Songwriting

[Soul Forlorn]

Ok, as far as mics go, you get what you pay for. Do not go for a cheap mic. It will be a waste of time and money. You're also going to need a decent mic pre-amp if you want decent sound quality. There are many different types of mics out there, each one with its own specific purpose and frequency response. Don't expect to find a one-trick pony in terms of a mic. For micing a guitar cabinet, a Shure SM57 will get the job done with mediocre quality. It goes for around 100 bucks. Don't expect to do much else with this mic. I know from personal experience it pretty much sucks for vocals and recording of acoustic instruments. For vocals, I've found the Shure SM58 does a pretty good job. It goes for about 100 bucks as well. For recording of acoustic instruments, you'd better get a condenser mic. A Rode NT1 would be a good choice without spending megabucks. It goes for about $200. You might even get away with micing a guitar cabinet with the Rode. If you eventually want to go the micing route exclusively, I'd buy the SM57 and Rode NT1 as well as a mixer with good mic pre-amps, such as a Mackie, and a good effects processor. Then you can use 2 or more mics at once on your guitar parts, run them into the mixer, and even record them on different tracks. Of course, without a good mic, a good mic pre-amp, and fairly good room acoustics you're sound quality will suffer. But hey, I don't know what you're aiming for in terms of sound quality. If you're satisfied with sub-par quality, which is perfectly fine if you're just doing this for yourself, then you might be satisfied with just buying one mic. For a lot of really good info on mics and recording in general go to www.harmonycentral.com and check out the recording section. There are tons of faqs, links, articles, and discussion boards there.

and on the songwriting front ive decided to take a weird approach and see what happens. im gonna write a small story (not for lyrics, purely to base the song around), mainly focusing on chages in emotions and so on... and then convert that into a song.. should be interesting!!

I've done this before as well with good results.

 

[D Mullholand]

To the original question :

Writing music and songs is my biggest passion in life, but I'm getting more and more confused ! It seems that as soon as I reach a new level of feeling and knowledge of my music, I become
tired of the old ways of composing and arranging, and the development is going so quickly, I cannot finish a coherent composition, since the end is always much better than the beginning ! The complexity of my music does not help to fix the problem at all, and I have nothing except an acoustic guitar and a piano at my disposal for recording (thank Ghu there is MIDI for the other instruments), so what we have at the end of the day is that I've been writing music for 3 years now, and still have no music which I would call "complete" and would have the desire to share with other people on the net ! (well, I have 3 completed
songs, and I believe they are quite good on their level, but they are not reperesentative for what I feel is "my" music)...

And it's even wackier, since I have lyrics written 5 albums ahead, and I want to give them the music they deserve, but development goes quicker than composition, and there you have it ! For example, my very first composition was a 9-minute prog/sympho/metal instrumental, and I still enjoy listening to it from time to time, but I don't even try to improve it, since it is arranged, well, like metal, you know, riff sequences - and I am sick and tired of working that way - like getting 3 or 4 riffs and using glue and paint to get them together and form a song ! Don't get me wrong, I still love metal and Opeth in particular, even with their "break all the walls with one head" arrangements, this music still inspires me and my top 5 albums are metal albums, but there is so much more possibilities and horizons in music when you work from themes and variations, or improvisation, to create a piece ! Otherwise, when you just repeat one riff 4 times, then go to another riff 4 times, then
the vocals, then a solo and so on, the music is in danger of becoming static and linear, and this is not my way to go.

Now good metal's biggest difference is that special energy that fills every note - so bands like Opeth can get away with channeling a burst of inspiration into a 4-measure double-guitar
riff, and sound good at that; but while they are an awesome band, I believe they could do so much more if they would begin developing their ways of composition into something more advanced, and I believe Mikael & Co. have all the talent necessary to do it.

That was my regular Opeth rant. Nevermind.

Anyway I believe I have found a solution to my problem - from now on I will divide my music into "cutting edge" and "relaxed" - the compositions of the first category will still take months to complete, and will serve to guide my development into something productive; the second category songs will be composed and recorded in short periods of time, and left untouched after recordings are finished. In fact, I have just returned from the mountains, where I had completed a tune (the melodies, instrumentation and arrangement) while being away from any instruments whatsoever, and believe me, it helps ! Nature brings silence, where music is born from; and you don't get distracted by your fingers and their familiar fret-patterns - all the music is born inside your head, the way it should be. From now on I will devote my time to recording this one.

But everything can change in a week, so who knows...

Anyway, those were my thoughts on 1 a.m., before going to bed.

D Mullholand, a confused composer
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NP: Jan Garbarek - It's Ok to Listen to the Gray Voice