Originally Posted By: DaClark
over spring break we got together and messed around with the tracks part. we had a heck of a time stayin with the beat. its easier to just play together. its nice havin extra guitars and parts though. still need to figure how to have parts sometimes and stop in others. how do you hear other parts in songs we want to make? is that what they mean by polished? some songs we want to do just sound like real songs. like radio songs. i dont know how to say it. the production parts.


Staying on the beat.... this is a critical musical skill to learn. If you're planning to do any sort of studio recording, you must learn to play in time and stay on the beat. And it's not as easy as some folks think. It's easier just to play together..... that's because none of the players can follow a beat either, and you can all wander aimlessly as a group. Don't use a click.... use the drums in the song. Be sure you can hear the beat clearly. If you're playing too loud to hear the "on time" parts.... turn down and learn to play on the beat. Kill 2 birds with one stone.... stay on the beat and play at lower levels, both of which tend to be hard for beginners. Practice keeping the beat.... when you're listening to music... start singing along... have someone else turn the volume down to zero for 5 seconds and you keep singing.... after 5 seconds they turn it back up. See if you are with, behind, or ahead of where the song is. As you get better, make it longer. Professional musicians can keep the tempo of a song very consistent from start to finish. It's a skill everyone should have.... especially drummers who are some of the worst offenders.

Parts that stop and start... I'm assuming you mean a piano or guitar part that comes in on certain areas in the song and not in others. I use a DAW to do that on my songs. Each instrument in it's own track and an automation volume envelope in the track to control when it comes up or down in volume. Real Band allows you to use volume envelopes.

How do you hear other parts in songs we want to make. Not sure I understand this question. This could be any number of possible answers. Obviously, I can't hear parts in your songs that aren't made.... but I'll jump to a conclusion and say.... perhaps you're talking about how does one come up with a part for a song that one is working on. This goes to the experience level of the writer/producer. The more you know about this aspect of working on music..... mostly from doing it time after time in live settings, it becomes easier. Nothing beats being on a stage in front of people and trying night after night to be creative, for teaching you how to come up with parts in songs. (Is that what you meant?)

Polished ... to me means, I have taken the rough and raw waves, put them into a workable song, and then used my skills with mixing and engineering to smooth over all the rough edges. I use EQ to shape the sound of the individual tracks if they need it, adjust the levels with envelopes so they fit appropriately in their proper place, and use some reverb to give it some space. I remove all the clicks and pops, smooth out the transitions and edits, and make the song as "polished", or ready to go to radio or TV for airplay as I can get it. A bit of limiting and compression and some other things, are all a part of this polishing stage. Some folks incorrectly call it "mastering", which is a very similar process but applies more-so to doing this with a group of songs to make them all cohesive and consistent for an album/CD project. I use both terms..... polishing and also small "m" mastering. To me, the same thing.

hope this helps

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