Finally finished a song!

[alexclaber]

Well, when I say finished I mean I've got the melody, lyrics and changes sorted and recorded and it's very exciting.

 

Just to introduce myself I've been a bassist for 6 years now and I learnt to play whilst in a band at Uni. Anyway, although I contributed a bit to the writing in that band and always created my own parts and helped arrange the songs, I've never done anything which was my own vision.

 

I started a band about a year ago in the hope of getting some originals written and performed but without the confidence in my writing etc it just degenerated into a covers band and I quit.

 

So now it's just me, a Zoom drum machine, a Tascam 4-track, an SM58 and my Warwick bass and loads of effects pedals. A few years back I worked on some stuff on my computer but I'm really enjoying the simplicity of a cassette 4-track, it makes me concentrate much more on the songs.

 

The process with this song (and likely to be with the rest is):

 

I came up with a cool riff on the bass. I then developed that into a bassline that went through various changes and basically wrote the entire bassline to a song tht didn't exist. I then programmed some basic beats and recorded the bassline to them - just plugging the bass straight in. This was followed by me listening back to them a few times and then humming a melody over this and recording that.

 

I then mixed it onto minidisc, and within 2 days had written all the lyrics (didn't expect it to happen so fast but having a melody to work off really inspired me). Then last night I recorded the lead vocal so now I have drums, bass and lead vocal recorded.

 

The next step is to create some sort of midrange chordal/counterpoint part to act like a guitar/piano would typically. Once that's done I'll have run out of tracks, so I'll either put it to one side and work on something else or go straight ahead with the final arranging and re-recording with FX and backing vocals.

 

For the final version I intend to record the drum machine and bass (with FX, so I'll be leaping on pedals whilst tracking) direct onto one track, then add the high-bass part (ie. guitary part) which will probably be effected too, leaving me 2 tracks free for lead and backing vocals.

 

Well, I bet it's a unique approach if nothing else.

 

I'll post the final (and maybe demo) results on the web for your criticisms (hopefully both positive and negative).

 

Alex

[LiveMusic]

Congrats, Alex, it is very gratifying, isn't it. I'm shopping now for some kind of recording device so I can get mine recorded. I've been in a spurt of writing activity lately and it's been hard to remember some of my ideas before I lose them. I think there's no way I'll lose them but then I sometimes do. I've been trying to chart them out as I compose but recording would solve that. Mostly I just need a device for work copies... "demos."

[alexclaber]

Well, I've just changed my approach to writing/recording - I've bought a Yamaha QY-70 so I can sequence the entire song and then just record the vocal on top (and replace the bassline/solos with real ones). Should make the whole process much more streamlined and I'll be able to write/arrange stuff whilst commuting. Plus, my appalling guitar technique will no longer restrict my chord sequences - excitement!

 

Alex

[Chaz]

Sonar is a great and very powerful program for PC. You can record both MIDI and digital audio. And, it has excellent processor and FX plugins included. It is very user friendly. We use it in studio ( a pro studio).