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Lorraine Juhl writes about ideas and concepts, software and methods she uses for creating her songs.
Left: Lorraine Juhl at her desktop mini home studio. Photo September 2023
My Methods of Creating Songs
by Lorraine Juhl
Introduction
In 2000, I discovered a new way of listening to music by The Who. Up until 1979 I had been listening to music via LP records. Thereafter I acquired quite a collection of Pete Townshend’s solo works of music and the entire original works of music by The Who on CD (compact disk) until 2007, and a few in 2022.
I became increasingly aware from 2000 onward a new way of listening to music was emerging - the MP3. One of my earliest exposures to the MP3 were songs I listened to in MP3 format by Pete Townshend, such as, *Kids Are Alright’ (MP3 audio: 7.63MB), Pinball Wizard (MP3 Audio: 2.56MB), etc. at a website from the collection of Pete’s Diaries at www.petetownshend.com, where I was able to download MP3’s and a music player to listen to music. I became quite fascinated with this new way of listening to music. Impressed with the relatively new invention of the MP3 and also learning more about Pete Townshend's profession in music and audio recording, I explored further the possibility of becoming involved in digital audio recording.
I had been songwriting from around 2002 onward for fun as well as therapeutic reasons. Initially, I wrote lyrics and music for guitar, and used staff paper which I wrote notes on by hand, as a way of making a recording of my songs. Although handwritten guitar rhythms and guitar tabs were not the most elegant way of recording my songs for playback with guitar, the self made sheet music served the purpose of remembering how to play my songs.
Left: Lorraine Juhl's handwritten sheet music for her song 'Road With No Name', June 2005.
Eventually I discovered an alternative way of recording music, which could be saved in a wave file and burned to CD and MP3 format. From various sources, I found a few ideas, learned a few concepts and discovered software tools. I came across a few ideas from Pete’s Diaries at the website www.petetownshends.com published between July 2000 and August 2002. I subscribed to ‘Recording Magazine - The magazine for recording musicians’ and received my first issue entitled ‘Get Into Guitar Recording’ July 2001; I acquired an issue of ‘Electronic Musicians - Endless Loops’ June 2002; and an issue of ‘Virtual Studio - Buyer’s Guide’ Sept, 18 2002. The internet was also a viable source for educational information and various products related to music. Making an audio recording of my songs seemed fascinating and fun, as well as constructive and therapeutic.
Left: Recording - The magazine for the recording musician, July 2001
Ideas and Software
Around 1976 I had a simple 1 track cassette recorder which I used to record my guitar playing of excerpts of The Who’ Tommy, such as ‘Overture’, ‘Pinball Wizard’ and ‘Amazing Journey’. Using a cassette recorder to playback my guitar playing improved my playing. Pushing the record, stop and play button was simple and straightforward.
Between 2000 and 2001, I became aware after studying and learning to play with guitar the entire rock opera ‘Tommy’ by The Who that many songs were composed with more than one guitar part. Initially I wondered how Pete Townshend played two or more guitars in simile. And, later realised by carefully listening that the various rhythmic and lead guitar parts were recorded via multiple recordings.
I had limited space and limited finances to afford large professional audio hardware recording systems as advertised. Let alone, audio hardware systems seem a bit overwhelming. At the time I owned a Windows 95/98 platform which I was more familiar with and accustomed to using. In the autumn of 2001, I came across affordable multitrack recording software for guitar players compatible with Windows 95/98 desktop platform, Cakewalk Guitar Tracks 2, which is quite like many of the multitracking recording software advertised today in 2023.
Cakewalk came with a well written manual. ‘Guitar Tracks - getting started’ which clearly explained all the features and how to use them. I was delighted by the ease of use and appreciative of the multitrack recording software designed specifically for guitar players.
A few concepts I learned about digital audio recording were from Pete’s Diaries at www.petetownshend.com. One of the first ideas I applied to digital audio recording using Cakewalk Guitar Track 2 was slowing down the tempo of an audio CD without changing the pitch. A feature I found useful when playing guitar along with a track from ‘Tommy’ by The Who while practising. I am looking forward to the day various streaming services such as Tidal, Spotify, etc include such a feature for music MP3 (podcast) streaming. Other concepts I could apply were making small pieces of instrumental music, acid loops, sampling rate and ultimately posting MP3’s at a website.
Other equipment I acquired was a desktop microphone which could be connected to the audio input of the Windows 95/98 platform. The microphone had a frequency response from ca. 44 HZ to 20,000HZ, which was ample for the human ear. I also acquired stereo headphones and a pair of desktop speakers which could be connected to the audio input of the Windows platform.
Methods
I had been songwriting from around 2002 onward for fun as well as therapeutic reasons. Lyrics to my songs are mainly derived from my experiences with people and events, and emotional feelings with some imagination blended in. My creative moments are rather whimsical and unpredictable, but need alone time to explore any creativity.
One of my more popular, liked songs is ‘Road With No Name’ which I wrote the lyrics and music for. When I am writing a song, I usually start with writing the lyrics in rhyme, and then come up with the music. Since I write music for guitar, I will work out for guitar one or more rhythms for which I will use for the various parts of a song. I compose variations of rock music, therefore I follow rock music form: Intro, verse, chorus, guitar solo, etc. When I hear a rhythm I like, I jot it down on handwritten staff paper.
When I have one or more guitar rhythms which I am satisfied with, I will then make an audio recording of my song. I may record a few takes before finally choosing which audio recording is best to save. Before making an audio recording, I first make a few adjustments, such as set the tempo, choose the sampling rate for CD quality of 44100 HZ, and adjust the volume. I choose a track to make a recording and either make a complete guitar recording of my entire song or I make guitar recording pieces for the verse, chorus, etc. and then copy and paste duplicate pieces, sequencing them to various movements in the song. The first method creates a more natural sound, but requires I practise the song before making a recording while the second method is more efficient, but may sound more machinelike.
My songs typically have vocals and some of my songs are written for one or more guitar parts and other musical instruments. Using a multitrack recorder comes in rather handy for making audio recordings of a song. Cakewalk Guitar Track 2 provided 8 tracks. After recording the rhythm guitar part on say track 1, recording of a lead guitar solo could be done on say track 2 while listening to the first track through headphones. The same procedure can be done for recording the vocals on say track 3. Editing features can be used to, for example, clip out the sound of the desktop computer mouse at the ending of the song while muting tracks temporarily can be used to turn off one or more instruments in the ensemble.
When the project was completed the tracks could be easily mixed down to either wave format for CD quality or MP3 format, and saved for either downloading to the platform or uploaded to a website. For my song ‘Road With No Name’ Listen to the track here.
In 2023 I came up with a new way of working out a song by making use of the many commercially available software packages available for such devices as Ipad. Take for instance, Garageband multitrack recording software which supports a wide variety of musical instruments. With this device I can quickly and easily ‘jot down’ my ideas for guitar rhythms and solos by making a short 4 to 8 measure recording as a way of remembering. At a later time I can use my desktop multitrack system to complete and finalise my songs.
Lately I have been using the multitracking recording software, Soundtrap, which is compatible with my desktop PC. With Soundtrap, I can simply make an audio recording of my guitar playing, vocals, and also make use of pre-recorded pieces of musical instruments such as drums, piano, violin, etc, to create a more full ensemble. When my song is completed I can mix the tracks and make music podcasts either in wav or MP3 format and save them in my project. The podcasts in MP3 format can be posted at a music web service..
Since the beginning of 2023, I have been using Soundtrap for making audio recordings of my songs. I have been posting both my songs from 2004, 2006 and 2023 to a music service. My songs can be listened to at the music service Soundcloud.
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