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Demoing your own music
I'm curious about this and very naive about it.
Do any of the musicians on this forum demo their music before they think it's the right representation of what they can do, or you just go for 'this is what I am, and this is what I do' approach'? I am neutral to both approaches, since you get people who just nail it straight away in one take, and then you get people who make you think they should refine their arsenal in order to get it right. Anyway, your opinions are much appreciated, wherever they come from. |
I constantly demo. A lot of the time I do demos just so that I can hear what the hell I'm doing and make sure that it works for me. It helps a lot, especially with coming up with vocal lines and melodies.
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Very good point. I do listen back to what I play constantly, since I am working by myself all the time, which is more tiring and doubles and trebles the amount of work you'd do if a few like-minded people were on the case. |
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I can agree with that. I think demo making is an important aspect of songwriting process... if you're doing ti by yourself albeit a frustrating process but it allows you to remove youself and look at it a bit more third person. |
my work is in constant demo until i think it is good enough to use in a show...
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Solo-wise, I'm an improviser. This basically means that I practise between 2-4 hours a day (actually, I've been reading more lately, so this is closer to 45 minutes) and never get around to recording anything. The rare times that I do record, I immediately delete it and set about practising a bit harder. I did play a gig recently that was the first time I didn't feel like I'd been gutted for week afterwards. A positive step, of sorts.
Band-wise, we get together infrequently, are brilliant, record something brilliant, never play it to anyone and have gay arguments, infrequently, about how brilliant we are (current estimation: unspeakably so). I've started playing violin with a band about a month ago, and they quite rightly have the approach of 'demo it, get out playing live and see what the kids make of it'. The music isn't earth-shattering, but it is fun to work with people who aren't overwroughtly thinking they're writing the best music ever (hello, me) but just making something that's fun to play. |
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The recording you sent me recently might be improvised, but it's a bona fide stunner. It's very beautiful in parts, and it sounds like everyone is having fun playing it. |
Cool, thanks. I played that to a metaller mate of mine recently and he spent the rest of the evening asking me why I'd recorded it so shitly.
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I agree with your metaller friend. It deserves a better recording, since the crap-fi sound doesn't do it justice, and sounds too deliberate.
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I just record a song and it's done. I might go back later and add some layers of shit but I very rarely demo it.. don't want to go through the hell of recording the song again. I think the first time I play something is usually the best, warts and all, and I'd rather keep it like that.
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Since all I do is guitar, I just write it outside of recording, play/practice it over and over, and then eventually record to the laptop when it feels complete but do very little in terms of producing what I've recorded. Mostly I just save the best take I recorded and call it done. I understand bringing production underneath the umbrella of artistic control but it doesn't appeal to me. It's an instrument I don't care to play.
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"Just so you know, Joe Hotdog stand owner, I manage a branch for a mortgage company which should imply to you that currently I am knee deep in making sense of global economics and have been for years. You are arguing an echonomics scholar (or soon to be) and a mortgage banker about economics... Like I said, go read a book!"
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I just got back into playing guitar over the weekend after a long (2+ year) absence, after myself and a friend decided we should do something before we're old farts.
Anyway I've been doing half assed demos of ideas, and re listening to the results to help the process of writing lyrics and developing ideas as I'm pretty anal about lyrics especially. If I was into any sort of a groove and regularly playing maybe I wouldnt have to go through this stuff, but at the moment I'm finding it extremely helpful It's whatever works for you |
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This thread is not an argument, man. Chillax, and just talk about it.
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Chillax.
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Just, like, CHILLAX. Chillax.
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I'm just searching for inner beauty.
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Chillax inner beauty, man.
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When I do experimental stuff, like my shitty attempt at "noise tracks" or something that usually doesnt have a melody I do first takes only, to capture whatever mood I was in.
For songs with my band however, I'll usually do a few demos by myself, and then keep fine tuning them before I even show them to my band, parts and all....and most of the time keep it in that order, or with their input we might move sections around or come up with new sections by accident. But for the most part, I do alot of demoing, show it to them, and they add their own colors of paint to the house I built. |
I demo. I'm sure I'll polish them up some time.
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I'm just stunned chillax is real.
op - demoing makes sense. Not more to add than what's already been said. The only thing I can think of that is a creative output that might not be conducive to demoing is canvas painting. But that is mostly ignorance - I suspect painters sketch stuff out prior. Always a place for improv too |
I used to be a play-it-once-and-that's-it kind of person (well, one take per instrument, since I usually have to record three or more instruments myself), and it'd be quite lo-fi, but I recently decided that I was going to put more effort into what I do - that means doing multiple takes to get it right.
This also seems to coincide with my decision to make the music I write/record more difficult - before it used to be standard major/minor chords on guitar or keyboard, but now I'm writing stuff that relies more on melodies and playing accurately, and I think this would benefit from me putting more effort into recording. |
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I'd say the opposite - spend more time practising, and the recording will follow. It's a fetish that strikes too many 'rock' musicians - If I get the right sounds, the right instrument, the right microphones, the right room, it'll sound alright. I'm not saying you should neglect any of these things, but if you don't practise it doesn't mean a great deal. I'm talking about one sort of 'instrumental' music, namely music that relies upon an instrument. The concréte tradition only requires good ears, which is why Herr Marras gets away with not being a 'musician' in the classical sense but someone who can manipulate sound in an interesting way. I'm not sure if I've articulated this very well, I'm not criticising anyone particularly, except people who have the wrong idea. |
Do you think this is the first time in twenty years that anyone has mentioned EBN-OZN's "AEIOU Sometimes Y"?
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hmm
tough question... I am putting a lot of time into my stuff till I think its "fiished", I think that qualifies for contra-demo. but I often sound like a demo, what I like. so it equals again. sometimes I am finishing tracks from scratch till end in under 2 or 3 hours, its rare but it happens... in the end I would say that I am never 100% satisfied with the outcome, so my tunes are demos. but on the other hand who is satisfied with it for 100%? |
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