13 posts tagged “songwriting”
The studio build is about halfway through now - fully blogged on my Wordpress site.
http://joebennett.wordpress.com
Demo panel at the UK Songwriting Festival 2008
I occasionally get asked, by undergraduate students
, Festival songwriters, and songwriting teachers what software and hardware I use to project lyrics and play back songs for analysis during songwriting lectures. Sometimes the question actually hijacks lectures and diverts us from discussing the actual song, so I’m going to write this blog post about it, so next time someone asks, I can just send them this link and get on with talking about songwriting!
This is unapologetically nerdy and exhaustive, because the people who ask about this sort of thing often want lots of technical detail.
The hardware
During lectures I have my Mac laptop with me - it’s a standard Mac Powerbook running OSX and iTunes. This is connected to a VGA projector (see photo) and a mini-jack audio cable connects the Mac to whatever sound system we’re using (in the photo example we used a small mixing desk on the table, routed into the theatre PA system in the ceiling).
The library
My iTunes library is around 6000 MP3s that I’ve collected over the years from various sources. The computer is always live on the ‘net, so if someone in the lecture class wants to discuss a song I don’t have, I just spend the £0.79 then and there and buy it online.
Because I’m sometimes running a PowerPoint or web browser simultaneously, I like to be able to play and pause iTunes remotely in the background. Sometimes I use the Apple remote for this, but most of the time I prefer to use a background application called Synergy, which is a simple iTunes controller that provides play, pause, next track functions etc, using function keys.
Lyrics and MP3s - the background
We all know that despite many years of attempts by rights owners to prevent fans publishing song lyrics online, it’s possible to locate the lyrics to almost any song on the ‘net. But using a web browser to do this live in a lecture is inelegant, and distracts the class from the song. So I combine two techniques - MP3 lyric metatags and lyric widgets.
An MP3 metatag (or to get really techy, its ID3 metadata… stay with me, here - it gets interesting soon!) is simply a way that the MP3 file can have textual information or images (title, artist, composer, cover artwork and lyrics) attached to the file. iTunes has a really simple text editor - just click Apple-I on any iTunes track to bring it up.
So once the lyric is found on the ‘net and then pasted into the MP3’s iTunes lyric info window, it’s there in the file forever, right there on my hard drive. This works for MP3s and also protected AAC files bought from the iTunes Music Store.
So far so good, but that’s still a lot of hassle, especially if I’m running seat-of-the-pants lectures like this year’s SWF (where I asked every member of the audience to write down a choice of song for analysis, then downloaded them live in the classroom). And it’s also not very useful to bring up the Apple-I info window, because the font size isn’t big enough for the class to see on a projector.
The widgets!
In 2005 I discovered Mac OSX lyrics widgets. These are small applications that run in the background using Apple’s OSX Dashboard (i.e. they work with any Mac). There are several, but they all do essentially the same thing - display lyrics attractively on screen from the iTunes lyric data. But that’s not all. If they don’t find any lyric data, they automatically search the ‘net for the lyric, and then extract the text from the lyrics sites they interrogate, and paste it into the MP3 for you. All this happens live, in the background, meaning I can download a song (legally, of course) and then have the lyric embedded in it within less than 10 seconds.
I use several widgets, running concurrently, because they all search slightly different lyric sites. I’ve found that if one widget doesn’t find the lyric, another one will, and then the first one will simply pull the data from the MP3 itself (which will have been embedded automatically by whichever widget found the lyric online first). My current ones are;
Sing That iTune, Fire, Harmonic and the defunct but easy-to-find PearLyrics.
Icing on the cake - hot corners
Mac users will know that OSX supports hot corners. So I set up the Mac so that every time I move the mouse pointer to the top left of the screen, it launches Dashboard. Having previously set things up so that the lyrics widgets are always running, this means, in a lecture, all I have to do is play an MP3, sweep the mouse to the top left of the screen, and the lyrics appear!
But there’s more…
Sometimes, we have an iTunes playlist running while we’re setting up a lecture - a list of recent hits, or songs in a particular form, theme or genre. So to make this a bit more visual, I also occasionally use Jewelcase, a shareware plugin for iTunes that displays not only the lyric metatag, but also the JPG of the album cover metatag - and puts the whole thing in a beautifully rendered spinning CD jewel case. Projected 20ft high in a lecture, it is a thing to behold!
And a tiny bit more…
This setup works great for lectures, but sometimes we’re discussing tempo. We can usually find the chords and key of a song (just by having an acoustic guitar to hand), and we can see its form usually from looking at the lyric and listening to the playback, but finding the tempo was always a bit fiddly, using a metronome there in the lecture.
So I searched the ‘net for a tool that would enable me to mouse-click along to a track, display its tempo in Beats Per Minute, then embed the tempo in the MP3 for next time. It’s called BPM Widget. Does what it says on the tin!
Creative cultural exchange 2008
Bath – 2-7 August 2008
In association with PRS Foundation (PRSF) and the
Composers and Authors Society of Hong Kong (CASH)
This is an international opportunity for 8 talented emerging songwriters from different cultural backgrounds to work creatively together.
During
an intensive 5-day period in August 2008 at Bath Spa University, 4
songwriters from the UK and 4 from Hong Kong will work creatively
together in small groups and individually to create new work.
Throughout this collaborative process the composers will be supported, inspired and challenged both by others in the group and by Joe Bennett, Director of the UK Songwriting Festival, and by internationally-renowned songwriter Peter Sarstedt.
I included the audio for this song in a previous blog, but since the gig quite a few people have remarked on it, so here it is in full, including lyrics. Stevie's original draft of the lyric had the character in his homeland, which had become a war-torn landscape. My only suggestion during the workshops was to bring in the idea of the character being far from home - i.e. to make him a soldier fighting overseas. I think you'll agree that Stevie has used some remarkable imagery to illustrate the song's universal anti-war sentiment. It's also an effective melody that really carries the character's anguish and torment. We added a bagpipe-style open 5th drone using voices from other members of the group, and the final recording was produced and mixed by Chris Blanden. Personally I find the song astonishingly affecting, even after repeated listenings. It's one of those examples of performance, lyric, arrangement and melody lining up prosodically - all the musical elements pushing in the same direction.
Stevie Palmer 2007
Wind won't you carry me
Set my blind spirit free
For I have lost the will to breathe
As comrades fall like dying leaves
Black is the sun
Black is the sun
Rain won't you wash me clean
Such poison I have seen
Visions that will not be gone
For all my life, however long
And in this trench there is a picture
My sweet children smile at me
And in my heart an endless longing
Wherefore art the smiles I see?
Black is the sun
Black is the sun
Snow won't you chill my wounds
Spring she has come too soon
Fires scorch as we retreat
Flesh decays around my feet
Lord won't you bring me home
No strength have I to roam
A thousand miles beneath these boots
More death with every round I shoot
And on this gun there is a number
Tell me what this number means
Is it for the lives I've ended
Or is it for the tears I've screamed?
Black is the sun
Black is the sun
Wind won't you carry me
Set my blind spirit free
For I am broke beyond repair
So to my kin please blow me there
Possibly the most interesting task of the week, in terms of the songs that came out of it, was the exercise where everyone had to write a song with a tempo faster than 120 beats per minute (2 beats per second). This led a lot of singer-songwriters into new territory. The following song by Lisa Paton is based on the story of Colin and Ann Gordon and Stanley Lawson aka 'Alamo Stan', whose homes were among 300 houses to be bulldozed in Pennywell, Edinburgh earlier this year. Stanley daubed the phrase 'The Citizens' Republic of Pennywell' on his walls shortly before he was evicted, and Lisa was inspired to write this universal tale of home, family and community.
The audio is a live recording, performed by Lisa and Stevie Palmer, of the song's first performance on the day it was completed.
Every day the songwriters played back new material to the group for discussion, and whenever time allowed we developed these basic first performances by getting our in-house producer Chris to work with the artist on some arrangements. So we thought it would be interesting to blog a 'before and after' from the Gathering week. Here's Amy Duncan's original performance and studio recording of Rodger Lyall's lyric, which tells the story of the fishermen of Inverbervie and their struggle to protect the ancient salmon fishing rights granted to them by King David II. This was the first day's task - to write lyrics separately and hand them to another Burnsong writer to add the music. It's not the most common form of collaboration, but an interesting exercise for songwriters; lyric-setting in this way is the preferred method of Elton John & Bernie Taupin and Chris Difford & Glenn Tillbrook (Squeeze).
The song's unusual 6/4 groove, Scots dialect and two-chord 12-string picking pattern seems, for me, to fit perfectly with the poignant and wistful power of this true story.
Lyrics by Rodger Lyall / music by Amy Duncan
Oor Rab, the Bruce faced Lanky Shank
Tae`mak us independent
Then sired a son, Aye Dave the same
Tae tak aheed the royal name
2.
Noo Davy wis a cannier chiel
Wha likit Royal Toons
And grantin’ toon folk fishin rights
Tae sport in ony wie they liked
Chorus
Gied fisher rights tae snigger troot
Stopped ithers comin in aboot
Gied burgh rights tae local folk
The Common Good noo just a joke
3.
And now an act of treachery
By Deeside Salmon Fishery
Brings plans tae bring the Stoney whip
Tae stop the Bervie fishin rip
4.
But they didna’ reckon Ashie Reid
Like Brucie, independent
Sayin’ local folk will manage fine
Oor Charter’s no rescinded
Chorus
Gied fisher rights tae snigger troot
Stopped ithers comin in aboot
Gied burgh rights tae local folk
The Common Good noo just a joke
So here we are at BBC Glasgow, stealing a blogging moment on one of their foyer PCs. Our setlist is posted below. The ones in italics are new songs, written during the Gathering; we're also going to play through all 12 of the original winning songs. To find out more about the songwriters go to the main Burnsong site.
It's been an amazing week, and the winners have generated a huge amount of high-quality material. We'll be putting the full audio for tonight's gig online here in the next blog. As ever, I've used this experience to learn more about how different songwriters approach their craft, and it's been a privilege (and really good fun) to work with such enthusiastic and hard-working musicians.
Time to tune up!
The Gathering setlist
Nov 30th 2007 - BBC Glasgow
Home - Andi Neate
Hell of a Ride - David Ferrard
My Bonnie Red-haired Lassie - Paraig MacNeil
Reverse The Hearse - Tom Murray
The John McGlinchy Bridge - Stevie Palmer
Gowany Banks - Lori Watson and Mairi Campbell
Albasylum - Lisa Paton
Garvock's Ghaist - Rodger Lyall
Stepping Stone - Mary Barclay (Carroll)
Too Busy Playing God - Andi Neate
Smile or Cry - Mairi Campbell and Dave Francis
You've Been Leithed - Aly Macrae
Blackbird - Mary Barclay (Carroll)
The Pig & Its Mistress - Rodger Lyall
My Dad - Amy Duncan
Black Is The Sun - Stevie Palmer
Merl - Lori Watson (Lori's on tour in Germany - the song will be sung in her absence by Mairi Campbell)
Hope Inside - Lisa Paton and Amy Duncan
I Can't Believe - Dave Francis
Honours for Fees - Paraig MacNeil (trad tune "Bonnie Dundee")
Hi all,
Sorry for missing a day on the blog - Euan and Jim, our excellent session musicians, arrived yesterday, and we were rehearsing so intensively that we lost track of the time & weather; as I mentioned before, it is only possible to blog from a picnic table in the car park, which means that when it's raining (as it legendarily does in these parts) we can't take computers outside.
Anyway, Chris the producer has been inhabiting an all-Pro-Tools virtual world for around 3 days now, and all 12 songwriters have been creating one song each every day, so we're now up to a count of 42 songs from the week, plus the original 12 Burnsong winning entries, making a grand total of 54 original songs to choose from for our BBC Glasgow live set tomorrow with the Burnsong band. Some of the recordings will appear on tomorrow's Ian Anderson show; we'll be passing on more to the BBC in the next week or so - here's hoping some of these amazing songs get the airplay they deserve over the coming year.
We're just about to run the second half of the set, so I need to get back to it. For now, I've posted some of MP3s (below) of songs written this week, created using our mobile recording rig. In each case, this song did not exist last Saturday night - and here it is as a finished radio-ready recording. Ain't the creative process a thing to behold!
Yesterday's task was to work on an up-tempo song (singer-songwriters often have a tendency toward melancholia, and we want some lively material for our live set at the BBC in Glasgow on Friday). Lots of people are working on Logic, Garageband or Pro Tools, and I hope to post some examples here soon.
Today everyone is writing a voice-only song. There are some extraordinary vocalists in the group, and working on recordings of their material is a delight - one songwriter I know described recording songs with strong singers as like driving an expensive car; the destination is the same but the journey so much more pleasurable!
I'm blogging this from a pitch-black car park because that's where the wireless reception is clearest. I'm sure everybody had to blog outdoors back in Victorian times...
Today our first song rolled off the studio production line - Padraig's 'Honours For Fees', the only song of the original 12 winners that was unrecorded originally. All the musicians are Burnsong winners.
The songwriters were given their second task - to write a song at a tempo faster than 120 beats per minute. Lots of them are getting into writing with laptops and drum loops - quite a change for some of the more traditional folk writers, and the results are going to be very interesting, I think!
