Any which way it went, this was metal and you can do anything in metal. First rule of metal - there are no rules in metal. To quote Joliet Jake Blues, "Yes! Yes! Jesus H. Tap-dancing Christ... I have seen the light!"
Inspiration
So it took me a while to get back into the rhythm (pun?) again of writing music and songs. I recall in my twenties being obsessed with musical ideas, riffs, melodies, occasionally lyrics, and having them repeat in my head over the duration of the day. Not making music full-time has the advantage that stuff gets to stew in your head, you get to validate it away from being able to change it immediately in front of your computer. It's way too easy to jump in and change stuff when it's all at your finger tips, but if you're at work or school, and you're humming a riff or listening to the latest song version from last night's work - you are forced to just listen. And that I find, is a good thing. Helps alleviate unnecessary impulsive changes that make things worse.
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| Unnecessary impulsive changes... |
Home Recording
It wasn't until as recently as Christmas 2015 that I became committed to learn this home recording stuff. My old band Oblique Visions asked me to get involved again, but now I was on the other side of the world. So we recorded. They recorded, I recorded and so with a real need to learn home recording burning brightly inside of me, I started Googling. I was anti-YouTube initially but that was just me being an old man. Now I can't get enough of YouTube tutorials.
The Workflow
Again, you'll find across the wide open plains of the Internet, artists from all corners of the artosphere will talk about workflow. You need to be organised. You need to have stuff at your fingertips so that it is ready to go when you are. And if I wanted consistency, I'd need to keep track of what I was doing so I can do it again and again.
New Creative Process
So as I re-learn the music making process, in addition to all this new stuff like home recording, amplifier simulators, the mixing process, sound effects, plugins, etc., etc. I've had to create a new workflow, a new creative process. And that's still being developed more everyday. It might be wrong today but hey, that's the journey, right? And I can always come back and change it.
This is what I have so far that I think about when I'm writing a song.
This is what I have so far that I think about when I'm writing a song.
The Skeleton
What is the basic song structure, the skeleton, the framework - Song length? How many parts and themes? Which parts are light, dark, quiet, loud, complex, simple, etc? Any repeats? Where are the build ups and drops? What is the theme that ties it altogether?
Timing and Key
For each part, I pick (usually randomly as a starting point) the time signature, tempo, any poly-rhythms, key, scale mode and a basic chord sequence. I try them, I scrap whatever sounds terrible, I tweak, arrange and so on.
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| Using a Random Number Generator for finding the key in semitones |
My Sound
In parallel, I try to get the sound and tone for each of the instruments. Some of these I'll reuse, making them "my sound". Others I might change depending on the song and its theme. I then try to come up with ideas for drum beats (see My Virtual Drum Kit), bass lines and guitar riffs. On the odd occasion I might even have a melody I want to use, but this is rare.
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| One of my amp simulator plugins |
Build on the Foundation
What I've started doing recently is working on drums and sound effects / synths first. This sets the ambiance for the rest of the song. Then complete the song foundation - bass and guitars. Finally add melodies. Then level each track to a pink noise reference (see My Love Affair with Pink Noise).
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| Leveling to pink noise |
And at this point I'm ready for mixing.
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| Sample song layout before mixing |
Anything in this post caught your interest? Hit me up with questions or comments here or on Facebook.
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