Introduction

Initial Objective

In these times where the availability of a DAW, plugins, recording gear and information is better than ever before it is my personal need to learn to create on my own so that I obtain the highest possible control and freedom to express what is already there in my intuition. I want to be able to (re-)create these emotions with my own music and translate my imagination into concrete arrangements and sounds.

In order to understand how and why certain moments in the music I admire so strongly have such an emotional impact on me, I will transcribe, analyse, compare, reflect on them. Finally, I am going to make the production and arrangement techniques utilized by Jacob Collier and Jamie Cullum part of my own palette by processing them in the production of my own music. I chose Jamie Cullum because he was my inspiration for pursuing  a career as a musician and Jacob Collier always fascinated me with an in my opinion unmatched amount of creativity and depth in his productions. Both artists are multi-instrumentalists, singer and pianists which I can identify with as an artist myself and they had the biggest impact on influencing my approach when it comes to making music and the tonal aesthetic I desire. 

I benefit from this research directly by acquiring these techniques as part of my artistic toolkit as well as by specialising as a teacher. But not only I will learn something from this procedure: Since the music industry has more and more changed in the last years towards DIY and independent artists there is a rising demand for information on this topic. Therefore, I think that my research can be beneficial for other musicians, producer and students and help them to increase their artistic freedom in music productions. Especially their production and vocal arranging techniques are of special interest for me since these aspects are what I want to learn about as a next step towards developing my own sound as a producer myself.

I want to focus on the Songs „Monster“ and „Mankind“ from the Album „Taller“ and the songs „Time Alone With You“ and „All I Need“ from the album „Djesse vol.3“ because I like the aesthetic of those albums and songs. Since the research is about acquiring tools that shape my own sounds in a way that I aesthetically desire and also about revealing my intuition my own taste was the crucial criterion when deciding which peaces to choose as a basis for my research. Also both albums are not older than five years which makes them at least to a degree sonically relevant in today’s world of music production.  

When looking for information about the topic I only found general advise and tutorials on how other people use certain production and arranging techniques but none of these actually offered a deeper understanding of Jacob Collier and/or Jamie Cullum in particular:

I was able to find transcriptions of Jacob Colliers music on Youtube and his own Logic session breakdowns where he shows and explains his process to a certain degree and partly why he does things, but still I could not find a source which goes deep enough into the case studies with respect to the aspects that matter to me personally. 
I also found some interesting articles and interviews of Jamie Cullum where he revealed some of his intentions behind the music and also parts of his process but no detailed analysis of his songs regarding specific production techniques or arrangement.
With my research I want to bridge the gap between the consumption of music and the production process by not only investigating what Jamie Cullum and Jacob Collier do, as some existing videos and articles do,  but I also want to understand why it works and how it can be transferred to an application context to enrich mine and also hopefully other peoples ability to express themselves through music in a way they desire.

To give an overview of the structure of my research I will state its content in short form:
On this landing page you can find

• an abstract comprehending the total research and its results,
• an introduction explaining the intention behind this research, discussing its relevance, stating the research questions, and giving an overview of its structure
• a literature review explaining the used sources for my research (the interviews are transcribed and discussed in the category „interviews“ at the top of this page)
• a methodology where I explain my approach to this research and the method I used to investigate the subject
• a results section where I refer to the three categories „Two Major Artists“, „Album“, and „Live“ at the top in which I thematically show the results of my research
• a conclusion section in which I answer my research questions
• a discussion section where I reflect on the process, critically look at the limitations of my research and interpret the results
• an appendix where recordings of my interviews can be found

Research questions

As a singer and composer my focus will lie on vocal production, performance and arrangement. Furthermore, I will investigate general production aspects that play a determining role in shaping the sound of the examined examples.

It is important to mention that I will not fully depict the artists general style and use of tools. This research will be limited to a few exemplary music productions from the albums “Taller” by Jamie Cullum and “Djesse vol.3” by Jacob Collier.

In order to investigate the subject, I state the following questions:

 Which vocal and production techiques are typical for the music of Jacob Collier and Jamie Cullum using the example of songs from the albums “Taller” and “Djesse vol.3” and how can they be applied to my own music?

1. Which vocal arrangement and production techniques are used in the songs “Mankind” and “Monster” from the album “Taller” and in the songs “All I Need” and “Time Alone With You” from the Album “Djesse vol.3”?
2. Why do these techniques create certain emotional responses in me and how do they achieve that?
3. What are similarities between the two artists and within/inbetween their compositions and productions?
4. How can the vocal and production techniques I found be applied and which difficulties do I encounter?
5. What do Cullum and Collier do different in their live settings and what is different for me in a live performance of my pieces?

Expected outcome

As an expected outcome, I will gather a couple of devices and techniques used in the examined music rather than a comprehensive analysis of the artist. By means of applying the found techniques I will add my personal view and experience on my blog and assess how these tools aid my creative process in the context of producing my first album and performing it live. Another expectation is that I will be able to convey my findings in a workshop for students at the Conservatory Maastricht as well as in lessons I teach regularly.

Literature Review

Interview with Jesse Passenier

Jesse Passenier being a well renown composer and arranger will give me insights in arranging and composing for choir in a pop production setting and an overview of common techniques.

With his expertise I can compare the analysis of my musical examples to a broader context of composing and arranging in a studio and live setting.

Interview with Freddy Tings

As a professional producer Freddy Tings will give me insights in commonly used contemporary production techniques.

With his expertise I can compare the analysis of my musical examples to a broader context of music production in general.

Methodology

After reviewing interviews as general information of the topic I analyzed also with the help of Jacob Collier’s Logic Session Breakdowns the songs with respect to the spots that draw my attention and emotions and the use of vocals in general.
In a second step I used transcriptions by me and Jason Fieler, a respected musician and transcriber to analyze the found techniques in relation to the findings from the literature and examine their validity. The transcriptions are meant to confirm or disprove my assumptions in certain parts the analyses and therefore are used exemplary to highlight essential aspects of my findings. They could be broader in order to show whether the results of my analysis apply consistently throughout the whole song but I just wanted to prove that the analyzed techniques are actually applied in those places that matter to me emotionally. 

In a third step I used the techniques I describe in my analysis consciously in my own compositions and productions to test whether I can recreate the effects those techniques had on me in Jacob’s and Jamie’s pieces .

This research follows a reflective, action driven approach succeeding the review of already existing material regarding the topic. Since Jamie Cullum and Jacob Collier are two extremely renown artists and have more musical facets than what can be looked at in a research like this it is clear that this methodology cannot claim universal validity. I was only able to investigate a limited number of techniques, based on the chosen pieces. Moreover my findings are shaped by my personal artistic context meaning that while they offer practical insights, they remain subjective to some extent and I can only conjecture how far and under which conditions my results can be applied in other musician’s contexts.

Results

My results are shown in the categories „Two Major Artists“ and „Album“.
In the category „Two Major Artists“ the focus lies on analyzing the work of Jamie Cullum and Jacob Collier and extracting techniques from their productions.
In the category „Album“ the application of those techniques in my own work and the reflection process are the content.

Additionally in the category „Live“ found at the top of the page I investigated both artist’s live settings  and how they translate their studio productions into live situations. It is not part of my main research but rather an additional aspect to look at their artistic work as a whole.

Conclusion

1. Which vocal arrangement and production techniques are used in the songs “Mankind” and “Monster” from the album “Taller” and in the songs “All I Need” and “Time Alone With You” from the Album “Djesse vol.3”?
   By analyzing the songs „Mankind“ and „Monster“ by Jamie Cullum and „All I Need“ and „Time Alone With You“ by Jacob Collier with the help of interviews, Logic breakdown sessions, and transcriptions I could find out that among other techniques both artists use natural sounding upfront lead vocals which feel „close“ to the listener.
   In their backing vocals the main functions are supporting the main vocal or answering it in a call-response fashion.
   While Jamie Cullum uses mainly strong gospel-like structures like triads sung by different singers in his vocal arrangements Jacob Collier also uses clustered, dense and big vocal stacks mostly consisting of this own voice sometimes incorporating other artists vocals in his backing vocals. A specific characterizing technique for Jacob Collier are vocal pyramids. Both use a natural sound in their backing vocals most of the time and in some places consciously highly alienated sounds created by changing the vocals formants in different ways.
   Regarding other general or instrumental production techniques they both use a „dead“ and dry drum sound without a lot of reverb or high frequencies, a bass sound that only adds low frequencies to the mix and  functions more as a sub-bass, layering of drum sounds e.g. different snare samples to create new textures and in Jacob Collier’s case also layering of other sounds like piano and synth sounds.
   Also both artists use other natural real world sounds like rain, wind etc. to create atmosphere where Jacob Collier uses a lot of these „ear-candy“-elements as well as other electronic sounds in various places. 
2. Why do these techniques create certain emotional responses in me and how do they achieve that?
   Most techniques create specific effects because they incorporate certain tonal properties which we associate with similar sounds and their relating situations in the real world which already have natural emotional connotations.
   Dead drums and upfront vocals evoke the feeling of being close to the instrument or in the same room which creates an intimate situation. Sub-bass frequencies can be associated to thunder or deep voices.
   Vocal pyramids rely on movement of individual elements, in this case notes, which feel like rain for example. Strong vocal structures rely on consonance of individuals (notes) to create a feeling of strength. 
   Stacking your own voice can smoothen out individual vocal takes to combine to a homogenous sound which can feel like a wave of sound. Shifted formants in backing vocals can make them sound like being sung by a giant, a chipmunk and create alienated voice colors.
   Layered sounds draw the listeners attention by having unusual textures that are difficult to identify. Ear-candy and real world noise like nature sounds can effect us on a subconscious or conscious level by re-creating the feeling of certain situations in our mind. 
3. What are similarities between the two artists and within/inbetween their compositions and productions?
   Both artists use their voice as their most unique feature in a way which creates closeness to the listener and authenticity.
   Both use strong voicings in their backing vocals to support the lead voice or interact with it. 
   Another feature occurring in all analyzed songs is the use of general trending contemporary production techniques like Sub-bass, dead drums, layering, ear-candy, and experimenting with sound in a conscious way.
   
4. How can the vocal and production techniques I found be applied and which difficulties do I encounter?
   I am able to apply all techniques to my own productions by using standard music production software and plug-ins to create the desired sound effects.
   Although my application was successful it is sometimes difficult to incorporate them in a way which feels appropriate for the given style or situation and not out of place.
   As it is the same with learning general music production and arranging techniques these new tools have to be dosed carefully not to be overused and put into context or in other words used with intention in order to work as expected.  
   When shaping the vocal or instrumental sounds my most used tool was the equalizer to deal with frequency issues followed by the panning tool of my DAW to place sounds in the stereo field. Especially vocal and drum sounds were also processed with a compressor to bring out details in the sounds and  limit their dynamic range.
   Apart from that only experimental sounds like formant shifted vocals, experimentally layered instruments or characteristic reverbs needed other plugins and tools to be shaped in specific creative ways.
   Another difficulty was to decide where to apply some of the analyzed techniques to specific contexts because the concepts were clear but the actual implementation could have been done in many different creative ways and places like deciding for the individual different sound when layering.
5. What do Cullum and Collier do different in their live settings and what is different for me in a live performance of my pieces?
   Both artists, especially Jacob Collier, cannot recreate their studio production fully in live situations, but they both try to come as close as possible by using quite big ensembles (6-8 musicians) including multiple backing singers and multi-instrumentalists to be able to represent a variety of textures and keep the core-features of each song.
   Especially for me who desires the sound of Jamie’s and Jacob’s vocals production the integration of multiple backing singers would be beneficial. And until I find the right multi-instrumentalists the challenge will be to reduce the production enough to make it work in a live context while still keeping the core identity of the song. 

Which vocal and production techiques are typical for the music of Jacob Collier and Jamie Cullum using the example of songs from the albums “Taller” and “Djesse vol.3” and how can they be applied to my own music?
Conclusively can be stated: Jacob Collier and Jamie Cullum use general modern producing techniques like dead drums, upfront vocals, sub-bass, ear candy, layered sounds to shape their sound and while Jamie uses gospel-like arranged backing vocals with strong voicings Jacob also uses huge vocal stacks of his own voice and sometimes also of other artists including dissonance. By understanding why the examined techniques work I can use basic production tools like a equalizer, compressor, saturation and some other effect plug-ins to create a certain emotion in my own songs by applying these techniques intentionally in certain places in the production of my own music. In a live context they both use multi-instrumentalists and multiple backing singers to reproduce their complex studio productions is a live setting.

Discussion

In the end of my research the question arises: 
Was my methodology the right one for my purposes?
I think it is was helpful to analyze the chosen pieces and compare them to a general view on the scene and the topic in order to learn about the musicians I admire. I was able to extract the knowledge I was looking for but the way I chose to gather information was limiting my outcome in a way that I was only able to prove that certain techniques from specific contexts seem to work in other specific contexts of my own music. The scope of the research was limited from the beginning because I only chose two songs of each artist which, of course, can not serve as a completive foundation if the main goal is to examine the artists in a broader and more comprehensive context than just examplary looking at two songs but it was enough to get a feel for which techniques were used in those songs I looked at and even though they were specifically chosen examples still I was able to find aspects which have an emotional impact on me which I could investigate and incorporate into my own music.
My sources when investigating and analyzing the pieces were on one hand experts who have long and valuable real-world experience but on the other hand my own intuition and emotions which I followed since they were the reason for my need to investigate in the first place. That makes my work very personal to me and rather difficult to spread to other artists although I tried to analyze as neutral as I could but still the outcome relies on my personal taste in music, my history and my intuition.
Because the broad knowledge of the interviewed experts covered most of the techniques used in the examined pieces it was a tool to lead my search in certain directions, which on the other hand had the problem of potentially biassing my search to interpreting the findings more towards what I was already looking for.  
That Jamie Cullum and Jacob Collier as thriving artists are following the current trends in music to some extend was what I expected but to have a reliable way of confirmation on it was still helpful. The found techniques definitely have their effect and every decision in the production process of these professional artists will most likely have an intention behind it but I wonder to which extend those techniques are what defines the actual sound of the music.
A lot more work can be done in the direction of contextualizing my findings, working out how strong my extracted techniques are when tested in other environments e.g. when applied by other artists or in other genres. Are there more limiting factors than just my personal working frame I have as an individual? And how effective are the techniques overall? Do these techniques have a similar effect on other people and can my finding be reproduced in other peoples experience?
To explore these questions I could have looked at more songs to analyze, applied the techniques in more songs and asked other people on their opinion, but because the intention behind this research was to reveal what my intuition was and how I perceive different aspects of music, broader classification of my findings was not required for meeting my personal motivation behind the research.
Except for the assessment of to which extend my findings can be generalized, I was able to find plausible answers for my research questions and some tools I could use with intention to produce an expected outcome which helped me on my artistic path and can be the foundation for further testing and application also by other musicians seeking a similar aesthetic in their music as I do and also serve as a starting point, a direction or inspiration to follow when building your own toolkit as a producer.
For my personal development I learnt from the process that it is important to have an intention when producing and arranging which can be also intuition but experimenting with sounds and techniques and being open to new ways of playing around with the possibilities you have is even more important when expanding your skills and developing an own sound. The testing and reflection cycle is what drives outcomes to change and I will definitely focus more on a balance between quantity and quality when further exploring the world of producing and arranging. 
While the real improvement comes by actually applying and testing things, having other musicians processes and outcomes which shaped your intuition and taste in music as an inspiration for your own path can guide you towards the development you desire. 

Appendix