What is your method or procedure for starting to record a project

I get really hung up on lyrics. I've always started with the basic changes, basic melody for the vocals with gibberish lyrics and try to come up with a theme and permanent lyrics when things start sounding as they do in my head. All too often though I get stalled out for months and even years coming up with lyrics. That's great that you can come up with words so easily, words are just not easy for me.

Hmm, Masterwriter, I'll look into that thanks.

I am interested in how you start the recording process after you have a bisic idea. Do you always do a scratch track? Do you lay down some drums and some bass and add as it goes? Where do you usually start and do you start different kinds of songs different ways... to be clear, I am not talking about the intro, I am talking about the recording process.

 
It starts with a finished song (not the same as a finished production). Whether I wrote it, or someone else has - I listen to that song in it's raw form and determine a direction to take for production. At this same time - I nail down a tempo, or at the very least get it really close.

1. I reach to Superior Drummer, and look for loops that capture the feel of the song. I then create a loose "top to bottom" structure of the song. I will make sure the stops / starts are there, but I don't worry about fills yet. That comes in step 4.
2. I lay down the bass part. This "may" not be the final part, but I do want it good enough to track the other instruments.
3. Lay down some instuments. Rhythm guitar, acoustics, pads, etc... At this point I want the song to sound inspiring enough to get the vocals down. (If it adds to the inspiration, I may lay down a lead instrument as well - but not always)
4. Track the lead vocals and the harmonies!
5. Now I go back and track the rest of the instruments - working them around the vocals. The reason I don't spend a lot of time on the instruments in 1 - 3 is because they need to compliment the vocals, but at the same time - they need to be inspiring enough to get a good vocal down. It is this stage there is no formula. I'll go back and forth between instruments - adding/subtracting things as I go until I get what I (or the client) is after.

That's just my way of doing it, not necessarily the best/right way to do it

How do I write a song?   let me count the ways....

It depends.  Sometimes I have a lyric idea, sometimes a melody or chord progression or simply a title.  Several of my songs have started form just a title.  

My newest, not yet released to the songs forum was like that... a title and then write it from there.  I had the title, then put the music together, and sent the tracks to my co-writer who threw some lyrical ideas back to me...and so began the newest song from us both..... and it's now waiting on final vocal tracks. It should end up as a duet if all goes as planned. It started with just a title idea and the music. 

I have been co-writing a lot recently and really enjoy it. With the right co-writer, some amazing things can happen. 

My writing process have changed over the years as technology has improved. 

I used to write in note books. I too, have many notebooks filled or partially filled with mostly bad and dead-end ideas.  Some made it to a finished song, but most didn't.

Now, I use Masterwriter quite a bit in my writing. I bought the MW2 software a few years back and have found it very useful in keeping all the songs together and cataloged. The tools like rhyming dictionary are excellent when I get stuck for an idea and hit that dreaded blank mind state.  Browsing the multiple pages of rhyming words and phrases can very often spark a new direction in the lyric. I also use the Songuard feature to protect the music until it gets signed or published. Quick and handy. 

I also use Band in a Box as a musical & lyrical scratch pad. It has replaced my notepad & pencil for working on song ideas. The ease of changing and trying different chords and song structure, plus it has a lyric view window, make it the perfect way to work on a song in the development stages. It sounds midi depending on the style used, but it gets the job done and helps me to hear what the song might eventually sound like before I ever record the first track.

Working with BB, I will grab my acoustic guitar and play. I start with a blank new project and start banging out the chords and idea on my acoustic, writing them into BB as I go. Words are written into the lyric window at the same time.  This way, I don't forget the feel/groove of the song as I very often would do with something written on paper. I can't count the times I would come back to my notepad the next day to work on it again, and could not, for the life of me, remember the melody or the groove to the song idea. Being able to have it in a computer and being able to record the melody changed all that. 

Quite often, just as with a notepad, the idea still goes nowhere and the song is abandoned. At other times, the idea is good enough to make to to a finished tune. 

Occasionally, I will still start an idea on a piece of paper if the DAW isn't on. But if the idea looks promising, I will fire up the DAW to capture it while it's still hot. 

Technology has changed how I write, and the internet lets me collaborate almost in a real time scenario with writers all over, regardless of where they live.

Thanks all... ohgrant, Myuzishin, Codamedia, FBB, Guitarhacker, and AT..  this is what I was looking for. It is encouraging to me to hear how you do it. Getting to a point where I feel like I have more than a simple demo is really hard for me. I have no problem doing a simple drum track with some loops, playing some rhythm guitar, and doing a lead... but I know that is really meaningless because it is not my goal.
I appreciate the explainations and I will be re-reading it all and I will use it. I don't know if there is a recording equivalent of writers block but if there is, I have it. It is almost a phobia but this helps me.

Julien

Thanks Rus...

+1 on it starts with an idea

I am looking for a sound to inspire me. That then starts the creative process of doing 8-16 bars of something. If it works, I continue; if not, then it is recorded for another day to work on.

Once I have an idea, I then decide what kind of song it is (as I write in every genre). There are rules and tropes to every genre, so filling out a song isn't that hard if you have a decent musical encyclopedia. Words will follow the same path.

usually get a riff going, play with it for a day or two, record that and then get the rest of the song whilst recording...i always record guitar to a click track, then add drums afterwards, which i know is 'wrong'...

1. Find a tempo
2. Find a 'groove' (midi pattern) in SD2...fill out the same groove to the length of the song
3. Play rough acoustic track with chord changes etc
4. Sing a rough vocal to work out verse positions etc
5. Next (my most hated part) try to turn the midi drum groove into something decent...by trying to use fills and variations
6. Record a proper acoustic guitar backing track
7. Record bass
8. Vocal.
9. BU Vocals, lead licks, licks...etc...anything else
10. Mix
 
THE most annoying, dull, anti productive, slow, project killing step is...step 5...very tough to work out drum parts that don't suck.

1. Find a tempo 2. Find a 'groove' (midi pattern) in SD2...fill out the same groove to the length of the song 3. Play rough acoustic track with chord changes etc 4. Sing a rough vocal to work out verse positions etc 5. Next (my most hated part) try to turn the midi drum groove into something decent...by trying to use fills and variations 6. Record a proper acoustic guitar backing track 7. Record bass 8. Vocal. 9. BU Vocals, lead licks, licks...etc...anything else 10. Mix THE most annoying, dull, anti productive, slow, project killing step is...step 5...very tough to work out drum parts that don't suck.

 
So yuo basically make a scratch track then redo the drums (ugh) then redo everything else...
 
That seems pretty much like me but, the drums have always tripped me up. It has become easier with the tools we have now. I think I just need to practice more. 'preciate it!
 
Julien

Like others have said, it starts with an idea. But how to develop that idea? To make sure I remember the essence of my original idea, I have my system set up ready to record. All I need to do is turn on my computer, hardware and mixer, arm a track and then I am ready to roll. It literally take me under a minute to start recording. If I don't have a title, I will save my file as a date file (e.g. Idea092411) I like to get the basic idea down and then wait a few days to listen back. If it's something that excites me, I will continue working on it. Otherwise, I will keep the song file on my hard drive. Sometimes a future listen will reignite the creative spark and get me back to working on the song.

jbow

1. Find a tempo 2. Find a 'groove' (midi pattern) in SD2...fill out the same groove to the length of the song 3. Play rough acoustic track with chord changes etc 4. Sing a rough vocal to work out verse positions etc 5. Next (my most hated part) try to turn the midi drum groove into something decent...by trying to use fills and variations 6. Record a proper acoustic guitar backing track 7. Record bass 8. Vocal. 9. BU Vocals, lead licks, licks...etc...anything else 10. Mix THE most annoying, dull, anti productive, slow, project killing step is...step 5...very tough to work out drum parts that don't suck.

 
So yuo basically make a scratch track then redo the drums (ugh) then redo everything else...
 
That seems pretty much like me but, the drums have always tripped me up. It has become easier with the tools we have now. I think I just need to practice more. 'preciate it!
 
Julien

Yeah...and yeah...more practise with e-drums is needed...so it becomes less ugly/ frustrating...it is hard to trawl through all those patterns to find one that suits your specific song....there's millions to trawl through and it's just luck if one really fits. The alternative is to play it on a midi keyboard...which for fills is tough...doable if you're a keyboard drummer...then there's e-drum rigs...and real drums...
 
Good luck