gecko zzed
Grumpy Mod
This just comes up with a google page, so I'm not sure what I should be looking for.
jeffmaher
New member
http://www.soundclick.com/bands/default.cfm?bandID=825703&content=music
Tx..I goofed. Top tune " My Restless Mind"
Tx..I goofed. Top tune " My Restless Mind"
gecko zzed
Grumpy Mod
Okay . . . I got it now.
It's a very fine song! Smooth, smokey and very classy.
That is a voice to die for . . . articulate, melodic, rich in character and bursting with confidence and competence.
The song structure is great . . . . interesting progressions which have captured a smokey jazz feel very well. I like the spacious arrangement, particularly the restrained piano and the anchoring bass. You've done a pretty good job with the brass arrangement, and it comes across okay, given the limitations of midi. A real brass section would lift the track even more.
A few ripples disturb the otherwise tranquil surface of this production. I can hear what sounds like a click track beat running through the intro and at the end. To my ears it mars the intrigue of the introduction. I also found that by the end of the instrumental, my concentration was beginning to waver (but I am not known for my patience), so I wonder about the length. Musical development of the song has finished by this stage, and maybe this could be an end point.
But this is a seriously fine creation!!
It's a very fine song! Smooth, smokey and very classy.
That is a voice to die for . . . articulate, melodic, rich in character and bursting with confidence and competence.
The song structure is great . . . . interesting progressions which have captured a smokey jazz feel very well. I like the spacious arrangement, particularly the restrained piano and the anchoring bass. You've done a pretty good job with the brass arrangement, and it comes across okay, given the limitations of midi. A real brass section would lift the track even more.
A few ripples disturb the otherwise tranquil surface of this production. I can hear what sounds like a click track beat running through the intro and at the end. To my ears it mars the intrigue of the introduction. I also found that by the end of the instrumental, my concentration was beginning to waver (but I am not known for my patience), so I wonder about the length. Musical development of the song has finished by this stage, and maybe this could be an end point.
But this is a seriously fine creation!!
jeffmaher
New member
Thanks! Very helpful.
I have some more editing work to do. The click track is supposed to be a clock... it's gone! :^) It fades after the horns hit the intro....but once it's set in the mind, a new listener probably 'hears' it throughout. Psychological imprint or something...
I know a guy who builds entire orchestras from MIdI that sound real. I just don't know if I can approach that quality he gets with super software , with my old XV5080...prolly not...but I'm getting closer. I can't afford real brass and woodw. instruments...all of which I can play passibly enough for a project like this... with some practice. [just not a decent solo..at all.
When you say 'the instrumental', are you referring to the instrumental version of the tune on SoundC, or the solo section on the vox version?? Just after the solo would be a better place to end it..and is where it was, originally. You nailed my over-think... less is mo'. :^)
Appreciate the time you took. TX
Just occurred to me...a repeat of the solo cycle... back to the Imaj after the alt V, and slow fade, a la "Deacon Blue". Que? Or a smash up on the altV as it stands..hmmm
Tx again. Good advice.
I have some more editing work to do. The click track is supposed to be a clock... it's gone! :^) It fades after the horns hit the intro....but once it's set in the mind, a new listener probably 'hears' it throughout. Psychological imprint or something...
I know a guy who builds entire orchestras from MIdI that sound real. I just don't know if I can approach that quality he gets with super software , with my old XV5080...prolly not...but I'm getting closer. I can't afford real brass and woodw. instruments...all of which I can play passibly enough for a project like this... with some practice. [just not a decent solo..at all.
When you say 'the instrumental', are you referring to the instrumental version of the tune on SoundC, or the solo section on the vox version?? Just after the solo would be a better place to end it..and is where it was, originally. You nailed my over-think... less is mo'. :^)
Appreciate the time you took. TX
Just occurred to me...a repeat of the solo cycle... back to the Imaj after the alt V, and slow fade, a la "Deacon Blue". Que? Or a smash up on the altV as it stands..hmmm
Tx again. Good advice.
nzausrec
Member
Your voice in that piece sounds like 'Seal.' You know, 'Kiss from a Rose' and other pretty exceptional stuff. Just as good as he.
Very nice voice. You should be in the big time.
People, listen to the vox on the next song, "I Don't want to." Damn.
Do you write, and do the instruments? What's your biography? Shoot. That's just beautiful.
The songs sound like actual instruments to me.
PS: how about making downloads free for those on this site? I could fill my summer cd collection.
^_^
What I can't believe is that you are 52.
Come on now, a voice like that you would have been 30 max before the talent scouts found you.
Very nice voice. You should be in the big time.
People, listen to the vox on the next song, "I Don't want to." Damn.
Do you write, and do the instruments? What's your biography? Shoot. That's just beautiful.
The songs sound like actual instruments to me.
PS: how about making downloads free for those on this site? I could fill my summer cd collection.
^_^
What I can't believe is that you are 52.
Come on now, a voice like that you would have been 30 max before the talent scouts found you.
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gecko zzed
Grumpy Mod
It's gone? Good! The idea of a clock is cool . . . but it would have to be much more 'clockish'. However, I'm not sure that it adds much unless you go make it a very strong feature. I've also used clock sounds in songs, and in fact used several to build a percussion track.
When I listened, the psychological finish for me (it might be different for others) was at the end of the solo of the vox version. It sounds like that's what you originally had in mind.
jeffmaher
New member
gecko zzed: Yes. You are right on those counts, and I appreciate you ears and thoughts on it.
TX nzausrec:
The guitar, bass, and vox are real on that song. I'm learning to make MIDI sound a real as possible. I have an antique Roland XV 50/80 synth that I use to build other instruments. Wish I had newer and better....... I can play passibly on most instruments...but I can't afford to buy them.
I played my first gig at age 13; started playing clubs at
15; rock bands...blues bands...then I got into jazz at 17 and went to Berklee for a year in '79. I quit cuz I couldn't keep up....lack of sight reading skill realmusic ignorance killed me. Steve Vai was a classmate: I quit the day he opened his transcription of Black Page in Analysis class for 'show and tell'. I was unworthy, depressed, broke and starving. I disappeared like Guildenstern and Rosencranze from "Hamlet". Meanwhile, I was working around Boston with some really great players...which I could do cuz I could sing OK. They needed voices in the group. I could play parts OK. That was where I got my best education.
Several more years of gigging, then I got married, had kids, and got a real job for 21 years.
About 5 years ago I had enough of a real job and decided to play for a living again...solo acoustic. No band hassles. I do hotels, restaurants, and filthy holes.
I ran into a friend from garage-band days a few years ago, and he told me how he makes money from recording. [He wrote and recorded the opening theme from 'America's Country Idol'; a couple NASCAR themes; NBA sports themes; car commercials.....a garage rock specialist.] That got my wheels turnin'.
[When I quit college I got an offer to work with a Vegas showband based in NY. The manager asked me if I could write, too. I lied and said "yeah". I threw three tunes on a reel2reel and gave the guy a cassette. I declined the gig, and when I asked for my tape, he said "FU!".
Four years later I heard one of them on the radio, re-recorded and with new words, by a Grammy-winning guy...on a Grammy-winning record. So I always knew that I wrote something , once, that didn't suck.]
I started recording whatever was in my head a few years ago...and began to try to learn how to a decent job with it. I got a publisher a few months ago; and I was notified that more than one of my tunes have been licensed for more than one film. That's all I know right now.
I'm only 50. I lied about my age.. :^) The secret of my voice is the cigarettes.
The soundclick site is where I scootched tunes for on-line submissions to publishers. 11 of them are under contract. I don't really want them 'out there'. No one has ever d'loaded anything from SC...and that's not a problem for me. I don't know if it'd be prudent, or within my contract, to give them away. The publisher has temporary exclusive publishing rights on those11. He said it was OK to maintain them on the site. The publisher works hard to hawk and pedal my stuff. I don't want him to hear it anywhere else while he's presenting it to a client. Clients want virgin music.
All I do is try to suck less every day...and record every day...and play my gigs so I can eat. I was a cop for 21 years...that gave me a real appreciation for the sweet struggles of a musical career. :^) A steady paycheck can't buy happiness...and there's no limit on what you can make from your own 'thing'...it's worth what people will pay....so I'm trying to make a good product...using what modest gifts I have, improved by hard work. This is my last shot at it...the curtain is closing on my life.
.
That's it!
TX nzausrec:
The guitar, bass, and vox are real on that song. I'm learning to make MIDI sound a real as possible. I have an antique Roland XV 50/80 synth that I use to build other instruments. Wish I had newer and better....... I can play passibly on most instruments...but I can't afford to buy them.
I played my first gig at age 13; started playing clubs at
15; rock bands...blues bands...then I got into jazz at 17 and went to Berklee for a year in '79. I quit cuz I couldn't keep up....lack of sight reading skill realmusic ignorance killed me. Steve Vai was a classmate: I quit the day he opened his transcription of Black Page in Analysis class for 'show and tell'. I was unworthy, depressed, broke and starving. I disappeared like Guildenstern and Rosencranze from "Hamlet". Meanwhile, I was working around Boston with some really great players...which I could do cuz I could sing OK. They needed voices in the group. I could play parts OK. That was where I got my best education.
Several more years of gigging, then I got married, had kids, and got a real job for 21 years.
About 5 years ago I had enough of a real job and decided to play for a living again...solo acoustic. No band hassles. I do hotels, restaurants, and filthy holes.
I ran into a friend from garage-band days a few years ago, and he told me how he makes money from recording. [He wrote and recorded the opening theme from 'America's Country Idol'; a couple NASCAR themes; NBA sports themes; car commercials.....a garage rock specialist.] That got my wheels turnin'.
[When I quit college I got an offer to work with a Vegas showband based in NY. The manager asked me if I could write, too. I lied and said "yeah". I threw three tunes on a reel2reel and gave the guy a cassette. I declined the gig, and when I asked for my tape, he said "FU!".
Four years later I heard one of them on the radio, re-recorded and with new words, by a Grammy-winning guy...on a Grammy-winning record. So I always knew that I wrote something , once, that didn't suck.]
I started recording whatever was in my head a few years ago...and began to try to learn how to a decent job with it. I got a publisher a few months ago; and I was notified that more than one of my tunes have been licensed for more than one film. That's all I know right now.
I'm only 50. I lied about my age.. :^) The secret of my voice is the cigarettes.
The soundclick site is where I scootched tunes for on-line submissions to publishers. 11 of them are under contract. I don't really want them 'out there'. No one has ever d'loaded anything from SC...and that's not a problem for me. I don't know if it'd be prudent, or within my contract, to give them away. The publisher has temporary exclusive publishing rights on those11. He said it was OK to maintain them on the site. The publisher works hard to hawk and pedal my stuff. I don't want him to hear it anywhere else while he's presenting it to a client. Clients want virgin music.
All I do is try to suck less every day...and record every day...and play my gigs so I can eat. I was a cop for 21 years...that gave me a real appreciation for the sweet struggles of a musical career. :^) A steady paycheck can't buy happiness...and there's no limit on what you can make from your own 'thing'...it's worth what people will pay....so I'm trying to make a good product...using what modest gifts I have, improved by hard work. This is my last shot at it...the curtain is closing on my life.
.
That's it!
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nzausrec
Member
That's a real interesting bio.
Were the words 100% different on that grammy award winning record?
When I was listening to your music I thought, "Shoot, if I didn't smoke my voice could be clear like that." Interesting that I needn't think that way.
No-one downloaded your songs which means Soundclick must really suck an as avenue for revenue collection. That's handy to know.
You are really getting ahead in the music business. If you can get royalties for a song on a popular film, wow. That would be your retirement fund.
Were the words 100% different on that grammy award winning record?
When I was listening to your music I thought, "Shoot, if I didn't smoke my voice could be clear like that." Interesting that I needn't think that way.
No-one downloaded your songs which means Soundclick must really suck an as avenue for revenue collection. That's handy to know.
You are really getting ahead in the music business. If you can get royalties for a song on a popular film, wow. That would be your retirement fund.
Whatmysay
New member
Jeff you have got it goin on. Listening to 'I Hope it Rains' after the first few I was amazed by not just your tone but the versatility in your voice. I really enjoy your material and can see why you are getting a lot of interest.
The only thing I'd say is I think your production skills area at their best in Restless Mind - it could be that I'm not use to really critically listening to jazz vocal mix, but in some of your other songs the voice is a little too far in front for my tasts against the more separated out instrumentation. But in the most recent track the vocals sits really well to me and has much more of a 'commercial (Diana Krall) quality to the mix'.
The arrangement is great, but it would be lovely just to hear a real saxs over it - some of those slurry notes really betray the midiness.
Have you every tried writing using latin/acid jazz/dance beats or loops. If you are looking for commercial appeal particularly for film work this could be another avenue to pursue.
If your voice is from the cigs then I think Its time I started again!
The only thing I'd say is I think your production skills area at their best in Restless Mind - it could be that I'm not use to really critically listening to jazz vocal mix, but in some of your other songs the voice is a little too far in front for my tasts against the more separated out instrumentation. But in the most recent track the vocals sits really well to me and has much more of a 'commercial (Diana Krall) quality to the mix'.
The arrangement is great, but it would be lovely just to hear a real saxs over it - some of those slurry notes really betray the midiness.
Have you every tried writing using latin/acid jazz/dance beats or loops. If you are looking for commercial appeal particularly for film work this could be another avenue to pursue.
If your voice is from the cigs then I think Its time I started again!
jeffmaher
New member
Don't smoke! Every one is my last. My voice doesn't get better a lot when I don't, but the stamina .......
Honest, I don't know how to use loops ...I don't know very much about recording...just found a slot, and trying to make it work for me. I took a couple lessons with a real producer with gold records and all...he told me just to record every day, and in a few years I'd know what I need to know....then gave me the boot. He had all this mega software sampling. I won't be able to get where he is with my stuff....but not everyone can tell the difference. I guess even phony construction has merits and pleasures of its own to a lot of un-refined ears.
The production of every recording I do gets noticably better, I guess, 'cuz I'm learning so much, and hearing in a way I could't the week or month before. I've only been doing this for a few years. I figure I have to wreck about a thousand records to get proficient....I'm about half way there.
Yes , the words were 100% different, and 100% better. He turned a depressing song...my specialty...into a poignant love ballad.
In fact, "My Restless Mind' is a re-write..lyric and chorus and bridge...of that very song. I had to make it different enough to avoid prosecution for infringement on my own song.....the guy owns the c'right....he has , however, been successfully sued four times for similar badness on other songs by other authors. If you listen to my melody and changes in the verses, you'll have a strong clue as to which song it became. It was #10 for some weeks....in the early 80's. If I'd copyrighted it, it'd never been produced or heard.
I won't ...can't..ever be upset by the borrowing: it was gold in my pocket for 30 years...and an inspiration to me. That's worth a lot more than a slightly-possible settlement [lawyers get all the money anyway]. And there's lots more music in my head. I'm looking foreward. Keep'n it going.
I'm glad of the nice things y'all say about my tawdry records.....another inspiration. Thank you.
Honest, I don't know how to use loops ...I don't know very much about recording...just found a slot, and trying to make it work for me. I took a couple lessons with a real producer with gold records and all...he told me just to record every day, and in a few years I'd know what I need to know....then gave me the boot. He had all this mega software sampling. I won't be able to get where he is with my stuff....but not everyone can tell the difference. I guess even phony construction has merits and pleasures of its own to a lot of un-refined ears.
The production of every recording I do gets noticably better, I guess, 'cuz I'm learning so much, and hearing in a way I could't the week or month before. I've only been doing this for a few years. I figure I have to wreck about a thousand records to get proficient....I'm about half way there.
Yes , the words were 100% different, and 100% better. He turned a depressing song...my specialty...into a poignant love ballad.
In fact, "My Restless Mind' is a re-write..lyric and chorus and bridge...of that very song. I had to make it different enough to avoid prosecution for infringement on my own song.....the guy owns the c'right....he has , however, been successfully sued four times for similar badness on other songs by other authors. If you listen to my melody and changes in the verses, you'll have a strong clue as to which song it became. It was #10 for some weeks....in the early 80's. If I'd copyrighted it, it'd never been produced or heard.
I won't ...can't..ever be upset by the borrowing: it was gold in my pocket for 30 years...and an inspiration to me. That's worth a lot more than a slightly-possible settlement [lawyers get all the money anyway]. And there's lots more music in my head. I'm looking foreward. Keep'n it going.
I'm glad of the nice things y'all say about my tawdry records.....another inspiration. Thank you.
nzausrec
Member
That's such a ... Sad e ... song.
Or, a friend of mine, named Dan, used to steel from me.
Could I be right on either?
Or, a friend of mine, named Dan, used to steel from me.
Could I be right on either?
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jeffmaher
New member
Nope! :^) It'll hit you alla sudden, prolly.....if you were listening to pop radio back as far as the early 80's. I still hear it occasionally on old fogey, easy-listening pop stations.
Dan is not his name.
If you can get royalties for a song on a popular film, wow. That would be your retirement fund.
We'll see in ten years.
I have an acquaintance, Jack Hardy, who's been writing and recording for 25 years...pulling in tiny royalties all the while...three figure checks! But about 15 years ago, Suzanne Vega recorded one of his tunes....and a year or two ago it became a TV show theme-song. If I told you what he was making now, it'd make you sputter. Y' just never know. But if you don't have marbles in the game, you can't possibly win.
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nzausrec
Member
Of course I complete agree with you about "Gold in your pocket."
I'm listening to Sing About It. Your vocal variation, note changes are so fast. I wonder, you are an exceptional singer and composer. Can I ask you some questions?
- How many times, or for how long do you prepare the vocal track. How many rehearsals do you do before hitting record?
- How do you do the harmonies. Do you work out the notes in the key/scale? Or spontaneous/by ear?
- What is your mic placement?
- What is the first instrument/track on the composition you start with?
- Do you do the complete composition before doing vocals?
Sorry to bother. It's just so cool, funky, so ... #1 .. I'm burning to know how you do it.
PS: A.J?
I'm listening to Sing About It. Your vocal variation, note changes are so fast. I wonder, you are an exceptional singer and composer. Can I ask you some questions?
- How many times, or for how long do you prepare the vocal track. How many rehearsals do you do before hitting record?
- How do you do the harmonies. Do you work out the notes in the key/scale? Or spontaneous/by ear?
- What is your mic placement?
- What is the first instrument/track on the composition you start with?
- Do you do the complete composition before doing vocals?
Sorry to bother. It's just so cool, funky, so ... #1 .. I'm burning to know how you do it.
PS: A.J?
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jeffmaher
New member
Jeez! Thanks.
- How many times, or for how long do you prepare the vocal track. How many rehearsals do you do before hitting record?
A lot of the songs that I'm recording now were written...no, they sort of spilled out of my head....about three or four years ago. This is the third time for some of them. I recorded them first just guitar and vocal; Then with a 'band' using a crappy set of Alesis drum pads and a Kerzweil K2000 synth a year later. Then I got the Roland XV50/80...stepping up to 24bit samples, and started getting somewhere. So, many of these songs are locked-in. As far a preparing the recording day singing, I do all the instruments in the mix as well as I can get 'em, them let the 'band' kick me along. A lot of stuff is totally spontaneous. I just sing it until I can listen w/o cringing. I rehearse while I record. Keep going until it sounds right...or as good as I can do it.
- How do you do the harmonies. Do you work out the notes in the key/scale? Or spontaneous/by ear?
Background: Four years ago I realized that I'd have to develop my own thing if I ever wanted to go anywhere. This is where the "gold" inspired me to work at creating my own music again. I'd practiced hard to regain chops, and started playing solo acoustic gigs...and had a decent success with it. But there's this wall. After that, its a personal musical thing that is OWNED by me, or you, that takes a 'career' to the next level. I could not write anything that didn't sound contrived and lame....for months. Then a writer/guitar playing friend told me to stop trying so damn hard and..."listen". He said that music was a gift of my creator...it does fall on you from the sky.
I thought about it and started actively trying to tune in. About a week later...I heard a song playing. I didn't 'write' it: it was just there. I heard it only because I had faith that it was there...otherwise I might have never noticed it playing as the soundtrack of my thoughts.
My music composes itself...in my head. I have to listen to what I hear and remember it...and make it real in the physical world. It's a hard process to develop. But, like recording, I learned through experience...do it over and over. I actualy 'channel' Nat Cole. Nat sang "I Hope it Rains" into my ear as I was driving home from my old job. A year later, I tried an experiment: I summoned Nat. I told him I wanted a tune in the same style, but up-tempo and lighter. Then I got distracted driving, and forgot the request.
15 minutes later I heard Nat singing into my ear: "A beauty like the sun...."
Just the first few lines with changes and melody. Song: Everyone but Me".
And I knew from experience that the rest of the song was there, waiting for me to learn the first few lines, after which it would assemble itself as I went along learning what I'd heard. Faith.
I did not 'compose' that melody and changes. I did write some of the lyric to fit the complete melody that sat on it....the only composing I actually do myself.
I know a lot of theory, blahblahblah: but I am of a mind that the subconscious gifts playing in my head were created by a superior composer. I don't sweat harmony or right or 'wrong' notes, progressions, etc. Nor do I worry that they're not technically dazzling. I have faith that my personal jukebox is good; that it is a gift; that it has value; that it was meant to be shared...and will be enjoyed by someone else, too.
That's how I 'write'. I don't. I listen, and try to faithfully render it in a recording.
A lot of people don't like a lot of my songs because they jump genre...or they're not into blugrassy or country...or jazz..or whatever. But some people tell me they're wearing out my one-offed CD's I make them. I'm happy with that. And I don't take it personally anymore. I didn't write it, anyway. I take no responsibility for it. :^) The recording quality...that's another thing. I'm real sensitive to my lack of taste and skill on a DAW. But I have faith that I'll get to a good place with it.
I work out the harmonies as I try them out when recorded. Keep trying new things, until it sounds right. Sometimes I get pleasant surprises...like when you paint a picture, and the paint just does something artful that you did not see or intend.
- What is your mic placement?
Lately , for vox, real real close to get lips and throat and nose noise. I use Shure KSM27's Not great...like all my equipment. But good enough.
For acoustic and electric guitar? Whatever sounds good when I have the headset on: I scootch the mic around until I think I get what's best.
- What is the first instrument/track on the composition you start with?
Acoustic guitar over a click...and a scratch vocal, which helps me know where I am as I build MIDI parts to support the vocal . Then either bass or drums. Or whatever I feel like doing. Very organic. [sloppy} I'm still figuring out exactly what works best...making my own unique approach...that will make my productions unique. I don't think I need to know everything...just how to make what I want happen...by any one of two-dozen ways to do it.
- Do you do the complete composition before doing vocals?
Final vocal, yeah...but then I go back and tweak the whole thing...I start to hear chords that aren't right.....orphaned drum hits....cleanup in aisle#7
Whatever way works for me, I think, I discover by just doing it...over and over.
I cannot compose decent music. If there's any credit to be acknowledged for pleasant sounds and ideas..it belongs to God. He gave them to me....already written, and perfect. My task is to be an accurate scribe.
Anyway, to sum up, it is exactly how I wrote that purloined ditty when I was 21. I didn't try too hard, I just rolled my eyes up into my head, and heard it. Simple chords; simple melody...a 'gift'. I wasn't TRYING to write a song...I just had to make SOMETHING...so I went with the first idea that came. I just forgot how it worked all those years before...and was trying too damn hard four years ago to be too damn musically epic and impactful. My need for acceptance by my musical betters and my ego got in the way. I was chasing a deer through the woods, instead of letting the deer wander by where I lay still and alert and quiet.
- How many times, or for how long do you prepare the vocal track. How many rehearsals do you do before hitting record?
A lot of the songs that I'm recording now were written...no, they sort of spilled out of my head....about three or four years ago. This is the third time for some of them. I recorded them first just guitar and vocal; Then with a 'band' using a crappy set of Alesis drum pads and a Kerzweil K2000 synth a year later. Then I got the Roland XV50/80...stepping up to 24bit samples, and started getting somewhere. So, many of these songs are locked-in. As far a preparing the recording day singing, I do all the instruments in the mix as well as I can get 'em, them let the 'band' kick me along. A lot of stuff is totally spontaneous. I just sing it until I can listen w/o cringing. I rehearse while I record. Keep going until it sounds right...or as good as I can do it.
- How do you do the harmonies. Do you work out the notes in the key/scale? Or spontaneous/by ear?
Background: Four years ago I realized that I'd have to develop my own thing if I ever wanted to go anywhere. This is where the "gold" inspired me to work at creating my own music again. I'd practiced hard to regain chops, and started playing solo acoustic gigs...and had a decent success with it. But there's this wall. After that, its a personal musical thing that is OWNED by me, or you, that takes a 'career' to the next level. I could not write anything that didn't sound contrived and lame....for months. Then a writer/guitar playing friend told me to stop trying so damn hard and..."listen". He said that music was a gift of my creator...it does fall on you from the sky.
I thought about it and started actively trying to tune in. About a week later...I heard a song playing. I didn't 'write' it: it was just there. I heard it only because I had faith that it was there...otherwise I might have never noticed it playing as the soundtrack of my thoughts.
My music composes itself...in my head. I have to listen to what I hear and remember it...and make it real in the physical world. It's a hard process to develop. But, like recording, I learned through experience...do it over and over. I actualy 'channel' Nat Cole. Nat sang "I Hope it Rains" into my ear as I was driving home from my old job. A year later, I tried an experiment: I summoned Nat. I told him I wanted a tune in the same style, but up-tempo and lighter. Then I got distracted driving, and forgot the request.
15 minutes later I heard Nat singing into my ear: "A beauty like the sun...."
Just the first few lines with changes and melody. Song: Everyone but Me".
And I knew from experience that the rest of the song was there, waiting for me to learn the first few lines, after which it would assemble itself as I went along learning what I'd heard. Faith.
I did not 'compose' that melody and changes. I did write some of the lyric to fit the complete melody that sat on it....the only composing I actually do myself.
I know a lot of theory, blahblahblah: but I am of a mind that the subconscious gifts playing in my head were created by a superior composer. I don't sweat harmony or right or 'wrong' notes, progressions, etc. Nor do I worry that they're not technically dazzling. I have faith that my personal jukebox is good; that it is a gift; that it has value; that it was meant to be shared...and will be enjoyed by someone else, too.
That's how I 'write'. I don't. I listen, and try to faithfully render it in a recording.
A lot of people don't like a lot of my songs because they jump genre...or they're not into blugrassy or country...or jazz..or whatever. But some people tell me they're wearing out my one-offed CD's I make them. I'm happy with that. And I don't take it personally anymore. I didn't write it, anyway. I take no responsibility for it. :^) The recording quality...that's another thing. I'm real sensitive to my lack of taste and skill on a DAW. But I have faith that I'll get to a good place with it.
I work out the harmonies as I try them out when recorded. Keep trying new things, until it sounds right. Sometimes I get pleasant surprises...like when you paint a picture, and the paint just does something artful that you did not see or intend.
- What is your mic placement?
Lately , for vox, real real close to get lips and throat and nose noise. I use Shure KSM27's Not great...like all my equipment. But good enough.
For acoustic and electric guitar? Whatever sounds good when I have the headset on: I scootch the mic around until I think I get what's best.
- What is the first instrument/track on the composition you start with?
Acoustic guitar over a click...and a scratch vocal, which helps me know where I am as I build MIDI parts to support the vocal . Then either bass or drums. Or whatever I feel like doing. Very organic. [sloppy} I'm still figuring out exactly what works best...making my own unique approach...that will make my productions unique. I don't think I need to know everything...just how to make what I want happen...by any one of two-dozen ways to do it.
- Do you do the complete composition before doing vocals?
Final vocal, yeah...but then I go back and tweak the whole thing...I start to hear chords that aren't right.....orphaned drum hits....cleanup in aisle#7
Whatever way works for me, I think, I discover by just doing it...over and over.
I cannot compose decent music. If there's any credit to be acknowledged for pleasant sounds and ideas..it belongs to God. He gave them to me....already written, and perfect. My task is to be an accurate scribe.
Anyway, to sum up, it is exactly how I wrote that purloined ditty when I was 21. I didn't try too hard, I just rolled my eyes up into my head, and heard it. Simple chords; simple melody...a 'gift'. I wasn't TRYING to write a song...I just had to make SOMETHING...so I went with the first idea that came. I just forgot how it worked all those years before...and was trying too damn hard four years ago to be too damn musically epic and impactful. My need for acceptance by my musical betters and my ego got in the way. I was chasing a deer through the woods, instead of letting the deer wander by where I lay still and alert and quiet.
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