After I finished Producing and Mixing an EP with the multi-talented, singer/songwriter Todd Morse of The Offspring earlier this year, Morse called me in late February with a new song idea that he wanted us to get to work on and record as soon as possible.
Morse was listening to an episode of the Howard Stern Show and during one segment Howard said, “I had a feeling that my whole life, I was sort of raised to not want too much emotionally and I wore this like suit of armor in my life."
Morse was immediately inspired by the idea and ended up writing a song titled, “Suit Of Armor”. Of course, Morse can’t take credit for the song’s title, but good songwriters don’t let good inspiration go to waste. The song has since aired numerous times on the Howard Stern Show. It has certainly connected with listeners, and even Howard himself said the song “touched me”, and that’s what good songwriting can do, it can resonate with a listener’s emotions.
In this three part series, I'm going to share the behind-the-scenes story of how "Suit of Armor" was written, recorded, and produced. Today, we'll start with The Demo.
The Demo
After his lightning bolt moment, Morse wrote the music for this song on acoustic guitar using a few simple chord progressions and then wrote lyrics. He tracked it from home and sent it over to me. I listened through a few times, read through the lyrics and it was a really rich song idea, but I felt the lyrics were a bit too specific to Howard’s situation.
For example, Morse’s original opening lyric was “I was just a broken boy, I had to find my way to joy”, so I thought about how to make that opening line more universal, and came up with, “I was just a broken soul, missing pieces to feel whole”. That simple change meant that anyone listening to the song could identify with the singer, and why not appeal to as many people as you can?
"That simple change meant that anyone listening to the song could identify with the singer, and why not appeal to as many people as you can?"
I had some other vocal melody and lyric suggestions in the verses and choruses to hopefully improve the hook and enhance the message of the song. I also really wanted the outro chorus to feature gang vocals vamping the song title. I sent all those ideas back to Morse who agreed with the suggestions because he felt they improved the song.
The demo had now gone through an edit and a re-write. It’s really important to be open to letting someone else offer suggestions to your song because sometimes a fresh perspective can lead to a better finished product.
"It’s really important to be open to letting someone else offer suggestions to your song because sometimes a fresh perspective can lead to a better finished product."
On the flip side, that process can also confirm that your initial composition is definitely on the right path if any new suggestions don’t improve upon what you have initially created. Ultimately, it’s worthwhile to be open to new ideas, and the best idea should always win.
In Part 2 of this series, I'll talk about going into the studio and recording the song.
About John
John DiBiase is a Los Angeles based Producer, Mixer, Recording Engineer and Live Sound Engineer. In his career, he has worked with artists such as Miley Cyrus, The Offspring, Prince, Jeff Beck, Taj Mahal, Dancing with the Stars: Live, Greer, Plague Vendor, Jin Akanishi, Life Of Dillon, The Anatomy, The Spooky, and Todd Morse. John is also a proficient musician and songwriter, having studied jazz early in his career, and playing in numerous rock and pop bands.
Currently, John is mixing a live album for multiple Grammy award winning artist Taj Mahal, with the album’s release scheduled for 2023.
In the studio, John recently recorded and mixed a performance by the legendary guitarist Jeff Beck for the release of the new American Vintage II Stratocaster by Fender guitars. John also toured as a recording engineer with Jeff Beck and Johnny Depp on their recent US/Canada Tour.
John is also recently credited as a Recording Engineer for The Offspring's acclaimed latest album "Let The Bad Times Roll". John also Produced, Engineered, Mixed, and Co-Wrote Todd Morse’s latest solo release “Suit Of Armor”, which was aired and featured on the Howard Stern Show, as well as Morse’s latest EP “Time Stopper”.
John also teamed up with Plague Vendor on the Forza Horizon 5 Soundtrack for which he Produced, Engineered and Mixed their song “Live More” and their latest single “Run”.
Since 2010, John has excelled as a Playback and Recording Engineer while touring the world from arenas to festivals such as Rock Am Ring, Rock Im Park, Rock in Rio, Pinkpop, Download, Southside, Reading and Leeds. His contributions to the live shows and tours he has been a part of include working closely with the artist on recording, song arrangements, sound design, mixing, and performance.
