The Evaluation

EP creation

How well did you contribute to the overall creation of the EP in terms of working in the studio in a variety of roles?

On terms of creating the EP my contribution varied. I had a voice in the matters when it came down to what we were doing artistically however when it came to working on others peoples tracks it was different. I had an active part in my track of course as well as Rhys and Joes tracks however in Liam and Nicolas tracks I did nothing, I'm not sure wether this was because I did not ask to take an active role or wether they did not require me.





How did your group as part of a team?

As part of a team we worked rather well. We had similar ideas when it came to the EP and any differences in ideas were resolved quickly. Within the studio we also worked well as a team, however as mentioned in the text above I did feel rather like our group was split on preference of who we wanted to work in the studio with after having no part in Liam and Nicolas tracks.


Did you meet your planned deadlines?

We met all of our deadlines having all the tracks recorded in time as well as the mixing and mastering process also being done in time. We all met deadlines in terms of recording as we all produced our tracks plenty of time before the recording process, the exception of this of course was Harry who did not plan and prepare and so got kicked out of our group because he was holding us back. We also met deadlines for the artwork of the EP.


Did you stick to your planned recording costs?

I did not stick entirely to my financial planner in terms of how much I spent on what as I had to rearrange sessions and change what I planned to record. However my original budget that I planned out I was aiming to spend £1080 overall on the recording process, and it turned out that I spent £920, this was due to my losing my first sessions recording of percussion so I had to re-record it so I made the decision not to record vocals this saved me an hours session that would have cost me £160.


 Were they over/under?

It was under however after now listening to my track countless times I think I really could have done with recording some vocals for it. 


What were your main strengths/weaknesses?

I'd say my main strength was producing the first version of the track as I was used to this part of the process, I wouldnt not say I had any particular weakness's as my recording went well as well but I suppose I could probably improve my organisational skills for example being well prepared for all my sessions in the studio as well as making sure I get a copy of the file as this caused a problem within the whole recording process when I lost my first sessions recordings resulting in the lack of vocals within my track.


Overall what was your opinion on the EP?

I think that the quality of the recording is great, and it all sounds very proffesional. I think the music is bit too varied without a common theme that is consitent throughout, however variety can be a good thing but I feel it is a bit too much of a random mash up for it to be released commercially. Like I do not think the EP will appeal to any certain audience due to the variety of the music contained meaning that it would possibly have trouble selling. In terms of how the EP looked I think the cover and the disc all looked very proffesional, and I was very happy with it.


EP launch

How did the launch go?  

The launch went allright, we did not have an amazing turnout but it was what could be expected on a Wednesday night in Stoke. We had minimal problems throughout the night as we got everything set up with plenty of time and pretty much everything ran smoothly. A few problems that are worth mentioning include The Victoria's soundsystem breaking just a few days before which they did not tell us, so we only had two PA speakers for our launch which meant we had a low volume and the sound quality of these speakers was also not great. Another problem was in my set, about three quarters of the way into my set, my laptop died, this would not have been too much of a problem as it died at a very good time, just before the drop of a song, so my set sounded complete however none of the other performers were around at the time so nobody was there to take over and we had some dead air. 

What was successful?  

The performances were succesful and everybody that was there enjoyed it, we also planned out the set times rather well and most things ran smoothly.

What was least effective?


We did not sell as many EPs and as much merchandise as we would have liked, also the keyrings and stickers that we ordered did not come in time for the night so we could not sell them.We also did not get a great turnout to our launch, this could have been for multiple reasonds; first of all we could have chosen a better night to do it on than a Wednesday, secondly we could have chosen a venue that would be closer to Newcastle and the college for accesibility for our audience, we also could have done a lot more promotion such as getting more flyers and posters printed off that has a more appealing design as well as getting our promotional materials out there more for example we created a promo video but then did not distribute it really, only uploading it to youtube where we got very little views.

How did your group work as a team to plan and put on the launch? 



We worked well to plan the launch, originally there was problem with a venue but we got it sorted in the end. Other than booking the night and preparing our performances for the night little else was needed to be done prior to the night. On the actual night we met up early and got to the vic with plenty of time and set everything up whilst working effectively as a team.

How did you contribute to this?

I was the one who organised with the venue to actually have the launch. Also on the night I acted sorted of as the sound engineer as I knew the equipment better than the other due to being familiar with it. 

Was the event a commercial success?Commercially the event was not as much of a succes we would have hoped, we did not do as well financially as expected, selling a lot less merchandise than expected. We also did not achieve the turn out that we hoped for however we are going to plan more events in the hope of selling more of the EPs and more merchandise. I think on the night we could have sold more EPs by simply giving constant reminders to all people there that we EPs for sale, as well as possibly making the table at the back more visible from which we were selling EPs and merchandise. In terms of merchandise sales we did not have all we wanted to sell on the night so we could have ordered the merchandise earlier and I also think we could have done better designs that are more appropriate for the EP.

Was the event a success artistically?

Artistically the event was a success, but again was not as great as we planned. Rhys's laptop broke prior to the gig meaning he did not get to do his entire set but just the song from the EP, my laptop also died part way into my set meaning i was cut short by 10 minutes or so. But other than these slight problems everything else went very well.

Was the product appropriate to the audience?

I think the product was appropriate for the audience as there were many people within the crowd who has a love for electronic music, and because the music on the EP is quite varied there was people with music tastes from different areas of electronic music who got to experience music they wouldnt usually listen to. I would personally have preferred a more lively crowd as for me it felt uncomfortable doing a house set whilst people were sitting down and not dancing but people seemed to enjoy it.

Fallen behind on the blog so here's a pre-gig update.

After the problem mentioned in the last post, I got in touch with the lady now running The Vic in order to assure we had the venue, and fortunately we can still have the event on the night we planned.

We have also finished the mixing and master part of the EP, and I think we now have a very nice sounding EP that fits in well together.

For the actual launch event we have decided on how we will be performing the tracks from the EP, me and Joe will be doing DJ sets starting with our tracks from the EP whereas Nicola, Rhys and Liam will all be performing there tracks.

Because I am doing a DJ set we have not planned any proper rehearsal time as I can prepare my set easily by myself in my own time, we just need to carefully plan out set times and also the order on the night.

We have also changed the CD cover to one of my designs but we've kept the name Messages From Andromeda, you can see the new design as well as the back cover and CD design below. 

We have now ordered all the merchandise as well as the CDs, and hopefully they should all come in time for the gig.





So now it's just time for our Gig, Wednesday 6th June at The Victoria Stoke, hope to see you there!