Phlexx Records (PLX072) 2022
Delivered by Nottingham C.A.N and Funded by Youth Music, the Beatknots project facilitated an exciting opportunity for young music-makers to work alongside industry professional across 3 music studios in and around Nottingham to produce a collaborative album that would be released on leading Nottingham independent record label Phlexx Records.
Focusing prodominately on Electronic Music Production we have worked in partnership with The Elementz studio (Nottingham City), Unit 03 Music (Long Eaton) and The Old Library (Mansfield), with 28 young musicians, delivering a 20-week program that explored a wide spectrum of activities such as sampling, synthesis, composing, recording, mixing and mastering. As well as collaborating with a range of contemporary Electronic Producers (and each other), the course also facilitated a series of online industry masterclasses where participants explored a range of areas in the industry such as Social Media Management, Live Events, Sync for T.V. & Film, Composing to Film and Radio Broadcast
The whole ethos of the project was that the young participants jumped straight into music-making and the learning would happen organically along the course of the project whilst working in collaboration with the Industry Professionals. This worked brilliantly and as soon as participants came to the studios they delved straight into the project. For some participants this was their first experience of Electronic music-making and all young producers brought something individual and unique to the groups. Some participants had experience in singing, some playing instruments and some were experienced in recording and engineering. The Beatknots participants worked alongside Trekkah, Liati, Zoutr, Jimmy Power and Gadzz – all experienced Electronic music producers who collectively have a wealth of accolades around their work such as National Radio Play on BBC Radio 1 and 1XTRA, music syncs on T.V. shows for BBC, Channel 4 and Sky TV.
The project began by focusing on the History of Electronic Music and then moved towards different music Genre and Sub Genres with participants learning how to build and write beats and patterns. Each week had a theme that added towards the creation of a track, so after Rhythmic exploration the groups moved onto Melody where they explored Synthesis, Texture where they explore traditional vinyl sampling and so on. Nearing the end of the project the focus was more heavily on arranging our music and mixing and mastering. The groups also had a number of session working with Phlexx Records, looking at releasing music, royalties, contracts, PPL, PRS and how to promote releases.
We are extremly proud of the work that has been created across (and collaborating with) the 3 studios. For at least 50% of the album it was participants first time creating an Electronic Music Production, and a debut recording for 3 of the Singers and Rappers.
