I prefer to set a drum loop with common or different time signatures in Logic and start working on ideas at home. Often I come to practice with a fully formed song, and then the drummer and bassist just work out their parts and add their bits etc. Then I will do a rough recording to send to the singer who will add the words, and then we’ll agree on it all together and start playing it so it takes its final form.
I don’t like jamming songs out and I get much better results just doing it on my own and then working on it in practice to finalise it all together.
What about you?
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I too don't like random jams that go nowhere with each band member not having any idea of how the song goes before we hit the rehearsal room. One band I was in used to do this and we never got anything done as the song would get pulled in different directions by everyone (there was 5 of us in the group) and by the end of it we had nothing to show due to too many conflicts and changes. Before I'd used to bring in a song idea which I had recorded and sent to the vocalist to put rough vocals and programmed drums on so we had a little demo. This worked but then we had a line up changed and the new guy kinda just took over everything and tried the random in-the-rehearsal-room jam which never worked. Trying to show people ideas they don't believe in is the hardest thing in the world.
The last band I was in (or wasn't in, it was my mate's band I depped for numerous times and helped out with backline stuff) had a much better writing process. I'd be close with the 2 guitarists (one lived about 15 minutes away from) so the 3 of us would meet up and work on ideas and record it onto Logic on a laptop. Because we weren't in the pressure of the rehearsal room it was chilled, natural and flowing and we bounced ideas off each other. I think musically we got on a lot better and share the same vision. Any disagreements were resolved with compromise and what was best for the song. As there was less of us the writing was quicker and most of the time we'd have a full song finished by the end of our session.
That band finished 3 years ago.
Nowadays I still write music with one of the guys I kept in touch with. Again we have similar ideas and write well together. Often we can get a song finished very quick, I think we have 4 demo'd tracks in the space of 2 months.
Once we have the verse/bridge/chorus going in a loop I will audition ideas for the middle section. It is useful to record rehearsals at this point for listening to later, often things sound very different on playback to how you thought they did at the time
I don't like to be challenged on decisions when I am in writing mode. Likewise if I am in someone else's band I will try to bring their vision to life rather than impart my own
What I struggle with when writing is demo versions - what quality do they need to be, as every time I've done a rough demo and sent it to anybody they've picked faults with the production and said the content needs polishing or editing, which seems rather the point surely? Maybe the people I send stuff to don't quite understand the concept of demos or sketches I suppose
soundcloud.com/thecolourbox-1
youtube.com/@TheColourboxMusic
https://thefretboard.co.uk/discussion/220580/writing-and-recording-an-album-remotely
Telemaster's approach makes sense. Band member A gets the composition under way, then, trusts the others to contribute. In music publishing terms, creating the drum and bass parts counts as arrangement.
Writing with others brings checks and balances. If all contributors think a piece has merit, it stands. (Several classic British comedy writing partnerships worked this way. If one person's joke made both laugh, it stayed in the script. If either had doubts, the gag would be dropped.)
Of course, the team approach can slow things down. One case that springs to mind is Marillion. Four of them would convene to throw their latest musical fragments into the hat. Then, they had to devise ways to link the fragments without the results sounding forced or stilted. (I shall leave you to decide whether they succeeded or not.)
More often, collaboration follows the later Lennon and McCartney model. One of them writes a complete song, plays it to the other and accepts constructive criticism. e.g. "It needs a key change in the bridge." "That lyric line is too cheesy."
My band, Red For Dissent
soundcloud.com/thecolourbox-1
youtube.com/@TheColourboxMusic
Mind you, I started writing lyrics before I learned to play an instrument, so maybe that’s got a bit to do with it.. I suppose I (mostly) just carried on being a lyrics first kinda guy.. When I was in a band with a vocalist/lyricist, I tended to wait for him to send me the lyrics, first, and work a song around them..
My current band (which has just sort of gone tits up as it happens) wrote all our stuff entirely remotely. We were due to meet and jam just before lockdown hit so we kind of didn't have much of a choice. It worked really well and I'm not sure I'd want to do it any other way now.
On guitar, on piano, with modular synth, straight into the DAW, onto paper or with others in a rehearsal room.
I get a lot of good ideas doing things that are not music, running, cycling or doing the washing up.
Mrs Oct is very understanding when I'm in the middle of cooking dinner and suddenly *have to go to the studio*.
Studio: https://www.voltperoctave.com
Music: https://www.euclideancircuits.com
Me: https://www.jamesrichmond.com
Guitar, drum and bass demos are put together by @poopot, normally a short first verse, pre and chorus and he will send over to @Bezzer and I to see if we are into it (I don't think there was a demo that didn't end up on the album), once he gets the thumbs up he will put together a full length version of the track. At that point it is over to Bezzer and I to add our parts. Bezzer will lay down strings/keys/synths/general sci-fi goodness and I will start to think about the vocals.
If Bezzer gets done before me (usually the case), I will get an updated mix with his parts so I am working with the latest instrumental - very important because this stage can alter the mood of the song - I start off with melody, singing along to the instrumental and writing lyrics as I go, recording myself on a phone voice recorder to listen back and refine where needed.
Once the final lyrics are done, I'll get recording. As of today the three of us have never met in person, people who have heard the album are pretty surprised by this, have a listen and see what you think:
https://dirtysnakemouth.bandcamp.com/album/catharsis