Do you write songs with the mix in mind ?

grimtraveller

If only for a moment.....
When you're coming up with songs, do you ever write with the mix in mind ? At which point would you say thoughts on the mix become formed in your mind, during the writing, during the actual recording or once everything you want has been recorded ?
 
Never thought of it like that.

Actually, I don't. When I write songs, I write them in the expectation that they'll be played live.

When I compose, say, a lead guitar part, I'll write it out as if its live. So in a typical recording, you might have a "lead guitar" part playing the main riffs, but you'll still overdub the solos and breaks and stuff. When I write, it'll just be a single guitar part, switching between rhythm stuff and live stuff, much like a guitarist would do in a power trio when performing live. When I recorded the guitar stuff for my rock musical, I ended up recording how it was written, so having the "lead guitar" switch between rhythm and lead.
 
Are we still making a distinction between "writing" and "arrangement/orchestration"? For me, it's all the same, and I think if it's done correctly - and you capture reasonable takes - that there really shouldn't be much mixing to be done, except for "special effects" kinda things.
 
I may have subconscious notions of how the song may end up *sounding*, which can do a degree drive the writting....but so often things change once tracking starts.
It is mostly during the tracking, when things start to gel somewhat, that I'll start hearing the mix....though again, in a somewhat subconscious way...and really the mix happens almost by default from the tracking.
IOW....it's not something that comes after the fact...at least that's how I always see it.
The tracking is where the money is, that's what sets up the mix, so that mixing isn't something separate, but an extension of the tracking.
I guess there are some music styles where the mix is somewhat about assembling bits-n-pieces of music that combined have not as much to do with any trackjing....like say, EDM....etc.
 
I don't. The problem is that since I am not a real producer I am too much conservative in terms of arrangements. Meaning that I always go with the well-behaved guitar, bass, drums, keyboard and vocals. The result is that all my arrangements/mixes sounds the same way.
 
Jeff Beck is awesome.
I'd have to agree.
..and still putting out great stuff these days. Cheers.

Anyway I rarely write or mix anymore.. but when I do.. and when I master, I usually or almost always hear the finished product in my head early on, ..and then it's just a matter of turning the right knobs to get it there.
 
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For me it's once it's all been recorded. Until I have an idea of the performances and listen to the song as a whole, I really don't have the firmest grasp on how it's going to be mixed. I may predetermine that the vocals will be the focal point, but a chugging bass line may bend the mix in that direction.

Daryl
 
This will probably sound like an intro. Sorry ...

I have been singing all of my life but I pick 1974 as a starting point because that is when I started teaching myself guitar so that I could do songs. Picked up a family guitar that only had 3 strings on it and started plucking the arpeggio, by memory, from "Who'll Stop the Rain?" by Creedence Clearwater Revival. Most of my time has been NOT recording. So, I write, usually on a guitar, with the idea of performing live. And usually, it's kind of sappy folk 70's love songs, similar to Dan Fogelberg, though I was playing the entire Led Zeppelin catalog from Led Zep I to V (Houses of the Holy) at one point in time.

I don't write a lot but when I do, it flows through in a torrent and it's all I can do to get out of my own way and let it happen.

I worry about recording and mixing, later. You've got to have a song. If it is written well enough, I think the mixing strategy can flow from that.

At the same time, take inspiration from the oddest things, like an effect that leads into an idea. Or, do what I do, go to the circle of 5ths to give yourself a re-boot. Circle of 5ths is where you can start a melody or chord progression somewhere and the next one is 5 steps above or below.
 
Yes and no. It's good to let yourself free, but if you don't know how a proper mix should sound like then your thoughts might be wrong ;)

It's good to limit your fantasy with some mixing rules, chances are that you'll find your imagination improve too.
 
These days when putting a song together I have a rough idea at the start of how I'm thinking it will sound at the end.

What usually happens, though, is that it takes on a life of its own and goes in a direction I hadn't intended. Which is a pleasant surprise.
 
These days when putting a song together I have a rough idea at the start of how I'm thinking it will sound at the end.

What usually happens, though, is that it takes on a life of its own and goes in a direction I hadn't intended. Which is a pleasant surprise.

^^^^^^ This.
When I woke up with Holding On To Jesus in my head, it was a country swing vibe with steel guitar and twin fiddles. When I laid down a rough piano line for it in Reason and then started playing on the guitar with the chord progression, it developed (all on its own) into the acoustic rock piece it is. I've got a few tunes with country flavor, and I'm concerned for them. My head thinks country, but when I let loose, pray and play, it comes out rock...just who I am in Christ, I guess.
 
A lot of times a melody just pops into my mind. I'll hear the different instruments. I'll hear where syllables of words in the vocals would bounce around in there, where words would be stretched, but they aren't always full sentences, maybe a word here and there. Its like the words are another instrument if that makes sense.
I get a vibe or feeling from the way the music sounds and I'll either try to find the words that fit and the idea the song feels like its about, then start fleshing it out and tweaking syllables etc, like refining it.. or Ill search through pieces of lyrics or lines Ive written down over time that fit the feeling and write around those.

There have been rare times that it all came at once all of the sudden and Ive got something to tweak after like 5 minutes.
It hardly ever starts with the words though, not that it couldnt I guess.
Im more like... Somebody says something in conversation thats clever or catchy or deep or whatever - not rhyming or anything - just something where you go ... That sounds like it could be a song or in a song lyric etc, and Id take note of it. I usually think those could come in handy at some point down the line.


How do you do it?
 
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