Experimental concept & visual EP
Moonlight Seeker
Role and Duration
I did composition, arrangement, recording engineering, editing, mixing, mastering, sound design, and all artwork. The only part I did not do was the live playing by the session musicians. The project ran across the semester for about three months, from first idea to final bounce and art package.
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Concept
“Wingless Butterfly” says that people make mistakes and feel lost, but love can push us to change and get better. “Moonlight Seeker” is about finding your own song in a loud, fast life. It uses rock to let out stress and to find a steady pace.
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Goals
Make one ballad and one rock track and let them live in one world. Blend styles but keep a clear voice. Show that I know the full pipeline, from writing to release. Deliver two finished masters plus a small visual system that matches the music.
Outcome
I finished two mastered tracks. I exported clean release files—WAV masters, instrumentals, radio edits, and stems. I also made an art set: EP cover, two single covers, streaming banners, and square/vertical crops. I built a simple EPK with a short bio, one hero photo, and links.
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The ballad shows warmth and care. The rock track brings energy and release. They share the same identity from the opening. The colors and artwork match the sound, so the project feels like one whole.
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Feedback and learning
My album advisor (just don't want to mention too many times “professor” sounds like a class project, although it is) and other audiences heard a clear identity from the first seconds. The doubled parts and panning created good width. I learned to plan sessions, label files and stems, write credits and metadata, and keep a simple timeline. Doing the full album process for the first time also supports my music management goals. I understand the full workflow now and how to talk with musicians and with each person responsible for a step.​​​​​​
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Next steps
I am working on music videos for them, combining graphic and music.
Project Overview
This is a two‑song EP I made in Spring 2025. I wrote the sketches and full score in Sibelius. I recorded in the University of Rochester Music Recording Studio using the studio console and outboard chain. I mixed and mastered in Pro Tools. I added new parts with synths and electric‑guitar tones to build energy and color. I designed the artwork in Lightroom, Photoshop, and Illustrator, and I set final type and layout in Canva.
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Design Process
Songs start with small ideas in my head. I record them as voice notes on my phone. When I have time, I move sketches into Sibelius to build the melody. Then I try chords and simple rhythm ideas and grow the arrangement piece by piece. Spring 2025 was a high‑pressure time for me, so I wanted two songs that speak about love and strength.
I got stuck more than once because this was my first EP and first time doing full arrangements. I met with my professor to talk through form and harmony. I watched pro arrangers online to learn how they layer parts. I made fast drafts, listened, and then changed what did not work.
The core band is piano, acoustic guitar, electric guitar, drums, and bass. Later I added a soft synth pad that enters right at the start. This pad is the “soul” of the tracks and gives identity in the first second. I learned this idea from David Tao: the listener should know whose song it is as soon as the music starts, and the instrument choice makes that happen.
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In mixing, I learned to make parts feel thick but clear. I doubled several tracks and panned them left and right with different delay times. This gave width and space and removed the thin, center‑only sound. I kept clean gain staging during tracking for a smooth mix later.
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Figure 1 shows my Pro Tools session during tracking. Figure 2 shows my drum‑kit mic layout (kick in/out, snare top/bottom, stereo overheads, and one room mic). I set it this way to capture both punch and space, and to leave options for phase‑safe blends and later mixing choices.
This is my Pro Tools mix session while I was fixing the drum group. I cleaned cuts and fades, aligned a few hits, and used light parallel compression on the drum bus. The goal was a tighter groove with more weight, without making cymbals harsh.
This is my mastering session in Pro Tools using iZotope Ozone. I used gentle EQ, a touch of stereo width, and a limiter to set the final level. The aim was clear translation on phone and car speakers while keeping the transients alive.
​Visual Design
For the visual design, I used two symbols: the moon and the eye. The moon stands for change and quiet power. The eye stands for focus and taste. I kept a lo‑fi and hazy look with deep blue, orange, and black. It feels like a clear dream fighting the dark but full of hope. This matches the lo‑fi vocal intro in “Wingless Butterfly,” which sounds like memory and daylight mixed together.
Figure 5 shows the folder with all delivery assets and Adobe project files (masters, stems, artwork exports, and EPK). Figure 6 shows the Photoshop file where I added a light texture layer to the cover. This grain helps the art match the lo‑fi mood of the music while keeping the blue/orange palette clean.