Our Activities in Music Industry teacher, Scott Legere, talked about multiple intelligences. He says that neuroscientists have discovered that different parts of the brain lights up for a plethora of different skills. There are a lot of ways to be talented. Because of this we shouldn’t be afraid to try new things.
In Quest Love’s book, Creative Quest, he talks about creative disinhibition: getting rid of the voices telling you not to do something. The greatest enemy of creativity is fear. Dan Wilson of Seimisonic fame writes 350 songs a year. He’s gotten to the frame of mind where he can create without being impaired by self doubt. I have a long way to go, but I want to be that prolific. I tend to be too precious with my songs and when that happens nothing gets finished. Our role as students isn’t to write great songs; our role is to finish a lot of songs so we get better at songwriting.
For my next demo I was excited to get into the studio. They have a vocal isolation booth, expensive microphones, and pre-amps that are much better than mine at home. I first tried the studio’s SM7B, but after some comparing I found I liked the sound of the Audio-Technica 4047/SV better. I recorded in Logic since that’s on the studio computer, but emailed the WAV files to myself to mix in Ableton. The sound of the electric keyboard is a preset I found in Massive.
Studio isolation booth, Studio B, Mankato.
My teacher likes the synth sound and says the soft percussive vibe nicely compliments my vocal delivery. He says I need better transitions between sections, and that my melody for the verse isn’t very clear. I knew that was coming because he talked a lot about clear melodies and how easy it is to write a song without really knowing what yours is, but at that point I had already recorded it. I’ve found that playing the melody on piano or recording myself singing helps a lot. Clear melodies separate professionals from amateurs.