The way you manage to articulate your thoughts, it must be one hell of a notebook. Oh! I've done those retakes now.

 

Did you have a bad day?

 

On my way over to check them out.

 

Define brain you schmuck!

 

Master Writer 2 All the song writing tools in one simple interface.

http://www.masterwriter.com/

 

Moleskin + HB/#2.
I would use my favorite pen, the Uniball Signo UM-151 but with the Moleskin's paper there's way too much reverb.

 

^ u could try writing on tin foil instead.. to avoid 'wordverb'... but in my experience the end result is a bit 'tinny'

 

I would but I need all the tin foil I have for my head.

 

I have a rhyming dick, it's a very useful tool.

 

Last edited: Nov 24, 2016

I don't think you'd be disappointed with it. I've actually used the "four track" mode to record a guitar part, and then come back and record the vocal lines on top of it. For writing, it's an awesome tool. For recording rehearsals, top notch too. Sound quality from it is very surprising.
I think after reading your recording method from the "What Are You Working On" thread, that this would work great for you as well. I like that it has those Neutric 1/4" XLR combo jacks on it which can be connected to most anything.

 

I actually wrote an entire song, word for word including the chorus while taking a dump in a horrible horrible men's toilet in Penn Station in 1985. It is called Nabos In Paradise. It was first performed at Maxwell's in Hoboken, New Jersey.

edit: A Nabo is the self given name of a native of Hoboken, and the song written for a bunch of amazing guys that I used to hang with.

 

Does at make the coffee, when it gets up in the morning before you wake up.

 

I also carry a Tascam portable recorder. Occasionally I look at a Thesaurus. I took a lot of writing classes in high school, so as a human metaphor, I know my way around a simile or two. I have a lot of notebooks, pads and random pieces of paper (backs of envelopes, receipts, etc) organized by "just where I left it" system. Google Write app is handy, for those of us who don't mind being tools of Google. As a side note, to memorize lyrics for live performance, I find they stick better in my head if I actually write them by hand, as opposed to trying to remember from reading a printout. Similes for the day: "Time flies like an arrow....but fruit flies like a banana."

 

Last edited: Nov 24, 2016

I prefer writing over dictating, although I used to sing while writing to get into the groove. I prefer writing on paper.

I didn't use or test this, but it looked like it could be supporting and maybe even inspiring. It has nothing you can't find on the web by yourself, but it has it all combined in one app:
http://www.masterwriter.com/

(I wouldn't use it for the subscription plan alone. But that's just me)

 

http://www.dictionary.com
http://www.thesaurus.com/
http://rhymezone.com/
http://english.stackexchange.com
https://www.poetryfoundation.org
https://allpoetry.com
+ Physical books involving various type of thesaurus.

Then the worksheet from Berklee Songwriting course (made my own version of it).
Then some sort of a "note/motif over chord change" chart that I write for each song.

 

I've decided to give lilac writer a bash. It's similar to master writer. It doesn't have as many features, but it is free. it's online, so you sign up to it, but then you can access it from anywhere. Has a rhyming dict and thesaurus in the same window, and you can colab with other people, which could be handy. I'll let you know how I get on with it. Will still be using the trusty pen and paper most the time. Then throw the ideas in it to sort them out.

 

It looks to be a comprehensive tool and a good one at that, but I won't go the subscription route after thinking about it after Claude Balls brought it up in my birthday plug-in thread.

 

Normally, Pen and Paper, if i'm outside (Working) i use the phone and make Voicenotes, the App i use is called Field Recorder by Pfizinger, an must have App as you also can record everything, also a complete Bootleg in a great Quality :D

If the Lyric is done, i hack it into my Confuser to store it for eternity ^^

 

Hey Teknomage, I don't think that its too important how you collect you thoughts.....as long as you collect them, and I like many that have replied here just scribble stuff on various notepads.

What I do think is important though is that you collect everything that occurs to you. What I mean by that is that I don't think you should spend too much time sorting, editing and ordering initially.....just take note of whatever occurs to you, because you never know what will be interesting until later in the process. Once you get down to the business of writing you can browse the raw info and start to shape it into a song.

I think what I'm trying to get at is that its useful to treat the process initially almost like a brainstorming session where nothing is good or bad, right or wrong, they are just thoughts/ideas on paper, and you might find that some scribbled nonsense will lead you somewhere interesting at a later date.

Oh and one really important thing....keep a notepad by your bed.....its a pita having to get up in the middle of the night to write down that genius line on the notepad in the studio that you know you'll have forgotten by the morning.

 

Nah, it's not that clever, it's just a book of words that rhyme