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Originally posted by Endrik
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man, creating a Disco tune is fucking hard, I've been struggling with this shit for a while 
first a kickass groovy funk bassline... wich is the foundation of the whole tune
then a strong rhythm'n'blues style shuffle beat
and a funky guitar riff...or two
that's the easy part for me as I've been doing funky stuff for years
ok then latin/caribbean percussion parts
I'm familiar with percussion and know latin music very well... so I probably have to mix it with the funky parts like Marvin Gay did on Motown records
now it's many different keyboards with different sounds and melodies/chords playing simultaneously... let's say 2 or 3 keyboards/electric pianos.
the keys have to be jazzy but they are not like cool jazz type like Bill Evans did and they are definetly not atonal stuff ala Cecil Taylor. They sound kinda funkier but not exacty like Stevie Wonder or Herbie Hancock play, that's too funky... I guess some Isaac Hayes type lines work....
ok.. let's make one part more chordal and the other one more melodic and if I need a third one... then some phrasing lines should work. Writing keyboard parts really pisses me off.
It's time to add the jazz horns section. Definetly has to be very funky. Thank god I've been listening to Tower Of Power a lot... can't go wrong with borrowing ideas from them.... Miles Davis or John Coltrane type of horns lines definetly don't work.... and Glenn Miller's stuff is too swing and old school. Ok funky horns... typical jazz set-up...trumpet, alto sax and tenor sax.... and maybe even a clarinet.
And then the fucking orchestration. I have some clue how the orchestral scores are made. But composing a funky horns like melodies and harmonies for symphonic instruments... man that's sick. This is not classical music for sure. A lot of experimenting must be done to get something decent out of this. Shit... violins playing like sax....
Ok and then there must be a good flow going on, the horns and orchestra parts are like having a conversation or something. Can't make repeative licks. And can't make them to play just chords... it's not like a piano. Every instrument must have its own thing.
Oh and then there's the vocals.... bazillion harmony parts and whatnot.
And all this shit must have tons of syncopated parts... so you have to make all the sections work together very well.
And then mixing all this together. Man... there's always something that sounds wrong or weird... you change it, then something else sounds weird... you change that and then still there's something wrong with it and you don't have a clue what... then you start changing all the parts until the whole tune is fucked up.
Uhh, and there's always something that's too quiet and something that's too loud and just can't get the right levels.
And everytime you listen all that shit, you want to change something... ereasing some parts.. and composing some new parts.... and soon there's a totally different tune.... and still everything is wrong....
And then I'm listening to Earth, Wind & Fire.... they have like one million and fifty two tracks recorded for each songs.... and everything sounds amazing, all the parts work very well with each other and all the levels are right.
I think I have to grow a fro, maybe that helps.
first a kickass groovy funk bassline... wich is the foundation of the whole tune
then a strong rhythm'n'blues style shuffle beat
and a funky guitar riff...or two
that's the easy part for me as I've been doing funky stuff for years
ok then latin/caribbean percussion parts
I'm familiar with percussion and know latin music very well... so I probably have to mix it with the funky parts like Marvin Gay did on Motown records
now it's many different keyboards with different sounds and melodies/chords playing simultaneously... let's say 2 or 3 keyboards/electric pianos.
the keys have to be jazzy but they are not like cool jazz type like Bill Evans did and they are definetly not atonal stuff ala Cecil Taylor. They sound kinda funkier but not exacty like Stevie Wonder or Herbie Hancock play, that's too funky... I guess some Isaac Hayes type lines work....
ok.. let's make one part more chordal and the other one more melodic and if I need a third one... then some phrasing lines should work. Writing keyboard parts really pisses me off.
It's time to add the jazz horns section. Definetly has to be very funky. Thank god I've been listening to Tower Of Power a lot... can't go wrong with borrowing ideas from them.... Miles Davis or John Coltrane type of horns lines definetly don't work.... and Glenn Miller's stuff is too swing and old school. Ok funky horns... typical jazz set-up...trumpet, alto sax and tenor sax.... and maybe even a clarinet.
And then the fucking orchestration. I have some clue how the orchestral scores are made. But composing a funky horns like melodies and harmonies for symphonic instruments... man that's sick. This is not classical music for sure. A lot of experimenting must be done to get something decent out of this. Shit... violins playing like sax....
Ok and then there must be a good flow going on, the horns and orchestra parts are like having a conversation or something. Can't make repeative licks. And can't make them to play just chords... it's not like a piano. Every instrument must have its own thing.
Oh and then there's the vocals.... bazillion harmony parts and whatnot.
And all this shit must have tons of syncopated parts... so you have to make all the sections work together very well.
And then mixing all this together. Man... there's always something that sounds wrong or weird... you change it, then something else sounds weird... you change that and then still there's something wrong with it and you don't have a clue what... then you start changing all the parts until the whole tune is fucked up.
Uhh, and there's always something that's too quiet and something that's too loud and just can't get the right levels.
And everytime you listen all that shit, you want to change something... ereasing some parts.. and composing some new parts.... and soon there's a totally different tune.... and still everything is wrong....
And then I'm listening to Earth, Wind & Fire.... they have like one million and fifty two tracks recorded for each songs.... and everything sounds amazing, all the parts work very well with each other and all the levels are right.
I think I have to grow a fro, maybe that helps.
Man, the dudes that were the most succesful at that stuff were putting NO WHERE NEAR what you are doing into it, haha...
I think those dudes would just get together, burn a few "doobies" (term of that time) in the parking lot and go in to groove a bit and record it. Haha... Simple as that I'd bet. No where near as much thought as you're giving it.
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