The story of finally completing a song from 20 years ago that was left on my iPhone.

How I approach music production with Claude. In this note, where I introduce my trial-and-error process, today I will introduce the 15th song, "Cross."

About this song: Cross

I completed a song I wrote about 20 years ago using my current production environment. The melody shifts to 3/4 time halfway through, while the drums remain in 4/4. This gradual accumulation of misalignment creates the unique atmosphere of this track.

I feel like I finally managed to complete it after 20 years

This song remained on my iPhone as a very low-quality recording. It wasn't something I was constantly thinking about. However, I suddenly remembered that I had written it and liked it back then, and when I listened to it again, it matched my current mood. So, I decided to try completing it in my current production environment.

I believe the biggest reason I was able to complete it this time is not because of the environment or tools, but because my own experience and ears have changed. In the process of creating the 14 songs up to this point, my choices of sound and my judgment on when to stop have changed from who I was 20 years ago. Even though it is the same song, the current me was able to complete it. That felt both mysterious and convincing.

To be honest, I feel like it might not be truly finished yet. Even so, I have reached a state where I can think that this form is the best for now.

Beyond completion

Recently, I have been creating "with Bass" versions of my released songs, where I layer live bass performances over them. I am already looking forward to creating the "with Bass" version of this song.

For that purpose, I am about to order an effector (equipment to change the sound of an instrument). I will write about which effector I chose in another article.

The production that started with just a laptop is gradually moving in a more physical direction, with an audio interface, a bass, and now an effector.

On the other hand, my conversations with Claude are becoming deeper and deeper now that the model has become Fable (Claude's new model). Recently, I have been using MCP (a mechanism that allows Claude to directly read and write to external tools) to link Notion and Claude, and I have started managing the information of the songs I have created so far—such as track composition and release status—all in one place. The parts where I move my hands are physical, and the parts where I think and manage are with Claude. I am looking forward to seeing where this combination leads.

You can listen to the song I created this time here.
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