Writing a song in 15 minutes (with SARAH LONGFIELD)

[@AdamNeely]

Tons of questions on recording the Shakhuachi! Zac has a really super directional headpiece talkback mic, and it provides incredibly clean audio for recording shakhuachi. You can hear how it works with the human voice in the outro gag - just compare how the audio on that sounds to the audio on the camera. I recorded that into a Zoom H6. So actually, no post-processing on the Shak was necessary! iZotope is wonderful, but not even needed in this case. I did do some pretty hardcore hi-pass filtering to the sound, however. The hardest one to record was actually the guitar, I miced his amp with an SM7-B, which is crazy directional, but you can still hear a fair amount of background noise (the drums in the background on that break at 8:13).

[@Casey3-P-O]

Adam Neely i loved this! honestly there was so much going on, plus the vibe mixed with the general ambience. plus the cool vid, i didn’t really pay attention to anything bleeding through. the song came out great! thanks :)

[@Casey3-P-O]

Adam Neely hey Adam GIVE ME A SHOUT OUT PLEASE!!! lol

[@GreatInterstellarStudios]

Wow, I was going to ask about that as well! But I HAVE to know what kind of headset he's using!!!

[@JonasViatte]

Agreed. Would be nice to know which headsets are so directional.

[@hamiltonmays4256]

I like to get my geek on too, but the simple fact that it's a shakuhachi should be cool enough for anybody. No recording technology can ever make anything sound better than (or even like) it actually does. Different maybe, but not objectively better. Or maybe I have no idea what I'm talking about...BASS!

[@AdamNeely]

cool

[@mrkrunch4340]

Dario Caporuscio cool

[@iainlennon]

cool

[@philippel.9086]

Yeah!

[@emmywillow6599]

cool

[@ramziel]

Кул

[@emmanieuwenhuis2688]

3:55 "Drums are too loud. Well, shut up" is one of my favorite quotes.

[@LukeZuniga]

Adam goes full Vsauce 2:07

[@1sacharming]

I was just gonna comment that lol

[@cee_yarr]

OR DOES HE?

[@OrenHofer]

He is basically the Vsauce of music theory KZbin

[@riczi.j]

Hey Vsauce, Adam here

[@efrandsen72]

I commented this before I saw your comment. cool.

[@maximilianbehrens4101]

Hey vsauce. Adam here. cool.

[@ciarfah]

Maximilian Behrens or is it? *music plays*

[@serjoprot]

Maximilian Behrens WASAAAAAAAP

[@ChurroLightyear]

?

[@micp4130]

But how cold is cool? *Music starts*

[@CheeseLord]

a one, a two, a you-know-what-to-do HUH!

[@samvimes2821]

Leftham Sam WUN TOO FUK YOO!!! I'm sorry, nervous twitch there

[@shinnsplints]

Was that a motherfucking bernard purdie reference

[@AidanMmusic96]

@@samvimes2821 Hahahahahaha, been a while since I've seen that!

[@lifeontheledgerlines8394]

I'm going to do that next time I count off...

[@Dowlphin]

I could follow.

[@LeviClay]

"The hardest part of composition is the application of ass to seat" - Scott Henderson

[@red_boum]

stand up desks

[@johnjackson9767]

@@red_boum big brain there

[@Dowlphin]

That is why you have never heard of a sitdown comedian.

[@peterbrooke7146]

I actually love the ending song, it was amazing, especialy the flute 👌

[@leocalostros7442]

i hated the flute xd

[@DoJazz]

Or "how to write a a song in 15 minutes, in a 10 minute video".

[@DoJazz]

Seriously, awesome result.

[@obscurer1898]

How to make fifteen minutes in a song

[@SERVICERMUSIC]

Adsenseadsenseadsense

[@LowReedExpert1]

Summarized in 5 minutes is the next part

[@michaellarsen180]

I like all this info on top of the challenge. People that think about themself that they suck at writing songs needs to understand that nothing comes easy, and the saying about writing 100 songs - that's absolutely something people should do more. Just don't care if it's weird and not perfect or not even good. "There will come some amazing things out of it!" Great track btw. :)

[@mattdoesstuff8987]

"Infinity War is the biggest crossover ever." Me, an intellectual:

[@glumpmump4659]

Mr Peanut Butter:

[@aidilmubarock5394]

Iamverysmart

[@lysergicserpent7676]

I love it. The mix sounds great, esp considering the sound sources. I'm particularly impressed with the clarity and fidelity of the lead flute track recorded in Time Square of all places! Incidentally, how did you work around the background noise in your field recordings? I'm guessing you did your best with a bit of editing and EQ, then hoped the rest would be buried in the mix, but I was wondering if you might have some insight into working with messy samples/recordings, or some special techniques for dealing the sort of challenges they provide. I'm also curious what make/model of handheld recorder you used for these purposes, and if you had any thoughts on what to look for when pricing/purchasing one and getting the most bang per buck. TIA

[@andreferiguetti]

J John I scrolled far too much to find your comment! I thought the same thing, how did he get all the white noise out of the mix really amazed me. Hope Adam answers your question (:

[@sanny8716]

Looks like Zoom h4m (it's pretty much the most popular handheld recorder as far as I know) It should be fairly cheap, but I live in Russia, so I can't tell you too much about prices

[@DacianGradaMusic]

J John could be that since it looked the shakuhachi was mic'd fairly close that helped a lot! plus post processing of course

[@mindremote]

Low end sounded a bit mucky to me to be honest, but I love the song and I wouldn’t expect better quality under those conditions. Crazy how good the flute came out

[@CronaTheAwper]

9:30 ending on the lick!

[@fudgesauce]

All of that practice has finally paid off for Adam

[@zbitykieliszek9358]

Two things 1) you look good with hair 2) why dont you upload that livestream back? I know you think the music's bad but I enjoyed watching it and maybe even learned from it a bit

[@billrowse2266]

zbity kieliszek You look good with hair, never a more true word was spoken haha

[@Dowlphin]

One thing 1) Yes

[@aaronshults8472]

But the drums were to loud /s

[@ToasterPizzaFun]

I've never been this early. Might as well use this opportunity to present a question for your next Q&A: How smooth is your songwriting or composition workflow? I'm a VERY amateur musician and I find myself starting on a bunch of melodic ideas, then scrapping some of them because I don't think they work very well. I also try and associate musical ideas with some sort of real world imagery, like an overcast sky, or a computer lab, etc, and try to make the music speak of these settings. I'm trying to develop this way of writing and I'm interested in your thoughts on writing music in general and any obstructions or mental blocks you may have encountered. Thanks for making awesome content!

[@davidfuller581]

Can we get an Adam Neely+Sarah Longfield album? That would be so sick

[@mirmarq429]

!?.hours 51 in Made

[@brucekentallen]

I remember some odd 15 years ago dream theater (always them) wrote some very vague descriptions of their songs structures on a sheet of paper in studio so they'd remember and organize stuff when writing together. Then they took pictures of these papers and released to us and made a challenge regarding what other fans-musicians would think it sounded like, before DT released the track. It was a blast, some pretty good songs came out of it.

[@Dieckenish]

Thanks, Adam! Considering we all spend so much time overthinking composition and buying studio gear, that song and its recording process is just pure and beautiful art.

[@omahasamman]

so when are all of the youtube musician going to get together and make a "we are the world" album?

[@educostanzo]

It's going to be called "we are the internets".

[@ChadMojito]

We Are The Web

[@CaalamusTube]

They actually should do something like "In Bb" though!

[@joaquinodriozola4963]

Rofl

[@antrolos8542]

swear on me mum leave this at 69 likes

[@AllForgottenMemories]

The shakuhachi really transports the song to a different dimension. Love it :)

[@kmrdknrd]

i was in adam's video for a third of a second life is good

[@pouyan_m]

Where

[@kmrdknrd]

Pouyan M thanks for reminding me of this glorious moment in my life - 3:40

[@evil-is-hot]

How does that wooden flute recording sound so clean in the middle of Times Square? I can't even record in my own room because of the sound of the cars outside.

[@meuboui]

Craft Attack *E D I T I N G*

[@chrisofnottingham]

close micing

[@AntilopeDisecado]

Man, your last bunch of videos are really increasing the bar! Awesome video and really interesting insights!

[@AmandaKaymusic]

“Dispense with success and failure altogether and just get on with it”. I agree. The editor mind and the inventor/improviser mind have to take turns. If the editor steps in the flow can evaporate. Flow first edit later. Spelling and handwriting in creator mind can be very ordinary yet the rhymes can be extraordinary.... Thanks for an enjoyable clip and a listenable tune.

[@benjaminvroman5553]

Great video adam! ( 0:40 Also @Tyler you have a beautiful voice)

[@michalbotor]

this is by far the best 'writing a song in x minutes' video, that i've seen so far. i love how you took this worn out at this point idea and shaped it into a really fresh, interesting and compelling story. this made the final piece of music, that came out of it so much more special and appreciable. and my god if it didn't turned out to be a magical, exotic, eerily soothing and passionate experience for my ears.

[@djguydan]

The drums are TOO loud...oh wait I love percussion, the drums AREN'T loud enough.

[@RyanChaos.0]

Drums too loud

[@King-ty7mz]

*insert name here* you have caused all of this you monster

[@Dowlphin]

This world is too noisy. I feel like doing a rum solo.

[@mr.astronuts3825]

Especially the vibes

[@yitzharos]

Genius. I love the Timbre of everything. I just love this.

[@Ty-zi7we]

what you said was true, and very... cool, but i might add that a good portion of people who watch YT musicians are musicians themselves, i personally love seeing how people go about writing songs quickly so i can apply what works for me and note the common mistakes i see. nevertheless, thoughtful and entertaining as always, great video.

[@yattasuccess9212]

I honestly think that the best part of these Song Making challenges is that, i get to watch it, and as a learning Musician and Producer, these videos have been very significant in my practical learning, i don't have these instruments and many of the production tools you guys have, but i get to watch how you guys handle it, and then further learn from observation and then research. I think it's a very valuable challenge we have here and not just for the musicians themselves, but for the viewers too!

[@PaulSimonNumberOneFan]

But, can you write a song only using the L I C C

[@canpiv09]

I think polyrhythms prove you can play anything using any melody, presuming it's played at the right speed.

[@PaulSimonNumberOneFan]

canpiv09 The licc as a polyrhythm would be the most glorious thing

[@manny75586]

I reject any song that isn't built around the licc

[@kudos4201]

please make thy L I C C

[@aidanmccormack5443]

T H I C C L I C C

[@SamBellGuitar]

The result was awesome. Inspiring video Adam!

[@BATTIS94]

That was a cool song.

[@gurpanimations7874]

Cool.

[@tannermilam5581]

Please never stop doing this Adam, the sheer joy I find in what you do with people you care for is astounding. I’ve always wanted to be a professional musician, but when I see what you do and the way you go about it inspires me to a whole new level of affection for the art. Thank you for putting so much time into the content we have come to love so dearly.

[@KoreanBronze]

vsauce4 here

[@serenaally]

KZbin is the best social platform type thing ever. Adam your videos are bomb and loved this one too!

[@juanmaidana8185]

Well, Adam, you've composed the best song within this format, while also recording the best video about it

[@PrimeM92]

That's really quite a beautiful, haunting piece of music. The guitar riffs combined with the flutes really add flavour. Thumbs up from me! 👍👍👍

[@I_am_Angerer]

"I hope you enjoy what we came up with" *literally the best thing I have discovered in a long while starts playing*

[@drummermomcjs]

Way cool! I love the finished piece of music that you guys came out with. Very enjoyable!

[@gmseven4150]

Hey Adam. Love your content. I'm not that in to making music anymore, but I still love learning about it. Funnily enough, i'm just trying to get a short story writing podcast off the ground with a very similar premise to these time challenge videos. My goal is to write a short story every week, and discuss with other amateur writers the process of writing it. This video gave me a lot of great insight into why I find the idea so interesting, and a lot of hope that I might actually find an audience for the show. It also helped me cope with some of the depression I've been feeling about the quality of my own work. I wouldn't say it inspired me, as much as it helped me be okay with not always being very inspired. Thanks Adam. Keep it up! Glen

[@bogdanchatsky6324]

Adam, that was outstanding video, without pathos and anything superfluous and pathos. The song sounds like a mix of everything in the same time, but you can define the main string, that stenches trough. I like your channel and the way you do things, cause you got what most of other content creator don't - style. Keep it COOL

[@tristanstevenson1164]

5:42 I didn't know Ben Shapiro was on your channel...

[@jerrymcjunior2760]

Adam=Ben

[@johnnulf624]

Lolll how did I not hear this the first time around

[@pandudewanta4366]

lol sounds the same

[@tristanstevenson1164]

@@pandudewanta4366 did you know his wife's a doctor?

[@pandudewanta4366]

@@tristanstevenson1164 no i didn't

[@PaulC13]

absolutely fantastic, you guys work well together and it came out great. Love all that you do, keep it up, you are changing the world

[@jimmothyjohnson]

2:06 "Or is it?" -Adam Vsause

[@alvarojunka]

Maybe I saw this video too late , but this is beautiful , way beyond expected!! , you guys are awesome!!

[@maximilianbehrens4101]

1:30 love how it is 9.41 am on the clock and it doesnt change 🤔

[@AdamNeely]

that annoyed me, but its a bug in how quicktime screen records iphones. oh well

[@1999yasin]

Well... KEEP THE LIKES OF THIS COMMENT AND HIS REPLY EQUAL!!!!111one!!

[@robertfranklin1959]

Maximilian Behrens w

[@ambarneelamhazarika6385]

I have a doubt 9:41 am + 15 sec would the phone not show 9:41 only?

[@archebeats]

you always flip things around. That's such a great talent.

[@gavinvales8928]

I know who I'm shipping now.

[@ramziel]

wait, whaaaaa And what 'bout Scallon??

[@JesusTrismegisto]

Роман Рыжих Bald

[@WanderTheNomad]

Gavin Vales I ship your first name with your last name.

[@gavinvales8928]

kchen075 thank you very much

[@ramziel]

Adam has a gf too, so what?

[@mistymorning7816]

Oh man that's sick. I really like the jazzy vibes and that beautiful flute.

[@chancethewizard2336]

"Dubstep. W0Ooo0oO0o00W" - Adam

[@maten328]

Just love how Sarah create and play music. It's (atleast for me) totally unique and badass. The melodies are amazing

[@Inyrth]

Wait are you doing the vsauce thing by poping into frame in each section of the video. Great love that

[@gramursowanfaborden5820]

people have been calling him the Vsauce of music, and both he and Michael are living memes so he may as well have fun with it.

[@Inyrth]

Mikail Elchanovanich so true.

[@hamiltonmays4256]

mmm...poping. Francis. Pius. John. Paul. John Paul. Clement.

[@dushk0]

@@hamiltonmays4256 lyric comment! xD

[@TheStuF]

@@dushk0 he forgot Ringo and George

[@matthewcollis-long5233]

I liked your tune much better after watching this accompaniment. Well done 👍. And I love the idea that “the best way to do art is to reject success or failure and just get on with it”. Good stuff.

[@richardfloyd4029]

your hair is looking great!

[@YonathanLeibovich]

Might be my favorite piece of music on this channel.. beautiful!

[@tyranids4ever]

Take some jazz cabbage and everything is 15 minutes man.

[@josemiguelmaciasvocar2690]

lmao i read it in Penn Jillette's voice

[@obi-wannabekennotbi2418]

Nice channel name sir

[@CaalamusTube]

Hahaha! "Jazz Cabbage" :P ...last time I heard that was when I lived in NOLA, from an octogenarian who would also liberally throw around the phrase "that's mighty white of you" as a form of expressing appreciation ...& had taken to calling the young black kids who annoyed him "moon crickets". The funniest part, he was black! :P

[@fictitiousfreedom]

You have discovered a truly unique and amazing way to create beautiful music. I would very happily listen to this music regularly. This Channel is a window into a world of music and creativity that many people would never be exposed to. It is worth more than can be expressed and i thank you.

[@Martykun36]

When's Adam Neely finally going to address the possibility of Despacito 2?

[@alannoob1926]

In 2021

[@LuciferianStrings]

I make music myself and what you said about the creative process of art really struck a chord with me. I've been afraid to let myself make a bad song, but when you quoted Stephen Nachmanovitch it really did make me realise it doesn't matter if i every song i make is ''good'' or ''bad'', just that i make music and that i do something im proud of along the way

[@Hello-pl2qe]

Your music gaaay! Been a while since I laughed so hard. Great video, cool song too

[@StevenWesleyGuiles]

I just absolutely love this! Thanks for sharing your process. I’ve been a FAWMER since 2008 and I’ve found that having deadline and accountability are one of the number one inspirations for my continued song output. :)

[@EclecticHillbilly]

Some of the biggest songs in history have been written in 15 minutes or less but the difference is, they didn't set out to write a song in 15 minutes, it just happened. Moments of inspired genius just happen sometimes.

[@АлевтинВикторианский]

EclecticHillbilly it might be usefull to understand, that all their previous lifetime was a preparation for this 15 minutes (sry f my bad englsh)

[@7strSlnger678]

LOVE this!! Great creativity in such a short period of time!

[@MisterDoctorBaconman]

QnA question here: What does the existence of people who can perfectly identify exact frequencies of heard tones (through absolute pitch) imply about the innate existence of the human brain’s ability to think in numerical systems? While this is somewhat outside the realm of this channel per se, I know you like to push the boundaries so I thought I’d ask. The debate is common in mathematical and scientific communities: are numbers and math innate parts of the universe or simply a human projection of order onto a universe which happens to follow rules that are well expressed by such systems? Could people with absolute pitch and the ability to identify exact frequencies change how we look at this question? Sorry this is so out there, but at the very least hopefully this is food for thought!

[@simongunkel7457]

I don't think absolute pitch has any implications there, because it's a matter of how our brains produce perceptions. One of the key things our brains do is filter out unnecessary information. And through the way our inner ear is set up absolute pitch is what happens at that end of our auditory nerves, it just get's filtered as it comes in and that filter appears to be innate to most people. It's also limited to absolute pitch AFAIK - though it'd be interesting to note whether people with AP are also able to locate a position they have been touched at with greater precision (should be easy to set up by using some marker pens and measuring take). The math question probably also has a pretty mundane answer: Natural languages evolved to mediate simple transactions, mathematical systems are far broader in terms of what they can be used to express, hence for any given scientific theory it is more likely that it has an expression in some mathematical language than in natural language. That maths eliminates some of the ambiguities natural languages come with is an added bonus (note that mathematical languages have been developed both for the explicit purpose of expressing particular scientific theories - Newtonian mechanics needed calculus to be expressed, Population genetics needed the advances in Statistics made by Fisher - but also sometimes predate any theory they used them - Riemannian geometry was available to express Relativity for instance).

[@jayvessel444]

I loved what y'all came up with. All of the parts came together incredibly well.

[@MpSniperM1911]

6:01 5:55 that's (literally) what she said

[@michaelsnyder1492]

😁

[@1999yasin]

"Don't get me excited with dat..." lol

[@tyrred]

Beautiful song by the way. Thank you for this.

[@ronzonirafael]

Please, bandcamp it.

[@ronzonirafael]

Cool!

[@thewonable]

Great work brother. You put a lot of heart and soul into this. The way you go about inspiring people to create is impressive.

[@spearmintt1342]

Bro fix your description you have double the jabronis

[@JohnAldenDavis]

Wow, that was super cool! I never knew how versatile Sarah could be musically and how complimentary her clean tone could be in ensemble like this!

[@teddydunn3513]

You should do one where you write a song in 10 seconds but instead of writing a song u just play the ŁïçC

[@sethburke2626]

This is awesome! really liked the composition.

[@malcelinho]

we need a 'cool' counter in the next video haha

[@Natefoxlol]

Amazing, love what you came up with in the end!

[@simonvanroij4182]

3:40. I'm in an adam neely video again! Yay!

[@jerrymcjunior2760]

Congrats.

[@bouffantmoose]

Well, this video is just brilliant, the entire thing! And to end with that track... Gorgeous!

[@rondunagan6339]

I wrote a song in 2 minutes - it sounded like In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida, I don’t know why!!!

[@hanksenpai9125]

Were you drunk? That might be why.

[@JStrange13]

Funny. I once wrote a brilliant song that sounded just like 'Black Dog'.

[@ianstahl8579]

Thanks for the inspirational videos Adam

[@nicholaslatina4464]

Sounds like something off of Morning View by Incubus

[@12ealDealOfficial]

7:27 This was genius, Adam! Subscribed. Of course I want a full album recorded in this style.

[@ChadMojito]

SHAKASHURI BLOWDOWN

[@ChadMojito]

Powers? Pff! I have no powers. Except for the power to blow minds with my weapons-grade philosophical insights!

[@2free2snakes]

What doth life?

[@anon_ii_4514]

Xra lmao

[@hamiltonmays4256]

Shakashuri? Are you referring to Dr. Bassam Shakashiri, or did you actually mean the shakuhachi flute?

[@nicholasscott4138]

Wiener take all

[@VNDROID]

Adam, I really love the way you think and make videos, seriously, you're awesome

[@FreezepondMapping]

nice

[@noahhansfield4863]

nice

[@FranterixGames]

nice

[@riczi.j]

nice

[@gavinsmith9658]

nice

[@renzo3939]

nice

[@efrandsen72]

Vsauce at 2:08 and the the end he plays the lick. Adam is real sharp. Another great vid bud.

[@FunIsForHaving]

Sarah Longfield is so pretty!

[@drphalanges1520]

I don't know if I could be in her presence without blushing. She's dream girl material for sure.

[@silvenshadow]

Loved the song. It's amazing how clean the recording came out after recording in all those crazy noisy places.

[@marlonmorris4489]

Drums are too loud.

[@AdamNeely]

shut up

[@kudos4201]

the vocals arent in tune with the synths. try again

[@rhysf.505]

Fix it by making them louder.

[@ryanlea750]

This almost killed me after i started laughing i choked on my gum!

[@Sojiebee]

Your videos combine all of the best aspects of KZbin

[@NoOne-hd2iu]

Adam's trying to get with Sarah so hard

[@kevinnickens]

Hey Adam love the video and your channel is awesome! Here's a question for a q and a: You have explained on your channel how sound waves and physics relate to why the major sound is satifying and stable and why other sounds are dissonate. My question is does physics dictate how we harmonize the major scale (maj min min maj maj min min7b5) Is there anything "natural" about it, or did we just decide that's how to harmonize?

[@santiagoriosarango2086]

I shipp them

[@fantastickitten9808]

This video was really amazing. It was surprisingly uplifting and insight full. You made some great points that really could spark some thought and what came out of it was extremely catchy and could almost be called soul-lifting

[@Dooxbox]

Русский комментарий.

[@ramziel]

Русский ответ на русский комментарий.

[@ramziel]

Вот же, прочитал твой ник. Здрассте, мадам :-)

[@ramziel]

Да вот хрен тебе, а не особенность.

[@a_wild_Kirillian]

А вы забавные =)

[@algorithmicimpedance]

Roses are red Violets are blue Video is in english So why arent comments too

[@Qwufi]

This song recall an old game called Darkstone. Anyway its fantastic. Thank you all the 15 min effort :)

[@DoubleDz2k11]

It's *not* 2010 anymore. So why are YOU using... the same, old, playalong app... to become... a better musician?

[@NHail]

very soothing!

[@codonboy]

Love it! Simple with great textures and flow....

[@hewhoamareismyself]

I probably left this same comment when you actually wrote this video but the Shakuhachi and slide guitar together is a texture I can really get into.