Yes! Sometimes You Have to Chop Your Compositions Up With Razorblades and Stick 'em Back Together Again

Using vintage gear to create new sounds at Matt Channing's studio.

One of my favorite things about musical collaborations is the talks that happen in between recording sessions, jams, and rehearsals because I often get to learn a lot about craft, composition, recording, and music history.

Today, while editing in the studio with my friend (and collaborator in Transmit Regardless) Matt Channing, we discussed the band Yes as an influence to some of the work that we are currently putting together.

The influence is not necessarily the kind of influence that you might normally think of. We spoke more in terms of process, in this case. It turns out that Yes band members recorded their songs in bits as a way to compose. They'd record parts of songs and put ideas onto reel-to-reel 16-track tape and then later, with a razor blade, cut and arrange the chopped up bits and tape them together for the band to learn and perform live.

Another example of the tools we use in composing. Not
vintage, really, but how we create tracks like this:
http://transmitregardless.bandcamp.com/

Matt and I are doing something similar, although the gear we are using is a little more modern. We've been working this way for years now. We've essentially both gotten the same recording software to learn and create on and the same(ish) hardware. We record small bits, motifs, musical riffs, lyrics, tones, ideas and we arrange them in interesting ways. We also meet up and chat about song formatting, what tools might serve us on stage, and setting up the recordings for distribution, as well as building a band around the music that we are creating. We send little idea snippets to one another so we can fiddle around with them and then when we come back to the recording sessions, we tweak and add and subtract until we have compositions that we are happy with.  It's fun stuff and exciting, too. We use the tools we have and never really hold too tightly to what a composition should sound like until it's complete. The tracks just sort of create themselves by way of this process. It's a bit of an improvisation in order to create the form. 

Often as a result of these talks, I also have homework. It's part of the reason why I wanted to start this blog. Aside from writing about music that I have come across and subsequently have grown to love, I've wanted to keep track of some of this homework, as well as share and have conversations with others about the music that I'll be posting here and some of the ideas, too. The conversations help me. It's a part of my process. So here it is, assignment number one on this blog, a little documentary to watch called Classic Artist: The Yes Story. 

*photos by Tameca L Coleman.