Gandolf the White has struck! Apparently the Weather Channel decided to start naming winter snow storms. The humor is, this one hasn’t been all that insane and yet it has a name, Gandolf. I didn’t even get to see the start of the snowing as I was holed up in the den working so I could write this: the fourteenth song finalized is “Things We Left Unsaid”. That’s right, another song into the fire from the frying pan.
This song is one of those songs that underwent a rather strong amount of changes, comparatively speaking. It got a major facelift on the lyrics so that the words were more focused. Especially the Verses. The tone of it changed from a protagonist and antagonist switch in the Verses to simply a one point of view – that really helped the focus. The Pre Chorus then got a rewrite to make that transition work going into the slightly tweaked Chorus. Mostly because the Chorus had to reflect the change coming from the verse. The other change in the Chorus came from a slight rewrite of the title. Coming from “Things Left Unsaid” going to “Things We Left Unsaid”.
Musically speaking, I decided to down-step the song a full two semitones. What brought this part of the rewrite? Well… The Verses stayed the same melodically. The Pre Chorus stayed nearly the same, there was a slight adjustment to the melody and rhythm based on the new words and wanted a better swing into the Chorus. The Chorus ended up getting an entire facelift melodically. The main reason for it was two fold. One, I wanted a way for it to stand out more from the Verses. The original version had some interesting lines but they didn’t stand too far apart from the Verses rhythmically. Now, the melody is fashioned to have a much much stronger hook. Not only rhythmically but also melodically. This is where the key change had to happen for the song. Where I took the Chorus melodically was becoming a tad to straining to sound powerful in a full voice fashion. Thus stepping the song down two semitones put it back into a range that gives the Chorus full power.
The added bonus of bringing the key down of the song is that now the guitar parts sound beefier! That helps the vibe of the groove too. I can’t explain why, but it feels way better now. Thus the fact that people liked it enough before to vote the song into the final round, now it’s become a real contender to make the final cut and be a bonafide hit.
I’m much happier with the overall state of the song. Arrangement-wise the song a way more traditional in it’s situation. However, I think once in the studio it will get a little extra window dressing. Though that comes down to how it’s reflecting once it’s finally re-recorded.
To close out for this update, I’d like to happily send you on a merry way – hopefully you’ll be one of the people to enjoy the snow, especially if you’re headed to Sundance! Until the next update (coming soon) be in-the-know that the fourteenth song to get finalized is “Things We Left Unsaid”.
Cue the twilight zone theme… Cause if you’re superstitious, then today is the kind of announcement you might not want to hear. However, I am not superstitious. Thus I’m A. O.K. with writing that the thirteenth song finalized is “Jupiter Bowl”.
The song is my first co-write with a musician by the name of Mark Luna. An absolutely fantastic singer and amazing writer. When we first met and chatted on the phone Mark wanted to hear some of my music before agreeing to pen a song with me. After hearing some of my original work his response was: “We could do some serious musical damage together.” That phrase sticks with me. What a compliment coming from such a talent like him.
Jupiter Bowl is not about the planet. Nor is it about a bowling alley. No. It’s about the place located atop the Park City Ski Resort.
The goal in writing the song was to capture the vibe of Jupiter in the summer. The off-season. What strikes me about this song is that Mark and I discussed every detail in the lyrics, the tempo, and the concept of the arrangement. Way more so than any other co-write I’ve ever done. It was magical. Much like my early memories of hiking up to Jupiter Bowl.
For the most part I’m sticking pretty strong to the original demo version we did. It’s so powerful despite it’s lazy acoustic nature. Then again, isn’t that what nature is? Powerful with such beauty. Again it’s another song that I can’t wait to fully realize in the studio with a group of players. Anticipation is the word!
One funny thing I can think of right now, is there there is going to be that “What the hell did he sing?” type of thing that will happen with this song. Much Like “Blinded By The Light” where people think it’s saying wrapped up like a douche, when it’s actually deuce. I know this because a couple of peeps have already said it. While I understand where they’re coming from – I do believe it’s going to be alright and I’m going to let it slide. Create the controversy!
Rounding out the beginning of the teens is the thirteenth song finalized, “Jupiter Bowl”. Until tomorrow or the next day – Stay tuned.
Yesterday. Monday. Odd day. Good day. Full day. Was the day where I got some more time in on this impending release… The short announcement is that the twelfth song finalized is “Vaporize Your Heart”.
One would love to envision that musicians/rockstars sit around all day long lollygaggin until they get to making some sort of brilliant music. Not this one. After a hearty workout, it was on the phone making calls for meetings with networks. The alternate ‘N’ word. Then I spent several hours taking my dog to the vet to get his shots updated. Glamorous shit right there!
Once I was back from the vet I beelined for the studio to get to work on tweaking the arrangement of this song. Make some serious structural changes that give the song a bit more drive. Not only more drive but also more ebb and flow too. It had a nice swing to it before. Nice don’t cut it. Now it pumps my blood and gets me moving. Which is what it was supposed to do before and it did. Only it’s got ‘Tude now!
It will be exciting to see what the players bring to it in the studio based off my fleshed out sketches of the music. I can’t wait. The anticipation on it has me feeling some tension with how close all the songs are to being totally ready and with how much they’re really nailing emotions, vibes and ‘tudes.
Six more songs are lined up to get some more tweaks. But for those in the know right now (today) you know that the twelfth song that’s finalized is “Vaporize Your Heart”. Be aware that you’re ears are gonna love it!
I would have figured that this post should have been posted yesterday. However I ran into a little issue of having eaten something that didn’t agree with me a couple nights ago. Nothing like getting incapacitated after dining at a local eatery. Yuck. Thus I had to take Friday off and recover. I was back in shape on Saturday and was able to smash out another tune’s tweaks. Which leads me to write that the eleventh song finalized is “Stand Up”.
Song that had a couple of lyrical issues in that it was attempting to cover too much ground. Now it’s much more focused on one aspect and has been honed in on a subject that I think a lot of us can all relate to. Doesn’t matter what side of the political fence you’re on, I still think it will resonate with at least 99% of the world. Especially the U.S.
Now mind you, in being ill I couldn’t sit idly by – so I started a crazy project of tagging all of my music in my iTunes library as well as adding all the lyrics to every song. Well, to the point of whether the two apps I’ve procured to help with the procedure. Thus, I’ve added an additional thing to my load that could take at least a month when done in my spare time. Yikes. Why? Why did I do that? One, I wanted to really go through my library. Two, since starting it on a day I was under the weather, I’ve noticed that it’s akin to pouring through liner notes and covers to really get at the heart of all this music – but in a digital sense. I’m re-enjoying some music that I haven’t heard in quite a while. It’s a good diversion.
Ok, back to the song…
I’ve added a couple of additional elements to the first verse. I also added some additional noises to the chorus to help flesh it out with a little more kick.
The one real experimental area of the song is going to be in the bridge where I’ve decided, that much like another song, this will gain some interesting twists enlisting a rapper to rattle off the words I’ve come up with. That makes two or three songs now where I’ve going to cross that hip/hop rap/rock type of hybrid line – hmmm… Weird.
This one is going to have a bit of bite to it when it gets recorded live in the studio. I really think it’s got some great legs to whip up some anthemic shouts in a stadium. Which means that people will enjoy the eleventh song known as “Stand Up”. Easy to follow. Easy to shout.
On a roll at this point. Yesterday marked a moment where I had a chat with a co-writer about a track. We made some additional tweaks to our song. After that writing and tweaking session it was time for me to put the axe down on yet another one of mine. This has me saying the tenth song finalized is “It Burns”.
This song is a bit of an exploration into a very quirky area of Pop Rock for me. The song structure is vastly different at the end from pretty much every song I’ve written. It doesn’t really end on the chorus, but it’s still got a hook. I did end up taking out one part of the song as it wasn’t propelling it along like it should have. Removing the part helped keep it moving along.
There were some minor tweaks to the lyrics which I also re-sang today as well. Made some additional notes for the studio when it goes for final recording.
Get the forks out because it’s done for now. Song number ten finalized is “It Burns”. More than halfway home. Soon. Very very soon.
Getting the new year off to a productive start. Day one had me making some re-records of vocals from songs already finalized. But yesterday found me getting yet another song’s vocals re-recorded as well. After that recording my ninth song finalized is “Touch”.
I got some additional vocals layered in on it. More for the addition of a couple of female vocalists to do some backgrounds to add spice. Once I hit that, I ended up scrapping the original bridge lyrics. In their place is a large flow of words that require bringing in a rapper to spit it out. The bridge is now way more over the top, blunt, rhythmic, and slammin. Got me saying to myself – Fuck Yeah!
No doubt this is going to hit the charts when it’s released as a single. I’m confident of that.
Another thing that I’m confident on it is, I’ll have to mix a radio-friendly version or bleep some of the bridge vocals. Not the first time I’ve had a song that would require bleeping, but it is the first time on a hit calibre one. Let’s see if I’m right this time.
I’ll be back at it later today getting the next track pre-flight ready for hitting the studio. New fire in the sails for this new year has me feeling gung-ho, ready let’s go! With that, I’ve got my ninth song finalized and it’s called “Touch”.
Getting these songs done is taking a little longer than anticipated. Grrrrr. Outside interests wanting music created in a hurry is the main reason. Another is the onslaught of the holidays. Of course there was recent mic issue. Despite that, I’m happy to announce that the eighth song finalized is “Waiting On One Thing”.
I spent time rethinking the arrangement. Mostly I’m adding additional bars of things between sections to give it some extra ear candy to the flow of the song. It was short before. Now it’s at it’s full length and it’s still less than 3 minutes long. Kind of surprising to me. I don’t usually write songs for myself that come in so short. Especially full fledged pop/rock style stuff.
At this point the flesh is there. I’m waiting on the mic (one thing) to come back so I can lay down the tweaked lyrics. That’s the last part. An important part, but it won’t change the arrangement at this point. No, the song is not about waiting on a piece of gear that is out of order. Geez. I have little more depth than that.
I’ve got 10 songs to go. I have my guesses as to what it will be. You’ll have to wait to find out when I announce it. However, I won’t stop you from emailing me a guess (The Song List Link). Maybe it will change my mind…
For now, be aware that song eight to be finalized is “Waiting On One Thing”. Have a great day and spread some cheer whatever your holiday greeting is!
With some steps forward, there are some steps backwards. Such was the case this past week. Despite the setback, I’m happy to relay that the seventh song finalized is “Love Takes A Holiday”.
Yes, I had managed to spend a little time away from my release to work on a film trailer track in a dubstep style. I mentioned in the last post that initial reaction was awesome. Even the client finally got back to me stating I nailed it. That’s enough to put a smile on the face. Still awaiting word from the studio…
LTAH – for short, required a fairly good amount of thought. The original demo was a little on the dragging it’s feet side. That doesn’t stop it from being a really good song, but it did stop it from being a great song, or even a possible hit. Thus I reworked it with a faster tempo. This gives it a livelier vibe that bounces a little more – without taking out the nature of stomp it has. I also reworked the lyrics, shifted the verses around and gave it a more focused perspective.
In the re-recording of the track, I reconfigured some of the guitar parts and added more elements to it. One of my favorite new bits is a “talking bass” sound that I picked up from doing the dubstep track. I think it’s going to add some cool character to compliment the Clavinet I have in it.
You’re probably wondering, what the hell was the setback? Well… I have a really nice microphone that I’ve been using to record the demo vocals with. It decided that right now, or rather last Tuesday, was the perfect time to crap out and stop working. That’s rather unfortunate for such a pricey mic to do. Good thing I’m on good terms with the company. They’re going to give it a checkup and get it back to good health. In the meantime, I’m picking on songs that I need to tweak with more than just vocals – gives me time to really think through the arrangements. That’s always a good thing.
Even LTAH got a slight change in the arrangement of things too. Added some cool stops to two parts and also gave the intro riff and reprise. Keeps the song from motoring too fast through the parts now that the tempo has made a pretty good jump. These changes signal that the seventh song finalized is “Love Takes A Holiday”. Stay tuned. I’ve got another 11 more to tweak before studio performances and perfection are up to bat.
Talk about being a little too busy sometimes. Turns out that I actually got this latest track dealt with back on Tuesday. However, I got called in to create a song for a film trailer and I’ve been working around the clock for a couple of days to get it done. I’m happy to say that the sixth song finalized is “Till We Meet Again”.
The great thing about this song is it’s simplicity. I wrote it with Jesse Stern, the infamous bassist. I had the idea for the guitar and what I wanted to have happen, he came in with a great bass line, then we cobbled some words together and voila. A very very catchy diddy that gets people right from the get go and holds on fast.
I’m ready to hop on another song after I deal with doing a live performance for Grant’s Advent Calendar today at noon. I’ll be doing a google hangout with him and performing my song Christmas Brought Me You live.
What did I do for the past couple of days? Well, I was knee deep in doing a Dubstep track for a film trailer. I can’t say what trailer it’s for. However, when I dive into something that I don’t have a ton of experience I have to do a lot of research to make sure I’ll do it the right way. Thus I got a chance to watch a couple of tutorials on creating the appropriate sounds, then spent time, writing, twisting and manipulating sounds to make a solid track. Early feedback says: It’s a hit. Which is pretty cool, considering it’s only for a film trailer.
Time to get back to work and get the next song tweaked and ready. Until the next update, thanks for stopping by to find out that the sixth song finalized is “Till We Meet Again”.
— Jody
Productive weekend for a working musician. The most important thing for the wrap-up is that the fifth song finalized is “Careful”. Additionally I started a track for a film trailer and I recorded some children doing a spoof on 12 Days of Christmas for yet another film trailer.
Getting right down to it, I put the demo of my version of Careful together yesterday. A song written by Warren Sellars, Mark Luna, and myself. A couple of amazing writers right there allowing me along for the ride. It was a fun set of writing sessions. Leading to a delicate but strong song.
Thanks to a call from late Friday afternoon, I had a couple of extra things thrown on my plate for film trailers. Thus, I couldn’t get an additional song finalized yet. Though I predict by tomorrow, I’ll have another to announce.
In the meantime, my quote of the day for yesterday was: “You won’t know sleep until your head is on a pillow.” [Jody Whitesides]. The great thing is, I got two more tracks ready, and that fifth song finalized is “Careful”. Plus a couple of film trailers equals a bingo couple of days.