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It crackles and it rustles. In this 6-week audiovisual KISD project – initiated by designer and music producer Stefanie Grawe aka GRAY – 22 design students dedicated themselves to the love of lo-fi music and composed their own song. For this they dealt intensively both theoretically and practically with the associated production techniques, analyzed popular pieces of music and experimented with different sounds. Of course, they also designed a visual identity in the form of a cover artwork and music video. All results are now presented on this website.


SWEET AND SOUR – JUST A SUMMER WHISPER

Hannah Flintro & Katharina Kirsch


„Their warm and calming Lo-Fi Track ,Just a Summer Whisper‘ will accompany you all through summer and certainly will make you miss the warm weather once the summer is over. Whether you listen to the track while getting ready, studying for a test or taking a stroll through the city it will give you the feeling of a light summer evening. Listeners have called the song ,Mellow and chill‘, this atmosphere is also portrayed in the music video. You can look forward to hearing more from them soon, but for now listen to ,Just a Summer Whisper‘ and let the soft sounds have their effect on you.“

CONCEPT

We created a lo-fi hip hop song that should appeal mainly to students. Looped parts of the song, and the fact that we didn‘t use vocals areideal to play the music while studying or other activities with a relaxed background music. We wanted to create a music video that reflects the atmosphere of the beginning summer in Cologne. Our video should capture the impressions during a trip through the city. At the beginning we had already shot video footage of Cologne, as well as of its nature. To add a storyline we decided to shoot the rest of the footage from a special perspective. Since we wanted to pick up the theme of walking, nature and trains of the city anyway, we decided to choose our protagonist for our video: very beautiful, recognizable, high boots. We followed them through the city and through the day.

SONG PRODUCTION

We started of the production of our song by deciding on a specific Lo-Fi genre. We chose Lo-Fi Hip Hop because we listen and identify withthis genre the most. To have a foundation for the song we firstly chose a drum line. We ended up using two different drum lines, to bring a littlevariation into the song as well as support different parts of the song. After that we worked on the structure of the song. We wanted the songto have a clear intro, after which verse, chorus, bridge, verse, chorus and an outro would follow. We created a clear and light melody to deliver the feeling of the beginning of summer. As for the instruments we used plug-ins from the website Spitfire Audio. For the melody we chose the “Soft Piano“ which didn’t sound to perfect, great to support the Lo-Fi aesthetic. Through the different settings we were able to adjust the instrument to our liking. To add more depth to the song we also added some chords. We duplicated this midi track and heightened one of them by two octaves to create some variation within the chords. Sometimes we alternated those tracks and sometimes we overlapped them.
To set the melody and the chords apart we used the “Super Soft Wurli“ instead of the Soft Piano. When creating the underlying baseline wesimply took the deepest notes of our chords and lowered them by fouroctaves. Here we used the “Opia Sub Bass“ instead of the piano. To bring even more variation into the song we added “Strings“. For this we also used the midi track of the chords. The strings really break the course of the song which makes it more exciting and fresh. We used the strings in the chorus, the bridge and parts of the verse. By sometimes overlapping the strings with the chords and the melody or just the drums we were able to create different sound patterns which clearly separate the different parts of the song. One key element that we also added were field recordings. These field recordings underline our theme even further which is why we not only added them in the intro but also in the bridge and the outro. Adding the field recordings at the end will transport the listener into the atmosphere we are trying to convey with our track.

Week 1–3

First, we tried to teach ourselves the Ableton Live program. Since we wanted to incorporate the sample ,Just the two of us‘ by Bill Withers into our song, we decided to focus on that for now. When the program was known to us in its basic features, we realized that much more is possible. We wanted to create something of our own. From that point on, the real work began.

Week 4–6

First, we tried to teach ourselves the Ableton Live program. Since we wanted to incorporate the sample ,Just the two of us‘ by Bill Withers into our song, we decided to focus on that for now. When the program was known to us in its basic features, we realized that much more is possible. We wanted to create something of our own. From that point on, the real work began.

VIDEO PRODUCTION

With our topic being the start of summer in cologne we wanted todepict visuals that we connect wit this topic. For us the start of summer in cologne is all about walking through the city and soaking up itsatmosphere. As the background of our video changes a lot we wanted to tie it all together by focusing on one thing which would always be seen in the foreground. For this we chose the boots, because they obviously fit well into our concept of taking a stroll through the city. We matched the cuts of the video to the music, to adapt the visuals a little bit more to the sound. To further tie the different scenes together we made use of color correction and color grading. In the end we also added a grain to the video to fit the Lo-Fi aesthetic.

With our topic being the start

Week 4–5

As with our song, we learned from our mistakes when creating our music video. At first, it was only important for us to convey a certain vibe in the video. However, as we realized that we did not have enough video footage or a proper storyline in our video, we decided to rethink our previous concept.

Week 5–6

Next, we planned exactly our video footage and also used betterequipment than before. We managed to keep our shoes in theforeground and also to shoot so accurately that only the backgroundbehind the shoes changed. We managed to cut and edit the video usingAdobe Premiere Pro. We created certain effects to make the video cutsmatch the beat of our song and tried color grading in our video. All in all,you can say that we pretty much worked on everything together sincethere were only two of us. But to be exact Hannah probably worked more alone on the video and Katharina more on the song.

COVER ARTWORK




in cologne is alle boots, because they

PRESS PUBLICATION

The one Lo-Fi Track you didn’t know you still needed in yourSummer playlist Cologne, May 27, 2022 - the new up and coming music duo ,Sweet and Sour‘ will release their first song this Friday. Though they have opposite opinions on a lot of topics, they find connection in one thing… Music! Their warm and calming Lo-Fi Track ,Just a Summer Whisper‘ will accompany you all through summer and certainly will make you miss the warm weather once the summer is over. Wether you listen to the track while getting ready, studying for a test or taking a stroll through the city it will give you the feeling of a light summer evening. Listeners have called the song „Mellow and chill“, this atmosphere is also portrayed in the music video. You can look forward to hearing more from them soon, but for now listen to ,Just a Summer Whisper‘ and let the soft sounds Publications have their effect on you.
obviously fit well into our concept of taking a stroll through the city. We matched the cuts of the video to the music, to adapt the visuals a little bit more to the sound. To further tie the different scenes together we made use of color correction and color grading. In the end we also added a grain to the video to fit the Lo-Fi aesthetic.
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SS 2022