Posted on 08/18/2012 8:20:43 PM PDT by waterhill
Any FReeper songwriters here? Do you record ideas/whatnot? Do you just write them down? What is it that you do? I do alot of notebook and some tape, and am just now starting to use the computer to record; although the sound is flangey and sometimes overdriven. I am using the mic on the 'puter, should probably use an external. Any tips you may have are welcome. Thanks!
Christian Rock- late 70’s.
Banging the 12-string since ‘77.
Built my own oak electric back then; played slide on round wounds.
First guitar was a Stella 12-string folk- built like a rail car.
Been hiding in the woods quite awhile.
Thats what I was looking for! I do both: sometimes lyrics, sometimes music, and rarely it happens at the same time (words and music).
Sorry about the previous post to you, I had no idea that you wrote.
But you can get a fairly good interface from Presonus that will take care of your overdrive problems as long as your computer can handle it. (CPU speed and ram memory, etc.) then you need software which can be several thousand bucks or as low as a couple hundred.
I use a Presonus FP10 and Cubase and it is amazing. You can do just about anything including turning your music into a Dolby Digital Soundtrack. I've worked in Studios for nearly 35 years and just 10 years ago the recording ability I have on my computer today would cost 50 thousand dollars or more.
Does it work for DROID?
It is magic
I don’t know, I don’t have a droid.
Please, just be original. Don’t go by a songwriting formula. Lots of radio music sound exactly the same, so boring...even most of the Christian music too. Sad.
“Been hiding in the woods quite awhile.”
Me too....
Not sure why you have such animosity towards my post..perhaps you should write about that and where it comes from...’jeez’
Phffff.....
No. But my sister just won the Austin Songwriter Award -First place - Blues category
I’m just trying to keep up ...
;o)
"Sometimes A Great Notion (The Oh Ah Song)"
Oh ah oh ah
Whoooooaaaoo hoo hooooooo
Oh ah oh ah
Whoooooaaaoo hoo hooooooo (baybeh)
(repeat 4x)
Whoop whoop hummahumma yeah yeah
Whoop whoop hummahumma yeah yeah
Whoop whoop hummahumma yeah yeah
Hooo hah (baybeh)
(chorus)
OooooOOoooOOoOOoOooaaaaaAAAAaaaaAAAahhhh
OooooOOoooOOoOOoOooaaaaaAAAAaaaaAAAahhhh
Oh ah oh ah
Whoooooaaaoo hoo hooooooo
Oh ah oh ah
Whoooooaaaoo hoo hooooooo (baybeh)
(repeat 4x)
Whoop whoop hummahumma yeah yeah
Whoop whoop hummahumma yeah yeah
Whoop whoop hummahumma yeah yeah
Hooo hah (baybeh)
(repeat chorus)
I hear ya. There is alot of good music out these days though. From C-Lo Green to Stone Sour.
Mackie Onyx Blackjack USB recording interface...
With Traktion 3 software... good stuff easy to use
My apologies, see my post #22. Sorry babe.
Hey waterhill, I’m a songwriter. I love discussing songwriting, and hanging out with songwriters. I love the process of writing songs, crafting them and performing them. But right now, I’m heading for bed. We had a very long day and have another one tomorrow. I look forward to hearing some of your stuff sometime. Our band web site is:
Hope to talk to you later about songwriting. Keep doing it!
Or I record the roughs in Garageband. If you want to get real sophisticated you can step into Logic Pro or step out of major composition to other more basic songwriting software.
If I have to jot something on notepad on my iPhone I do ALOT! I'm a singer and musician so I have a home studio with keys, baby grand, guitar, congas and lots of staff paper. I am old school and also a novelist etc. So anything that I can write on or that can record a melody works.
Get an iPad.
Get “Garage Band” software
Get an Apogee Jam http://www.apogeedigital.com/products/jam.php
Record your stuff.
If you only sing, you can sound professional with a “Helicon VoiceLive 2”
http://m.youtube.com/results?q=helicon%20voicelive%202
Are you talking about the music or the lyrics? Of course, write the lyrics down. On paper is probably better because paper doesn’t crash and it’s immediately there to work on and alter. As far as the music goes, keep playing the piece and refining it until you can play the entire thing through without screwing it up too much and then record it. After that you can figure out which other things you want to do to it without having wasted a lot of time spinning in too much on details before the mature form of the melody and song is developed. That said, if you happen to get a really nice melody it wouldn’t be a bad idea to jot it down in musical notation because it’s REALLY EASY FOR SOMETHING YOU THINK YOU’LL NEVER FORGET to just evaporate leaving only a vague sense of what it was. Musical notation will preserve enough of it to jog your memory. Leave effects and mixing to the very end. Of course, if you’re playing keyboards, there may be a particular patch that sets you thinking in a particular musical direction. If you’re composing on a keyboard in the early stages where you’re likely to forget something and can turn on record and forget about it, that wouldn’t be a bad idea either, just in case. Otherwise, like I said above, once you get the idea so you won’t forget it, just keep playing until you get it all worked out and then make the recording from which you’ll do further work.
I am not a good person to ask about this, but I will try to tell you what I know.
Like so many I was in a garage band as a kid. We made a little money, but were only local and regional...around Houston, Corpus Christi, etc. I have written for 35 years. I write songs (music and lyrics, poetry, short stories....but mostly songs). I got a little more serious about my songwriting about 15 years ago. What I wanted at that time was to publish. I really do not need the money, but did feel that some of the pieces I wrote were better than most of the shit on the radio. So that is what I set about to do.
I think the subject is one that is personal to you. The subject really, in my opinion, is mostly secondary. I have written about living, dying, children, dogs, 9-11, old men, goals, dreams, loss, songwriters, nonsense, daylilies, choices, God, Christmas, and many, many other subjects. I think the songs mays start with a hook, either a lyrical hook or a musical hook. Something which catches your attention. Then, for me, merging lyric with melody is mostly about moods. For me, most songs are about setting a mood. If you want upbeat naturalness in your song you go with a major progesssion. If you want a sad, reflective, you work with a minor chord structure.
I find, most of the time, I begin with a chord or a little musical lick that strikes a mood in me....you have to be listening. Or, you may have a lyric rumaging around in your head that you cannot get rid of. Once the lyric, even if only very abbreviated, is merged with a melody, I find the song, often, (not always) almost writes itself. You have to get to that place where you really say what you want to say. Most of my songs come very quickly....within an hour....BUT....a few songs have taken me 2-3 years to get it where I want it to be.
For me, there is usually something I want to say. It is only fragmentary most of the time, but I wrote a song that said that thing.....
A song's a fragile fragment from the mind,
Woven into any shape and size,
Treasures to remind us of things not realized,
Pieces that were broken,
Words mostly unspoken,
Searching for their destiny in time.
.........This is a verse of a song I wrote recently...about songwriters....and I think it gives a little insite of my view of what a song actually is.
I could write 10 pages regarding these matters, but I will stop there.
Now, regarding what to do with the song. That depends upon what you want. Some write it for their wife, girlfriend, the children, or simply for themselves. If you want to publish it becomes more difficult. For example, my goal has been to get George Strait, Alan Jackson, Randy Travis, or Merle Haggard to record one of my songs. But it is next to impossible to get your song to those guys or those guys AR people to get it to them. I live 800 miles from Nashville, so I do not run in circles of people who know people. It is said there are 3000 songwriters in Nashville, Tenn. They are there interacting with people who know the right people. Even then, it is a difficult get consideration.
If you want to get recorded by an act I have learned that they want to hear the song, much as it will sound if they do record...in other words, fully produced. It is true they sometimes take a song recorded on a Sony tape played by a guitar and sung by the writer. I think Skip Ewing can do that...he knows everyone in Nashville, and has a beatiful voice. He is the exception.
So what I did was go into the studio and recorded some of the songs I felt were the better songs. Full production. We put down the tracts with the basics, guitar, piano, base, drums...then vocals, then brought in fiddle, steel guitar, mandolin, cello (on a few)...all done by studio musicians. I did the vocals...I was the only one who knew the songs,...and by that time it started becoming expensive. The first album we put together we did not work excessively on the vocals,....and that was a mistake....the next 3 albums we spent a lot more time on the vocals.....and you could tell...if you were listening.
What I learned after pitching the first set of songs was that I felt we needed better vocals. It is said that there are people in Nashville who are chosen to sing the vocal track who sound almost exactly like George Strait...and those songs would be pitched to Strait.
I have come to believe that the most important thing that would get you published is "who you know", and "who you know who knows someone". Do not be afraid to ask. Don't be rude about it, but be persistant.
I will stop here. If I can answer any more question, write me.
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