As I suspected I probably would be, I've been pretty lame at keeping this blog up-to-date. As always, I have an excuse lined up and my latest one is that I've been in France for a week. Me and my lovely lady Fae hopped over the water for a mini-break, ending up in the La Rochelle region and generally having a lovely time, mostly focused around eating lots of fabulous French food.
So it's back to the course with a vengeance this week (well, it's back to the course anyway.) Firstly, an update on last week's song which is available via the player in the sidebar on the right. It's called "Just A Phase", a song I wrote after initially coming up with the chorus. I had a nice harmony and decent hook, so decided to write the song around that. It was clearly going to be a pop song, so I went all out to write a true 3 minute verse-bridge-chorus-verse-bridge-chorus-middle 8-chorus song.
Got some decent stuff laid down and some passable lyrics, but when I recorded my vocals it sounded awful. After a day's toil with Cubase SX (I really need to get one of those Uni Macbooks with Logic on...), I nearly abandoned everything I'd done because I hated it. Thankfully, Fae came to my rescue by agreeing to lay down some vocals for me. We changed the melody for her voice, wrote a second verse and voila, it was pretty much done. I think it's pretty decent. Maybe not 'current' enough to be a chart hit, but it's a start. I've got plenty of ideas for future improvements, so that's all good.
I also realise that I've come across a fantastic female vocalist with the perfect voice for pop songs... side project alert!! Watch this space...
Missed last week at Uni then, but fortunately got a recording of the 'Industrial Context' lecture. Absolutely fascinating stuff from two people who are right in the centre of the music industry at the moment - Jez Ashurst and Will Hicks. I'll write a bit more about these individuals at a later date, as I am a bit pushed for time at the moment. Anyway, every second of the two hours I listened to was like audio gold dust.
A lot of what these guys say is obvious stuff, but it makes so much sense to hear it from the horse's mouth, so to speak. It can be dispiriting to hear how incredibly difficult it is to break into the industry, but also equally encouraging and inspiring to hear that the industry is not this dark beast that everyone makes it out to be - labels do actively look for artists, they do listen to demos and encourage new talent. It seems that to make it in the industry, the key points seems to be networking, of course, and good honest hard work. Of course you have to have the talent to write a hit song!
Like I say, I'm a bit pushed for time at the moment so will cut this short in a mo. Just wanted to do a quick update really. I'm looking forward to getting back into the thick of it this week, and submerging myself into a sea of music.
I had a spurt of creativity yesterday and started writing two songs. I was listening to what Jez and Will were saying about how in pop these days you need an edge. Stuff like the Sugababes that used to be considered 'edgy' pop now sounds out-of-date and pretty average. The Girls Aloud-type stuff is fading away. It's all about the Lily Allens, the Florence & the Machines, Little Boots etc. at the moment (although that's not to say it won't all change in 6 months!). So I've written a big, brash synth riff (the 80's are back, didn't you know?), a simple drum beat and a hook for the chorus and I'm going to take it from there. My other idea is more likely to be compatible with my solo stuff, although it's also quite poppy - tried to write something piano-based rather than always starting with guitar.
Aaaaanyhoo. Another quick note to say that I've posted my week 5 song on here, called "Running". I had about half a day to write this after returning from holidays, and I guess it shows. It's a musical experiment rather than a lyrical masterpiece... I started with a funky guitar riff and wrote a few lines about escaping the humdrum. Then for whatever reason, I incorporated a sort-of subliminal breakdown in the middle where the acoustic guitar moves to 7/8 time and I layered a load of vocals and slide guitar, awash with effects creating a sea of bizarre noises. I kind of like it. Whether anyone else will is another matter :) but hey, they say songwriting is all about breaking the rules!
That's it for now. More musings soon.
So it's back to the course with a vengeance this week (well, it's back to the course anyway.) Firstly, an update on last week's song which is available via the player in the sidebar on the right. It's called "Just A Phase", a song I wrote after initially coming up with the chorus. I had a nice harmony and decent hook, so decided to write the song around that. It was clearly going to be a pop song, so I went all out to write a true 3 minute verse-bridge-chorus-verse-bridge-chorus-middle 8-chorus song.
Got some decent stuff laid down and some passable lyrics, but when I recorded my vocals it sounded awful. After a day's toil with Cubase SX (I really need to get one of those Uni Macbooks with Logic on...), I nearly abandoned everything I'd done because I hated it. Thankfully, Fae came to my rescue by agreeing to lay down some vocals for me. We changed the melody for her voice, wrote a second verse and voila, it was pretty much done. I think it's pretty decent. Maybe not 'current' enough to be a chart hit, but it's a start. I've got plenty of ideas for future improvements, so that's all good.
I also realise that I've come across a fantastic female vocalist with the perfect voice for pop songs... side project alert!! Watch this space...
Missed last week at Uni then, but fortunately got a recording of the 'Industrial Context' lecture. Absolutely fascinating stuff from two people who are right in the centre of the music industry at the moment - Jez Ashurst and Will Hicks. I'll write a bit more about these individuals at a later date, as I am a bit pushed for time at the moment. Anyway, every second of the two hours I listened to was like audio gold dust.
A lot of what these guys say is obvious stuff, but it makes so much sense to hear it from the horse's mouth, so to speak. It can be dispiriting to hear how incredibly difficult it is to break into the industry, but also equally encouraging and inspiring to hear that the industry is not this dark beast that everyone makes it out to be - labels do actively look for artists, they do listen to demos and encourage new talent. It seems that to make it in the industry, the key points seems to be networking, of course, and good honest hard work. Of course you have to have the talent to write a hit song!
Like I say, I'm a bit pushed for time at the moment so will cut this short in a mo. Just wanted to do a quick update really. I'm looking forward to getting back into the thick of it this week, and submerging myself into a sea of music.
I had a spurt of creativity yesterday and started writing two songs. I was listening to what Jez and Will were saying about how in pop these days you need an edge. Stuff like the Sugababes that used to be considered 'edgy' pop now sounds out-of-date and pretty average. The Girls Aloud-type stuff is fading away. It's all about the Lily Allens, the Florence & the Machines, Little Boots etc. at the moment (although that's not to say it won't all change in 6 months!). So I've written a big, brash synth riff (the 80's are back, didn't you know?), a simple drum beat and a hook for the chorus and I'm going to take it from there. My other idea is more likely to be compatible with my solo stuff, although it's also quite poppy - tried to write something piano-based rather than always starting with guitar.
Aaaaanyhoo. Another quick note to say that I've posted my week 5 song on here, called "Running". I had about half a day to write this after returning from holidays, and I guess it shows. It's a musical experiment rather than a lyrical masterpiece... I started with a funky guitar riff and wrote a few lines about escaping the humdrum. Then for whatever reason, I incorporated a sort-of subliminal breakdown in the middle where the acoustic guitar moves to 7/8 time and I layered a load of vocals and slide guitar, awash with effects creating a sea of bizarre noises. I kind of like it. Whether anyone else will is another matter :) but hey, they say songwriting is all about breaking the rules!
That's it for now. More musings soon.
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