Don’t be afraid… it’s the first time and of course it will be amateurish , that applies to everyone who starts with this song writing … no exceptions…
But this way you will be one of the best beginners with your own song ever …
But there is also nothing wrong with a good cover (often desired) and feeling completely comfortable in that studio will maybe let you go back more often ,
Anyway, enjoy your gift and unwrap it the way you like it best
Happy birthday @Jenndye429 Whatever song you choose, cover or original remember to enjoy the experience, it will be all too brief in retrospect. And however it sounds it will be a good record of an experience.
Happy belated Birthday, Jen!
What a great gift! Whatever you are doing…enjoy the process and I’m sure you will . Have fun and I’m sure, you and Dan will make the best out of it !
Happy birthday, Jenny and wow- what a great birthday present
It’s great to see you enjoying it so much before you even know what you’d like to do.
I’m going to go against the consensus and say record a cover of a song you love and feel you have done justice to in the past. Get it as good as you can. The only difference a professional recording will make is the quality of the recording. It will just sound better. If you already had an original that you were happy with/proud of, I’d go with that. I’m proud of my first original- but would not want studio treatment on it!
That said, the seed has been sown and you need to have a go at songwriting, esp. as Dan wants to go down that path with you. There’ll be many attempts, rewrites etc., until you’re happy with the final result and you can always do it again if you enjoy the experience. I wouldn’t worry about copyright issues either, as this will primarily be for personal enjoyment, as well as sharing with friends and family, which you can easily do without an online platform.
Enjoy whatever you decide.
You go girl!
Happy (or maybe belated now) birthday Jen. I hope you have/had a lovely day.
That is a very cool gift and I think if it was me I’d be trying to do my own song. Covers have been professionally mixed before but if you do an original then that will be the first ever of that song.
Whatever you go with though enjoy the day and the experience.
Hello Jenn, and Happy Birthday !!
To be honest, if it was me to decide cover or original, I would probably go for the latter. Although, @franzek s idea of covering a song by making it ‘my own’ sounds also enticing .
Whatever you’re going to do, I wish you lots of fun with the whole process . What an awesome gift you’ve got . (Well done, Dan .)
You know Elvis got his start this way: his first ever recording was a birthday gift to his mother, made at Memphis Recording Services (later to become Sun Records), for which he paid (IIRC) $4.
happy birthday Jen!!
What an amazing and thoughtful gift!
I was thinking go with an original too, though I do enjoy listening to your covers
Either way, it will be so cool
Looking forward to hearing the result!
Many happy returns, Jen. What a wonderful gift. The experience is sure to be a treat regardless of what you actually record … a real ‘it’s the journey not the destination’ moment, I think.
Good to know you are not under time pressure to get into the studio.
If you choose to go with an original, then building on @stitch’s comment, I suggest you work on the song to the point where you are happy with it at home. Then you’ll be able to go into the studio with something solid to work with. I expect the recording engineering will also serve as a producer to some degree and will be good if they have something to work with. Will also save you time in the studio.
You might even share the home-recorded demo version with the Community.
If you write an original the recording process will not be blessed with a musical director / producer / arranger.
You will need to have the song structure and parts fully worked out beforehand.
If you cover an original you know the structure and parts and it gives you so much less to have to worry about - just the performance.
Also, if you want to move to doing paid gigs as a cover band, it can form part of a show reel to promote yourselves.
Recently, the seeds of wanting to maybe start to write my own stuff have been planted in my mind. Our friend Greg that has been doing the community OMs with us lately has been wanting to write originals and it has been kind of inspiring. While I LOVE doing covers and still would like to have a cover band, the idea of writing my own stuff isn’t the turn off for me it once was.
I told Dan we could explore writing together and see how it goes. But I also told him I’m not giving up my covers
Thank you Brian! You make a lot of really good points. If we do end up doing an original, I’ll definitely be posting stuff on the community for feedback. If I don’t end up with something I would be happy to record, I’ve got a lot of covers to pick from that I love too
Thank you Richard! He definitely is good at giving thoughtful gifts
You make some really good points. I have said that I would like to form a cover band. Who knows if we will ever get paid, but we will certainly have fun with it. A pro recording would be helpful in that case.
Thank you all so much for the birthday wishes and the feedback! I’ll definitely be posting more from the process as we get started with it for anybody interested. I’ll be very excited to have a final song to share with everyone!
, that applies to everyone who starts with this song writing … no exceptions… 
…
,
. Have fun and I’m sure, you and Dan will make the best out of it 
!
.
.)
Sounds very exciting, I hope it’s a great experience and look forward to hearing how you get on.