composition

One of the most amazing things about Song-A-Day is the overwhelming volume and quality of the music, with the equivalent of a full album posted almost every single day. The styles vary wildly, and even if it’s not a style you enjoy, there’s always something to enjoy or learn. It’s the learning that’s been the most unexpected benefit of participation for me. There are some truly monster talents putting up radio-ready tunes, and every day there are useful production, arrangement, and writing techniques to learn. Even better, everyone happily answers questions ranging from “what pedal did you use?” to “how … Continue reading

The beginning of week three, and the first time this month that I’ve actually hit a wall. I’ve thought I was about to on a couple of occasions, but something always showed up when I got into the studio. For this track, though, I was in rapid-fire, ADD noodle mode for about an hour. My hands kept going for default chord patterns, things I played in high school, I think I even played about half of Bach’s Minuet in G Major. I spun through sounds. I tried different synths. I threw a drum beat on. Nothing. That’s not to say … Continue reading

It’s tempting to call this a “contractual obligation” track. The evening started with an attempt at a much simpler, downtempo electronic piece. I’ve been fascinated with this skydiving video’s soundtrack by Sidewalks and Skeletons, and wanted to learn more about how I might go about producing something similar. Unfortunately, many times when I’m trying to dissect something and rebuild, I end up rewriting the exact song I’m listening to. In this case, I couldn’t get away from the bass line and chord structure. I was also having difficulty finding any other melody. Part of the issue in this case is … Continue reading