About the ideas pages
Over the years I have built up a collection of song ideas in the form of audio files recorded on my phone. It became apparent that I needed to get them all into one place, and to have them available to a select group of friends who can help me sort through them. So here they are! The friends I chose to be involved have been given a password for access to the ideas pages containing all the raw ideas recordings. If you forget the password please contact me. Here are some examples of song ideas transformed into finished.
THE PROCESS
The song lands
Songs come to me while doing life, generally a tune and the sound or vibe of the lyrics, and often an idea of what the song is about. I grab the phone and record a quick voice demo.
The Jam session
Then, monthly, I go to the studio and jam them out with drums and piano with a view to getting a better sense of what the song might sound like. I have some ideas about lyrics, but mainly just voice the sound of the words... most of which don't make sense! Then I record the outcome of the jam. Those recordings are mainly what are in these playlists. Some of the rough recordings are actually recorded multi track (I used to do that but it was too time consuming and I would never get through all the songs).
The sorting
The next stage is the sorting process where I will take some songs and bunch them together into albums. This I find is a long and difficult process! I generally know the theme of each song and will try to bunch similar themes together because albums often have a common thread running through them. However, sometimes I will sort them into "sound" or musical genre, as some of the songs came with a specific kind of music in mind, ie, trance, rock, metal, congregational songs, prayer or liturgical songs, meditation music.
The Paper Song
I will then work on a rough paper structure and lyric structure. If I can't find the right lyrics I don't stress. More important at this stage is the sound of the words rather than the actual lyrics making sense. I concentrate on the vowels and the rhyming structure that is going to fit best with the song I am hearing in my head. Some words at this stage are still non words, just sounds that I am hearing. I know that eventually there will be a word that will fit that sound.
Initial Studio Recording
I will jam the feel of the song, usually working extensively on the intro, then structure the song using a drum track and simple piano or guitar recording. Then I will record the guide vocal with the unfinished lyrics, the "non words" included! Then I begin to record the instruments and layer backing vocals based on unfinished lyrics. I never force myself to finalise lyrics too early! I will write out rough mixes and listen to them for the next few months. I will work on the mix as much as I can and even master the song on Landr so when I'm listening to the song I am hearing the finished sound. This will inspire lyrics to fall into place.
Video Sync
Often at this stage I can write out the instrumentals as tracks to go off for TV sync. I will write some short stings and music beds from the instrumentation. It's usually a great focus to perfect the instrumentation.
Lyric formation
I will spend time listening to the mixes with the rough lyrics for a few weeks casually as I go about my life. Through the rough guide vocal, lyrics will start to become apparent, and eventually I will be able to pen some more final lyric ideas.
Final Recording
Eventually I will go back to the studio and record the final lyrics, tweak the instrumentation and the mixes. Eventually I will have a finished song!