One man bands: what's your workflow?

easlern

easlern

Boredom artist
In the past I've started with a drum track and worked to get it just right and then added a bass and tried to get it just right and then I add the guitar and get it just right. . . ad nauseum.

I'm doing a song now where it's more round-robin: I start with a scratch drum, add a scratch guitar/vocal, add a somewhat settled bass, etc for all the instruments. Then come back through and replace the scratches with tracks that I try to get just right.

I don't know if one way is better. Feels like I might like the round robin approach more so far.

What's your workflow like?
 
easlern said:
In the past I've started with a drum track and worked to get it just right and then added a bass and tried to get it just right and then I add the guitar and get it just right. . . ad nauseum.

I'm doing a song now where it's more round-robin: I start with a scratch drum, add a scratch guitar/vocal, add a somewhat settled bass, etc for all the instruments. Then come back through and replace the scratches with tracks that I try to get just right.

I don't know if one way is better. Feels like I might like the round robin approach more so far.

What's your workflow like?
Click to expand...

good question! i haven't seen something like this posted yet.

Mine is close to your second example. I start with a scratch guitar (L and R) played to a click. Then, I begin working the drums. I want the guitar there first so I can hear how the drums will be in the context of the song (or close to it anyway). Then, I either go back and re-record those rhythm guitars, or I might put down some scratch guitar leads first. From there, it's back and forth with lead guitar ideas, "final" lead ideas, and overdub guitars for "bigger" sections of the song. it's never exactly the same for each tune as it depends on how finished it is in my head. Bass is second to last, as I like to play it in the feel/vibe of the entire mix (without vox). Once I have most of the final takes recorded, i start vocals. However, I don't mix anything until the vocals are recorded and edited. Either right before or right after vocals are recorded, I go back and listen for areas that need "rounding out" - background synth sounds, more lead guitars (and not always playing constantly, even just a tiny lead section in the chorus can help fill it out) and background noises from delays and filters.

it's important for me to keep an ear out for drum areas that need improving, particularly transitions and fills. Those kinds of things can be edited at any time, in my process.

When I sit down to start the whole thing, I'd say only 33% of the song is actually finished in my head. The rest is made up on the spot while having to come up with lead ideas, drum fills, exact drum beats, background stuff and minor transitions as well as outro ideas. Typically, only the rhythm guitars and vocal melody are 100% finalized before starting anything. I like the creativity in doing it that way. It's what I look forward to the most - coming up with leads and everything else on the spot.

hope this helped. great question
 
That's really interesting that you put bass in at that stage. I usually don't vary in order, drums and bass are generally 1 and 2 (1 and 3 in my current project).

Pretty much all of the chord progression and lyrics I know before recording, but I know nothing about the arrangement until I start. Generally I know what I want it to feel like but most of it keys off drums for me. I guess it's easier for me to match to that since I'm not a drummer and I'm limited in the patterns I can use.
 
easlern said:
That's really interesting that you put bass in at that stage. I usually don't vary in order, drums and bass are generally 1 and 2 (1 and 3 in my current project).

Pretty much all of the chord progression and lyrics I know before recording, but I know nothing about the arrangement until I start. Generally I know what I want it to feel like but most of it keys off drums for me. I guess it's easier for me to match to that since I'm not a drummer and I'm limited in the patterns I can use.
Click to expand...

bass might come a little earlier sometimes, but the absolute final bass take is near last. Oh, and lyrics are almost always written right before the vocal take. I have the melody and phrasing down, but I don't write the actual words out until everything else is just about finished. i usually have the key parts of the hook in my head, a phrase or two, or sometimes just a particular vowel sound that i think sounds good for a certain part. but lyric writing is another topic altogether and i've used a certain method for more than 15 years (based on phrases and top lines, rather than looking at it like it's poetry set to music).
 
ha, yeah, i'm just not the kind of guy that can do that. when i start writing something, i start with the vocal melody set to a chord progression in a particular tempo. i keep working the melody in the chorus over and over and over until i find something that is catchy and sticks. once it has stuck with me, my brain starts hearing certain words in it. if it's good to me, i keep that word and build around it. like "climb the wall", a more recent track i did. the vowel sound "I" in climb came first, and then it just became climb. then i asked "climb what?". the "ah" in wall started popping out so i chose wall. then, i had my basic chorus hook. haha. from there, i work backwards and write the verses followed by bridges.
 
This was the last one-man-band recording session....but now I'm trying to figure out how to add a didgeridoo.




OneManBand.jpg
 
I use to start drum loop then guitar. I find myself more and more just using the metronome and the bass. If I start out with a guitar I tend to chord, when I chord it dictates in my head too much the direction of the song. Even in my head I have just an idea of the song, I never really know what it is until I am deep into the song and "something" emerges. Starting with the bass seems to help me keep it more open longer.

Maybe I am FoS and kidding myself ;)
 
Lately I've been actually working out songs and playing them live for a while before I get to recording the "album version", so by then all the lyrics and "melodies" are there along with a pretty good idea of the chords, rhythms, and structures.

When I finally sit down to hack it together, I generally start by recording guitar and vocals to a click track. This way I have a good guide for the structure and especially the dynamic movements of the piece because those dynamics tend to follow from what the vocals are doing/saying. I usually call these scratch tracks, but it's fairly common that this first guitar take ends up in the final mix, and not completely unheard of that I'd keep the vocals, too. Then I just keep piling on guitar overdubs, synth and effects, and bass with the actual drum parts and final vocals way at the end.

I tend to kind of mix along the way, too, so that by the end of the process it's just a matter of tightening a few things here and there and hitting render.

I suppose it's atypical, but for the kind of thing I do, the guitars are really the focal point and driving force. It may not seem like it after all the studio fuckery, but I've been deliberately shooting to make these things work as songs with just a guitar and voice. Like, I should be able to pick up the house acoustic at an open mic and make it sound like something. Then I can get all crazy with the arrangement in studio.
 
I'm a songwriter, but do all the instruments myself. So the order usually depends on what I'm writing on. If the song is a guitar based song, guitar is usually the first track recorded. If it's a key based song, usually I start with a piano (although it may turn into something other...). One or the other to a click track.

I just finished a song where I started with the concept for the drums first. Built the intro after the drum part, then got the guitars on, keys, and finally bass. Then I went back and redid most of the tracks (in no basic order).

IOW, I do whatever I want, whenever I want and make music that no one wants to hear...:)
 
This comes up a few times a year. I think I stick to my normal routing, though I don't always follow the same workflow.

I usually write my songs on the acoustic. Work out chord progressions, melody and words for 90% of it.
Record scratch guitar and vocals to a click for the structure of the song: verses, chorus, intros, bridges, breaks, etc.
Add in basic drums
then bass
Delete everything and start over.
Add in rhythm guitars, pianos, pads, organ, whatevers
Evaluate the strength of the song and scrap it if it sucks. Or, finish writing and finalize my thoughts on how it should be.
Retrack lead vocals and delete scratch vocal or sometimes I just keep the scratch track because I'm lazy.
Retrack the bass for a keeper.
Edit drums for fills, variance, etc.
Add any solo stuff.
Add fills, etc.
 
This has changed over the years. What happens these days is that I start by jamming on bass or electric guitar over a drum loop. When I find a riff or progression I like, I'll record it. Then I'll usually add the other--if I started on guitar, I'll add a bass line. If on bass, then a guitar part. Then I'll just loop and play it back, experimenting with another guitar part usually, or keyboards.

At that point, one of two things will have happened. Either a vocal melody will have suggested itself, or it will not have. If I'm not hearing a vocal pretty early in the process, I'll abandon it. If I'm hearing some kind of vocal, I'll keep going.

Next step is to set up the different parts of the song to loop while I overdub vocals. I'll record five or ten takes of each section while the part loops continuously. No lyrics yet, just singing scat and looking for melodic ideas. I can only do it when I'm home alone as I'd be embarrassed for anyone to hear me singing utter nonsense. ;) Then I'll listen back and comp any vocal parts that sound good to me.

At that point, some lyric ideas should be coming to me. If not, I'll abandon it and move on. I might return to it months later, or maybe not. If I'm able to get a melody and lyrics, I'll put the song on the short list of tunes I'm trying to finish. From that list, I'll work on whatever I'm most excited about, just trying to complete the arrangement.

There is nothing efficient about the process. I'll usually fine-tune the lyrics and melody several times as I am recording, which means re-tracking, comping, etc. I'm often pretty sick of a song by the time it is finished.
 
Chili we have a very similar process. Except I never scrap anything if it's not a scratch track, if I take the time to record something I'm making sure someone takes time to listen haha.
 
That's really surprising Robus that you write lyrics as you go. They always seem so carefully planned like you built the song around them. Your process works really well.
 
Lyrics are the hardest part of all! I'm usually fiddling with them right up the final vocal takes.
 
First I lay down a looped drum measure, I use EZ Drummer sounds and sometimes one of their measures, but usually I'll midi from a keyboard. Then I'll put a rhythm guitar. After that comes a scratch vocal that might end up being used. I like to key off of the vocal. After that I'll usually swap out drum measures for fills. Then fill out the rhythm and maybe some live percussion stuff. I take a lot of time doing guitar fills and leads because I'm just plain slow. I might spend 20 minutes or more on one guitar fill. Leads are often put together from four or five comp tracks. Then come harmony vocals. I tune all the harmonies, and most of the lead vocals. I'll do the bass either before or after the harmonies, being mostly a bass player I can hear the bass when it's not there and since the bass is the most important thing in the song (well, maybe the vocal SOMETIMES :) ) I like to make it groove with the band. Mixing is always with a comparison track. Some track by an artist whose mixes I really like, often Vince Gill or Lyle Lovett, sometimes Steely Dan that I can solo out now and then to check my mix. Here's my current album, ironically called "The One Man Band." The cover tunes are just snippets but the originals have the whole song. I overdid the de-esser on "Alibis and Lullabies" which I've corrected for the cd (it never stops LOL). The Dylan and Lightfoot acoustic tunes were recorded a few years ago, the others are a few months old. https://loudr.fm/release/mike-dunbar-one-man-band/8bFTu
 
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