Explore Component 4 –
Producing and Analysing
Component 4 – Producing and Analysing exam is mostly a practical assessment that will test your knowledge and understanding of techniques for producing music. The exam is made up of 2 sections, Section A is based on 5 practical questions and Section B has 1 essay based question that looks at a music production scenario.
In the following series of videos, we look at how to prepare for this exam; what to expect and the kinds of questions you could be asked.
Producing & Analysing – Overview
This exam revision session focuses on how to prepare your workstation (DAW) and how to make your life a little easier by following a few simple setup steps.
Question 1
Is always going to be the easiest question of the exam but don’t underestimate its importance. Use this question to make sure everything is set up and working. Import your first track to the correct position as detailed in the instructions. Pay careful attention to tempo, quantizing and import settings, this could affect your success criteria in question 5.
Question 2
Throughout questions 1 to 4, you will be asked to import and export audio and or MIDI tracks, the best piece of advice I can give here is to follow the instruction carefully. In most cases, you are expected to import/export one track with the correct positioning or start and end points.
Question 3
Each production question (questions 1 – 4) will ask you to complete a set of practical tasks. These tasks can range from correcting pitch to re-creating the timbre of a synth instrument.
Question 4
During the production questions (1 – 4) we will also be asked to demonstrate your knowledge and understanding of music technology. Question 4 will normally be more technical than previous questions.
Question 5
Mixing and producing
your tracks
Be prepared to undergo a list of instructions that gets you to produce all of the exam tracks as a finished sequence. You will need to use the majority of the techniques learnt/used during Component 1 and 2 for this exam question.
Question 6
This is the one and only question for section B. This essay based question will test your knowledge and understanding of music production scenarios.
Good Luck
and Happy R