DonovanLiaoHawkenProjects2021

  I do not have a video but I have audio recordings, so I've uploaded a video of a black screen with the audio recording I made. This audio recording capture when Angus, King and I were working on a song that we wanted to fit the "indie" category. This album is meant to be tailored towards as wide of an audience as possible, whether or not that'll help the popularity of the album, I do not know, but I do know as a group we want to find our sound and want to branch out as much as possible to find what we like best. Since this is our first time really working together there are a lot of facets of our creative minds to explore and that is exactly what we are doing with this project. Specifically, in this song attached above, we had just finished coming up with the chord progression and Angus had pretty much finalized part of the vocal melody. We were messing around with the speed of the strumming and rhythm to see if it sounded a little better if we were to speed it up. ...

This week Angus, King and I have begun to start some of the songs in the album. I have been pretty busy with APs and track so we didn't get as much time to work together as we would have liked, but regardless, we still got a solid amount of work done. We've pretty much established our general workflow and what type of collaboration works best for use. Generally, when thinking of new melodies, chord progressions, or lyrics, we'll be outside, strumming the guitar, in my living room playing the piano, or even just walking around my neighborhood waiting for inspiration to strike. Then as we get a general idea of what the song is going to be about/what it'll sound like, we'll go downstairs in my basement to begin production and recording. It's a very natural workflow and I think it is quite productive. Of course, we don't confine ourselves to just that method of work. If we ever want to start with production (which means producing the beat/instrumental), we'l...

I am Donovan Liao, and the most impactful non-physical thing in my life has most likely been music. I've been playing piano since the age of four, and I've been an avid music listener since even earlier than that. Every since middle school, you'd never find me without my earbuds. I'd be more flustered if I found out I forgot earbuds, than if I forgot my phone. Freshman year I had to learn to respect my teachers and not have my earbuds in during class. I know, sounds pretty crazy but that was just how attached I was to music. In a way, I see making music as a way of giving back to the idea of "music" and all that it's given to me. I am so thankful and blessed to be able to have an opportunity to make music as my final project. For the most part, Angus, King, Pedro and I will be cooking up in my basement. However, we may occasionally meet with our mentor, Nwaka and we also may record at some professional studios if we are able to find any. My final goal is t...