Stand Out: Separating Your Songs From The Rest Of The Pack
Stand Out: Separating Your Songs From The Rest Of The Pack
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Standing out is the name of the game when trying to get your songs out there. Whether you’re trying to get them cut, impress publishers, A&R, music supervisors, ad execs, managers or whatever. It’s all about separating your song from the rest of the pack. The people who make decisions that affect the commercial success...
The Pro Files: Pam Sheyne
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“Recognize what your strengths are and educate yourself on all areas of your business, so you understand how it works as it’s changing all the time.” Pam Sheyne wants to help you do just that. With over 50 million records sold, and songs performed, recorded, and released by artists like Camila Cabello, Demi Lovato, Lindsay...
THE SECRETS TO RECORDING VOCALS LIKE A ROCKSTAR
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Recording the vocals for a song is one of the most crucial components of song production and one that can make or break it. If the vocals are underproduced and sound bad, your song will be hard to listen to and usually passed on (when pitching). If the vocals are overproduced, and overbearing, the listener...
A Reason To Rhyme 2: More Reasons To Rhyme (strikes back… harder).
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At long last! It’s here. The highly anticipated sequel to A Reason To Rhyme: A Reason To Rhyme 2: More Reasons To Rhyme (strikes back… harder). Since sequels are traditionally inferior to the originals, It means the deck is stacked against me. BUT, since so long has passed since part one of this article (I’ve...
The Pro Files – Sam Hollander
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Sam Hollander wants you to take chances. The multi-platinum songwriter/producer who specializes in working with artists, and helping them put their best foot forward doesn’t think you should play it safe. “Create your own movement, that is the boldest move right now.” He says, sitting on the couch in his studio, under a wall filed...
The Pro Files: Shelly Peiken
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There’s a lot to talk about with Shelly Peiken. The songs, the hits, the blog, the book, and the Grammy nominations (including one this year for Best Spoken Word Album). Whether or not you are aware of who she is, her music has been part of the soundtrack of most people’s daily life for almost...
DON’T WRITE WHAT YOU KNOW, KNOW WHAT YOU WRITE.
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Sometimes when I sit down to write something (a song, an article, a Facebook manifesto), and inspiration is playing “hide-and-seek,” as it occasionally does, I look to other ways to jump-start my creative engine. A cup of coffee and scrolling through the day’s news (too depressing). An “I’ll just watch one video…oh wait, I’ve been...
A Guide To Critical Listening
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When we study songwriting, we spend our time developing many different aspects of the craft. Melody writing, lyrics, arrangement, style, you name it. The side effect of studying all these different skills is the development of the most important tool a songwriter has: their instinct. We want to make creative decisions from our gut, not...
Collaborating Mistakes I’ve Made, So You Don’t Have To. (You’re Welcome!)
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My first songwriting experiences were lonely ones. I remember staring out the car window on long car trips or sitting by myself on the bus, daydreaming in awkward and clunky rhyme. Once the guitar got involved, I’d spend countless hours alone in my bedroom working through whatever teenage drama was dominating my life that day,...
The Pro Files: Steven Vincent
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Welcome to The Pro-Files! A new series of interviews with industry professionals from mix engineers to A&R directors, from demo singers to publishers, to help familiarize aspiring songwriters and producers with all the moving parts of a successful songwriting career. And we begin, with the role of the music supervisor. Some of the biggest pop...