Demystifying Songwriting with Ben Levin
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 12 ก.ย. 2024
- Let’s demystify songwriting! Guitarist/TH-camr/Animator Ben Levin and I wrote a song, and we documented the whole process through the initial sketch to the demo to the final live recording.
CHECK OUT THE FULL PERFORMANCE
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The beautiful band…
Jessica Kion - Vocals, Bass
Ben Levin - Guitar
Shubh Saran - also Guitar
Zac Zinger - Shakuhachi, EWI
Josh Bailey - Drums, SPD, Audio Engineering
Me - Keys, weirdly
Liz Maney - Live Videographer
Mixed by Adam Neely
Mastered by Randy Roos at Squam Sound
Hope you enjoy!
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Peace,
Adam
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Adam Neely's approach to songwriting and arrangement:
what if all the instruments were BASS
The final solution to bass players not being heard, just play with two bass guitars and a drumkit(baritone guitar is also acceptable)
Cool comment and I happened to be the 420th like.
😎
Whats up SLAPPERS
Sounds fishy.
@@Dowlphin goddamnit
Hearing the audio from our experiments next to the finished version is surreal! Beautiful work
You're both the most competentest
@@ShubhSaran I kiss you
what a lovely way to express one's trust in another human being
That moment when the video transitions in time from the demo with you singing to the whole band feeling it was magical. Kicked me right in the feels it did.
Yo Ben unrelated but where did you get to your guitar strap I like it!
We had to write a song in band this year and me and my friend wrote a cool song
HELL yeah
HOLY FUCK nice
We’re percussionists so it was all on marimba but it was really fun
This is just so wholesome
@@okuhleminyi8143 the fact adam liked it makes this wholesome comment perfect, this is great
“Ideas are kinda cheap in a way.” Agreed. Anyone can have an idea. It’s the expanding upon that little idea and the execution that really is the journey.
Also, that EWI bass sounds killer.
I've heard writers say something similar. Novices are often afraid of having their ideas stolen. Professional writers know that it's the execution that matters.
@@qwertyTRiG Somebody tell that to all these mediocre songwriters clogging the civil courts with meritless lawsuits…
In science they say ideas are important but data is priceless. You can have a clever idea but if you don't go to the hoop and do the experiments, you don't score any points. Same thing in music, only different.
Tell that to people who have no creative spark whatsoever.
Or those who agonize over being in a creative lull and then ask random people on the internet to give them ideas and then get to work on them like a car mechanic (😜) and take all the credit with at best some lip service to the one providing the idea, even though without them nothing would have emerged.
Ideas are cheap because people undersell them. A creative mind is sometimes not easily maintained. It can be a most devoted journey of torment, in part for the very reason of a predominance of craftsman snobbishness. This comes from the fact that the 'meat' of an activity, that which brings in money, is emphasized in a capitalist society perpetually concerned with sustaining your existence in a competitive environment. - In a less fear-driven system creative minds would have an easier time attaining the craft skills, and then we can examine the question about ideas being cheap again.
(It is hard to convey the depth of this topic without a proper conversation. Few people see how many of the things we think are part of the solution in fact build on the problem.)
Uploading at the same time as ben levin gives me a trolley problem level decision to make
Luckily it's not a Trolley Tom problem, otherwise we'd lose one of them
Drew Gooden and Danny Gonzalez except its JazzFusion
It seems you've made your decision, based on you commenting here.
Just multi-track drift both at once.
Both at the same time. Multi-track drifting
Make sure the chicken and paprika are in the SAME DISH
this wins
Because who wants to eat a plate of paprika?
@@aylbdrmadison1051 ✋
Gotta handle the spice if you wanna get the jazz
Make sure the chicken doesn't eat the paprika. 😜
Or try it. Who knows what will happen?
When I write songs it's seldom the riff or chord progression that I originally thought was gonna carry the song that becomes the best part of the song. The best parts are usually found in the journey when you start to build upon that original idea.
Nice comparison of incest to the creative process
Jon Wilson i was like 'pause' when i heard the first words but it makes sense i guess
1:09 Uh huh
The whole repeated feedback thing also reminds me of "I Am Sitting In A Room" - th-cam.com/video/fAxHlLK3Oyk/w-d-xo.html
@Decadent Dive Into Mindlessness : Watch the video again. You missed the point entirely.
this comment belongs in an anthony fantano video
That vocalist has the exact right voice for that song.
Tobias Sample Björk vibes.
I fucking hate how appropriate that is
She has a channel called Justice Cow. I think she's together with Ben.
Andrei White lmao
@@JosiahMcCarthy yeah they're married
How you gunna say "demystifying" with Ben Levin in the thumbnail? Dude is MYSTIFYING.
*proceeds to watch entire video*
hell yeah adam!!!
That bass EWI actually slaps. Sounds like it definitely djents.
yuuup
Djents.
Mariocise Music djent is a sub-genre of progressive metal that involves the lowest strings of guitar and bass repeating open notes. this creates the onomatopoeia of “djent djent djent”, which is where the name comes from. and basically “does it djent” is a meme in the metal community
better call Rob Scallon
I've always noticed my music is way different when composed with a friend, even if I feel like "I totally could have written that on my own" it there is a decisive difference between solo and duo music.
For sure man, keeps things interesting
The best tunes are always composed by teams. Especially in that group of tunes composed by people who don't think the other performers have anything to do with the compositions. I've been in dozens of bands since the 80's, and unfailingly the material written by people who clench onto that idea of not letting anyone else have any input are always the driest and least inspiring/inspired compositions. It also is what usually tears apart great bands.
That said, some people prefer their music dry and uninspired, and there's nothing wrong with that... as long as I don't have to listen to it personally. Unless it's Bach of course, but no one else is Bach either, so there's that.
For me personally, as an almost-non-musician, it makes the difference between dishing out some noisy dreck and being in the zone rowing a boat down the river.
It is kinda magical how my skill can vary that profoundly, albeit also frustrating, and I rarely ever have a chance to explore that, and when I do, it tends to lead down a dead end.
"Demoitis" was a common studio term from the 90's, particularly the grunge/alternative/indie era when bands favored open channels of noise in home recording to the cleaned-up common studio treatment of muting an open track when nothing was playing. Really fun video.
Can confirm. Heard a grunge track by someone. Talked to them, they said they did it years ago, then decided to remaster it with clean technique. -> Wasn't as exciting as the old one.
Process videos, let alone *collaborative* process videos are invaluable, this was really fun and informative to watch.
Adam can you make a video on jazz’s influence on rap and hip hop. And albums like Kendrick Lamar’s To Pimp A Butterfly.
Spanish Moustache . Ye but it would be cool seeing Adam do one because he’s educated on jazz. The vox lady is just a woman who likes music
lol yeah and one on the influence of atonal avant-garde on punk rock too.
David Beddoe and jAAz on uthR JaaZZ
@@davidbeddoe6670 Found the guy who hasn't heard TPaB
Black Flag showed us that avant jazz should stay out of punk. Just stop there. Although the shape of punk to come is a pretty faithful blend of the two that turned out good.
I love the way that you and Ben use your artistic differences to positively challenge one another without becoming so hung up on a detail you have created...fascinating process and really interesting arangement.
Sit in basement and wait until something good comes out, then sprinkle some paprika on it. Who knew song writing could be that easy!
Slightly Tooned ummmm I live in a basement and nothing good has come out of it and my the rest of my family used up the paprika
@@unoriginalname1166 try going into another basement and bring your paprika
if not I kinda find walks helpful. Hum random stuff out and u'll hit a theme
It worked for Bob Dylan
Inspiration comes in all sorts of ways. Don't shut yourself off from the others by leaning on just one, or even a few.
2:30 Adam was so high... and superior in harmony ways
Lol yeah
I love your guys' conversations both about and within the music! I love these collaboration videos; more guests would be awesome!
Love you, Adam, keep it up!
"when I trace back to the original thought, it's always just more of a gesture to lead you on to the trail, and its the trail that's meaningful and kinda like life."
That was beautiful
Hi Adam, a (maybe really dumb) question for the Q&A:
What Ben said at 1:41 really got me re-thinking (it's been eating at me for a while) about a question that I've asked myself for a while: Is music becoming too loopy?
Recently I went to a live show with many jazz, funk and soul bands and I noticed that their original songs were very very loopy, just a passage repeated for a bit, no lyrics, as if they meant to just write a singles short passage that someone else could sample to make a beat for them to take royalties on (like a Frank Dukes/Kingsway Music type of deal but for soul, funk and jazz music). Idk, the more I listen around I find that many recent songs (that aren't rap and hip-hop which have loopy beats for a reason) have started to become more loopy and I don't know why. What is your opinion on it? Am I going crazy? Is it just smaller bands that do this in the hope to be sampled to gain notoriety? Are they just not that talented and can't write better songs? Maybe it's beacuse they are just simply inspired by hip-hop and rap that are very loopy genres and so "loopiness" inspires other "loopines"? Or are all songs in many genres always been loopy bits here and there and I'm only just noticing it (cause releastening to my vinyls of soul and funk music from the 60s and 70s I don't find them very loopy, if anything I find the entire song more different form the littler snippet that I heard sampled in hip-hop beats)?
Sorry for that dead-sea-scroll of a question but I've been thinking about this for a while and I can't longer really enjoy newer music from specific genres without thinking that it was made to just be sampled, maybe I'm just going crazy
To me identical loops are really cheap, almost like a deception. I can remember listening to certain titles that are one segment and then an identical copy played a second time.
Even Irish folk is superior to that because there at least the repetitions are short, plenty and consecutive and then switch to something else; kind of an iconic style, and since the music is generally cheerful and fun, it's not a problem.
Dude, I've been trying for weeks to figure out the musical aesthetic for a video game I'm writing for, and this video captured what I needed PERFECTLY.
Thank you so much for sharing this!!
Hey Adam, I just want to thank you for making my passion for music reignite. I played piano for about 2 years, but my teacher never went further than time signatures on the subject of music theory, so I just repeated over and over again the same old and boring songs, without knowing why. (I know, repetition legitimizes, but you got my point)
Watching your videos and seeing things like harmonization, odd time signatures, polyrhythms and stuff made me curious, so I started to study music theory on my own and dang.... I'm in love.
I'm gonna take back my piano this week and get back to practice, after 5 long years.
So, thank you for making me get back to a thing that's so important to me: music and creativity
"Habsburg Music" - music that consists of high amount of decisions, traceable to a particular individual and his "style". My bass is my chin!
Hapsburg Music - Music that has been inbred to the point of being non-functional.
@William Cordell : Pretty sure you just nailed Adam's exact point.
Adam faces at 10:06
- Oh yes, yes, incest
- Wait, what?
- Don't make me edit this out
- Oh I see, I see
10:13
- Bruuuuuhh
Adam and Ben's friendship is so dope, really envy that creative chemistry you guys have.
Lowkey any and every Adam Neely video, if anything, makes me excited to grab my keyboard and play around with it, really gives me the motivation to try to compose something new. Much love.
same but with my electric guitar, except i'm sad that he h8s guitar, and lately i've started to come up with nothing but riffs on the upper 3 strings (basically bass groves). i just realized this now. 😅
The way Ben sits makes me uncomfortable
Hi
same absolutely love that guy though
Good
ive seen the man in your profile picture in my dreams before
It does have that, "I dont want to show my panties" vibe.
Really enjoyed this video, just like you I enjoy process video's, it help me to make new music because of a lot of insight you gain through these video's, and it is also just fun watching you guys be creative.
God I love Zac Zinger's playing on everything he plays.
My process:- Part 1(lyrics) :come up with some words, write down.
Part 2 (music- almost never at same time as lyrics or with any thought for them): Pick up guitar (or load some piano sounds to keys) and play; notice something sounds good; make it longer.
Part 3 (combining): realize that this sound fits mood of some words I wrote and add them, editing to fit.
Interesting! Do you write the lyrics first to establish some kind of mood? So you can find the musical ideas more easily?
Thanks guys. Really insightful from being part of the singer songwriter ilk. I’ve been in writer’s pause for about 2 years, not stressing over it but finding it a curious break. Your piece has been very inspirational.
Now I really want a singer-songwriter song from you.
"watching people live takes the life out of me'
woah, that's pretty deep ain't it
As deep as still waters, mnig.
Does that depend on the reader or on the intention of the writer? 🤔
This guy is awsome. Your channel is a gold mine. Inspired me to start making my own music (even though its not the best rn lol) Really glad you decided to bring your musical knowledge to the rest of the world. 🙏
"Ideas are kind of cheap, in a way." Ben is nailing the role of work in songwriting. It's his version of Edison's famous aphorism, "Genius is 1 percent inspiration and 99 percent perspiration." Thanks for showing us the work process here, and how much a basic idea can be transformed both in the revision process by the writers, and in the recording process by the performers. The song (on Ben's channel) is cool, too. The parts were well recorded. The mix maybe could use some work making spectral space for the vocal. -Tom
That main riff reminds me a lot of, "My Favorite Things," the Coltrane version.
Gonna go listen to the song now, but it was fascinating watching you make it. Thank you!
Really like the sound of that Cma9#11 to the Em9 (somehow when you played it I knew it was F#) I've been in quarantine for almost 3 weeks and your videos have been my musical sanity saver. Thanks and great job on the tune to you and Ben!
0:56 this is stuck in my head now, I looped it and played half an hour over it. Nice
Yeh. Feel free to just rip this, record yourself playing over it for ten minutes and upload it somewhere, then share the link. Let me meditatively nod to what you do. I don't care if good.
@@onkelpappkov2666 it's not mine, I just played this part using looper and improvised playing E dorian over it for fun, unlike their jazzy take on it. I'm also not a pro, guitar playing is my hobby.
@@_-Skeptic-_ Same. I just like listening to people improvise over a beat.
EWI (electronic wind instrument)?
Yes
I cannot come up with a good pun involving fart here.
Woe my artist block! 😥 😆
Ben's commentary is insightful and spot on in regards to the writing process.
I never understood how "collabs" worked before watching this video (cos' i always work alone). Seeing it happen made me understand it so much more and now i wanna try it...
I never understood how creative collabs could *not* work ... until I joined a fandom with overrepresented autism.
That short jam around 10:30 reminds me of some finest John Frusciante solo work. I've been loving this kind of approach ever since I came across his music. It's absolutely amazing. I'm amazed by your taste and skills!
Ben Levin is an example of a guy that is easy going, but is way more talented than you expect at first. But, you'll never really get him to admit his talent, because he's too busy just getting it done.
This has straight up changed my perception (years of it) of creative process. And I’m not even halfway through. More, please. Please.
More.
i love artist interviews about how the wrote songs but my favorite is always "in the studio" documentaries. i'll even watch them about bands i don't like simply because i love to see the process of writing and recording. seeing th space, both mentally and physically, that it was created in gives a whole new context to the songs. this was a neat experience in that i watched this before Ben's video of the live session, so i was going in to that already knowing how it was written. also, "watching people live takes the life out of me" is such a damn good line. props to Ben on that one, that's definitely one i wish i had written.
Zac Zinger is fucking amazing, the big band swing arrangements he made for monster hunter is impressive, I truly recommend you hear it
A fantastic insight into the process odf songwriting which gave me some inspiration as well. I'm probably gonna sit down with my drummer and do something in that fashion. I also loved the song, fantastic work!
“I was thinking about it more visually” *proceeds to give flavor analogy*
I dig this Adam... I dig your apartment recording vibe with cool people... that Ben dude is seriously well spoken...
Bent Knee are truly genius, and I was so surprised to see Ben on your channel, but so grateful. Part of creation is just putting something out there, and in that I've always struggled. Can one truly be a creative if they never actually finish and share a project? Something like this is so fascinating and cathartic to see, as comparing Ben's Demo to my own, I see both stark differences but comforting similarities. This video has helped me realise that no idea comes truly fully formed, but also that a mind alone can stifle. The creativity and feedback of others is part of the development process, and without it music can feel incomplete. Time for me to make the swan dive and release...
yes!!! i love bent knee!!!!!! they opened for thank you scientist at a concert i saw in june i love them dude
Thank you so much Adam and Ben for sharing all your love for music. It made me a better musician (work in progress). You teach invaluable precious lessons.
I really enjoy these video about the creative process.
Watching Ben videos are awesome. Ben creating multiple instruments songs using notations over 5h videos....That was epic 💪😎
I love how everything started from basically "My favourite things" and became that B♭ paprika spiced rack.
So glad I discovered Ben on your channel. He looks like half the j'udes I met and chilled with while living in NYC. But none of them were 1/50th the musician Ben is. Well 1 was close...
Your channel has been a huge help in both information and motivation to fill in the musical theory gaps. This video was one of such examples, in a more practical sense, and it helped go past the impostor syndrome and start recording. Thanks Adam and Ben!
WOOOO THAT EWI BASS SYNTH WAS FUCKING INSANE. I didn’t know I needed more EWI bass in my life in this.
Thankful to you both for the continuous stream of inspiring videos. Just listened to the full track. It’s beautiful.
Hi Adam, this is a great video! The process up to Ben's demo is really well-documented, but I think this video's blind spot is how you turned that demo into this beautiful arrangement. I wonder if this was a case of humbleness? Arranging is such an important skill, and very different from the free-flowing workflow at the inception of a song. I think you arranged this song beautifully and that process could have been covered a bit in this video, not as a "how-to" of arranging, but in the style of process-documentation. You've made videos about arranging before, but it would have been cool to see it contained in a broader process-documentation video.
I always love seeing your behind the scenes process stuff. It kinda gives people who also want to make music examples of how the process could be done.
I really like all your content, but this one was particularly awesome. Would love to see more of these. Very revealing, loved it.
I love how the music you tubers like Jackob Haq, Rick Beato and Adam Neely always collaborate with other music you tubers. Keep up the spirit of love for music, ONR LOVE!
I heard the song on Bens channel and loved it, seeing the birth of it here is so great. You two work so well with each other, more please,?!…
I love videos like this letting us in on the process like a fly on the wall and even here garnished with the added bonus of Adams intelligently guided commentary. Must be amazing and rewarding to be on that level of both musical and communicative skills :-)
This is one of my favourite videos you two have ever made. Great insights, great song, great guys and gal.
More, more, more! This collective and Bent Knee-- just too fuckin good!
Ben is a mad genius, love his work and I am so excited for new Bent Knee. Def check them out if you haven't!
I always had a similar feeling for the black keys but I love the spice rack analogy!
That was just great, honestly. I'm an aspiring songwriter and this was a cool look into how musicians I admire approach the process. And, it's a good lesson in how to be a more constructive collaborator yourself. Cheers Adam and Ben!
wait, is this....is this a 4/4 song in Adam Neely's channel? this is more odd than polyrithmic jugling (babe)
Zack killed it! EWI sounds awesome (btw, cool to have some insight in your songwriting with a very nice result)
the EWI slaps tbh
Mah boi Zack!
I read some interviews from the 1980s, which called them an EVI, so now I want to know when the term EWI became most common!
I can't begin to accredit how much I have learned from Adam Neely, as not all of it is quantifiable knowledge and is nothing less than wisdom. And now, thanks to Adam, I am being blown away by Ben, who is just so cool. This Dude seriously and viscerally gets into his music. He could get a music degree in Africa on African musical theory that Adam stated was beyond his own abilities.
The one thing I have come to learn about music that I used to be really uptight about is that there are no rules to music only preferences. That the mathematics of harmony and melody are less important than the feel, for the feel is why we play music in the first place. Therefore, knowing the mathematics only helps better explain or communicate how the musician achieved the feel of the tone poem. You can have all the math you want, if ya ain't got the feel, its meaningless. And in accruing the math, one must be aware of its potential to rob you of the feel if you do not keep it in proper supportive context of the feel. If you notice this happen, I would suggest try forgetting or ignoring the math if you like how it sounds.
While the language of music may not be universal, as different cultures have different philosophical approaches, I wonder if it is more fair to say that the feeling of music is universal.
This was lovely and inspiring! Thank you!,
Awesome video! Good to see Ben using the semi-hollow telecaster, I love that guitar :)
Thank you Adam. Please do more of these "process" or "behind the scenes" videos.
ben levin is definetly right about any small idea having the potential to be a good song, what we should take from that is that ideas are cheap, so the only good ones are the ones that make you excited to work on them.
7:22 I think your idea on switching roles with the bass is a very good idea! It refreshes. I'm kind of inspired to do it myself. Been a long time out of the whole production stuff but maybe it's time to get back into it again. I need to get some stuff produced. Like for instance, I'm practicing arpeggio's now, but I'd rather just make a ''winsprint'' and produce something out of it rather than to become an good guitarist. Great video. Wid is different for everyone but the effect of quitting a year was for me so overwhelming good, that I'd recommend it to anyone. But you seem pretty assured in terms of what needs to be done and what needs to happen in your life. So d hll with it smke on.
I got Grammarly and too lazy to use it lol
I saw the notification and I thought it said Defying songwriting lol
It was cool seeing the creative juices flowing.😎
Cool song! And I'm definitely looking forward to hearing Adam and Ben tackling on acoustic singer-songwriter type of stuff.
This was rad to watch! It's so hard to get over that social awkwardness when jamming with others- it's really encouraging to hear that happens even with pros. Thanks for sharing. :D
LOL, "THE TOP 1%!!" I love Ben.
Come for the music, stay for the Bernie impressions
There is a top 1% that does not treat that other top 1% like a meme.
I knew I recognized some of these musicians! I saw Bent Knee open for Haken in New Orleans last year and bought two of their records on the spot! Such a talented and unique group. Glad that this tune keeps that quality up.
Wow! Been watching for a long time, but this video was compressed magic!
3 day the song is on repeat in spotify !!! that ending is EPIC !
that was a great video! thanks Adam! always amazing...................BASS
The new "MORE COWBELL" should be "MORE SHAKUHACHI"
I wrote a 30 track Haiku album of 30 seconds songs this year. I totally agree, anything is good for writing as long as there is inspiration. A single guitar line started it all. Love the vibes of your song! 😊
Please more of this type of videos please!!
Love it...this kind of content is so inspiring. Thank you for sharing.
I’m a simple gal, I see Ben Levin, I click
EDIT: Not disappointed 5:53
Edit 2: again.. 11:23
Love the song, love this video, and would love to see more videos like this in the future. I’m inspired to write a song now. Thank you
Please do more videos of the songwriting process. When I first started it was the most frustrating and unencouraging thing ever. I've gotten a lot better when I realized that songwriting is a totally different skill that just simply playing an instrument can't teach you.
Man this video was super dope and right on time for me! Thanks!
Perfect. I'm currently working, seriously for the first time, on a song. I've been writing for a few days like a maniac, and every time I think of something clever I immediately find some pen, paper, or pull up my phone to point it down.
I did, I did enjoy this, Adam. Always hitting pleasantly close to home.
Mastered by Randy Roos!!! Dude, Minstrel was way ahead of its time!! Dude Shreds! Y’all are dope. -Foley Lou.,KY
When he said it's harder to compose with multiple people I know that feeling had to lead a band of 4 people (wow I know really big) and the ideas we agreed upon took some time to come up with.
This is GOLD! Very inspiring.
This was awesome! Thanks for sharing your process man! Much love!