Discouraged From Recording

[JimmyS1969]

I hope it inspires you to post pics of you busting them in the act too!

That would be a sad sight, though I suppose I would want to see the car wreck as well.

 

[grimtraveller]

well ..... it's a different process for different people.
Yes, absolutely some people 'write' music as a process similar to an author writing a book.
But others do seem to have the music pop in fully formed.

Oh yeah, I can dig that, I've had that happen many times. But when I speak of 'writing' I don't mean it in the dictionary sense. Writing is a word that basically describes how a song comes into being and within that, as you say, there are many ways how that happens. It kind of partly reminds me of the way an improvisor improvises. It's a mystical combination of intent, past knowledge and off the wall instantaneous creation.

 

[diggy_dude]

I think the bad news is that coy is now the new couth....

...as practiced by spammers while racking up enough posts to be able to post a link.

 

[miroslav]

well ..... it's a different process for different people.
Yes, absolutely some people 'write' music as a process similar to an author writing a book.
But others do seem to have the music pop in fully formed.
Different strokes and all that

For me it's both.
Not sure how many folks (and how often) are able to get a complete song just "popping" into their head.
It might happen on occasion that everything forms within minutes...structure, melody, harmony, lyrics...but I think in most cases what pops into your head is the idea for a song. You can kinda hear how it will sound and what the overall vibe is going to be, but the rest comes with some effort.

I can get a half dozen song ideas in a matter of 30 minutes while strumming my guitar...but then it could take me days...weeks...months....to turn all those ideas into finished songs, and that part is usually a process that requires some focused effort, though each song is different, some form easily others take hard work.

A couple of weekends ago I had a couple of buddies over from back in my band days. One was the drummer, and the other our soundman. They wanted to mess around in the studio, so I spent about 10-15 minutes coming up with the basis of a song just so we could track the drums.
I then spent last weekend actually figuring it all out and turning it into a formal, structured song so I could move forward and start writing the lyrics and recording the other tracks.
As soon as we started laying down the drums to the rough scratch track, I already had the song working in my head, but I still needed to sit down and work it out more formally.

 

[Lt. Bob]

. It kind of partly reminds me of the way an improvisor improvises. It's a mystical combination of intent, past knowledge and off the wall instantaneous creation.

Probably 75% of what I get hired for is my improvisation skills and I can tell you that for me, I'm often just as much of an audience as the audience is ....... I'm basically just sitting there listening, waiting to see what I play. It's my specialty but the how of it is pretty much a mystery to me too.
I'm certainly not thinking about any kind of theory at all ..... frequently if you were to stop me and ask what key we're in, I'd have to think for a second and figure it out 'cause I don't really know and/or don't think that way too much.

For me it's both.
Not sure how many folks (and how often) are able to get a complete song just "popping" into their head.
.

I've only had that happen once and it's the only song I've ever written that I felt was good enough to need to be copywrited. I have someone shopping it around right now but I'll post it up if you're curious.
Anyway ...... short story, I was on a 12 hour drive for the 7th time in 5 weeks and I said, "Maybe I can come up with some song ideas" ...... looked at the scenery going by, opened my motuh and sang the song in it's entirety including sax solo in one single pass. I kinda blinked and said, Holy crap .... that's a song" and immediately sang it over and over maybe 40 or 50 times so I couldn't forget it. It was another year before I bothered to sit down and actually play it although every month or so I'd sing it in the truck to make sure I still remembered it.
Anyway ...... I've never changed a single word of it.
But that's the only time in my life I've ever done that.

 

[Dionna Blue]

I sing doodles when I can't write and then connect them into a melody and replace the doodles with words and before you know it, it's a complete thought. Just hit record and forget about it, go back and save what sounds good and build from there. Your tagline would make a great hook. lol

 

[Supercreep]

Whenever I get stumped like that I put down the guitar (or drums or keys or whatever) and pick up another instrument.

The guitar will still be there when you're ready to pick it back up again, and you will have learned something new in the meantime. You're still moving the ball down the field, but you're also feeding your interest with something different.

 

[chavernac]

We ve all been through this phase.
There is a cure though!
As far as i am concerned, what helped me the most is to develop my critical listening skill.
This involves being able to lay back on the couch, take a listen to what you just recorded and HONESTLY ask yourself do I like OR not?
If not, what could i do to make it sound better. That s it...

There s a bunch of videos on this website where the guy (fab) uses this technique. You can see him moving microphones around until he is happy with the sound he gets:
Gearfest 2011: Tracking 1/6 Bass Drum - PUREMIX