A Little Lite but Really Tasty!

Song Title: 116th Street Junk Food

Recorded On: GarageBand

Instruments: (In Order of Appearance)
                    Funky Latin Drums 09 (GB Preset)
                    Cool Upright Bass 01
                    Upright Funk Bass 01
                    Simple Cabasa 01
                    80's Dance Bass Synth 09
                    Chordal Synth Patter 08
                    Funky Electric Guitar 02
                    Club Dance Beat 006
                    Exotic Beat 06
                    Funky Latin Drums 01
                    Percussion Combo 07
                    Motown Drummer 02
                    Conga Drummer 02 (All GB Preset Loops)

Uploaded to SoundCloud: May 24, 2013

Statistics: 12 Plays (4 US/4 Japan/2 UK/2 Germany/2 Viet Nam/2 Netherlands/ 2 Spain)
                2 Downloads (1 US/1 France)
                2 Comments (1 US/1 UK)
                2 'Favorites' (1 UK/1 Canada)

You can listen to "116th Street Junk Food" here: https://soundcloud.com/c-l-neal/116th-street-junk-food.

Again, this was a pretty simple piece. I simply dove into the loops that come with GarageBand and went crazy. As so often happens, I was trying to do something else and was getting nowhere. I was completely frustrated working in Ableton and went back to GarageBand briefly to just snap something off and remind myself that I really can write songs.

Burch, who has kind of been my mentor and often been my sounding-board since I started writing EDM, has told me many times  that I need to get rid of all the loops on my computer. I will agree with him while we're talking but then not do it. Why? Because I'm supposed to be having fun. Come on! And if I'm trying to master something and getting nowhere, why not work with a few loops and put something out?

No good reason, that's why!

Anyway, I've told him that I know the loops are really like junk food. They can be really tasty but have no nutritional value. But I've also said before that there is an art and a science to working with loops. If you do it right, you can come up with something pretty cool.

In fact, several people have agreed with me about this one. One of the comments came from a grumpy English guy who I would have sworn was not listening to my stuff (he's also a musician and his style is completely different than mine.) And he likes it! So if that's not affirmation, I don't know what is.

And the fact that anybody at all is listening to this song in Viet Nam also means that I'm doing something right. I would love to be big all over the world!

So Burch, I luv yer but dude you gotta lighten up a bit on this.

And anyone else who thinks that loops make for sucky or lightweight music?

Bite me!

ShankThr33 - It's In The Genes~

Copyright (c) 2013 Christopher Neal

It's a Big Messy World After All!

Song Title: Big Messy World

Recorded On: GarageBand

Instruments: (In Order of Appearance)
                    Darksitar80b_d (Downloaded from Platinumloops)
                    Indi120_c (Tabla loop downloaded from Platinumloops)
                    Indyfolk120r_g (Mandolin loop downloaded from Platinumloops)
                    Alternative Rock Bass 03
                    Alternative Rock Bass 04 (GarageBand loops)
                    Distance (Loop)
                    KSK Vox Fx (Loop)
                    Club Dance Beat 002
                    Electronic Drum Beat 02 (GarageBand loops)
                    KSK Risa 002 (Loop)

Uploaded to SoundCloud: May 24, 2013

Stats: 6 Plays (United States)
         2 Downloads (1 US/1 Portugal)
         1 'Favorite' (Canada)

You can listen to "Big Messy World" here: https://soundcloud.com/c-l-neal/big-messy-world.

I love EDM but sometimes it just takes it out of me. I had been trying to learn "Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds" (which I still haven't completely learned) while at the same time trying to learn how to do a four-on-the-floor beat. Trying to learn two such completely different things, even though one is a whole lot easier than the other, is hard. I just got drained. So I turned to my crutch in order to do something fun. And really, isn't this supposed to be fun?

I had downloaded a bunch of sitar and tabla loops. I have for a long time been wanting to do a real kickin' World beat. I went through them, looking for something that I could build a decent trance beat with but not finding anything that quite did it. But I found a few sounds that I hadn't remembered downloading (the KSK Vox and KSK Risa loops) and thinking I would like to do something with them. I'm on a lot of loop websites and I haven't kept proper track of them. Sorry!

This is not one of my great pieces, but I had a lot of fun. Burch likes to roll his eyes when he hears I'm working with loops again but what I always want to say at that point is, "Bite me." I was drained from trying to master things that weren't working and needed a little fun. And like I said before, isn't this supposed to be fun?

So enjoy it in the spirit in which it is offered.

Peace out and catch you later...

ShankThr33 - It's In The Genes!

Copyright (c) 2013 Christopher Neal

Don't Ever Mess with the Little Loudmouth!

Title: Little Loudmouth

Recorded on: GarageBand

Instruments: (In order of appearance)
                    Edgy Rock Bass 04 (GB Loop)
                    70's Ballad Drums 01 (GB Loop)
                    Smoky Clav (Preset)
                    Deep House Dance Beat 01 (GB Loop)
                    Blue Jazz Organ Riff 03 (GB Loop)
                    Southern Rock Organ 05 (GB Loop)
                    Southern Rock Organ 04 (GB Loop)
                    Southern Rock Organ 03 (GB Loop)
                    Southern Rock Organ 02 (GB Loop)

Uploaded to SoundCloud 03/14/2013

Some of my songs I like less the more I listen to them, and some of them I like better. This one is definitely in that second category. In fact, this has always been one of my favorites, ever since I first wrote it. This is also the first time I almost had the courage to use just loops when writing a song.

At one minute and forty-three seconds, it's not the longest song I've ever written but it's got some pretty satisfying stuff packed into it. Unfortunately I don't remember bpm, but I'm thinking it's about 120 because it's pretty fast and I wrote this when I thought successful EDM needed to be 120-140 bpm to get club play.

Like most of my songs, it tells a coherent story. Spoiler alert, if you just want to keep your pictures of it (which I say bless you if you do) then skip to the next paragraph. It's a classic story of falling and redemption, with a little Southern-Gospel-Style thrown in. The opening bass line is meant to represent someone (and yes, I do think of a girl, although don't call me misogynistic. I just do. It don't mean nothin',) who is tightly wound and on a continuous roll of shooting off her mouth and getting into trouble. The additions of drums and other bass (the Smoky Clav) are just meant to show her speeding along no matter what happens. Then the organs come up and I couldn't help thinking of her going into a church and finding redemption. Since it's a dance song it's all meant to be done in spectacular fashion, but that's the basic of it.

When I started writing this I just was listening to different loops in the Garageband collection and really liked Edgy Rock Bass 04. I think I almost used it for something else but decided not to since it is kind of busy. It's got a great funk sound to it and is kind of dirty and grinding. I added the Smoky Clav preset (the only instrument that I actually play) to fatten it up (like it needed it, but it still works!) And also to add a little menace underneath, emphasizing the beat.

There is an art and a science to arranging loops just right. I don't claim to have mastered it yet, let alone when I wrote this song, but when I started working with the organ loops I realized that I was going to need to let some pieces go in order to have it tell it's story most effectively. Layering the organs on top of each other, which was what I initially wanted to do and I know some EDM guys WOULD do, was just a mess waiting to spill. May seem like a no-brainer just listening to it, especially if you're a more experienced producer than I am, but at the time it was a bit of a revelation. This piece more than any other helped me form my Three Rules of recording. It was accidental, but I found that groove and locked it in solid. I layered effectively, knowing when to let go. And I finished it up. And I was pretty happy with it, and I still am!

You can listen to it here: https://soundcloud.com/c-l-neal/little-loudmouth

I've always been disappointed that this one wasn't more popular. In all the time that it's been up through this writing, it's had fifteen plays, no downloads and no little hearts. It's been most popular in the US, followed by Canada and Ireland. Hey, I love for people to like it no matter where it's played!

Hopefully if you read this you'll check it out and maybe this little gem will get another shot at the life it deserves.

Peace out and catch you later...

ShankThr33 - It's In The Genes!

Why "99% Ineffective" is so darn lovable.

Title: 99% Ineffective

Recorded on: Garageband

Instruments: Accoustic Vamp 04

                    Accoustic Noodling 01

                    Steel String Slide 03

                    Accoustic Picking 21

                    Accoustic Slide 01

                    Elecric Slap 03

                    Funky Pop Drums 03

                    Headspin Long

                    Hip Hop Beat 03

                    Dance Floor Pattern 17

All of the 'instruments' are preset loops in the Garageband loop library.

For something that started out with no plan and ended as a bit of a mess I think this one worked rather well. I had done very little work with loops and I had not yet codified my "Three Rules of Songwriting" so I really had no idea what I was doing. Although this is one of my earlier songs I don't remember exactly where it came in. I know I'm out of order here, I'm trying to get to my songs in order. This one was written and recorded around the same time as, but after, both "Harlem Digital Nocturnal" and "Little Loudmouth," both of which are better songs by almost any measure. But despite the wandering of this one it still winds up fairly pleasing. 

Another reason this one will probably always be considered a "minor treasure" is that, unlike almost all my other compositions so far, it doesn't tell a coherent story. Now, the story could be linear, like "Little Loudmouth," or it can be more of a mood piece like "Harlem Digital Nocturnal," but you can clearly see in your head what is going on. Of course, there's always room for interpretation, but that's half the fun! This one starts off with a sort of lazy guitar noodling then goes straight into the plaintive steel string part, then the spare acoustic line, then it gets kind of busy. When the slap bass arrives I'm not even sure where I was trying to go with it, and the ending would seem forced if it for some reason didn't work so well.

I would love to know what story someone can get out of this one. 

In fact, since I can't picture in my head what story would go with this, when I move into making videos this one is not slated for one. If it winds up on my Youtube channel it will just have to be my logo on the screen.

Still, the reason I didn't abandon this project is because, and don't ask me why, it really does work. I can hear areas where I would have let some of the ideas play out longer and tried to build some tension, I think the payoff at the end doesn't quite deliver enough bang for the buck. But still, for all that it flows nicely and every time I listen to it, it carries me along the way any half-way decent song ought to.

I posted it to SoundCloud about a month ago. You can listen to it here. So far it has had 11 plays and no downloads, so it isn't one of my "biggest hits" although one person did "favorite" it. Thank you! It makes it all worthwhile! I hope you enjoy it!

Check you later...