Music
The song Hopeful Calls began when I heard a melody when moving between A minor and E minor and developing it further to become a four chord progression. After finding out what I wanted the guitar to sound like I programmed the drums. Unlike some of my other songs which have either no drums or a limited drum section I decided to try and mimic, as closely as possible, a real drummer. By adding more fills and using different sections of the drums there is a heightened sense of realism when it comes to that part of the track. The bass and the piano followed right after building off of each other and adding to the moody feel of the song. Unlike some of my other songs where I would have used an organ or keyboard I decided to use a piano because it gave a more piercing sound as opposed to the warm tones of an organ.
The song was influenced, like many of my songs, by late 60s progressive rock. In this sense I tried to capture the mood, on a particular day, when I wrote the riff just as a band would have done so in the 60s. Like a lot of the bands that inspired me to make music my songs always have a basic band jam with something else thrown in on top to give it some character. Being that the song lives in the indie/progressive rock neighborhood some of the sonic qualities are those similar to that one would hear in a Pink Floyd/Beatles song. I added the piano after listening to Guitar Gently Weeps and seeing how effective the piano was used on that track. In short, the song takes from many of my influences and is an attempt to convey a particular feeling at a particular time.
Chance Encounter is a one of the first songs that I wrote and tells a story of a fictional "chance encounter" with George Harrison. His music and that of the Beatles is what inspired me to pick up a guitar and learn how to make music so it was only fitting that my first song should discuss that inspiration. From a production perspective the song is very simple. Only a bass, guitar, strings and vocals. The guitar and bass were recorded straight from the guitar or amp with a microphone and the strings were programmed with MIDI. The vocals were recorded on the same day using the same microphone and were later edited using auto tune and flex pitch.
The overall production and style of the song was based off of late sixties folk rock and in the vein of Bob Dylan and George Harrison. The main elements of the band are the most present and the song is stripped down its core to give the essential folk rock song sensation. The song is, in a sense, similar to Bob Dylan's music with the way I sing and rhythmically reminiscent of George Harrison's playing style with an interesting meter. The guitar in its acoustic nature nurtures the sense of folk rock, while the bass in its warm low profile give the song an extra layer of rhythm. All in all the song captures a lost feeling and production style that is not always seen in music today.
I wrote this song and had it in my arsenal of songs to record for a while so when I sat down to record it only took a couple of days. This song, which is titled "Lost Memory", started off on the guitar with four chords. These four chords gave me a profound sense of melancholy. There was a feeling, when I was recording this song, that something was lost but could be found again. Again taking inspiration from the Beatles and Pink Floyd I programmed the drums, the strings, recorded the bass, guitar and piano. Starting with the guitar, I plugged in directly to my interface and found an optimal BPM to set up the track. After finding that BPM I found an r&b drummer on Logic that fit the vibe of song and the recorded the rest
The production of this song was based on songs from the Beatles in Pink Floyd. In terms of the guitar I tried to give it more space to feel similar tones that David Gilmour would have used. I added a wha-wha effect on the guitar and added some reverb. In addition to the guitar sounding like Pink Floyd I tried to get my bass to mimic basslines Roger Waters would have used. Making the bass warm and heartfelt was essential to getting the correct feeling of the song. After the main components like drums, bass, and guitar were done I focused on the strings to get the Beatles vibe across. With the genre moving from folk rock to a more classic/progressive rock there were some sonic qualities that differed from songs like Chance Encounter. These include the tone of the guitars, the introduction of drums, and the layering of strings.