Category — My Songwriting Demos

Parker likes to freestyle in the studio.  “Yeah baby” and “Put your hands in the air like you just don’t care!” are some favorite quips of hers.  SHE’S FIVE!

I guess it doesn’t help that her favorite song is “Insane In The Membrane” by Cypress Hill.  Daddy’s fault.

Anywho, here’s a “chill out” (listen on headphones, repetitive themes that sloooooow yooooou doooooown) tune I whipped up from some of her freestyle riffs in my studio.  It’s repetitive yes, but hey, I had little to work with

Get a glass of wine and put on the headphones and chill out for three and half minutes.  Not bad for a five year old.

Spring.mp3

A friend asked for a copy of this a few days ago…didn’t realize I hadn’t put it online.  Recorded somewhere around 1996, just a simple demo I did.

Cigarette Away.mp3

So I wrote a little chord progression for a song, and my boys Ben Smith and Matt Parmenter decided to make it happen one night.  They just slapped some stuff on top of my riff and this is the result.

I laughed my ass off when I heard this.  No, it’s not PC.  So what?  It was pretty funny considering all they had was the piano track.  I am not sure, but that may be me playing the drums..

Enjoy “Shake for Me” ’cause I know I did.

Shake For Me.mp3

Around The Block.mp3

I added a little instrumentation and remixed this years-old Acid track in Logic Pro.  Used the opportunity to learn about FX automation (note the vocal delays) – so it was a good learning experience. 

How Do I Get Through.mp3

This was an experiment I did last weekend.  Jon Mellen and I modified the lyrics and music to one of his tunes, just coming up with a verse and a chorus.  We then recorded it over a piano and a click.

I then used Logic 8 and an assortment of plugins and virtual instruments to test a full production.  Turned out ok, considering it’s the first time doing this on the Mac and with Logic.

I did get to use some cool tools while doing this, including:

• Softube’s Amp Room (on rhythm guitars) and Acoustic Feedback (on the lead guitar)
• Steinberg’s Virtual Guitarist 2 (acoustic guitars)

If we were going to finish this, we’d obviously write a couple of more verses, but you get the idea.  Repetitive, but hey, it was a test project.

The Voices.mp3

Megan and I worked on some more tunes last night.  Other than a misdirected mic (don’t ask!), no more tech woes.  This is a song I wrote about fifteen years ago.  Megan picked it up and comped on the keys while she sang.  With a little work I think we’ll have a pretty nice track. 

Same Look Twice.mp3

After we got over some of our technical issues, we recorded this through a Neumann TLM 103 into a DBX 586 tube pre (not my favorite pre, I am going to get an Avalon soon I hope).  One mic, ambient, just a songwriter and her craft. Next time I capture this talented singer I will do a much better job (probably a different mic) but one can still hear the potential on this track.  She’s awesome.  

Foolish.mp3

“The first lie, was not the last lie..”

Written in 1991 or 1992, a tape deck special.

Friendly Fire.mp3

Written after the first gulf war.  Another one of those sequenced keyboard things with just a mic and cassette player.

A Classical Christmas.mp3

Recorded in 1992, this is a sequenced, semi-classical track that I wrote around Christmas in 1991.  Just a keyboard.