Ok i'll be honest, at first i thought this was a ridiculous question, but then i thought about it, i do have a formula, it's strange because i've never thought about it. Usually, i'll be just playing geetar for the sake of playing and something will pop up, if i'm lucky i'll get a vocal melody pop into my head at the same time but that doesn't always happen, then i'll see where the idea goes find some good progressions and build from there mainly all on guitar. Then, the guitar goes away, usually for quite a while, and i work on the drums/percussion, mapping out the song to give me something to work with, then i'll track some gtrs, bass etc, then edit and edit, re-record etc till the arrangement is right, then track the instruments proper. Then i'll work on the vocals, which usually leads to more edits of the arrangement, some more re-recording (occasionally a complete re-work!) then just mix till i cant stand to hear it any more
even if (as in the last song i finished) the lyrics are quite some way from what would be printed on the cd liner!
if it's sounds good, it is good.....
The most punk thing you can do is stop listening to punk..
