Get your songs working well before you begin the recording-production process.
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As you know, I write about songwriting and song arranging and production in this blog almost as if they are the same thing. Of course, they aren’t. There are decisions that are made at the songwriting stage, and then there are those that are decided on at the production level. I tend to largely ignore that line, and talk about both the writing and production of songs as two sides of the same activity, and call it all “songwriting.”
I do that on purpose. If it were possible for me to have been writing this blog 30 years ago, I wouldn’t have even bothered talking about production-level decisions. But today, songwriting has changed.
Thirty years ago, you’d have picked up your pencil, grabbed a note pad or music sheet, picked up your guitar or sat at a piano, and started to write. There was no ability to share that music online; people heard your music because you performed it at a concert, café, variety show, or some other kind of local gathering. If you were really good, building a large fan base and writing regularly, you’d make a (probably badly-recorded) demo, and court a manager or producer.
But today, though you might still be using your guitar, pencil and paper, you probably have your computer nearby, or even just a smartphone, and it’s going to figure into the final product at some stage. With your computer you can have it written and recorded by lunchtime from the comfort of your own bedroom, and be sharing it with the world before supper. That demo you make can be fully orchestrated, complete with all the effects and production that you want, thanks to computers and software. A person from 30 years ago, if they knew how easily it can be done now, would be astonished.
The decisions that, 30 years ago, might have been made by a producer are still being made by producers of course, in recording studios. But many of you are building your potential careers by producing your own recordings, and that is where — and why — the line between songwriting and producing gets blurred.
Putting on your songwriting hat is easy and familiar, but making production-level decisions might be a stranger hat to wear. Making production decisions means you must look at your song in a more objective way. Here are some tips for making sure that your decisions are putting your songs in a best-possible light:
- Ensure that the song works well before you do any production. A song with problems will still have those problems even with polished production. So put a magnifying glass on your music. Make sure that the melody is well-supported by the chords underneath, and that the lyric is well-constructed, with narrative-style words and phrases in the verses and emotional words in the chorus. In other words, make sure that the formal design of the song is the best it can be. It should work well as a simple guitar- or keyboard-accompanied song.
- Make sure that there is a natural energy rise throughout the length of the song, before production is applied. In other words, the song should feel more energetic near its end than near its beginning. That energy rise will come from the progression of the story, the range of the various melody lines, and the various features of the formal design (e.g., the use or not of a bridge section). Do not rely on production “tricks” to mask problems with the structure of the song.
- When recording, follow good production practices. The recent guest blog article by Bobby Owsinski has great tips for you to follow.
- Ensure that song structure and song production support each other. For example, don’t boost levels in your chorus to gain some necessary energy, when the problem is really that the chorus melody is too low. Always make sure that production is being done once a song is working well.
- Get production advice and help. Producing your own recording is tougher than you think, because it is a bit like being a judge in a beauty contest where your own child is one of the contestants. You have a love for your song that is natural, but being a good producer means you need to make decisions that can change that song — trying a new tempo, moving the key, changing chords, etc. A fellow songwriter can often be a good person to bring into the studio to help you stay objective.
Of all those tips, the most important one is this: do not assume that you can fix songwriting problems at the production level. Though the line between songwriting and producing is blurry now, it is still there. And the best songs are the ones that stand on their own before production ever happens.
It has always been that way.
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Written by Gary Ewer. Follow on Twitter.
Download “The Essential Secrets of Songwriting” 6-eBook Bundle: $95.70 $37.00 (and get a copy of “From Amateur to Ace: Writing Songs Like a Pro“ FREE.)
Reblogged this on I Write The Music.
A great topic. Being old school that way I subscribe to your advice 100 percent. I still believe in that ol’ adage that a song is a good song if it works when played on guitar or piano only.
However, plenty of dance, R&B, hiphop tracks these days aren’t written that way and shouldn’t be judged by those standards. The production, the beat, the sound of the thing is sometimes the main point of these tracks (not the melody, the lyric, the chord structure).
I wonder if the term “song” applies to these numbers but at any rate I’m sure that you can’t separate the production from the songwriting on these tracks. There’s a blurry but still visible line on, say, Sledgehammer.
But trying to measure one of Madonna’s recent releases by songwriting standards is almost like judging a painting by movie-making standards. “It’s boring”, the film critic might say. “It doesn’t move.” (Maybe that simile doesn’t work but you know what I mean, I think)
Yes, you bring up an important thought with regard to today’s dance music. I listen to some of it and think that we almost need a new category to describe them. And the difference that I’m talking about (and you too, I think) is not just a matter of the upbeat tempo and sound. It’s more that the usual attempts at crafting a melody supported by chords with a lyric that develops just aren’t there. When you listen, for example, to “Nexus” (Carl Cox), the sameness throughout the song is a goal. It’s almost like we need a new word for it. There’s nothing wrong with the music, of course, it’s just that the objectives are so radically different. Doing a piano or guitar version of “Nexus” would miss out on everything the song is about.
-Gary