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The Rhythm Kings
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7/20/2016 9:40:36 AM
Who Here At IMP Builds Their Songs All By Themselves?
In a recent thread, Richard Scotti told me he plays all the instruments on his songs, some real and some MIDI. Very impressive.
It takes a helluva lot of talent to hear the finished song in your head, then build the arrangement one track at a time and end up with what you envisioned. I know how hard it can be with three of us working on it.
So I got to wondering: Who else here does everything by him or herself, and how do you go about building your songs?
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Steve White
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7/20/2016 10:08:36 AM
I do all of mine that way.
I usually start wit a beat and either one guitar or a keyboard.
I do vocals last.
Steve
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Furious Underdogs
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7/20/2016 10:38:12 AM
I do that sometimes, but not with FU, which is more of a group effort.
I do not "hear the song" and then play it, vice versa. Making a song is always a work in process, I add layers of sounds, different instruments and each new recorded track has an effect to the next ones. In the final mix, naturally, some things stay and some things are discarded.
In these projects I start the actual recording by programming midi drums followed by guitars, bass and vocals - in no particular order. Of course I need to fix rhythm and key first.
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Father Time
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7/20/2016 10:40:30 AM
I'd say 80% of mine are that. In the last year I've been doing mostly songs with bands though.
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Model Of The Invisible
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7/20/2016 11:40:58 AM
Not enough talent here to hear it all finished in my head before it's recorded!
Not really being a "song" kind of guy ... my aim is not to produce a structured song, but rather a self structuring, flowing improvisational jam.
Usually I will start with recording a track of drumset or a few tracks of percussions. After that, maybe bass instrument like bass guitar, or a marimbula etc, but it depends on what I hear and feel at that point rather than any predetermined plan. Editing tends to be pretty minimal, probably less than most did back on analog tape machines.
I don't use any instruments that play from MIDI, I do have a couple of keyboards with MIDI capability, but only play them manually.
When my Hohner electric piano broke, I began to use an electric piano sound from my Casio instead. Other than that, all the instruments played are "real", not samples or loops etc.
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Mark La Barrie
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7/20/2016 11:50:16 AM
I do, and I just build them with dancing to them afterward in mind.
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Brent Brown
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7/20/2016 12:05:37 PM
Hi, yes I build all my songs from scratch and play all instruments and vocals. Usually after I write it I record it straight away.Sometimes I wish I had a producer and a band but there is a strange satisfaction when you finally sit down and listen back to your own playing, mixing and mastering of your own song. But by then, it is definitely time to move on...lol
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Two Silo Complex
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7/20/2016 12:42:35 PM
Aside from a couple of old tunes I keep around for nostalgia everything on my page is just me. Some songs have drum machine or drum loops or on some songs I play drums too.
I play bass, guitar, and do all vocal on all my tracks and build them a track a a time on my portastudio.
Sometimes they start as a lyric and sometimes they start as a guitar riff.
Two Silo Complex,
Ken
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Duane Flock
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7/21/2016 6:18:29 AM
Most of my songs I play and write everything. I say most because I like to invite guests to collaborate on my tunes. I'll write to accomadate their parts but also allow freedom of musicianship. I have written songs just for the person to play on it also.
In most cases, I start with the drum tracks including rolls breaks and bridges, then rhythm guitar, then bass, then vocals, then I add the extras like keys, mandolin, shakers, but my Lead guitar always last so I don't step on anything else and the fades work better.
Lotsa work and process for a descent production.
D.
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CTWitt.2
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7/21/2016 6:45:43 PM
I've been a loner as well with almost all my songs (I just did my first in-studio recording earlier this summer with "Autumn", but that's the only exception.) I usually keep things simple, with acoustic guitar and vocals being the first things composed and recorded. With my at home recordings I've created drum tracks for most songs through my editing software (Stagelight), as well as bass.
As far as a chosen procedure goes, I don't know. I guess you could say mine is still in a state of flux.
Witt
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Zeeza
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7/21/2016 8:32:21 PM
with most of my songs I just pick up my guitar and sing it. Sometimes I get a wonderful gift of a pro back track to do my thing.
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Stoneman
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7/21/2016 10:42:41 PM
Yes, I perform everything on my tracks also. I think it is mainly because i am a control freak. I want it to be the way I hear it and so I play and sing all of the parts. Not sure that that makes me super talented but it does satisfy my musical cravings.
Much Respect,
Stoneman
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Richard Scotti
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7/22/2016 10:39:34 AM
---- Updated 7/22/2016 10:49:22 AM
In the past, I always recorded with a band. I usually played guitars and keyboards and harmonica. I wrote the songs at home without a computer and would go into a studio and teach the band the song, sometimes using chord charts so the drums, bass and rhythm guitar would be recorded live all at the same time. The band would then leave and I would record overdubs like hammond organ, lead guitar and/or harmonica or MIDI strings, whatever the song needed. Vocals would be overdubbed on a different day. Many of my songs some of which are posted here reflect that way of doing things.
Unfortunately, studio time has become way too expensive. Now and then I can barter with studios who can use my skills in return for free studio time but most of my songs are now recorded by me alone in my apartment. Most of the time I just jam on a riff that I like until it grows into something more and I capture that moment on the computer. I continue trying to capture more moments in that key until I have
a string of sections that I can deconstruct and reconstruct until it takes on a recognizable pattern of verse, chorus, bridge or whatever. I write as a I record and I record as I write. Sometimes the song is in my head and sometimes I weave it from whole cloth on the computer.
Sometimes happy accidents dictate the direction of the song and then I seek to cause more accidents to happen intentionally (if that makes any sense) I try to create something exciting and of the moment. I spend many hours over time mixing. To me, mixing is a creative tool as important as any other in song writing. A great song mixed poorly will not live up to it's potential. In other words, a mix can make or break a song. My goal is to accent what is good about the song and correct or eliminate what is not good. This only comes from lot's of listening and tons of patience. I try to surprise myself at every turn. I feel that if I can keep the song exciting for myself then perhaps it will be surprising and exciting for others. If the song bores me, it will bore others. Experimentation and trying all kinds of crazy combinations of things often yields something worth developing further. I try not to have a preconceived bias about a certain idea before I try it. Sometimes in a session with a band, a band member or the engineer will say " That idea will probably not work, so let's not waste time on it" and I would say "We won't know if it's bad or good until we try it."
In summary, studio recordings are fun because of the human interaction. They also sound more sophisticated sonically especially with 2 inch tape but there's always a compromise too. I find that recording at home on a computer allows me more time and freedom to develop new ideas and sounds. The musicians (me) always show up on time and and always adhere to the vision of the song as it should be done. I'm not a control freak but I know what I want and I know what I hear. A vision is a vision. You either stick to it or you compromise it. There are pros and cons to both ways of working. In the end the artist has to do his or her own thing. That's the essence of independent music.
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Chandra Moon
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7/22/2016 2:31:36 PM
---- Updated 7/22/2016 2:33:40 PM
When a song comes to me it comes with "everything" in my head but I can't play everything so I have to get my producer to help me add the bits I can't do but as I hear them. I'm lucky with my keyboard player as he just seems to be able to organically add the right things in the mix but everything else has to be as I hear it. I must be a nightmare to work with as I have to feel ok about every note of every instrument.
I tend to hear the drums and rhythms first, then the lyrics then the rest and sitting in the studio I just seem to instinctively "get" what needs to go where.
I've been lucky to meet musicians who are able to translate into reality what I hear in my head and it comes out more or less as I get it in my head but it's a long process!!
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JeffH
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7/22/2016 3:27:58 PM
Most of the time... yeah I work alone. Write it and play it. Not to a professional level though.
Spent some time trying to find compatible parts but gave up... too many dead ends and U turns.
99% of the time I start with an acoustic or electric git and just enjoy searching on it.
I like to tap my feet while I play to get a rhythm going. Usually if i think I like what's happening I'll do a rough draft/recording... add some simple drums and bass....
Once I have a basic foundation I'll listen to it for a bit till some words come out of my mouth... hopefully no one has had to hear that phase and just build from there.
A lot of unfinished 3 minute songs collecting dust on my hard drive...
I came to accept nothing I do is really all that original... just someone else mediocre song in disguise.
Anyway yup... it's a hobby.
By the way... I'm Jeff pleased to meet ya!
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LyinDan
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7/22/2016 4:45:32 PM
Well.
Yeah, I'm one of those that "hears" a song in my head. Sometimes I wake up with it going, and it's the greatest thing ever.
That never ever makes it whole to a recorded medium. I wish it would, but, no.
When you start laying down tracks, everything you do changes it. Put down an acoustic guitar track? First, figure out what chords are in your head. Well...unless you hear basic majors and minors only, you're screwed to start out with. I hear all kinds of complex stuff.But by the time I form the chords, or try to, I've usually formed something other than what I "heard", and I can't remember the original. Now, I know all kindsa complex chords and harmonies, but *playing them* over-rides what I "heard" and becomes what I "hear". It's a tenuous thing to connect with what you originally heard. The muse murmurs.
Sometimes what you put down may be better. Usually it isn't, that is, it doesn't produce the same complex "thing" you heard in your head. But, you have to work with that. It can still be great.
I disagree that there is NOTHING ORIGINAL. Even though there are a finite number of chord structures and progressions, there are an even greater number of ways to annotate those, and by "annotate", I mean embellish. You can embellish the crap out of anything, to the point that it becomes something that's never been heard before. Popular artists do it all the time (sometimes it's not actually the artist, it's the producer, an under-rated component).
Yes, sometimes you catch yourself saying, "hey...part of that sounds like 'xxx'" But unless it's really exactly what 'xxx' was doing, and you consistently follow what 'xxx' did with it, it's not just what 'xxx' was doing. YOU changed it. And someone who follows you can catch themselves saying, "hey, that's pretty much what 'YOU' did.
Yeah, you can duplicate to extremes, just changing the lyric (George Harrison, and others). But even that's adding originality at least to some extent ("My Sweet Lord" is NOT "He's So Fine", even though it's the same melody and chords (practically)).
Any way... every thing YOU do to the music you hear produces some original content, unless you just plain don't hear anything except what other people have done.
Me, I hear different stuff in my head constantly, and I consciously try to place it, and usually can't.
If you hear anything in my uploaded music that's not original, or that you can trace back to something or other, please let me know. I'll kill myself.
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Steve White
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7/22/2016 4:54:18 PM
Ya know Dan?
I totally understand about the song in the head and starting out simple but going an entirely different way when you start to record it. I hear ya Brother. :)
Steve
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Father Time
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7/23/2016 3:28:42 AM
I have a new song coming later today, and it's 100% me, a pretty full production too.
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7/23/2016 4:57:44 AM
Yeah, I do that.
I claim channeling as an attribute,
but a lot of folks don't even know what that is, let alone believe it,
if you were to watch,
all you'd see is me.
so physically, it's all one person doing it.
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