A big mistake
many recordist make is they over tweak their song so much, they end up wasting
time, losing interest, and the creative fire can go out real fast.
I have written
over 2,000 songs, recorded several hundreds of Songs; let me tell you something
I have learned. If you are a perfectionist, are trained to read music, and are
over doing every beat, syllable, note, you can lose your creative spark.
Some write and
record fro the head, others from the heart, I am one that writes and records
with emotion from the heart, I am not trained in music theory, and I have
always just made music, from the heart. Once I started to master Recording
Engineering and later Mastering Engineering, I found myself over tweaking a
song, days later to find, the first take, the first final mix, was the best, I
wasted time and became frustrated.
I am not saying
you should not master your craft, but guess what, that happens with time, not
your first recording or CD, you should sound and become better with each
recording, with each year.
Composing a
song, or writing lyrics should be done the same way that a story is written, I
have written seven books and have many film scripts and finished non fiction
novels. I have learned as a writer of stories and lyrics, just write, do not
stop, a writer writes. If you just write what ever comes to your head and
heart,........... That is the best start. I just write, and write and later if
needed I will change a word or a line. I have been bale to do most of my stuff
in the first rough draft with no re write, it’s a gift not everyone is a
natural word smith, but no matter what, just write and do not stop, do not
check rhymes, spelling, punctuation , nothing, this is where the creative
process takes place, during your first draft.
One you learn
the craft of writing esp. lyrics or poems a dead give away of a novice writer
in song is to much rhyming, unless its rap LOL. Over rhyming is the dead give
away, do not try to rhyme every ending verse, sometimes for artistic purposes I
over rhyme, like on a song I did called Intensity-Chem trails, it called for
it. Look at say U2 lyrics and see a pro lyricist and wordsmith at work see how
few rhymes there are.
David Bowie said
many times he would write one or two lines of lyrics cut them into slices toss
them in the air and however they fell, he wrote them that way, I kid you not. I
would not suggest that way, I am making a point, look at Pink Floyd lyrics,
many veiled messages, allegories, and many do not even know what they are
talking about. Sometimes I love allegorical lyrics, poetry that says things in
a allegorical thought, it takes many listens to get what the song is saying,
but I am an Indy artist, commercial artists, Country and western writers would
never do that, the rule is (in commercial music) tell a story have a start, a
middle and an end, so be it, I have done that as well. One song I wrote from a
short story I did years ago, called Anthers Haven was a story song. Great song,
depressing, about a Korean vet that sat in a N.Y. city, small grey dingy room,
drinking and wanting to end his life, the pitchers painted in word are vivid,
be vivid when writing, don’t over describe, make it vivid as writers will tell
you, don’t tell the reader, listener, show them, you do this with dialog,
scenery and action words.
Art is art, do
not let anyone tell you, you have to follow any rules, most new writers should
learn the rules and later break them at will, this is art.
Also in
commercial music you normally have, the intro, verse 1, choir 1, verse choir 2,
break, choir 3.
Many times I use
the Choir first and the verses second, or no verse at all choir and breaks, its
up to you. Other times I have three verses and music breaks with no choir, see,
just write.
The hardest part
for ant new writer is the hook; even in Indy music you need a hook. At this
stage in my life and with many seasoned writers we write the hook first, and
build the song around the hook. You can have a hook as an instrument part and
not even a lyric, but a hook of music and lyrics is a very powerful way to
write, I do that often, it will make the listener want to hear your song over
and over.
The other
problem that can and will hinder your creativity is using extremely complicated
recording software, some software takes six months to a year to master, like
pro tools, and I like to just write. I was brought up on a four track cassette
I loved it, old analog sequencers and
built in sequencers in my synths, loved it, I would just compose, create, hit a
button and go.
To you who use
tabletop digital multi track recorders, eventually you will at least need to
use a USB port to upload your song to a PC for the final edit. I know there are
products out that allow you to do it all in one tabletop. Most are wanting,
aside from one that records at 24 bit, if not forget it, 24 bit recording is a
must and to have a great mastered audio it must be in Wav. Format at 24 bit and
if possible 96 KHZ, this is the pro recording standard. I wrote on the free Kristal Sound Engine that records 24 bit and up to
192KHZ and its free, uncomplicated and just like a tabletop recorder, but free.
A cheap 4 or 8 track
digital multi track is great if you’re a song writer doing demos, and that’s
all you would need, also with a USB upload you can master on your PC and still
have a good enough product to sell where ever you play out.
I stated in my
book, The Poor Persons Guide To Market Your Music- For Pennies On The Dollar,
if you have never read it, the link to free books is there. What is said was
now days the only way to make money in music is from your sales table you set
up, wherever you perform, no one is buying music online as they once did, but a
band, a soloist anyone that has a CD, can make a good living by having them
sold where you play out, mark my words, now days that’s the way to go, you can
make more than from a shabby recording contact, I covered the truths a bought
getting signed on this blog.
So, play from
your heart, a writer writes, a musician plays and we all get the joy of hearing
your great music one day.
