The Beatles

How High You Sing Can Have a Big Effect On Song Energy

You can define song energy in several ways, but for the purposes of this post, song energy is the sense of musical intensity a listener perceives when they hear your song. And there are several aspects of music that might contribute to intensity: Loudness Rhythmic complexity General rhythmic activity Tonal quality of the various instruments […]

Bruce Springsteen

Ideas For Changing How Loud Your Song Sounds

If you’re a player in a band, you’ve got lots of options for controlling the dynamics (loudness) of your music. Other than, of course, simply turning things up, you can add instruments to the mix to get the louder sounds you’re looking for, and/or subtract them to make your music more transparent. Trying to get […]

Song energy

Song Energy Needs to Move Up and Down

When we think of the term musical energy, we might immediately think of loudness and tempo. But as a songwriter, you need to develop a slightly more sophisticated understanding of how musical energy works, and what it can do to make people want to listen to — and come back to — your songs. If you’re […]

Guitar and music paper - Songwriting

How Contrast Works – How It Makes Songs More Interesting to Listen To

The following is an excerpt from the ebook manual, “The Essential Secrets of Songwriting, 4th Ed.” It’s an eBook that covers every aspect of how good songs work, with sound samples that let you hear the concepts at work so that you can apply them to your own songs. This excerpt, from “Chapter 3: Designing […]

Nirvana in concert

In Good Songwriting, Opposites Matter

Most songs make use of contrasting characteristics as a way of keeping listeners interested. You might get a song with a verse that’s quiet, at least in comparison to the chorus. “Smells Like Teen Sprit” (Nirvana) is a good example, and practically any power ballad. If you’re looking for one set of eBooks that will […]

Songwriting Technique: 5 Ways to Create Dynamic Shapes

Change the impression of how loud your music is with these 5 ideas. __________________ Download “The Essential Secrets of Songwriting” 6-eBook Bundle, and revitalize your songwriting technique! __________________ In music, we use the term “dynamics” to refer to volume (loudness). Just like most other elements that go together to produce a song, altering dynamics can […]