AutoTune Is Harder Than It Sounds (3/13/10)

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[Get ready…1-2-3-4]
Dance until the break of dawn / Move it ‘til your body’s raw
Even when the drugs are gone / Keep on groovin’ to this song (chorus)
I’ve got this girl that I love / She’s called the sun
Though I’m already burnin’ for her / Our love has just begun
I don’t need no sunscreen / I’ll just get a tan
If you’ll be my woman, baby / Then I’ll be your man (verse 1)
Slow down time / Control your mind
Then you’ll find there’s room / For everyone
Our dance is pure / But I’m sure
We won’t get any / Radio time (“slow section” 1)
[Boost my track!]
(Chorus)
It’s hard to see her / So far away
Up in that big blue sky / Just burnin’ all day
Put me on a spaceship, baby / Set course for the stars
We’re never comin’ back / Now here’s the guitar (verse 2)
[Guitar Solo]
All must end / As we ascend
Our eyes are set / Upon the sun
Though we’ll burn / At least we’ve learned
Never point your ship / At a flaming ball of gas (“slow section” 2)
[Outro]

What I wanted to do musically:

In my revised write-up, I mentioned how I wanted my track to be a combination of T-Pain and Bob Dylan. Now that I have the finished product, I don’t think this is the case. Personally, I think it’s closer to “T-Pain meets Lonely Island” (the comedy rap group with Andy Sandburg featured on SNL). Granted, T-Pain and Lonely Island have already collaborated for the song, “I’m On A Boat,” but that’s a different story.

My initial plans for this piece were to merge ukulele and various synths to produce an interesting, novel sound. This process was mired by the fact that I couldn’t get the two to mesh in the way I wanted, or a way that seemed cohesive. I think it can be done, but in this instance, I took my project in a different direction. My first step was to re-record the Am-F-C-G chord progression using a bass synth. This provided the underpinnings of the rest of the song. After that, I improvised a quick line on top of the initial chord progression (first heard when the vocals come in). I decided to make this my hook. After that, I set myself to writing lyrics that were both interesting, and funny. When I was studying Dylan’s writing style, at least some of the magic seemed to come from ambiguity. When the listener is left to their own devices, they can come up with narratives that are extremely rich. For that reason, I tried to leave some ambiguity in my lyrics. I acknowledge that this is not a particularly deep song, but I think it is worlds better than the first set of lyrics I was writing (much better flow, much less sappy) for the ukulele / synth combo song. Ultimately, if listeners get a laugh out of the lyrics of this song, I would consider the song a lyrical success.

Instrumentally speaking, I’m reasonably satisfied with the synth and guitar parts. The beat is okay as well, driving enough to keep the song moving without being overbearing. In the future, I will vary the beat more, but in this case, I think it gives the song an aesthetic of, “sameness” that makes it cohesive. I am not as satisfied with the vocals. T-Pain I am not! If nothing else, I’ve learned that if I have the chance to collaborate with other musicians, I should take it! I’d be willing to bet my song would have been more polished with more skilled musicians performing the individual parts.

What I wanted to do technically:

Initially, I wanted to combine ukulele and synth. This was not to be. Instead, I settled on having a catchy, if somewhat simple synth-driven pop song. One of the first things I hope people will notice is the use of AutoTune. I’ve heard over and over again how Autotune is, “dead,” but I enjoyed tooling around for it. I think the song is better for it too, but that’s probably more as a result of corrections being needed to my own poor singing. I did have some trouble controlling the notes AutoTune chose; there are some little snippets of singing that briefly touch on notes that just sound wrong. I am again inclined to attribute this to my singing, but further experimentation is in order for me. I was very happy I managed to have several different sections within the piece. The chorus, verse, slow section, and intros/solos/outros flow into each other reasonably well. I’m a little bit disappointed I didn’t write in a bridge section that changed key, but I feel that the song works well enough without it. You may also notice the track titled, “AutoGuitar.” I wanted to use AutoTune to get a cool new guitar sound, but I couldn’t manipulate it to produce the sort of novel pitch changes that easily come out when recording vocals. It did seem to come out more on a heavily distorted guitar, but even then I just could not produce a satisfactory effect.

I had a heck of a time changing the volume, panning, and effects on each track. For example, there was a weird little click in the recording of the first verse. I tried to use the volume levels to cut it out of the song, and I think I did an okay job. If I had more time, I would have simply re-recorded it, but I’m glad my work around wasn’t a total flop. I’m disappointed there isn’t more control over the panning in GarageBand. I really appreciate the accuracy of the pencil tool in ProTools; it’s great to be able to draw in exactly what you want instead of having to grapple with a bunch of little dots. All things considered though, that was only a minor inconvenience. I really like the convenience of GarageBand, and it’s becoming more full-featured all the time. For what I want to do as an amateur musician, it works pretty well. I’m not sold on the need to purchase ProTools or Reason, but I’m the owner of a professional recording studio. Also, I have access to the AMC. In any case, this project has turned me on to AutoTune. In general, this class has helped me to better understand how to record a higher quality song using my preferred software (GarageBand). I plan on putting this knowledge to good use, especially while I still have access to the AMC and mics (and other equipment) that cost more than $20.