All instruments recorded and played by me (with the exception of the drum tracks, which I sequenced in Logic Pro 9).


Equipment Used:

Guitar - Charvel San Dimas Standard USA (Cleans were DI'd, Lead tracks recorded using line-out on my Marshall JVM215c with 'Classic Wah' from the 'Pedalboard' plug-in through a separate bus)

Bass - Fender Blacktop Precision Bass (DI'd, used 'American Scoop' setting on 'Bass Amp' plug-in, with 'Chorus' added)

Drums - 'Headbanger Kit' in EX24 (With 'Hansa Studio' reverb from 'Space Designer' plug-in)

Audio Interface - Roland Quad-Capture

Alice in Chains - Rotten Apple (Instrumental Cover/No Vocals)

All instruments recorded and played by me (with the exception of the drum tracks, which I sequenced in Logic Pro X). Probably the most difficult guitar solo I've ever had to play/record, it took a while... XD

Equipment Used:

Guitar - Charvel San Dimas Standard USA (All tracks recorded using line-out on my Marshall JVM215c)

Bass - Fender Blacktop Precision Bass (DI'd, used 'Bass Amp Designer' plug-in)

Drums - 'Headbanger Kit' in EX24 (With 'Hansa Studio' reverb from 'Space Designer' plug-in)

Audio Interface - Roland Quad-Capture

Ugly Kid Joe - So Damn Cool (Instrumental Cover/No Vocals)

A short piece I composed for a University task (Creating Music with Computers module), using only one note (E). 

Recorded/composed on Logic Pro X.

Task 1 - Single Note Piece

Recently bought an Electro Harmonix 'Big Muff Pi' guitar pedal (yes, haha), so I thought i'd make a recording that showed off it's huge sound! 

Just a medley of some of my favourite fuzz-driven riffs by the Smashing Pumpkins (In order: Cherub Rock, Quiet, Jellybelly, Bullet With Butterfly Wings, Geek USA and Hummer). 

I sequenced all of the drum parts, and recorded many guitar tracks to achieve the thick layered fuzz sound. All guitar and bass parts are played by me.

Equipment Used:

Guitar - Charvel San Dimas Standard USA (Recorded using the line-out on my Marshall JVM215c)

Electro Harmonix Big Muff (Plugged into front of amp, not FX Loop)

Bass - Fender Blacktop Precision Bass (DI'd)

Drums - 'Headbanger Kit' in EX24

Audio Interface - Roland Quad-Capture

DAW - Logic Pro X

Smashing Pumpkins Riff/Fuzz Medley

Coursework for a University module.

Decided to upload an instrumental version, as my vocals were pretty awful. I was happy with how close I managed to get the guitar tone, as well as the general production sound to the original track.

Pastiche of "Today" by The Smashing Pumpkins (No Vocals)

Reflective Journal - Task 4: Ambient Piece

My approach to this task differed to the previous three, where I decided to compose my piece entirely using Logic Pro X instruments and my sequencing skills. My reason for this was simple; I felt as though I had relied predominantly on recording audio (whether playing instruments or simply capturing sound) in the first three tasks, therefore I thought that a change in my creative practice would generate a more interesting and contrasting result/piece. This change also somewhat created a form of extra motivation, and it was interesting trying to seek out specific sounds/instruments from the plethora available in Logic Pro X.   

Like many examples of ambient music, my piece is melodically based around a modal scale (I used the ‘dorian’ mode/scale), which gives the piece an almost neutral and balanced tonality, even though the minor 3rd of D (F) is present in the scale. This therefore meant that no specific emotion was conveyed (as a major or minor scale typically would), but instead a calming and fair-minded evenness was created, as intended with ambient music. 

The use of delay and reverb effects played a major role in my piece, generating a thick yet somewhat open texture that made my composition soothing and more atmospheric. This can be heard particularly on the main piano track, where I used the ‘Echo’ plug-in set to 1/8 notes, and also on the guitar harmonics heard from the beginning of the piece. I also sent the drum tracks to a bus with a long and spacey ‘Space Designer’ reverb, contributing to the rich texture that I intended to create.

The generative part of my ambient piece occurred near the end (at about 3:03), which I sequenced using a vibraphone sound with a thick delay effect. Admittedly, my generative system was not very complex; I simply picked 16 notes (between D2 and E4) that were within the ‘dorian’ scale, to prevent any harsh dissonances that could have happened with any random notes (so in this case, I included no sharp/flat notes). I then assigned a number to each note and asked a member of my family to randomly pick numbers between 1 and 16 with no repeats, with the order they spoke determining the order of the notes, creating an unpredictable and sparse melody. These sixteen notes occupied a space of 8 bars (58 – 65), so each note was therefore a minim in length.   

As with most cases of this genre, being able to strike a balance between repetition and variation is essential, and I believe that I have managed to achieve this in my piece. Similarly to my noise composition, the piece evolves over time, where I subtly added new parts/instruments that gradually built the piece. Instead of simply allowing a new part to begin at a specific bar, I used automation to fade in new ideas so that it seemed almost unnoticeable and seamless. See screenshot in 'Reflective Journal' PDF on SurreyLearn. 

Task 4 - Ambient Piece

Reflective Journal - Task 5: Plunderphonics Piece

This was probably the most difficult piece of all six to make, due to the time-consuming processes of creating and manipulating samples. My approach was similar to the ‘Listening History’ task from last semester, where I composed a piece that consisted entirely of samples from songs that I had listened to during my life, and for this piece I once again sampled a number of songs from my iTunes library and arranged and layered them to form a new piece. 

I sampled quite a lot of Nine Inch Nails songs (such as “Closer”, “Head like a Hole”, “March of the Pigs” and “That’s What I Get”), as well as Faith No More’s “Midlife Crisis”, Stabbing Westward’s “Drugstore”, Silverchair’s “Freak”, and many more. The reason why I sampled a lot from Nine Inch Nails’ music is due to their infamous falling out with their record label TVT Records in the early 90’s, where a difficult feud ensued between frontman Trent Reznor and label executives over his intention to have his contract terminated, due to interference from the label who were taking creative control of Nine Inch Nails. This led to Reznor forming his own label ‘Nothing Records’, which allowed him to have more control over the music he wanted make and release. So sampling from his music was almost a form of agreeing with Reznor and his beliefs in creative freedom and artistic control, as well as being an admirer of his music.

Creating this piece involved using time stretching and pitch shifting techniques, where I carefully adjusted the length of my samples to fit with the 108 BPM that I set, and used the ‘Time and Pitch Machine’ to alter my samples to the key of Eb. I tried to particularly take samples of isolated parts, such as the drum intro from “Midlife Crisis” and the synth parts from “Drugstore” and “That’s What I Get”, so that the mix wouldn’t sound too cluttered, but more importantly so I could layer these samples on top of one another to create an integrated and thus more interesting piece. 

I decided to use this piece almost as a backing track for the dialogue that I placed over the top of it, where I sampled from Christian Bale’s famous outburst on the set of ‘Terminator: Salvation’ and from the Schwarzenegger films ‘Kindergarten Cop’ and ‘The Terminator’. I used these samples to create a humorous narrative (in the form of an argument) between Bale and Schwarzenegger, ending with Schwarzenegger getting shot by Bale after a fight. I used these samples mostly to mock Bale’s infamous rant in a satirical manner, by highlighting his unnecessary anger and arrogance shown through his rather colourful choice of language. This is also the reason why I chose samples of distorted synths and guitars in my piece, as they support the intensity of the fictional argument that I created between Bale and Schwarzenegger.

Task 5 - Plunderphonics Piece (Christian Bale Vs. Schwarzenegger)

Reflective Journal - Task 6: Live Electronics Piece

As I do not own a synthesizer (only my small USB MIDI keyboard and the synths that exist on Logic Pro X), I used my electric guitar as the main instrument in this piece. However, instead of conventionally improvising by using a typical pentatonic scale over a backing track for example, I wanted to create some interesting and unusual sounds using effects from my Line 6 M-13 pedal board and extended guitar techniques.

Tom Morello (of Rage Against The Machine) and his unique approach to guitar playing was influential, and in my piece I tried to imitate the unique DJ scratching sounds that he can achieve with his guitar, as well as his frequent use of a ‘Wah’ pedal. Morello also famously uses a Digitech ‘Whammy’ pedal (harmonizer and pitch shifter), but as I do not own one, I had to use two harmonizer patches on my M-13 with one set 1 octave up and the other 1 octave down, both of which were used at certain points in my piece. The scratching sounds that I recorded were achieved by simply scraping my plectrum down the strings on my guitar, particularly on the G and D strings.

As I wanted a sense of structure present in my piece, I sequenced a simple and repetitive 2 minute-long drum part that I could improvise over, as I wanted a rhythmically consistent piece that, although improvised, could seem somewhat structured and not overly random. In total, I recorded six improvised takes involving the Morello-inspired techniques and effects that I had attempted to recreate, however where I originally intended to use just the best and most interesting take in my piece, I instead decided to use three of the six takes (panned centrally, hard left and hard right). This I believe created a far more compelling piece, and formed a busier texture that would be more interesting from a listener’s perspective. After this however, I felt that there was a distinct lack of low-end in the mix due to the absence of a bass part, so I decided to improvise a funk-inspired bass take that  mostly involved percussive slap techniques.  

Task 6 - Live Electronics Piece

CMC Final Piece - CW2

My Facebook page:
https://www.facebook.com/ElliotStentMusic

My full cover of Alice In Chains' "No Excuses", a track from their second EP 'Jar Of Flies' (1994). 
With the exception of the drums (which I sequenced), I played/sung everything. I also carried out all of the mixing/production work too. Hope you enjoy! :)

Check out the video version on my YouTube channel:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HkoenN95KDU

Alice In Chains - "No Excuses" (Full Cover)

My Facebook Page:
https://www.facebook.com/ElliotStentMusic

My full cover of The Smashing Pumpkins' "Today", a track from their second album 'Siamese Dream' (1993). 
With the exception of the drums (which I sequenced), I played/sung everything. I also carried out all of the mixing/production work too. Hope you enjoy! :)

Check out the video version on my YouTube channel:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kquSOQ4OCsQ

The Smashing Pumpkins - "Today" (Full Cover)

Had some new pickups installed in my 1991 Fender Strat Plus, the Lace Sensor Red/Silver/Blue set famously used by Billy Corgan of The Smashing Pumpkins. Thought I'd therefore record a short cover of the intro to "Soma" to demonstrate them! :)

The Smashing Pumpkins - "Soma" (Guitar Intro Cover)

The remixed version of my instrumental guitar piece "Confessions". 
Watch the video of me performing "Confessions" below:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jjaFLwC2IxE

The lead guitar part (panned central) was recorded in one live and unedited take. I composed this piece primarily to showcase a variety of guitar techniques, most notably 'tapping', 'sweeping' and some fast 'legato' work, as this was intended to be my entry for Sky Arts' Guitar Star 2015 show... that was before I realised that a backing track wasn't allowed! XD

My Facebook page:
https://www.facebook.com/ElliotStentMusic

COPYRIGHT © 2015 ELLIOT STENT, ℗ 2015 ELLIOT STENT. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

"Confessions" (Original Guitar Instrumental)

Check out the video version of this on my YouTube channel:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RmEZsIjfqUk

My Facebook page:
https://www.facebook.com/ElliotStentMusic

My full cover of Puddle Of Mudd's "Drift & Die", from their second album 'Come Clean' (2001). 
My arrangement is mostly inspired by the band's performance of the song on their 'Striking That Familiar Chord' DVD (2005), not just in the way that I have stripped back the instrumentation and slowed the tempo, but I also tried to re-capture the vibe of the guitar solo whilst still adding my own twist to it.

With the exception of the drums (which are sequenced), I played/sung everything. I also carried out all of the mixing/production work. Hope you enjoy! :)

Gear used:
- Ovation Glen Campbell Signature Electro-Acoustic
- 1991 Fender Strat Plus
- Marshall JVM215c 
- Rode NT2-A Condenser Mic
- Line 6 M13 Multi-Effects Processor
- TC Electronic Flashback X4 Delay Pedal
- TC Electronic Speak Booster Pedal
- MXR M234 Analog Chorus Pedal
- Tascam M-208 Mixer
- Roland Quad-Capture USB Audio Interface
- Logic Pro X

Puddle Of Mudd - "Drift and Die" (Full Cover)

My Facebook page:
https://www.facebook.com/ElliotStentMusic

My full cover of QOTSA's "Little Sister", from their fourth album 'Lullabies to Paralyze' (2005). 

With the exception of the drums (which are sequenced), I played/sung everything. I also carried out all of the mixing/production work. Hope you enjoy! :)

Gear used:
- 1991 Fender Strat Plus
- Fender Blacktop P-Bass
- Marshall JVM215c 
- Rode NT2-A Condenser Mic
- Suhr Riot Reloaded Distortion Pedal
- Electro Harmonix Big Muff Pi Fuzz Pedal
- TC Electronic Speak Booster Pedal
- Tascam M-208 Mixer
- Roland Quad-Capture USB Audio Interface
- Logic Pro X

Queens of the Stone Age - "Little Sister" (Full Cover)

This is my AS Music Technology multi-track recording coursework.

All instruments played and recorded by me, using Woking College facilities and equipment.

Instead of recording vocals, I figured out the vocal part on guitar.
Enjoy! :) 

AS Music Tech 2011 - "Today" Multi-track Recording

My Facebook page:
https://www.facebook.com/ElliotStentMusic

Recording project I did with my guitar teacher, Brian Wilkinson.

Vocals - Tom Greatorex and Elliot Stent
Guitars - Elliot Stent
Bass - Elliot Stent
Drums - Lee Travis

Mixing/Production - Brian Wilkinson and Elliot Stent

The vocals are badly performed but it was a good laugh, so enjoy! :)

Also check out my full cover of "Today" by The Smashing Pumpkins:
https://soundcloud.com/elliotstent/the-smashing-pumpkins-today-full-cover

And "No Excuses" by Alice In Chains:
https://soundcloud.com/elliotstent/alice-in-chains-no-excuses-full-cover

Elliot Stent

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