morsifire now has the ability to realize the sounds that were once only available in dreams. Along with learning Ableton, learning how to use it in a live setting was integral to realizing Morsifire on the live stage. Utilizing hardware controllers such as the Ableton Push and the Akai APC40, Morsifire is now able to employ Ableton as an instrument in a live setting. Combining pre-rendered backing tracks with live triggered samples and instruments is a brand new skill, upping the quality of the Morsifire live experience tremendously. The final skill acquired in the digital realm was new and improved mixing techniques. Using new creative plugins such as Soundtoys’ Decapitator, Izotope’s VocalSynth, and Waves’ Kramer Tape allowed Morsifire’s mixes to become more creative, fluid, and sonically unique. He was able to establish his own sonic footprint in a crowded landscape. Also in regards to mixing, his routing and signal flow was improved. Learning how to properly bus tracks and make submixes allowed for a greater sense of control over the mixes on the EP, leading to a much more polished final product. Digital realm aside, a number of new skills were aquired in the analog domain. Recording techniques such as mic placement, the use of analog preamps, compressors, and mixing consoles were acquired. Running sessions in a proper studio setting, recording acoustic instruments and vocals were an integral part of the making of the EP. This allowed Morsifire to imbue his mostly digital recordings with an analog sheen. There were also a few intangible skills acquired that are immeasurable. The first being the skill to collaborate efficiently and effectively. In working with so many people to realize one vision, egos had to be left at the door, compromises had to be made, and criticism had to be accepted.    9 6. Challenges   The challenges posed by a project of this scale were undoubtedly unforeseen. The making of a record is a journey that was familiar for Morsifire, however playing a headlining set of original music with a full band at a venue was uncharted territory.  First, there were many logistical challenges. Since the band was comprised of other people with extremely tight schedules, getting practices on the books was at times an exercise in futility. A great deal of coordination, sacrifice, and planning ahead was required in order to ensure the requisite amount of time needed to prepare was secured. There was also the challenge of teaching each band member the parts of each song, and at times, completely reworking songs to make them work with the new arrangement of a full band. A few roadblocks appeared, such as playing to backing tracks and making sure the rhythm section didn’t fall out of sync. This was remedied by simply having the drummer wear a pair of headphones at all times to allow him to hear the backing tracks. Another big challenge was actually booking a show at a local venue to perform the set. Berklee has a lot of connections at local venues in Valencia, but Morsifire and the band wanted a venue that would be a proper fit in regards to size, genre, and production quality. It was difficult at first, but after enlisting the help of a local familiar with venues and bookers, a midweek date at Loco Club was booked.   There were also a number of challenges posed in the making of the EP. First of all, access to the studios was limited. Each session had to be attacked deliberately and meticulously, for there was no time to waste. Students at Berklee Valencia are limited to 4 hours of studio time a week, so tracking and mixing needs to be pre-planned and there isn’t a ton of time for experimentation in the studio. There is also the consideration of getting lost in a mix. Oftentimes,  10 if an artist sits with a mix for too long they may lose their objectivity. This happened at a few points throughout the mixing process, so the solution was to let a song rest for a week or two and return to it with fresh ears. The worst thing to do when mixing is to overthink and tinker too much. Also, collaborating with people overseas posed a significant challenge due to communication issues. Time differences, lacking a US-based phone plan, and simply being physically far away made it difficult to connect and convey ideas and directions for a song. This was remedied by uploading full session files to Dropbox, crafting a detailed explanation and direction for each song, and sharing that with all collaborators.  7. Future Ramifications  Since arriving at Berklee Valencia, Morsifire was able to secure a distribution deal with AWAL. This partnership has the potential to be extremely beneficial, allowing for funding requests, help with PR and marketing, and even being upstreamed to AWAL’s parent publishing company, Kobalt. All future releases will be through AWAL until further notice, allowing Morsifire to grow in an environment which allows for unlimited upward trajectory. Morsifire is also working in conjunction with a public relations firm in order to maximize exposure, secure single premiers, and obtain sync placements.       11 8. Conclusion   Through the production, mixing, and completion of a 4 song EP, developing a fully realized live set, and rolling out a unified branding package across all social media platforms, Morsifire has positioned himself to carve out a place in the music industry. With a live set taking cues from multiple genres, and his ability to rely on only himself for all phases of production,   With the branding package and high quality show footage/documentation, Morsifire is now armed with a wide array of professional assets to assist in difficult tasks such as booking shows and tours, reaching out to labels, and securing a place on Spotify playlists.                           12    Bibliography  Empire, Kitty. "Grimes Live Review." The Guardian. March 12, 2016. Accessed October 26, 2018. https://www.theguardian.com/music/2016/mar/12/grimes-live-review-brixton-academy-art-angels-visions-scream-go-kill-v-maim-claire-boucher.  Nothing,nowhere. - Deadbeat Valentine (Official Music Video)." YouTube. February 13, 2016. Accessed November 26, 2018. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oEaaAPmLDUk.  Westhoff, Ben. "Live and Indirect." The Guardian. May 20, 2015. Accessed November 25, 2018. https://www.theguardian.com/music/2015/may/20/live-and-indirect-why-is-live-hip-hop-so-terrible. 

From the Ashes: The Beginning of Morsifire

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From the Ashes: The Beginning of Morsifire

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