Music production and recording

Throughout the two years in the IB curriculum, I pursued a musical project along with two of my peers, Yong Joon Lee and Darryl Tan. We meet up on a weekly basis, often on Thursdays, to meet up and record covers of songs that are prominent currently or in the past. The instrumentals are done by Yong Joon Lee throughout the week leading up to the Thursday, and later we bring our own equipment to school to record those songs. Darryl sings, with some help with Yong Joon Lee for background vocals, and I later use different programs to mix master these songs. After finishing, I send it to them to get the assured, and I later upload it to our YouTube channel which I manage.

We as a group decided to pursue this project because of our love for music. We had music in our roots, personally with my experience in instruments such as piano, drums, ukulele and just my general love for it, and we wanted to do something more. However, we felt that we also didn’t want to do something more traditional, such as a band or a choir, so we took a more modern approach by uploading it online. Not only would this be more accessible towards our targeted audience, we enjoy this process much more.

This whole process over the period of a month and a half has definitely been a rollercoaster with its ups and downs, but it’s mostly been ups. One of the best feelings that I get, and as a group too, is whenever we finish a song, we listen to it together and it turns out perfect. We don’t spot any mistakes in the singing, the mixing, the mastering, and we are able to finally upload it. The whole process is quite long for each song, so to see a song that is fully finished and we are satisfied with, feels quite great. One thing that I learned during this project is communication, as it was a skill that was used a lot throughout the process. I needed to talk to them for different steps, such as choosing the songs, recording the instrumentals, the mixing, the mastering and much more. One of the biggest challenges that we have faced is consistency. Even though we are doing something that we enjoy very much, it has been hard to keep up with it because of the workload of the second year of IB. We did fight this however by constantly reminding ourselves to do the work, and also of how great the feeling is whenever we finish a song.

Overall, I think that this project that we decided to pursue as a group has been nothing but rewarding. Although I’ve played and listened music pretty much my whole life, recording actual music and releasing to the public is something completely new. This has taught me a lot of skills that I would be able to use in other aspects of life. In addition to this, not only did we get closer as friends through the different challenges we had to face together, but we also feel that we have made something great. I personally am very proud of all the songs that we have made so far, and will be of the songs that we will make in the future.

IBDP 2 student

Human systems and economic activities	The study of how and why people construct organizations and systems; the ways in which people connect locally and globally; the distribution of power and authority.
Social organization and culture	The study of people, communities, cultures and societies in the ways in which individuals, groups and societies interact with each other.
Continuity and change through time	The study of the relationships between people and events through time; the past, its influences on the present and its implications for the future; people who have shaped the future through their actions.
Human and natural environments	The study of the distinctive features that give a place its identity; how people adapt to and alter their environment; how people experience and represent place; the impact of natural disasters on people and the built environment.
Resources and the environment	The interaction between people and the environment; the study of how humans allocate and manage resources; the positive and negative effects of this management; the impact of scientific and technological developments on the environment.

Living things	The study of the characteristics, systems and behaviours of humans and other animals, and of plants; the interactions and relationships between and among them, and with their environment.
Earth and space	The study of planet Earth and its position in the universe, particularly its relationship with the sun; the natural phenomena and systems that shape the planet and the distinctive features that identify it; the infinite and finite resources of the planet.
Materials and matter	The study of the properties, behaviours and uses of materials, both natural and human-made; the origins of human-made materials and how they are manipulated to suit a purpose.
Forces and energy	The study of energy, its origins, storage and transfer, and the work it can do; the study of forces; the application of scientific understanding through inventions and machines. (IBO, 2009)

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