Music Vox goes for Original Songs

Temasek Polytechnic’s (TP) pop-rock performing CCA, Music Vox (MV), is in the midst of producing original music in hopes of future release. Fresh out of their Esplanade debut, Music Vox is stronger and more ready than ever to create a name for themselves not just from stunning stage performances, but in the production of original pieces as well.

“Music Vox is a CCA where we get together to make music. We’re not just doing covers anymore; we’re moving towards production of original songs and making these songs within our community and premises.” says Music Vox’s President, Railyn Fae Lzgui Masaoy, a vocalist in her third year studying Biomedical Science.

The CCA forms bands within their collective of talented vocalists, guitarists, keyboardists, violinists and drummers who come together to cover songs by other artists, while adding their own unique twists to the song arrangements. Now, they have even more freedom to explore and express themselves creatively through making original music.

“We wanted to try something different. We thought, ‘What else is interesting? What else can we do to really impress people?’ We felt that the best way to exercise our creativity and better our musicality is to write our own songs.” says Yukie Yang, the Head of Songwriting in MV and a vocalist in her junior year of Marketing.

The songwriting and production unit in MV only became more prominent this year due to a busy performance and events schedule last year. This year, they intend to set more concrete plans into motion and propel a change in the CCA’s creative direction through this unit.

MV is equipped with the resources to create music by industry standards. The unit has their own studio in the Student Development & Alumni Affairs (SDAA) building, Lab 3, a space for them to freely create and make music with appropriate and relevant industry tools such as a recording booth, a control surface and a workstation.

“The production usually involves the musicians and our advisor, Aaron. We also have an external trainer called Kevin; both of them are in the music production industry.” expresses the Head of Production in MV, Kelvin Tan Boon Hwee, a guitarist in his second year of Digital Film and Television studies.

The team plans to dish out a library of about seventy to eighty original songs by the end of this academic year. In doing so, they have commited to write and produce a minimum of three songs each month. Plans for release are still being discussed, but the team hopes to put out an album onto platforms such as Spotify in future. For now, the songs are set to be uploaded onto Soundcloud, a digital platform where listeners can listen for free.

“We want to create a library of songs for TP students in which they can use the music whenever and however they want without having to deal with copyright issues,” says Yukie. She adds that the team is also extremely keen on collaborating with other arts groups and non-arts groups in TP in terms of song production. “We welcome anyone who wants to write a song with us. You can get in touch with any of the MV members and we’ll do our best to help you out.”

“We also aim to have weekly sessions where we come together to learn the concepts of songwriting and production work. This is so that it’s not only the production team that knows how to produce but it’s the whole community that’s moving towards a common goal,” Fae voices.

The team encourages passionate musicians to step out of their comfort zone when it comes to making music and to keep pushing forward in this unique form of self-expression. Fae admits: “I’ve been at that stage where I was afraid of coming out of my comfort zone, but it’s really different when you choose to step out. You may feel like your work may not be good enough, but if you start now and continue to consistently write and hone your production skills, you’ll look back one day and say, ‘Wow, I’ve come a long way.’”

The committee has high hopes for the unit. They believe that having this platform can spark a change in creative direction and bring Music Vox to greater heights.

Kelvin said: “In a production studio, the possibilities are almost endless; there’s a lot you can do in a production studio that you cannot do live… Music Vox has a family of very talented musicians and people, so I believe that we’ll be able to achieve success.”

Celeste Wu

StopPress Journalist