The first QotD, 2009

[Spud]

I am not going to reveal my musical plans for fear of jinxing them. I will say that it would be great to enter more fights. We finally had a net gain in that department last year over the previous year. Woo.

[Billy's Little Trip]

I am not going to reveal my musical plans for fear of jinxing them

Oh great! I'm superstitious and now I find out I jinxed myself.
....anyone know the jinx reversal spell? Mine don't seem to be working.

Oh, wait a minute, I think I feel it working. Hmmm, I feel strange, but I think it worked.

What are you looking at, do I have something in my teeth?



cut! annnnnnd scene.

[Teplin]

I definitely want to figure out how to be just as productive writing and recording songs on my own, apart from the boost I get from songfight. If I could get enough songs together under one project name to actually complete an album this year, that would be a major milestone.

I think the productivity boost is made up of (some of) the following components: deadline, the fact that you know you get decent feedback, sharing with people who can fully appreciate your work and, last but definitely not least, the fact that this community is full of people who actually get things done. Group behaviour bleeds off on people who join the group.
So, feel free to brainstorm music-making processes that include the same elements, and try them out.

I'll add a couple more things to the list which are true for me:
Having the title of the song chosen for me sparks creativity. "What does this title make me think of" is more of a starting place than having to sit and think "well, what do I want to write a song about today?".

When I first started Songfight, it helped me get over the writer's block I had due to taking my own stuff way to seriously and being a perfectionist. I thought "It's just a silly little song about a wax museum burning down", and not caring about it as much made it easier. This is changing, though, and I'm able to care about my entries (especially my Howl Down the Chimney stuff) without getting bogged down. I can tell that songfighting has lightened me up.

[jast]

Well, okay, I have lots of ideas for new songs, generally less serious ones. If I was lacking ideas I would go outside, take a bus and keep my eyes open for interesting, weird or unusual things. Another fun exercise is to pick a random object in your surroundings and just go from there in any direction.
Example: I've got an old full metal stapler standing on my desk. It's slightly dusty, rather heavy and I almost never use it. Let's brainstorm random abstractions: I'm disorganized and everything is falling apart around me. Someone who used to perform marriage ceremonies doesn't get any customers anymore. Old quality items are being replaced with cheap plastic junk items. The era of paper is over. A criminal is stapling people to railroad tracks. The last page of my tax form got lost in the mail and now they think I'm a terrorist. No first-aid kit should be missing a stapler.
Etc. etc.

[Ross]

I really enjoyed FAWM - I found that choosing a theme for the album helped drive my creativity. I have a theme in mind already for this year (I hope that's not cheating) but am concerned it could involve copyright infringement. Any legal experts out there I could run a question by?

[Teplin]

Well, okay, I have lots of ideas for new songs, generally less serious ones. If I was lacking ideas I would go outside, take a bus and keep my eyes open for interesting, weird or unusual things. Another fun exercise is to pick a random object in your surroundings and just go from there in any direction.
Example: I've got an old full metal stapler standing on my desk. It's slightly dusty, rather heavy and I almost never use it. Let's brainstorm random abstractions: I'm disorganized and everything is falling apart around me. Someone who used to perform marriage ceremonies doesn't get any customers anymore. Old quality items are being replaced with cheap plastic junk items. The era of paper is over. A criminal is stapling people to railroad tracks. The last page of my tax form got lost in the mail and now they think I'm a terrorist. No first-aid kit should be missing a stapler.
Etc. etc.

Yeah, good ideas, I like that.

You know, before Songfight I never tried to write a song TO a title. I'd try to write a song first, and then title it appropriately. But I'm always writing down little tidbits of interesting things that might make good lyrics or song concepts or band names, so it's not much of a stretch to generate my own song titles. Before Songfight, I was just used to working the other way around and it never occured to me.

[Billy's Little Trip]

I need a mental image or I can't write.

[jast]

I don't use mental images a lot. Most of the time I imagine sounds or, uh, facts. I think. Sort of like intuitive understandings of something without words or pictures. Hmm, it's hard to describe what's going on in your head if you're the only one inside it. It may be even harder if you've got visitors, though, I don't know.

[Billy's Little Trip]

I don't use mental images a lot. Most of the time I imagine sounds or, uh, facts. I think. Sort of like intuitive understandings of something without words or pictures. Hmm, it's hard to describe what's going on in your head if you're the only one inside it. It may be even harder if you've got visitors, though, I don't know.

Where darkness becomes a sound?

[jast]

Where darkness becomes a sound?

Google says: 'No results found for "where darkness becomes a sound"'. Quite a feat! And I still like the song.
Anyway, gotta go. The voices in my head tell me that I need sleep. Except for the one that plots taking over the world, but I never listen to that one anyway.

[Billy's Little Trip]

Where darkness becomes a sound?

Google says: 'No results found for "where darkness becomes a sound"'. Quite a feat! And I still like the song.

the Googlez hasn't heard of it. I do have a true meaning behind it and darkness does in fact have a sound.

[rone rivendale]

Lot's of stuff mentioned by people here that I'd love to hear. Also in 2009: I'd love to hear an improved Wages come back, and where in the hell has Klownhole been? Yeah, I know people come and go and some just go, but I needs me some 'hole!

Heh, I was just listening to a few of Klownhole's songs today. That's funny. It's been almost a year to the day since they last entered a SF.

[Billy's Little Trip]

I think that Klownhole thinks I dissed them on the last fight they were in. I really didn't. But they got mad and called my Shoelace Soup song that I made that's inferior and readily available material used to supply a heavy demand for FM listeners, "radio fodder".

[slats]

I do have a true meaning behind it and darkness does in fact have a sound.

Yeah, on acid. 8)

[Billy's Little Trip]

I do have a true meaning behind it and darkness does in fact have a sound.

Yeah, on acid. 8)

On acid, darkness has a taste. 8)

[JonPorobil]

QotD: Though I've lost certain key tools in my recording process (most notably, access to a real piano), I own several pieces of equipment that I still have yet to use. I do believe that if I learn to use all of the equipment and instruments that I already have on hand, I could write and record a series of genuinely competitive Songfight titles rivaling my current best work. Therefore, it is my long-term (by April) goal to be record a good song (at least as good as, say, my "Say the Word"), then repeat the process until I can reliably reproduce it.

Phase one, which I'll commence on Monday with the intention of finishing before the following weekend, will be rehabilitating the neglected Windows partition of my hard drive. This will probably entail wiping the hard drive and reinstalling only recording software. Depending on how smoothly this goes, I'll then try to install my USB MIDI Controller and figure out how it works.

If all goes well, phase one should culminate in a song called "Elegy for Industry," which will hopefully be ready in time for the fight.

There's a lot of "if" coming off that plan, but I'm doing something, at any rate.

[Caravan Ray]

DRC: Today is not only New Year's Day but also my Dads B-Day.

QotD: What are you musical goals for 2009? This includes both in SF and outside of it.

Main goal for this year:

To get the NZ Government to give me $5000 to record a single under this funding:
http://www.kiwihits.co.nz/funding/detai ... ing-artist

That would crack me up.

[Billy's Little Trip]

DRC: Today is not only New Year's Day but also my Dads B-Day.

QotD: What are you musical goals for 2009? This includes both in SF and outside of it.

Main goal for this year:

To get the NZ Government to give me $5000 to record a single under this funding:
http://www.kiwihits.co.nz/funding/detai ... ing-artist

That would crack me up.

After all the increased income tax and tourism money NZ has gotten from the likes of Peter Jackson and the Flight of the Condors, they realized it's a gold mine. They want more of their Kiwi's famous and bringing them American money.

[Caravan Ray]

Yeah. Flight of the Condors are awesome. Heaps better than that Flight of the Conchords crap.

[Billy's Little Trip]

Yeah. Flight of the Condors are awesome. Heaps better than that Flight of the Conchords crap.

You know what I mean.

[rone rivendale]

*Necropost Alert*

Hey, so it's a little more than halfway through the year. So re-read your goals for 2009 and see how far you have come (or not come) this year!

My goal was to be in 10 SFs, I'm entering my 6th one with They Meet so I'm about on schedule with that. I wanted to finish my 3rd album and complete a 4th by the end of the year. I put out the 3rd in March and I have a TON of material for my 4th so putting that out won't be a problem. Probably do that by the end of August.

Let's hear it, did you stick to your goals? Are you all failures? ^_^

[fluffy]

qotd: finally finish foodsexsleep, participate in more fights this year than last year (not hard as I only did one in 2008, gah)

Achieved

(it pays to set the bar low)