Genre Research

Definition of genre:

A music genre is a typological term that is used to classify music belonging to a particular category and type of music that can be distinguished from other types of music.

Different Genres and The Codes and Conventions for the Genre:
- Pop: Dance Routines,
- Punk:
- Rock:
- R 'n' B: Dance Routines,
- Rock 'n' Roll:
- Rap:
- Jazz: Band playing instruments,
- Hip Hop: Dance Routines,
- Classical:
- Opera:
- Blues:
- Country:
- Indie: Chilled out music,
- Reggae:
- Grime (Hybrid - Garage and Hip Hop):
- Folk:
- Drum and Bass:
- Club: Flashing Lights, Club Scene
- Eletronic:
-Dubstep (Hybrid - Garage and Drum and Bass):
Hybrids:
- Pop Rock - Example of artists Sting, Lady Gaga
- Rock 'n' Roll and Pop - Example of a band The Baseballs
- Country and Pop - Example of artist Shania Twain
- Indie and Rock - Example of a band The Killers (Now becoming Electronic)
- Pop and Hip Hop - Example of artist Rihanna
- Folk Rock - Example of artist Jonathan Coulton
- Ska Punk - Example of a band The Mighty Mighty Bosstones
- Country soul - Example of artist Shirley Brown

History, Conventions and typical genre artists:
 

Dubstep - Hybrid:

• Originated in London
• Underground (Club)
• Not Mainstream
• Don't appeal to mass audience
• Not normally a video just pictures
• Mixes of other songs
• Usually young artists
• Fast Tempo - Bass
• Usually no lyrics
• Artists: Scream, DJ Fresh - they are young artists (20-30) - same aged as audience

Rock:

• Developed during and after the 1960s
• Rock is centered around the electric guitar, usually as part of a rock group with bass guitar and drums
• Songs are usually have depressing and sad lyrics
• The use of dark lighting in the videos
• See all band members
• Example of a rock band is Nickelback

Contemporary R’n’B:

• Combines elements of hip hop, soul, and funk.
• The videos have unclear storylines
• Women are shown as sex appeal
• Have dance routines
• Example of artist is Beyoncé

Spanish Hip Hop:

• Started in the late 1980s
• Strong beat and vibe
• Club scenes
• Lots of girls dancing in the videos
• Girls are used for sex appeal
• Very popular in Latin America
• Example of artist is Daddy Yankee

Our Genre Choice History and Conventions:

Pop:

• First recorded being used in 1929 in the sense of a piece of music having popular appeal,
• Originated in Britain in the mid-1950s as a description for rock 'n' roll and the new youth music style
• Often targeted for youth audiences
• Melody based
• Pop has had the special meaning of non - classical music, performed by such artists as 'The Beatles', 'The Rolling Stones', 'ABBA', etc
• One of the most consistent elements of pop music since the 1950's is the pop song. Pop music is not usually written, performed and recorded as a symphony, suite, or concerto. The basic form for pop music is the song and usually a song consisting of verse and repeated chorus.
• Most often the songs are between 2 1/2 minutes and 5 1/2 minutes in length. There have been notable exceptions. The Beatles' "Hey Jude" was 7 minutes in length. A famous and very popular pop song was 14 minutes long, Michael Jackson's 'Thriller'.
• Modern Top Pop Artist:
• Britney Spears
• Lady Gaga (Hybrid - mostly Pop with Rock)
• Bruno Mars

Top 10 Pop Artists of All Time: (Source:http://top40.about.com/od/top10lists/tp/top40popartistsalltime.03.html)

10) Mariah Carey - She achieved 20 number one pop singles in the US. Her collaboration with Boyz II Men spent 16 weeks at number one.

9) Stevie Wonder - Early 1970s  he matured as an artist until he took artist control as singer, musician, producer and songwriter. His music range was variety of different styles.

8) Michael Jackson - He hit the pop spotlight at age 11 which his brothers in Jackson 5. As an adult, he became the world's biggest pop star.



7) The Rolling Stones - They have been responsible for bringing strong influences of American blues into the pop mainstream.

6) Barbara Streisand - She is the best selling female album  artist in the US. She has realease 5 number one pop singles.

5) Frank Sinatra - He is the most successful pop artist or swing and pop standards.

4) Madonna - She has released 37 top 10 pop hits in the US, more than other pop artists. 7 of her albums hit number one in the US.

3) Elton John - He is the most well known piano player in pop music history. He released over 50 top 40 singles.

2) Elvis Presley - He recorded over 100 pop top 40 hits.

1) The Beatles - They achieved 20 number one pop singles in the US.

Conventions of pop genre:

• Most pop artists have some love songs within there album or single. Either the; break-up, difficulties or true, passionate love.
• The artist is shown in every music video.
• Bright Lighting is commonly used.
• They use creative settings or backdrops.
• Audiences like to express themselves through the lyrics, so pop artists tend to have emotion and feelings of related situations in their lyrics.
• Innocent looking costumes on some artists.

Production Process of Music Release:
 http://www.audiorecording.me/music-production-process-how-does-it-take-to-produce-a-song.html 


Step 1: The moment the artist recording label (like Universal Records, Sony BMG, etc) decided to start an album recording project. The recording label assigns a record producer to the artist. In some cases, the artist will be the one to select a record producer but this is subject to recording label approval.
Step 2: The recording producer along with what has been agreed with the artist and recording label will finally decided on what type of sound they are planning to achieve. Some rough ideas on songs to be included on the album might be discussed in this stage (if the artist has some rough demos before).
Step 3: The recording producer drafts the recording plan and activities and quotes the budget. The recording label will be the one to entirely finance the recording of the album songs.
Step 4: The recording producer with the coordination of artist and recording label will shop for songs and contact music publishers they know or even songwriters they have partnered with. They will decide the final song lists to be included in the album along with the possible singles (hit songs).
Step 5: The recording producer starts the recording session with the artist.
The recording producer is responsible of the song arrangement, instruments to be added to song, sound and style of the music. And then the recording producer will be the one to rent a studio, hire an engineer, hire additional musicians and booked additional vocalists to complete the recording. The budget used is provided by recording label.
Step 6: Once everything is recorded, the mixing session starts. The recording producer hires a mixing engineer appropriate for the sound of the album.
Step 7: Once the mix has been finalized, the recording label and artist will approve it. Once approved, the mastering session will start.
Step 8: The mastering session prepares all tracks for commercial production and replication. In this stage the recording producer hires a mastering engineer. The song artist and recording label should also approve the master. The product of the mastering stage is the master CD ready for replication. The recording producer work is now complete and he/she will provide the CD to the recording label.
Step 9: The recording label will finalize the album art design, marketing plan and replication.
Step 10: Singles or hit songs from the album (selected tracks) will be provided to the radio stations for massive airplay as part of album marketing. Music videos are also released to music video channels.
And the artist will start visiting radio stations, TV stations or even perform concerts as part of the promotion.
Step 11: Listeners listen to the songs aired on the radio. The music production process has been completed.

Pre – Production:

The first stage of a successful production is planning. It is important to plan thoroughly by identifying clearly your Production aims, style, key messages and target audience. This planning stage is a two way process between what you tell us about your market and aims and what we can suggest to you in order to formulate effective and creative video treatments.

Exchange of information and ideas combined with our Production experience enable us to tightly integrate the Production from the start.

Effective and entertaining Professional video speaks volumes about you, your organisation or your Company. A well-planned, well-researched Production delivering your key messages with the right image and style for you is the goal of this stage. Pre-production planning is thus vital to ensure your Production hits its target audience with maximum force and impact. Once discussed the project and done the research the final step is a treatment or storyboard made and presented for client approval.

Production:

Working with a range of professional formats from broadcast standard kit to the sony dvcam range. Use experienced crew to produce crisp, clean and creative video with superb content, and technical quality.

Produce for Broadcast, Corporate clients and duplicate / encode pieces for bulk vhs / dvd distribution and indeed for many formats or delivery systems in-between.

Production department is tightly integrated with post-production to ensure you retain throughout the pristine picture and audio quality. Digital integration not only ensures high-end production values, but reduce production costs too. This gives you quality video at competitive prices.

Post – Production:

Post-production facilities offer choices in both on & off line non-linear editing. Non-linear editing means that each and every aspect pf your Production from video scenes, audio, images, text, or graphics can be mixed, cropped, merged, changed or deleted as you wish, there and then.

Non-linear editing enables both faster and considerably more creative video. Digital editing systems offer unlimited creative possibilities: special effects too: indeed everything that is necessary in order to produce stunning video productions. The second stage of post-production is the completion of a 'rough edit' for the client to see and discuss any changes. With digital non-linear editing changes to the piece can be done there and then with the client. Clients can then view the edit and take the chance to fine-tune the style, key messages and impact of the production: post production allows us to add, delete, polish off and mix all our source material creatively into a final or 'master' edit. When we have client approval this final cut can then be recorded to the format or media of your choice such as video, cd, dvd or even video for the web. Broadcast can supply bulk-run copies in designed and printed sleeves and also archive your edit for future reference.