How I Wrote Relapse!

This is just some insight for any song-writers that are curious how other artists write their music. I thought it would be "fun" to document how I wrote this song. There is nothing special I did with this song, I personally don't follow a strict process to write  music but there were a few checks and balances I did towards the end. So here's the current version.

The Idea

So a few months ago I posted about my summer holidays and the idea of writing a concept album. Here is a photo of the page that started it all, dated 9 January 2018.

This was one of the first times that I wrote lyrics first. And really, it only happened this way because I was on holidays and I didn't have any instruments to jam with. It actually worked out well, because it made me think about the structure of the song more rather than just jamming and tying a bunch of riffs together.

You can see some notes on the side - I was thinking about using Phrygian mode in C - the verse ended up in F# Phrygian, so it was close. Chorus appears to be planned for Ab Mixolydian, but it never happened - not sure why, but I don't use Mixolydian in this song at all.

Drum and Bass

Looking at the project back ups - I start this project 13 January, 2018. Something that I almost always do, is lay down the drum tracks first. This is usually for inspiration. Occasionally, I'll be playing around and I'll come up with a riff on it's own, but it's usually on top of a drum beat I've already put down. I almost always change the kick drum to align with whatever bass or guitar riff I come up with. For this reason I split my drum MIDI files up into kick and everything else. This also helps with the use of a humanisation plugin.

To further explain this, I use a humanisation plugin, which randomly add timing and velocity changes to the MIDI notes. Depending on how strong you make it, can vary how good or sloppy your drumming sounds. Kick drums in particular, I've found at least, are better off always quantised - that is, no timing randomisation. And random velocity on kick drums doesn't work out great either but I do add a little to mine. At least, that works for me. Everything but kick has random timing and velocity changes to it, just to make it sound a little imperfect.

Regarding the bass for this song - well, I'm a huge (YUGE!) Pete Steele fan from Type-O-Negative. And at this time, I was playing around with fuzz on my bass. As a 45 year old metal musician, I was also trying to play something "Djentish". It never really works out for me, but it was an attempt none the less.

So here is what the earliest version sounded like of Relapse.

There are 4 riffs in this, namely A, B, C and D. They are played ABACDCAB. They are all 8 bars long. Song is 2:24.

Riff A is a 7/4 repeating polyrhythm (I think that's what you'd call it?). It's on the B note of my bass, which is tuned to BEAD. The drum beat is a very simple 4/4 @ 120 bpm, with the kick aligned to the riff. There was an attempt to do guitars on this riff, but it was unfinished and not in the recording.

Riff B is an interesting one. It's triplets over 4/4 @ 105 bpm. But here's the kicker - the bass line repeats every 16 triplets. Looks like the riff is in D major.

Riff C is simple - 4/4 @ 120 bpm, bass lines are two variations of a 4/4 riff. Looks like it's in F# Phrygian.

Riff D is a variation of Riff C. The drum switches to ride cymbals and the bass line gets a bit more complicated in double time.

All up, it's a short repetitive piece that generally fits together. It stays in this form until about 8 June 2018.

Shake It Up, Add Synths and the Vocals

So it looks like I decide to shake up the song structure a little, and repeat a few riffs. Still 8 bars each, but a bit more variety and repetition. New riff order is now ABACDCADCAB. Song is now 3:12.

Guitars riffs are still not more than experimental, nothing worth including in the renders.

And as I've decided to stop and start each song on my album with the continuation of synth sounds, I add synths to give it some ambiance. The starting synth note is the same as the ending synth note in the previous song.

I start playing around with vocals and effects. 

It's starting to take a bit more form, but it's still largely repetitive fixed length riffs.

The Guitars and Jazz Breakdown

Up until 19 June, things stay relatively the same. I decide it's time to get serious and add the long awaited guitars. While doing so, I realise there are a few things missing from my song, namely:

• There is no variety between verses
• No dynamics (loud and soft pieces) in the song
• There is no real bridge
• Now that I've added guitars, it needs a drum and bass only piece
• There is no melody or melodic variety for that matter

So I shake it up again.

Latest riff order is now ABACDCAB(12 bars)DCAB. Song length is 3:40.

I really like Riff B, C and D bass lines. So I decide to repeat Riff B and turn it into a bridge, because it only gets played twice. I can make this bridge tick off some of the points above, such as:

• We got a bridge
• Drum and bass only
• Make it soft for some dynamics

And let's be honest - as a lead guitarist, I love a solo. And this bridge is looking like a great place to have one. And as I always like to make things difficult, I throw in some chords on the piano that give it a bit of a jazz feel. Why the hell not I say?!

So there is still not a huge amount of melody or variety in the verses, I decide to play around with where the guitars come in and out - shake it up a little.

Oh and I almost forget, sound effects. Some reverse guitar, piano and snare hits. I tune the piano ones to come in at the same note as the chorus starts for a bit of fun.

And I think that's about it. That's how this song got this far. Let's see what further changes happen up until it's time to release the album!