Monday 8 November 2010

Using Jeskola Buzz, "People Come and Go"

Songwriting focus: "People Come and Go" (50% finished)

I've written half of a song that sounds a bit like The Chemistry Between Us. That's not such a bad thing on my first attempt to get back into it I suppose, but there are a number of things that seem to happen when I use Buzz to write stuff.
  • In an attempt to find a more organic sound than the usual generators provide, I always choose a piano sound that is in many ways more recognisable as electronic music.
  • I tend to arrange songs into dull 4-bar or 4-line, or 4-whatever phrases. There is always a danger that they will end up sounding like Whigfield (no offence, it's just not what I'm aiming for), or in this case, it just sounds like Suede (which is still kind of an old sound that I'm not looking for).
The way for me to get beyond this Buzz-related issue is either
  • Stop using Buzz initially and record more freely. The act of tracking basslines etc. probably puts me into a very methodical mathematical sort of mood beforehand. Suggest I decide on BPM, record a wav and then adding to it in Buzz when happy with it as a start.
  • Stop using a piano sound anyway. It never sounds good when I track it, because there is up to 10-finger polyphony when someone plays it live and I can never be bothered to track that properly. It will never sounds as good as when the boy TW is on the case, so in line with the previous point I'll stick to my guitar/wavs and use buzz to build around the song, not try and create it from scratch.
In terms of the song itself, it's roughly a made up story about a guy who died who I knew, who could perhaps have done more for the people he left behind. I'm not sure it will be finished if I carry on with the current Buzz version, because it's making me cringe a bit already.

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