Does technology play a conscious part in your songwriting ?

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grimtraveller

grimtraveller

If only for a moment.....
When writing songs, do you ever find yourself consciously writing in a way that utilizes technology, be it double tracking, miking, layering, particular panning, thoughts on which effects may emphasize which parts etc ?
Do you feel that arranging is part of the songwriting process or do you see it as something separate ?
 
I start all song writing processes the same. I come up with a chord progression on acoustic guitar, then figure out some lyrics that fit the groove. Then I double track the acoustic guitar, or a clean electric guitar tone with a basic midi drum groove.

At this point, I start to rely on technology to build the song up layer by layer. I will mess around with the drum midi to create a groove that sounds just right. Technology is starting to shape my song, in that The drum groove that I am able to come up with through midi forms the foundation of the songs emotion. I can't play real drums for much more than standard rock grooves, so midi lets me come up with something a little more interesting than I can pull off on a real kit.

From here I layer in a bass guitar track. I now have a double tracked rhythm guitar, bass guitar, and drum track. The arrangement is sorted out and finalized from start to end of the song with these parts.

Next is the Vocals. I will try several different melodies of the vocals if I have not already sorted one out in my head. When the vocals are tracked from start to finish, I then focus on lead guitar parts.

Developing the lead guitar parts is sort of technology guided as well. An important aspect for me is, the recording needs to be able to be easily translated to real time playing with my band mates. I have to be able to teach them the song, and they have to have the sounds I have recorded in their own sound banks too. So I avoid any crazy guitar or processing effects just to be sure the sound can be replicated properly the next weekend the boys come over to play.

So summary, I guess, is that the song starts as an acoustic idea, but gets developed with technology, but he technology used is governed such that it does not become some sort of electronica show when it comes time to play it live with the band.

Great question. Thanks for making giving the opportunity to think about this.
 
I have a few songs that were written, and stylized because of technology. One a couple I use a glitch VST for a chorus, and then use it on another as a part of the beat with a vocal section.

A few songs have been created (mostly instrumental) because of how the software works and the technology that is in front of me.

So I would have to say yes, absolutely.
 
Yes. Pretty often. Arrangement is pretty much paramount in most of my recordings, and effects and sounds and how they work together informs a lot of what I end up playing on individual tracks. I don't always worry much about how it's going to happen live, and I never worry about trying to get the live version to sound like the "album" version at all. Really, even things that I've written and been playing as stripped down guitar/voice type things will often get completely re-written and re-imagined for a recording.
 
To some extent. If I know I'm writing a song for a specific project that uses specific instrumentation, I'll often structure the song around that.
 
Good question - and take my response with a grain of salt, as my experience/skill is limited, but I really can't consciously use technology to craft a song. I try and discover what sounds and delivery of sounds work together, and then use technology to help me achieve that goal.

But maybe the two can be so intertwined that it's tough to say what facilitated the idea, the tech..or the opposite of tech.

Now that I think about it, other times it is darn near simultaneous...I may think that "this background vocal will sound even cooler if I slowly pan it out to the side as it's sung" - and I know the technology can help me do that, and I probably wouldn't have thought of it had the tech not made it easier to achieve it.

But as far as things like setting up my mic on my amp, I just slide it around 'til it sounds decent.

Daryl
 
There have been times an environmental sound or effect prompts a song idea. I'm a drummer so I usually start with a beat in my head and words. As I syncopate the song, I get to where I like it and then work out a melody to the syncopation. I'm old school so I look to the George Martin school of orchestration instead of technology. I have to admit that sometimes reverbing the chorus and doing the verses dry makes a nice change. I try not to get too bogged down in technology.
Rod Norman
Engineer
 
When I was doing MIDI-based sequencing, lots of synths and all that back in the early to mid '90s...then I guess yes, to an extent....but for the most part, and how it was before and also now after my "MIDI/synth" period...:D....it's alway about the song.
It has to be a complete song no matter if I play it on a single guitar or on the piano...or when recording a full production.
Granted, when recording, every song gets the benefit of the technology and additional production possibilities that you can do when just playing it on a guitar or piano....but that stuff is used to serve the song. I rarely write a song around the technology at hand. I always wanted to and try to write songs that can easily be done in a lot of styles and a lot of tempos with various arrangements....so I avoid that one technology "trick" or some unusual sound design stuff that becomes the signature of the song, and where the song would not stand on its own without that.
That said....I love adding ear candy to embellish ....but not make it the main focus of a song.
 
Good question!

Often as I write I am thinking about arrangement (as I build song structure I'm thinking where drums may come in, if I'll need pads sound on a chorus, etc.) - so to a degree I have a hard time drawing a line between composing vs. arranging. That being said, I do thing in the purest sense of arranging, it is a separate function.

Since I know that technology will let me add keyboard parts, track harmony vocals, etc. - I have to be honest and admit the technology does impact my writing.

All that aside, I still find that the songs that are strong with just an acoustic guitar/vocal or piano/vocal tend to be the strongest material with technology added. If the song is a sows ear, no amount of technology can rally turn it into a silk purse.
 
Absolutely. The way i see it experimenting with production technologies is at least half the fun in recording, and faithful transparent capture of a live performance is only one aspect of recording and production, and not everyone's holy grail. Many of my musical efforts were built around a sampled or drum machine beat or a synth riff or arpeggio, and expanded into a larger soundscape deliberately using many of the 'tricks' you mentioned. Arranging is always a part of the writing process for me, i tend to just build layers which fit together than work to some preconceived plan. Even lyrics are subject to amendment and alteration to serve the piece better. And to be pedantic, any instrument which is not part of the human body is a technology anyway.

Hmmm... now i am beginning to see why i am such a crap musician. ;)
 
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