audiot

now, it’s been almost a week since that last part, so you had plenty of time to clean up your studio, take a dustcloth and the vacuum cleaner, organize all those bits and pieces and be ready to work in a clean, tidy and well organized environment from now on.

i told you this series will have four parts, so what else can we clean up you ask. the second thing that needs some tidying is your song. believe it or not, chances are there’s a lot of dirt in there. ok, we’re not talking freejazz here, but everything that’s being listened to is kind of clean in terms of the songwriting. “clean” might be a stupid word to describe this, but i can’t think of a better one. the idea is to have the song (here it is again) cleaned up. that means no unnecessary licks, no notes that don’t really fit in there. the right chord at the right place and not just the standard chord because it’s the only one you can play. go through your song, note by note, and pick the chords that fit in the best – make them up if necessary. think of “sweet home alabama” for instance – quite simple, standard D, C, G chords, right? nope. listen to it very closely. on the one hand, the song is more complex than you might think – lots of important details in there. but on the other it’s even simpler than standard. you can find lots of songs that are really well cleaned up by listening to the eagles – this is of course just one example. good funk music is often exemplary when it comes to cleaning up, good hiphop as well. the thing is to do what’s right for the moment. if the song calls for a guitar solo, so be it – if not, leave it out. do you really need that b-section? correction: does the song really need that b-section? and so forth. it’s not about writing the most complicated song – more like the other way around. i always wanted to write awesome progressive concept albums with 20-minute-songs. today i’m in the process of writing two-part-songs, one part for the verse and one for the chorus. that’s it. and who’s to say which ones are better? i can’t, even if those are my songs. but i can tell you one thing, nowadays i can finish a lot more songs and record them instead of carrying them around in my mind for years without even bringing them to paper. and people like them, the 3 people that actually do listen to my stuff that is :-)

but this is not about my songs, simply because my songs have no hit-potential (i know, “hit” is one of those words today), they’re not for the masses. but they are clean. and if you want to come up with something people would want to hear, then it has to be clean. throw out anything that is not necessary. it’s like packing a backpack for a hiking-trip. you first make a list of all the stuff you’d like to take with you, then lay it all out on the bed, then go buy a mule and you’re ready to go…. the better way is to make a list, lay it all out, throw half of it away and put the other half in the backpack. it will be fine.

i love comics, especially ones that are simple, like those for instance (that’s just the current one, there’s a new one each day…) – because i love the way they simplify everything. their people are made out of a few simple strokes but still you know what it’s about. i really dig the simplify-idea and i think it’s very important in songwriting. a song still can be complex of course, but it has to be clearly shown what it’s about…

damn, i really felt my english sucked in this one and i sincerely hope that you get the idea. good luck with that :-)