Here is a list of the "How-To" videos and post dates for the song "Gimme".
Gimme –
How-To Video #1: Initial Song Idea
— Posted: February 28th, Friday @ Four PM
This clip goes into how the inspirational riff was "stumbled on" while sitting monkeying around on the guitar. How that riff was "milked" for the rest of the parts of the song, and how the parts all fit together because of that. It also goes into how the initial melody was crafted and how it was woven into the riff element of the song.
How-To Video #2: Song Arrangement
— Posted: March 6th, Friday @ Four PM
This clip goes into how I took the various song parts I had developed from the initial riff and put them together into an arrangement in ProTools. A whole lot of shortcuts, tips, and helpful advice is sprinkled throughout. Hearing a very rough mix of the song AFTER you've heard the final product is a real "ear-opener" and makes you want to come back for the rest of the videos to see how THAT bland mix turned into the intense final product.
How-To Video #3: Scratch Track
— Posted: March 13th, Friday @ Four PM
This clip goes into the various roles a scratch track plays; the benefits of a scratch track; how best to record a scratch track; some of the do's and dont's of adding a scratch track, plus numerous helpful tips on how to maximize your time at this stage of putting together a song on a home studio.
How-To Video #4: Perfecting The Groove
— Posted: March 20th, Friday @ Four PM
This clip goes into the finer details of how I put together my drum tracks in such a way as to allow for free form creativity early on, then showing you how I distill the intensity into a tight drum track—while adding the "all-important" funkiness along the way.
How-To Video #5: Guitar Tracks
— Posted: March 27th, Friday @ Four PM
See the demonstrated details of how I recorded the 7 uniquely-signatured, interwoven guitar tracks to give the song GIMME it's unique, somewhat curious sound.
How-To Video #6: Adding the Stand-Out Tracks
— Posted: April 3rd, Friday @ Four PM
Adding Guitar Solo Tracks to your home recording can be fun, or a painstaking chore. See how I make it simple, and fun by setting up criteria and objectives to guides the composition process. I show you the intricate ways I develop my guitar solo parts as I demonstrate how to I record my songs on a laptop using ProTools and a little ingenuity. On this video # 6 of 12, I go into the details of both the improv guitar solo as well as the highly "figured out" duet solo part for my unusual song title "GIMME". Truly helpful insights to the recording process plus the humorous intro my videos I have become known for, and you have an entertaining AND educational, video on the topic of how to record music on your computer.
How-To Video #7: Writing the Lyrics
— Posted: April 10th, Friday @ Four PM
In the course of the songwriting process, lyrics: it’s a puzzle. If you have enough pieces you can always assemble it in a new way. And there is no wrong way to write a song. If ever there was a comprehensive, real-life video of how to write song lyrics, or at least how one person who is pretty good knowing how to write song lyrics, then this is that video! Sometimes I start with a title. Sometimes it's a great line. Sometimes it starts out as a jam song and evolves into a song with lyrics. I never realized it until this moment, but I rarely FINISH either the lyrics OR the music without somehow involving the other. Seem easier that way, and I think the end result is more integrated and more "correct" in the sense that it all fits because it all came out of the same play-dough mold.
How-To Video #8: Adding the Vocals
— Posted: April 17th, Friday @ Four PM
I can’t tell you how to sing. No one can. Yeah, you can get all the coaches in the world, but you know what? They’re going to tell you how you SHOULD sing, or "how the pros" sing, or how THEY would do it, but they won’t, and they CANT tell you how YOU should sing, well... YOU. You have to find that out for yourself. My name is Dale Wozny and I'm a songwriter/guitar player who uses a laptop to record their songs at home. I use the Home Recording on a Laptop method these days because it's easy to record your songs on a computer if you do it correctly. My video series goes into great detail on the creative aspects of how to record your songs on a computer. If you are a songwriter who wants to see how someone else record their vocals on a laptop, this is a great video series.
How-To Video #9: Adding Effects
— Posted: April 24th, Friday @ Four PM
I like to think of the overall effects of a song as the "atmosphere". The "aura" of the sound. Most listeners will never consciously "hear" that atmosphere--but they WILL feel it! AND it doesn't matter that you're recording your songs on a laptop, you still need the songwriters home recording method to truly realize your song. It's a true "definer" of a song, I think. It's the real ephemeral aspect... the hard to define "special something" about a song which I think is REALLY at the heart of the emotion you are trying convey with a song. I think the best way to start creating your PLACE or SPACE or SOUND CANVAS or SOUND-MOSPHERE...whatever you want to call it when recording a song, is the drum & percussion tracks. Their quick attacks and the space in between make it easy to asses the quality, depth and emotional value of the reverb setting you choose for your primary "aura-sphere"... the drum track. This video is a great help you're wondering how to use a home studio—especially when it comes to the part about adding effects to your tracks, or to your entire mix.
How-To Video #10: Mixing
— Posted: May 1st, Friday @ Four PM
Mixing. That mysterious gray zone where a true Zen master can take take dog poop and turn it into… well… shiny cool dog poop. There is certainly an art to mixing. A true art. But … that doesn’t mean that you or I can’t master that art… to a degree… as it applies to our own junk that is… That sounds a little flimsy. Let me put it this way:
If you’re looking to become an expert at mixing your own music as a home recording musician: one thing. To become a Jedi mix-master, studio-rat know it ALL for hire.... Well, that’s another plateau entirely. For our purposes, AND following the Studio F mission, I just show you how I do it. So, to a certain degree—resulting from these baked-in tracks, certain elements of the traditional mixing process are done. But that should not stop you from watching one expert take you through the steps of how to record your music on a laptop.
I’ve shortcutted OUT a lot of the agony of mixing. The excess knob twiddling. How? By, again, baking in my effects. So when it’s mixing time by "baking in" or recording my tracks WITH the effects, a lot of time is saved, AND--in my opinion a LOT is gained in the way of getting what you want. Exactly what the typical singer/songwriter recording at home likes to hear!
Some details briefly... Individual tracks are one of two types: WAVE files and MIDI files. MIDI files are a fraction of the size of WAV files and are easier to add effects to, so I go 50/50 on those as to whether I BAKE or add effects in the mix. FYI... So mixing is ALL about taking the raw energy on tracks, and changing it— transmitting it… transmuting it … into an emotionally expressive statement.
When I begin a recording song using my home recording on a laptop setup, the most nerve wracking, and LEAST FUN part is getting the scratch track right. Once that's locked in, the TRUE FUN begins, and... it's ALSO when the mixing actually begins--especially when you're learning how to record a song at home.
Here’s how the concept of how to make music on your computer really comes into play. I’m going to bring you along the mixing process. I’ll tell you how I go about it, and THEN provide audio examples so you can hear the layers of sound slowly pile up and how it all gets blended sweetly together...!!
How-To Video #11: Wrap-Up/Review
— Posted: May 8th, Friday @ Four PM
My plan was to dis-assemble a song I recorded on my PC-based, home studio laptop recording setup running ProTools, and put it all back together in 10 "How-To" videos. The song is GIMME, and the objective was to provide a rich, engaging way of showing how to record music on laptop. Over 12 weeks, I'd post one video per week on a specific aspect of the creation and recording process of the song, starting with the songwriting inspiration; the theme that "came to me"; how I worked that into the lyrics; how I recorded what I call the "puzzle-piece guitar tracks"; to the vocals and finally the Mix. The intent was to "pull back the curtain on the entire process of how to record music on your computer from start to finish".
I wanted to create something I didn't see anywhere online. And I thought, to make it even more accessible, you'd be able to hear my completed song BEFORE you invest any time in watching the How-To videos to see if you even want to know how it was done. Then I thought, now THAT would be cool.
So that was my plan: to show how to make music on your computer. I named it Studio F, (because Studio A thru E were taken...!) and to help steer it, I developed the Studio F Mission: "To show how one man writes and records his music on a computer. What one can do, another can do." An entertaining and informative way to see how one person records his music on a computer.
Before I jumped in, I took a look at what was big on YouTube. Turns out a guy jumping around in a banana suit for 30 minutes is one of the most watched videos on YouTube. Hmmmmm. Then... on the other end of the spectrum were musicians and "tech-sicians" and others defining their craft which I often found to be either drawn out and b-o-r-i-n-g, OR... content so waaaay deep to be useful to anyone wanting to learn how to write a song from a riff in the way I show you how I do in this video series (See Video #1)
So I thought, somewhere between 30 minutes of banana suit jumper and 30 minutes of dull, boring, slowly talking person, that there MUST be a HAPPY MEDIUM. So that was my blueprint for this series that goes into songwriting techniques, the songwriting process, songwriting inspiration, how to write song lyrics, and so much more.
I'm Dale Wozny and I hope you enjoy these videos.
Video #12: GIMME Song Video
— To Be Posted: ???, ?th Friday @ Four PM
