About Making Music.

[louielouie]

At its best, music is a subconscious process.

I understand this. But I also want to offer my different position. For me, that isn't really true. It begins as true, or at least it begins as partly true. The early stages of composition tend to be a series of jabs, with intuition (subconscious) leading the way. But once the framework of a song--by which I mean basic melody and chord structure--is in place, it's far less a matter of the subconscious. Then it is a matter of working with theoretical understanding/craftsmanship. The decisions made there, however, are of course done with taste, and that could be considered a subconscious understanding.

That´s it i think, your explanation clarifies the creative process in my opinion: the intuition as the subconcious guide and then, as it develops tends to become more concious. It reminds me an article i read about Paul McCartney writing style:http://guitar.about.com/od/songwriting/ss/writing_melody_4.htm

From my limited experience, to write a song is a sort of chanelling process and it varies a lot: sometimes tunes come fast, sometimes takes a lot of time to even imagine a  melodic phrase or a satisfactory harmony. And i consider  very important certain elements as the mood i am in while trying to compose, the grade of obssesion(i find myself often blocked sometimes without even realize it or realize it till much more later), and how clear the main idea of the song is in my head. But this is i since i see it as a matter of frequencies. Of course this is just my approach to it.

Thanks Luther for bringing this interesting thread, it is very insightful to read the views of people involved in music creation.

[the captain]

DSamore and louielouie, glad to see you two joining the thread. I would love to see this thread--and this forum--really continue to grow into more than just a lot of people posting their stuff and hoping for praise or comments. Instead, if more people can generously (bravely?) give of themselves, either through this more theoretical thread or in terms of their criticisms to other people's work, I think we'd all get more value from it. What good is it to you to post a song and get 150 views, but only maybe one response--probably along the lines of "nice, cool song"? No, by really taking a little extra time to give here, we'll by definition all receive more criticism, information, ideas, etc. as well.

[Fall Breaks]

Luther, I'm with you on the drum thing. Only once have I managed to get a drum part on beat. Could very well be the distance to the instrument.

I've (temporarily) given up on using live drums on my recordings and currently I'm trialing and erroring with MIDI drums in Cubase. However, I seem to only have access to one, or maybe two, drum sets in that program, neither capturing the sound I'm after. Anyone else using Cubase? How can I get more drum sets to choose from? It must be able to download them from somewhere, somehow, right?

[the captain]

Well, it's 9 a.m. I've had coffee, juice, even an omelet. I've got nothing else scheduled for the day. Time to get down into that basement and begin that Sisyphean task: drumming. I don't want to become good, necessarily, so much as just passable. I want to a) do well enough on basic parts to handle at least some of my music without having to seek outside help, and b) get better at recording drums to get a decent sound. (I have not got much of a natural ear for drum sounds, and to date I don't have the patience to develop it.) What else are Saturday mornings for?

[the captain]

Drumming went far better than I thought. having thought through the part the other day really helped. (I'm not going to lie: with guitar and often piano, I don't really think it through, I just get it done. Fast.) Unfortunately, I don't remember the chords to this stupid song, so now I have to quick figure out what I did the first time around. (It's an old scratch track I'm going by; if I ever wrote it down, I don't know where I'd find it.)

[the captain]

Almost done.

[the captain]

I've got an offer from a distant family member for a free, allegedly working Yamaha Electone FS550 digital organ (early/mid 80s vintage). Anyone ever used one? Do I want this? Note: 330+ pounds. I do have space for it in my basement, though I might die getting it down there.

[hypehat]

Don't know - a digital organ would be fairly low on my list of instruments to purchase. Might as well buy a cheap keyboard and do your back a favour....

Lost the piano by the way - went back up to my halls at university after placing the £1 bid, but the snow knocked out the internet there and i couldn't see whether i'd won...... outbid by 20p! 

Anyone else find the time to record/write/pick up the guitar just doesn't exist some weeks? so frustrating, especially since my time is kind of constrained anyway seeing as the aforementioned halls are hardly music lovers..... 

[Fall Breaks]

Luther, you should definitely get the organ. I haven't owned (or played) a FS 550 myself, but other related, and I really like the sounds you can get out of them. Foot pedals are also nice.

Nowadays I have a Yamaha YC-45D from the mid 70s. It is said to be portable, only weighing about 140 pounds... (of course excluding the 160 lbs amplifier). Organs are heavy stuff.

[richardsnow]

Re- The 4 tracks

I think if you get a pretty decent one that records at double speed and has BX or Dolby C noise reduction you can do great things with them.    You do have to plan upfront with them though.
I used to love mine and infact I only upgraded to a 12 track digital thing when the belt went on my Teac and I couldn't get a replacement for a while.

I cut the whole track of this song on a Yamaha cassette 4 track then did a mono dub over to a TEAC reel to reel so i could add vocals
http://soundclick.com/share?songid=6249805

[the captain]

I don't think I'm going to get the organ. What good is a digital organ if I have a (better) digital keyboard as it is? What I'd prefer to do is get some more natural keyboard instruments: an older organ, a Rhodes, etc. I'm not lugging around 300+ pounds of early digital keyboard.

[grillo]

If you can find nice wurlitzer electric piano I think you'd really have some fun with it. They are generally smaller than a rhodes and ,to these ears (and I know our ears seem to have different opinions ), they sound better. I'm also a big fan of Lowry organs, though they are obviously rather large and meant for your house and not so good for touring.

[the captain]

Touring won't matter to me. It's all just for the house, so as long as I can get it here and don't have to move it around much, I'm good.

[Fall Breaks]

I don't think I'm going to get the organ. What good is a digital organ if I have a (better) digital keyboard as it is? What I'd prefer to do is get some more natural keyboard instruments: an older organ, a Rhodes, etc. I'm not lugging around 300+ pounds of early digital keyboard.

What good it is? There's a very special feeling playing an eletric instrument that you know would kill you with its sheer weight if you happened to get under it.

Can't get that with a modern keyboard. 

[the captain]

Not sure if you all have been paying attention, but the board's own Adam Marsland has released a new album, Hello Cleveland. It was written on tour in a few days and recorded in less than half a day. As of now, I believe it's available only through orders to his website. So there is plenty there that's interesting about the approach, not to mention a major departure from his excellent double album Go West from last year. And me, I prefer this year's album. (Possibly no surprise to those of you who know my style and tendencies.) But it definitely raises interesting (at least to me) issues surrounding the state of music, and the best way for people involved in it to go about their craft. Anybody else heard? Want to discuss?

[the captain]

A co-worker loaned me for the weekend his little Ashbory fretless electric bass. It's tiny, like maybe 18 inches long, 24 tops. Fat little plastic strings. But it sounds pretty good, almost like a stand-up, and is fun. So I began a new version of my jazzy tune "Louisiana" to see if I could get a cool thing going. Got piano, bass, and guitar done, but the drumming wasn't going well. While it should be easy to do, subtlety is not the strength of a shitty drummer! Too much space to hear the errors. Anyway, I'll try to finish it up tomorrow. Anybody ever try one of those little basses, though? This guy at work swears by it, says he's done plenty of jazz gigs and various pit-orchestra theater gigs with it.

[the captain]

[the captain]

Strongly considering recording KISS's "Hooligan." Acoustic blues.

[hypehat]

Never mind that, how did you get on with that bass? Never seen one of them before....

[the captain]

It was fun and sounds cool, but I'd need more than a weekend to really put it to use. The scale is so small, it takes a long time to really feel comfortable (especially in that it's fretless and so positioning is extra important).

[the captain]

btw, my one and only attempt recording with the little f*cker--presumably ever, since I am returning it to its owner tomorrow--should be posted presently. Just gotta mix it quick.

[hypehat]

I can never get on with fretless instruments - tried a mates' fretless bass and i was lost. Listening to that tune, it's really good - like the drumming too, i think you sell yourself a little short.

And at least you own a drumkit - been trying to get access to my university's practice drumkit to record, but have had such little luck (i'm not a music student, so they won't let me book a room, even if they're clearly empty/unbooked for the day) i had to resort to making a 'kit' out of a suitcase, my tambourine and a bunch of envelopes stuck in a bag.... the perils of bedroom musicianship

[louielouie]

btw, my one and only attempt recording with the little Luther--presumably ever, since I am returning it to its owner tomorrow--should be posted presently. Just gotta mix it quick.

Can´t wait to hear it!,  i´ve never seen anything like that little bass. I wish i could play it.

[the captain]

i had to resort to making a 'kit' out of a suitcase, my tambourine and a bunch of envelopes stuck in a bag.... the perils of bedroom musicianship

Man, I can totally relate to that! You don't know how many of my tunes have that sort of percussion.

[the captain]

How are your work habits, all? I've been really lazy in recent weeks, as work has been awful. The ironic thing is, I hate work less when I use my free time writing or recording, so if only I'd get off my ass for that first move, not only would productivity result, but better spirits. Alas. Motherfuck. I hate work. And I'm lazy.