the Iron Maiden method of songwriting

Melony said:
I think Steve could consider Adrian's opinion a little more when it comes to production.
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Yeah, but I wouldn't call Smith/Kotzen's production that different, to give a recent example. And Adrian was pleased with the latest album sound.

edit: here's what Adrian said about TBOS production (and about Bruce's vocals, he suggests some things to him):

''Some of the albums we’ve done in the past were a little bit under polished for me, to be honest. I like power and heaviness but I also like a little bit of delay on the vocals, stuff like that. I have to twist Kevin’s arm and sometimes we bump heads a little bit, but I’m really happy with the way that this album sounds. It’s the right blend of the rawness of the performance but with a bit of polish…and that was probably because I was bending his ear about it every five minutes [LAUGHS]''.

''It’s just his attitude really. He’ll never lower the fence, he’ll always just keep running until he can jump over it. He’ll keep battering it and battering it. I’ve suggested changing keys to songs on occasion but he’d rather just keep it up and go for the notes and he can still absolutely do it. It’s amazing, really''.
Dick Brucinson said:
When did they actually stop recording section by section and went for recording live? Like what was the last album they recorded the old way? Did that change with Shirley joinig in the production?
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It started with BNW album, iirc. I remember in the VXI epk documentary Nicko said that his parts were recorded first.
 
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I am not sure because I don't like Smith/Kotzen and avoid listening too closeley. :D
Regarding Senjutsu, I of course believe he liked it overall but but we don't know the details. He would hardly say publicly when promoting a new album that he thinks this or that should have been improved.
 
dickinson1978 said:
I think you can see something in a AMOLAD dox
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Correct, I think also they talk a little about it on the Death on the road documentary.

The writing sessions usually last for 4-6 weeks, no writing while touring. Steve plays acoustic bass and whistle vocal melodies while writing. Bruce use guitar while writing, except Empire of the clouds which he used a thrift store piano. Adrian often write some riffs very quickly. Janick always work together with Steve with his ideas. And Dave give Steve 30 minutes of riffs and melodies, that Steve pierce together a song.
 
Sth2112 said:
Correct, I think also they talk a little about it on the Death on the road documentary.

The writing sessions usually last for 4-6 weeks, no writing while touring. Steve plays acoustic bass and whistle vocal melodies while writing. Bruce use guitar while writing, except Empire of the clouds which he used a thrift store piano. Adrian often write some riffs very quickly. Janick always work together with Steve with his ideas. And Dave give Steve 30 minutes of riffs and melodies, that Steve pierce together a song.
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Pretty much. Adrian also plays around a bit with home recording and creating demos on his computer. The intro for Satellite 15 is pretty much entirely one of Adrian's demos, only with added vocals and some more guitar IIRC.
 
Dick Brucinson said:
When did they actually stop recording section by section and went for recording live? Like what was the last album they recorded the old way? Did that change with Shirley joinig in the production?
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It started with Shirley and that studio in Paris in 2000
 
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Probably wouldn't have gotten Alex, since that one was recorded in chunks and never played in its entirety.
 
That I do not know, but it wouldn't surprise me. Hell On Earth was done in different chunks, or at the very least performances with different tempos were spliced into the final product.

Guess I was too hasty with my previous statement, I'll take that back.
 
From what I understand a piece of the way they've recorded the last two albums is they can record as they write the songs instead of attempting everything in a single take. I'm also guessing The Final Frontier has a few spliced moments, but that is pure speculation.
 
Jer said:
The only time Nicko got a credit for an album track was on “New Frontier” when he wrote the lyrics. Otherwise, no matter how important his drumming choices are to the impact of the track, he still won’t get songwriting credit.
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If I remember correctly, Nicko wrote the guitar melody. At least that's what's said on the documentary.
 
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