'Spark', the making of

 Spark

'Spark' actually took about six months to write. I had an initial idea for a purely electronic, computer built tune but I over layered it too many times and by the end had a complete cacophony of  sound. I had backed myself into a musical corner and needed to get out again.

If you look at the original chords, they sounded good, but I'm really a simple tune writer with a pop sense and I had bitten off more than I could chew. 

I also tried different instrument sounds and I'd go off on tangents and then lose the way.

Here are just a few of the WAV files and different program files out of many more I had:

So, I decided to go back to the beginning and start from scratch, ditching the purely electronic idea and bring in the guitars. Once I had brought in the guitars, then it started to focus itself again.  Here is a live solo I did (recorded on webcam) which became part of the tune:

Once it started to get a clearer direction, then it was a matter of tidying it up, re-inserting some electronic music I had made, but this time, it was more of a background orchestration with the guitars as the lead instrument. 

Here are some screenshots of FX and Guitar tones (Line 6) I used in it, including the piano roll I wrote on Sonar and also the synth sounds I wrote using LMMS

So the tune could have gone in many directions but I'm happy enough to leave it as it is now. When you start a song, what you end up with is sometimes a lot different than what you first envisaged, that's part of the joy of making music and I'm always grateful to have the opportunity.