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Recommendations for books (and films?) about musicians and their creative process?

aielen — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 09:24:19 -0800

Recommendations for music-related books (and films?) like Geoff Emerick's "Here, There and Everywhere"? I've just finished reading Geoff Emerick's "Here, There and Everywhere" on his experiences recording the Beatles. I enjoyed it tremendously; I like the way it balances interesting details on the creative process with insights on the Beatles' characters and interaction without coming across as overly biased or petty (imo, anyway). I particularly liked reading about the sound-engineering aspects involved, and the technical innovations devised to fulfill the musicians' artistic vision. (For me, the authors wrote about the technical aspects in a very accessible way - easy enough for a layman to understand, but still with enough detail and explanation to interest any reader.)

What can I read, next? I'd love to read similar books.

I guess I'm not really interested in biographies on musicians' personal lives; rather, I'm interested in learning about their creative process and perhaps how they drew from their personal lives to fuel and enhance their approach to their craft - and not just in terms of songwriting and performance, but also in recording.

If there are any good films that cover similar subjects, with a similar approach, I'd love to hear about them too. No particular preference for any specific music genre or time period - I like hearing about the development of plainchant as much as I like learning about the DIY punk movement, etc. :)

"Based on a story by my pal Shecky"

TheSecretDecoderRing — Thu, 28 May 2009 00:02:38 -0800

How often are the stories of a comic, novel, play, TV series, movie, or song conceived by the writer's friend, relative, acquaintance, neighbor, mailman, dog, etc? Writers get all the credit for their works (except in movies, where the director often ends up with a lot; and TV is often collaborative), but just how often is a given story entirely their own idea?

I remember some old anecdote about how Charles Schulz refused to accept story ideas from fans. And for legal reasons it's probably a smart choice for professional writers. But like a lot of people, IANAPW, but still harbor ambitions of coming up with the concept for the Great American Movie. (A lot of people in America, anyway.)

Not that I plan on hounding my friendly neighborhood screenwriter, but out of sheer curiosity, do you know of any instances where the premise behind a well-known show, movie, book, etc was conceived of in detail by someone other than the credited writer/creator... just an ordinary "civilian"?

A close example would be "Lost," which was roughly conceived by a then-exec at ABC, before being fleshed out by JJ Abrams and company. Now, if the general story arc of the entire series had originally been pitched to JJ by, say, his optician... that'd be even better.

What songs did Bob Dylan steal from?

malapropist — Fri, 22 May 2009 12:59:42 -0800

What old or traditional songs has Bob Dylan bogarted for his own use? To give you an idea of what I'm talking about, I like Dylan's song I Dreamed I Saw Saint Augustine off John Wesley Harding. I was watching a Pete Seeger documentary recently that featured his performance of "I Dreamed I Saw Joe Hill Last Night," and I couldn't believe the similarity of these two lyrics; the phrasing and cadence of these lines was exactly the same, except replacing "St. Augustine" for "Joe Hill Last Night."

I already knew Dylan writes this way. There are other, more apparent examples of Dylan taking a phrase or sentence (or song) and reappropriating it for his own uses, such as Rollin' and Tumblin' off Modern Times. Just to be clear, I don't find this controversial at all, that's simply how folk music works. But after hearing "Joe Hill" I'm starting to realize that there must be many more examples of this that I'm completely unaware of. Do you know of any?

I've been looking to get more into old folk, country and blues lately, but it all seems a bit overwhelming to this listener's 21st century ears. However, I think if I could listen to a song and draw a connection from there to somewhere in Dylan's work, it would make it that much more interesting to me. So please, your examples of an old-timey song that Dylan pays homage to, references, or just plain flat-out steals?

"Michael Vaughan truly believes James Anderson to be very special."

Cantdosleepy — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 02:36:59 -0800

Help me write a sample-based song! I need the names of films or other places from which I can grab audio that includes characters called "James Anderson", "Jimi", "Mr Anderson" or similar. Explanation inside! I'm writing a song to perform at a friend's birthday party. I'll be using a MIDI keyboard to trigger various samples of his name at various pitches and pans.

FOR EXAMPLE: There's a famous cricketer called James Anderson. I chopped up the audio from some BBC commentary of his 5-wicket bonanza and threw them into Reason's NN-XT. Now I can trigger a crowd roaring and the commentator saying things like "James Anderson, you beauty!", "Now this is the magic of James Anderson", etc.

I'm looking for other places to cull iterations of his name. Another example would be The Matrix's Agent Smith saying "Mr. Anderson."

I'd love a range of voices, genres and styles - if anyone knows of a hardboiled or noir film in which someone says 'Jimmy' or 'Anderson' that would be ace. Famously recognisable voices are good too.

Super-double points for anyone who can point me to a relevent Youtube/Googlevid/Vimeo clip.

Happy to be pointed to clips of people saying "Happy Birthday" too, especially if in creepy or odd ways.

Be part of Jimi's birthday magic!

You were...hot as hell?

Ash3000 — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 09:56:07 -0800

There's a beautiful, beautiful summer pop song I heard maybe five years ago, that supposedly either won a songwriting competition or came close, and now I can't find out for the life what it was - please help. A few years ago, I heard a song on a podcast or internet radio show of some kind - here's what I remember about it.

1. It was a very hooky, very catchy, very cheesy pop song about summer, and reminiscing all these teen summer activities.
2. The hook in the chorus was something like "you were...hot as hell! beautiful [winter?]!"
3. It contained a breakdown where a vocalist just talked about the days of summer, what it felt like, etc.
4. The name was something like "The forgotten lost days of summer," but I could be totally wrong about this.
5. I think (could be wrong about this, as well) the DJ said it had either won some song competition, or had been a runner-up.

I've done a far amount of searching through SongFight.org, CDBaby, The Podsafe Music Network, Hype Machine, not to mention searching for lyrics online...and nothing. Any help would be much appreciated.

ABABABCBD

minkll — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 22:36:02 -0800

Songs with great codas? Any genre. I'm stuck at Layla and Hey Jude.

help me remember this NPR segment

pipti — Sun, 16 Nov 2008 10:08:29 -0800

Anyone remember this segment?: A few years ago I heard a radio essay (probably on NPR) about the process of getting a country song written and recorded. The reporter wasn't a songwriter by trade, but he had written a silly-ish song for the purposes of trying to get it published. Part of the song was something about trying to reach someone and always getting her voicemail. Another joke in the essay was something like, "Daddy didn't raise no fool, you'd better get in to a magnet school." At the end of the essay, Willie Nelson sings the reporter's song. Anyone remember this? I want to play it for a songwriter friend.

How do home musicians keep organized/productive?

toekneebullard — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 16:32:15 -0800

How do you home songwriters keep yourselves organized? How do you keep yourself motivated? OK, so I'm just another guy who's been in five bands since he was a kid, and has recording equipment at home, and a desire to make music. One of one million I'm sure.

I have a harddrive full of half finished songs and song ideas. I have the ever looming sense of worthlessness due to it. (Maybe I should write emo music?) I always feel the need to write, but I never finish anything. I'm currently the father of a 1 year old, so really my time to work on stuff is quite rare, so I'm trying to think of ways to maximize productivity.

So I'm wondering how some other people do it. Do you require you finish a song before moving on? Do you try and work with a few songs at a time? Do you do a traditional albums worth? Even then, do you go about every song differently? Do you hammer out all the drums, all the guitars, blah blah blah?

Basically, I'm a songwriter with no work ethic. So I just wanted to get an idea of how other people handle things.

Web 2.0 Music Construction Set?

anthom — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 09:57:44 -0800

Does a basic, online "Web 2.0" app exist for creating music notation? Google Notebook has been a real boost to my songwriting process. Being able to enter lyric snippets or other ideas for songs and access them wherever I have internet access has been wonderful.

Of course, lyrics aren't the only part of songwriting. Often, I'll get little bits of melody and counterpoint going thru my head during the day when I'm at work (or otherwise don't have access to a keyboard or guitar).

It would kick all kinds of ass if there were some kind of webapp where I could store these ideas - preferably in standard notation.

I've played with the Splice sequencer. It's close, and I could probably get used to the piano roll editor, but I'm really envisioning something like the old Music Construction Set software, only onlne, and, preferably, free. No need for Sibelius levels of complexity - just simple drag and drop onto a couple of staves.

Does such a site exist? Or should I just admit defeat and start carrying staff paper with me everywhere?

Tear apart my songs!

tmcw — Sat, 03 May 2008 20:56:02 -0800

Where can I find something like Mefi Music, but more... critical? So, I'm recording various things. I've got a summer in which, when I'm not exhausted by an internship / potential homelessness, I'm planning on recording a lot more, of original compositions.

So, I'd like to try out posting quite a few online, and getting a lot of critical feedback. I'd like something like eatpoo's forums, but for music. And somewhere with a community of fairly like-minded (my music, for ref) people. At least not dominated by 'metalheads'

Any ideas? Or would I just be better off going with a MySpace/Purevolume type affair? (extra points: is there a site like MySpace and Purevolume that 1. Doesn't tear down mp3s to 96kbits and autoplay them and 2. Isn't dominated by... you know)

kthxbie

Help me be a better song writer.

Effigy2000 — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 20:07:28 -0800

Is the ability to write good lyrics to music something one can learn or pick up, or is it something you have to be born with? If it is the former, can you give me some tips, or at the very least direct me to some books or websites that might be of use? I want to write some lyrics for a song to give to my fiancée as a birthday present in May (hope she doesn’t read this... if she does, hi honey! Hope you like your present!). I want it to convey how I feel about her, my life before I met her and how she has enriched my life since we've been together. Thing is, the first few times I've sat down and tried to do so over the last few weeks, I've looked at what I wrote and thought it was crap. Utter, utter crap. At least compared with the kinds of bands I like and admire (grunge, rock etc).

I like to write. I like writing both fiction and non-fiction and I think, all modesty aside for a moment, that I'm pretty good at it, so I didn't think it would be too hard to make the jump to writing lyrics. But it seems it is harder than I first thought. It makes me think that the ability to write good lyrics (or at least lyrics that most people think are good) is something you have to be born with. Is this feeling accurate, or am I way off base?

Assuming I am, Metafilter has many, many talented songwriters, as evidenced by Music. So surely there must be some tips you guys and gals can impart to a fool like me? Or some books you could recommend, or websites you could link me to? Please? Thanks in advance!

How do I make songs?

squidlarkin — Sun, 06 Jan 2008 21:03:59 -0800

I can make music. How do I make songs? I have no problem coming up with neat chord progressions, melodies, beats and all of that, but when it comes to fleshing things out into full-fledged compositions I start drawing blanks. I tend to come up with something that sounds good when looped, but any elaboration or development on that basis usually seems to fall flat. Have any of you songwriters out there grappled with this problem and conquered it? Give me tips. Ableton-specific advice is welcome but not required.

Help me let the muse in!

freshwater_pr0n — Thu, 27 Dec 2007 18:39:53 -0800

I have a huge mental block when it comes to writing songs that is the direct result of being ridiculed or sometimes even punished by my father when I was little. It's so bad that even when I try, a little voice in my head screams, "no, no, no!" and I just shut down. Freewriting is great, but I need to be able to ignore that voice even when I'm writing thoughtfully and paying attention to conventions like rhyme, rhythm and melody. I have plenty of ideas, but I need help learning how to get them out onto paper. Any ideas? And yes, I've seen some improvement by going to therapy, but you know, there's a time when you have to do stuff that's painful and hard even before you've morphed into a better, more confident version of yourself.

I'm writing again, but the song I just composed is not my song.

RobotHeart — Wed, 07 Nov 2007 14:03:49 -0800

Should I transcribe what I'm hearing in my head? How? (And should I see a shrink?) So, a song just fell into my head. It's fully developed with the exception of some of the lyrics missing. I've got the main vocal line, a background descant, a very full piano part, and some drums. Sometimes the background lyrics don't match the main lyrics.

It's a very nice song. I like it. The problem is, I'm pretty sure the aether misplaced it. It's clearly meant for Tori Amos's brain. In fact, it's Tori's voice singing it! It's built like a song of hers, too, in terms of the chords chosen and how the vocals drape across them -- maybe a kissing cousin of Tear in your Hand.

It would not surprise me too much if tomorrow some of her people banged on my door and threatened me for stealing the song already on the way to her. (Okay, yes it would. But you see where I'm going with this.)

I frequently have bits of music I have composed just pop up in my head, but I'm always the one singing, and it doesn't seem so derivative. But I never seem to be able to finish those.

Three questions:
1) If I wanted to try and transcribe what I'm hearing, I'd need a quicker way to write the music down. I could run to a store nearby for paper pre-lined with music staves, but is there a way of doing it digitally? I'd like to create a JPG or GIF of some sheet music.

2) Is my writer's block over, or has it just begun, if I'm writing someone else's song?

3) Given all of the above: do I need to see a shrink? ::toothy grin::

And they're coming to the chorus now...

tmcw — Sun, 10 Jun 2007 17:34:50 -0800

DissectingArtFilter: I'd like to start to understand how certain (in my eyes, fantastic) lyrics are devised. Specifically, Stephen Malkmus's lyrics, as a part of Pavement. For instance, Gold Soundz. I can pick out some slant rhymes, and certain other techniques but can't figure out how they work in the context of the entire piece. I know that melody plays a huge role in making the song what it is, but sort of focusing on the lyrics part - any words of wisdom. (and yes, I'm possibly writing lyrics for my band at some point)

How to find a long-distance musical partner ?

dinkyday — Thu, 17 May 2007 07:05:58 -0800

Singer / songwriter looking for producer / arranger / multi-instrumentalist type for a serious collaboration over the internet. I have given up on the people in my hometown: is there a site that would help me find a musical partner anywhere else on this planet, someone who doesn't mind not being able to meet face-to-face? I've got the words, I've got the melodies and I've got the voice. What I don't have is a talent for creative arranging or production. It's a bit like U2 without The Edge or Coldplay without Johnny Buckland (not to mention the other guys in those bands). I'm looking for a Daniel Lanois/Mitchell Froom type of person, someone with real creative vision.

Help a Baby Musician Learn to Crawl

Danila — Thu, 03 May 2007 19:14:00 -0800

I've had music in my head all of my life. I don't play any instruments (yet). Where do I begin? I'm constantly making up new melodies and remixing other people's songs in my head. A few years ago I started writing lyrics and humming the melodies into a tape recorder. That's the extent of my ability to create music. I've long thought of myself more as a lyricist but I'd really love to be able to play around with the songs I hear in my head. But I know next to nothing.

I'm ready to learn how to play an instrument that can help me. All I know is that most songwriters/composers start with either the piano or the guitar. But my songs don't fit either of those instruments! What I really think I want, is a synthesizer. You know, a keyboard that can make many kinds of sounds? But I'm not sure if a synthesizer is what I need exactly, I don't know. I know little about them beyond that they were popular in the 80s, and all of the articles I read have way too much technical jargon. I want to pursue music-making as a hobby.

I just want to find the electronic instrument that I can play around with to my heart's content. In another life I think I would have been a music producer. I want to make beats and lay tracks and all of that too, but that's a little too ambitious I think, for where I am right now. I know I was born to make music, I just don't know where to start. I learn best by doing, not reading books. I'm willing to save whatever money I need. Thank you for your consideration.

Who has written the most checks?

ejoey — Mon, 26 Feb 2007 23:00:25 -0800

Which rap / hip-hop song has the most writing credits?

Good places for singer/songwriters?

weston — Fri, 26 Jan 2007 12:25:18 -0800

Where are some good places for an aspiring performing songwriter to live? Not so much looking to sweep the pop music world as I am looking to find a spot on the long tail. But I've been thinking it might be helpful to look for locations where there are sizable audiences of people who regularly choose live but thoughtful music as an entertainment option and artists and venues that oblige them. I've been writing and performing on and off for the last nine years, moving gradually from Teh Suck to the point where can often warm up an audience and I frequently get asked if I have recordings to sell. It's a hobby, one I'd enjoy leaving at that level, but for a while I've been thinking it might be worthwhile to give it a fair shake, quit hiding under the guise of an amateur, and see if I really can work harder, produce better material, and find an audience.

I live in Utah. From dabbling and living I have a small but helpful network here and some idea how to try to reach the local pockets of people I think might like what I do, but my sense is that it's probably a tougher than usual place to try to grow an audience, so I've considered changing that. I'm aware it may be hard everywhere, or that there may be harder places (during a stint in Ventura County a few years ago I was surprised to find that despite the proximity to LA and Santa Barbara, I felt there was much less going on locally there than here). But from visiting concerts and festivals or even just hitting the town in a few places across the country, I've gotten the sense there might be some better locales. For example, I was at a Dar Williams show at a coffeehouse in Bethlehem PA years ago, and was struck by the fact that the audience seemed more varied across age ranges than the teen/college/young adult crowd I see more often in my hometown. And I discovered when talking with people that many of them held "season tickets" to the shows regularly held there (not all of which were folk luminaries of the Dar Williams strata). The level of interest that seemed to indicate was intruiging to me, and I think that's part of what I'm looking for.

Some other potentially narrowing constraints:

I'm probably best classified in the hodgepodge taxonomic platypus category known by turns as "singer/songwriter" or "adult contemporary." (samples of nominal but possibly adequate production quality can be heard here). I'm guessing some locales are more friendly to certain styles than other. I've noticed that I do better with people over 24 or so and tend to wash right over the emo kids.
I'm lucky to know artists here who work hard on their art, but cooperate and enjoy association with each other rather than compete, don't have "making it big" as their primary benchmark for personal success, or take their identity as capital-A "Aahr-tists" too seriously. I've found mentoring and advice from these people very valuable. Finding other communities like that would be awesome.
Expensive places aren't absolutely out of the question, but somewhere you can rent even a small non-hovel for under four figures monthly is obviously a bonus.

So fellow MeFites, where have you lived (or performed yourself!) that was great for local live music? What places do you think would fit my constraints? Where would you go to build an audience? Any other general advice?

I'm aware the standard locations for this kind of thing are New York City or LA or Seattle or Nashville or Austin. I wouldn't mind at all hearing about those places and how they fit, but I'm also interested in less common suggestions too. I have some particular interest in Califoria at the moment, but *anywhere* in the world that might be good for English-speaking performers is game. Sophisticated Scandinavian city-center? Folksy town in the "flyover" U.S.? Feel free to mention it, no matter where it is, if you think it might be a good place to grow an audience.

Finally, I'm also interested in finding other forums that are good to ask this kind of question.

Where can I put these songs?

Gilbert — Thu, 12 Oct 2006 10:48:15 -0800

Asking for a buddy: Any good places to upload original music to? My friend is looking for someplace where he can park some songs he's written for others to be able to either download or stream. The tracks are either mp3 or easily convertable to such. As always, free to cheap would be best. He doesn't have a MeFi login, so I haven't suggested MeFi music yet. He's already got a myspace page, but they only allow four tracks at a time. Any suggestions?

How do I make money off of songwriting?

cortex — Mon, 28 Aug 2006 10:28:39 -0800

How do I make a (portion of a) living as a songwriter? Basic facts:

1. I like to write songs, and people seem to like listening to them. It is something I can reasonably say I'm good at.
2. There are people who are called "songwriters" in a professional sense—they write songs, and people use those songs, and money changes hands accordingly.
3. I'd prefer to make money—even if it's only a portion of my total income—doing something I enjoy and have an aptitude for, rather than solely doing something I don't particularly care about

So the great big hand-wavey complicated question is, from those assumptions, how do I make money as a writer-of-songs, a bard for hire as it were? I don't have fame or connections to industry folk; I'm just some guy. Where do I start?

...because the world needs another emo singer/songwriter

junkbox — Fri, 19 May 2006 07:08:50 -0800

How does a musician learn to write better lyrics? My better half is a guitarist who writes a lot of music -- extremely melodic, kind of melancholy but upbeat acoustic guitar stuff. He's written more than a dozen songs, but only a couple have lyrics.

He'd like to finish his songs so he could record some of them, but he doesn't know where to start with writing lyrics. He's extremely self-critical, feeling like everything he writes is trite and stupid. Honestly, one only has to listen to a few minutes of "new rock" radio to feel better about whatever drivel one has just written on a napkin, but he aspires to a higher standard.

A lot of indie rock bands mostly sing a bunch of post-modern incomprehensible nonsense, which is fine -- but not really mr. junkbox's thing. From what he's written already, he's more of a literal, introspective narrative kind of songwriter. So how can he a) work on developing good ideas for songs and b) craft better metaphors and other figurative songwriting goodies and c) improve the poetic, lyrical quality of the words he chooses?

Is there a book for writers/poets that other songwriters have found helpful in developing their ideas? Specific exercises or things to study? I think his problem is more a lack of confidence than anything else, but we've already got The Artist's Way.

We also have a theory that our general lack of pain, crushing disappointment and heartache may be inhibiting his creative growth, but have so far opted not to annihilate our happy marriage in a desperate attempt to inspire another critically-aclaimed breakup album.

Making Tracks

Miko — Mon, 06 Feb 2006 12:08:31 -0800

What is the absolute cheapest, simplest, lowest-to-the-ground, home audio recording system I can set up? The very hip local arts & culture paper is running this project called the RPM Challenge, in which bands and artists record an album start to finish during the month of February. I decided to dust off the singer-songwriter element of my identity and jump back into the music scene after years of watching from the floor.

I've got material, no problem, and instruments and vocals, no problem. The problem is I've got no real recording technology. I have a couple of lines out to friends who might be able to help me out, but if they don't pan out, I'll need a backup plan. And it has to be something something really simple (because I'm not a techie) and really cheap (because I'm a nonprofit scrub with a really small disposable budget).

My specs: First of all, pretend I'm a geriatric technophobe. I use computers to communicate, but I totally do not understand them and am not a gearhead. I have a standard Dell Dimension desktop as it came from the factory, and it does have a CD burner. I have one Shur 57 mike, and I guess I can just mike the guitar since I don't have a pickup for it right now. I don't have anything to connect the mike to the computer -- not sure how that's done. I've used the program Audacity to record spoken audio from minidisc, and I'm comfortable mixing on that program once I get some audio into it. But I'm not even sure that's the way to go. For what it's worth, I can borrow a basic Sony minidisc recorder any time.

The material I'm recording is very simple, and I really want a stripped-down, unvarnished result anyway. It'll be acoustic-guitar centered, Americana-style. There will be at most 2 vocal tracks, 2 guitar tracks (rhythm and fill), and perhaps a little fiddle or banjo laid over here and there. So the mixing shouldn't be anything too fancy.

I would so appreciate any help with this. Thanks!

Songwriting Residency Questions

ZenMasterThis — Tue, 03 Jan 2006 09:32:16 -0800

New Year's resolution: Pursue a songwriting residency. Ever done one? How was it? An artist friend of mine has been encouraging me for several years to do a songwriting residency. My understanding of what this means is that I would write a grant request which, if accepted, would enable me to get away to some remote location for a week or two where I could focus on nothing but songwriting. (Sounds exhausting.) Where to find them? Which ones to apply / not apply for? Other tips? Thanks.

How did you become a songwriter?

skallas — Tue, 06 Sep 2005 20:03:14 -0800

Guitarists (and other musicians), how did you make your move from player to songwriter? I'm kinda in this stage with my guitar playing where I can play well enough and play covers, but don't really do much else. Can someone recount their experience of shifting from just playing to actively writing and playing their own music? What methods did you use to get there? Instruction? Experimentation? What theory came in especially handy in the beginning? Did you have any issues withing singing and playing at the same time and how did you overcome them? What are the do's and don'ts? Recommend any books, teachers, or methods? etc

I think the best answer would probably be someone saying "go take a class at the old town," but I am interested in other people's experiences and advice.