> Intro > Practice > Recording > Playback & Ideas > Reviewing & Autozap
Introduction
In the Songzap Artist Series, we feature a number of short films with exciting contemporary songwriters, harnessing the power of Songzap to capture ideas and make demos of their songs. The films revolve around interviews with the artists, letting us in on the sources of their inspiration and breaking down the workflows of how they craft their songs.
The artists get down to some fascinating song-craft, tracking amazing performances, layering them and exploring different aspects of Songzap – from shaping their arrangements with tasteful drum programming, to experimenting with the app’s AI session players to bring additional keys and bass textures to their vision. We couldn’t fit all the amazing footage into the films, so here in the Songzap blog, we’ve put together some extra ‘behind the scenes’ videos that take you deeper into the stories of how their songs came to life.
In this post, we provide a breakdown of Ethan Ash‘s ‘Cry Baby’ demo – a song that he performs and records on guitar and voice using only an iPhone, with the help of RT60 directors Dr Mike and Prof Rob. Watch the ‘making of’ video below and enjoy Ethan’s exciting performances, as he gets to grips with Songzap, jams with Mike, then exports all of the song’s assets to continue working with Rob and Mike in the studio.
We met Ethan Ash at Half-ton Studios in Cambridge, England for a two-day recording session with the aim of capturing some of his new material. On the first day, we used Songzap to track demos of his new songs and interview Ethan about his experience using the app, as well as his influences, workflow and sources of inspiration. Ethan had not used Songzap (V2) at all before this date, so it was great filming him as he got creative with the app and laid down some incredible performances.
Practice (00:12 – 02:02)
Ethan kicks off the video by working out a transition from the Chorus into the post-Chorus hook. With Mike’s help, they count the number of bars needed and try out a few variations, then Mike programs a series of simple beat patterns using Songzap’s Arrange page and the Percussion sample pack (available from the Groove page’s ‘Beat’ pane, via the Select Drum Kit menu) to prepare a rhythmic guide for the recording. The percussion kit (consisting of cajon, bongo, shaker and a cymbal crash) seems an ideal fit for Ethan’s acoustic/blues vibe, so Ethan and Mike have a fun practice run throughout the structure, keeping a close ear on their ‘virtual percussionist’, with Mike shouting out the song sections and Ethan nailing the groove on the guitar. It’s nice to hear how helpful the percussion guide is for time-keeping simply blasting out of the iPhone speaker (especially that off-beat shaker), while the occasional cymbal hit helpfully ‘announces’ the arrival of new sections keeping everyone on-track.
Recording (02:02 – 03:02)
With the practice run comfortably under his belt, Ethan is ready to begin ‘tracking’ (recording tracks). As he’s used to performing vocals and guitars together, he puts on his headphones and first records both elements simultaneously on Track 1, using the iPhone mic and Songzap’s Tracking page. Ethan captures this track purely as a guide , so Mike helps him set up a comfortable headphone balance (with relatively loud percussion and a reduced Track 1 level using Songzap’s Mixer) before the next recording. This time, Ethan records his acoustic guitar part throughout the song on Track 2. With the guitar successfully tracked, Mike turns the guitar-and-voice guide (from Track 1) down completely and Ethan proceeds to record his lead vocal on Track 3. As the camera sits behind Ethan’s head, it’s great to notice his consistent microphone technique (he keeps a solid distance from the iPhone mic and pulls back to varying degrees when he gets more dynamic or shouts), as well as the Arrange segments that helpfully roll out at he bottom of the Tracking screen, providing a visual guide of the arrangement.
Playback & Ideas (03:02 – 05:57)
03:02 – 04:44
The team listen back – excitedly – to the recordings and consider tracking another layer. They place the iPhone near Ethan’s guitar amp (with the iPhone mic pointing down towards the cabinet at an angle) and Ethan works out an electric guitar part to complement the acoustic guitar recording. They record this using Songzap’s Tracking page, on Track 4.
04:44 – 05:05
Safe in the knowledge that they don’t require Ethan’s original guide – the one he captured on Track 1 – anymore, Ethan and Mike jam out a piano idea to record over Track 1. (Rob actually duplicates the song first in Songzap to create a backup!)
05:05 – 05:56
Mike arms Track 1 on the Tracking page and records a funky upright piano part with rhythmic stabs and some bluesy fills. What we hear in the video as Mike’s tracking is his headphone mix; then Mike proceeds to balance the new piano recording against the percussion and Ethan’s voice and guitars using Songzap’s Advanced Mixer. He uses the Track 1 fader to blend the piano in, and also adds some reverb and compression.
Reviewing & Autozap (05:57 – 08:20)
05:57 – 07:14
After a quick mix, Ethan listens back to the full arrangement, switching between Songzap’s Tracking, Mixer and Arrange pages. He checks out the piano recording (and the full mix) and comments on how intuitive he’s found the process of laying down the demo for ‘Cry Baby’.
07:14 – 08:04
Ethan then taps the ‘Z’ (Autozap / Songzap AI) button to generate some bass and additional keyboard parts. He checks the percussion parts in the ‘Beat’ pane of the Groove page, then the chord chart Songzap generated out of his acoustic guitar recording, and tries out a few keyboard sounds from the Select Pad Sample Pack menu in the Groove page’s ‘Pad’ pane. He loads the Mellochoir patch but eventually settles on the Rhodes sound, which suits the style of the song and the acoustic recordings. The team also opt for the Double Bass sample pack in the ‘Bass’ pane of the Groove page to fill out the bottom end of the mix, trying out a few different patterns triggered by Songzap’s chord analysis. Ethan reflects on the subtlety that Songzap’s AI offers, letting songwriters experiment and blend in additional musical ideas that enrich an arrangement.
08:04 – 08:20
The team export all song data to the cloud, using the Export page’s Archive button, and import the high-resolution (uncompressed) audio files – acoustic and electric guitar, voice, piano, percussion, and the generated Rhodes electric piano and double bass – into the studio computer’s digital audio workstation (DAW).
Check out the DAW mix from the original Songzap recordings below – a fantastic record of Ethan’s songwriting craft, performing ability and collaborative spirit.
And if you haven’t already, watch Ethan’s full interview below as part of the Songzap Artist Series films.
