Enough (arrangement) by chikoppi_journal [Email]
Genre: Informational
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Description:
NOTE: This is a project intended to get feedback about the creative process of musicians. Voting doesn't really apply. Please read the member profile for details!We're up to the fourth installment in this series and nearing completion of the song. Prior posts covered song concept, chord progression, and lyrics. Now its time for arrangement. Its probably a product of learning to write music using digital tools, but I tend to build parts of a song only to rearrange them as I experiment inside the file. Sometimes I work front to back, with each part suggesting what should come next as I complete it. Sometimes I have a handful of sections that I shuffle and combine until I become happy with the "motion" of the piece as a whole. Almost inevitably I find that I have to create a part that I hadn't planned initially. There always seems to be some little inspiration that doesn't occur until I can actually hear parts of the song coming together. This song has been mostly linear in development. I had a strong idea at the outset of what I wanted the structure to look like. I'm fairly happy with the way the sickness/outrage theme played out. The part I hadn't planned on this time can be heard just after the second chorus and right before the end. As much as I am mystified by the artistic aspects of writing and performing music I am equally fascinated by the technical aspects of production. Where artistry comes from inspiration production certainly seems to come from perspiration. I tend to mix as I build the song, tweaking with compression, reverb, shelving, and EQ. I find that it helps to create a random iTunes playlist and toss in a build of the song along with several other tracks that have a production quality similar to what I am after. Each time the song build turns up I hear something that is off, like a bass drum that is too muffled. I run the playlist while I work and make notes for when I'm ready to work on the song again. I've no doubt listened to this song at least 200 times in its various stages. Each time through some little change suggests itself, either a tweak to the sound of an instrument, a percussive change, or the addition of a note in a chord. Yeah, I second-guess myself a lot. The audio file in this posts contains what is essentially a final draft. I've roughed-in nearly all the vocals (they aren't quite mixed right). The last step will be to get vocal tracks from Packosmokes and for us both to make final revisions to the file. We have similar sensibilities and he has an uncanny habit of catching the vibe Im after, so his contributions go right into the mix. I'll likely post the final version under my "chikoppi" user name, so please help me close out this edition of the song journal by adding your own thoughts and processes for arrangement and production! Thanks to everyone who has posted! Lyrics:
Enough should be enough for me, If its true the best things are free.Spend my life. Feed those needs, That I have been given. Body counts. Corporate gains. New and improved but it tastes the same. Another pill might ease the shame, A shallow incision. Its how you look, not what you feel. Wounds are getting harder to conceal. Fake a smile, the pain is real, A constant distraction. Bleed 'em dry, yeah make 'em sweat. Haven't squeezed out that last drop yet. Tell a lie, feed mounting debt. A life paid in ransom. I don't need to swallow this lie. Take what I need. Spit out the fear and hypocrisy. Greed. Consumption. Life is a test. I'm not dead yet. I'll never pay my pound of flesh. Play on words, prey on fears, Tell us everything we want to hear. Truth is lost but the message clear. The price of inclusion. I try to stop, to disbelieve. But the silver tongue licks so eagerly, Open wide, extract the fee. Inject your delusion. Another pimp finds another whore. And every trick you turn leaves you wanting more. An empty life and an open sore, Designer pollution. Shut it out and look within. Spit it back and tear it up and start again. Greed is fear and mortal sin. Find absolution. Hardware:
iMac 800mhz, Ibanez RGSoftware:
Logic Express |
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