Members King_For_A_Day Posted October 31, 2007 Members Share Posted October 31, 2007 Hi everyone - I'm glad I found this place! I am a songwriter (300 songs or so) who is currently wearing all the hats in my home studio - songwriter, singer, musician, producer, engineer, pizza delivery guy Although I enjoy doing it all, something is always lacking on every project. It's tough to keep all those hats on my head without at least one falling off. Anybody else have this problem..... or this freedom? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members rsadasiv Posted October 31, 2007 Members Share Posted October 31, 2007 Someone's gotta do it.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members eeglug Posted October 31, 2007 Members Share Posted October 31, 2007 It's tough wearing all those hats. I figure that I will never be very good at audio engineering stuff...but I try. I also have problems re-entering the role of songwriting if I'm away from it. For me, songwriting is the role that differs most from everything else... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members blue2blue Posted October 31, 2007 Members Share Posted October 31, 2007 Welcome, King! You've come to the right place to jawbone about song writing and -- if you want -- participate in workshop-style critiquing. In answer to your question -- sure, you bet... I think the "jack of all trades/master of none" saw is probably not far from many of our minds... For me, technology and music and self-expression have always intertwined. I started out as a music fan -- became a hi fi nut -- and then got back into listening to music... I worked as a freelance engineer/producer in the 80s, had a little project studio in the 90s... never made much money at any of it... finally burned out on working on other folks music and pulled down my shingle. You'd think that would give me some kind of sense of perspective and maybe it did -- but all too often I find myself at a loss gauging the importnace of inevitable imperfection. As someone who struggled with compulsive behavior as a kid, I find that I have to guard against working things to death -- I can always hear imperfections in any music I've ever worked on -- it was easier working with other people in some ways (of course, sometimes you just had to wince when they decided to keep something you really heard a problem with). I've probably overcompensated in that regard -- becoming habituated to quick takes and even calculated imperfection. (I'm sure I'm not the only drum programmer who's intentionally built in rhythm "errors" just to tweak the listener.) It's that perspective and balance that I seem to have problems finding. But I have to say that my mates here in the Songwriting Forum have greatly helped! And -- I'm happy to say that a long productivity slump has eased considerably in the last couple months (meaning I've written a couple songs -- woo hoo!) and I can't help but feel it's been my participation here, talking about songwriting, helping others, and getting feedback on my own humble efforts. (Which are flippin' genius, I know, in my heart of hearts... but it's that ol' perspective thing, y'know? ) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members DevilRaysFan Posted October 31, 2007 Members Share Posted October 31, 2007 There is definitely something to be said for bouncing song ideas off of other people or collaborating.....Still, I enjoy doing it myself just for the fact of being on my own schedule Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members FranklinPearl Posted October 31, 2007 Members Share Posted October 31, 2007 I tells you what, main... I is a good songwriters...butts, when Is has help from good friend Brian, I is even betters. He is very goods at helping me, and is a unique player of the geetar. it is the helping and it is the good...yous need a friend. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members bluesway Posted October 31, 2007 Members Share Posted October 31, 2007 i'm with you, king. (and i have to say: it's straight up cool to have someone put their first post in here that ISN'T looking for feedback........ even though, back in the day, MY first post was "check out my songs! i'm a genius! what a dick, right? lol *ahem* ) i am the only musician on my home recordings. i track drums, bass, guitar, piano (on a few, anyway) and sing them.....i engineer the recording, do the arrangement, fumble my way through the mix like a blind rhino in a china shop, and post/maintain myspace and facebook and soundclick and yadda, yadda, yadda. i also try and run a song publishing company, design my album cover, work as a teacher in a school, now im' learning a new computer/recording rig (macbookpro/logic8 for you techies) ....and it's all overwhelming.......and it becomes counter-productive after a while. it's like trying to jam too many stems into a vase....you just wind up with jumbled {censored}. (wtf? a floral reference?. . . i just realized at this precise moment that my wife has effectively WON the domestication battle.....{censored}. ) *pisses on the carpet* where was I? one thing that has helped me (although i'm currently inable to do it b/c i'm still getting my feet wet on the new DAW) is to plan out my project in a flow-chart of sorts. another thing i've done that has helped me get my head around everything is to develop UNDER-produced music to at least get the song done and have something to CHOOSE to develop later. hope that helps....and welcome. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members blue2blue Posted October 31, 2007 Members Share Posted October 31, 2007 I've certainly flow-charted (in a manner of speaking) commercial studio projects (I often worked as producer, sometimes engineer, sometimes both -- I'd lay out tracking and plan overdub order to factilitate ping-pong bounces, etc) but I don't think I ever flow-charted one of my personal projects. Heck it was all I could do (in my own studio) in tape days to get a track sheet filled in and updated. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members rsadasiv Posted October 31, 2007 Members Share Posted October 31, 2007 In addition to the (obvious) financial benefits of doing everything yourself, I think there is a mental health benefit as well. We were talking a while ago about how to overcome writers block/depression (the two seem to be pretty closely related for a lot of people), and I said that one thing which helps keep me going through blocked/dry spells (because they do happen, to everyone) was to have some tasks where I could make linear progress (additional time spent doing it -> additional observable results) so that even if the writing isn't going well I can still be doing something productive and feeling good about the overall creative process (kind of a right brain/left brain thing). I find that the engineering and production tasks fall nicely into the linear progress category, and that really helps even out the "I don't have anything new to say" days, as well as making me more productive/creative on the days when I do have something new to say. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members King_For_A_Day Posted November 1, 2007 Author Members Share Posted November 1, 2007 ..."It's tough wearing all those hats. I figure that I will never be very good at audio engineering stuff...but I try. I also have problems re-entering the role of songwriting if I'm away from it. For me, songwriting is the role that differs most from everything else..." - eeglug I think you're right, eeglug, songwriting is the most different. The other hats involve working with something (the song). Only songwriting offers the god-like power of creating "something from nothing". "...I can always hear imperfections in any music I've ever worked on..." - blue2blue I read somewhere that some famous painter said, "A work of art is never finished, it is only abandoned." I agree with that statement. "...being on my own schedule..." - Stormtrooper Definately one of the perks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members King_For_A_Day Posted November 1, 2007 Author Members Share Posted November 1, 2007 "...when Is has help from good friend Brian, I is even betters..." - FranklinPearl You're lucky to have a good collaborator, Franklin. Having two people on the team is way more than two times better than one. "...and i have to say: it's straight up cool to have someone put their first post in here that ISN'T looking for feedback"..."develop UNDER-produced music..." - bluesway I'm sure that feedback day will come eventually, bluesway! I think leaving things under-developed can help other musicians to become excited about playing our songs. Creative ones can see what they want to add instead of having it all laid out for them. Of course, uncreative musicians are lost, but those aren't the ones I'm interested in anyway. "...even if the writing isn't going well I can still be doing something productive and feeling good about the overall creative process ..." - rsadasiv I like that - excellent point, rsadasiv! And well-expessed, IMO. Having all those hats to wear is like having a musical buffet of choices, isn't it? There's always something to work on. Thanks for the interesting ideas, everybody! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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