Adding Energy To Songs / Recordings

baskervils · Post by **baskervils** » Mon Nov 30, 2009 11:28 am

Hi Gang -

I feel like I've got some great songs, but when I record them, the energy is often more mellow than what I was hoping for.

I've tried raising the key to "push" the vocals. That works sometimes.

I was wondering if any producers or engineers have tips for adding "guts" and "energy" to songs.

Thanks! Rob
http://www.myspace.com/baskervillesnyc

ofajen · Post by **ofajen** » Mon Nov 30, 2009 11:37 am

baskervils wrote:Hi Gang -

I feel like I've got some great songs, but when I record them, the energy is often more mellow than what I was hoping for.

I've tried raising the key to "push" the vocals. That works sometimes.

I was wondering if any producers or engineers have tips for adding "guts" and "energy" to songs.

Thanks! Rob
http://www.myspace.com/baskervillesnyc

Number one answer is to record live in one room, preferably to wide-track tape, when the groove is really knocking the room around. Of course, that isn't always doable.

So, what about pushing the tempo?

Cheers,

Otto

baskervils · Post by **baskervils** » Mon Nov 30, 2009 11:49 am

Tempo pushing also helps, yes indeedie - speed it up without losing groove.

I was listening to the Go! Team - Bottle Rocket. It's lo-fi, but has a tremendous amout of energy. It was one of those moments where I felt like my songs were standing still by comparison.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3YVBwPTrWJQ

Rob
http://www.myspace.com/baskervillesnyc

Z-Plane · Post by **Z-Plane** » Mon Nov 30, 2009 12:14 pm

OK, a few obvious differences. The Go! Team song has a dozen more instruments and a thousand more tracks mixed in there, as well as starting life as a complete other track getting mashed up by the band (I suspect). But more than that its rhythmic, the Go! Team have a slower song on a heavy swing, with the vocals, scratches and drum loops chopping out lots of extra swing rhythms, which provides plenty of tension to every bar that passes by.

The Baskervilles songs are considerably faster with much straighter beats, having fewer instruments and slower vocals laid over the top. So the tension between your beats moving along, and the action that takes place between them is largely non-existent in comparison. I'd suggest you jam out some slower grooves and concentrate on the instruments and vocals stressing the swing beats other than the two and four. Or do what they appear to have done, jam out with a few sections of 70's funk loops and see where that gets you...

baskervils · Post by **baskervils** » Mon Nov 30, 2009 12:55 pm

Great Advice! Thanks.

Rob

thegeek · Post by **thegeek** » Mon Nov 30, 2009 1:46 pm

any chance you could post the song in question somewhere?

Sometimes it could be something easy like the drummer played like a pussy and you aren't getting any backbone to the song. Maybe add some dirt to the bass... but unless I can hear the song I can't really speculate.

baskervils · Post by **baskervils** » Mon Nov 30, 2009 3:03 pm

Hi! Yes, the songs are posted above. One is "Caught In A Crosswalk" on my page and the other is "Bottle Rocket" by the Go! Team on Youtube.

Thanks -

Rob

Snarl 12/8 · Post by **Snarl 12/8** » Mon Nov 30, 2009 4:07 pm

Your bass player needs to get out ahead of the drummer more. They need to play like they're constantly speeding up, while the drummer holds tight to the tempo.

A.David.MacKinnon · Post by **A.David.MacKinnon** » Mon Nov 30, 2009 4:11 pm

Ride on the crash and turn up the cymbals.

DupleMeter · Post by **DupleMeter** » Sat Dec 05, 2009 11:08 am

in addition to the performance/arranging suggestions: back in the day, we used to speed the tape up a hair when we mixed down to add some energy to a track. Harder to do in the digital world because of clock sync and all, but it's still doable on some systems. Or you can mixdown to tape, speed the tape a hair and bounce it back into your DAW.

dsw · Post by **dsw** » Sat Dec 05, 2009 12:48 pm

Energy (for me anyway) in a song comes from how you feel when you play.

wren · Post by **wren** » Sat Dec 05, 2009 2:19 pm

DupleMeter wrote:in addition to the performance/arranging suggestions: back in the day, we used to speed the tape up a hair when we mixed down to add some energy to a track. Harder to do in the digital world because of clock sync and all, but it's still doable on some systems.

Easy to do in Reaper; there's a little "playback speed" slider; you can choose whether the change in speed affects the pitch or not. You don't get any noticeable tonal changes if you don't do anything extreme with it.

cgarges · Post by **cgarges** » Sat Dec 05, 2009 4:59 pm

I think that there's a misconception that when something's faster, there's more energy. That's totally not true if the playing's good. I can think of many examples of stuff that's got great energy at slower tempos. Stone Temple Pilots are killer at this. So is Neurosis. The Bad Plus. There are plenty of examples.

Sometimes stuff that's too fast is just too fast and I've heard that energy excuse plenty of times.

Are there times when playing something faster gives it more energy? Absolutely! I jsut don't think it's always the answer.

Chris Garges
Charlotte, NC

DupleMeter · Post by **DupleMeter** » Sat Dec 05, 2009 6:19 pm

cgarges wrote:I think that there's a misconception that when something's faster, there's more energy. That's totally not true if the playing's good. I can think of many examples of stuff that's got great energy at slower tempos. Stone Temple Pilots are killer at this. So is Neurosis. The Bad Plus. There are plenty of examples.

Sometimes stuff that's too fast is just too fast and I've heard that energy excuse plenty of times.

Are there times when playing something faster gives it more energy? Absolutely! I jsut don't think it's always the answer.

Chris Garges
Charlotte, NC

Well, the point of the tape speed up is not so much to punch up the tempo as it is to add a little drive to the rhythm. If you notice the tempo change you've done too much.

Perfect example of this in action: (Allman Brother Band) Blue Sky, off of Eat A Peach. This is, in no way, a fast tempo...but listen closely. The tape was bumped up a hair on playback (you can only tell by the key, they are a smidge sharp from the E that they recorded it in). This song still lays back and grooves. And Barry Oakley just sits in that pocket and holds everyone in place - particularly during the long solo section.

cgarges · Post by **cgarges** » Sat Dec 05, 2009 9:23 pm

I'm well aware of the history of VSO'd music. I have worked with a Grammy-winning songwriter who uses VSO all the time at the mix stage to make the music feel a certain way. Sometimes it's faster, sometimes it's slower.

As a drummer, I hear the whole "it should be faster so people can dance to it" or "it should be faster so that there's more energy" occasionally and I just think that's often an excuse. A well-executed performance can have the proper amount of energy at whatever tempo it's supposed to be played. My point is that energy and tempo are not directly related all the time and should not be treated as such. I could make a similar argument for volume, which often gets mistaken for energy correlation as well.

Chris Garges
Charlotte, NC

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Adding Energy To Songs / Recordings

Adding Energy To Songs / Recordings

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