datamusicata

The other day I got an idea for a song. I only had a few hours to work on it and I layed down a very rough guitar track and a scratch vocal. I was trying to get it down and I didn’t worry about the sound of anything or the performance as much as I concerned myself with getting the ideas down before they went away. It was sloppy and muted sounding but the energy was wonderful,so I decided to try something utterly different for the recording the rest of it. One take on everything. No fixing anything up, just recording as fast as I could, putting down each part.

I took simple click track that was just kick and snare and put it in a digital delay so that it was double time, layed down a second, third and fourth guitar, as quickly as I could come up with the part. I sat in the control room with the amp in the studio and played against the track just recording whatever I came up with.

Then I did the vocal double and then did it again so there were a total of four voices singing, four guitars playing, one bass and a kick and snare in a digital delay doing double time.

I’m not trying to say that this is a great record, but it was a totally different experience for me. Rather than labor over the parts and think about them and do all the stuff that I normally do before anyone ever hears what I’ve recorded, even the other guys that will be playing on it, I just put it all down and mixed it and it’s sitting on my space right now. What is wonderful about it is the simple energy and joy of creating it. That’s what you can hear in the track.

The value of doing something this way is that nothing gets in the way of just creating it. If I decide the song is good enough, I’ll go back and record everything right; getting the best sound on all the instruments and working out interesting vocal background parts and giving it some real dynamics and the mix and mastering sheen that makes something sound like a professional recording.

But in the meantime, I got every idea I could think of down and got it out there for at least some kind of public response.

The lyrics may be a little difficult to understand, but you can open them up on the page and read along as you listen. Love to have your feedback on this nekkid unpolished attempt at a new song.

The song is called “Lasts All Night” and it’s the first song that plays when you go to www.myspace.com/jamesleestanley

Let me know what you think.

And I offer this to you. For your next demo of a brand new song, try it this way. No overdubs, no second takes, no fixing stuff up. Put everything down that comes to you as your are doing one pass at everything. What is wrong with the recording with be obvious in the sound, the arrangement and the performance, but try to notice what is good about it. Try to bring that spontaneity, energy and joy to your next professional recording.