Songwriting Challenge

  • Thread starter Thread starter Layla Nahar
  • Start date Start date
what is really hard is letting go. Letting a song be done and moving on the the next... sometimes I take a couple years to actually finish a song. I guess that's why i have so many rotating in and out of the soup - it gives me time to settle with them before I say goodbye...
 
I'm the kind who likes to write it, record it and master it in one night then wait for the next one.
 
lotuscent said:
What usually pushes me to finish them is the need for fresh material in one of my bands, or if I'm compiling work for an album.

If you wanna check a couple out
http://mattyaki.com/tunes.cfm
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Hi LotusScent/Matt,

I wish I could listen to your stuff. the only in'net I have acess to these days is at the public library.

I see you're in alaska. Seem it was warmer there than it was in New England this year!

LN
 
Layla Nahar said:
I met a guy recently, 55 years old, working in LA, seemed to be pretty well hooked up, & he said to me "publishers are only gonna want to hear your 101st song
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I know a pro songwriter (actually i know maybe a dozen, but this is one of a kind), whos been doing that for a living for maybe 15 years, wakes up every single morning 6 am and has to have a song done before breakfast. He also has to finish another song before going to sleep.

Of course most of the songs that you write between 6 and 7.30 ain't gonna be that hot :) (the evening ones tend to be a lot better) but he says it's the quantity that counts - if you're good you can get maybe every 30th song published; with 730 songs a year you can aim for decent publishing rate. That's what he says, and as i said, he lives by that, and is doing rather good.

He's done maybe two songs that have been getting lots of airplay for ten years now, those two are his main "pearls" (and he claims those two were by far the two easiest and fastest works), but he really gets a surprising amount of songs covered by all kinds of bands every year. He doesn't want his name to appear in any credits.
 
slabrock said:
I but he says it's the quantity that counts -
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Yep, that's exactly my understanding of this professional artist thing.

In fact, although I'm doing one song a week, most of my stuff gets pretty much done in a day.

I've posted that something stressful came up - the crisis has passed, and curiously, it is now *after* the crisis that I am finding it hard to stick to my guns & keep working ...
 
Layla Nahar said:
Yep, that's exactly my understanding of this professional artist thing.
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To me, that approach to songwiting is craft. Some will argue that it is a craft, and I will usually agree. But, a songwriter who want to see her/his works through to production, that is, has a final vision of the work... well, I guess then they are recording artists, something different than a songwriter.

I can't leave the musicican in me behind when I write songs. Every song I write has the baggage of years as a player/composer that preceded my songwriting days.

I don't think I could write that many songs that quickly - I get too involved in hearing it as a finished piece... and then it inevitably takes forever... but that's not a bad thing, just my thing, i guess.
 
I'm still figuring out exactly where I will be going. I guess this is my "play" period. I write a lot of songs that I don't think are bad, but I wouldn't want to perform them. But at the same time, I want to create a product that expresses me, and put that out in the world. So, for what I want to do, I would eventually want a lot of artistic control, doing arranging, etc..

oops - gotta go!
 
Re: sure.....

joro said:
I'm in....name a topic ......

I need to start writing lyrics again.....been to few and far inbetween....ya know?

Joe
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OK here's yer topic:

Unwed Lesbian Eskimo Mothers against Nuclear Weapons

... sounds like a Jerry Springer show topic doesn't it?

- Tanlith -

Webmaster: Super Loop Library
 
One song a week, you guys are my heros. I guess this comes with ...time ...more beer ...what, tell me what LOL :P
 
I don't know

ONEsnowRIDER said:
One song a week, you guys are my heros. I guess this comes with ...time ...more beer ...what, tell me what LOL :P
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I wish I could say, I only made it 2 weeks. I got an F this week.
I'm hoping there will be a curve.:D
-okobd
 
Re: I don't know

okobd said:
I wish I could say, I only made it 2 weeks. I got an F this week.
I'm hoping there will be a curve.:D
-okobd
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I almost didn't make it this week - I have been so exhausted... but I got a song out.

It looks like some of y'all are doing this too. Let me know if/who wrote a song last week..,.


LN
 
I just got done mixing mine yesterday. A week to write it and another week to mix it. All for 2:38 of song. :eek: I'll put it in the clinic soon. I can safely say I won't be doin' this again, but it was fun to try.
 
Roktuk said:
I just got done mixing mine yesterday. A week to write it and another week to mix it. All for 2:38 of song. :eek: I'll put it in the clinic soon. I can safely say I won't be doin' this again, but it was fun to try.
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Listened to it. Very progressive feel. Some parts reminded me of Emerson Lake and Palmer. The drums are great! Was that you playing?
 
Got two this week, but i don't know if they qualify... one is a funk/new school jazz groove with a repetetive vocal refrain with 4 different lines of lyrics threaded in between. I'm using it as an intro peice to me next release (maybe). It's onlt 2 min. long or so, and about half is groove/guitar wail.

Then I did a reprise of another already written tune, but I came up with a new verse I had to use, so I recorded a spare, acoustic fingerpick rendition of the tune with just the new verse. It seems like a piece unto itself, but maybe these two together can qualify as one.
 
quattro_xxph said:
The drums are great! Was that you playing?
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...Nope. Sequenced. I couldn't play the drum tracks I write in a million years!
 
exhaustion

Last week I didn't write. This week I have half written a dance/club song. Between now and sunday I want to try to write another song. I'm feeling really exhausted these days. I have - no job, no money, no appartment... (staying w/ moms, who's losing it) plus some other heavy stuff. The good point - i'm going to school in september.

Wish me luck. I'm really looking forward to being able to do all kinds of sequencing & production stuff at school.

"laytah..."
Layla
 
Luck is seeing the potential good in every moment. Seeit and it is yours for the taking.

Good Luck!
 
There are times I'm glad I have no computer anymore.
Then, there are times like this, I wish I did.

I'm using someone else's machine right now.
 
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