Three-hour Song: The Result

To recap: Computer Music ran an article on recording a song in an hour, but I wanted to see if I could actually write the song and record it within a 3-hour time limit. After all, if you already have a song written and arranged, laying down a few tracks should actually be the easy part.

So, how did this experiment turn out? I'd say it was a mixed success. Although I ended up not timing myself (what was I thinking?), I'd estimate that the total time was somewhere between 3 and 4 hours, which is still not bad. But even finding those very few hours over the course of a week turned out to be more of a challenge than I expected, and finding time when the house was quiet enough to get some recording done was even harder. (You should see the black circles around my eyes this morning from staying up late to get this finished.)

So what did I learn? I guess there were some key points:

• Limiting yourself to a set time period won't do it for a multi-platinum selling CD, but it is a good way to force yourself to focus and get a song written and recorded.
• Templates rock. I had a couple track templates set up in Sonar Home Studio for vocals and guitar; after this, I'm going to also create templates for backing vocals, bass, and whatever else I can think of. This is definitely the fastest way to work, for me.
• One thing that worked to my advantage was my familiarity with my recording setup and with Sonar Home Studio. If I hadn't taken the time in the past to learn the program, this would have taken much, much longer.

So I'm sure you're at least slightly curious to hear the finished product. I'll get it posted and provide a link tonight. In the meantime, have a great day, and if you have any questions or comments, please don't hesitate to drop me a note!

Click here to take a listen. Hope you like it!

3-hour Song: Update

So, the 3-hour song hasn't happened, yet. Blame it on attending Grandpa's funeral last weekend and on the constant care required by a brand-new baby, along with the normal work and commuting responsibilities. Welcome to life, right?

I'm not giving up, though. I did have at least one good idea, and the next step is just writing up the lyrics and getting it arranged. Hopefully this week will go a little more smoothly (fingers crossed).

3 Hour Song?

In the January 2008 issue of Computer Music, there was an article about how to record a track in an hour. I thought that sounded fantastic, but then I realized that the really hard part – actually writing a song – wasn’t included in that hour. Granted, getting a song recorded in an hour is already quite a feat, but that’s really more about the technical side of the process.

What I’d like to do is try writing a song in a short amount of time. Like most people I know, I’m pretty busy most of the time. I’ve got a seven-year-old and a brand new baby, which both take up a fair amount of my time. And of course, it’s a priority to spend at least a few minutes with my wife every day. And then there’s work, studying for the CPA exam, and hanging out with friends… That doesn’t leave a lot of time for making music.

But the article made me think. What if I said that of the 168 hours in a week, I’d give three of those to making music? Surely that’s doable. Granted, I won’t have the next “Thriller” done in 3 hours, but at the very least I’d start building a library of complete ideas that I could later develop or rework, if I decided they were worth it. And that would be 52 songs in a year, which, for someone that’s on pace for about one song annually, is quite an increase in productivity.

So, here’s the challenge: Starting this week, I’ll set aside 3 hours to write and record a complete song. I figure there’s not really any chance that it’ll turn out a top 40 hit, but it will be a good exercise and improve my songwriting and recording skills.

The Computer Music article broke down the recording process by time: 20 minutes for rhythm guitar, 15 minutes for bass and drums, etc. Here’s my breakdown:

• Write lyrics – 45 minutes
• Write the melody & chords – 30 minutes
• Arrangement – 15 minutes
• Record rhythm guitar(s) – 20 minutes
• Record bass & drums – 15 minutes
• Record vocals – 20 minutes
• Record any solos – 20 minutes
• Final mix and tweaks – 15 minutes

Looking at that, that’ll cut things pretty close, but it might actually be doable. I’ll start the process this week, and let you know next week if I actually succeeded, or if I was completely overwhelmed.

Basic Recording Studio

My theory is that these days, the average consumer has access to equipment that is perfectly capable of producing CD-quality recordings. What is often lacking (in my music, for example) is the requisite knowledge and experience. If a professional recording engineer was stuck on an island with the most basic of setups, he or she could still produce a fantastic recording.

So what does it take to set up a decent workable recording studio? Here’s a list of what I think is the foundation for a perfectly good studio:

Mic (MCA SP-1)	$40
Mic Stand	$20
Mic Cord	$10
Pop Filter	Free	I used an old pair of pantyhose stretched (clean, of course) over a wire hanger.
Mixer (Soundcraft Compact 4)	$100
E-MU0404 SoundCard	$100
Misc. Cables	$100	Just a guess… I’ve built up quite the collection over the years.
Altec-Lansing Speakers	$70
SHS6XL	$210	Or $80 for the upgrade from earlier versions...
Computer	$700	Rough price for a fairly basic Dell desktop.

So let’s see… That’s a grand total of $1350, but over half of that is for a computer. If you already have a half decent computer, you’re already halfway there!

Of course, I'm also a big fan of using what you have, and slowly building up. For example, I've been using the Altec-Lansing speakers for a while now, but an upgrade to higher-quality monitors will probably be my next purchase.

For me, Sonar Home Studio provides a big part of the studio. Along with providing a sequencer and MIDI editing capabilities, many, if not all, of the necessary effects and processors are included. With SHS, I have access to reverb, eq, compressor, etc. And because it supports VST effects and instruments, I can also find a huge number of effects free on the web, some of which are quite good.

Feel free to drop me a note and let me know what you think. Am I totally wrong? Do we really need mics that cost thousands of dollars, tube compressors, etc? Or can a high-quality recording be produced on a setup as basic as that described above?