Im curious...Do you home rec/writers...?

F

Fat_Satchel

I suffer Narcoleptic Rage
Do you work on one idea at a time? I mean...you write a lyric/song, do you then record it, going thru full production till its "done" or do you put it aside and write another...till you have a few and then track/produce them?

Just curious, Im the former and it seems to take me forever to get from one song to another.
 
I have a notebook full of ideas but im usually working on 3-5 of them at one time....Ill demo one as i finish it but never a big full production because the odds are high that minor changes at least are gonna be done to it so i dont invest much time in demos.....mostly i just do it to work on arrangement ideas......i have to really really like a song to do a full demo.......
 
One song at a time, keep writing 'till it's done, record it.

If I were to write songs to be sold, I might do it differently.
 
I've been working in themes of up to 14 songs in a set so conceptually they have to gel. Once a song is written it goes through a period of word refinement and phrasing which can take up to a week or two. However, right after it's written I'll record it as best I can and keep that version around for awhile in case I destroy it's energy down the line.
 
These days I tend to only demo a tune if I think I'm gonna shop it around to publishers.... I only really work on one good idea at a time. It'll take many shapes until I find the version I like... the demo process usually isn't as involved because I sort get the arrangement in my head during the writing...


Then the song gets rejected and I do it all over.....
 
Normally I have 4-5 songs in different stages of development. Maybe one song is just some chords or a riff that I jam around on, but don't record at all. Another song with just acoustic guitar and humming a melody onto a portable dictation cassette. Another song programmed into something like Band-in-a-box just to hear an arrangement. Lastly maybe a couple of songs mostly recorded, but still waiting to put down harmony vocals or a lead guitar riff.

How developed the songs get depend on the song. If I think I have a song I can get published, I try to keep at it to get the re-writes out of the way to get a finished demo. If it's a song that I like, but don't think there is commercail value, it goes on a back burner until I have a period of writer's block (meaning nothing new or moving coming out of the grey matter)- then I pull out some of the misc. tidbits and try to finish them.
 
It's weird. I could be working out one song: rehearsing, laying down tracks, whatever and an idea will come to me so I jot it down, chord changes, rhythm patterns, melody line, whatever, and stick it in my notebook. I then return to it about a couple of days later and review them to see if they are still worth anything. If so I tend to lay down a rough track and continue from there.

I am presently working on 3 songs that are in various stages of completion, and I am still writing ideas down. I tend not to work on more than 3 projects at one time though.

Whatever works for you, works for you. If you feel that you are stagnating working one song at a time, it may energize you a bit to come up with a new song idea and bang it around for about 1/2 hour or so, jotting down notes, whatever, and then return to your song. A "Change of Scenery" type of approach.
 
I'm a procrastinator in some arenas. I write the lyric/develop the tune, then write it down in a book with the chord changes over the lyrics. If I have particular lead licks I want to remember, I'll write them in powertab and save them to a folder on my hard drive.
When I get a bunch (10 or 15) songs ready, I'll record 'em.
 
There are a thousand ways to skin the cat of songwriting but only one thing sticks out, there has to be something there to remember the song by. Usually it's a lyric or melodic hook, but with all the types of music around, it could be anything. But that's where to start.
 
I think working on one song until it's done is the best way to go.Less distractions that way.Of course I have notebooks full of half completed songs.
 
I have two "projects" going. One is my second solo piano CD and the other a cd of electronic music/ new age/celtic/conceptual. I have about 3-5 songs in various stages of development at any given time for the solo piano CD. Every time I practice, usually 5 days a week or so, I noodle around. The hardest part to me is finding several sections that seem to fit.... I write a lot of (to me) satisfying 8 bar sections..... it is finding b and c parts that fit it and I like, that is hard. The electronic songs usually only get attention 1-2 days a week, when I turn on all the electronics and decide to work on it. Usually, I take one of those songs all the way through until almost the final mix. Once in a great while, I get "inspired" by a sound I am auditioning and wil record that as a snippet for a possible future song, but that is rare. All of my music is instrumental, which may also change the writing process.

Take care
 
hmm...seems home rec'ers lean more towards working a single good idea thru to completion (or a couple...seems to vary) rather then write a bunch of songs and then work them thru to completion.

The reason I asked is that I have strived to maintain a band approach to home recording/solo songwriting. It was one of the first "rules" I set for myself. I try hard to approach each instrument with that in mind.

So it occurs to me that the "typical" band approach to recording an album is to write a surplus of songs and pick the 10-12 best for the album, practice them then go into a studio to record all 10-12 at once. Financing is probably the driving force behind this approach...aint cheap writing songs in a studio.

So being a solo writer with the luxury of a home studio I suppose its natural to gravitate towards a more singular approach to producing songs and albums. With the ability cut and re-cut a track endlessly till its "right" forgoes the need for a soloist to "practice" the piece in the conventional band scenario. (I made another post awhile ago about home rec'ers and practicing that got some discussion). But is something lost in this transition?

I guess the next topic will be regarding how many songs you write before you get one you feel is worthy of full producion...an almost intangible question to be sure :p

Until then

LS
 
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