songwriting
How we made our first songs: a song a day for three weeks
Our tagline is “Punk Rock Love since 1994”. By the time we started putting songs out, I’d been playing music for 30 years and had never released any of it.
I was going through a divorce. I took a nine-month sabbatical and made music full time.
A song a day for three weeks
For three straight weeks I made a song a day. For the most part, each one was written, recorded, mixed and mastered in a single day, and it went up on our YouTube channel the next day. That’s 21 songs in 21 days. A lot of One Frequency United’s first songs were made like that.
Mixing is balancing all the recorded parts so they sit together. Mastering is the last pass that gets the finished mix ready to release. On most of those days, both got done the same day as the first note.
Scarlett Vox is on a couple of the songs from that run, but in the beginning a lot of it was just me.
Nothing was written ahead of time
What started each day’s song? No idea. Nothing, really. I didn’t bring anything in. I just started recording and finished the music. Then I wrote the lyrics to the finished track, and then I recorded them.
Every lyric came from something real going on in my life.
The order I record in
Every song went down in the same order:
- Drums. All our drums are done in Superior Drummer 3, a drum program.
- One rhythm guitar.
- A second rhythm guitar.
- Usually a solo or two.
- Bass.
- Lyrics, written to the finished music, then the vocals.
- Mix.
- Master.
It depended on the song, but most of them only took a couple of hours from the first drum hit to the master.
Streaming it live
I streamed most of those songs while I was making them, so you could watch a song get built from nothing to finished. The audience didn’t shape any of it. The camera was on and I worked.
The plugins don’t matter
For mixing and mastering I used iZotope’s Ozone, Neutron and Nectar (their mastering, mixing and vocal plugins), FabFilter, and a bunch of other shit. I really don’t know or care which one did what. I used a lot of everything, and it doesn’t matter.
If you’re making songs at home and holding off until you own the right plugins, that’s the part I’d worry about least.
Where those songs are now
Our early singles are collected on our first album, Punk Rock For the Broken Hearted. Everything else is on the music page, and every song has its own page on the new site. One line from that first album ended up on a lyric tee in the merch shop.
If you want to hear what a song a day for three weeks sounds like, listen here.
FAQ
How long did it take to make each song?
Most songs took a couple of hours. For the most part, each one was written, recorded, mixed and mastered in a single day.
What order do you record a song in?
Drums first, in Superior Drummer 3. Then one rhythm guitar, a second rhythm guitar, usually a solo or two, and bass. Then I write the lyrics to the finished music, record the vocals, mix and master.
Were the songs written before recording?
No. Nothing was written ahead of time. I started recording, finished the music, then wrote the lyrics and recorded them.
What plugins did you use to mix and master?
iZotope Ozone, Neutron and Nectar, FabFilter and a lot more. I used a lot of everything, and the tools don't matter.
