Song Q&A

How this one started

I started with 8 bars and four tracks of looped sounds. It sounds a bit like how it sounds in the busiest section of the song now. But then I started playing with the arrangement and moved the sounds around quite a bit. The basic structure was a combination of women’s vocals alternating with men’s vocals, and I found a lot of clips or samples from the male vocalist that sounded kind of similar and seemed to contribute a similar vibe. And then I added in a lot of different instruments and sounds and fillers and automations to make the song a little more interesting.

What did this track teach you?

I’m always learning so many things about production that it is hard to catalog them. One thing that happened earlier in this song was that I had a lot of vocal clips that weren’t really working with each other very well. I had to simplify the song quite a bit to make them sound good together. Also, another piece of feedback I received early on was that the beginning was a little bit dull, and I think that was totally right on. I had to start the song with the themes of the song more immediately.

There were a lot of rhythmic issues that needed a lot of fine-tuning and some loudness and sound issues where things sounded very different on different speakers. Mostly I was able to clear those up pretty well and I learned a lot in the process.

Lyrics you’re especially proud of?

I didn’t write any of the lyrics but rather found them. I do really like the “like a better man” lyric. And the “we can’t find the balance” chorus was really lovely, I thought.

What sounds or textures define this track?

I don’t really know the proper names for some of the sounds in the track, but there is a sort of almost bell-like sound in the background, some rhythmic background sounds, and a bass. And one of the things I like a lot was the interplay between the rhythm and the lyrics and the rhythm in some of these background sounds. I found them on Splice and changed them up quite a bit. Another sound that kind of defines the track is some of the very deep vocals, and those were heavily manipulated samples that were slowed down so the voice became a lot deeper and more distorted.

Was there a moment you knew this one was good?

I rarely find that my confidence in the quality of a song correlates to its actual quality. And I find that my feelings about a song can shift significantly. I’ve had times where I thought this song was actually good and times I’ve thought it’s terrible. I try not to dwell on that too much and just focus on creating the best piece I can and making every piece better and learning from each thing I do. There is a section towards the end where the lyrics start talking about being in the club or something like that. And I feel like that was the part where I felt like it was really coming together.

What’s the song about?

I added lyrics about halfway through working on this song, and just loved the lyrics, especially the “like a better man” refrain. I think everyone will take from it what they like, but for me I appreciated the self-reflection and self-doubt in that phrase. And also what it reveals in how he sees himself.