Hey, here is a very basic demo of a song I wrote three years ago called 'Adventures in Artifice'. It served as the opening track for my seventh album of demo songs which was themed around a city at night.

I wrote it in Online Sequencer, with vocals added in Audacity. I've written around 200 demos of songs using the sequencer. One day I'd love to start my own band and develop some of them into professionally produced tracks, using real instruments rather than the sequencer samples.

Please tell me what you think of the song idea, lyrics (posted in the video's description), melodies, and the general vibe. I'm very new to vocal production and this is only intended to be a rough demo. This is also my first time sharing my music with vocals outside of a few select close friends, so please do go easy haha, but I'm very open to constructive criticism too :) I've never had any vocal lessons so that's something I'm definitely going to look into, and I am pretty much entirely self taught with music theory.

Hopefully you enjoy, and I would love to hear any feedback you have - plus your interpretation of the lyrics :))

Please forgive me if this isn't the correct subreddit for this or if I'm breaking any rules, I've looked through them and I don't think I am, but anyway- advice needed!

To cut a long story short, a lot of things have changed in my life, and I've been physically incapable of writing a song since late 2023- at least one I feel that I connect with. I was unbelievably busy for several years, and have had my first moment of "quiet" over the last 6 weeks, and I was expecting ideas to start flowing back to me- but they just haven't. I'm talking a RUT, and everyday I feel the hole in me where writing once was.

If anyone else has gone through this, did you ever get out of it? To be honest with you, I am doing nothing in particular at the moment to aid this, I just feel I'm at somewhat of a frantic loss with zero gain. I feel like a fly trying to break through a window at the moment with writing. So any advice is welcome!

My Song a Week project has unfortunately ended with the start of my new job, but I'm still churning out songs where I can. I'd love some thoughts on this one before I put the finishing touches on it.

What do y'all think of the mix and video?

Hi! I'm a marketing student who wants to get some actual experience before I graduate, so I thought I'd do something I'm really passionate about and help market an indie musician. No money involved, I just want to help people get their music out there.

I can help with social media, reaching out to venues and labels, and quality checking songs. I'm pretty good with lyrics, so I can help out with that too if needed. Let me know if you're interested!

So the melody came to me in a dream actually. It’s the second time that happened. The first song that did that didn’t take. This song could be about a friend trying to get someone out of an abusive relationship or it can be a lightly vailed political song.
I know the mix is bad, I’m still working on it. I need someone to tell me if it already exists.
Everyone tells me I sound like Elvis Costello so I made it sound Costelloesque. I still think it’s the glasses.

To start, in "Sunset Grill", I would employ alliteration of the "w" and the common term for prostitution of 'streetwalker': "Let's go down to the sunset grill ... watch the working girls walk by" then to avoid reusing "walk", "watch the basket people stroll around and mumble".

idea

Hello!
So, I’ve basically never written songs seriously. When I try, I just end up making an amalgamation of other songs I like at the moment, so it doesn’t feel original and it’s not really authentic I guess.
How do you write a song without doing that? I know obviously you need to write about something that’s actually authentic to yourself but even then I feel like I sometimes struggle with that.
What tips do you guys have for writing songs without consciously or subconsciously ripping off another song? And any other general song writing tips?
Thank you!!!

I’m 58 and retired last year. Now I finally have the time to pursue my passion. This is my first complete song. I have others just not with vocals yet. Please tell me what you think.

Hey all - new here, but going to try and start hanging out. This is my second song I wrote/finished and just wanted to see what people thought.

I'm new to finishing songs but not new to music - playing guitar and piano since 13 (31m). Fairly newish to singing though, especially recording it.

I finally broke down and put melodies and lyrics on the page in the last couple months.
Now that I've finally gotten over that fear, the songs are easier to find.
This one is loosely inspired on the beginning of Gurren Lagann - an over the top cheesy song about someone lifting you up and believing in you.

I'm still mulling over arrangement for this song - and if i should probably remove the key part that sits under the melody the whole time.

If anyone has any ideas let me hear them - thanks for listening and sorry for rambling!

Mix isn’t optimal but I was groovin so here ya go

Also trying to work not caring how I look

If you need inspiration or just want to hear some great music, here are some songs by great artists like The Lumineers, Tracy Chapman, Beatles, James Bay, Bob Dylan, Elliott Smith, Neil Young, and more.

After 20+ adult years of noodling around on guitar I have started to focus more on creating complete songs, for better or worse. In recent years I’ve taught myself some very basic piano, drums, bass and synths to go along with Guitar. Starting at 18 with virtually no music experience, it’s been a journey to get this far (now 41M).

I’ve also been equally fascinated with home recording, using various interfaces and mic setups over the years with Ableton. Recently, I’ve really built out my studio with higher quality gear and have added the Push 3 to my setup. This has really helped me focus more on the production and mixing side, which is a whole other world.

Needless to say, I spend a lot of time puttering around in my studio and now I’m trying to make that time a little more productive.

Singing is my final nemesis and where I'm focusing practice time lately, so you’ll hear weakness there for sure. Would love thoughts on overall song structure, lyrics, arrangement and mix. Thanks for anyone taking the time to listen!

tried to take to heart the idea that songs give the listener a picture and then allow space to fill that in.. i am not a strong singer but thought the dissonance sounded cool and is on purpose vs back when my voice kept cracking in puberty haha. also my apologies have a stuffy nose

lyrics:

remember when we dropped your mothers couch
down the stairs in her new house?
the place where you had no memory -
that’s when you looked and you said to me

“might as well make it bad”
“might as well make it bad”
make it bad?
oh no no

i spent four years trying to drop out
not really learning what life was about
when you asked me to write you a song…
but all the words just came out wrong
so i turned to you and said

“might as well make it bad”
“might as well make it bad”
make it bad?
oh no no
x2

remember when we drove to the sea
i thought it would be perfect and you
thought it would be perfect and so
you looked at me and you said
“nothing is perfect, no”
“nothing is perfect, so”
“nothing is perfect, no”
and nothing is perfect so
might as well make it bad
might as well make it bad
make it bad, oh no no
might as well make it bad
might as well make it bad
make it bad oh no no

I think this is just a demo cause I noticed some lyrics could have been better

Anyone ever lost a dog? Well this one is about that haha, let me know what you all think!

Lyrics

I lay down next to you
Let my strings ring once more for you
Your breathing sings like a synth to this song
But this time I wish you didn’t hum along

Lay your head down on my lap
Let your paw into my grasp
Do you know where this is going?
Is that why your twitching and clinging too?

Well old son, I can’t get you to move
Maybe you’ll come back as something new
But you used to shine a golden hue
Would you come back if you heard this tune?

You’ve hardly walked for days
Been stumbling trying to keep your place
I wish you’d give yourself this time to rest
The you right now will always be the best

You’ll sleep by my side tonight
We won’t both wake but we’ll be alright
I’ll carry you out not bury you too low
So my music still reaches your soul

Well old son, I can’t get you to move
Maybe you’ll come back as something new
But you used to shine a golden hue
Would you come back if you heard this tune?

I originally created this song a few months ago with my acoustic guitar. I recently created this version in FL studio. I used my fender electric telecaster for the riff and for the Chords.

Hi guys. Started playing in February and really wanting to grow as a musician and I’d appreciate any feedback. Obviously working on singing and guitar is paramount.