How do you play with yourself?
I have a project called Djembe Funk. A lot of the sound is improvised and it is literally me jamming with myself on various instruments. I was asked how that worked. Happy to explain it.
There’s this thing called “Jazz.”
I’m a huge jazz lover and I wanted to make a project I could improvise in, but didn’t want to bother anyone with a proposal.
I also don’t know how to play a lot of jazz. So jamrock seemed more my speed, but with a jazzy mindset? lol.
Two projects, two mindsets.
I think with The Kintners music you hear me having thought a lot about what I’m saying. Djembe Funk is just hearing me thinking. How I see it, I suppose.
My friend asked me, “how is it improv if you play all the instruments?” I thought that was a good question. Why I’m writing this in case anyone else has thought the same thing.
I used to know this band and I love them still. “I was in two minds” is an immaculate song about indecision to me. I’ve owned it forever, still good.
Half and half.
First off, when I say I’m recording while improvising, it really is true. I’m improvising the part, not necessarily the song. Djembe Funk is half-improvised, not 100 percent made up on the spot.
Make that metronome beat.
The process starts usually with a drum beat I make in Addictive Drums 2. In that plugin it’s very easy to make a beat with differentiations like chorus, bridge, verses. I don’t worry about standard formulas, but I make sure there’s some changes in the beat I start with. It’s not just one beat for 3 minutes. It changes.
(note: the version of Addictive Drums 2 I use came free with my interface.)
Drums or bass..
Once that’s made, I improvise Djembe or bass. I might play it 5 times and comp, or I might just keep one and move on.
Everything else.
Then I keep improvising. Guitars. Keyboards. Percussion. Anything that pops in my head, I’m free to try. My house, my song. You don’t hear everything I try. But that’s good! lol.
Once I have some percussion and a melody down, I mute the beat track. It did its job! Now I can just play to myself. I’ll improvise solos and song dynamics, toss in some key cymbal crashes. It is really coming together at this point.
Thoughts on Mastering.
I don’t master right now. I don’t release to streamers. I don’t think most mastering sounds great. (Some I do, but it’s not AI and it doesn’t sound slappy and overly crisp, it’s actually expensive. So, fuck it.)
There’s all kinds of videos about not mastering. If you’re not into mastering and you “don’t care,” I highly recommend getting yourself out of that hole. It does not make sense to turn your mix you worked on over to AI to make it sound worse. Don’t do it. Get a wizard, or just mix to zero. Feeding several hours worth of work to AI so it has a pixelated bow on it is an asinine behavior we made acceptable. I don’t need AI to tell me it sounds good. I have what are known as ears, and an opinion! I like using both things!
Making a The Kintners tune.
Now, I wasn’t asked about The Kintners, but since I’m in that band too, I wanted to go over how it’s different.
A Kintners song most likely starts out from a turn of phrase we like and we build some lyrics around. Keri and I keep a running list of phrases and thoughts for songs. When we get together to write, we pull up the list.
The hook.
What makes a The Kintners song happen quickly is a decent hook coming out. Songs like “This Ticket” or “Waiting” and many more started with me just singing a memorable line or two over and over adding to it. Keri is adding, I’m adding. It’s a good time.
The Kintners songs are not improv. They take a long time. Those kinds of lyrics are hard for us. But, they’re what we like when we write together. So Djembe Funk in many ways is the opposite of The Kintners. I like them both. I think I need them both. Doing whole albums with both projects at the moment.
About the album(s).
Recently I’ve discovered I like the album experience over singles. I don’t mind singles. And I reserve the right to change my mind again. But the album is more of a complete representation of good thinking. It’s not always better, but it is more complete. Since I have given up socials over a year ago, and I have found a groove with my time, I put on a lot of albums lately. I do not love every song often, but I’m getting the experience I’m after. It’s like getting to know the music. I like that. I might not love every aspect to it, but I welcome it in my life as someone’s work or vision I get to hear.
In closing…
People say, “your process is your process,” “trust the process,” and all kinds of stuff about writing and recording. Here if you need help there, but if I find a purpose the process manifests itself, every time. I no longer concern myself with “process.” I’m a purpose guy. “Why am I doing this?” I ask myself. If I like the answer, I’m off to the races.
(PS)
(By the way, the “purpose” does not have to be “serious.” It just has to be worth the time and effort. I’m worth that to myself, even for fun. When I didn’t realize this in the past, music was a lot harder. You’re worth it.)
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