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Yes your songwriting (and soft synth) paradise is invaded by Mr "It Sucks" Zoetrope.

Hear the Minimogue review. Download it, for free, and get more info from the MiniMogue site

Read David Watson's lyrics in the forum post here

The "pro" song this week was It Couldn't Be Done by Tim Finn

Songs:

Toothpick - Snubby

Jezebel - Throbbing Mattress Kitten

This Lonely Night - David Watson

Be Here Now - South Hill Project


David Watson's Song Breakdown, very interesting but a bit long for the show.

Song Construction

The song was constructed using Band In a Box to construct a suitable template sound backing, from which I kept the bassline, drums and an electric piano sound that occasionally makes an appearance.
I transfered that to Realband and then generated some Realband backing tracks just to see what that gave me as options to slip into the song for some fill texture.
For the record there was a Resonator guitar that played throughout, a clean backing guitar that I popped in at key moments and one of the electric slide guitars for the break and ending.
The song was finally transfered into Cubasis because I still find that the easiest cut and paste interface for final assembly of tracks.
I still need to master Reaper which looks so good but I haven't spent the time on it.

I sang the main lyrics and then did the Ooh-Arrr backing vocals. They sounded pretty ordinary dry but I had installed "Ambience" and experimented with processing them with a long reverb. The results transformed the song for me, adding the slightly haunting sound I wanted for such a subject. As regards instruments I played the backing acoustic that holds the song together and the ringing slide guitar. I tried to work around the Realband samples to get a dual sound.

I used a shorter reverb on my voice and the guitar but my only earlier critic commented that the guitar recording 'wasn't to my usual standard' because it sounded like I recorded it 'in the bathroom'.
I was afraid that the dry recording would jar with the long delay chorus voices and so went for the middle ground. Just shows you can never please everyone...

Lyrics Construction

With regard to the song construction. The motive for the song came from simply being fascinated by the chord changes in Neil Young's "I Believe In You". I liked the high chorus as a contrast to the less pushy verses and thought I could rob those chords into another song. It also pitched my voice naturally to where it sounds comfortable. Come on... I'm sure we all do it... surely I'm not the only one...?

From there I played the chords quite a bit to "see what came". I have a strange habit of mumbling random doggerel where I imaging the words might be in the song so that I can get some feel for how the chords, lyrics and melody might come together as a sound. Most often in this I start to find lyric snatches just appear in my head and come out of my mouth. This process is so subconcious I sometimes feel I am listening to them as though someone else came up with them. Anyway, by this weird channeling process came the first line of the song

It’s a fine sight, the moon’s so bright

This gave me the idea that some of the lines would have a double rhyme, sight/bright and also that this was a reflective melancholy song.
That led to the next lines appearing from this strange process

I’m at the end of a long hard fight
An’ ready, to cut loose from the pain

I started to form the idea that this was about someone that had done something wrong and was seeking some sort of redemption.
So, the fill in line for the first verse needed some proper construction to make it work:

I’m sittin’ here, in this cold hard light

The idea that this projected was that he is being judged, even wanting to be judged.
The next bit that came was the chorus, almost in one hit...

There’s no goin’ back in time
No way to undo my crime
There’s no takin’ back the blow
Nowhere for me to go

Strangely, it was only at this point did I begin to think the song might involve a real crime.
The line about the blow was adjusted later, to fit with the crime that came out of the remaining verse construction.

Anyway, I realised I had to set up the crime in verse 2 and so I produced, following the double rhyme per line rule, the following.
This needed some logic to be applied so I worked consciously on this bit.

It’s a cold fright, this lonely night
I’m sick with fear, my stomach’s tight
She was so slight, an’ I so right
An’ ready to strike her down again

At this stage I had no idea the guy was thinking of killing himself but the next bit of doggerel to fall into place was the last verse

I’ll see you on the other side
At the end of this lonely ride
I hope I get to see it through
An’ say again that I love you

I then realised the song could be worked to lead to this guy killing himself, to be with his lover.
At that point I had the plan to complete the song.

I decided I wanted an instrumental break at the emotional moment and then rapidly to draw it all to a conclusion with a strong chorus based ending.
So I decided to go for an 'AABAABAB' style of song with 5 verse sections and 3 chorus, one of which was the instrumental break.

By now I had the plan and hacked out the remaining verses and choruses with a much clearer idea of what I was trying to achieve.
I liked the 'ready to' linking theme in the last line of the early verses and decided to complete all the verses with a "ready to" phrase.

I usually choose the title of my track from the words of the song, trying to get some "essence" that sums it up.
In this song the phrase that absolutely jumped out at me was "This Lonely Night", it seemed to me to capture what this poor guy was experiencing best of all.

The line I was most please with in the whole song was the 2nd to last

One shot to be with you
That's because it reads two ways and makes perfect sense. "One shot (bang...) to be with you AND One shot (chance...) to be with you.
I love that kind of wordplay and it really set up the last line nicely...

That’s all I got to do

That's all is it... just shoot yourself in the head, no worries then...
I thought it left the listener with plenty to think on.

I'm sure this is too much explanation but pick anything that is useful from it.

Thanks for making me famous, Tony. I can finally cross that off my list. Next up, world peace. I'll keep you posted on my progress.

An all time low for the HMHS, apart from the music. That guy with the fake British accent was particularly full of crap this week.

[Edit: Ok, Tony DID put the link in the show notes.... Just havin' fun at Tony's expense. ]
Because of said Brit's complete incompetence, here is the link he "forgot" to post for the Mini Moog: http://glenstegner.com/softsynths.html

Now, for the wonderful music played on this show:

Toothpick - Snubby
Ha! And it ended with a fart joke too. Fun to have some nice jokes bits on the show again.

Jezebel - Throbbing Mattress Kitten
Always love an acoustic song to be in there. I need a banjo! That banjo really made it for me. I really felt like I was listening to this in my living room. Everything in the mix fits really well. The Medieval lyrics were unique and cool as well.

Zoetrope Mini Moog Review
I downloaded this a while ago but didn't play with it. I am working on some reviews of other synths for future shows. This synth is pretty fantastic and has some great, fat moog sounds that really are full and meaty. Very nice synth. Makes me want to do a Devo type song. Great advice to really learn a synth too. I am taking that advice. Your lovely assistant really has some talent!

This Lonely Night - David Watson
I LOVED the slide work on this one. Man, that really made a nice sound. Is this acoustic day on the HMHS? Another lovely, organic mix.


Tim Finn - Pro Song
Waaaaahhhhhhhhhhhh.. Ohhh, all right. I guess it wasn't that unique. Why doth my songs always get so hammered?


Be Here Now - South Hill Project
I like the minor chord thing in the verse and going to major key in the chorus. That is always a cool effect. Speaking effects, cool vocal stuff and nice subtle synth stuff going in in there. I also really liked the single note guitar bits going on. Very cool tune.

Good show guys.... I guess.... wahhhhh.

Dave

This is the other Minimogue link: http://www.home.no/gunnare/
The much needed FAQ can be found there.
Sorry to slam the pro song, but Tony said it would be funny to make you cry. It was all his fault. Really.

I'm listening at work. I want to give this a try. I can't do much typing, but I can listen while I get stuff done. The trade off is that I can't type as much a review. I'll see how it goes.

Going in for listen:

I really like this first song...Jezebel - Throbbing Mattress Kitten. Really cool folksy number.

The mini mogue sounds cool on the song mixed in Mixcraft. I might have to try this out later.

Little Z is funny. "Do you have any questions?" "You know I do."

This Lonely Night - David Watson - This is a neat song too. San Francisco circa '67 or so. Nice and mellow. I like it.

Yo, Dave, you said: "...thought I could rob those chords into another song." I know you know this, but you can't copyright a chord progression. My main man, Keith Richards says that is how he writes a lot of songs. He just keeps playing one of his old favorites over and over until another song pops up.

Zoetrope - very California.

I've heard this "no idea it couldn't be done" song before. Where? Youtube? Hmm...This is the pro song, right? Okay, I'm going back to listening.

Dang, Zoetrope. "A big nothing." That will teach me to tap my foot to a money making pop song any more.

Be Here Now - South Hill Project - This is a good song. Zoetrope is right about the drums. They really sound, well, live. This has great energy. Pro quality recording. I like it a lot.

Good show.

I'm heading out for a smoke.

I just reviewed my comments. Not bad for someone who wasn't able to comment much.

Tony, the check is in the mail.

Dave, if you listen more carefully you real heard that I said "I will include the link in the show notes" and if you go read the show notes you will see it is there with a big picture. This is the forum not the show notes - "IT SUCKS"

For those wondering about the "checks in the mail" comment from Cracks, he's paying me to play his song, this is an approach I most definitely approve of.

Tony has the mortgage on my house from when he did an entire show of my songs. The wife is still pissed off about that one.

Ahhh, Tony gets off on a technicality.



All in good fun. I can't let Tony go too wild on me without some retaliation.

If you ever want to try something fun, take your 1 year old daughter to the emergency room and then lose your cookies while you are there. Good times! Fortunately my sister in law was able to come down and rescue us and drive us home. Yuck!

Good show guys. I was just playing along with the gag with my comments above. You know I love you guys.

Dave

As a parent, you definitely learn the value of not being sick at the same time as your kids. Every once in a while the timing gets messed up, and the results are never pretty.

Also a valuable skill, don't be cranky at the same time as your kids. I'm still working on that one.

Good show. I enjoyed all the songs this week. I hope Snubby isn't a one hit wonder. I agree about the difficulty recording acoustic instruments. I have trouble just recording my acoustic guitar. And, with a name like Throbbing Mattress Kitten, it's got to be good. I am going to defend Tim Finn. I admit I am a bigger fan of Neil's stuff but I like Tim's stuff too. Actually, Tim Finn's stuff is usually less "poppy". Maybe he was trying to sound like Neil. In my opinion, most pop music is disposable. I don't see anything wrong with that. Most of the stuff I write is disposable pop rock. Yes, it is nothing new...yes, it sounds like a bunch of other songs...yes, he probably farted that song out in 5 minutes...but, I still love it. It has a good hook and it's very enjoyable. The lyrics flowed well and fit into the rhythm of the song. I don't know what he was saying. I didn't listen that carefully, and that's ok. I enjoyed it anyway. Elton John used to defend his music and Bernie's lyrics by saying that "people listen to music to get away from everyday life". He didn't feel that anyone wanted to be preached to and have some heavy message shoved at them. A pop song like this one by Tim Finn is like visiting an old friend. It goes right where you wanted it to go and it is an enjoyable experience. If you get sick of it tomorrow there will be another disposable pop-rock song to take it's place. That's why I take 5 minutes to write these kind of things. Which of my songs are the most popular? Which one's get the most plays and downloads? It's the 3 or 4 chord, disposable pop-rock tunes that took me 5 minutes to write. I also think it is harder for artists now because all songs are downloaded and examined on their own merit (which is fair, I suppose) but many songs are written to fill out an album and, if listened to in that context (along with all the other songs on the album) do hold up better. After some heavy songs you often need a break with something light and disposable. Most people don't listen to an entire album at once any more and they might be missing some part of the whole experience. As I say, Tim usually writes more complex songs.

It has to be said: It's not the same without Criddle. Zo did a good job. But the balance is lost.

Good show, though.

Dave, would you mind sharing your thoughts on that Tim Finn song here in the forum? After hearing the others bashing it, your reason for choosing it would be interesting.

I think that's the heart of the issue. If I don't feel like the artist put anything into the song, I'm not going to waste my time trying to get anything out of it. With this song "It Couldn't Be Done" I felt like he was phoning it in. Lyrics, music, and performance were all done as if checking items off a to do list. There's no passion, and therefore nothing that interests me.

The analysis is accurate but, I guess I can appreciate this on a different level. I do appreciate a well written song where the artist has put a little more of himself into it, but... There are also those songs which I would call disposable, that (for one reason or another) just catch your ear and are quite enjoyable. Sometimes it is the combination of the song and the production. Sometimes they just hit on a cool riff or vocal line that sticks in your head. I will admit that even the songs I write that are simple, quickly written tunes have meaningful lyrics and are not completely disposable (at least from my point of view). I would also guess that Tim Finn would not claim this song to be one of his best works.

OK, don't get too used to this.


Ah, Mr. 'Trope......

Jezebel - Throbbing Mattress Kitten - Love, love, loved this tune....Great groove there with superb layering. Can learn a lot from this tune. Excellent, Mr. Kitten.

Enjoyed hearing the guest co-hosting with Zo. Zoe sounds adorable. It's obvious, she must take after her mother.

The plug-in is Mogue, the real thing is MOOG!


This Lonely Night - David Watson - An old regular on the NSF. Thought he was gone. Proves me wrong. Very nice song.
I don't mean to rhyme.


OK, I thought this was the next tune. Unlike Zo, I liked this. This is my kinda music. Very Harrison/ELO.
Nice impression, Zo. Next time use a diff Mic or at least change the freakin' EQ.

Be Here Now - South Hill Project - The instruments sounded a bit muffled....drums and Vocal were nice and clear.
That said, I liked the song itself. Very reminiscent of the '60. Cool stuff. Strong song to end the 'show'

Bob Moog pronounced his name to rhyme with rogue. So Minimogue and Minimoog are pronounced the same way. I know most people say mooooooog, like a cow, but just because cows outnumber humans doesn't make them smarter than us.

Hey Albert,

Glad I was missed... a little.

Picking the Tim Finn Song: Tony is always telling me to not put as much thought into picking my songs. He also wants me to pick newer stuff rather than old stuff. This was a relatively new album and was just something that came to my head as a song I enjoyed. Yes, it is really poppy and I am not exactly sure what it is about but I enjoyed it! I also liked the middle part that changes in a relatively new direction.

The song makes me think of The Wright Brothers or Edison or something with the "Couldn't Be Done" theme. It just makes nice images for me. I couldn't tell you what the middle verses were.

It also had a great feel to it. That was about it. I just liked the song. I am definitely guilty of liking songs without caring a lick about the lyrics. Does that make me a bad person?

Potato, pototo......
Like a Lemming, I'm going with da majority here.....


P.S. McDonalds reports a shortage of lean beef in the U.S.