Good question for thenewgreen, the most prolific songwriter on Hubski or anywhere. ButterflyEffect has been posting covers as he makes them on his home setup, as well. Maybe he has some words? Curious- what exactly is your setup? If you hate clicks, you might think of procuring some sequencing software/hardware. Live is expensive, but could probably be snagged by less reputable means (I don't endorse this personally, I like paying for the stuff that I value. But I know people who sidestep that philosophy when it comes to self-actualization). I bought an SP-555 a few years ago- great for shaping beats, although now I wish I'd gone the way of the MPC. Either way, good way to mess with rhythm/tempo until you establish the right space for your song. Tempo, in my mind, is one of the most vital ingredients to a song. If you have a great melody/chord structure, but it drags or else leaves you jogging to catch up, it can ruin the tone of the song. Likewise, finding the right tempo has in the past afforded me the necessary motivation to get going on the actual recording process. So there's that. Another trick that's worked for me in the past has been to take a song that I've already set up in my head, pick up an instrument I'm unfamiliar with, and record the song with that instrument as the basis. Each instrument forces kind of its own modal structure/theoretical rules upon the player. Furthermore, instruments with which we're too comfortable provide their own limitations re. how we approach song structure, cadence, emotion. Unfamiliar instruments help break you out of that funk, and maybe reintroduce a certain passion to the songcrafting/recording process. What kind of stuff have you done in the past? Any recordings to share?
Those are some good ideas there. I've kinda realized that I need to just spit out a basis for each thing I record before I put more refined, final things over it. For old recordings, I have some stuff that is positively ancient now, and mostly not even very representative of my music. Hence I want to record some new things.
Thanks for the shout-out. jonaswildman is a damn good home recorder too and is probably the most prolific "part creator" I know. The guy has like 700 parts/ideas he's come up with over the years. Thing is, they're mostly pretty kick ass too. I'd shout out to T-Dog who also has some major recording chops. His solo stuff is amazing and I hope he'll be sharing it for all to hear soon. Really, really great songwriting that you will dig fuffle. I left my advice in an earlier comment but may have missed this post without the shout-out, so thanks again. also: Another trick that's worked for me in the past has been to take a song that I've already set up in my head, pick up an instrument I'm unfamiliar with, and record the song with that instrument as the basis.
-Brilliant idea. I have to try this now.