Apologies on the lateness of this edition. One of our monkeys made off my laptop! grrrr
Nonetheless we are proud to release "Surrender", the fourth song taken from our up coming album.This song took us ages to nail to the floor, we headed off in so many crazy directions, we kind of lost our objective. Mimmo finally wrestled the beast to the ground, thus naming the song "surrender" You can listen to and download the song for free here: Surrender
We are also very excited to welcome our new artist to the fold, the incredible Mr Shane Van Den Akker. You will be seeing a hell of lot more art from this guy over the following months. You gotta check out his illustrations for "Surrender" Click here: Gallery You can also wear some of Shane's art! Check out our new "Surrender" T-shirts, you wont be disappointed. Available in an assortment of colours & sizes at our Red Bubble shop. Be sure to click here: Surrender T-shirt
We are proud to release "Out to Sea", the third song taken from our up coming album. You can listen to and download the song for free here: Out to Sea
Check out the illustrations for "Out to Sea" Click here: Gallery
We are also very excited about our "Out to Sea" T-shirts. Available in an assortment of colours & sizes at our Red Bubble shop. Be sure to click here: Red Bubble
Thought I would fill you all in on what we are up to.
Currently we are recording our second album and are releasing a song a month leading up to the albums release. The album will be released as a graphic novel (comic book) and each song will represent a chapter. We have teamed up with a group of artists who are currently illustrating each song.
You can keep up with each release via our monthly email newsletter. For those who wish to be on our newsletter please send us an email via our contact form: Contact form
We are proud to release "Na na na" the second song from our up coming album. You can listen to and download the song for free here: Na na na
Check out the illustrations for "Na na na" by, um well us (cause somethings did not go to plan). These dumb founded critters where captured on film by Monica while being man handled by Mat. Click here: Gallery
Also we are very excited about our new line of Ribbon Device T-shirts with an assortment of colours & sizes to choose from at our Red Bubble shop. Be sure to click here: www.redbubble.com
We are proud to release "Everybody's Gonna Fry" the first song from our up coming album. You can listen to and download the song for free here: Everybody's Gonna Fry
Check out the illustrations for "Everybody's Gonna Fry" by Robert Creedon. Originally drawn on toilet paper and filmed being pulled on a toilet roll holder, think more low fi than a cartoonflip book. These toilet paper illustrations were latter recycled by the artist for its original intended purpose. Click here: Gallery
Also we are very excited about our new Ribbon Device T-shirts with an assortment of colours & sizes to choose from at our Red Bubble shop. Be sure to click here: www.redbubble.com
For those of you who did not read the last blog here is a quick recap.
Im asking you all to submit what your listening to. This way we all get to share the amazing wealth of music that is out there and save us the endless hours trying to find it.
You dont have to just limit it to what you are listening to now, please feel free to submit your all time favs too!!!
Paste your recommendations as a comment so we can all check em out.
The 1st contribution this week is from Hel
Her recommendation is the Artist: Rick Zar
Sounds like: He is a 12 string guitar player (go and listen to him, my description is shit)
URL: www.myspace.com/rickzar12stringsst or http://www.rickzar.com/
Thanks Hel, Nice!
The 2nd contribution this week is from Jen
Her recommendation is the Artist: Ween
Album: La Cucaracha
Sounds like: Eclectic pop on mushrooms
URL: www.myspace.com/ween or http://www.ween.com/
Thanks Jen, you rock
As for my pick this week, Im going to contribute
Artist: Ween (as we are on the subject)
Album: Chocolate and Cheese
Sounds like: Eclectic pop on mushrooms (this is my fav Ween album)
URL: www.myspace.com/ween or http://www.ween.com or http://www.weenradio.com/ (check out this cool link)
I remember Bar telling me he saw Ween play at a festival while on tour with Mr Bungle. As the tale goes, they were knocking back bottles of scotch while smashing up the plastic furniture they were given to relax on. They then got up and played the most together set he had ever seen, completely hammered.
(I love the idea of these guys smashing up plastic furniture. hahahahahaha!!!!)
For those of you who did not read the last blog here is a quick recap.
Im asking you all to submit what your listening to. This way we all get to share the amazing wealth of music that is out there and save us the endless hours trying to find it.
You dont have to just limit it to what you are listening to now, please feel free to submit your all time favs too!!!
Paste your recommendations as a comment so we can all check em out.
So here is this weeks contribution Darth Cornilius
His recommendation is the band: BERUIT
Sounds like: Grizzly Bear & Mercury Rev
URL: http://www.myspace.com/beruit
Thanks Darth: great stuff
As for my pick this week, Im going to contribute
Artist: Bill Laswell
Album: Bob Marley Dreams of Freedon Ambient Translations of Bob Marley in Dub
Sounds like: If I had a choice to hear music while I lay dying, this would be it.
So is anyone still using myspace or have we all gone over to facebook?
Well for everyone who is still here, lets get on with it! hahaha
I was thinking the other day, how I have found most of favourite bands through friends recommendations.
Now days with technology we can find almost anything we want via the internet, if we know where and what we are looking for.
But there are so many crap bands spending their time promoting rather than writing decent music. Then flooding the market with their well advertised bland shit!!!!
So Ive come up with a little solution where we can all benefit and get what we want, which is GOOD MUSIC!!!!!!!!
I want you to post up on my comments what band/s you are listening to and their myspace or any other web address.
Please give them a short description and/or other relevant information, such as fav song or album.
This way we can all see what is worth listening to and where to look for it.
I will also collect all the information each week and post it in a blog just in case you too lazy to drop by.
Here are 2 of my favs:
Artist: White Noise
Description: What Mr Bungle is like but these guys where doing back in 60's.
Album: An Electric Storm (check this out amazing!!!!! New stuff Im not so hot on)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_Noise_(band) or http://www.myspace.com/whiteunderscorenoise
Artist: Grizzly Bear ( funny enough Bar McKinnon put me on to these guys)
Description: If Syd Barrett had of written Pet Sounds.
Album: Yellow House
http://www.myspace.com/grizzlybear
But this will only work if we all chip in, so please tell me what you have been hiding!
Also be warned this is not an open invitation for people to promote their own band. As Im urging people to comment on what they think of the bands that others have posted.
If you post something that you believe in and others dis it then so be it, we all have different tastes. But if put up your own stuff and it aint up to scratch, then let the carnage begin. HAHAHAHHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!! (in my most evil voice)
From time to time people have asked me about the colour blind test on our debut album "Saturation Day" so I thought I would put the speculation to rest.
As a songwriter I have never wanted to limit myself to playing or writing in one style, it just gets boring after awhile. Imagine if you constantly ate the same thing day after day for breakfast Lunch and dinner.
Its no wonder bands break up, there must be muso's out there bored shitless, playing the same style and same songs night after night.
If you know your town is the last town on a tour leg, you might know what Im talking about. No wonder bands get lack luster reviews in that corner of the world. Hahahaha
This goes for fans too, do you really just like only one style?
So "Saturation Day" was all about diversity and the musical racism that goes along with it.
Not everyone is into musical diversity, but as one goes through life you might want widen your tastes and meet new challenges.
In this day and age with the cultural diversity that we get exposed to its harder to find those single sided coins (people) out there. Which I believe is a good thing.
Now on the other hand main stream, mass consumerism big business, want watered down bland one sided shit that they can easily sell to the masses and make a fortune out of.
So I ask you this, do really want to live in a world where the only bland choices you get are dictated to you by the filthy rich?
The colour blind symbol represents a diversity that not everyone will see but those that do will appreciate it.
While the name "Saturation Day" represents the diversity we encounter in life's repetitive nature.
This song that was written around two guitar riffs, one being the verse and the other the chorus. (for all the muso's) Both the riffs are built around major chords but to give the song impact I made the verse riff the relative minor (Sad) while the chorus riff its relative major (Happy). This is quite a common idea among many song writers and gives the two sections contrast. Its very easy to create impact when a song moves from a sad (minor) verse to a happy (major) chorus. Even if the arrangement is static the song will still sound effective. At the time of writing this tune I was listening to alot of gritty dance music and spending alot of time at earthcore ( www.earthcore.com.au ) and dance parties in derelict buildings around Melbourne. All types of Electronic and experimental music have diffidently had an effect on my song writing over the years and will continue to do so. While this tune is really more rock in style, it does have a hypnotic element to it. This only came about through endless hours of being mashed with Mimmo at dance parties.
Recording Determination
This was the fastest recorded and arranged song on the whole album. It was envisioned and executed all on the same day, there were no later over dubs nothing. Vocals were written and recorded on the spot as with all the other instruments. Everything was done on the first take and in a very relaxed manner, because at the time I was really only expecting it to be a demo. The mix was quickly man handled and it was done. The next day my hard drive died and the song session was lost forever. All that was left was the version that I burnt to a cd that I used for listening purposes. I latter tried to rerecorded the song thinking I could better it but all the other vocal takes paled in comparison, so I was stuck with the original. Not that Im complaining, its just a lesson to learn that sometimes you can only nail things once.
The Lyrics of Determination
Like I said earlier the lyrics were written on the spot but I think that just made the lyrics clearer. Sometimes I find the longer I spend on something the more obscure I make it because my insecurities tell me its to simple so I end over complicating it. At the time of this tune the band was just finding its feet and the previous 7 years had been a constant stream of failed bands line ups. So I was very determined to make it work no matter how bad things got. If the Ribbon Device has an anthem its probably this song. The more hurdles we have to jump the stronger we get.
Determination
And broken heart, and broken head, and broken arm's, and broken leg's.
And Fallen down on the conference's. And Fallen down on the conference's.
And broken heart, and broken head, and broken arm's, and broken leg's.
And Fallen down on the conference's. And Fallen down on the conference's.
And broken heart, and broken head, and broken arm's, and broken leg's.
And Fallen down on the conference's. And Fallen down on the conference's.
And broken heart, and broken head, and broken arm's, and broken leg's.
Determination written by Mat Creedon copyright 2006
This is one melody Im more proud of I think because it twists and turns so much. The tune came out so effortlessly and I was in such good form from the many hours, days, months spent writing that I almost thought I could just keep churning them out, alas not the case. Writing a great tune is not something that comes easily, when I say it just pops out its because something happens in that point of time that was not there yesterday or the day before that or infact for many months. The idea hits me and usually I cant believe that Ive just written something I like, so I kind of disregard that its any good. So anyway back to the tune, even thou I was inspired by Faith No More and Sound Garden at the time, I dont think the Cruise control melody sounds much like either of those bands. I think its a little more surf rock with a 90's quality about it. I could crap on about 90's chord progressions here and why the melody I wrote sounds the way it does, yet i dont want to bore the pants off all the non muso's so I wont. (Nonetheless if you are interested drop us a line).
Recording Cruise Control
I have recorded this tune a number of times and have released two versions of it, one on the Audio Fields Ep being Marooned and the other on "Saturation day" being Cruise control. I did not intend to use the tune so many times I was really just trying to find the right vehicle for it. I also did another version that sounds very Daft Punk that sadly may never see the light of day. (Yet again that could be a good thing.) We spent a lot of time on it and it still sounded kinda poor, hahahaha. This version was really an exploration in guitar noise for me which Im starting to be quite fond of these days. The electric guitar is still a young instrument compared to say the violin and yet over its short life it has almost been done to death. So to keep myself inspired Im always trying to find inventive ways to use the sound. For all the guitar sounds I used my trusty 1956 byer preamp to run the guitar through, alas they dont make fuzz like that any more!!!! I highly recommend driving guitars through small speakers while recording, you can get a much more nasally buzz. The song structure is a single melody that is repeated and evolves with extra guitar layers after each round. The guitar solo was played with a metal slide that was used at the time to create incidental noise, I liked it so much it became the solo during the instrumental section. Most of the other stuff is feed back and shaking the guitar wildly in front of the amp. Like always the drums were originally a loop that I replaced with live drums. Then the original drum loop sounds were used to fatten the live drums with the aid of sound replacer. When I did the demos for Saturation Day I only replaced the sounds that I thought were weak while the arrangements remained unchanged. Thats why we ended up replacing the live drum sounds because they just didnt have the power of the loop sounds while the loops on their own sounded too repetitive.
The lyrics of Cruise Control.
This melody really said summer and surf for me and thats where the lyrics started and ended. Spending too much time in the sun can do strange things to your mind after a while.
Cruise Control
Tsunami fever undertow, feel my head explode. Surging tidal pressure grows, feeling so good soda overdose. Morning wave unloads, sunrise cruise control, sunrise cruise control, sunrise cruise control, sunrise cruise control.
Cruise Control written by Mat Creedon copyright 2006
I was listening to a lot break beat and dub around the time I wrote this tune. I find it funny that so many people I have talked to who like this tune dont like "Its the Season" and vice versa. I guess for some, rock and electronica still dont mix. I think there is a fine line between mixing styles and some sounds dont mix so well. Electronic sounds generated from synths can sound very in your face while natural sounds can sound almost weak when put along side them. Its a bit like combining wood and plastic. Our first Ep "Audio Fields" is a very electronic album and I think the only reason why it worked was because we used real instruments and treated them like samples instead of heading straight for the synths. We did run some real instrument through synths which a gave a synthetic sound yet still retained the texture of the real instrument. I think the texture is what saved it from dating badly but who knows in another tens years I might look back on it and cringe. hahahaha
So this tune has a single melody that repeats through out the whole piece which is quite common in electronic styles. The arrangement is what I enjoy most about this tune, with its consistent changing. Which leads me onto the recording side of the tune.
Recording Chemical Scratch
When I first started to tackle the arrangement I had no idea where it was going. I just blindly went into it, recording numerous bass lines to different beats and then tackling guitar parts. The guitar parts were the most fun, I ran the guitar through a filter box (A synthesiser without an oscillator). I ended up playing it very similar to a turntable. I had an ebow constantly vibrating a string while fretting notes with a slide. I used the trigger on the filter box as a volume and filter envelope and used an two expression pedals, one to increase & decrease the LFO speed and the other for the cut off frequency. In other words I did loads of shit and it sounded like a kazoo. There were also plenty of backwards guitar parts like the solo and slide noise. And of course not to forget the on the spot vocals. I arranged parts until I had seven different sections, which I ran back to back. All in all it fell together quite quickly and there was little agonising other minor detail. Its one those songs that I still enjoy because I didnt have to listen to it over and over, I have learnt over the years not to burn my ears .
Chemical Scratch Lyrics
Feel love oh yeah Feel love oh yeah Feel love oh yeah Feel love oh yeah
Got a dirty habit I cant stop making like two dirty kids down at the station Got a dirty habit I cant stop making like two dirty kids making bacon
Feel love oh yeah Feel love oh yeah Feel love oh yeah Feel love oh yeah
Chemical Scratch written by Mat Creedon copyright 2006
This song was inspired by the song Sleep Walker by the band Johnny & Santo www.myspace.com/santojohnny. It was also written around the time of close friends passing away. So there was alot going on at that time in my life, I guess the type of things you write songs about.
Even thou it is a two part song the whole melody was written in the same sitting. Only the intro and outro was written at a different time. Its a great buzz when the whole melody just falls into your lap, but it also takes a good amount of playing and working of similar ideas for it to come about. To give you an idea of the amount of time Im talking about, I would write six hours a day for about 2 months. Then in a lot of ways its still in the hands of the gods, sometimes you get a song and sometimes you just keep writing. It can be very frustrating to the point pointlessness, you begin to doubt your ability. But I guess that is what makes a great song so amazing, its the peak after a long climb and you get to share it with those willing to listen. Its also a little like playing with a puzzle or solving a problem, one day it just all falls into place. I wish I could do it more often.
Recording A Thousand Years Wide
This tune was recorded while Evan Pierce I were working under the name Periscope (We put out one Ep called Audio Fields and latter changed our name to The Ribbon Device). Ev supplied the beats and samples while I started to record the guitars, bass, synth, general noise and vocals. We had a real basic set up 1 or 2 microphones no nice pre amps and a hard disk recorder (a computer). Boy those were the days. Once I had exhausted myself with ideas I then left it in Ev's hands to arrange the song eg. which guitar parts to use and where. It did not take him long to get the basic idea and the rest of the arrangement was filling in gaps with noise. When then released the song under the name Periscope. When we changed our name to The Ribbon Device and rereleased the song we replaced the drums with real drums and rerecorded the bass. And this is the version that is on the Saturation Day album.
Writing lyrics for A Thousand Years Wide
Again lyrics were written last and they took ages (I think Ev was worried I would never finish them.) The central theme was written about a friend and the turbulence of what was going on at that time. For as long as I have known this friend he has always had a really free spirit and I think in a way that's what I wanted to express. We never know when our time is up.
A Thousand Year's Wide
Basking on a narrow plane for something, as it seems to stream into a gaze at nothing.
Decisions which he has to make, by designs of lines that cannot be out weighed. With the nagging that is on his mind, still he watch's all the reason's unwind.
Thinking will the edge's fade, to something. Yet tied in knot's and blown away, by nothing.
Decisions which he has to make, by designs of lines that cannot be out weighed. With the nagging that is on his mind, still he watch's all the reason's unwind.
Every single colour bleeds to shades, of nothing. yet all of love's feeding escalate's, to something
Decisions which he has to make, by designs of lines that cannot be out weighed. With the nagging that is on his mind, still he watch's all the reason's unwind.
A Thousand Year's Wide written by Mat Creedon copyright 2006
Happiness is another two part song, the first part being the verse was written at the end of a long days writing just before I had to start teaching. I was nearly not going to use the idea and this usually happens, sometimes I get so drained that I begin the to think the idea is not that great. Luckily I realised that there was something special about it and I would of been stupid not to at least document it for latter listening, for when my ears were not so burnt out. Most of the time I do know when I have something good as it all falls into place and writing is effortless, its an amazing experience and happens rarely. For about 90% of my writing time its hard work with nothing but crap ideas then all of that a sudden you get that brilliant 10% it really makes up for all the hard work. The second section (Chorus) Im not sure if I remember when I actually wrote it but I do remember I was using chord progressions with a moving bass line on top. A similar style of writing that I used to write "These Things". For me the two parts together just made so much sense as they both have that retro pop quality about them. All I had to do was put them in the same key and it was done.
Recording Happiness
I had previously recorded an instrumental version of this track which was mostly percussion and guitar. I didnt think it really captured the songs pop sensibilities, so I decided to work on a new version with vocals. What I did use was the form of the instrumental version, which is: verse chorus verse chorus drum solo verse chorus repeat and fade
I made a conscious decision to keep the song as retro as possible which is almost becoming routine for me these days. I have always loved the sound and arrangements of the Fifties, Sixties and Seventies, its like playing in a time machine and I always try to take the best of what I have heard. The instrumentation is guitar bass piano drums vocals and some radio static which was picked up from the Bass that appears at the start during the triangle intro. Sometimes I pick up all kinds of strange stuff from radio or TV static from poorly shielded wiring. It can be a little spooky working alone late into the night and you get some strange voices coming out of your amp. Thank god Im never high during recording sessions otherwise Im sure the paranoia would do my head in, which would end the session quite quickly. Again we used sound replacer on the drums and you can hear the different drum samples during the verse and the chorus, which Mimmo and I have become quite fond of doing. It gives the song that little shift between sections. Sound replacer is a program that lets you replace a sound if it aint up to scratch. It works particularly well on drums as good snares and kick sounds can be rather hard to record. So we recorded Pat playing his drums along to the track and then replaced anything that sounded a little weak. Mental note: never tell a drummer you replaced his drums sounds after you have just spent all of two weeks recording him. Saying he was not happy was an understatement. On the final chorus is my wife (Monica) singing backing vocals which was taken from the second demo I did of the song. During that time I asked Mon to have a listen to the track so far, she told me it needed a harmony which she demonstrated to me, it sounded so beautiful that I recorded her on the spot. She did a single take and it was done, perfect first time.
Writing the Lyrics for Happiness As always lyrics were again written last, and the melody always spoke to me about lost love. Never knowing what you have until it is gone and always being too busy to give it time when you have it. In some ways I think it is human nature to always want what you dont have and to get easily get bored with what you do have. But if you never spend the time with what you have, how do you know what it is and that you really have it?
Happiness
Time was ticking eleven, well when I found her. She was Sunday morning drowning, as I remember. She said "I love you all with kisses" "But now Im trying, yeah Im trying, yeah yeah Im trying".
Cause love is free, not spent memories, or long ended words. Taking up more time than it's worth.
She was hypnotic, tangled beauty, my noonday siren. While my gestures they had purpose, just like dying. She said "I love you but cant you see me?" Im always trying, yeah Im trying, yeah, yeah Im trying.
Cause love is free, not spent memories, or long ended words. Taking up more time than it's worth.
Now of her there's only pictures and my desire. And I learnt love aint filling buckets but lighting fire's. Now it's always the same morning, but now Im trying, yeah, yeah Im trying, yeah, yeah Im trying
Cause love is free, not spent memories, or long ended words. Taking up more time than it's worth.
Writing These Things This song is two sections that I wrote separately and latter joined together. This generally happens when I feel one section say the verse or chorus can not carry the song all the way through by its self. This is also one way I have worked with other song writers. I might have a verse and no chorus while my partner may have chorus with no verse, but not every verse and chorus work together they still have to compliment each other, unless you want that John Zorn juxtaposition.
Section one (verse) The verse was written with a strong intention in mind, basically I always wanted to write 1950's styled bass line. Something with a strong melodic movement that out lined the chord progression. I set about writing the first 2 bars and then the next 2 came quite easily. The hook was always in the first half of the line. I set out the chord progression by playing it on the top 3 strings of the guitar (e,B & G) while playing the bass line on the bottom 3 strings (D,A & E). I occasionally write in this fashion but not very often.
Section two (chorus) The chorus I wrote while trying to will out a chord progression with physical exertion, I have written many songs like this. I focus all my energy with intensity and play myself into a frenzy for the next 1/2 hour to an hour. Its very similar to doing intense physical exercise, it allows my mind focus and open up while my body is exerted with the frenzy of the playing. You might say its like getting into meditative state, a zone, or flow. The results are usually positive and feeling you get is a little like being high. While actually getting high on a substance and writing has never really worked for me. At the time it sounds great but when sober it always sounds dull. Not to mention when Im in loopy land its much harder to focus, each step Im off in a new direction with a dizzying swirl of ridiculousness.
Recording These Things The final arrangement of the tune was really straight forward. Drum into Verse Chorus Drum intro Verse Chorus x2 Verse (instrumental outro)
As for the instrumentation the tune really called out for a straight ahead guitar, bass, drums and vocals line up. The inclusion of Bars Sax solo was always intended but wasn't executed until the end. Bar and I talked a bit about how it should sound and decided on the idea of large interval jumps, after one pass it was done. It was one of those unforgettable moments, the guy is a genius! Also during the sax solo is the use of various percussion which was envisioned and played by Mimmo, it really adds to the quirkiness of that section.
The drum intro was produced by the layering of 7 kick drums and 7 snares with the help of sound replacer. This produced a synthetic and mighty fat sound. During the choruses I layered two electric guitars. One plugged intro 1956 Byer mic pre which has a small speaker that played through. While the other was not plugged into anything, it was recorded like you would an acoustic guitar, by sitting the microphone in front of the guitar around 14th fret. This gave really great bite to the sound.
Other than that all the instruments were multi tracked (recorded separately) and the drums were the first to be laid with aid of a pre recorded demo.
The Lyrics As always the lyrics were written last. I already had the chorus in mind while the verses were written with the aid of a condensed version of the dictionary that I had written months earlier. I have always liked the sound of certain words so I decided to write out my own dictionary of words that I really like. Yes the whole dictionary and yes it took a long time.
These Thing's
Im the call girl in your cake, the final wooden stake Im the last one that your ever gonna make.
Im your smiling coup de grace, the cameleer that wins your race. Your gonna feel that you never have the space.
Im gonna bossa on your grave, a bone shaker in the make. Your gonna know Im your biggest lone mistake.
Im the drift wood in your soup, the dorsal in a suit. Your gonna wish you had of kept me in the boot.
All these things I do are wrong, but everything is good and you love it like you should, aw baby if we could.
Im the anvil in eye, the finger in your pie. Im the one that's never gonna die.
Im gonna gamma ray grey matter, send you shoe strings of mad hatters. Watch me open up the cracks until it shatters.
Im gonna botox your fondue, the Davy Jones in your room. Your gonna wish that it's nearly over soon.
Here Im crossing out your name, so you never take the blame. so you never, ever, ever, ever feel again.
All these things I do are wrong, but everything is good and you love it like you should aw baby if we could.
These Things written by Mat Creedon copyright 2006
Over the coming months I hope to give an insight into my song writing and recording process by pulling apart Ribbon Device songs. I hope you enjoy it.
Writing 80's Trash Like all my songs I never write the lyrics first its all about the melody. Each day I get up and write from 9am - 4pm in search of those elusive melodies. Only about 10% of everything I write I like and I wont record a thing unless I have a melody I believe in and in most cases I will write the lyrics after the song is recorded.
The melody from 80's Trash came at the end of the day after many hours writing and many months without a melody in sight. I find I can go months without writing anything I like and then one day out the blue all the notes come together, its much like finding gold after you have dug endless holes. The buzz I get from it is amazing and it soon becomes my favourite song for the next week.
Im not sure if I can shed any light on where the melody came from. It was probably growing inside my subconscious since my childhood. While Im writing I generally get a basic idea of what I want to write, like tempo, groove and the general melodic turns I take but thats about it. When it finally comes out, its a genuine surprise.
I write using the guitar and sometimes the piano. I always write to a metronome so I never have timing issue's and it also acts as a treadmill, prompting me to keep going. I used to write in a new key signature each week so I didnt get board, but now I just write in the same key so I dont waste mental energy and pick the right key for my vocals when I record it. I have approached writing on the guitar many different ways over the years from just playing chords and singing over the top to single note playing. Theses days I play a root note harmony and a melody over the top, so Im always playing two lines at the same time. This was also how I wrote 80's Trash.
Recording 80's Trash With such a 80's feel about the tune, when I set out to record it I made a conscious decision to go in that direction. I usually find while recording, a song will tell you what it wants and if you go against it you can be left with something that sounds naff (great body wrong clothes).
I start each recording by first doing a demo or rough copy of the song so I get the arrangement and instrumentation right. Sometimes a large portion of this becomes the final recording. The first time around you capture the magic and then the second time your always just trying to recapture that sound. Your ears get so familiar with the first recording that the second time sounds like a cheap copy.
80's Trash has only one part to it that repeats the whole way through, so to break up the monotony, I recorded many different sections. The way I go about this is buy recording many different parts for the same instrument. For example I will write 5 different drum lines, then move on to writing 5 different bass lines etc... until I have worked my way through all the instruments I want to use. Once this is complete I will match up the different instruments lines until I have a verse, a chorus, a bridge, etc... Then its a matter of placing the sections side by side in basic song form. eg verse chorus verse chorus bridge double chorus. In the case of 80's Trash I ended up with basic verse & chorus plus a couple of other sections so the order ended up like this.
As for instrumentation the 80's for me was all about bad synth sounds thus for the reason for the tacky moog synth sound through out the song. The rest is guitar bass, drums & vocals. We also used sound replacer on the drums to get fatter kick & snare sounds.
For the vocals I recorded a guide track of nonsense (no lyrics) to get the basic idea of how the vocals would sound. The backward vocals were from the original guide track cause they sounded so good.
The lyrics where finally written and recorded
80's Trash
If one said I had, that major thing that some folk just dont. To say that maybe I found life's end, is just to say that life's end is a joke.
Got more Trash than an 80's compilation. Got to rock it steady or your never gonna get some.
If one thing I said, made you change then I hope I choke. To say that maybe I found life's end, is just to say that life's end is a joke.
Got more Trash than an 80's compilation. Got to rock it steady or your never gonna get some.
Dawn: Just when I thought I was nearing an end to the arrangement, I came across a better direction. Off to explore. www.theribbondevice.com
Friday, March 20, 2009
"Dawn":All the tracking has been finished (recording of instruments). Now its time to arrange this sucker. www.theribbondevice.com
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
Working on "Dawn" vocals: Using three mics. A bullet mic for radio sound and another 2 for room ambience. www.theribbondevice.com
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
Did you hear about the dyslexic satanist. He sold his soul to Santa. Next doors god is taking a dump on my lawn. www.theribbondevice.com
Recording "Dawn". 5 months working on the drums and 149 bass lines latter and Im about to press delete on the whole lot. Sometimes you just find something better. www.theribbondevice.com
Monday, March 16, 2009
New Ribbon Device song "Dawn": 91 vocal takes latter and still not happy. Its all in the delivery. www.theribbondevice.com
Saturday, March 14, 2009
Recording Dawn the working title of the new Ribbon Device song.
confident 
tired 
artistic 
busy 
full 
drained 
sick 
awake