Hello Cass Band members!
I'm going to start by explaining that I've been pulled away from involvement in a lot of things due to a number of different things in my life recently, and I've been having a hard time getting back on track. I've been approached by a couple of musicians to do some gigs but I haven't been able to get organized enough to jump into that, or anything else for that matter. Interaction with my parents can have a profoundly draining effect, if I'm not careful, and it can take me weeks, if not months, to get my head together. That's why I've taken a while to get to this. But I've been listening to the tracks on reverbnation and trying to evaluate the situation so maybe we can come up with some ideas that might lead us to some interesting results. There are some great ideas there, by the way.
I think it would be important to start by identifying the problems that already exist, which means we have to be purely objective, and state right out what we think about what we are hearing and feeling. I say this because some people may not want to criticize others input, or performance, or, or, or... you know what I mean. But for this to work we are going to have to communicate in the same manner as we do on the rest of the forum - directly and honestly. If there is something we don't like, we must say so. If we don't, the project will slowly grind to a halt while everyone gradually bows out due to the fear of hurting someone's feelings. I'm actually wondering if that may be a factor in why it fizzled out in the first place.
Anyone that has written a song or two knows how it is. We have an idea and we know what we want it to sound like. If someone adds something to our song that we don't like, we don't know what to say, and we just want to crawl back into our one man studio and do it ourselves from then on. We have to get past that if we want it to work. We have to accept that everyone involved is being honest when they say that it doesn't bother them if someone tells them something like "I don't think what you added fits very well with what I wrote." And if someone is told something like that, and they feel hurt by it, well, they will be the ones with some Work to do. :D
I figure I'd start by sharing my observations about what I've heard so far, and if anyone else wants to add something, all the better. And if I'm way off about something, please say so.
The first thought I had was that some of the music I heard is not really something I would know what to do with. Best example, the heavy metal tune. I write in many different styles, and I like some heavy metal music, but I wouldn't know how to begin writing it. This gave me the idea that we might need to form two or three smaller groups so that we can match people up by their styles. We could try a certain combination the first time and then switch it up the next, and so on. We shouldn't be too picky about the initial results because we would be in the process of discovering who gels with who. If two people write something amazing together then they might want to stay in the same group from that point forward. We then try to find who fits best with them, switching it around, and so on again.
The idea of the groups might also help take care of the problem of "too many cooks spoiling the broth". If anyone can grab anything off the web site and add to it at any time then things could get muddled. So we have to develop a definite process for putting a song together. The way I have found that works best for me and my guitarist friend is that I have to present him with an entire song. I have never presented him with only a chorus, or only a verse, unless it was to ask his opinion on the sound, or the instrumentation, or something like that.
I always work out the entire form (verse, chorus, verse, bridge, chorus, solo section, chorus, out - something like that), write the entire bass line, and sing the melody with the lyrics. That way he is adding to a song that is already there, but he is able to change the entire feel just by adding a guitar part, or two. It could be a guitar part with a melody and lyrics, or a piano part with same. Having the melody and lyrics is very helpful because without that it can be hard for someone to identify which section is which, even if you write it down for them with the number of bars and everything. But it really has to be something that outlines the entire chord progression with the melody (the melody could be hummed at the beginning, or just la la la with lyrics to be written later). That might be a good way to start, and if we develop a good working process we can play around with it later.
I think that will mean that the person who came up with the initial idea will have to be the one who "decides", if you know what I mean. If someone adds a guitar part to a bass line/melody and the original composer doesn't like it, they can say "no, that's not it". Then the same guitarist can keep trying other things until the first person says "I like it!". Then it gets passed on to the next person in the process.
So I'm thinking we all share what our live instruments are, what software we can use for adding other instruments, and the styles we would like to write. Based on that info we divide everyone into groups that have one bassist, one guitarist, one drummer, one keyboardist, and that makes up the core of that group - just as an example. One person presents their idea, with full form, and sends it to the next logical person in the group, and so on. The precise order can be worked out later. I realise there is a lot more to be said on this subject but I'll leave that for a more detailed discussion.
Then there is the problem of sound quality. Some people will have a great idea but not the best equipment. We might have to pass on some ideas to people who can make a better sounding track. That means that someone might be upset that they are not actually playing on the final recording. Personally, if I made a crappy recording of my guitar and voice, singing my own composition, and then passed it on to others that could record it better, I'd be elated. But that's just me. So that might be an important detail when it comes to choosing who is in what band, and that could get complicated. Who knows, maybe we would end up with only one band putting the final products together, while the other bands are putting together rough recordings to send to that one band - it's just a thought. Maybe we need to have people send in examples of their recordings so we can hear what their work sounds like. That can help in deciding who is in what band.
So there are some of my ideas. I hope there is something in here that we can work with, that others can add to, or point out where there is a problem. While I was writing all this I got the impression that this might be a fine way to apply the Work, because everyone involved might have to work at losing some self importance and leaving their egos at the door. The idea is to come up with half decent recordings of music that we created together. Each person will have a role to play, some more prominent than others but all equally important.
Any thoughts?
