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.
When I first started producing, she would come to me with songs written on loose pieces of paper, asking me to record her songs for her. Her songs mostly consisted of lyrics that were not really formatted in any particular way. They really looked more like poems than songs.
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.
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.
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 terms of formats, there are multiple song formats you can choose from (google "song formats"), or you don't have to use any format at all, as long as it sounds good.
So, my aunt has melodies now to her lyrics. The problem was that, as I mentioned before, she couldn't sing, so all her melodies sounded the same, and they sounded like country western, and eventually, as she got older, her songs began to sound 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?
Note: You do not have to be able to sing to be a successful writer, but you do need to have some idea regarding the sound you are attempting to achieve, or find someone who can help you realize your sound.
Some people write their lyrics without music, or they hear the music in their head while they are writing. In those cases, these writers need to find producers who can do custom tracks (you hum what you want and they play it). For the people who write without music, they just have to listen to a variety of instrumentals afterwards and pick the one that matches the feel of their lyrics the best.
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.
Once you have that, then you have to find someone to demo your song. You want to find a professional demo singer that does the type of music that you want your song to be (They vary in cost, but they generally are not that expensive). Make sure that you listen to a demo of them, or better yet, in your first meeting with them have them sing the song for you to determine if they are the right match for you and whether or not they can perform what you need to be performed, how you want it performed. Remember, in addition to paying them, you're going to have to find a studio, and they are going to charge hourly, so the longer this demo singer takes the more money it's going to cost you.
After the song is recorded and it sounds like you want it to, you have to have it mixed. Sometimes, the engineer that recorded it can mix it, and sometimes you may have to go to another studio for mixing. An important thing know is that need to know what you want mixing wise. If you do not know the correct terminology to describe to a producer or engineer what you want, then you can just bring different songs that have aspects of what you want your song to sound like, so that whoever is mixing your song can hear what you want. If you don't do this, most mixing engineers will just do a bland generic mix of your song (they don't care, they're getting paid either way, and I'm an engineer telling you this).
The final stage is mastering. Nowadays, most engineers that mix can also do a presentable mastering job. All mastering really is, is a process of different effects that make your song sound clear, loud, and the same on pretty much any system that anyone plays it on (basically good industry standard sonic quality).
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!
That's it for now, stay tuned for more helpful advice!
When I first started producing, she would come to me with songs written on loose pieces of paper, asking me to record her songs for her. Her songs mostly consisted of lyrics that were not really formatted in any particular way. They really looked more like poems than songs.
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.
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.
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 terms of formats, there are multiple song formats you can choose from (google "song formats"), or you don't have to use any format at all, as long as it sounds good.
So, my aunt has melodies now to her lyrics. The problem was that, as I mentioned before, she couldn't sing, so all her melodies sounded the same, and they sounded like country western, and eventually, as she got older, her songs began to sound 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?
Note: You do not have to be able to sing to be a successful writer, but you do need to have some idea regarding the sound you are attempting to achieve, or find someone who can help you realize your sound.
Some people write their lyrics without music, or they hear the music in their head while they are writing. In those cases, these writers need to find producers who can do custom tracks (you hum what you want and they play it). For the people who write without music, they just have to listen to a variety of instrumentals afterwards and pick the one that matches the feel of their lyrics the best.
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.
Once you have that, then you have to find someone to demo your song. You want to find a professional demo singer that does the type of music that you want your song to be (They vary in cost, but they generally are not that expensive). Make sure that you listen to a demo of them, or better yet, in your first meeting with them have them sing the song for you to determine if they are the right match for you and whether or not they can perform what you need to be performed, how you want it performed. Remember, in addition to paying them, you're going to have to find a studio, and they are going to charge hourly, so the longer this demo singer takes the more money it's going to cost you.
After the song is recorded and it sounds like you want it to, you have to have it mixed. Sometimes, the engineer that recorded it can mix it, and sometimes you may have to go to another studio for mixing. An important thing know is that need to know what you want mixing wise. If you do not know the correct terminology to describe to a producer or engineer what you want, then you can just bring different songs that have aspects of what you want your song to sound like, so that whoever is mixing your song can hear what you want. If you don't do this, most mixing engineers will just do a bland generic mix of your song (they don't care, they're getting paid either way, and I'm an engineer telling you this).
The final stage is mastering. Nowadays, most engineers that mix can also do a presentable mastering job. All mastering really is, is a process of different effects that make your song sound clear, loud, and the same on pretty much any system that anyone plays it on (basically good industry standard sonic quality).
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!
That's it for now, stay tuned for more helpful advice!
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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