MICRO- GENRE RESEARCH + IDEA DEVELOPMENT

In the morning session we are asked to do some research on the micro- genre that we have chosen. I was still choosing between Korean R&B, lo-fi beats and K-indie. 

K-indie

-      The term indie is short for ‘independent music’. K-indie solo singers and groups are not signed to mainstream companies; this means that they usually do not have a large financial backing.

-      One of the benefits of not being associated with a major label is possessing greater control and creative freedom over musical output. This can result in songs that are intensely emotional, more message-driven or experimental. 

-       Normally K-indie artists are involved in several (if not all) aspects of the song-writing process, which can help make their music and performances more personal and engaging for their audience.

àpersonal 

àemotional

àrelatable 

àlow budget

àsimple, not fancy 

Korean R&B (contemporary rnb)

-      combines elements of rhythm and blues, pop, soul, funk, hip hop and electronic music.

Zion T.

Dean

Hyuokoh

Crush

Gray

contemporary R&B (rhythm and blues)

-      finding hope:Finding Hope currently seeks to shift his musical style more towards the roots in which grew up on – R&B. 

-      R&B lyrical themes often encapsulate the African-American experience of pain and the quest for freedom and joy, as well as triumphs and failures in terms of relationships, economics, and aspirations.

-      combines elements of rhythm and blues, pop, soul, funk, hip hop and electronic music.

-       Electronic influences are becoming an increasing trend and the use of hip hop or dance-inspired beats are typical, although the roughness and grit inherent in hip hop may be reduced and smoothed out.

àabout love relationships

àheart breaks 

àemotional  
The changing history of R&B:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zOOP8cPFnTk&t=128s

LO-FI BEATS

-      (originally spelled low-fi, from the term "low fidelity") is an aesthetic of recorded music in which the sound quality is lower than the usual contemporary standards (the opposite of high fidelity) and imperfections of the recording and production are audible. 

-      Known as DIY music 

-      sound production less good in quality than 'hi-fi

-      "home-recorded," "technically primitive," and "inexpensive equipment"

-      Exact definitions of "distortion" and "noise" vary and sometimes overlap

-   misplayed notes, environmental interference, or phonographic imperfections (degraded audio signals, tape hiss, and so on)
-   "distortion" and "noise"
-   "recording imperfections"

àimperfect 

àmade cheaply and quickly 

àdistortion 

àsad
à fuzzy

Although after doing some research, i feel like K-indie would be much easier to go with. However, I myself don't like the genre the most and i do not want to go for something that i am not really into. Also, I listen to korean R&B everyday, however, the songs are all in korean and i found it really hard to translate the lyrics. Therefore, I decided to cross out K-indie and korean r&b from the list. 

At last, I decided to go for lo-fi beats. As R&B is always about love relationships, i think it will be too narrow to develop my ideas. Lo-fi beats may not be the easiest as there are usually no lyrics. However, I think that focusing on the way how the beats are arranged and played would be cool to work on.

LO-FI BEATS ON YOUTUBE

I searched lofi beats on youtube and the thumbnails of the videos came up to be in a dark tone and a purplish tone. Even some of them are of light colours, the exposures of them are low. This maybe because of the beats makes people to relax and dark colours are not as irritating as light colours when displayed on screens. This inspires me to make everything in a dark and purplish tone.

I also found a producer named Anitian Rose who have made his own lo-fi beats. He uploaded them on Youtube and used a picture of his album for the screening of the whole video. The album is in pastel pink and with a picture of a piano keyboard place in the centre. The name of the album is placed on top of the picture. I found the font used in the name really interesting and decided to do more research on the font and maybe use some similar fonts for my sleeve.

Glitching

Many of the videos that I looked up have a distortion effect applied. This is because lofi beats are a mix of distortion of beats. 

Many of the videos have a still background with only a few objects moving. Like in this clip, only the rain and the smoke is moving in the video. This makes me want add some mechanical elements on the sleeve so that there will be a still background with a movable element on it. This is to match with the videos of lofi beats I found on Youtube.  

Mechanical elements

I have had an idea of using different card ideas for the movable elements of the sleeve. They can be the whole structure of the sleeve or a small part of it. 

sound waves distortion using this idea? Combine the collage idea with this? the black strips can be sooundwaves?

Overlapping

use acetate?