Songwriting Workshop

[rsadasiv]

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blue2blue wrote:

Here's my first effort, hopefully destined for the outtakes bin...

http://rpmchallenge.com/userplayer/11715/2013-02-01-RPMC-1.mp3

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Very nice - you are off to a flying start.

[blue2blue]

At the rate things are going, I may have to extend that to 35 minutes of mindless repetitive noodling... the quest for lyrical inspiration has been,  shall we say, feeling a bit quixotic.

Come to think of it, the desperation motivation of waiting 'til the last minute only seemed to work for research papers...

[nat whilk II]

I seem to recall your preference for early reflections style reverb. The verb on this track is short - almost to point that, when the verb blooms from a transient, it almost sounds gated. If it were my track, I'd like it better with just a bit longer tail and smoother decay.

Aside from that quibble, very nice acoustic track.

It occurs to me that there is a whole lot of brilliant improvised instrumental music for the ages, but not much slam poetry sticks to the wall for very long.

nat whilk ii

[blue2blue]

Oh, yeah, I ended up going for a pretty tweaked 'verb on that.

I actually don't much like super short reverbs, the bathroom thing is not (normally) me. (I'd have to say this sounds more like the huge, institutional bathrooms on my old uni campus, though.)

But once the virtual room size gets up above bedroom size, I'm pretty good with small/bright, depending on my mood.

But, yeah, that's a pretty wack reverb sound I stopped with. The track, as recorded, felt a bit distant and delicate but I got it in my head to tweak it until it had some thump and impact so I used a couple layers of compression and then got in and tweaked the convo reverb I was using pretty shamelessly, creating some decidedly unnatural reverb effects.

As noted, I'm hoping I don't have to use the track for the Challenge, but if I do,  I strongly suspect I'll be massaging the sonics, probably coming up with something considerably more naturalistic.

[rsadasiv]

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blue2blue wrote:

Oh, yeah, I ended up going for a pretty tweaked 'verb on that.

I actually don't much like super short reverbs, the bathroom thing is not (normally) me. (I'd have to say this sounds more like the huge, institutional bathrooms on my old uni campus, though.)

But once the virtual room size gets up above bedroom size, I'm pretty good with small/bright, depending on my mood.

But, yeah, that's a pretty wack reverb sound I stopped with. The track, as recorded, felt a bit distant and delicate but I got it in my head to tweak it until it had some thump and impact so I used a couple layers of compression and then got in and tweaked the convo reverb I was using pretty shamelessly, creating some decidedly unnatural reverb effects.

As noted, I'm hoping I don't have to use the track for the Challenge, but if I do,  I strongly suspect I'll be massaging the sonics, probably coming up with something considerably more naturalistic.

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Pro tip: Bounce it, post it, and move on. It's day 3 already - do not dawdle.

[rsadasiv]

m'kay - we'll see how far I get with this RPM thing.

Blue Movie

http://soundclick.com/share.cfm?id=12147349

[Marshal]

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blue2blue wrote:

Here's my first effort, hopefully destined for the outtakes bin...

http://rpmchallenge.com/userplayer/11715/2013-02-01-RPMC-1.mp3

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Lovely. Nicely worked out musically. Mysterious; contepletive; maybe a little anger or disgust. Thos are the feelings I get. A loooonnggg way from a lyric. 

I would hesitate to work that much out musically without a lyric direction. Once that starts brewing, it would likely want to alter the pattern and repetition of musical elements. 

[stickboymusic]

You seem to be writing just fine.....

I always said i'd finish it later

Come to think of it

the desperation motivation

only seemed to work for research papers.

[blue2blue]

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rsadasiv wrote:

m'kay - we'll see how far I get with this RPM thing.

Blue Movie

http://soundclick.com/share.cfm?id=12147349

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You got clearance on all that? = D

Yeah... day 4. I'm already past quiet desperation. But I did write a more or less complete set of dreary lyrics last night. Sometimes I just have to get some blockage out of the way.

An album of instrumentals remains a possibility.

[rsadasiv]

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blue2blue wrote:

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rsadasiv wrote:

m'kay - we'll see how far I get with this RPM thing.

Blue Movie

http://soundclick.com/share.cfm?id=12147349

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You got clearance on all that? = D

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As my grandmother used to say - "fuck em if they can't take a joke".

More of a DJ/mashup excercise than traditional songwriting, but I often think that traditional songwriting could use a kick in the pants.

[blue2blue]

I listened to the whole thing.

Is there a merit badge? = D

It reminded me -- very much -- of the nearly obligatory hallucinatory montage scene in late 40s noire movies where the soon-to-be-ensnared-in-deep-trouble hero gets slipped a mickie or just gets plowed and wanders through a minute or two of double exposures, echoes, and, almost always, maniacal laughter.

[rsadasiv]

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blue2blue wrote:

It reminded me -- very much -- of the nearly obligatory hallucinatory montage scene in late 40s noire movies where the soon-to-be-ensnared-in-deep-trouble hero gets slipped a mickie or just gets plowed and wanders through a minute or two of double exposures, echoes, and, almost always, maniacal laughter.

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Blue Movie was never actually made into a movie, so I was thinking of Candy (also written by Terry Southern).

[rsadasiv]

RPM #2

From The Coast Of Malabar

http://soundclick.com/share.cfm?id=12149936

[rsadasiv]

RPM #3

Singing The Accounts Receivable, Dancing The Accounts Payable (Money In Asia)

http://soundclick.com/share.cfm?id=12151615

[blue2blue]

Nice guitar work!

 Are the lyrics to this around somewhere?

[rsadasiv]

Thanks!

Lyrics lower down on the SC page.

[oldgitplayer]

You guys are on fire! It shows how working under a bit of duress can bring out what's already in you, and just waiting to see the light of day.

[rsadasiv]

RPM #4

Mountain

http://soundclick.com/share.cfm?id=12153518

(lyrics on the bottom of the soundclick page)

and a hilariously inept lip-sync video - enjoy it now, because this is coming down soon.  However, I am wearing a hat, which really was the whole point.

[blue2blue]

Here's my updated "This Scene Is Dead"...

http://rpmchallenge.com/userplayer/11715/rpmc-2013-02-06-2_The-Scene-Is-Dead.mp3

Revised lyrics:

Sad that it's so dead in here
sad to see the flocks have fled
sad to say its inevitable
but some things must be said

This scene is dead
the scene is dead
the reasons are many
excuses are few
this scene is dead
the scene is dead
God knows the scene is dead

We were so cool
so beautiful
so free so hip
the people to be
What we had is gone, what we did is done
the songs we sang as good as never sung

This scene is dead
the scene is dead
God knows the scene is dead

Came back to see what had become
of the place where so much was said and done
footprints in the dust
shadows in a mirror
Was it yesterday
or a thousand years?

This scene is dead
the scene is dead
the reasons are many
excuses are few
This scene is dead
the scene is dead
God knows the scene is dead
 

[rsadasiv]

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blue2blue wrote:

Here's my updated "This Scene Is Dead"...

http://rpmchallenge.com/userplayer/11715/rpmc-2013-02-06-2_The-Scene-Is-Dead.mp3

Revised lyrics:

Sad that it's so dead in here
sad to see the flocks have fled
sad to say its inevitable
but some things must be said

This scene is dead
the scene is dead
the reasons are many
excuses are few
this scene is dead
the scene is dead
God knows the scene is dead

We were so cool
so beautiful
so free so hip
the people to be
What we had is gone, what we did is done
the songs we sang as good as never sung

This scene is dead
the scene is dead
God knows the scene is dead

Came back to see what had become
of the place where so much was said and done
footprints in the dust
shadows in a mirror
Was it yesterday
or a thousand years?

This scene is dead
the scene is dead
the reasons are many
excuses are few
This scene is dead
the scene is dead
God knows the scene is dead
 

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Did you fly-in just the changed words? The phrasing (only on those 4 lines) feels weird.