The Evolution of a Song
Part 6: I'm baaaaaaack in the saddle again...
(Remember that old Aerosmith song from their album 'Rocks'? How does Steve Tyler scream like that and still have a voice after all these years?)
Anyway, back to the issue at hand. When we last left off, several months ago with part 5, this was the case:
"Aside from all the loose ends and bum notes, it's still too repetitive, especially with the piano chunking. No matter how you slice it, it's windshield wipers slapping. The dynamics need work too - something needs to be done especially with the last verse. I'll have to give it some time to simmer and see what I come up with."
There has been a longer pause than I expected here, but sometimes that's the case. Especially when the so-called real world interferes, sometimes creativity just dries up and blows away. However, I had a one week break from the aforementioned so-called real world (usually referred to as a vacation) and managed to do a little more work on this project. It doesn't sound it, but it was almost completely re-recorded. I needed to do something with the drums, but I had foolishly done them via MIDI on the same stereo track with the piano and strings. Worse yet, I'd managed to lose the original MIDI file. Solution? Redo the drums, strings and piano, and this time, put them on different tracks. Done. The drums are better sounding and a little more interesting, though they're still in need of work. I also used my Yamaha S08 for drums instead of the old Roland SC55. The piano is greatly improved - though I kept some of the chunking in spots (I like it, just not for 4 1/2 minutes without a break). I did a little re-arranging while I was at it - I added some B3 (courtesy of my decrepit Korg DW8000), and lightened up the opening by covering the beginning of the first verse with just an acoustic guitar. I thickened up the strings a bit with a big phat layered string patch courtesy of Fruity Loops and added a little tinkly bell on verse 2, again from the aging DW8000.
As you can tell, it's still not finished.
"Is there a drummer in the house?"
Still unhappy with the lackluster MIDI drums, I tried something new - I posted a message to a Yahoo! music newsgroup to which I subscribe asking "is there a drummer in the house?". I got a reply within minutes from two drummers, both of whom use Sonar and were willing to record some tracks for my tune. We emailed MP3's back and forth a few times and within a few days I had a CDR in hand with 10 tracks of live drums. I edited some of the live tracks, mixed in my own MIDI bits here and there and came up with this. You'll notice I also lost the B3 and tinkly bells. I did paste the little drum intro back onto the beginning though... This isn't a finished mix either so I may change everything back again later.
"What a long strange trip it's been"
I was doing a gig one night and in a very mellow mood, and I decided to try playing 'Dreamers' solo. Obviously it's going to be a little difficult to reproduce the extra instruments as a solo acoustic performer, so I did a very unplugged version of the song - much like Eric Clapton reprised his classic rocker 'Layla' as an acoustic ballad for MTV's unplugged series. You know what? I decided that arrangement not only fits my performing style and capabilities better, but it's a better vehicle for the lyrics as well. I decided to scrap the big production approach and just do a simple ballad arrangement. I did two tracks of acoustic guitar, one capo'ed up to achieve a more full sound, added a solo violin and some strings on the choruses and came up with the basic arrangement of the song that I'm going to end up using. You can hear it here. It's been a long and winding road, but that's the way it works in my experience. You start with a tiny germ of an idea, mold it, mash it, add to it, cut from it and change it all around. You never know at the start whether you'll end up with a complete piece or just another orphan idea for the musical island of misfit tunes.
I hope you've enjoyed following along with the process. As I'm writing this, I'm in the process of re-recording the song as well as a few others for my first CD. It too is a slow process, but, like the evolution of this song, I hope the end result will be worth the ride. Thanks for staying with me, for reading and for listening...!
~L
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