- 15 Dec, 2025 *
Demo review of Someday Strange here. It’s my sixth song for this songwriting semester, and I finally got back to a fuller production. All die to me doing a fresh DAW install on a new computer. I did not transfer any of my templates or anything like that from the old Ableton/ computer. It felt so nice and clean, everything running fast, and I was able to get my same old shitty sound in no time.
The general idea with this sound aesthetic is that anybody can sound crystal clear (that pro-tools sound!), and I like kind of a dead, beat-up feel. I used some drum rack (set) that is inbuilt in Ableton (that I have never used before). Recorded two Stratocasters — one neck pickup, one bridge pickup — and I double…
- 15 Dec, 2025 *
Demo review of Someday Strange here. It’s my sixth song for this songwriting semester, and I finally got back to a fuller production. All die to me doing a fresh DAW install on a new computer. I did not transfer any of my templates or anything like that from the old Ableton/ computer. It felt so nice and clean, everything running fast, and I was able to get my same old shitty sound in no time.
The general idea with this sound aesthetic is that anybody can sound crystal clear (that pro-tools sound!), and I like kind of a dead, beat-up feel. I used some drum rack (set) that is inbuilt in Ableton (that I have never used before). Recorded two Stratocasters — one neck pickup, one bridge pickup — and I doubled the part, and it ended up sounding like a 12-string for some reason. I do not know/ like it tho!
I was looking for a chorus and stumbled onto a jazz chorus amp preset in Ableton that I did not know existed. Loved it. Did 2 vocal passes with 2 harmony. That turned out great — the right mix of talk-singing and light harmony. Tried two or three things for the bass line, stuck with the basics, and that worked.
Spent about a week writing the song. Sat down one morning, it all kind of flopped out, and I have no idea where the story came from. I went with the words that were coming out-tweaking a few things here and there (mainly word removal).
When it says “at least we tried, like old Vince said,” that is from one of my favorite movies ever, The InLaws. Everything else is just one of those stories that popped out, so I went with it. (Always room for stuff like this if I can cram it in sideways.)
All came together in the recording phase. Honestly, I was a bit nervy re: how it was going to turn out as I was really sounding like my influences solo acoustic, playing to the dog. But once I got the tempo right, it gelled. When this happens I get it all down ASAP. Feel etc. 100% over performance. So, I checked nothing for on-the-grid and the like.
Overall it has a nice, group-sing, old-school Byrds-y feel. Generally really happy with it.
ps: I saw David Byrne last night. That guy does not go with what he is saying. He is a guy who sits down and writes definite words. Totally different, and super enjoyable, especially because I have been in my zone about how I write. Interesting to watch somebody else’s end result from process that is nothing like mine. He is, however, a bit of a talk-singer like me.