FMP - CASE STUDIES

CASE STUDIES

 

 CASE NUMBER ONE

This is my first case of studies. Basically, it is a song interpreted by the singer Justin Quiles, who on his video is performing an acoustic version of his song in a slower rhythm and tempo. Which I think that it goes more into a reggae style. This song is called “Orgullo” which means pride in Spanish.

I think that to take his music as a case study is relevant because this version of his song is in a Reggae style, which is a proof that it sounds good and also, it is a way of making music by the experimentation of other rhythms and upbeats such as the reggae, because originally his song is in reggaeton, but this idea is what I am looking for in my project. I really want to mix reggae with Trap, but I have to identify the use of syncopation of the bass against the tempo of the guitar and also might be good to add the pedal that the guitar can use to give an interesting sound. I will part from this composition to complement my ideas to my song, It has really interesting patterns that I can add to my song "Nine letters". Such as the sudden cuts of the percussion and the strumming of the guitar that is very interesting.

In my opinion, the reggaetón version is on 84 BPM which is more onbeat and it is more speedy, but also makes it more danceable. On the other hand, the acoustic version is on 70 BPM, which is slower, more relaxing and enjoyable, but it is still catchy. Even I can recognise the funky way of playing it as if they were interpreting another kind of style apart from the reggaetón cover of his song. However, in between the two version, there is a difference of 14 BPM, it means that it changes the feeling of how the music sounds like and how it could impact the listener by the variation of the tempo and speed.

I think, that the important fact here is that the content of this song is not the contrasting thing. The contrasting characteristic is that this song helps me to mix rhythms and genres as a reference for my composition. For example the rhythm of reggaetón with pop and the rhythm of reggae with the trap or as this case, the reggaetón with reggae. If I try to balance the BPM of those genres, It might create a good sound and dynamic. All these ideas, I try to interpret them as my most comfortable ways of composing music, because I feel the freedom of exploring my creativity and putting on evaluation the criteria that I think I have to explore with different styles of music.

This is the acoustic version (reggae style):

The important fact of this video is to remark that the lyrics of this song come from the reggaetón genre, but this time sounds more like a reggae version. It is on 70 BPM at 4/4.

This is the original song on its first time version (the reggaetón version ) which is on 84 BPM at 4/4. It is very clear to identify the accent in the first and the third beat, which make it rhythmically faster. I am taking this original video to compare it with the other version of his song as a way of remarking the significant difference in between the accent that transmits the reggaeton in the first and third beat than the reggae that transmits the accent in the second and fourth beat, but the interesting thing is that he keeps his lyrics fitting to the rhythm of both version, the feeling does not change, just changes the speed and the rhythm, but the emotion of the song keeps the same.

CASE NUMBER TWO

This is a song interpreted by the singer Abraham Mateo. I will take this video as part of my case studies because, one of my objectives with this project is to investigate, in which ways we can mix genres and styles. In this song is very clear that It is combined Pop, Trap and reggaetón.

Also, it is used in the mix of Spanish and English language. Both languages have different impact and feeling in the different parts of the song, giving it patterns nicely performed and the most important is that it is catchy and nice to watch and to listen. The mixture of those styles in one song with the same BPM is so inspiring. At least, in my opinion, I have played this song before an acoustic version with my classmate and it sounds really good the mixture of two different styles of interpretation and also, the languages.
One of the songs of my album is going to be combined with reggaetón and pop styles. It is uncomfortable to mix those styles because the pop takes a speedy BPM and the reggaetón has less BPM than the pop. However, It is possible to remark pop styles on my song, keeping the patterns of reggaetón in the second part of the song, giving the surprising effect and also, the contrasting impact of changing from the English language to the Spanish language.

 

 

This is another video that shows the contrast in between singing Latin rhythms in English and Spanish.

 

CASE STUDIES NUMBER THREE

 This is a song called Good Loving interpreted by Miguel, Oscar & la fantasia.

Which is also sung in English in the genre of salsa, which also I have chosen as a case of studies because It is so interesting to know how the Latin music as salsa arrived at this stage of being interpreted in the English language.

I think that the use of hooks and the wind instruments doing solos sounds really nice and the funky chords of the piano in syncopation against the percussion are very nice. This Is a good case of studies to determinate a good way of making music by danceable lyrics in English.

This is a mix of the song Beat it by Michael Jackson in salsa version but also in Spanish lyrics. This is also an interesting video of how you can make this type of pop music in salsa, adding hooks and speeding up the tempo.