writing...

[ashgallows]

Sorry if this is in the wrong section.
I do this thing.
I get inspired to write something, I pull up reaper with my drum samples, synths, amp sim etc. and start playing around. I end up tweaking my guitar tone for the entire time i'm supposed to be writing (pod farm+ redwirez). I have a real amp setup that sounds great, but I (a) lost the studio to track it in and (b) cant crank it up in my writing space. I end up doing this endlessly and never get anything done.

I've had people tell me not to worry about it and just write, but it drives me crazy.
I've also tried writing lyrics first to kind of circumvent this block, but I'm kind of bad at that as well.

anyone run into this? is it going to require medication to produce any real work in my lifetime lol.

 

[MaverickStang]

Don't focus on your tone too much. Adjust for your taste to make the tone sound decent enough to actually play something for your own ears. The real truth to sound is yourself and the passion of the play. The best way is to research what bands use for their quintessential sound that you desire. Don't worry about, oh I'm going to copy someone's tone, so actually your music is your tone. It's not going to be perfect and you can always adjust later. Sometimes when I don't actually write anything, I mess around on the guitar and tweak my tone. I do some lick like this dude to test the tone on how it sounds. Like Palm-Mute-Slides and some scales or what not.



Don't crank the bass too much or the treble will just fade out. Just a balance is all you need. Now you can get away with a different variation at times, but really test your tone like this.

I don't know how to explain it, but I came across this video. It has a valid point on EQ.(Skip to 1:28)(2:15 is the valid point)



Just don't over think it and you will do fine.

 

[ashgallows]

thanks man, i fully understand how to go about dialing in tone and combining mics and eq etc. The problem is the amp sims/impulses sort of bother me because they are not exact replicas of how this gear is supposed to sound. but really if i'm being honest with myself , it's sort of a form of procrastination or mental block. it's hard to just go in and bang out a song if it doesn't sound perfect, and for it to sound perfect i need to write the song and then engineer it. kind of cyclical. You are right though, i do tend to let my mind run away with me.

 

[Switchback]

I had a similar problem.
I open cubase, record a riff, then I'm listening to what I just recorded and "damn, I didn't hit that palm mute hard enough" or "hell, this chord is out of time".
At the end of the day, I didn't do nothing exept recording the same stuff 5313668465313658 times.

Now, what I do is to write the riffs before recording it.
I don't open cubase until I've wrote the complete song (with drums, bass and what not) on guitar pro. Helps to focus on the writing, instead of worrying on other stuff.
That's what I'd recommend you.

 

[newamerikangospel]

Find a tone you like, and stick with it. You are uninspired, so you are "diddling" and calling it studio time. If you cant, write riffs unplugged. Learn a new scale, and its chords.

 

[H-evolve]

I start writing stuff using my guitar and amp. I don't like creating music directly on my computer. Whenever I found some good ideas, I go to the computer and using a standard signal chain I'm ok with.

Of course, some days I'll be tempted to play with the settings, but I just stick with it. I limit myself to playing with the tone only when the full project is almost completely written.

If I'm in a situation where I don't have time to jump onto the computer and I don't want to lose my ideas. I record them on my phone with the voice recorder. The recorded sound is horrible, but at least I don't lose any good idea.

And, also, when I'm writing solos, I use Guitar Pro a lot to help myself. I just don't want my hands to "automatically play" patterns I'm used to. I want to just get what is in my head out. So I do a combination of Guitar Pro and my guitar on my lap to find solo ideas.

But obviously Guitar Pro is midi and sounds horrible...

 

[ashgallows]

so what you the consensus is:

i need to write all this stuff before i get to where i'm playing it through my chain in the computer.

The problem is, my computer is my "amp" for a little while.
I like the unplugged idea, perhaps i can sit down and compose something in my head, figure it out unplugged (dont know how palm mutes will translate lol) and finally track it all real quick to get the song down. that way i will spend minimal time with the "tone" so i wont spin my wheels anymore.

 

[H-evolve]

Well I think I heard in an interview, a long time ago, Dave Mustain saying he writes a lot of his stuff on an accoustic guitar. Don't know if he still does it or not, and maybe my memory is failing and I don't remember this write, but I think writing music doesn't require the best tone ever.

It is true though, that for most people, having a super great tone tends to motivate and for some reason, make us more creative in some way.

But, speaking for myself, 50% of my ideas come when I am walking my dog. So related to what I did, I'll just sing the tune of whatever I have in my head and record it on my phone. When I get home I try to recreate that tune on my fretboard, either in Reaper or on my cheap Vypyr 2.

So to conclude, I don't think that what you have in your hands really matter when it comes to writing. At least when you just want to give birth to a new song from scratch. Ok, if you are writing leads, or just finishing a song that just misses a riff or two, then ok perhaps having a decent tone is relevant.

But when starting from scratch... just sitting there and forcing yourself to puke riffs might not always work.

 

[ashgallows]

I've just been doing audio engineering so long, that it's taken over the whole point of being a musician...writing the song. The unplugged idea seems great to pry the two disciplines apart. I've tried doing the singing into the phone thing, but somehow the context is gone when I listen back. Maybe I just can't sing lol.

 

[MaverickStang]

I also use chordino. It saves me time a bit on writing songs. So that I know what I'm actually doing. Blending the leads with rhythms.