23 in '13 Song #1: Logic-al

Song #1: Logic-al



The last time I did a multi-week song project, I seemed to be all about putting rules on myself: no covers, no working on old pieces, one song per week, and more. This time around, I'm going to be a lot looser, and just go with it, so long as I make sure to end up with 23 songs at the end. Three songs in a week? Sure! Only one song in a month? Maybe. No stress, and no restrictions, except ones I put on myself to spark creativity.

Which is where this first song comes in. Users of Logic Pro are probably familiar with the "sampler" templates you can choose when creating a new project. It's always struck me that the sampler of instruments is rather...eclectic. Piano, e-piano, jazz organ, electric bass...drum kit...string ensemble...analog lead synth...African drum set...three rave-ish synths, analog synth bass, two 909-ish drum kits. Sort of like beatniks meet b-boys, or something. Anyway, it struck me that it would be an amusing exercise to try and make something using every instrument in that template, and nothing else.

I started out on the first night just making a groove. Things held together and didn't sound too obnoxious, so the next night was chopping up the various loops I had made, and turning it into a bit more of a song...something with a bit more varied structure. I considered briefly adding vocals, but I decided to stay with the Logic Template Only theme (thus the title), and I ended up being pretty pleased with the analog synth melody I improvised.

Overall, I'd say mission successful. I allowed myself to tweak the EQ of each channel in order to make things mix together, but other than that, this is the stock template. Didn't even end up adding a mastering plugin.

I figure that after having been so long since I've done proper songwriting (have I mentioned that last year really bit for creativity? I did? Well, I'm saying it again.), I'll ease into it. I'm looking forward to writing lyrics again.