Zenith

The Zenith project was our final unit at Freestyle. This is where we were offered the freedom and flexibility to expand on any skill or idea that we wanted. The word “zenith” represents the highest point of a location, essentially translating to the moment in which us as Freestyle students are of most power. At this point in our time in this program, our time had almost come to an end. The skills and lessons to be learned had all been taught, and this was our final chance to utilize them and create a one of a kind product.

For my Zenith project I decided write, record, and edit a song, as well as create an album cover and sticker to go along with it. I had been songwriting since I was 14 years old but had never gotten to actually recording anything professionally. Therefore this seemed like the perfect opportunity to do so.

One special thing about my Zenith project in particular is the interdisciplinary use of skills from all of my Freestyle classes – poetry in English, Pro Tools music mixing in Digital Media, and Adobe Illustrator in Design. Through our Lyrical Essay unit in English I was able to write a poem and corresponding essay about how I organize my brain into playlists. I eventually transformed this poem into my song, Shelves Of My Mind. Then when recording with Dean Rohan from 7 C’s Studio we used Pro Tools to record and edit. Without my previous knowledge of Pro Tools from Digital Media I would’ve been even more lost than I already was. Finally, I of course wouldn’t have been able to as accurately create my album cover and stickers without my prior Adobe Illustrator knowledge from Design.

I ended up also adding a collaboration aspect to my Zenith project with fellow Freestyle design student Louie Sabio. He created an electronic beat and asked me to write and record lyrics and a melody over it. Although this was a new experience for me as I usually have creative control over my own music, it was a really expanding experience to be able to contribute and help create somebody else’s vision. It was also more of an R&B style song which is very different than what I usually write.

It is quite a risk to try and transfer an idea or feel of a song into an actual recording that people can simply listen to as they please. Especially having never recorded my music professionally before, I wasn’t sure how to go about executing this project other than just doing it. I also ran into many obstacles such as Covid-19 limits, too high of expectations, and last minute changes in artistic direction. However, I believe that my product turned out just as good as I had envisioned it, maybe even better.