For all of you that write & record your material

Meine liebe

When writing a new song, do you tend to nitpick over the details or just bang it out? Do you try to finish the song and record it ASAP, or let it ferment and play it a bunch and see what needs fixing over time?

I know some songs burst out and others take a long time to finally get fleshed out, but I have been writing/recording the same song off and on for 2 months. I feel close to being happy with it but I am on the thin line between "being patient and letting it come" and "pulling my hair out". Does there just come a time for you to say screw it, it is good enough as is? Anyone else gone thru this? Any advice?

keeponrockin

Meine leibe wrote:

When writing a new song, do you tend to nitpick over the details or just bang it out? Do you try to finish the song and record it ASAP, or let it ferment and play it a bunch and see what needs fixing over time?

I know some songs burst out and others take a long time to finally get fleshed out, but I have been writing/recording the same song off and on for 2 months. I feel close to being happy with it but I am on the thin line between "being patient and letting it come" and "pulling my hair out". Does there just come a time for you to say screw it, it is good enough as is? Anyone else gone thru this? Any advice?

I let it ferment.

Usually I'll come up with the first verse/chords, or a chorus, and jsut let it sit.

exhausted

i tend to take a long time to write lyrics if i do at all. i'll end up fully recording the instrumental track long before words get done though i usually have the arrangement firm.

when i record, i tend to record tons of tracks (and it takes me lots of takes because i'm usually improvising parts as i go and the last take is just whatever i'm happy with) and then tweak the mix and record new parts / rerecord etc. for a couple of weeks.

but i'm doing this all on my own with a PC so it's not a big deal to do that. i've never been in a studio.

xtremehardy388

I write when it comes to me. That's the only time I can. I usually just do one take instruments because that's probably going to be my best take. (At 20, I have arthritis, already). Next, with vocals, I have to take myself back to whatever caused me to write. That, alone, will inspire me to sing from the heart. I had a problem with one note and I was wondering if I should change it or not. After asking a lot of people on this forum, I decided to keep it-those imperfections make the song personal and real.

mfc2006

each song is different for me.

but overall, i tend to try to keep the original. i like the raw feeling & energy. but just like everyone else, there have been times when no matter what i do, it just doesn't sound "finished". when that happens, i usually shelve it for a bit and just play the song casually when i'm just playing to play, not record. that way, the pressure's off & my ears become more open to new possibilities within the song.

not sure if that answered your question! but i tried!

Trailer

I'm always writing new material... sometimes it's whole songs, and other times it's just cool riffs. The secret is to record EVERYTHING! That way you won't forget these ideas, and can come back to them later and sort of rediscover them. I have Pro Tools... but most of the time I'm recording these ideas on a cheap handheld recorder. Some songs come out of me within hours, completely done.. while others take a lot longer to finally finish. That's where recording everything comes into play. You can go back and listen to your ideas you recorded earlier, and often times there is something cool in there that is in the same key, or vibe, as the song you are trying to finish. Now you have a whole new part of the song, and the writer's block kind of disappears and new doors open that allow you to progress and finish the song.

Another way I write sometimes is to just record something into Pro Tools, without even thinking about it. Then I'll just keep adding layers of guitars and other instruments until it has morphed into something that I would have never been able to just sit down and write with a guitar.

I generally write the lyrics last. I will transfer my songs into my ipod or a CD and then play them in my car. While I'm driving around I will sing vocal melodies into my handheld recorder. Then I'll sit down with my notebook and try to come up with words that will fit into the melodies that I've developed.

Every once in a while, I'll write the words first and create a song around it... but for the most part, it's the music first. I usually write songs on guitar.. and if I hit a roadblock, I will try tuning the guitar differently. Other times I will start out a song with a cool bassline.. or fuck around with a keyboard... or come up with a good drum beat and layer stuff on top of that. There's so many different ways to write a song.

**edit: I guess I should have quoted the OP so I could have reread the question as I was typing.:o Kind of veered off topic.. but whatever.:D

DewieCox

Fermentation mostly, but the best song I have written came to me pretty spontaneously. After my initial idea sparks a pretty radical jam, I simply cut out the garbage and played around til I got an order I liked.