The Regular Friday Post

Rando Lyrics: And it looks like I'm burning it down You won't ask and I won't say

May 03, 2024

Last week’s rando lyrics: The lyric, “I know if I tried I could stand up and say’” is from the song "Good In My Head”, by Anika Moa (Ed. a New Zealand recording artist and television presenter). Written by Ms. Moa, it’s Track 1 on the album “Thinking Room", released in September 2001. Produced by Victor Van Vugt. Credit: Wikipedia Link: > Thinking Room (Album)<

A favorite of mine from waaaay back in the day - I believe I bought the album, but maybe not. Ran across it on a very old playlist that I think I had on my very first (original) iPod…. That would probably be worth something now……

In memoriam:

Duane Eddy, a rock 'n' roll legend who helped pioneer the rock guitar instrumental, has died at the age of 86

Richard Tandy, Keyboardist for Electric Light Orchestra, dies at 76

Welcome to The Regular Friday post!

For Today:

“Yeah, we're runnin' a little bit hot tonight…” - Van Halen, “Panama”….

Kinda feelin’ that this week, so we’re going to be a bit more brief than normal today. I have a demo song promised to a friend who’s narrating a locally produced documentary. We were at lunch a few weeks ago and he was telling me about the project and mentioned they didn’t have theme music yet for credits, though they had decided on ambient music for the voice-overs and file footage scenes. I had some lyrics written that had been sitting in my “unfinished/what am I going to do with this?” file. The lyrics were mostly complete, but no music. I revisited them with an eye toward the theme of the project and jotted in some potential chord changes in CMajor, which I promptly didn’t like. So, I changed to GMajor, then decided it needed more minor chords due to the subject matter, and pretty much ended up in Eminor - the relative minor of GMaj. Might do some more tweaking, but I need to get a demo out to the producers of the project to see if they think it fits.

So, I’m on the clock today, and one of the clocks is finishing this post in time to get it scheduled for early morning tomorrow’s (Friday) release. The other clock is completing a good, but still “scratch” demo for these guys to hear and see if they’re interested in further development. Wish me luck!

Today I’m going to talk a bit about “demos”, and having never done one before, I’ll be learning with you. Sorta. It’s not like I haven’t recorded my music before, but I either had help (other musicians and a producer and a pro audio engineer for final mix and mastering), or I was making “demos” for myself while learning recording and mixing in a home studio. This is different, it will be evaluated by professionals for a level of quality. They will understand it’s a demo, and the finished product would have additional instrumentation and pro mixing/mastering for a video production. If it goes anywhere, I’ll devote a future post to that process, if not, I’ll talk about that, too.

What’s a “demo”? We’ve all heard or read about someone famous sitting in a producer’s office way before they were famous playing a cassette tape or CD, or maybe even strumming a guitar and singing along as a demo. A fateful moment for sure for many folks, and most of them probably went back to their day job and maybe back to playing clubs and lounges on Friday and Saturday nights. The “lucky” few may have gone on further (I say “lucky”, but many who were discovered, got a label contract, and all that goes with it may not have had a “happily ever after” - it can be an unforgiving business…).

I don’t really know what a demo is either, except it’s a recording of “enough” quality that someone who may be in the business or invested in a project can determine if it will fit with whatever they’re involved in. Or not. It’s as simple as that, really, and I have no expectations beyond having my work listened to. If it goes beyond that, great! If not, I’ll live. And that’s part of the deal - it may not work for them. I, and I hope any of you in similar circumstances now or in the future, will see this as a business issue, not a reflection on abilities. I would hope the person who listens to my demo is professional enough to say, “Thanks, but it doesn’t meet our needs right now” if it’s not right. I’m not looking for feedback or a “sorry” - it’s business - their money is at stake in the form of success (or failure) of their project, and if it fits with their goals, great. If not, I wish them good luck and move on to the next thing.

So with that, I’ll leave you with some links by others who may actually know what they’re talking about when it comes to demos. Sorry, no “A Song To Play” today!

Top 10 Tips - This is actually a good article, marred by an annoying pop-up (that disappears when you delete the second pop-up….). If you can get past that, it’s pretty good. They may have actually gotten me interested but the annoyance factor cost them the chance….

Get That Pro Sound - This article argues for spending more time mixing and editing to get a more “near finished” sound. I’m not sure that’s the approach I’m interested in, though I suspect it depends on the the production itself. Keep in mind producers are on their own schedule and by the time you’ve got a near commercial quality mix, they may have chosen someone else’s “scratch, but good enough demo”. Just sayin’…

What Is A Demo? This probably has a lot of good information in it, but the authors maybe should have read “What Makes A Website Intelligible?”. That said, if you’re willing to wade through it, you may pick up some good tips….

What You Can And Can't Do - This is brief, but really packed with good info. Also, there is an extensive Q&A section for readers that has additional good stuff in the author’s answers to readers’ questions.

Make The Perfect Demo - This article is on the BMI website and is longer, but is more in-depth right from the start - good detail!

The “ME!” Section…..

What I’m Listening2: >RandoShoeGaze<

(Ed. Yeah, just in that kinda mood….)

Shameless Self Promotion Section:

My song is out! Link: “Long Road Back”click on link for streaming options, then scroll down for links (or just click on these links) to Amazon, Apple, Pandora, iTunes and even (boo, hiss) Spotify

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Disclaimer Section

This Substack is free, I receive no compensation of any kind from companies or products I mention. Some linked or quoted material may be copyrighted by others, and I credit them. I rely on the “Fair Use” doctrine for educational purposes (Link: Fair Use). *I do not use AI, things I link to might though. -Michael Acoustic

*Exception: For the next few weeks at least I’ll be testing out a beta feature offered on Substack that produces an AI image based on a text input - the image of the week can be seen in the upper left corner of this post…

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Some Links For Today

ED. None of these result in compensation to me in any way, and I’m not endorsing any of them, but some of my readers may find them as interesting as I did…

This is from an email (so I don’t have a link) by Mr. Graham English, who promotes his “Speed Songwriting” courses, but also sends out great informational emails:

“Today’s Quick Tip: Mastering the Art of the Middle Eight”

The middle eight, often called the bridge, can transform a good song into a great one by adding a surprising twist or a deeper insight into your song. Here’s how you can master this:

Change the Chords: Introduce new chords that haven't been used in your song yet to create a sense of departure from the familiar.
New Melodic Ideas: Try a melody that contrasts with your verses and choruses to keep the listener engaged.
Lyrically Divergent: Use this section to introduce a new perspective or an unexpected twist in your storytelling.”
(Ed. - the term “bridge”, and the term “middle eight” are often used interchangeably, and they are very similar, but not the same thing. A middle eight has “rules”, more or less. Link: Middle 8)

From Blues Guitar Unleashed:

Clapton Blueprint - Clapton played a solo, here’s how he did it. Be like Clapton….

Grooves For Your Looper - A “looper” is a pedal that records a short section of you playing, then plays it back through your amp/speakers so you have other music (your own) to accompany you. If you don’t have a looper pedal, it’s worth the investment (mine’s a used Boss, it works). If you don’t have a guitar or other instrument that produces a signal that you can run through a pedal to an amp, you can skip this section for today, just sayin’…

Blues Phrasing - Here’s Mr. Hamlin’s description of this article: "This is a lesson aimed at anyone trying to do some blues soloing, but struggling to make sense with what you’re playing.” So….made me smile….

From Acoustic Guitar Magazine:

Hard Chords Made Easy - It’s like working on the chain gang, you just make little ones out of big ones. Okay, it’s not really like that at all, but….sorta.

From American Songwriter Magazine:

"Ain't No Sunshine" - Under The Hood - This song and a bunch of others with analysis

From the Disc Makers Blog:

Recording Vocals - How to record vocals at home - in your studio if you have a dedicated room, but at least a quiet space (the county decided to do road work one block over as I write this so….yeah, not so much “quiet space” today….)

Make An Artist Wikipedia Page - One of those things you may not think about right off the bat, but eventually you’ll want to know how to do this…

From Songtown:

Worth Pursuing? - I say write it anyway, but these tips may keep you from wasting too much time on it…

Relax and Write Better - See? That’s all you have to do! Just relax! OK, maybe not that easy, not like I’d know….

Why No Songs? Well, this is a bit brutal, but if you’re not getting interest, maybe it’s time for a bit of brutal introspection….

From Hack Music Theory:

Catchy Melody - This is kinda cool, but hard to explain. It’s a sort of hands on “how ya do it”. Interesting….

From Carvin Audio:

Wireless On Stage - It’s Carvin, so they’ve got stuff to sell you to solve the problem. But it is pretty good stuff…..

Thank You To Our New Subscribers and Followers!! This Week’s Conversation With Mika, the Cat:

Mika : “What da hell?”

Me: “Stop saying that.”