Everybody Panic Pig Boy Prefight Thread

Jim of Seattle · Post by **Jim of Seattle** » Tue Mar 22, 2005 10:34 am

Well ok, for me. But IN GENERAL, people have more time on the weekends, and IN GENERAL, people write the song before they record it. I often write and record at the same time, but those recordings are usually crap and I re-record anyway.

Andy Balham · Post by **Andy Balham** » Tue Mar 22, 2005 11:50 am

I usually don't have much more than an idea before the weekend. Then it's one day to get the basic song and recording together and another to polish or do whatever I think is going to improve the song the most.

This week has been quite interesting as I can leave the recording for two days, before revisiting it prior to final tweaks and submission. Whether it will be better, time and reviewer's ears will tell.

Bjam · Post by **Bjam** » Tue Mar 22, 2005 11:53 am

We should have it end on Wednesday.

And Monday.

And Friday.

Heck, let's have a Songfight title for every single day of the week!

In all honesty I really don't mind too much. When I record stuff it's usually in the summer or the break as otherwise I'm busy with school and schoolwork and school activities and school friends. They're stealing my creativity

WeaselSlayer · Post by **WeaselSlayer** » Tue Mar 22, 2005 12:23 pm

Not to change the subject, but a buddy of mine and I mixed up a no-wave soup for you all. Ricky Shallow and the Blown Loads will be debuting "Systematic Panic" I guess on Friday. Um, also, sorry that I'm in two fights this week but one's a collaboration soooo I thought maybe it'd be ok. Plus... well... it won't happen again. I love you all.

-Luke

MintyHandy · Post by **MintyHandy** » Tue Mar 22, 2005 2:53 pm

I have no preference regarding the schedule of SongFight, as my songs appear spontaneously on my doorstep in the form of a green unmarked package.

Leaf · Post by **Leaf** » Tue Mar 22, 2005 4:14 pm

MintyHandy wrote:I have no preference regarding the schedule of SongFight, as my songs appear spontaneously on my doorstep in the form of a green unmarked package.

That's bullshit man.

Mine are wrapped in plain brown paper.

How the hell do I get the green paper damn it?????

Jim of Seattle · Post by **Jim of Seattle** » Tue Mar 22, 2005 4:19 pm

I also get green paper. Get with the program, Leaf. Check out http://www.songfightsongssenttoyouindif ... dpaper.com.

Also, I get mine delivered under my pillow by the Songfight Fairy. Trouble is, she only delivers them on the weekends.

Leaf · Post by **Leaf** » Tue Mar 22, 2005 4:24 pm

Jim of Seattle wrote:I also get green paper. Get with the program, Leaf. Check out http://www.songfightsongssenttoyouindif ... dpaper.com.

Also, I get mine delivered under my pillow by the Songfight Fairy. Trouble is, she only delivers them on the weekends.

Damn it Jim. I'm a drummer, not a blind link follower! If you weren't bedding down with every alien female maybe we'd have completed this mission by now... err. Sorry, tribbles.

Justio Von Awesome · Post by **Justio Von Awesome** » Wed Mar 23, 2005 4:39 am

Just sent in my entry for "Let's Go Boy", it is majorly odd, short, experimentational and creepy but I like it pretty well. I hope some others think its decent.

deshead · Post by **deshead** » Wed Mar 23, 2005 12:27 pm

A quick reminder, folks:

jb wrote:Let's go, people. Get out the vote. Let's see if we can make every fight have 100+ votes.

I'm not one to be all rah rah about publicizing songfight, but geez, 57 votes for Snow Fort? That's just sad. There are more people than that reading this message board!

It's too late to vote early, but you can still vote often.

nyjm · Post by **nyjm** » Wed Mar 23, 2005 1:22 pm

here's a little production question:

how many takes does it usually require for you to get a part your happy with?

i ask b/c my "everybody now" has just been kicking my ass, especially the vocal track, especially the first verse. i did the first pass on like sunday, then let it sit. spent three hours fighting with the song on monday, let it sit. more time on tuesday, etc., etc. so, i think, finally today i'm happy enough with it. it's not perfect, but if i tweak it anymore my head will explode.

i'm usually pretty simplisitic about recording. i rehearse a lot, but i don't like spending much time in front of the mic. so, this whole take-three-days-to-record-40-seconds-of-a-vocal thing is weird.

Jim of Seattle · Post by **Jim of Seattle** » Wed Mar 23, 2005 2:08 pm

So I assume you're talking about the vocal part? Because at first you just said "how many takes to record a part". For instrumental parts I usually get one I like in 3-4 takes. If it takes more, then I slow the tempo down or else go ahead and make mistakes and correct them in Midi.

For audio (usually only my vocals are pure audio), I record small pieces at a time, usually about 1-2 lines. I loop my sequencer and record as many takes as I need until I have that one chunk good enough (sometimes as many as 20 takes, usually about 8 or so), then I pick the best one (or two if I'm double-tracking) and delete the rest. It seems strange, but actually practicing the part I'm not getting at a slower tempo helps me hit the notes when I'm recording. Also, I find that singing the same line over & over helps me narrow down how I actually want it to sound. Sometimes little vocal details creep in on take 7 that I wouldn't have had if I'd "nailed it" the first time. Also, knowing I'm recording over & over takes the pressure off - I'm free to try things knowing that in a couple seconds I get another shot at it.

WeaselSlayer · Post by **WeaselSlayer** » Wed Mar 23, 2005 2:20 pm

However long my song is is how long it took me to record each part. I don't believe in second takes, you lose too much energy between the first and the second.

Love,
Luke

deshead · Post by **deshead** » Wed Mar 23, 2005 2:33 pm

nyjm wrote:how many takes does it usually require for you to get a part your happy with?

Everything Jim said.

Also: if you're unhappy with your phrasing or delivery, you may just have analysis paralysis. Something to think about: no matter what you record, you're going to find something about the song later that you dislike. So don't get too caught up in getting it 'perfect'.

But if you're unhappy with the way the vocal sounds 'in the mix', the problem might be the rest of the mix! Try to avoid tracking and mixing at the same time .. Get everything recorded, then get everything mixed.

Prep H · Post by **Prep H** » Wed Mar 23, 2005 2:48 pm

"Let's Go Boy" is my tribute to Wreckdom this week.

boltoph · Post by **boltoph** » Wed Mar 23, 2005 2:51 pm

WeaselSlayer wrote:I don't believe in second takes, you lose too much energy between the first and the second

And this is just one of the things I like about you and your music, Sir Henley! But, you may try listening to your first take over and over, then gettin' psyched about it, getting into character, and doing a new take and that new take may just blow your original take away. Need the special character suit for it. It's a little like the force, Luke. So Let's Go, BOY!!!!

MintyHandy · Post by **MintyHandy** » Wed Mar 23, 2005 3:00 pm

how many takes does it usually require for you to get a part your happy with?

In my experience, if the song is working for me, a bad take doesn't feel like a bad take -- it feels like a take with a few fixes to be punched in. Conversely, if the song isn't working for me, I can do take after take after take and never get from "good enough" to "great" -- at which point I assume it's the song, not the take, that is the problem.

Don't be afraid to walk away and come back later, or to walk away and never come back -- and if you're really reluctant to drop it, rip out everything except the essential chords, change the tempo and/or rhythm, and do something simple. At this point, one of three things happens:

- The song works when simple, so it's something in the production of it that's failing, and you can go fix that production issue;
- The song works when simple, so it's your entire production approach that's failing, and you can start over with a different approach;
- The song doesn't work when simple, so the song itself needs to be rewritten or abandoned altogether.

Of course, this is just how it works for me, and self-analysis is hard to do accurately.

boltoph · Post by **boltoph** » Wed Mar 23, 2005 3:12 pm

I just had to edit my message because I typed "Let's Goy Boy"

MintyHandy wrote:Don't be afraid to walk away and come back later...Of course, this is just how it works for me...

This, I hear loud and clear and it rings so true. Everyone's got their own. Take pieces from everything and make up your own out of 'em.

In other news...get ready for a new collaboration artist this week. Let's Go Boy!!! (not to be confused with, Let's Hear it for the Boy).

Jim of Seattle · Post by **Jim of Seattle** » Wed Mar 23, 2005 3:46 pm

It happens quite frequently to me that I'll work on a song for a long time, and actually get pretty far on it, sort of not liking it the whole time, but struggling through anyway, then at the last minute I'll say "you know what, I hate this" and I'll abandon it entirely and come up with something else which I love in like half an hour.

MintyHandy · Post by **MintyHandy** » Wed Mar 23, 2005 10:31 pm

How about "Let's Goat Boy"?

On the walking away thing, I just now walked away from something I've been working with for three days. I let it simmer overnight, I let it simmer for a day, I tried beating on it, but no matter how much I like the production of the music, there's no compelling vocal line to be found. So now I chalk it up to a production lesson (i.e., I can create this sound in the future if I want), and in the absence of the vocal line, I'm really just walking away from four chords.

Edge of LA · Post by **Edge of LA** » Thu Mar 24, 2005 10:30 am

EVERYBODY NOW will soon be on it's way. I'm listening to my first mix down, and will make a few adjustments tonite, then send it in.

boltoph · Post by **boltoph** » Thu Mar 24, 2005 2:45 pm

Prep H wrote:"Let's Go Boy" is my tribute to Wreckdom this week.

I'm gonna read this one line about ten more times...

Everybody Panic Pig Boy Prefight Thread

how many licks does it take...

Re: how many licks does it take...