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One Direction...

#41
P. Aaron said:
I'd like to have a Nashville vacation where I could just sit in a corner and watch the studio guys bang out tunes for a week. I'm really curious as to their method(s) of focus and the creative processes that happen.
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I'm no Michael Rhodes (RIP to the GOAT) but it's pretty much the same dynamic, whether Nashville, LA, wherever-you go in often not having heard anything prior to the date. For each tune everybody sits in the control room for a run down of the demo (sometimes the artist plays guitar or keyboard and sings the tune) while we all frantically jot down our charts(this is where numbers charts are essential). Then a little brief discussion on arrangement, vibe, groove, then go hit the first take and see what happens from there--depending on how detailed any demo actually was, you're usually writing your parts on the fly, fast. Goes pretty quick. I love it, so fun.
 
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#42
Thanks for all the replies!

I've for sure found things to like in the song, and the guys I'm playing it for seem to be a tier above who I generally play with so I'm excited to see what they do with it and the rest of the set. Hoping it's like one of those Musora YT vids where the bluegrass band covers Ozzy in their style or whatnot.

As a girl-dad I still hate the lyric, though. Yay insecurity and dysmorphia!
 
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#45
DCErik said:
Thanks for all the replies!

I've for sure found things to like in the song, and the guys I'm playing it for seem to be a tier above who I generally play with so I'm excited to see what they do with it and the rest of the set. Hoping it's like one of those Musora YT vids where the bluegrass band covers Ozzy in their style or whatnot.

As a girl-dad I still hate the lyric, though. Yay insecurity and dysmorphia!
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I’m going to guess you don’t know who Richard Thompson is, but trust me, he’s a British folk-rock legend, with a 60 year career and almost as many albums, plus being a guitarist’s guitarist. Initially as a laugh, he started doing this song, but actually found some entertainment value in it…


You remember Britney, don’t you, the Taylor Swift of the early 21st Century(or was that the Madonna)?
 
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#47
Michedelic said:
I’m going to guess you don’t know who Richard Thompson is, but trust me, he’s a British folk-rock legend, with a 60 year career and almost as many albums, plus being a guitarist’s guitarist. Initially as a laugh, he started doing this song, but actually found some entertainment value in it…


You remember Britney, don’t you, the Taylor Swift of the early 21st Century(or was that the Madonna)?
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The band I'm auditioning for does modern & classic pop but rearranges them for moar synth. Click tracks and midi triggers galore. Gap year me from '86 is curled in a fetal position from the last time we played with keys, but 'the kids all drive themselves now' me is intrigued.
 
#50
DCErik said:
So I have to learn 'What Makes You Beautiful' by One Direction for an audition Saturday. I keep telling myself, 'sure, it's a soulless, corporate-birthed, focus-grouped, algorythmed, overproduced, lip-synced bit of slop designed to sell merch to tweens, but, in the end, it's just a song', but then 8th grade punk me appears and tries to punch me in the junk.

Any suggestions?
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I’ve had to go through worse things to lend a job. Just do it and do it well. For the record, I once was given a list of songs to prepare for a highly successful gig, and like you it was mostly a rub for me to learn, but didn’t anyway ans showed up for the audition. So setting while setting up I mentions I was pretty well prepared to play these tune. The BL goes, Oh we don’t play that crap, I just wanted to see if you’d put the time in. So I ask him, then what to you want me play? He replies, let’s hear you play Sweet Caroline. No Problem. Let’s do it it. And I got the gig. A few years later I asked him why in the world he put me through that. He said, I just wanted to find out how difficult you’d be to work with. I figured you could play well enough.

Best wishes on your audition. Knock ‘em dead!
 
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#53
dbsfgyd1 said:
I’ve had to go through worse things to lend a job. Just do it and do it well. For the record, I once was given a list of songs to prepare for a highly successful gig, and like you it was mostly a rub for me to learn, but didn’t anyway ans showed up for the audition. So setting while setting up I mentions I was pretty well prepared to play these tune. The BL goes, Oh we don’t play that crap, I just wanted to see if you’d put the time in. So I ask him, then what to you want me play? He replies, let’s hear you play Sweet Caroline. No Problem. Let’s do it it. And I got the gig. A few years later I asked him why in the world he put me through that. He said, I just wanted to find out how difficult you’d be to work with. I figured you could play well enough.

Best wishes on your audition. Knock ‘em dead!
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This is *exactly* what went through my head when I first saw the list. Diabolical!
 
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#54
Michedelic said:
I’m going to guess you don’t know who Richard Thompson is, but trust me, he’s a British folk-rock legend, with a 60 year career and almost as many albums, plus being a guitarist’s guitarist
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He was on stage at the "Rhythm and Roots" festival in Rhode Island, in 2011. It was a multi-artist festival. He was up there, just him and his guitar, and the sound guy had him SO LOUD, I had to leave the area, it was literally painful! It messed with my mind that they had a singer songwriter so loud - it just didn't make sense!
 
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#55
P. Aaron said:
We do this too and everyone loves it. The phone rings and we pack up and go there and gig it again.

Just think, the pros that put Wagon Wheel together had to play it for likely no more than one day.
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As I recall the song was started by Bob Dylan but left unfinished. Then Old Crow Medicine Show heard it and finished it, or collaborated with Bob to finish it, and it appeared on their album. (I actually like their version of the song.) Then Darius Rucker got hold of it and gave it (and himself) the Nashville Top Forty treatment. But hey, it’s just one of those songs that consumers like.
 
#56
Michedelic said:
I’m going to guess you don’t know who Richard Thompson is, but trust me, he’s a British folk-rock legend, with a 60 year career and almost as many albums, plus being a guitarist’s guitarist. Initially as a laugh, he started doing this song, but actually found some entertainment value in it…


You remember Britney, don’t you, the Taylor Swift of the early 21st Century(or was that the Madonna)?
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Richard wrote “1952 Vincent Black Lightning” which is an awesome song as he recorded it, but my favorite version is the Bluegrass version done by the Del McCoury band. If you haven’t heard it, give it a listen.
 
#57
Ostie said:
Richard wrote “1952 Vincent Black Lightning” which is an awesome song as he recorded it, but my favorite version is the Bluegrass version done by the Del McCoury band. If you haven’t heard it, give it a listen.
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Oh yeah, I’ve caught that, as well as many other covers of that song, and so many covers of his other songs, like this…


Then there was the tribute album…
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I’ve seen him live at least 25 times, once was an invite only, after hours promotional solo show at the old Tower Records store on Sunset Blvd. in LA. My roomie at the time used to work there, so he snuck me in with him, and had me hang out in the back room….with Richard, who was tuning up and getting ready. I stayed out of his way, but we still chatted a bit, he’s quite the wiseguy. He now has his grandson playing second guitar with him, having learned the family traditions.
 
#58
J Wilson said:
I can tell you this: If there's a 'This Week's Top Country Countdown' on your radio (or you can just listen to any of the current country stations in your area, they're all programmed by the same consultants!), you'll see:

. . . Of course, a lot of them sound a lot alike. This is partly playing to whatever's the deal right now, and it's usually the same rotating batch of players and producers.

. . . And since they work together a LOT, things can go pretty quickly, since the records sound so similar because they all work together a lot, things can go pretty quickly, since the records sound so simil . . . . . you see where this is going.

. . . And while there are still the big label master sessions with everyone in the room and the booths at the same time, a lot of it is now done directly from home over internet sync-ups. Probably half or more of the commercial studios here, like a lot of places, have closed and yielded to smaller (cheaper) rooms. The technology has allowed this to where the big rooms, massive consoles, reverb chambers, all of this is now not nearly as common.
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Wow.

There's also the modern chord-song structures that may change key but have remained reliable and that also leads to similar sounding arrangements or songs in general. If it's working, not much will change until it stops working. They are easily recognizable structures and are rife across much of pop music.

When I'm in between sets or at a place where I'm just hearing overhead, I always try and break down whatever arrangement I'm hearing. I try to listen for the one chord and go from there. Just exercises away from an instrument. I don't hear nearly as well if I'm playing along.
 
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