The Maxwell’s Kitchen intro started with a guitar, an iPhone, GarageBand, and way too much free time.
When I first started the show in early 2020, I did not really know what it was supposed to look or sound like yet. I had recorded a handful of episodes, but the music, graphics, and overall identity were still pretty rough.
Then everything shut down.
Suddenly I had a lot more time at home, nobody wanted to come sit in my kitchen for an interview, and I started playing guitar more than I had in years.
One night I came up with a fingerpicked guitar part.
The next day I played it again.
Then I added something else.
And something else.
Eventually that little guitar idea became the Maxwell’s Kitchen intro.
This episode is the story of how I built it.
In This Episode
Writing the Maxwell’s Kitchen intro song
Improvising on guitar
Recording guitar with an iPhone
Using GarageBand
Multitrack recording
Building a song one layer at a time
Fingerpicked guitar
Double tracking
Chord progressions
Writing a melody
Recording parts in different octaves
GarageBand effects
Distortion and automation
Stereo panning
Creating space in a mix
Knowing when to stop adding things
The finished Maxwell’s Kitchen theme
Starting With One Guitar Part
The whole thing began with a fingerpicked guitar idea.
There was no grand plan behind it. I was sitting around playing guitar, found something I liked, and kept working on it.
That is usually how writing music works for me.
I do not sit down knowing exactly what I am trying to write. I play around until something catches my attention, then keep poking at it until another part appears.
Sometimes it feels less like writing something and more like trying to figure out a combination lock.
You know there is something in there. You just have to keep turning things until it opens.
Once I realized this particular guitar part might work as the theme for Maxwell’s Kitchen, I recorded it into GarageBand on my iPhone.
That gave me something I could play over and over again.
Which I did.
For hours.
Building a Song With Multitracking
I had been messing around with multitrack recording since I was a teenager.
The basic idea is simple: record one part, then record another part over it.
Then another.
Instead of needing an entire band in a room at the same time, one person can slowly build an arrangement piece by piece.
For the intro, I started with the fingerpicked guitar and used it as the foundation.
Then I would put that recording on repeat and play guitar along with it until another idea showed up.
Once I found something I liked, I recorded that too.
Eventually there were eight or ten individual tracks inside GarageBand, all built from that original guitar part.
Why Double Tracking Sounds Different
One of the techniques I use in the episode is double tracking.
That does not mean copying the exact same recording and playing it twice.
You actually perform the part again.
Even if you are trying to play exactly the same thing, the second performance will be slightly different. The timing changes. The attack changes. Notes land a little differently.
Put the two performances together and the sound becomes wider and thicker.
The same technique has been used on countless records, particularly with vocals and guitars.
John Lennon famously liked the sound of doubled vocals but did not enjoy having to sing the same part repeatedly. That frustration eventually helped lead to the development of artificial double tracking at Abbey Road.
I did not have Abbey Road.
I had an iPhone.
So I just played the part again.
Finding the Chord Progression
Underneath everything is a chord progression that is darker than a typical major-key pop progression.
There are minor chords and small changes in the voicings that give it a slightly mysterious quality.
Once that foundation was in place, the rest of the arrangement became easier to imagine.
I could keep playing the progression back and start looking for parts that belonged around it instead of trying to invent an entire song at once.
That eventually led to the melody.
Adding the Melody
The melody is one of those parts that came from listening to the same progression over and over until I started hearing something else on top of it.
I recorded that part and then kept building.
Another guitar came in.
Then I recorded a similar figure an octave higher.
Each individual part is pretty simple. The interesting part is what happens when they all start interacting.
That is one of the things I like most about multitrack recording.
A part that sounds almost meaningless by itself can become important once it sits next to everything else.
Using GarageBand Effects
By this point, the GarageBand session had turned into a pile of guitar tracks.
I also wanted the song to feel like it was constantly driving toward something.
Then, at the end, I wanted it to fall apart.
GarageBand has effects you can manipulate directly on the phone, so I started experimenting with distortion and other controls until I found a way to make the ending crash instead of simply stopping.
A lot of the process was not technical.
It was just messing around until something sounded right.
That is probably the most useful thing about recording your own music.
You can try terrible ideas without having to explain them to anybody.
If they are terrible, delete them.
If they work, suddenly you look like you knew what you were doing.
Where Everything Sits in the Stereo Mix
The other big part of the episode is stereo panning.
When you listen to music through headphones, everything is not necessarily sitting directly in the middle.
A guitar might be off to the left.
Another part might be on the right.
The vocal may sit in the center.
Other sounds can occupy different spaces in between.
That placement helps keep a mix from turning into one giant pile of noise.
I think of it like having a limited amount of space. You can keep adding instruments, but eventually they start fighting for the same room.
Panning gives each part somewhere to live.
Once I had all of the intro tracks recorded, that became part of the job: deciding where everything belonged so the individual guitar parts could still be heard when they were playing together.
You Do Not Need a Studio to Start
The entire intro grew out of a guitar part recorded into GarageBand on an iPhone.
That does not mean an iPhone replaces a professional recording studio.
It does mean you do not need a professional studio before you are allowed to make something.
You can learn an enormous amount about songwriting, recording, arrangement, double tracking, effects, and mixing by building songs with whatever equipment you already have.
The Maxwell’s Kitchen intro started as me sitting around during lockdown playing guitar.
A few days later, it had become the sound at the beginning of the show.
That is still one of my favorite things about making music.
You never really know which random idea is going to turn into something.
Useful Links
GarageBand for iPhone and iPad
https://www.apple.com/ios/garageband/
GarageBand for iPhone User Guide
https://support.apple.com/guide/garageband-iphone/welcome/ios
Abbey Road: Artificial Double Tracking
https://www.abbeyroad.com/news/inside-abbey-road-artificial-double-tracking-2530
Watch the Episode on YouTube
https://youtu.be/0CLJZRxBjGc
More Music Episodes
“Little Black Submarines” by The Black Keys | Why Is This Song So Good?
https://maxwellskitchenpodcast.com/maxwells-kitchen-podcast/2022/05/27-episode-76-cody-maxwell-little-black-submarines
I break down and play The Black Keys’ “Little Black Submarines,” including the guitar parts, chord progression, arrangement, and why the song works so well.
Recording Bands, Audio Engineering, and Studio Life with Adam Lee
https://maxwellskitchenpodcast.com/maxwells-kitchen-podcast/2023/02/28-episode-108-adam-lee
Jackpot! Recording Studio engineer Adam Lee talks about recording bands, analog tape, Pro Tools, producers, studio psychology, and what actually happens when musicians turn songs into finished records.
