Wednesday, July 8, 2009

The Oldest Excuse In The Book

Rant time. ;)

Let's face it. We've all been guilty of this at one point or another: coming up with excuses why our music isn't as good as it should be. "I did it all in one take," "I had no time to spend on making it better," "I was very ill at the time," and the most prevalent of them all "I don't have the money to make it sound good!"

Now, all that is "fine" until it spills over to a secondary attitude which, if it goes unchecked WILL spell the end of your hopes and aspirations. It's when you start blaming everyone else even when it clearly doesn't make sense. "Their music is fake, but mine is real and that's why nobody will play it!", "Everybody I know loves my music, but radio won't play it because they're corrupt and don't know good music!" - and so on and on.

This doesn't mean that some of the sentiments expressed aren't in and of themselves true, but it does mean that you're now using that as a crutch, and a permanent excuse for simply not getting any better!

Now, it's one thing if you're a professional and are well and truly producing great music which is "blocked" by radio and records because it doesn't "fit" the current model. Any bitterness there is much more easily understood, if not entirely excused (though it must be noted that very few professionals ever actually talk like that!). But it's a whole different thing when a novice makes the same kind of comments! And even worse where they try to bolster their case by accusing anyone who's better of being "cheap," "commercial," "sellout," or just plain "crap!"

You know people like that? I bet you do. And I know that chances are that you too have been there yourself. As have I. But the lesson I have now been able to piece together from this is that it's a waste of energy and it functions as a very real show-stopper. People who are successful don't focus on the negatives, and they certainly don't go around blaming the world for being what it is.

I just got an email from a Fame Games member who just happened to receive a slightly negative review. In fact, it wasn't negative as much as it wasn't entirely positive. And off he went on a rant of his life... "Only cheap commercial crap artists have a chance of making it on this show," "my parents love my music and they stop and listen to what it could be! If only I had the money to produce it right.." and so on and on.

So I went and listened to his tracks. Well... indeed they had some promise, but the flaws in them weren't related to not having money. They were just sloppily recorded; unrevised lyrics, dull melodies, imprecise playing. Potential? Yea, I'm sure. But there's almost always potential. It's what you do with that potential that matters!

LISTEN TO: 230-Q/Wednesday Jul 08, 2009

Tuesday, July 7, 2009

Making The Most of MIDI Programming

There are loads of excellent MIDI manuals out there, so I won't restate and repeat the obvious. Instead, I'd like to briefly focus on some general techniques which will make your sequencer recordings feel more "alive."

As with everything in music, it's all about basic principles and approach, as much as learning how your particular programming tool works. I'm assuming you already know your sequencer very well.

The thing about sequencers is that they make so many things so much easier, that it's very easy to forget that music is a human endeavor! Functions like Quantize, time-stretch and autotune have made life a lot easier for musicians, but they're also responsible for allowing artists to take the easy way out exactly when the opposite is required.

So, here's a few general rules when working with a MIDI sequencer.

Treat is like a tape recorder. Resort to special tricks (e.g. quantize, etc) only when you absolutely must. Reserve it for certain parts only. It might be ok to have your hats and perhaps the kick to run quantized for much of your track, but don't overdo it.

PLAY everything live with your track. That kick pattern is supposed to be the same throughout? Ok. But PLAY it. Don't copy and paste. The little dynamic and timing variations that you'll encounter because you're playing it "live" can be hugely important to making your track interesting and "alive."

AVOID copying and pasting. Yes, it's a great tool when you want to make a quick model of a track. But when you get down to the final version, scrap all that and replay everything. And then quantize only the blatant mistakes, if any. Leave everything else as is.

If possible, introduce live instruments (i.e. not hooked up via MIDI) to your recording. Analog instruments respond differently to digital ones. An unquantized piano part played on your sampler will have a distinctly different feel to one played on that trusty old REAL piano.

DON'T change note velocities with global commands. In fact, assuming that you're at least a passable player, there should be no reason for you to change note velocities at all. Perhaps one or two manual adjustments, but never using automation.

Finally, try not to settle for presets. Yeah, I know. Some of those synths have such luscious, great sounds and they're so hard to resist. Okay. Go ahead and use the presets, but EQ them to suit the track. Unless you're making generic music, there's no way a generic preset will stand "as is", no matter how great it sounds in isolation.

I guess the bottom line is, no matter what type of music you're making, human feel is essential. Even club/dance music benefits from REAL playing. In fact, the best dance producers do exactly as described above. No Grammy was ever awarded to a machine. Was it...? Erm... I better not go there. ;)

LISTEN TO: 230-Q/Tuesday Jul 07, 2009

Monday, July 6, 2009

Make Your Lyrics Count

If your first reaction is "what business does a producer have poking his nose into my lyrics?", then you're not alone. Many artists don't realize that whether they themselves are the producer or whether they get someone else to do it, the name of the game is getting the product right. And that includes the lyrics if we're talking about a song.

But aren't lyrics supposed to be spontaneous poetry, art..?! Sure. Just like your song and everything else you do! But when you're done with the initial creative process, just make sure that you proceed to craft your lyrics as well as you can.

So, are there any general guidelines? Yep. First and foremost, no matter if your lyric is about something profound or mundane, fun or sad, dreamy or humorous, it's got to be "real." What this basically means is that it's got to be something that you would say, and others would understand and relate to. Additionally, it should be said succinctly and in such a way that your listener might say "that's exactly how I'd say it!"

So how do you go about something like this? One size doesn't fit all, unfortunately, and you'll find that many songwriters use different techniques. But all the good ones have one thing in common: they revise and polish until they're happy with it!

Let's look at a hypothetical example. Say you want to write a song about your experience of losing your girlfriend/boyfriend. First, ask yourself how it made you feel, and write that down. So you might write "She left me when I least expected it, and it completely surprised me and I still can't get over it." Very good. But... is this a lyric?

Some might argue that it is. And, indeed, it "might" be. But what if you could come up with a way to say the same thing with fewer words? Wouldn't you rather? Perhaps you would, and if so, read on. For example, you can see that in the above line, "surprise" is redundant, since you already wrote "I least expected it". So, why repeat yourself? Thus you could re-write it using only one of the two expressions without losing the meaning, right? Perhaps "She left me when I least expected it and I still can't get over it." Better. So... is this a lyric now?

Again, some might say that it is, but you should ask yourself "is it a GOOD lyric?" Is it something original, and am I the only one who might say it in this particular way? I know, I know. It's a tough one. If your heart tells you that this is it, then by all means, accept it as it stands. But... perhaps you could think of a "smoother" way to express this? How about "I didn't know she was leaving, my heart is bleeding"? Hmm, that's certainly a different way of saying the same thing. But is it better? Perhaps it's too dramatic for your personality? Or not dramatic enough? Or it sounds too clichéd? And so, you keep on tweaking it, until it's "you."

Once you manage to get your lyric down to a "punchy" or "strong" short sentence, which is both "natural" and yet still "poetic", start thinking in terms of the intended rhythm. Count the syllables. Get it to feel POWERFUL. With enough revision and an attitude that doesn't settle for anything less than "excellent", you will arrive at a lyric which will convey power and emotion in just the right way.

A great lyric will help you write and arrange your song that much better. Because if you think of your lyrics as "okay" or "throwaway", where will such thinking stop? Will your melody be perfect even when your lyric sucks? Will your progressions, arrangement, mix, production follow suit?

Take your time! Lyrics can make up a full 50% of the song experience. Or more! Think of some of the best songs you know - ever. Chances are they have words that you can still repeat by heart and you cherish and understand them.

That's how you should aim to structure your songs too!

LISTEN TO: 230-Q/Monday Jul 06, 2009

Wednesday, July 1, 2009

Extreme EQ

Whether you produce your music electronically, on your computer, or in a more traditional setting, one of the most important considerations is the way your music sounds. This is, to a large extent down to the gear you use, but you will have noticed that the thousands of, say, guitar-bass-drums bands still manage to come up with their "own sound." Even though they seemingly use the exact same instruments! The same applies to music which relies more on synths and special effects. How is it that this pro band which uses the same synths you have has so much cooler sounds?

Well, it comes down to knowing your instrument, any plugins or effect units and... more often than not: a few very simple mixing tricks.

You can do an enormous lot of sound tweaking using just about any semi-decent mixer. You can shape each individual sound with just EQ to a far greater extent than most musicians realize. And if you're working on a computer, the possibilities are endless even without any of those expensive sound plugins installed. You just need a simple sound editor. We'll get into this some other time.

Here, I just wanted to draw you attention to a very simple technique which is so often overlooked: Extreme EQ.

With a mixer, you might only be using the treble and bass knobs/sliders - most musicians unfamiliar with mixing stop there. If they touch the mids, it's only tentatively. But try some extreme settings for that guitar or piano. If you're rapidly changing the mid-EQ settings while an instrument is playing you'll immediately notice the familiar "filtering" effect, so popular these days in dance music. (You can get plugins which actually do this "knob-twisting" automatically). And you'll notice that these extreme settings can completely change the character of the individual sound you're processing. Don't shy away from such experimentation. You might be shocked at just how much a sound can change with "creative EQ." The same goes for gates or compressors. Try some extreme settings and watch your sounds change character.

LISTEN TO: 229-Q/Wednesday Jun 29, 2009