Sequencing is basically programming a musical instrument, be it a keyboard, an instrument software program or a drum machine. You can tell these instruments what to play, and when to play it.

For example, I use a Korg Triton keyboard. Not only does this play many different piano sounds, but it also has drum sounds, orchestra instruments, organs, sound effects, guitars plus much much more. AND… the opportunities are endless because it is also a sampler, which means I can record any sound into the keyboard, manipulate it, and then sequence it into my song. (Remember Feris Buhler belching out a song?)
Within the Triton keyboard, it has 16 different tracks. You can imagine that as 16 different instruments that can play at the same time. I often sequence a basic drum part for my whole song. Nothing fancy at all because eventually I will erase it and have a real drummer record the parts.

{Side note: Programmed Drums Vs. Real Drums:

Depending on the sound you want to go for in your song, you can use the sequenced drums/drum machine parts in your recording..this has been done for many many years. For this project I’m working on I prefer the sound of real drums. There are certain tones, and nuances that you just can’t get from a machine. I want that human sound! Keep in mind though that you can always combine the two, or parts of the two at least, so your song can have the best of both worlds. This is actually done quite often.

In some near future postings I will give you some sweet tricks on how to beef up the sound of your drum kit!}

After the basic drums are sequenced I will often experiment with different instrument parts just to see how they fit into the overall sound of the song. Adding piano parts or bass lines or cello’s will sometimes lead to new ideas, often though when I hear it back a day or two later I just wonder what kind of fumes were being pumped through the studio’s ventilation system.

When it comes down to it, I usually end up with at least two things that I record into my ProTools session: some drum parts and what is known as a “pad.”

This pad is usually a string patch or an organ…and I often keep it for the final recording. It is a subtle bed for the rest of the instruments to build upon. Within the mix of the song it is something that I prefer to mix in there so softly that you don’t know it’s there, but you would miss it if it were gone. This part doesn’t have to be intricate at all, in fact if you draw less attention to it the other instruments will shine and stick out better. If you want to try this in your own recordings, start with the basic chord patterns and just sustain only the downbeat of each chord change. Of course every song is different and you’ll have to adjust accordingly to any issues that may arise. Before the 80’s hit with all the keyboard sounds and sequencing, recordings usually used a real string section, a horn section or an organ (Hammond B3) to establish this pad.

Read My Mind by the Killer’s is a fun example of a keyboard pad. The song starts out with it, and there is nothing subtle about it. This gritty patch is actually in your face for a little while, but as the song progresses the guitars and drums demand more of the attention and that keyboard part is tucked underneath.
Take a listen to U2’s With or Without You. There are a few different elements establishing the bed. You can hear a bell like arpeggio sequence, a subtle string patch in the upper frequencies, as well as the electric guitar sustaining a few notes with an Ebow. (Guitar players: if you’re looking for a way to create new sounds, check out an Ebow.)
In a future posting I’m going to touch base on something that has caused me many headaches trying to make work: Synchronizing my keyboard to my software recording program. Of course right now I could just hit “Play” on my keyboard as well as hit “Record” on ProTools and record the parts just fine. Although there are some advanced techniques and advantages when you lock the two together.

EXCITING ISN’T IT!!!!!!??!!!!

A new song for me typically starts with a riff. Usually I start on the guitar and start playing anything, just jamming. Eventually I stumble upon a cool idea, but it’s usually very short…definitely not a whole song. This idea that I’m talking about today, TFUNK, is a song of that nature. I’ve attached a version of this to this posting for your listening pleasure.
Tyler was the guy who came up with this main riff. You’ll hear it in the opening part of the song. It’s not too complicated, which I think is HUGE in writing a hit song. The riff has to be easy to swallow. The chords themselves might be a little left of mainstream, but the riff is smooth. And it has an automatic built in groove. (By the way, I hate the word groove. But I’ll continue to use it until I come up with something more clever)

The nice twist to this is that Tyler is a jazz major and he was just messing around. I’m not sure if it’s killing him that I took a snapshot from a larger portion of a rough recording that showcases him playing some crazy jazz stuff and scaled it down to this, but I don’t really care at this point.

Keep in mind this is still the only portion of the song that is written, the intro.
With that automatic built in groove that the guitar sets, it was easy for me to hear what the drums were going to do. So at this point I sequenced a Korg Triton Keyboard to play a drum track. (For those of you new to this lingo, read the next blog entry about sequencing)

With this new drum loop, I was able to record a few minutes of just the drums into a new session in ProTools. (ProTools is a recording software. For those of you new to this, read two blogs from now about recording software)

Now remember we are still in the idea phase, so the guitar parts I’m about to record will be trashed, along with the drum machine that I just recorded. Seems like a very monotonous task. It is, but pretty much necessary for me anyway. Since I do a lot of writing on my own, or with only one or two other people, sitting in a room and jamming out a song live isn’t really an option for me. The goal here is to recreate a real band performing by recording each track separately. Eventually I can record real parts next to all of these scratches, erase the scratch parts, and am left with only the good stuff.
So with the drum machine now recorded in my session, I re-record Tyler’s riff into this new session. (Not with Tyler’s finesse mind you, but enough to get the idea in.) From here I jam and jam, eventually creating the rest of the song’s chord structure as well as song structure. I wrote the verse and the bridge, made the intro the same as the chorus, put it all together and voila…the start of a song.

Next I wanted to track the Vocal melody I had going in my head…again just a scratch track, (aka a track that will eventually be thrown away.) The purpose of these types of tracks, be it a vocal, a guitar or piano scratch, is that it not only helps you decide if it sounds good in the song, but it is kind of a map through out the song as you record real parts to it so you know what verse you’re on, or that the bridge is coming…etc. It does make it easier to record a real guitar part if you can hear someone singing and leading you into the next section. Even though that scratch part will be deleted, it helps create a vibe. In this posting of the song, you will hear the first scratch vocal track that I laid down. As you can tell it’s a lot of mumbling and stuff out of tune, but that’s how I operate, and eventually can write some real words to the phrasing of how this flows.

I don’t recall from here if Tyler came in and recorded new scratch tracks, or if Al Berven came in and recorded the real drum part. In any case the recording that you’re listening to has them both recorded. I also recorded a scratch bass line on top of this.
RECORDING TIP: I strongly urge you to record to a click track (metronome.) It can be as basic as a single stick hit sound to a fully programmed drum part. This will save you and other musicians a huge hassle down the road when you realize that the tempo has fluctuated through out the song. Of course this can’t always be done, such as in songs where the tempo changes intentionally, but I highly recommend it if you can.

So now all that needs to be done is to write some clever lyrics, re-record the guitar and bass parts, and possibly cut out that 3rd verse. The producer side of me is saying the song gets too long. We shall see. Beyond that comes Mixing and Mastering. Which I will discuss in future blogs as well.

Enjoy.

{Alright, a few technical difficulties. I’m unable to upload the demo at this point in time. Eventually I will iron out the kinks. In the mean time please visit Beggar at MySpace and you can hear the TFUNK demo there. }

First of all, the new album is in this great, continuous evolving stage. One in which we create some exciting sounds and hash them out for a while, and then some new song comes from out of the blue that we just can’t let go. And the genres seem to be crossing all the time, from rock to jazz to some crazy ambient/ethereal sounds as well as some Cajun flair. Instead of focusing on one direction right now and limiting the creative process, we are celebrating all ideas and really trying to let the music define us as opposed to the opposite. Eventually the producer hat has to be worn of course and something has to be harnessed and made into music you can actually listen to all the way through.

But in the mean time we thought of a great way to keep your curiosity fed. The thought of giving you constant behind the scenes looks and listens of how the process of creating an album happens from start to finish. Not only will you get to hear and download some of the ideas, you’ll see photo’s from the recording session as well as video clips. Beyond that I’m going to get into the technical side as well, and describe from a producer/engineer’s point of view how and why things are done the way they are. So if you are interested in the art of recording, even if you don’t like this band, you will learn some great tips and tricks…secrets of the trade if you will…right here, for free.

Along this musical journey to the next album, feel free to respond with questions and or requests, as well as critiques of the material!

By the way, if you haven’t already, sign up for the Beggar RSS feed so you can quickly be notified of a new posting!

After spending the last 2 weeks in the studio writing and hashing out ideas, I realized I came out of a funk of creating depressing tunes while focusing on penning pop tunes. It’s sad really, since I like the darker types of songs. They just have more of a sense of realism to me. Perhaps I’ll get so sad about all the new happy tunes that I’ll get back to creating something more depressing. That would make me happy.