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.
Shortly after I opened my studio doors, my relative began to indoctrinate me with lyrics and request for me to record them. The problem was that the lyrics were not formatted like songs, they were formatted like poems.
At that time I really only was producing hip hop and trying to learn how to do R&B. I was actually willing to make her songs, so I would ask her, "ok, how does it go?" Initially, she would say "I don't know...I didn't have a melody in mind yet" since I didn't know how to sing and she couldn't sing, those songs had to basically sit, until me or her found a singer to come up with some good melodies.
As a side note: When you are trying to sell your songs, remember that most potential buyers want to buy actual songs, not just the lyrics...so you need to make complete songs as present those.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Next in order, is finding someone to record your song. You need a good or professional singer that is familiar with the genre of music you are seeking to make. What I like to do is ask potential demo singers to sing my song over the instrumental that I have chosen. That way I can determine how well they are at writing melodies. This is important to me because without a good, fast melody writer, the session will be long and there will be a good possibility that it won't turn out the way I want.
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.
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.
Once that is done then your song is ready to be presented to anyone or any song contest or any opportunity. Keep in mind that often, people want the lyric sheet, the full song, and the instrumental when you submit, so keep those in handy. But before you submit, you're going to want to copyright it, and register it with you writing society (ascap, bmi, sesac, etc...)
Good luck! and I look forward to providing you with more tips in the future!
Shortly after I opened my studio doors, my relative began to indoctrinate me with lyrics and request for me to record them. The problem was that the lyrics were not formatted like songs, they were formatted like poems.
At that time I really only was producing hip hop and trying to learn how to do R&B. I was actually willing to make her songs, so I would ask her, "ok, how does it go?" Initially, she would say "I don't know...I didn't have a melody in mind yet" since I didn't know how to sing and she couldn't sing, those songs had to basically sit, until me or her found a singer to come up with some good melodies.
As a side note: When you are trying to sell your songs, remember that most potential buyers want to buy actual songs, not just the lyrics...so you need to make complete songs as present those.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Next in order, is finding someone to record your song. You need a good or professional singer that is familiar with the genre of music you are seeking to make. What I like to do is ask potential demo singers to sing my song over the instrumental that I have chosen. That way I can determine how well they are at writing melodies. This is important to me because without a good, fast melody writer, the session will be long and there will be a good possibility that it won't turn out the way I want.
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.
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.
Once that is done then your song is ready to be presented to anyone or any song contest or any opportunity. Keep in mind that often, people want the lyric sheet, the full song, and the instrumental when you submit, so keep those in handy. But before you submit, you're going to want to copyright it, and register it with you writing society (ascap, bmi, sesac, etc...)
Good luck! and I look forward to providing you with more tips in the future!
About the Author:
Learn more about keyword #1. Stop by Eric L. Mims J.d.'s site where you can find out all about keyword #2 and what it can do for you.
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