This song turned out pretty cool! I hope this approach helps you finish writing your songs too! Enroll in Getting Songs Done: benlevinmusics... See all my courses at: BenLevinMusicSc... Thank you to my patrons at: / benlevin
One thing to have in mind as a beginner is: the most important part isn't the _way_ Ben composed - because treating it like a recipe will limit your creative potentials in the future. The real value of what Ben is teaching us is the _philosophy_ behind the composition process: *_put ideas out in the world as quick as possible._* Your first ideas may not be particularly great, but you can only improve something that already exists!
Is it? U can just make songs without releasing and improve as u learn and compose more and more. U can show ur family or friends tho, feedback is important if constructive
@@simonsanchezkumrich8489I think they meant “out in the world” more generally, just get it out of the cerebral space and turn it into something workable
@@bigtom6443 yeah! I meant as "materialize your ideas in any physical media possible - be a piece of paper, a phone recording or a DAW". Maybe I didn't worded it correctly as english is not my native language 🤪
Yeah very unexpected laugh out loud moment in an otherwise stoically delivered video made me burst out laughing. I had to leave my work desk to go laugh in the hall.
At <a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="127">2:07</a>, the gibberish reminds me of early Talking Heads mostly because of how you sang in a laid back way. Final result is very groovy, I love it 💃
Love the process and the result. Really inspiring stuff! Too bad "throw me on the ground and kick me in my ball sack" didn't make it to the end. Loved your delivery on that, the voice failing like you were in pain. 😂
Anyone else blown away by the first vocal take at <a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="127">2:07</a> 😂 nice vid, very informative to see this all laid out
This video is actually pretty genius. I already employ SIMILAR techniques to this, namely the vocal gibberish (which made me almost die laughing), and just slapping down a beat and going nuts. I've found that rushing through song-writing and making something that just comes out fast results in a finished product that is basically exactly as good as a song I work really hard on to get a certain sound. There's not really any difference in quality, so I might as well write them as fast as possible hahah
Another fun way to start is instead of a drum loop is just to use any long, changing sample, and write music and play along to it. Even if you remove the sample later, it forces you to think about the longer structure, and maybe generate new, interesting ideas.
I had some intuition about this process but you have figured it out so clearly. This will change the way I make music, like a lot of your other videos I've watched. Thanks!
Thank you for this. I have been writing songs for decades but have only recently started using a DAW (GarageBand). I am not at all technical, so having this idea of working horizontally and building is a great help. Love, light and peace, Bob McGowan (Not the Chair Circle!)
This was fantastic, Ben. Thank you for such a wonderful lesson. I LOVED how the final song came out. The simile of a phantom limb was fantastic, and the backup vocals yelling "wake up!" was just excellent prosody *chef's kiss* I'm gonna try this!
You might not have the music influence you deserve but your videos are the ones I come back to in order to understand music theory, music production and inspiration. They'd be fine as you speaking it through but your editing adds so much too. If you ever stop don't delete your YT. My kids are falling in love with music and my wife has been gripping at it for years. I reckon 30 mins of your videos and they'll get it, once they've found their own musical voice.
I used to write a lot. The pandemic reset followed by a career change away from music has had me depressed. I know writing helps, just gotta start. Again.
you're a boss, such an intuitive process but you step itut in a way that really mitigates some big creative flow snares. At some point i was reminded of watching the beatles anthology and watching them song write in the studio, especially the idea of getting the vocal melody out with any sort of words or even gibberish, ty homie
The saying "At the right place, in the right time". But the man was everywhere, exposing himself as much as he could. Eventually he got into this "Right Place", "Accidentally".
Aww man, I thought "Total - Flavours - and they ARE" was the best part of the vocal take! Surprised to see that you changed the notes, rhythm and words of that part. This is a great exercise btw. I love your educational content and your music. EDIT: I really like the overlap of "How far we've come" with the "who who who who who are you" in the climax of the finished piece. V nice.
Love this method so much. I’ve always called the gibberish track a “vomit take” (crude, i admit) haha. Also amazing idea to map out a full 2 minutes before getting too deep into the details. Such a great way to avoid getting stranded in loop city.
That first take was fire! You were really channeling David Byrne with that one. I would have love to hear a little bit of that in the final version but this process is a really good way to get things done
damn bro!! this is such a great teaching youve imparted...THANKS man ots neem decades since ive seen an actual honest music tutorialish video and this whole mind state can apply to regular daily life too...youve pretty much saved humanity from perdition with this NUMBER . RIDE ON BEN.
Love you approach Ben, If you would ask many pro musicians they would go on an overcomplicate things, I love the simplicity and how anyone even non musicians could do this. You are a great guy!
Nice! I did that once, worked horizontally, and was able to flesh out a melody, which I was able to decorate later. But I usually bring everything to a full stop to flesh out that section so I don't lose the inspiration of the moment sacrificing the length. But man, do I ever have a good sounding section.
Thanks for this. I definitely get stuck in a loop so I try and find new ways that compliment but don't reinforce that loop. All part of learning to DAW I guess.
Recording voice notes on my phone when i'm on a walk or any time is my default method these days, then I harmonize them later. Or sometimes i'll sing arpeggios if I'm hearing the harmony already.
A great method…perfect is the enemy! I’m a firm believer in getting something down even if it’s wrong…when you know something is wrong, you can start working out how to make it better…better…better…better…na na nah nanana nah
