Diary of a Song – Session 2

Introduction

I’ve decided to do a diary of a song I’ve been working on, I thought I would write down what I need to do to get the song from a few scrappy ideas in my head, to guitar, to vocals, to recording, mixing, and mastering.

I thought it would be nice to give an idea of how I approach things generally, although things never seem to be the same for each song as each song presents it’s own challenges.

Previous Sessions
Session 1 (3 hours) is here if you missed it

Anyway onto….

Session 2

Review

Listened to the CD in the car – and I’m pretty excited about the track

Definitely happy with the hook line – When You’re Gone You’re Gone – and this is the title – for my usual shorthand it will be WYGYG and the version numbers of the track will move on in minor numbers so the next version will be 1.1 then 1.2 etc.

I have a think about what needs changing – the intro could definitely do some changing around so I add some synth parts which sound nice but not definitely sure about them – I’ll wait for the mixdown to get better perspective.

Changes

I’ve done some more work on the guitar riff and got a nice sound going with Guitar Rig, I’ve also beefed up the rhythm section guitar for the verse and chorus – although played differently the same amp sound will be used for both. But to add further definition I clone the verse track and add another amp model sound – this gives it more depth and a little bit more edge on those parts – its subtle but when you take it away – you notice it so it’s definitely worth keeping in.

Added a better bassline for most sections and tightened up any bits where I was cutting corners before.

For the bridge, I try out a few more harmonies and take out most of the distorted sounds which I added in the first draft. I think making a smoother sound here will add contrast to the rest of the song, and remove the strummed chords and replace with picked guitar

Summary

Another 3 hours spent – I’ll do another mixdown after this session and put on CD to listen in the car. I always listen to the mixdowns in the car – if the speakers are bad in the car – then the whole album is screwed!!!

Session 2 Clips – When You’re Gone You’re Gone 1.1

v1.1 Intro + Verse Clip

Intro
More spacey – (thought it sounded a bit star trek afterwards – changed it later)
Bass
Guitar riff motif

Verse
Heavier guitar – into verse
Same vocals
Tighter drum pattern

v1.1 Chorus Clip

Still the basic Chorus
Think it has a better bassline
Still the same lyrics and pretty much format

v1.1 Bridge Clip

Added picked guitar instead of the strummed version
Removed most of the howls
Started thinking about the harmonies
Basic form is staying