This is a story about what I learned from my 60 year old aunt, who has been an unsuccessful song writer for 40 years. The point of this article is not to put her down(I love her), but to bring the light some of the pitfalls to avoid as a beginning song writer.
When I first started producing, she would come to me with songs written on loose pieces of paper, asking me to record her songs for her. Her songs mostly consisted of lyrics that were not really formatted in any particular way. They really looked more like poems than songs.
I could barely work my ASR-10, when my relative begin bringing lyrics in hopes that I could help her record her songs. I agreed and was all ready to start, and I asked her "ok..so how does it go?" The answer was "I don't have a melody yet". So there we were, two non-singers with no melody for her lyrics. No progress was made and the lyrics were just filed.
Note: Most executives that are interested in buying your songs are not interested in just buying your lyrics....so it is better to submit full songs instead of only lyrics.
Before long, this relative began to format her lyrics better, and even began to come to me with melodies in mind.
Speaking of formats, there are many to choose from (google "song formats"), or you could not abide by any format...as long as it sounds good to you.
Lyrics......check! Format....check!.......Melodies.....check!...wait a minute..uncheck! My relative pretty much had the same melody for every song, and it was a country western melody....Problem, because I definitely didn't know how to make country western music.
Fast forward, we were both frustrated, her songs were not getting made, and that was because I couldn't do country western and I couldn't convert it to R&B or Hip Hop successfully. So she started to bring random people who somebody said could sing, who had never recorded in a studio before in their life. Some of them, she even paid. Of course, the results were horrible. All of these events, left her mad at me and frustrated with music in general....so how do you avoid this happening to you?
First, let me say that you do not have to be a singer in order to be a writer, you just need to have a relatively clear idea about what you want your song to sound like, then you can find all the right people or pieces to make it sound that way.
When it comes to writing styles, writers are different. There are some that don't write with music at all. Those writers can just peruse instrumentals until they find one that fits their lyrics. Then there are some that have an idea about what they want their music to sound like. In that case, those writers can find a producer who can create exactly what the writer is hearing.
Personally, I like to pick the instrumental first. (There are millions of instrumentals online, but I use www.freshoffabreakup.com), then write to the instrumental. I can't sing, but what I do is make sure the timing is how I want it, and I just try to get in the general ballpark, melody wise. I also like to record my lyrics (on a little personal recorder) instead of writing them down, because when I write them down, I find that I often forget the timing of the lyrics, or the way I said certain words.
Now it is time to interview demo singers. You should be looking for a good demo singer that can sing the type of music that you are attempting to record. A good idea in your initial meeting with a demo singer is to have them sing your lyrics over the music you have chosen. That will allow you to really hear whether or not you want to use them, before you have rented studio time. This is important because you are the one who is going to have to pay for extended studio time for a bad or slow demo singer.
What do you do after the recording session is done and you actually like your song? Mixing time..thats what. Most likely, whoever engineered the original session will also be able to mix your record...it will just take a little more time and a little more money. You also need to be able to express to the mixing engineer what you want the end result to sound like. If not, you are taking the risk that the sound engineer may not do what you want him to do, the way you want him to do it.
Lastly, you need to get your song mastered. You can find a mastering engineer, which is kind of expensive, or you can most likely get the mixing engineer to do pretty much the same thing cheaper.
Ok, we are now ready to submit. Well, not quite yet....you will want to copyright the song with the library of congress, and the register it with your writing society...and then we are ready to submit!
If you follow the simple steps above, you'll be ahead of the game!
When I first started producing, she would come to me with songs written on loose pieces of paper, asking me to record her songs for her. Her songs mostly consisted of lyrics that were not really formatted in any particular way. They really looked more like poems than songs.
I could barely work my ASR-10, when my relative begin bringing lyrics in hopes that I could help her record her songs. I agreed and was all ready to start, and I asked her "ok..so how does it go?" The answer was "I don't have a melody yet". So there we were, two non-singers with no melody for her lyrics. No progress was made and the lyrics were just filed.
Note: Most executives that are interested in buying your songs are not interested in just buying your lyrics....so it is better to submit full songs instead of only lyrics.
Before long, this relative began to format her lyrics better, and even began to come to me with melodies in mind.
Speaking of formats, there are many to choose from (google "song formats"), or you could not abide by any format...as long as it sounds good to you.
Lyrics......check! Format....check!.......Melodies.....check!...wait a minute..uncheck! My relative pretty much had the same melody for every song, and it was a country western melody....Problem, because I definitely didn't know how to make country western music.
Fast forward, we were both frustrated, her songs were not getting made, and that was because I couldn't do country western and I couldn't convert it to R&B or Hip Hop successfully. So she started to bring random people who somebody said could sing, who had never recorded in a studio before in their life. Some of them, she even paid. Of course, the results were horrible. All of these events, left her mad at me and frustrated with music in general....so how do you avoid this happening to you?
First, let me say that you do not have to be a singer in order to be a writer, you just need to have a relatively clear idea about what you want your song to sound like, then you can find all the right people or pieces to make it sound that way.
When it comes to writing styles, writers are different. There are some that don't write with music at all. Those writers can just peruse instrumentals until they find one that fits their lyrics. Then there are some that have an idea about what they want their music to sound like. In that case, those writers can find a producer who can create exactly what the writer is hearing.
Personally, I like to pick the instrumental first. (There are millions of instrumentals online, but I use www.freshoffabreakup.com), then write to the instrumental. I can't sing, but what I do is make sure the timing is how I want it, and I just try to get in the general ballpark, melody wise. I also like to record my lyrics (on a little personal recorder) instead of writing them down, because when I write them down, I find that I often forget the timing of the lyrics, or the way I said certain words.
Now it is time to interview demo singers. You should be looking for a good demo singer that can sing the type of music that you are attempting to record. A good idea in your initial meeting with a demo singer is to have them sing your lyrics over the music you have chosen. That will allow you to really hear whether or not you want to use them, before you have rented studio time. This is important because you are the one who is going to have to pay for extended studio time for a bad or slow demo singer.
What do you do after the recording session is done and you actually like your song? Mixing time..thats what. Most likely, whoever engineered the original session will also be able to mix your record...it will just take a little more time and a little more money. You also need to be able to express to the mixing engineer what you want the end result to sound like. If not, you are taking the risk that the sound engineer may not do what you want him to do, the way you want him to do it.
Lastly, you need to get your song mastered. You can find a mastering engineer, which is kind of expensive, or you can most likely get the mixing engineer to do pretty much the same thing cheaper.
Ok, we are now ready to submit. Well, not quite yet....you will want to copyright the song with the library of congress, and the register it with your writing society...and then we are ready to submit!
If you follow the simple steps above, you'll be ahead of the game!
About the Author:
Looking to find the best deal on beats keyword #1, then visit www.freshoffabreakup.com/blog to find the best advice on keyword #2 for you.
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