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.
At the beginning of my production career, my aunt would bring song lyrics to me and request that I record songs with them. The lyrics were not formatted in any particular way, and they really seemed more like poems.
Then, I was barely making hip hop that anyone would listen to. However, I still wanted to help record her songs...so I needed to know how the lyrics were supposed to go? When I asked her, she didn't know. Since she didn't really sing, she had never thought of any melodies. I couldn't sing either and couldn't think of any melodies myself at the time, so the lyrics just sat on the shelf.
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.
Eventually, my aunt realized that when she came to me her songs needed to be formatted a little better, and that she at least needed to have some sort of melody to give me with her lyrics.
In regards to formats, you have multiple song formats to choose from, or you can just wing it...there doesn't have to be any rules....but if you want to learn about song formats just google (song formats).
Ok...so we have melodies and lyrics, but we still had a problem. She had melodies but she really couldn't sing them well, and they all were similar to country western melodies. In addition, they eventually began to sound out-dated lyrically.
What happened from there is that we could not make a song that sounded like she envisioned. So, she began to recruit people who said they could sing, but most of them had never even recorded before, and even if they could sing, just because a person can sing does not mean that they can write melodies. These experiences made my aunt irritated at me and they made her have a bad taste in her mouth regarding music as a whole....so what can you do to avoid this feeling?
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.
There are different types of writing styles. Some write without music and some hear music while they write. Writers who have some type of idea what they want their music to sound like should find beat makers who can duplicate what that writer hears. Writers who don't have an idea of what they want their music to sound like should just choose an instrumental that suits their lyrics.
Other writers find an instrumental before they start to write. There are many places to find instrumentals (www.freshoffabreakup.com). Once these type of writers have their music, then they need to write. I, personally don't write lyrics down. I record them onto a personal recorder to make sure that I remember the timing of my 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.
When the recording session is over and done with, the record needs to be mixed. It is very possible that the same person who engineered your demo session could also mix your song for an additional fee. When I was a less experienced engineer and I needed sessions mixed, I would take songs that I heard on the radio or in my cd collection to the mixing engineer so that he would know exactly how I wanted my mix to sound. I found that when I didn't do this, i never got the mix that I wanted and my song did not sound like I wanted it to sound.
The last step is mastering. There are mastering houses that you can go to, but they may be expensive. At the beginning of your career, a less expensive route should suffice. That route would be asking the mixing engineer to master the song.
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!
Good luck! and I look forward to providing you with more tips in the future!
At the beginning of my production career, my aunt would bring song lyrics to me and request that I record songs with them. The lyrics were not formatted in any particular way, and they really seemed more like poems.
Then, I was barely making hip hop that anyone would listen to. However, I still wanted to help record her songs...so I needed to know how the lyrics were supposed to go? When I asked her, she didn't know. Since she didn't really sing, she had never thought of any melodies. I couldn't sing either and couldn't think of any melodies myself at the time, so the lyrics just sat on the shelf.
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.
Eventually, my aunt realized that when she came to me her songs needed to be formatted a little better, and that she at least needed to have some sort of melody to give me with her lyrics.
In regards to formats, you have multiple song formats to choose from, or you can just wing it...there doesn't have to be any rules....but if you want to learn about song formats just google (song formats).
Ok...so we have melodies and lyrics, but we still had a problem. She had melodies but she really couldn't sing them well, and they all were similar to country western melodies. In addition, they eventually began to sound out-dated lyrically.
What happened from there is that we could not make a song that sounded like she envisioned. So, she began to recruit people who said they could sing, but most of them had never even recorded before, and even if they could sing, just because a person can sing does not mean that they can write melodies. These experiences made my aunt irritated at me and they made her have a bad taste in her mouth regarding music as a whole....so what can you do to avoid this feeling?
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.
There are different types of writing styles. Some write without music and some hear music while they write. Writers who have some type of idea what they want their music to sound like should find beat makers who can duplicate what that writer hears. Writers who don't have an idea of what they want their music to sound like should just choose an instrumental that suits their lyrics.
Other writers find an instrumental before they start to write. There are many places to find instrumentals (www.freshoffabreakup.com). Once these type of writers have their music, then they need to write. I, personally don't write lyrics down. I record them onto a personal recorder to make sure that I remember the timing of my 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.
When the recording session is over and done with, the record needs to be mixed. It is very possible that the same person who engineered your demo session could also mix your song for an additional fee. When I was a less experienced engineer and I needed sessions mixed, I would take songs that I heard on the radio or in my cd collection to the mixing engineer so that he would know exactly how I wanted my mix to sound. I found that when I didn't do this, i never got the mix that I wanted and my song did not sound like I wanted it to sound.
The last step is mastering. There are mastering houses that you can go to, but they may be expensive. At the beginning of your career, a less expensive route should suffice. That route would be asking the mixing engineer to master the song.
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!
Good luck! and I look forward to providing you with more tips in the future!
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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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