Demystifying Songwriting with Ben Levin

Let’s demystify songwriting! Guitarist/YouTuber/Animator Ben Levin and I wrote a song, and we documented the whole process through the initial sketch to the demo to the final live recording.

CHECK OUT THE FULL PERFORMANCE

(spotify link)

BEN LEVIN’S CHANNEL

The beautiful band…

Jessica Kion - Vocals, Bass
Ben Levin - Guitar
Shubh Saran - also Guitar
Zac Zinger - Shakuhachi, EWI
Josh Bailey - Drums, SPD, Audio Engineering
Me - Keys, weirdly
Liz Maney - Live Videographer

Mixed by Adam Neely
Mastered by Randy Roos at Squam Sound

Hope you enjoy!

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Peace,
Adam

[GuelermeDias]

Adam Neely's approach to songwriting and arrangement:

what if all the instruments were BASS

[BenLevin]

Hearing the audio from our experiments next to the finished version is surreal! Beautiful work <3. I'd let you babysit my dog if I had one, very competent human right here ^

[tomkiriaty]

We had to write a song in band this year and me and my friend wrote a cool song

[slimkt]

“Ideas are kinda cheap in a way.” Agreed. Anyone can have an idea. It’s the expanding upon that little idea and the execution that really is the journey.

Also, that EWI bass sounds killer.

[jon.wilson]

Nice comparison of incest to the creative process

[dvitron]

Uploading at the same time as ben levin gives me a trolley problem level decision to make

[andrewwiemken]

Make sure the chicken and paprika are in the SAME DISH

[GabzitoHD]

When I write songs it's seldom the riff or chord progression that I originally thought was gonna carry the song that becomes the best part of the song. The best parts are usually found in the journey when you start to build upon that original idea.

[TobiasSample]

That vocalist has the exact right voice for that song.

[MrMoldyMurder]

That bass EWI actually slaps. Sounds like it definitely djents.

[AdamEmond]

How you gunna say "demystifying" with Ben Levin in the thumbnail? Dude is MYSTIFYING.
*proceeds to watch entire video*

[AndyChamberlainMusic]

I've always noticed my music is way different when composed with a friend, even if I feel like "I totally could have written that on my own" it there is a decisive difference between solo and duo music.

[samfrancisco]

"Demoitis" was a common studio term from the 90's, particularly the grunge/alternative/indie era when bands favored open channels of noise in home recording to the cleaned-up common studio treatment of muting an open track when nothing was playing. Really fun video.

[blenjamin]

Process videos, let alone *collaborative* process videos are invaluable, this was really fun and informative to watch.

[slightly_tooned]

Sit in basement and wait until something good comes out, then sprinkle some paprika on it. Who knew song writing could be that easy!

[Yungblut]

Adam faces at 10:06
- Oh yes, yes, incest
- Wait, what?
- Don't make me edit this out
- Oh I see, I see

[ccalvac]

I love your guys' conversations both about and within the music! I love these collaboration videos; more guests would be awesome!
Love you, Adam, keep it up!

[anders]

"when I trace back to the original thought, it's always just more of a gesture to lead you on to the trail, and its the trail that's meaningful and kinda like life."
That was beautiful

[beastzerkerjet]

I love the way that you and Ben use your artistic differences to positively challenge one another without becoming so hung up on a detail you have created...fascinating process and really interesting arangement.

[Celia_Dawn]

Dude, I've been trying for weeks to figure out the musical aesthetic for a video game I'm writing for, and this video captured what I needed PERFECTLY.


Thank you so much for sharing this!!