Heat Before Serving

Note: This post was written in 2025 and backdated to appear on the day I wrote and published the track.

Either it’s getting close to the end of the month, I’m running out of ideas, or I’m just in a groove making Lo-Fi. Well, it’s actually probably a little of all three columns. For the last several years, I’ve had an unwritten “never do the same genre two days in a row” rule for Song-A-Day. Actually, it’s not really a rule, but more of a guiding principle.

The underlying questions I have for myself is why do I have that guideline? Am I trying to keep things from getting monotonous or boring and, if so, for whom? Is it a way for me to keep stretching and not get comfortable? Is it attention-seeking because I like to show that I can do multiple genres and styles? Is it setting the difficulty dial to extra hard instead of just hard?¹Actually, this brings up another question: is Song-A-Day really that hard? That obviously depends on the individual, but the real lesson Song-A-Day has taught me is that writing, recording, and posting something every day isn’t really that difficult. Writing something good… well, that’s something else, but it’s still become a lot less intimidating that it was in 2016.

Genre hopping each day doesn’t really dial up the difficulty that much, other than to provide me with an additional constraint. “You did a self-indulgent ambient piece yesterday, so you can’t do it again today. Think of something different.” I suspect that’s really my root cause but, like all guidelines and rules, it’s only useful until it becomes detrimental to the overall goal. I do a lot more production on my tracks than many other participants, largely because that’s a huge part of my own creative expression.

I keep flirting with the idea of limiting myself to piano²Maybe allowing drums, bass, and guitar at times and forcing a song with lyrics and structure for the entire month. But that then makes me ask whether that’s the point of the exercise for me. At its root, Song-A-Day is about getting into the habit of making music every day. By that measure, the challenge has worked for me. The last couple of years³And next year as well, since I’m writing from the future. have become what I imagine a marathon is for someone who’s done several. Yes, it’s a challenge, yes it can be grueling, but I’ve completed it enough that it’s more likely than not that I’ll finish successfully. I’m in competing shape, as it were.

The stretch on this track is that I actually played guitar. And solo guitar at that. Playing an instrument that can’t be “fixed” via MIDI if I flubbed a note really highlights how dependent I’ve become on it. These days, of course, I could completely change that guitar part using software tools like Melodyne, and 99% of listeners wouldn’t be able to tell. I didn’t do that, though… I kept practicing the part on a loop until I figured I could play it, then got the recording done in a take.⁴Actually, Digital Performer has this lovely feature called “Retrospective Record” where it’s always recording in case you have a happy accident you want to capture, but I do remember specifically recording the take you hear as my first “real attempt” and it was successful.

Production-wise, the only standout is that I used Native Instruments Battery for the drums instead of XO or Stylus. That’s probably the only nod in the track to me trying to experiment. I don’t have a lot of love for NI, even though they do make some good stuff. One of those “like the product, dislike the company” things, though I don’t dislike them enough to stop buying Komplete every few years. Battery does have a lot of great samples, and I suspect it’s more powerful than I’ll ever figure out, simply because I just don’t like the UI or workflow as much as other tools.

I’m not really talking about the track itself because there’s not much to say. Lo-Fi, at least so far, isn’t really overly challenging once you get the initial germ of an idea going. Choosing the production direction and effects approach is as much of it as the chords and melody.

That doesn’t stop it from being enjoyable, but while writing it and when listening to it afterward. And I don’t feel bad about having repeated genres today. It’s the music I was feeling at the time, and I suspect it’s not dissimilar to how artists in other disciplines go through periods where they’re really deep diving into a shape, or a color, or a rhyme scheme.

Oh yeah… the title is directly related to I Cook and Then I Chill and if you got the previous reference, you’ve probably gotten this one as well. If you’re younger than your mid-fifties, however, you probably won’t. Few things make me feel as old as pop culture references that I have to explain.

Colophon

Instruments & Samples

Battery 4, Spitfire Cinematic Soft Piano, Trilian, Keyscape, Squire Stratocaster

Effects, Mixing, & Mastering

FabFilter, Gullfoss, Rocktron Chameleon, MOTU Dyna-Squash & Dynamics, Soundtoys Effect Rack, Valhalla VintageVerb & Plate

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Notes

• 1
  Actually, this brings up another question: is Song-A-Day really that hard? That obviously depends on the individual, but the real lesson Song-A-Day has taught me is that writing, recording, and posting something every day isn’t really that difficult. Writing something good… well, that’s something else, but it’s still become a lot less intimidating that it was in 2016.
• 2
  Maybe allowing drums, bass, and guitar at times
• 3
  And next year as well, since I’m writing from the future.
• 4
  Actually, Digital Performer has this lovely feature called “Retrospective Record” where it’s always recording in case you have a happy accident you want to capture, but I do remember specifically recording the take you hear as my first “real attempt” and it was successful.