Monday, January 2, 2012

Week 1 - "The More You Think You Know"

Lyrics:
The more you know, the more you say.
The more you say, the more you think you know.

The more I see, the more I hear,
The more my soul is filled with doubt and fear.

And when the time comes, I’ll see exactly what you know….
Then the day comes when it’s time for me to go…..

The more I live, the more I see
The more I ask, “Is this how things should be?”

And then I ask what life is for
And if I have the strength to handle more.

And then I ask you, “What is it that you want from me?”
“And what exactly is it you want for me to be?”

I don’t know exactly what you want for me to say to you.
You don’t know what I’m going through, my heart can’t figure out what’s true.
Maybe someday you could tell me what exactly I should say and do.

And when the time comes, I’ll see exactly what you know….
Then the day comes when it’s time for me to go…..
And then I ask you, “What is it that you want from me?”
“And what exactly is it you want for me to be?”


Here is the first song.  This was entirely composed on January 1.  It took a total of approximately 4 hours to compose, write lyrics, record the song, and to edit it.  Of course, the four-chord progression that makes up most of the song and the repetition of the chorus sections required a limited amount of music and lyric material, however this is fairly typical of many popular songs.

The form follows a pattern of verse, chorus, verse, chorus, interlude, chorus, chorus.  I recorded the piano accompaniment first followed by the lead vocals and then the backup vocals.  I then recorded the percussion parts.  As I am a novice with recording on the PC, I started playing with stereo pan space for the first time last week.  To give the recording some breadth, I put the piano the far left, lead vocals in the center, backup vocals to the right, and percussion to the far right.  I was fairly pleased with the results, especially when I listen through headphones.

I also added some reverb to the parts.  I still have a lot to learn about how to effectively use reverb, however.  For this recording, I simply used trial and error to test out different settings.  I'm still working on getting exactly the sound I want from it, but I have learned some.

Please feel free to leave feedback and constructive criticism.  I am hoping to continue to develop my compositional and recording skills, so I welcome your thoughts and ideas.

2 comments:

  1. heard to much piano. good going hope you can continue, Aunt Nancy

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  2. Hmmm, the mix sounds okay on my end. The recording is in stereo and the piano is put towards the left, so depending on how your speakers are set up (and how the balance is set) you might be hearing the left channel louder than the right channel. You might try listening in headphones and see if the piano still sounds too heavy.

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