I'm Finding it Hard

P

panoramical

New member
Hi there,
I'm a budding **Year old musician, and it's always been my dream to one day do songwriting and performing for a living. It's my real passion. Sometimes I can sit down and play my guitar for hours on end writing songs, and it makes me feel special...I'm sure a lot of songwriters here will know the feeling when you just get so immersed in music that you lose yourself. Similarly, when I'm down and upset, I play my guitar, write a song, and I feel better.

I've written about 10 songs to date, all of which I consider to be great quality. I chuck away anything that I don't like, which perhaps isn't something to do. So I have ten songs written, with guitars and vocals, in my head.

I thought in the Summer that it was time to get into home recording. A friend told me Apple did really good recording facilities, and I'd heard that their Logic Program is really good. So I bought a Mac Mini with a copy of Logic, as well as a Fast Track USB to go with my Gibson Chet Atkins SST guitar.

This is where it stops. I simply can't transfer my inspiration I have when I write a song into my computer. I don't know what it is. I just load up my computer, rearing to go, record a passage of guitar, then get a bit bored. Anything I add to it I don't like. And I just can't get into recording anything. I think it's the metronome that's stopping me or something...it just stops my creative juices from flowing. I think this is the case, because i went on GarageBand, turned off the metronome, and was gripped on writing a piece. And I was proud of the result. The problem is...you can't really get a good recording with a tempo that's going all over the place, and it's hard to do loop-based recordings.

So I guess my question to you all is this; how do I get out of the state I'm in? I really would love to record an album using my recording studio that I've put a lot of money into, but I just can't do it. I just bought some actually decent equipment...such as a mixer and an sm57, and I'm hoping that a better quality of recording might make me want to record more. But - you guys must have been through a stage like this that I'm in. How do I get out of it?
 
It's called experience.

Do you think that you can go into ANY career and be an instant star??
Don't happen.

Keep going. Keep experimenting. Keep trying. Keep reading. Keep learning.

The losers are the ones who give up...
 
panoramical said:
I'm a budding **Year old musician, and it's always been my dream to one day do songwriting and performing for a living. It's my real passion.
Click to expand...

Hey! Welcome to the club. :D

It's too bad about the rut you're in. I'd have to say that you'd greatly benefit from connecting the act of home recording with your goals of songwriting and performing for a living. It's very motivating when you can see the value of actually hitting record in terms of how it helps you meet your goals. :) You'll also gain a stronger appreciation for your recording gear as you see more of the value of having spent $$$ on it in the first place!

Setting some intermediate goals can help immensely. If you work backwards it's really easy to see that meeting the goal of 'songwriting and performing for a living' boils down to 'songwriting and performing' first, with or without enough dough to pay the bills! As you keep working backwards (usually by asking "Why do I want to do this?" and "What do I need to do to get there?") you will really get a clear idea about where home recording fits into meeting your goals. Having the "next goal" clearly in mind becomes a really important motivational tool when you're bummed out on recording.

For me, I find recording is great during the songwriting process for developing tones, complex rhythm lines or killer solo lines :cool:. As you focus more and more on performing, imagine using your first home recorded demo CD of 3-5 songs to open up new gigs for you. And, by the time you have throngs of adoring fans and a pro budget you'll definitely want to go into the studio knowing what you like (and what you don't)!

I hope this sets you on the right path and helps you out. Just remember to flush out your real goals, plan them out (working backwards helps), and take it way further than what I've mentioned. You'll be impressed with how much you learn about yourself in the process. You may even change your mind about the whole metronome thing :p

Cheers,
Shaun
 
Last edited:
panoramical said:
..it just stops my creative juices from flowing. I think this is the case, because i went on GarageBand, turned off the metronome, and was gripped on writing a piece. And I was proud of the result. The problem is...you can't really get a good recording with a tempo that's going all over the place, and it's hard to do loop-based recordings.
Click to expand...
Sounds like a natural state to me. Consider breaking it into two separate tasks; Collecting and developing the bits of inspiration and songs (no nagging timer, quality is irrelevant), and the recording/demo creation stages.

Wayne
 
mixsit said:
Sounds like a natural state to me. Consider breaking it into two separate tasks; Collecting and developing the bits of inspiration and songs (no nagging timer, quality is irrelevant), and the recording/demo creation stages.

Wayne
Click to expand...

Ah, yes. This sounds way easier :)
 
one thing that has helped me is recording guitar while playing along with drum loops to keep your tempo and to get a feel of what the song is going to sound like with drums, then u can take the drums out and get a real drummer to play along with your tracks, it doesnt always work though with some songs its worked for me
 
I'd be interested in where the sparkle is lost. Is it because you don't like what you hear back once you've recorded it, that it doesn't match what sits in your mind? Or is it because of the restricting nature of the metronome?

There are some good sugegstions above already. I like the one about separating the tasks. Use the computer as a dump for your ideas first. Don't worry about technicalities, nor perfection, but just get those ideas into the system. Then you can later sort through them, refine them, work up arrangements, tighten the timing and structure and so on.

If you don't like what you are hearing back, is it because you need to work on recording techniques to improve the quality of what you are hearing, or is it because you are not used to hearing yourself, or is it because you suck?

There have been many occasions when I have sung the most briliant ballad in my head, but when I commit it to PC it sucks something fierce. I have to recognise I don't have the voice for it. However, I do compensate in other styles, so I can salvage a bit of dignity.
 
Well...I just sat down today and put one of my compositions into Logic and recorded the first minute. I was thoroughly engrossed, and I enjoyed myself as well as liking what I was hearing?

The reason, in my mind, is because the song I tried to record today, and did successfully, was in a regular tempo of 4/4. However, nearly all of my other compositions are in really odd time signatures (http://www.soundclick.com/atlus - check out Yesterday). This is what's restricting me...I can't get the right time signatures for my songs! I think that's what it is anyway...but if you want to check out the thing I recorded today:


Thanks for all your help by the way, I have taken it all into account!
 
Slumps are the dumps! I hate them too. A few of the things I have done to relieve them are, bring in some other musicians, it's easier and more fun to record someone else and it helps to break the monotomy of recording yourself. If you have to work alone, record it over and over, eventually something will click and you will come up with what you want, yes we have all frayed our nerves and worn out our patience doing this so don't feel alone. Remember that the average listener hears the song as a whole, not breaking it down to it's individual parts like we tend to do when we are recording it. Don't be overly critical of yourself, it dosen't have to be perfect to still sound good. I hope you get out of the rut soon.
 
I think it's best to have the song written first (In most cases) Get the song where it needs to be with just you and your guitar. Perfect it outside of the computer first. Just like in the day when you would go to a studio with your stuff already rehearsed because you were paying $50-$100 an hour.
Then go to the computer to capture the song. I find that's when more tweaking and sprinkles of insiration happen. It's much too hard to open up a blank Untitled Logic file and start balnkly at the screen and try to come up with something magic. PS- I listened to your stuff. I really like "Dreams" you have a good sense of melody- Keep it up.
 
I hear what you're saying. In 2002 I started really writing songs. I really wanted to record them. I bought 4 track mixers...big mistake. Anyway, I rarely felt in the mood to drag out all the gear. I wrote all my songs on a beaten nylon string that had a nice buzz on all the strings. When I went to record the songs just didn't sound the same with my steel string.

Anyhoo, my main problem is my full time job and my reluctance to set gear up. Damn my eyes that I live in a flat. My room even has concrete floors. I just never feel like recording.

I also want to learn the harmonica, but I don't want to make terrible sounds here at the flat.

I guess it's not really meant to be. If I really cared, then I wouldn't care what noise I made, I'd just hammer away until I got it.

Anyway, I'm quitting my job in September next year and I plan to start living.
 
Suggestion

Another thing you can do with Logic is to create a 'pre-made' "Autoload" song...
Setup certain synthesizers or what have you with the connections all setup...
Pre design some of your audio tracks so that when the inspiration hits you, you can flip on the computer and go...

Also try recording without the metronome - There are times when I work with people - guitarists - who do better when everything is recorded into Logic by hand... I have a rep for being pretty good at drum parts and it's easy to have someone play into Logic and follow it up with live or custom played synth drums... It tends to bring the live feel into the recording more easily...

Last suggestion if you lose your 'drive'...
Most of my music is written on "experience"... If I don't have any experiences outside of the studio, then my music falters... Just turn everything off for a while and go ' DO SOMETHING '... Then when you come back, more ideas flow out...

Hope this helps...
And good luck...
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top