Thursdays are one of my days off so today was a nice long day of writing. Yay!
Got up quasi-early - around 11:30. After the coffee was brewed and making its way into my system, I pulled up Live for some more experimentation. Decided I should stick to mostly electronic stuff today and all completely new, too.
My first goal was to start something more rhythmical, more beat-oriented. I hear a lot of rhythms in my head but... as I've said before, not so good at getting them out. I started on one idea which I've already forgotten. I just wasn't feeling it - too... *shrugs* Not me.
But after I 'wasted' that time I started cruising around and checking out other drum samples. Came across one that caught me somehow. I honestly don't remember what or how any longer. Pure luck, really.
But next thing I new, I was off on a new idea. It's essentially a pretty basic rhythm - the rhythm that starts off the track.
But I started getting a little kooky with it. I split it out amongst instruments. I also threw in one of Live's little "randomizer" features which help to keep it 'evolving'. Then I threw in a basic kick/snare line and also incorporated a piano riff I'd come up with yesterday but forgotten till after I blogged last night.
At that point I had most of the pieces - phrases and stuff - and was playing around with Lives' arrangement feature and exploring structural options. I wasn't happy with the original keyboard sound I'd chosen so I went back to testing out the other patches.
In THAT process I stumbled across one sound and happened to play an ascending E Major 7th arpeggio and...
OMG. STOP TOSH AND PLAY WITH NOW!!!!!
Yeah. It was pretty much as ADD as that. I quickly saved what I'd been working on and opened up a new project.
Most of what came next is a pretty big blur of inspiration. I heard a descending sequence of suspensions. Found two patches that I loved it on and decided to use BOTH of them but offset by a bar creating an interesting echo effect.
The beat? For a change I think I kinda actually got close to what I heard in my head. Right now it's pretty simple but I plan on going back and adding some spice. It just needs more variation.
As for the live guitars and bass I heard something stupid simple - basic arpeggios and a fairly stable running 16th bass line.
About there I took a break and went to the coffee shop to get out of my space for a bit and relax. Sat there and listened back to the mixdowns of what I'd done and just kinda let my imagination go.
Maybe it was my body reacting to an a-typical infusion of caffeine but I got the itch to try and reverse the WHOLE tracks I'd done. For the beat piece it works AMAZING. I'm trying to figure out if I can somehow use this for the intro and outro of the 'album'.
That would rock.
Went back home and got to work more on the E Major tune. I got a little snazzy and threw in some reversed guitar, too, just to help with atmosphere. Added some bridge-esque sections...
I need to add some more keyboard layers in there and change up some of the patterns. It's a little too monotone still. But so far I'm really happy with where it is.
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