Two things are a change for me. 1. The brevity, it really is under 3 1/2 minutes which I can’t remember doing ever. and 2. I began writing this song with a topic in mind. I wrote a song “about something”. Usually lyrics come last and they are more about feeling than a subject matter.
As a side note, the first two comment I got from this one was a comparison to dire straits and the beatles. go figure. I don’t understand either.
Common Themes
This song shares the same tuning as “closed circuit” and “break you down” (FACFAE). I am still loving this tuning and have another song half written in it.
Like Closed Circuit, I really didn’t know what many of the chords were as I was writing it. I knew it was in F. But it wasn’t until I started laying down keyboard parts that I fully understood musically what was going on.
And despite the shortness of the song, I still managed 2 (count ‘em 1-2) tangents. They are short and sweet and don’t seem out of place. They are both based on the verse structure but both move away from it in their own special way.
New Direction
As I stated earlier, I began this song with an actual topic in mind, something I rarely do (i.e. never). I won’t go into the details of the subject matter other than to say the song is based on a recently rehashed biographical incident from long ago. As with my less focus lyrics, I attempt to evoke an emotion from the lyrics not tell a story or pronounce great wisdom. I am not bob dylan. One of the first comments I got from this one focused on the lyric, which I find interesting.
Vocals
I think this was one of the easiest songs for me to sing. Others can attest, vocals are hard to deliver well when recording. Even for those that can sing well (unlike me). There is something about when the button is pushed and the head set is on, just a strange situation. This songs vocal tracks were recorded pretty quickly with very few retakes. Even the harmony part on the section prior to the second chorus came easily. I did cheat a bit for the harmony track by playing the melody on piano as a throw away track. I have also come to the conclusion that a.) I may be getting better at singing more naturally and b.) my sense of melody sometimes over reach my ability to sing it.
The last several songs I have recorded were less ambitious with singing melodies and I think I am better for it. the current song I am recording is really really hard to sing. I am approaching it as just a big ole challenge. we’ll see what happens.
MIDI
I am starting to love the midi! This song is 21 tracks with about 10 or so being midi. There are seveal tracks that are just soft synth types that create a nice background wall on which the guitars and vocals are laid. I should really try to be more creative with those tracks, but I’m not. There one keyboard track more noticable and I can’t recall off hand what instrument it was, but I should look it up for later.
so sit back and enjoy this short little song…
February 29th, 2008 at 11:09 pm editbab! long time!nice tune man! i love said variety, the changes, and dynamics of the tune.and that little guitar lick that keeps showing up. doodle oodle oodle ooo!welcome back to the trenches. (get it?)on first listen, i can’t say much about the lyrics specifically, except that you can tell early on that they’re “about” something. this can be pretty engaging. i should think about that “about” business.
March 3rd, 2008 at 7:01 am editjonny! Nice to hear from you. I have about 28 songs of yours to listen to. I’ve been away. but I am back. just finishing up a new one for this weekseriously, how do you record a song a week. that is insane
March 5th, 2008 at 11:21 am editha! well, i’ve figured out how to get the sounds and MIDI alot of parts pretty quickly, so it’s the creative part, the writing that takes the time. the playing part is pretty fast. that’s the trick for me i think. Also though, making myself write fast means i don’t second guess ideas as often, and go with alot of my first instincts. that’s been tough, but part of the draw of the project i think. goin’ with my gut.
March 5th, 2008 at 11:56 am editI am the absolute opposite. partly because I am not trained. I have guitar part, melody, sometimes lyrics and and set out to record. I have a general idea of how I want it to sound or something specifc I want to do.I start recording with that basic structure and that’s it. All arrangements are “off the top of my head”. I add track after track until I think its done or my computer begs me to stop.recording IS the songwriting process for me. I noodle a ton trying to figure out what fits and what doesn’t. So I guess I don’t second guess much either.