The Coolest Musical Project Ever
Something I never thought in a million years would happen is happening. The members of Sigmund Blue - me, Brandi Parker and Andy Goodson - are recording a new album together! This band played in the Fayetteville, Arkansas area from 1999-2002, while each of us was in college at the University of Arkansas. We recorded a full-length studio album during that time (Laundry Day) and split up shortly thereafter. Now, 7 years later, we have reunited for The Coolest Musical Project Ever: the snippet experiment.
I am pasting below some text I drafted for the liner notes of this historic album. It explains the basic premise. The notes themselves will likely be much briefer, but this will give readers a full sense of what the project is about...
The average songwriter knows that there are two phases of the songwriting process. At first, one's task is to play with sounds, with ideas, until something catches. When there is a spark, the next phase begins and can take days. This is where the writer teases and molds the rest of a song out of that initial snippet. This second phase can be grueling and frustrating, and sometimes the writer can experience crises of faith about the very foundation of the thing being constructed. Not until the whole thing is assembled can it really be considered a song. Yet, the writer's personality is evident in both the snippet and the way it is developed into a song.
This project allowed us to boost creativity in both phases. We did this by assigning these two phases of the songwriting process to two different writers. The first writer carried out Phase I: originating a snippet of music that is the kernel of a song. The second writer was then charged with carrying out Phase II: taking this snippet and developing it into a whole song. We transmitted snippets to each other over the internet and developed songs in each of our home studios. Then we added Phase III: each of us lent instrumentation and orchestration to the song.
The three members of Sigmund Blue worked simultaneously and in collaboration: Andy in northwest Arkansas, Greg in Pittsburgh, PA and Brandi in New York City. We each developed a snippet, we each passed that snippet to one other person, and that person then developed the snippet into a song. Then we each lent tracks to the song until it was orchestrated to our satisfaction. We consulted with each other liberally on orchestration and mixing. All three of us played guitars, Andy provided drums, Greg provided bass, and Brandi provided keyboards. Lead vocals were recorded by the Phase II writer along with most of the key harmony parts. Background harmonies were sometimes added by another member. Phase II writers mixed their own song projects.
We carried out this process three times around, resulting in nine songs. Then for the fourth and final round, we selected only one of three snippets submitted, and all three members used that single snippet to inspire three separate songs.
This volume is comprised of the 12 final songs, followed by the 12 snippets that served as the kernels for these songs (collected in four tracks representing the four rounds of snippet submission). What we find particularly striking is the degree to which our personalities transformed what we were given to work with. Furthermore, we each experienced spikes in creativity and risk-taking in our songwriting. We are in accord that this was the most creative project any of us has been a part of.
Listeners may wish to listen to each snippet before listening to the song it inspired, so to guess what direction the song will take or perhaps imagine your own song before hearing what the second writer did with it. Any way you choose to listen to it, enjoy it. We did.
At this writing, the project is about 70% done. We have yet to do Round 4, and there is still some tweaking on the previous 3 rounds of songs. However, progress continues and the songs are sounding superb. Stay tuned for this awesome album!
I am pasting below some text I drafted for the liner notes of this historic album. It explains the basic premise. The notes themselves will likely be much briefer, but this will give readers a full sense of what the project is about...
The average songwriter knows that there are two phases of the songwriting process. At first, one's task is to play with sounds, with ideas, until something catches. When there is a spark, the next phase begins and can take days. This is where the writer teases and molds the rest of a song out of that initial snippet. This second phase can be grueling and frustrating, and sometimes the writer can experience crises of faith about the very foundation of the thing being constructed. Not until the whole thing is assembled can it really be considered a song. Yet, the writer's personality is evident in both the snippet and the way it is developed into a song.
This project allowed us to boost creativity in both phases. We did this by assigning these two phases of the songwriting process to two different writers. The first writer carried out Phase I: originating a snippet of music that is the kernel of a song. The second writer was then charged with carrying out Phase II: taking this snippet and developing it into a whole song. We transmitted snippets to each other over the internet and developed songs in each of our home studios. Then we added Phase III: each of us lent instrumentation and orchestration to the song.
The three members of Sigmund Blue worked simultaneously and in collaboration: Andy in northwest Arkansas, Greg in Pittsburgh, PA and Brandi in New York City. We each developed a snippet, we each passed that snippet to one other person, and that person then developed the snippet into a song. Then we each lent tracks to the song until it was orchestrated to our satisfaction. We consulted with each other liberally on orchestration and mixing. All three of us played guitars, Andy provided drums, Greg provided bass, and Brandi provided keyboards. Lead vocals were recorded by the Phase II writer along with most of the key harmony parts. Background harmonies were sometimes added by another member. Phase II writers mixed their own song projects.
We carried out this process three times around, resulting in nine songs. Then for the fourth and final round, we selected only one of three snippets submitted, and all three members used that single snippet to inspire three separate songs.
This volume is comprised of the 12 final songs, followed by the 12 snippets that served as the kernels for these songs (collected in four tracks representing the four rounds of snippet submission). What we find particularly striking is the degree to which our personalities transformed what we were given to work with. Furthermore, we each experienced spikes in creativity and risk-taking in our songwriting. We are in accord that this was the most creative project any of us has been a part of.
Listeners may wish to listen to each snippet before listening to the song it inspired, so to guess what direction the song will take or perhaps imagine your own song before hearing what the second writer did with it. Any way you choose to listen to it, enjoy it. We did.
At this writing, the project is about 70% done. We have yet to do Round 4, and there is still some tweaking on the previous 3 rounds of songs. However, progress continues and the songs are sounding superb. Stay tuned for this awesome album!
posted by Greg Goldman at 11:45 AM
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