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December 06, 2004
Songfight process
All - as some of you know I produce an occassional podcast that covers Songfight each week. I feature my favorite 4 or 5 entries from both titles, and I invite listeners to listen and vote on the site. My logs show a couple hundred downloads of the show. I would also like to have a show that explores the songwriting and production process. As such, I am documenting my song from start to finish, and I invite anyone to do the same. Honestly, I really only want to feature pretty polished songs (so, my own may not make the cut - I was doing this last week and my ABCD Puppies didn't, but it was a good practice run). I say this so that you're not dissappointed if you go through all the trouble of creating "the making of my Wrath of God" and I don't feature it. If board feedback lets you think you produce high-end songs, please consider working this into your process this week (I don't want to name names).
As you go, record little sound bites about what you're thinking about (both musically and lyrically) and capture the key audio parts as they evolve (preserve the first takes, even). I figure five minutes per song should tell the story of how we put our songs together. I'll edit it to make it flow, so don't worry about splicing these pieces together...it's better if they're like: "I didn't really know where to go with this title, so I Googled famous Shelleys and found this story about a Civil War widow..." and then you sing the idea, then the first keyboard parts, then a drum loop and more developed vocals, then the idea for the break, then that great sample that just makes it all happen at the end. I'll put these segments together, layering where it works, and trimming things to clean it up (so put in a little more than you might expect to hear) and I'll play the finished product at the end of each segment.
I'd like to make this an occassional part of the Songfight podcast, so if this week doesn't work out or you're not entering, please think about it in the future. I think it's cool to hear songwriters explain where they came from when they wrote and recorded their songs, and figure others would find it facinating, too. One of the thrills of songfight for me is that these songs are fresh off the fire and somehow someone took a whacky title like ABCD Puppies and made a real song out of it. Most of us do the whole thing in one or two sittings, and this process forces instant inspiration that is more direct than what happens when songwriters massage something for weeks or months.
Who's game? When you're done, send me a link to your documentary audio (MP3 @ 128 is fine, but Wave is better).
Posted by roymond at December 6, 2004 09:59 AM