Writing songs ... Various stages of completion, etc.

[PeterD]

Hey all!

Do you like to write one song at a time? A few different versions of the same song? Many different kinds simultaneously?

I am ALL over the place!!! At any given time, I probably have 10-20 in various stages of completion. And with a crazy attention span (hey look, a squirrel!!!!), I often find it difficult to focus. I'll sit down to work on something and next thing ya know, a new idea for a new song (to add to the list of other unfinished songs) And just when I hone in on something, a new interesting listing appears in my inbox!!

Is this good? Bad?

Just curious how you all tackle your inspiration and time,
Thanks!!

[michael11]

Hi Peter,

I don’t think it’s good or it’s bad.

I’m similar so I can’t say it’s bad!!!!


Michael.

[HectorRContreras]

What a wonderful Post, dear Peter. Thank you !

A very good Question to answer to.

Ok; because we were two I am going to say how Hector found Inspiration when writing his Music.

There were two Stages in his life.

The first main Stage is when he was highly supported financially by his Wife Emilie, bless her heart, and could therefore develop a huge Latin Jazz project, hiring the best Latin Musicians at the time.
See the whole Story and the Photos here :
http://forums.taxi.com/topic124727.html
So it was work and know-how, and a life time experience in Music Composition. Just putting all your energy into writing and bringing a project to completion with everything that it entails.
He created likewise two professional CDs of high quality Latin Jazz Music. Still on sale on line nowadays.

The second main Stage is Hector retiring at the Desert Hot Springs in California, and meditating on the marvel of the Desert life, taking his time, and just playing, at what ever hours of the day or night, and dreaming his Music and creating it with his excellent professional Keyboard and Home Studio.
The result is the very lovely CD that one can discover here :
http://community.humanityhealing.net/pr ... rContreras
The Music is free. I was the Producer and Arranger for Hector at the time, and I designed the CD cover.

Desert Dreams 1

Desert Dreams 1.png (245.65 KiB) Viewed 1112 times

Desert Dreams 2

Desert Dreams 2.png (254.8 KiB) Viewed 1112 times

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Right, for me, it all started in 2008 when I acquired "Mac Valentine" smile
http://forums.taxi.com/topic127000.html
"Mac Valentine" was my inspiration, the best Toy that I ever came across. I found the Technology a marvel indeed, and how I could compose Music just like that with Garage Band. I caught the know how very quickly.
Hector was impressed smile
My Inspiration or Niche, as Michael would put it, is mainly Avant Garde and World Music.
It comes at random, just a feel good factor, I sense the energy coming, and I say : I can do that.
Next I spend hours on it until the fatigue says stop. And then I continue on the day after. And on the day after, so usually no more than 2 or 3 days of intense concentration and focus.
Et voila. When it is done, it is done.

Cannot wait to read the answers of the other Members. I hope that many Members come here to share their experience.

[songmaster]

Hi Peter

I always have about 7 or 8 songs going at once. Sometimes I forget the first one I started. I swear, if I saw a squirrel , I would probably write a song about it. ( I actually did that with our dog, the song title is " Don't Swat A Fly On a Pit bull ". You never know where inspiration is going to come from, and hey....it's better than a blank page

Keep on writing bro

Tom

[davekershaw]

Hey all!

Do you like to write one song at a time? A few different versions of the same song? Many different kinds simultaneously?

I am ALL over the place!!! At any given time, I probably have 10-20 in various stages of completion. And with a crazy attention span (hey look, a squirrel!!!!), I often find it difficult to focus. I'll sit down to work on something and next thing ya know, a new idea for a new song (to add to the list of other unfinished songs) And just when I hone in on something, a new interesting listing appears in my inbox!!

Is this good? Bad?

Just curious how you all tackle your inspiration and time,
Thanks!!

I'm just like you Peter; bits and pieces all over the place.
Waiting for the right mood also means I can take months to get back to, or finish tracks.

[2lane]

Hey Peter, good post!
With me there's a "working on" but not finished current pile, and then there's a
hard drive folder of never completed
Just looked after reading your post, and the "never completed" folder has 112
songs.....yikes....that's bad isn't it!!!!!
And some of those I bet are way done, just never finished!.
Lol at songmaster (Tom)! I'm that way too, and then if I do get around to trying to finish one, I have to relearn the whole song

Steve

[PeterD]

Nice answers, everyone!! Thanks for sharing!

I just have a lot of distractions going on here, which is all part of the process, I suppose.

As long as 2-4 get completed per week, I'm satisfied. Not bad since when I first joined Taxi I wrote about 15 REALLY BAD songs over a span of about 12 years.

[2lane]

As long as 2-4 get completed per week, I'm satisfied. Not bad since when I first joined Taxi I wrote about 15 REALLY BAD songs over a span of about 12 years.

Well, that's history now!

[Kolstad]

It's all over the place for me. I think I've learned not to be overly productive, though. A couple years ago, I wrote almost 200 songs in one year, and it was killing me. I could not keep up with recording and production, and all the unfinished work cluttered up my drives, my desk and my mind. I still struggle with leftovers from that raid. I felt completely drained, but it took a while for me to realize it.

I usually need a coherent block of time to write a song, usually 2-3 hrs before I can reach a first draft, and then record a temp track. I have tons of temp tracks that hasn't gone further than that (first draft lyric with a temp track). I also write lots of lyrics that ends up in the drawer, and do a good chunk of rewriting. Basically clutter everywhere, I just hope it can clear up it's own mess

But I try to slow down the "pipeline" mode a bit, and work more with grounding the idea, the writing and the music. I personally need that to feel good about being creative. So good/bad.. it's a personal thing, I'd say.

[Russell Landwehr]

Interesting, Peter.

When I'm in musical production mode, I will have slept on the idea that the next morning I am going to write "x" type of song. If my muse is on board, things go well and I can get most of it done in a couple hours. If things don't go well, then it stays unfinished and I move on. When I'm co-writing cues, I get it going with a couple tracks, then send it to my colab partner. He does a couple of tracks and sends them back while I'm doing other things. The next morning I plug his tracks in and then add anything I think it may need, plus do a first final mix. The next day or later that day, I will do a final mix on it with fresh ears. During this process I may finish another on my own or get a couple of more in process. So like you I generally have a few in process, though I usually will complete instrumental cues within 24-48hrs of starting it. When colabbing I usually leap-frog through them. It keeps the ears and mind fresh and the process moving forward.

Often when I'm writing cues by myself, I can complete one in about two or three hours and get a rough mix. The next day I may spend another half an hour finishing the mix. When I get going like that, I think that falls in the category of serial production and I won't have a bunch in the process. So it's like write then rough mix, nextday finish mix then write new cue then rough mix, nextday.... etc.

About the "it stays unfinished and I move on." When I start a song and I can tell that it just isn't going anywhere or that it sounds crappy, I drop it and move on. Everything I do isn't going to be Top 40 Platinum. And I feel like I'm getting better at realizing this before getting too deep into it. There are times, where I will go back through my "false starts" and find one that I can salvage.

But in answer to your original question, I will have several songs in "process" at different stages. I keep track of them so that I don't drop them, and so I know what the "next action" is. This really helps my muse I think, and keeps things flowing without getting too "burnt" on one thing.

Oh, and when I say "muse" what I really mean is that part of my subconscious where the music comes from. And I find that when it knows what I will be doing and when I will be doing it, my subconscious does a bang-up job of providing.

Very rarely will I grab a hold of a song in pit bull mode, refusing to let go until it is Finished. I did that recently with that House song. And boy did it tear me up. It sucked all the dance outta me and I didn't have anything left to start another... I tried... but all I did was add one to the crappy unfinished pile.

Russell