Story time again...

I have a complex relationship with this song. I wrote it in the early noughties and I thought this was it; this was the song that would put me on the map! It didn't, obviously, thanks to my inability to do anything about it. I had big plans for it but no means to make it happen.

It currently holds the highest record for most recording attempts made on any of my songs, because over the years, if I ever got an opportunity to record 'properly' at a studio, this song was my go-to. But each time, someone else was recording me, going through their filter, so none were quite what I was going for and it never felt 'done'.

Since starting Weekly Beats in 2020, I had pretty much written off Conman as a possible entry because it certainly isn't new and it had already been recorded. However, while I was pondering songs and ideas in preparation for recording today, it occurred to me that I have not had a go at recording it my way.

Version history (for funzies):

I first recorded it as an acoustic version around 2007 along with two other songs, using a voucher I won at an open mic night to record for an hour at a local studio. Eh, it was fine, it was free, but definitely not how I intended it to be.

Next, while attending TAFE around 2011, one of the Tech students (stage and studio production) asked me to record a song with them for their project. This version was recorded as a band with other TAFE students, but the end result steered away from my vision of it, because it was his project after, so he intentionally messed around with 'studio wank' (as he called it) to showcase his work. I like this version but I consider it a neat 'remix'.

Next up, after meeting a similar-minded muso at TAFE, we started a band called Triggerhertz around 2014. Conman was an obvious choice for me to bring to the setlist because it was always intended for a band. We recorded it with four other songs in 2016 for what would have been our first EP, but we disbanded shortly after the sessions, so this version never made it past a rough mix. To be honest though, this version already wasn't feeling quite right either, so I didn't lose sleep over it.

The last attempt I made was in 2018 when someone local advertised their home studio for a great price, and also offered to play drums, which was the main thing I preferred to outsource. It headed down a similar road as the Triggerhertz version, with a fairly 'classic rock' vibe, because I didn't want to be a nuisance asking to stack guitar tracks to fatten the sound. This version also didn't make it beyond a rough master.

So here we are; 2026... the drums aren't real, there's no big studio, it's just me with my very humble little recording set up, but it is the closest version to how I wanted it to be, albeit a couple of decades too late. I always wanted fat guitars and punchy bass, so at least this version is closer to baby Jai's original vision. I ran out of steam as I was trying to finish up, so I got a bit lazy in some bits, like, I intended to mess with panning to make the chorus pop more from the verses, and I wanted to add a bit more 'human' to the drums by adding incidental accent hits here and there, and the solo is still the scratch takes but I got super tired and didn't have the energy to try get them cleaner. Eh, that stuff can happen another time if I can be bothered, the main thing is it's closer to done than it has been before. Yay.

Tags: week 28 2026, View by:JaiClone