Nightweed's song-writing process involves first getting the basic guitar rhythms down.  Then we see what feelings these guitar riffs evoke and start writing lyrics for them. 

Sometimes we use lyrics that were already written and sometimes we write new ones.  Sometimes, as we're listening to a rhythm, a few lines will jump into someone's head and it just "fits." 

Very rarely a song will practically write itself.  The words will just start coming and in minutes the thing is done.  But more often than not, we have to work with the rhymes, cadences, and the sounds of the words.  And, of course,  whatever it is we're trying to say....

I like to think that songs are already out there, just waiting to be heard.  So it's not like we create them, but instead it's more like we uncover them.

While we're working on the lyrics or sometimes after, we'll work on coming up "breaks" or  "bridges" to make the structure of the song more interesting.

Once that's done and the lyrics are all written, we record a rough instrumental track of the song so the singer has something to practice with while the song goes into production in our studio.
 

All of what's been described above is what we call pre-production.  Once that is all finished, we start recording everything. 

For recording in the studio, we use Roland V-Drums instead of acoustic drums because it is much easier to work with. 

We're getting a whole mess of new computer gear soon and the next project will be recorded straight into the PC, whereas the last CD used a lot of ADAT technology. 

We'll all get to see what difference that makes once it's all recorded!

Write me if you have comments or questions - I'm always glad to write back!