Today's song begins a new album (Week35_Most Recent Oldies). Yes, this is week #35 of this recording marathon...just days away from the 9th consecutive month of writing, recording, mixing, and publishing a new song every day.
This week I will be focus less on creating "radio-ready" songs. I have, for the most part, been trying to perfect the formula that most radio song follow. However, it's fun to throw out the rule book occasionally and do whatever feels natural, fun, and right at the time of the recording. Okay, I know "fun" isn't really a musical genre, so I've narrowed the process down slightly. I will write each song this week on the guitar (today's song was written on the bass guitar played to a 'click' at 76bpm), I will focus on unique rhythms (today's song has two main electric guitars that 'duel' throughout the song...strumming chords in syncopation, etc), and I plan on trying a few new editing techniques. Some will have vocals...this one does not.
From a performance perspective, I've noticed that my improvisational skills have improved quite a bit over the past 8 months. I've actually had a number of songs in the past month or so that have been written as they were being recorded. Literally, I will activate the 'record' button and decide what I'm going to do while the computer is recording. It's a fun challenge, and I've created many tracks in this project in just one take. From a technical perspective, I'm definitely getting quicker with editing tracks. One, my playing has gotten more precise, so my edits are easier to make. Two, I've got a nimble mouse-hand and I'm able to think 4-5 steps ahead, so I never stop making actions. I've also built editing speed by making certain aspects of this process (otherwise mundane) into a game. If I have a series of regions that need to be edited and joined together, then I'll let the song play from the beginning...trying to make my edits ahead of the cursor. I can usually beat the cursor to the end. Repetition pays.
-Matthew
www.anewsongeveryday.com
matthew@anewsongeveryday.com
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment