Sooner or Later - writing/arranging demo

[AndyR]

I thought I'd post this to illustrate how I work.

It's a rough songwriting and arrangement demo of something called "Sooner or Later" or possibly "Dream all Day" depending how much further I change the lyrics. It has a guide vocal done with the MBR's internal mic, three "sussing the arrangement" guitar parts, and (I hope) the completed drum arrangement.

I wrote the song in my usual singer/songwriter way - play the guitar and perform at the mirror until something happens . All the lyrics on here were written over the course of two evenings a couple of weeks ago after I'd finished recording the last one (If we should sing together).

As always seems to happen, I started with the inital verse riff, the first two lines of the lyric (there was a girl walking past when I looked out the window), no chorus, and no title...  - I understand this is not the traditional way to write pop music. Various very famous songwriters have said "I don't get out of bed until we've got a title..." 

I decided I had a song worth working on when the "lead" guitar part on the choruses appeared, and I found I could sing over it...

I had two verses (in D) and a chorus (in Bm) originally, but this didn't seem that exciting. On the first evening I transposed the verses to A, but left the chorus in Bm - it started working then. When I did a rough demo, I realised I needed something else, both lyrically and musically.

Second night I wrote the extra bit as a full set of verse lyrics and started messing with key changes. I was looking at creating a middle 8, but the lyrics were too long, and I couldn't think of a decent "middle 8" set of chords. So the best bet seemed to be to treat the lyrics as a 3rd verse but use the chorus progression in A minor.

I recorded a very rough demo to see how it worked - it didn't really, coming out into a chorus was naff. So I decided to produce an A minor version of the verse - this seemed to be a bit better, but we were about to go off on holiday so I decided not to get too involved before we left.

I didn't fancy it yesterday, but I got up early this morning. I spent the first half of today figuring how to get out of A minor into a chorus and fade. It ended up with a "bridge" going through B minor, C minor, ending up in the chorus in C# minor and E.

I then wiped the original guide demo, and recorded the first guitar - it's the main "rhythm" part down the middle. This is likely to feature less when there's bass and wotnot going on.

Then I recorded the guide vocal to make sure a) I could sing it, b) the arrangement worked for me, and c) I wouldn't walk over the vocals with over-enthusiastic guitar/drum arranging.

The results of the guitar arranging are as follows:

A "jangle" guitar on the right that doubles some of the "lead" part in the chorus.

A "lead" guitar on the left.

All three guitars play all the way through - they probably won't in the finished article, I'm not getting enough dynamics from this thing at the moment.

I was more after nailing the arrangement, so each part was a first take after a bit of rehearsal - you can hear the odd blooper. Eventually they'll be replaced by four or five different parts to achieve roughly the same effect. For guitarists: it's a Gibson Explorer with humbucker sized P-90 pickups (Mississippi Queens from Bare Knuckle Pickups) playing through my VOX Tonelab LE modellor, I used a JTM45 amp model running full blast through an AC30's 2x12 cab model.

The rest of the day was spent with the drum arrangement - I feel I need it there in place before I start writing/learning a bass part. I ran out of steps!!! I hadn't realised there was a maximum of 50 steps to an arrangement. Oh well, got round it by simplifying the drums at the end  (If this doesn't work for me eventually, I'll use two arrangements and mix them as audio)

Next jobs (in roughly this order) when I have created a new copy are:

1. Write, rehearse, and capture the actual bass part (this will enable me to see what can be cut from the guitars and give me a better understanding of what is going on harmonically for later backing vocals and possible keyboards).

2. Replace all the existing guitars with parts that fit better with the bass (tonally, musically, no mistakes, etc). I imagine it will be 4 - 6 stereo parts to generate cleanly, and dynamically, roughly the same sort of effect as we have now.

3. Decide whether we need any keyboards (and write, rehearse, capture them). I'll probably start jamming with the track same time as working out the bass.

4. Finish the lyrics (a few changes noted already) and record the lead vocal.

5. Work out and record the backing vocals.

6. Identify and record any "icing" (lead guitar overdubs) needed on the finished cake.

If I had another two days off, I could do it, I think ... but it's evenings and weekends working round the lovely Mrs R from now on 

[OsCKilO]

Superb!!!!!!

A master at work!

Thanks for the insight into how to craft this kind of diamond!


Peace Andy

T(Osckilo)

[Geir]

What you manage to get out of this little box is just amazing!! And of course it has something to do about what you put in

This is just brilliant, an inspiration to use more time in the recording/songwriting process!!!

[Wiley]

Sounds you like you put a lot of work into this and it definatley shows! Great job!!

[Facemask93]

Thanks andy , letting us in on your process of song arranging is invaluable to someone who has written only one song but is having trouble getting it onto the little box , thanks again , good work.




Facemask93

[Oldrottenhead]

how am i meant to read all that on a friday night,................................monday? bank holiday? naw?
apologies i have been drinking>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
andy love yeah...........hic...........

[Ferryman_1957]

Sounds pretty good already to me. Thanks for sharing the description of how you work, fascinating. Any chance of posting the words? I don't hear too well so can't make many of them out but I did hear "underwear" which piqured my interest.

... but it's evenings and weekends working round the lovely Mrs R from now on 

Well, I've never met Mrs R but that sounds like a mighty fine way to spend evenings and weekends........

Cheers,

Nigel

[AndyR]

Yep, "underwear" is in there 

The lyrics aren't typed up yet because they're still a work in progress and not quite "set in stone". I do believe that "underwear" will make it through the revisions though - have no fear!

When I finish the recording, which might be some way off , I'll try and remember to post the lyrics. They'll certainly end up on soundclick when the finished article finds its way there...

[The Reverend 48]

Great stuff Andy..It put me in mind of Elvis Costello.......
Thanks for the insight into your process..it's encouraged me to try harder

[Greeny]

The process counts for nothing unless there's songwriting and musical talent sitting behind it. And you have bucket loads of both. This is just a great song, and expertly performed. Fantastic stuff again!!!