What's the (short) story?
Burr Settles and Matt Hopper decided to be accountability partners for a "month of songwriting." We picked February. The project grew a little and Burr made a website.
What's the (long) story?
Burr participated in NaNoWriMo in November of 2003, and as a result actually managed to write a 50,220 word novel in 30 days (despite being a married man working a full-time job in Washington, DC). He found it inspiring, but couldn't help but notice that in the last 4 years he'd finished writing no more than 2 songs (and he's a musician, not a novelist).
In an e-mail to friend and musician Matt Hopper (who, meanwhile, had spent a week trying to demo a song per day up in Alaska), he commented that there should be something like NaNoWriMo for songwriters. So they made a pact to hold each other accountable for a future songwriting month. Since they were both planning big moves in January (Burr to Madison WI and Matt to Santa Monica CA), they pushed it back to February.
After mentioning the plan to a handful of respective friends, we added a few folks and Burr hastily threw together a weblog at the end of January so we could keep track of and encourage each other (since none of us even live in the same state).
God bless the internet.
The recordings sound like poop. Why?
The goal isn't to record and album, it's to write an album. We're only posting demos, which likely means a live recording in one or two takes just to get down the feel of an embryonic song. This also allows fellow FAWMmers and visitors to post comments for feedback, which may influence future directions of the song (arrangement, lyric changes, etc.)
Ultimately we'd like to make more polished recordings for our albums, but for now we're focusing on the writing process.
Can I join in?
Yes and No.
Yes: Please share in our pain of trying to write and demo 14 songs in the 29 days of February. If you're like us, this may be the kick-in-the-pants you need to finally turn those ideas into tunes. If you keep your own weblog for FAWM, we can link to it.
No: FAWM was hastily thrown together, and so was this website. Since we want to focus on songwriting instead of managing a scalable web page, the main weblog is closed this year. (We may do something different if we do it again next year and there is enough outside interest.)
If you do take up the challenge in 2004, let us know about your experiences (fawm@settles.org).
How do I make an MP3 of my demos?
If you're asking this question, then we have two suggestions.
One: If you have a 4-track (or some other kind of analog equipment) you can demo your song on it. Then use a cable to connect the 4-track's RCA output jacks to you a computer's 1/8 inch "line in" jack (it's the same cord you'd use to go from a walkman's phone jack to the back of a stereo, for example). You can then mix the track down to an audio file on your computer using some free or demo audio software. If you use Windows, try GoldWave or the Sound Forge XP demo; if Macintosh, try one of these; if Linux, try Audacity. This software should let you save the file as an MP3.
Two: If you don't have a 4-track, you can try to hook up a mixer or pre-amp of sorts to your computer's "line in" jack and record/mix the tracks directly on the computer. Some software you could use to do this is Acid XPress or n-Track Studio for Windows, or ProTool FREE for Mac OS9 and Windows 98. Again, these should save the files as MP3s. Sorry we don't know of any free multitrack software for Mac OSX or Linux.
If for some reason you can't get the programs to save as MP3s, then try saving them as WAVs and using a CD ripping program to encode them as MP3s. Trust us, it sounds like more work than it really is...
Okay, I got MP3s. Where do they go?
You'll need web space to host your MP3s, and you're on your own there. If you don't have bandwidth with your school or your ISP, then try GeoCities or something. You can upload the files using an FTP program like CuteFTP.
Can I write a concept Album?
Burr can't (he tried once), but maybe you can. Go for it.
Why 14 songs in a month?
Originally we were going to do one song every day. (And write a double-album in the process?!?) But Burr wussed out and cut it back to one every other day because he has a family, is a graduate student, and works a full-time job, too. Besides, 14 songs is a healthy album length, and "February Album Writing Month" (FAWM) sounds cooler than "February One-Song-Every-Day Writing Month" (FOSEDWM).
14 songs in 28/29 days is a challenging (but probably tractable) task. If it's too easy, we may up the ante next year.
Are instrumental pieces OK?
Eh... I dunno if we have an official stance on this. Perhaps after this year we'll have a more concrete definition of what kinds of things qualify for the 14 "songs." I guess we were thinking something with a melody and lyrics, but whatever.
Why are times posted in CST?
Participants span 4 time zones, but since Burr is maintaining the site and he lives Wisconsin, we're posting in CST (Central Standard Time).
Do you know people write albums in a day?
Not until just now, and that's Crap Art. They are fools. We are snobby music nazis who hold our songwriting standards much, much higher and thus need an entire month.
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