I decided that I needed something to shake up things a bit, some incentive so I didn’t keep dithering around when I was creating music. I often catch myself playing around and never actually writing anything while I was horsing, so I said to myself: “Self, you need to have some motivation to do more than press buttons and listen to sounds.”
“Oh no, what are we going to do now, Boss?”
“I want you to pull a They Might Be Giants and give yourself some constraints.”
“Yeah, how so, Boss?”
“Self, I want you to write something at least 30 seconds long within the same time as allowed for MTV (you remember Music Television, don’t you?) to showcase alternative bands back in the eighties. I want you to write a song in…. 120 Minutes. Just like the program… And… TMBG’s Dial a Song…”
“But… they didn’t have to write songs in that time frame, it was 120 minutes of music videos and the Johns from They Might be Giants were two guys and they assuredly took more than—”
“A song… In 120 minutes.”
“Hoo boy, it won’t be exactly great when I do. And I am not going to try to add vocals in that timeframe. And it won’t be a full song.”
“Ok, then… a songlet. Without singing.”
“Sigh. You are such a slave-driver.”
“Chop-chop, Minion!”
So here is tonight’s little songlet. I’m not sure how often these will pop up in a post, and it’s just for funsies, okay. A challenge to myself from the big guy upstairs.
For those who care about such things: We have here a sampled drum track that sounded like something I could work from. I tossed on some prefab synths consisting of a moody saw wave as the basis of the patch, originally constructed around G2, but then bumped up to G4 later on in the development of the snippet to brighten up the sound a bit. Set up a sequenced set of keys that followed the key of Gm relative to the key being pressed. Got in the mood for some power chords to crunch things up, so plugged in a electric guitar and crunched things up. It didn’t really need more bass at that time, but I wanted something to add some punch, so I grabbed a patch for bass with high chorus and some pop to it and played high on the keyboard in the style of Peter Hook from Joy Division/New Order (around G4). After deciding the low end was too muddy, I bumped up the original keyboards to ride along with the bass to give it some brightness it was missing, slipped in a few effects, mostly reverb (some compression, some echo, some EQ) did a bit of copy-pasta to bring out to 48secs of your time that you’ll never get back. Added a fade out to make up for the lack of a fade in and… had 10 minutes to spare out of my 120 minutes.
I’m not entirely happy with the equalization and some of the muddier nature of the song, but what can anyone expect in a mad dash to record five instruments in two hours in and attempt to make something that almost seems like it might be a song? If burdened with more parts (e.g., chorus, bridge, intro, outro)?
And no, I had no idea what I was going to have it sound like when I started. I just started making it up (actually, I had originally considered doing something more Cure-like, but those power chords took over and wouldn’t leave the room when I let them come in for a gander).
As always, I appreciate any comments about the results. Realize before you do so, however, that I set myself impossible limits on purpose to drive creation versus perfection, and I recognize there are shortcomings in the result. So, be kind, please. This is for fun, not to be a serious songwriter.
15 responses to “songlets in 120 minutes — 22nov25”
Ha. 48 seconds of my time I can’t get back. Dick Troll would listen for 48 seconds, then spend an hour trying to sound clever to himself, leaving a dick comment. I always paid a friend with a recording studio to record and master because it was all I could do to arrange guitar, vocals, and bass. The tech jargon goes over my head. But I am glad you described all that went into this. Thanks for sharing.
Hopefully it was… Something? 😅
I hesitate to suggest it might be anything more than that. LMFAO.
Very cool challenge story and sound. It’s better than anything I could compose or play. I hope that you stick with it, if you find joy in the process.
You are very kind. Thank you.
I’m pretty shameless when it comes to these things. I like to push myself. I’d probably be better served by holding onto these things and making them sound better than just chucking it out for the fun of it. But I’ve always been a bit daft that way.
Well, if “daft” is what you’re calling it, then I am too. I prefer the term “daring.” 🙃
Again, thanks 💙
Good to see you enjoying yourself once more, Michael, although once more I’ve left the technical stuff for those who are wired that way. I’ll have to listen later as it’s 6am here and I don’t want to wake the man. Thanks for sharing. 😎
Bothersome technical mince! I usually only add that for folks who might want to borrow an idea or two. Not that anyone might, but there might be a newby who wants to know what they might want to avoid doing if they want “good”. 😂
Thanks!
You’re welcome. 🙂
Cool, fun little piece, Michael. Acorns and oaks, as they say.
I’m getting some Sisters/ Sisterhood vibes here!
Yeah, I don’t know how the Sisters elements slipped in. It certainly wasn’t the plan (plan? We don’t need no stinking plans!). I’ll have to try to tuck that back under my skirt.
Thanks Chris. I know you understand my motives for doing these things. Cheers.
You know what 😊 that was 48 seconds well spent. Really enjoyed the beat and rhythm you are working with here…I think you should definitely have more team meetings with your ‘boss’ 😉
He’s such a bully at times, though…
Glad you enjoyed it. I tend to sometimes overthink things and I’m trying to give my inner control freak the boot.
I know the feeling…😅
💙