Metal Reviews

For those of you who are artists, how do you go about creating songs? Do you develop elaborate melodies in your head and actualize them later or do you just play an instrument until something sounds good. If you're in a band, is songwriting a collective ordeal? Do you come up with lyrics before or after the instrumental work is done? What inspires you to write?

Ok, I'm in no way an artist but I did write a few things. I never did anything, like sit down and write something, sometimes just when my mood is right some melodies and some words come into my mind. After a few days playing and binding them together in my mind I sit down and record them with the computer and that's it. I never wrote any drums, I just write the guitars, the vocals and the keyboards for the background sound, hopefully one day I'll meet a drummer and go record this stuff, hopefully, which probably means never.

Why not program the drums?

exactly.

Because if you want the sound of real drums, a drum machine won't cut it. (Perfectionism is a bitch, innit?)

Not saying that drum machines are necessarily bad, just not a replacement for real drums.

EDIT: Oh yeah, were talking about songwriting. Drum machines are definitely very good for writing and demoing.

I write songs in Midi to get the ideas from my head into a form that the band can understand easier. helps me to get everything laid out in my mind aswell. I would say that everyone has a different way of finding riffs and melodies, so just find a way that works best for you. I always leave the vocals till the end, but make sure you always have and idea of where the vocals are going to fit with the music if you write in this way.

Because they sound terrible and there's a limited amount of what you can do with them. Or maybe I haven't found a program that gives me the realistic tone I want, and the variety. I could use one if I needed to complete any of the songs, but I'm not exactly going for the minimalistic bm drums, I need much more variety so I don't wanna limit myself and I don't need to rush it.

I develop melodies in my head, thinking of variations too. Eventually I write them down in tabs, then pile them together in compositions with the rest of the band. I write fitting lyrics to the composition afterwards; often the lyrics are composed of some poems of mine.

I just write down all the little cool and interesting ideas in my head on paper, not neccesarily notating the music in my head, just writing down the ideas I have... for example, if I think that it'd sound cool to cut everything but the drums and vocals for about two measures in the second verse of a random song, I'll write that down, and come back to it later and try to improve upon that idea and work on it until I feel confident about it.

I still need to learn a lot about music theory, though... Maybe I'll pick up a couple books about it.

And I don't really have a "band" or anything, I'm just doing it for my own personal enjoyment.

sit down and crank out a bunch of riffs while playing with no reall thought of how they would go together.

latter on i come back with some vocal melody for a chorus idea. and i put the riffs i have created around and see how they fit. changeign the scale around and what not for the best combo. if nothing really works in spots i just leave it for next time.


of course there are occasions that i get inspired and write it all at once but those are kinda rare

I've written some thrash on my guitar. That's it.

I take it however I can get it. Sometimes I'll be taking a physics test and suddenly something pops into my head and I wright down my best guess at the tabs for it. Sometimes I just pick it up and mess around and something good happens.

Same here. How i get my inspiration is a total mystery to me.

I dont write, or play an instrument.

How the hell do you know if you'd be any good at a certain instrument? I want to start learning something, but i dont know what.

Inspiration can come spontaneously, which is a reason I carry a journal to write poetry in. Considering the inseparation of my breathing and guitar playing, if I feel like being experimental(i.e. coming up with new material), then I begin to add variations to previous scales, rhythms, or just different feelings created by different ways of playing.

Try various instruments out.

Hey I always thought that as well, I mean what if I'm totally talented in playing a weird instrument, like saxophone or whatever, how the hell will I find that out? I may be a sleeping giant over here.

I'd say it varies. Sometimes we write the music first, other times music is written to fit the lyrics.

.:crast:.

There's no way to tell. Being good at an instrument just depends on how hard you practice.



Try out different instruments and pick up whatever you like most.

1) Usually the former. It's rare for me to come up with something I find potentially good while trying out stuff on an instrument.

2) Depends on the band. At the moment I am the main music/lyrics writer in Phenris and In Corpore Mortis; I used to be involved with other bands where my creative input was more subdued. I'm no tyrant in my bands, I'm just the one who comes up with more ideas in a shorter time.

3) Definitely after, even though I always have a general frame for what lyrics will be about; for me, the interaction between the mood of the music and the lyrics is vital.

4) Personal experiences, thoughts, dreams, nature... the usual stuff.