Teft’s Blog

Finally! Another 1 hour song! We’ve been trying to find time to do another tuneback for weeks … but we made it happen two days ago! And this time with one of my best friends, Jesse Janzen. Jesse has been known to collaborate with us from time to time, so we thought it’d be perfect (since he’s in town) to bust out a 1 hour song. A little background on Jesse: Actor, Lives in LA, brilliant writer, can be seen in various movies such as Crywolf.

Have a listen to Electric Core: (download mp3)

Our first 1 hour song was a success. So much of a success that we’ve decided to put a remastered version of “Delicious” on Mimi & Teft’s upcoming EP (due out in September). The great thing about the process is that it challenges your decision making and you make choices VERY fast. You pretty much grab a melody within minutes and roll with it.

We usually start out by crafting a beat. I used two “4 to the floor” kick loops from Stylus RMX, and a kit from NI’s Battery. Mimi starts building a melody within moments of hearing the kick drum. Anything that comes to mind that sounds remotely usable we cut to disk for reference (and memory!) I start establishing synths from her melodic structure and we set the key.

One of the hardest things to do is to build a chorus/hook right after building a verse. It gets risky sounding too similar to the verse if we’re not careful. Production plays a huge role in “lifting” the chorus/hook. If the energy doesn’t build, neither does your emotional reaction to the chorus/hook.

Judy (Mom) and Jesse had a great competition to see who could come up with the winning lyric lines. It was definitely a challenge for Jesse because he’s use to thinking through the entire set of lyrics and then writing them down. Can’t do that in an hour! He did a great job in collaborating on this tune.

Another interesting fact about the 1 hour song challenge is that you can’t have an ego. Anytime spent arguing is time wasted, so your forced to see all options for what they really are (good or bad or almost rockin’).

Here’s the final set of lyrics:

Electric Core

youre moving closer makin pressure like you wanna play
You tell me secrets in your movement and we start the game
yea I can hear you - everything you tell me on the floor
it’s elemental, it’s essential - our electric core

Chorus
And ohhhh
You got me spinnin like a disco
go round and round into the vinyl
And every time you turn me more you turn me more ohohohoh
And ohhhh
I’ll be your puppet- let’s put on a show
just get behind and start to move it slow
And when you do I want you more I want you more ohohohoh

we’re sinkin lower like a tower under gravity
we’re moving closer to the center of our energy
You rock my body til it’s shakin and I beg for more
it’s elemental, it’s essential - our electric core

Chorus

At the 1 hour mark, we had the song put together and some vocals cut. But, we felt the lyrics needed strengthening, so we extended it to 1 hour and 37 minutes and cut the current vocals on the mp3. I slapped an Ozone mastering plugin at the end and raised the volume with it’s limiter. We could possibly re-open the song in a few weeks and do some polishing. But, we’ll see what happens …

A few of my favorite things:

• reFX Vanguard
• BLUE
• Albino 3
• NI Battery 3
• Stylus RMX
• Logic Pro

All photos copyright Teft Inc. and were taken during the 1 hour song challenge.

Electric Core mp3 is licensed under: