NUR EIN a million years ago…
Back in March of 2006, I entered a competition with some of the people who hang out at Songfight called “Nur Ein“. It was an interesting project to say the least!
The basic idea was to have 25 or so contestants write original material based on a title that was provided by the organizers within five days. You had to write the song, record it, and post it up as an mp3 to qualify. The judges would then vote on the merits of each tune and eliminate entries that didn’t cut the mustard. A further kink to the game was that each title had a “challenge” that had to be met.
I did okay in this thing, I ended up in the final round, where I came in second to Glenn Case…24 votes to 22. Calfborg placed a respectable third with 14.
This project represents the only time I worked on a series of material in a focused and sequential manner as a solo writer/performer. I think it represents the most comprehensive and solid work I’ve done yet, and it’s been the inspiration for the latest project I am working on, which I simply call “100″. I’ll get to more about 100 later, but for now… Nur Ein!
What I’m going to do here is post a link to the mp3 of the song as I entered it, identify the challenge, and spew about about what I was trying to do! Overall, while I think the sound and mixes are decent, I am not happy with the harshness of the drums in particular, and the mix overall. Bearing in mind that I had five days to try and pull this stuff off and it was recorded in a garage, these are small criticisms. Still… I’m one of those guys that wants to do it my best… and since the ceiling on “my best” is always climbing, there’s always something to tweak!!
Challenge: Include Handclaps
How I faired:Tied for second (82 pts) with Wrekdom and Sven Mullet. Thornberry took the cake with 83 pts.
My Approach: This was my first entry, and I wanted to show a side of me that I don’t think was too familiar with my fellow songfighters. I’m pretty big on heavy riffs and rockin tunes, but I also have a great love for Canadian bands like The Northern Pikes and The Grapes of Wrath with their countrified rock… coupled with a few years of slinging out classic rock in the local bars I thought this would be a fun direction to start. I also wanted to meld my love of the Clash, and present a tune that would announce my presence in Nur Ein! The title was damn tricky, and I did what I could to tell my story without feeling too cheesy! The handclaps are everyone in my family, clapping together into a room mic, which gives it that loose quality. I had fun with this one, and was pretty happy with the end result.
Challenge: Lyrics can not Rhyme
How I faired: I won this round with 71 pts!
My Approach: You know, I can hear some Sabbath in here, and some Nirvana, a little Rage too. This song is an amalgamation of a lot of my influences from my early twenties… The main verse riff is actually influenced by the Beastie Boys though!! I really dig this tune. After I was finished, I wasn’t super happy with the way the last verse came into play…it felt like it “just happened”. Really, I had no clear cut idea how to meld that together. I still think it works, but I also think it could have used a little… something. But hey, that’s what happens when you have five days… compromises! Still, this is one of my favourites from this session. I’ve been thinking of re-doing this one sometime… I think it’s a good track, with even more potential! Interestingly, my voice was totally gruff on this puppy cause I ended up doing the vocals at 1 am… but I think that fits the direction of the tune!
Challenge: Opposite Sex Vocals
How I faired: I won immunity from this round… good thing too, Ross Durand’s entry was kick ass!!
My Approach: This is the first track that I tried to create my own loops with. I went for a radically different approach, at least for me! Usually, when I’m tracking instruments, I go for complete performances… I start the recorder, I play the part, I hit stop. I’m a little more liberal with guitar parts, but drums are usually front to back takes. I wanted to get brave on this one, so I recorded a bunch of drum tracks, and then selected grooves I liked and made “loops”. I really started to enjoy the process of making my own loops, so I started doing the same thing with the bass and keyboard tracks too! It was a lot of fun. For the challenge, I got my wife Dana to do some super sexy, breathy vocals for the track. Basically, my interpretation of “El Balazo (the shot)” was to work with it lyrically as if the male was trying to get his “shot” with the female. The rap portion of the tune makes me shudder… I’d love to blame it on the time constraints…but it’s really cause I’m not Mr. HipHop!! Some day I gotta remix this one and scrap those!! haha! I love Dana’s vox on it though, and the bass line is slinky fun! I really had a great time working on this with Dana too!
Challenge: Plagiarize from the Jurors
How I faired: Won the round with 40 pts.
My Approach: Well, if El Balazo was the start of my fling with homemade, organic loops, then Like a Villain was the affair!! Now I didn’t mention this before, but the primary reason for this looping of the drums was simply because I was getting paranoid about pissing my neighbours off with all the racket!! I figured cutting some drum tracks and then messing with them in cubase would minimize the noise. For this track, the first thing I did was track a variety of drum grooves. I then tracked a variety of riffs to a click track. Over the next two days, I played with the guitar tracks and the drum tracks, seeing which ones would work together, and how I wanted the arrangement to flow. At the same time, I poured over the lyrical selections available on the Songfight lyric archives for each juror. I think I did a great job of telling a story while still using other people’s words. The chorus is mine, all the verses come from each of the four jurors previous entries on Songfight. At this point in time… I can only recall that Niveous was a juror! This is definitely my favourite track from Nur Ein. I love this piece!
Challenge: Bass Solo
How I faired: Tied for second with Ken Mahru (18 pts). Calfborg crushed the opposition with 26 pts.
My Approach: I was pushing the envelope on time and energy on this one… and I really think I was lucky to scrape by this part of the competition. I was trying for some kinda Stevie Ray vibe, but this track is the weakest of the bunch. I was tired, tired tired! It shows… the riffs and drums are not connected, the lyrics are pointless… yeah. I’m not a fan of this one! Still… I do like the verses… they should be their own song! I think there’s lots of good ideas in this track, but I just didn’t have the time (with work) to really nail the parts. I like where I was going, I just don’t think I got there! My voice is so stretched out and tired too…another 1 am vocal track… and it suffered! I wonder how this one would fair if I took another crack at it? I’ll probably never find out, because I got too many other ideas cooking up!
Challenge: Call and Response
How I faired: Tied for second with Calfborg (11 pts). Glenn Case took the fight with 12 pts.
My Approach: Oh… how I liked this title! The main groove is totally an ACDC vibe… with those “hoos” chanting in the background. My wife loves ACDC, so I wanted a bit of that hard rock vibe in there. At the same time, I wanted to explore some alternative timing ideas, so the intro is a little 11/8 riff, which re-surfaces at the end. I love the chorus… totally up my alley with it’s gentle approach as it admonishes the target of the lyrical direction! I really dig this tune. I really enjoyed the ending. I played out the 4/4 vibe at the end, and wanted that triumphant, huge vibe at the end. I then recorded a whole section in 11/8, and then cross-faded the two grooves so that the 11/8 would “sneak” up on the listener. I fucking love that!!! Yeah, I enjoyed this tune immensely.
Challenge: Bring your A game!
How I faired: I placed second, as I mentioned at the start of this piece!
My Approach: Ok, first off, too many back up vocals. That’s my biggest irritation with this tune. Otherwise, I dig it. I am a super competitive person… so I admit, there was a definite pointed target of this tune. It certainly wasn’t any of the other Nur Ein contestants, but it was certainly directed at my perspective of some of the judges. Boo hoo. There’s a big time Green Day thing going on there, with a little Nomeansno vibe off the top.
I think I should have kept writing after this… but the whole process of writing and working and competing (probably the worst aspect of it!) just killed me.
You might notice that I have a habit of comparing my ideas to my influences. Simply put, comparisions don’t worry me, and are simply a part of my musical direction. Simon Cowell might not like it, but Simon Cowell, bless his awesome english heart, isn’t into music for the same reasons I am!
So, Nur Ein. It was a good experience, but it took me over a year to really absorb what I learned from it. Recently, I started a new project… really, the first time I’ve started something without any competitive point of view (as a solo writer/performer) since I was 21. I’m calling it “100″. I’ll have more about that in a future post!
