How does he do it?

[Shruti]

I don’t know if this is a stupid question, as I’m not really savvy about all this music producing stuff, but how, physically? Because it’s all JoCo, right? The drums, guitar, keyboard stuff, backup vocals, other assorted effects? How is one person skilled enough to do all that? And then, what, is each bit recorded individually and all are superimposed upon one another like layers or something? If that’s the case, it just seems like … wow, like to get the harmonization to match up perfectly with the other vocals and, you know, all the other stuff just seems like it would be extremely difficult to actually coordinate. And then what of when it sounds like multiple people? Not, like, harmonization but – oh, I don’t know, “All we want to do is eat your brains.” Is that some strange effect, or … just, how does that work? I don’t know why I’m so ridiculously confused by this, but I am. Sorry?

Also, a question that I’ll just tack on to this. Does anyone know what the easiest JoCo song to learn on guitar would be for someone who doesn’t actually play guitar (but is vaguely attempting to learn. Okay, not at all attempting to learn yet. But still.)

[Bry]

It’s kinda odd that I’d be checking the forum just as your post came up, Shruti, but so it goes sometimes.

I’m not a real musician, so I’ll leave your first question to those who’ll know more about it. Of course, I also don’t play the guitar, so I’ll respond to your second question by linking you to this previous thread.

Hope that helps. If not, uh, I really can’t do anything much else for you, sorry. 🙂

[Sindex]

I'm no expert, but I'll crack the first section since Bry tackled the second….

"how is one person skilled enough to do all that?"
Well… some people just are. Some people work really fracken hard to get there too. Eventually it gets easier if they keep working on it, which I believe is what JoCo was after with TAW. Using his natural talent and pushing his creative limits by working within a deadline driven environment using all the tools he has available to him to become a better songwriter and producer. And quite clearly, it's worked for him.

And yes.. essentially each section can be recorded individually, played back through a monitor/headphones and a new section recorded in a separate track. Once all your tracks are recorded, you mix them, add effects, etc in something like Pro Tools and Bing! You've made a song. You can use 1 or 2 tracks to make a song, or a hundred if you'd like. Vocals, guitars, screams, boots, sticks, pots and pans… whatever.

All of this is taught in schools around the country, but the best way to learn is to just do it. You could use Sony's ACiD or Adobe Audition to get started and play around. I don't know for sure, but I'd be willing to bet JoCo uses ProTools.

But nothing can help you be as clever a lyricist as JoCo other than simply being clever. (And maybe a dictionary.. lol) The music is good, but what sells the music to me is how damn good the lyrics are.

[Shruti]

Bry: Thanks. I decided I must forgo all songs with a B major chord in them due to the fact that my fingers definitely don't bend like that and/or stretch that much. Which is probably just me being lame, but whatever. It's quite a shame.

Sindex: "How is one person skilled enough to do all that?" was actually a rhetorical question. Practice and so on. I get it. And so it is a program like that, I see. That's what I was wondering, I guess. "Nothing can help you be as clever a lyricist as JoCo other than simply being clever." …I wasn't saying otherwise. Dictionary, I don't think so. A rhyming dictionary coupled with a thesaurus is a useful tool, though. I wasn't really asking about lyrics, though. Anyway. Thanks for your response; it was quite informative.

[Sindex]

I was simply adding a bit about lyrics, I know you weren't asking anything about them. They're just part of songs, so while I was mindlessly typing away, that section spilled out. I remain amazed at his ability to reference awesomely geeky things in a clever, steady rhyming fashion.
Sorry if I somehow offended you with the phrasing and/or useless additions in my answer. Sometimes I ramble my way into a corner.

xoxo

[Shruti]

Haha, not at all. I do the same frequently, I'm afraid.

[Author]

Posts