New Zealand Heavy Metal Forum & Discussion

[blastman]

What's the songwriting process like in your band or music or whatever?

I've always been keen on learning how everyone composes their music (on computer? jamming during practice?)

Cheers.

[Obzen]

Varies.

Often our lead guitarist will write and record an entire song by recording at home on his mac. Programs the drums himself on easydrummer (which sometimes I leave almost exactly the same), he'll make an mp3 which the rest of us will listen to and suss out, which each of us customize our bits into our own style/feel. generally when he writes a song it stays pretty much the same. I dont mind that, sometimes its better if one person to basicly arranges the whole song, gets a well flowing song finished quicker than if everyones trying to get their ideas in.

Sometimes an inpromtu jam will turn into the first riff or two a song. This can sometimes be annoying because once we reach a dead-end the guitarists will fiddle with riffs, trying to come up with the next part or the alternating tail end of a riff... while I sit patiently twiddling my thumbs, I prefer it if after the first jam/idea comes to a dead-end, the 2 guitarists work on it while the rest of the band is absent.

As a drummer I find it easier and quicker when I'm presented with a fully structured (or nearabouts) song... I used to feel a bit down about not being involved in the songwriting but these days I dont really care as long as the song is awesome and I get a bit of artistic freedom/expression with drum parts.

[CloseOneEye]

Yea I'm a guitarist who does the same really. I like to write stuff at home and record it but the best part is definitely coming up with some sick stuff while jamming. It is a bit frustrating though when your trying to come up with something quite technical because you cant signal to the drummer every key change your trying to make. I do like it when the whole band comes together and shares ideas about what sort of sound they would like to achieve in each song. Because thats really the heart of the band, the sound that is produced by the collaboration.

The connection between all the musicians is the key.

Did I stay to point there, im pretty stoned hahaha.

[Death]

what ever jake all we ever did was improv, hahahaha if only you brought some homework to band practice

[Martli]

I'm pretty much the same. I don't really have a band at the moment, so I just write things up in Guitar pro starting with the basic guitar riffs and just mess around with ideas to go around it, develop the riffs further and so on. Then I just go back 'n forth between writing in guitar pro and recording it in garageband to get a better feel for what it'll sound like as a whole. I guess I feed ideas back and forth between the two mediums to create the final structure/arrangement and go from there really. Previously when I was writing for a band, it was a bit different as the songs were all really basic (deliberately). Back then it was more, slap a couple of riffs together at home, one of the other band members would come round and we'd record it all in logic using betamonkey loops for the drums and do the arranging together during the actual recording process, adding sound clips and all that shit.

[Death]

very familiar process

[Mince]

Im pretty much the opposite

[bloodnutt]

when I finally get inspiration ( getting high, a fantastic band,or something amazing happens) I will pick up an acoustic guitar and come up with random riffs. Ill mess around with off timings, poly rhythms etc blah blah, to make it mean as. Once i have a few riffs I then attempt to link them together. (Its one thing to come up with 10 killer riffs, and a total other ball game when it comes to getting all flowing!) so i try this riff 1st then that riff then mix and match etc till it sounds half listenable. sometimes I need to make a little fill riff to tie two other riffs together nicely.

Once Ive completed the whole frame work for a song I then transpose the whole thing to guitar pro drums and all. Its here where I add sparkle like a lead or wt not.
then send to band mate to learn.

[Mince]

Yo bloodnutt, who are you??
U meantioned Final eve, so i was just curious, u an Avoldale kid?

[bloodnutt]

Read the introduce your self to the forum thread lol, nah I am from hams. I used to be in band with josh who bassed for final eve. I even had the privilege of chilling with and watching the members from final eve practice for a few days(this was for a chili peppers cover band they had made. they threw in some final eve tho ha!)and man I never wanted to leave. the most down to earth humble tight as musicians I have ever met in my life. Very in-lighting.

[Death]

in lighting? hehe

[L0crianshredder]

We all come up with riffs of our own and jam them out in the room with lots of volume. Sometimes I bring entire songs to jam out.

But yeh I really think writing the song on the spot has the best vibe and it seems to have more of a RAW feel. Instead of being over-analyzed.

[L0crianshredder]

What's the songwriting process like in your band or music or whatever?

I've always been keen on learning how everyone composes their music (on computer? jamming during practice?)

Cheers.

Just wire up 4 lava lamps and let the inspiration from the waves BLOW YOUR MIND!!!

[bloodnutt]

But yeh I really think writing the song on the spot has the best vibe and it seems to have more of a RAW feel. Instead of being over-analyzed.

definitely has more feel to it. just do what the music tells you

[Burning Beard]

Everyone's got their own style.

Some people just can't jam - some people need to go away and mull over things for a while.

When I'm on the spot I just go blank. I seem to get riffs in my head at the most inopportune times - walking to work, having a shower or something.

Not that I'm writing much - I've got file after file of "intros" recorded on my hard drive and nothing else

[dillingerfreak]

For Blindfolded, Stu our guitarist writes everything (all 3 guitar parts, bass, drums) in guitar pro and sends it to all of us to learn in our own time, then we all come together and practice it.

pretty crazy, but i actually prefer that method for that style of music. imagine how long it would take to individually sit down with everyone to learn each part.

[Martli]

Definitely the most effective way to learn a song, especially if you're limited for practise time. That way you can focus all your energy on getting the song polished as a band instead of sitting around trying to teach your bass player the riffs "NAH 7th fret on the D string" while your drummer can't keep his hands still, the 2nd guitarist is fiddling around with some stupid scale and your vocalist is falling asleep. Wasting band practise time learning and/or teaching songs is fucking frustrating.

[Obzen]

sitting around trying to teach your bass player the riffs "NAH 7th fret on the D string" while your drummer can't keep his hands still, the 2nd guitarist is fiddling around with some stupid scale and your vocalist is falling asleep.

lol exactly

[Torturor]

For Blindfolded, Stu our guitarist writes everything...

Is that Blindfolded And Led To The Woods?
What style you doing and when is that gig with Carnal?

[dillingerfreak]

Yup sure is.

Al's Bar 23rd July. All ages show at the Media Club on 24th July.

[Trendkill]

sitting around trying to teach your bass player the riffs "NAH 7th fret on the D string" while your drummer can't keep his hands still, the 2nd guitarist is fiddling around with some stupid scale and your vocalist is falling asleep.

hahaha perfect description!

[Rob]

if your lookin to strike yourself into an inspiration mode. not that i think inspiration exists. but there is a "state" the mind will respond to stimulus that provides a more "able" state to produce creativity and expression. There is a technology thats been around for a while. its to do with mind control. its using Binaural beats

Binaural beats deserve special mention because of the manner in which the desired frequencies are obtained. Brainwave entrainment may be achieved when audio signals are introduced to the brain causing a response directly related to the frequency of the signal introduced, called binaural beats. Two tones close in frequency generate a beat frequency at the difference of the frequencies, which is generally subsonic. For example, a 495 Hz tone and 505 Hz tone will produce a subsonic 10 Hz tone, roughly in the middle of the alpha range. The resulting subsonic tone may affect the state of mind of the subject. The "carrier frequency" (e.g., the 500 Hz in the example above), is also said by some to affect the quality of the transformative experience.[citation needed] Note that this effect is achieved without either ear hearing the pulse when headphones are used. Instead, the brain produces the pulse by combining the two tones. Each ear hears only a steady tone. Although some have claimed that these frequencies do provide help in treating certain medical conditions,[4] there is not a wide acceptance by the medical community to adopt the practice of brainwave entrainment for emotional/mental disorders. A fixed, constant frequency of synchronization is less helpful than techniques such as classical neurofeedback or learning meditation, which naturally generate brain wave frequencies that differ from person to person and may vary from minute to minute.[citation needed]

Delta Range - 0.5 to 4 HZ (associated with deep sleep)

Theta Range - 4 HZ to 8 HZ (seen in dreaming sleep, and other mental states where the mind is wandering, like daydreaming and imagining)

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"A person .. driving on a freeway & discovers .. they can't recall the last five miles, is often in a theta state--induced by the process of freeway driving .. [It's] .. a state where tasks become so automatic .. you can mentally disengage from them." http://brain.web-us.com/brainwavesfunction.htm
*

"[Our dominant brainwave] edges down toward theta when we go into trance." http://www.enformy.com/dma-chin.htm

Alpha Range - 8 to 13 HZ (relaxed but awake)

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" [There is] .. more alpha wave functioning when we listen (but it edges up into beta when we do extremely active listening, as in the cocktail-party effect when we consciously narrow attention to one voice amidst a babble.)" http://www.enformy.com/dma-chin.htm

Beta Range - 13 HZ to 30 (??) HZ (normal awake state/aware)

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There is an abundance of betawave functioning when we speak .. http://www.enformy.com/dma-chin.htm

Gamma Range - 30 (??) HZ to 60 (??) HZ (associated with consciousness - the brain stops producing gamma waves when we're put under for anaesthesia, for example)

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"Gamma rhythms appear to be involved in higher mental activity, including perception and consciousness. It seems to be associated with consciousness, eg it disappears with general anaesthesia .. Synchronous activity at about 40Hz appears to be involved in binding sensory inputs into the single, unitary object we perceive." [INT] http://brain.web-us.com/40hz/default.htm

CYCLES PER SECOND (HERTZ), and Correspondences to MENTAL STATES, PHYSIOLOGY, COLORS, NOTES & PLANETS
These frequencies are of all types; light, sound, electrical, etc. The two- or three-character source codes after each frequency are defined at the bottom.
LOOK HERE http://www.electroherbalism.com/Bioelec ... cyList.htm


i use "I-DOSER" it has near bout 300 diffrent drug files and altered states u can use. kinda a safe way to experience drugs also.

get wasted listening to LSD lol. no joke.

heres the program. you may want to "TORRENT" for the fullversion or the drugfiles pack.

http://www.i-doser.com/

[RAG]

Where does your lyrics come into the songweiting process?? Do you have them at the start or write based on the song created??

[Obzen]

Varies, but in most cases the lyrics would be the very last thing. After the riffs are written and the instruments portion of song is structured. Kinda need to design the lyrics, phrasing around the rhythm/structure of the song.

[Death]

Yeah we just do it how ever, 3/4 Songs lyrics were written last, and one of them the song was actually structured around the lyrics.