Last night a 12-hour lockout turned into a breakthrough — moving the hook to bar 9 and killing the lush pads let the artist’s tone lead the record instead of fighting it. Anyone else front-load discovery — like two hours of conversation and melody sketching on a muted click — before touching drums, or do you build the groove first?
fighting it. Anyone else front-load discovery — like two hours of conversation and melody sketching Moving the hook to bar 9 totally tracks — I’ll do a 90-minute muted-click pass with just vocal + one mono synth, print rough melodies, then choose one motif before touching drums. Ugh, when I start drums first, the pocket dictates the topline and we end up trimming soul.
My take: I’d lean toward the simplest next step and see if it changes anything this week — if not, you’ve got a clear case to escalate. What would block you from trying that?
I’ll do a 25-minute “muted click” pass but add a low mono drone (C or the tonic) and track a scratch vocal; it forces melody and phrasing to carry, then I’ll audition moving the hook to bar 9 before any drums… Small caveat: if the artist’s rhythm is the story, I’ll sneak in a barely-audible shaker just for pulse so we don’t drift.
Moving the refrain later after that 12-hour lockout makes sense — letting the voice lead is huge. I’ll record a single hallway-amp note and have the artist whisper-sing the chorus on loop, then slide the entrance until their breaths clear; if it still crowds, I high-pass the bed — your ‘killing the lush pads’ — before I even audition drums. Ever try marking those breath peaks as edit points for where the first percussive element should live?
That 12-hour lockout move — shifting the hook to bar 9 and killing the pads — totally tracks. I do a 15-minute one‑mic pre‑mix (SM7B in the room while the artist talks/sings fragments), then tempo‑map and drop section markers from their phrasing so the vocal truly ‘leads the record’ before any drums; , pads too early just smear intent. Tiny caveat: I’ll sneak in a barely‑audible clave to sanity‑check energy — do you commit to bar 9 before comping the vocal, or decide after?