Ok...so I have an aunt who has been writing songs for a long time, to no avail. In this article we'll use her example and see what we can learn from it.
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.
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.
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).
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?
Tip: To be a writer, you do not have to be a singer, but you do need to find or have access to someone who can perform you lyrics.
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.
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.
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).
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.
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!
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.
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.
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).
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?
Tip: To be a writer, you do not have to be a singer, but you do need to find or have access to someone who can perform you lyrics.
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.
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.
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).
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.
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!
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