Mixing VS Creating

Yeah, I can relate.  Over time, I've learned to separate the two.  When I'm composing I just refuse to do any sort of mixing whatsoever.  Then once composition is finished I plan mixing for another day so I can attack it with fresh ears.  Seems to be working better.  In fact-- sometimes it never ends up getting mixed because I decide the song is just not good enough to justify the time spent.  If that's the case I spend that time composing a brand new song instead.

wow....can i ever relate!
It's a very important point you've brought up.

I used to (for decades) mumble or play ideas into a cheap cassette recorder and play it often to get the song to sprout and grow.   Now, because cakewalk is so handy, i'll drop ideas right into a track...then, since i'm already in there, i'll tweak sounds or look for more sounds and before you know it the idea has starved to death.
Now i don't go near the pc until there's an entire song (musically anyway).

Mixing, although very creative, is not the same as writing a song.  Now i've learned to keep the two stages separate.

wow, I see the trend here.......... I'm glad the DAW has ruined songwriting for others!! LOL.............

Daylaa, remember the production is meant to bring the SONG out to full life, and reallly make it shine..... not meant to BE the song.

So for instance, if you have a great song with just keyboard - with vocals/lyrics. Then, imagine how much greater it will be with production.

Anway, that was how it was done in the old days. Like the others said, you just wrote a song a guitar and tape recorder.

I'm still waiting for someone to talk about how they do all their writing on the DAW. I'm sure some do, and it works for them too.

I can't say I get this one.
I record a REALLY REALLY ROUGH demo of a song, and leave it at that.  I play them to myself as much as possible until it develops into a better song.
When i have 9 or 10 of these, THAT'S the point where I'll think about recording and mixing.

This way i'm not trying to polish a turd.  If I've got nothing good to say, i'll wait.

With all the toys and all the options and plug ins we have just a click away... it is too easy to get the cart before the horse...as the saying goes.

I am tempted to drop a few plugs into my early projects to make them sound better to the ear... and I think there is nothing wrong with that as long as the DAW can process it all, AND record the next track in real time and 100% synced up.

On writing and composing.... I have done a few songs in segments... but mostly I like to write a song 100% complete or nearly so.... on acoustic guitar with vox or on a piano with vox.  I personally don't like to waste time recording anything that is not complete..... I have and yeah I delete ideas that go nowhere.... but most of the time, I won't even fire up the DAW until the idea is solid.

then and only then do I spend the time to start recording it.

Slugbaby


I can't say I get this one.
I record a REALLY REALLY ROUGH demo of a song, and leave it at that.  I play them to myself as much as possible until it develops into a better song.
When i have 9 or 10 of these, THAT'S the point where I'll think about recording and mixing.

This way i'm not trying to polish a turd.  If I've got nothing good to say, i'll wait.

I do a similar sort of thing. I'm in the process of preparing songs for my album so I'm recording pretty rough demos for them (just chuck a mic somewhere near the source, no treatments and record one take only, a little bit of volume adjusting and we're done). I'll put all these songs onto my ipod and just keep listening over and over, slowly developing all the full components of the production in my head.

I certainly do now notice so much wrong with my old stuff. But that includes the quality of the song itself. So I feel like I'm improving in my writing, composing, recording and mixing ability! I have the inspiration bug at the moment. Had it for about 2 months now (lost it for about 2 years) so I'm so excited to make music right now! But unfortunately life is getting in the way a little too much :( It always happens doesn't it...

In my case, the vast majority of the "writing" process is a mental effort.  I arrange patterns mentally until a song structure is created.  These may consist of drum, bass, guitar, keyboard, and/or vocal patterns.  I tend to get all of the various rhythms worked out in detail before starting to work on a melody.  I'll usually break the vocal part down into a melodic/rhythmic structure that fits within the instrumental patterns.  In many cases, this will help me dictate the number of syllables each line will need.  Based upon this structure, I'll write lyrics.  If something doesn't fit, I'll either re-work the lyric to express a similar thought within the confines of the music, or change the music to fit the lyric.  Most of the time, I'm changing the lyric.

I'll often go through this entire process before I've actually written anything on paper or recorded a track.  When I start laying down tracks, I'm just working through the patterns that have been in my head for several weeks/months/years.  It's a real relief to actually get the tracks laid down so it's finally out of my head!

If a song is just not happening, I mentally file it away and let my subconscious work on it for awhile.  In some cases, it's years before that song surfaces again to haunt me.  Usually, the new version is better and much more like what I wanted it to be in the first place.

The positive thing about this approach is that I know what I want the song to be when I record it.  The downside is that it takes me forever to finish anything.  If I'm frequently interrupted, or if I'm too busy to spend time daydreaming through these songs, they just churn below the surface until they reach critical mass.