A quick hello...
Just to reassure you all (if 'all' is the appropriate word) that I'm still here, and,nominally at least, still running this blog! Sorry for the lengthy silence, which I can only attribute to extreme busy-ness in general, and a few other more specific things (like my daughter's chickenpox). I'll try and post more in detail shortly about how we've been, but I'll just mention in passing that I've been working to finish recording and mixing for a CD of children's songs (as mentioned before around here), and where time (infrequently) allows, laying down tracks towards the solo/"concept" album I've promised I'm going to finish during 2008. Anyway, this has been a post from my mobile phone, so more will appear here as soon as I can write it.
Labels: childrenssongs, conceptalbum, life
Ethereal voices
I've been trying to get another post up here for the last week or so, but something always interrupted me, so here's a go at a quick e-mail post from my mobile phone.
Basically, we recently invested in an iMac, partly to retire our old PC which is getting rather long in the tooth, but also for producing music and some graphics (the latter mainly for Joy's music activities for children). I bought Logic Express to go with the machine, and have been experimenting with it to add an extra dimension to our music production.
Yesterday evening I finally got to try one of Logic's software synthesisers that I've been dying to have a go on: EVOC, a vocoder synth (which blends the synth signal with an audio input such as a voice). In a nutshell, I was recording some guitar synth parts for "When The Sun Goes Off To Sleep", a song for the "concept album" (which I'm still hoping to finish this year, honest!), and decided to add some 'vocoded' voice to the end. The song has been around for a few years (I wrote it as a lullaby for my daughter), and my original acoustic demo dates from late 2004, but I've wanted to re-record it to give the song a more ambient, dreamy air. In particular, I hoped Joy might sing a bit on it, as I had conceived a female vocal sound for the ending, but she felt a bit shy and backed out, so the idea was shelved until I thought of using Logic's vocoder (which might capture even better the effect I wanted).
So, last night I recorded the voice part for the vocoder to use, set up the MIDI guitar and played the melody on the vocoder. The results were just what I was looking for—an ethereal 'voice' (or 'voices', as I'd played a 'chordal' part into the vocoder), floating behind the lead vocal in the final verse. I also tried my original idea for the song ending: two lines from the Korean nursery rhyme which gave the song its chorus melody. This worked pretty well too, so I think you can expect to hear all this on the final version of the song, when I get around to putting out the album.
The moral of this story: vocoders are fun :-)
Labels: conceptalbum, logic, mac, music, recording, studio
Like buses
There's an old joke in the UK that some things are like waiting for buses: you wait ages with nothing, and then three come along at the same time. Well, in this case it's more like two, but I've been chewing over ideas for a new song, and today another completely new one overtook it and leapt into existence almost unbidden.
I've probably never said it here before, but my answer to the perennial songwriter's question—which comes first, words or music?—is usually: the music, and the words tend to follow. Having said that, since I embarked on my project for 2008 (for want of a less cringeworthy name, a "concept album"), I've found myself thinking a lot more in terms of lyrics first, probably as I have to try and fit them into the "concept". This new song is the second in succession where the lyrics came first, and the music later, except here it all occurred within 48 hours.
I had a title (which I won't reveal yet, perhaps until I have a rough demo to share), and the lyrics came out in fits and starts over the course of yesterday evening, this lunchtime and this evening. There was a rough idea in my head of the kind of musical style I had in mind. I'll be quite open and admit this song was inspired by two things: the Kinks song "Afternoon Tea" (from their album "Something Else" (1967)), and a bag of green tea I had on my desk at my office (it'll make more sense when you hear the song).
What really surprised me when I sat down with the guitar, was how easily—even naturally—the music came for the words. I rarely write music to words, as I feel the results are more stilted and 'forced' when I do that; here, however, the chords and melody almost wrote themselves, and although I may well need to sand off a rough edge here and there, I think that the final version may not change greatly from what emerged the first time I played it.
Labels: conceptalbum, music, songwriting
Do it yourself
Scott Andrew—a fine independent singer-songwriter from somewhere in the Seattle area (the "winged monkey" icon elsewhere on this page links to the Web site for his current CD, "Save You From Yourself")—has been musing on the idea of independent artists raising cash for recording projects through donations from their fans.
He has a valid perspective on this concept, not least because his current CD was largely funded through fans' pre-orders and a rather well thought-out "incentive" system (i.e. the more one paid in advance, the more "goodies" one received when the CD was finished). I liked Scott's last album (2003's "Where I've Been"), and bought the CD even though he made the tracks available for free download, as I wanted to repay in some way the trust he placed in his listeners (and the music was good too :-) ), so I also ended up pre-ordering "SYFY" as well.
Scott also raised an interesting question: if you don't know as an artist whether you have an audience out there to fund the recording of your new masterpiece (and being a thirtysomething amateur musician/songwriter who has never toured and can number his live performances in the last five years on the fingers of one hand, that includes me), why not release an album as a free Internet download, and see what reaction it gets?
I am giving this idea some thought at present, and here's my concept:
I record and mix the songs for my current project as planned, but deliberately play as much as possible myself to keep the costs down (possibly with some guest keyboards from Joy if she's up for it). I would then post the results online for free download... and it's here where I'm not sure how to take it further. I'd like to rely on an "honour system", and ask downloaders if they would like to let me know what they thought of the album, and whether they might also be interested in an "enhanced" CD version. (Presumably, by "enhanced CD", I could mean either the existing recordings with extra items on a "data" section of the CD—the approach Scott Andrew took with "Where I've Been"—or re-recorded versions of the songs with other musicians, or even a combination of the two.)
Of course, I haven't thought everything through yet. For one thing, I'm well aware that by putting the tracks online for free download, I'm taking the risk that some, or even most, downloaders will just take the tracks and give me no feedback (or even worse, some might try reselling them or passing off the songs and/or recordings as their own, or something). Well, yes, it might happen, but then some listeners might try something similar even if I just tried selling CDs, and as Scott has said more than once, it's a kind of backhanded compliment if you've produced something which someone considers worth stealing...
If I were to try this approach, I would be putting my faith in the honour of anyone interested enough in my recorded work to download it in the first place (and to get it for free), to also take a couple of minutes to let me know (a) that they've downloaded the album; (b) what they honestly think of it; and (c) whether they would be prepared to cough up for a value-added version. Yes, it's entirely possible that I might get little or no feedback, or that the feedback I do receive tells me that the album sucks and I should stick to the day job. At least if the latter happened, I would know where I stand in the arena of public opinion, and that at least I had given it my best shot and hadn't just (artistically speaking) hidden in my bedroom, too nervous of the possibility of criticism to try venturing out and discovering if my music had an audience. (Which come to think of it, pretty well sums up what I did throughout my twenties, when I actually had the time to go out and try gigging that I don't really have now (with a family and other commitments).)
Still, better late than never...?
Labels: conceptalbum, internet, music, recording
Bye bye band?
I was just leafing through some of my old blog posts, and came across an entry from last October, which contained the following assertion:
I'd really like to have at least a live drummer and bass player on this CD project, even if they don't appear on all the songs.
Funny how one's intentions can change, even over four months. I realised when I read that entry, that without thinking about it, I was no longer thinking the same way—it's partly because the "CD project" I was referring to there, is a somewhat different concept from the one which I am currently aiming towards. Back then, I was planning to re-record a selection of the better songs I'd written in recent years, with the aid of a live rhythm section to get more of a 'band' feel (a sort of "best of", really).
Now, I've changed to this "concept album" idea, which will probably contain a few of my older songs worked into the format, but with a considerably larger proportion of newer compositions written especially for the project. For some reason, I've found I'm not thinking so much of having other musicians working on it, at least not at the outset. This may be partly because my drumming has improved to the point that I might be able to "get by" with it (especially if I record my electronic kit into a MIDI sequencer and tidy up the timing later!); alternatively, it may be a simple change of emphasis, where I record as much as possible myself and then call for help if I think the recording needs it.
Yet another approach I've considered, is to record all the songs for the project entirely solo (so I can claim that I've made that solo "one-man band" album I always wanted to do!), and then treat those sessions as the demos for the "real album", which I can then either build on with other musicians, or even re-record totally with a band.
Or perhaps I should just stop theorising and percolating on how I should produce this album, and just get on with it and see what happens? After all, I've only got ten months left... :-)
Labels: conceptalbum, recording
Getting there
Rejoice, o people—at last, I've managed to dash down a basic demo of the "lamppost song" (the one I've been mentioning over the last week or two). It seems that these days, I can only record stuff for the new album project in-between ongoing tracking for songs for Joy's children's musical activity sessions—I slotted this demo after laying down part of a backing track for "Hop, Skip and Jump".
I say the new demo is "basic", but it's currently vocal, electric guitar, bass and drums, and if Joy can find the time, I'm hoping she can play some "harpsichord" (sampled, naturally). On the other hand, I realised partway through that I'd missed out the 'instrumental break', so I may re-record the song for the album at a later date, and keep this song for reference.
In my view, the demo isn't quite ready for others to hear, mainly because to my ears, the pitching on the vocal is way out (it's a weakness of mine, but I can, and have to, do better than I did this time). However, at some point soon I'll upload the demo to the Internet Archive so you can have your first taste of the direction the album will probably take.
Labels: conceptalbum, demos, music, recording
Maps and movement (or lack of it)
Nope, still haven't committed a demo of the new song to disk, but I'm really going to try hard over the weekend, honest! (I mean, it's just going to be guitar and vocal at first, so how long can it take, anyway...?)
I also had an idea for yet another song, that I started "brainstorming" when I arrived home from work this evening. Sometimes, I use "mind maps" (or a mutated version thereof) to help me organise related thoughts, and I find they can work pretty well for songwriting, at least when you're at the stage of collecting ideas, concepts, phrases and so on for your new creation.
Anyway, I jotted down a few thoughts as a mind map, and will leave them to percolate for a bit, as seems to be my usual habit. I won't mention much about the song yet, except to say it's another element of my "concept album" idea, about two young lovers who like to meet on the old stone bridge over the stream on the edge of the village.
And anyone who's thinking that this sounds like a rural retelling of Terry and Julie's end-of-day romantic meetings in the English capital... well, if you listen to enough of Ray and the boys' oeuvre, as I seem to be doing a fair bit at present, one can't easily help the odd influence creeping in here and there, can one...? ;-)
Labels: conceptalbum, music, songwriting
Song update (but no demo yet)
A quick post dashed off from my mobile (in case you were wondering, I didn't enter all this on the phone keypad, as I have a Bluetooth keyboard), because... well, just because I can :-)
Thought I'd update you on the song which I said in the last post that I was writing. I'm hoping to find some time this week to record a first demo of it, which will hopefully show me if/where I need to work on it a bit more. I have an arrangement idea already: I'm going to play Spanish (nylon-strung) guitar on the song, and hope Joy will try playing harpsichord (at least, a sampled one). I'll probably add drums and upright bass (MIDI guitar for the latter), and possibly a "string quartet" arrangement (yup, sampled again), but at the start, I'll keep it to guitar and vocal only.
If I can find the time, I'll try and lay down one or two other demos, such as the "title" track of the "concept" album and maybe even something else I've got queued up. Then again, I have enough other calls on my time to risk not being able to record much this week; come back in a few days to see what (if anything) I managed to fit in.
Labels: conceptalbum, music
I wrote a lyric
And just when I wasn't expecting it, I just scribbled down some lyrics the other day. They weren't entirely out of the blue; the song itself is one I've been percolating for a bit, for my aforementioned concept album idea. I will keep the title to myself until I've at least recorded a rough demo, just to string you along a bit...
I'm not completely happy with the lyrics themselves at this point (they feel rather stilted and rhyming dictionary-ish to me, and overall read like I was trying too hard, which perhaps I was), but think they were heading in the right direction, so I'll see if I can buff them up before I let the song out.
This piece is unusual for me, because when I write songs I almost always end up coming up with the music first, whereas this time it's coming the other way round. It might be because I've had so little time lately to go near an instrument for any great length of time. I have a few chord and melody ideas, and am weighing up whether to try composing this song on piano, mainly because I'm not great at the keyboard and it might (paradoxically) make me think more about what music I'm writing, or lead me down a path I might not take were I holding a guitar.
Hope to have a demo of this song to share with you soon, anyway. It looks as if the "concept album" project might have started sooner than I thought.
Labels: conceptalbum, lyrics, music, songwriting
