Five in Five: 2/5

The main problem I'm having with this project is keeping things separate. Some of the song lyrics started to say the same things. I guess that's understandable, seeing as how they are being written very quickly. It seems prudent to take a step back and make sure that, at least, nothing repeats in the lyric department. Otherwise, what's the point?

I began work on a shuffle-feel song called "Two Shadows." I don't have any songs that are in a shuffle pattern. I also don't have many good drum patches with a shuffle feel. I found a few loops and managed to mangle them with compressor. This song is the most unlike anything I've done...musically. Lyrically, it's pretty cool. I cut some scratch vocals and comped them to get the feel of the song. I sang the song with just bass and drums. It ended up being a semi-tone flat. I'll need to redo the lyrics anyway.

The other two songs held up well. I'll need to have the basic structures and lyrics finished by the end of the day tomorrow to make the 5 in 5 deadline.

Five in Five: 1/5

I crashed at 6:30 p.m. last evening. It was right after dinner. I put in a marathon day in my home studio as a part of this five songs in five days project.

I got rollin' around 9:30 a.m. I had about 15 sketches of songs from which I could choose to demo. I opted for something fun and elaborate. I had a sketch for a song that is reminiscent of "Welcome to the Machine" by Pink Floyd and "Fascination Street" by the Cure. Setting a tempo with a click is a good idea, but what's even more fun is setting a tempo with a seek wah or a pulsing synth. This changes the feel of a song from being stiff to fluid. I played the chord structure through a seek-wah. I used beat detective (a new useful tool that comes standard with Pro Tools 7) to find the tempo. Then I used some multi-tracked samples by Discrete Drums to lay in a rhythm section. Bass followed. I quickly sang the lyrics I had written. Then, I pulled out my Marshall cabinet to put some decent guitar tones on the piece. Also, it needed some synth pad stuff. I wrote out some chords in Sibelius and exported them as midi files. Then, the midi files triggered my synth patches. I still have to sing some harmonies on this song, but it's feeling pretty good. The working title for this song is "Exit." But, that will probably change as I get to the final mix.

I was working fast yesterday. There's an episode of Scrubs where Dr. Cox says to the interns "Haaaam gonna hit ya hard; haaaam gonna hit ya fast!" That was how yesterday went for me. I had another sketch that was just about done on my dictaphone, so I demoed it in a similar fashion. This song is much more sparse than the aforementioned song. I usually work in twos, making sure the second movement of my creative process is the opposite of the first part. This song is called "Roller Coaster." I should probably change it so people don't make fun of it by singing that funk song of the same name to me.

The most important thing to remember, at least for me, when in the thick of a writing session is to not censor yourself. I'm not talking about refraining from curse words or lude suggestions. What I mean is letting yourself see an idea completely before judging it. There was a time when I had a song that I didn't think was very good. It was about candybars and cous cous. I'm glad I let people hear it before throwing it away.

Five Songs In Five Days

Over the past month, I've been swamped with studio work. I've enjoyed the work, but I've realized that, as a songwriter, I've neglected to pen anything new in a while. If you've been coming to Speakeasy on Wednesday's (which, you probably haven't--it's a totally different crowd) you've heard my Axis Suite. This, of course, is a collection of six jazz compositions. The last real songwriter's song that I wrote was "The Secret of Happiness." That was in September.

This week I'm opting to challenge myself to demo 5 new songs in 5 days. This should be interesting, if nothing else. I hope that from this process, I can garner one new song that I can be proud of. I hope to document this studio process here.

Although I haven't demoed any songs in the past 9 months, I should note that I've kept a dictaphone handy. Also, I've kept a yellow sketch book at my side most moments. I've written all kinds of gibberish and thoughts in this book. This is usually where lyrics come from.

So, if the creative process interests you, I hope you'll stay tuned over the next week. I'll be updating every morning with notes from the previous day's session.

Budget Mastering

I've been getting a lot of mastering work lately. Mastering is the final stage of audio production before a recording is sent off to be duplicated. It's in this phase that overall track volume, overall EQ levels, and space between songs is determined.

Ideally, mastering is left to a seasoned engineer with a the most discerning ear, the finest equipment, and the best sounding listening environment. This skill set comes at a heafty price, too. Some mastering engineers are as cheap as $50/hr. I know one that's about $350/hr. A full length recording can take as little as 4 hours to master. Sometimes, and I've seen this happen, a mastering session can take as long as a week.

Last summer, I purchased a mastering suite called Ozone3 made by iZotope. I was getting a bunch of work from clients who didn't really care if a project was mastered. Instead of letting work go out unregulated, I added a simple "budget mastering" service at the end of these sessions. The result made my engineering and mixing really stand out as if it were...well, mastered.

Because I'm an honest person who seeks an honest wage, I only charge $35/hr for my services. $20 of that goes to pay me for my time. The other $15 goes to equipment upkeep. You'd be surprised with how many times I've had to upgrade or service a piece of gear. And, because Ozone lets me master a track in about a half hour, I can do a whole record in about a day. And, because my days cost a fraction of what most people are charging, you can imagine why I'm staying busy.

I've always believed that you get what you pay for. But, with mastering, I've been burned enough times to know that it's not always the case. Sometimes you just need someone to keep it simple and make things sound right. Do you really need to take out a loan to do that? No.

So, to everyone I've worked with out there (you know who you are) thanks for the business. And, if you're a band or a songwriter who just happens to be strolling through, drop me a line. I'd love to hear about your music. If there's a way I can help you, please let me know.