Songwriters - Song Shaping

Shape the flow and structure of your song to give it maximum potential

http://www.kimcopelandproductions.com

Singers - Vocal Strengthening for Singers

Vocal Warm Ups - Keep your voice strong and you'll perform better on stage and in the studio.  Daily workouts

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Music Production
Artist Development

Writer/Singers - Creative Responsibility

Creative Responsibility

By Kim Copeland

We are all in a different place on our songwriting journey.  Some of us are great musicians, some beginners. Some of us are great singers, some can’t carry a tune.  Some of us have natural rhythm, some struggle to keep a steady tempo.  Some of us are poets while others of us ramble aimlessly, confusing the listener as we go.

Kim Copeland
Music Producer

The beauty of this ever shrinking world we live in is that you are never far away from someone whose strengths compliment your weaknesses.  As you identify and own your strengths and weaknesses you can, and should, seek out fellow creative beings that can fill in the gaps for you and improve your chances of songwriting success and fulfillment.  In doing so, you will become more self sufficient and better able to take responsibility for your songs.

 “Songwriting” means something different to each of us.  We all use the gifts we have and try to find some basic understanding of those we aren’t blessed with in hopes of improving our songwriting experience.  This process can be fulfilling or frustrating; often times both.   It should help to know that you do not have to be a great musician or singer to be a great songwriter.  If you can feel or hear your idea, you can find a way to express it and present it to the world.  It isn’t hard to cast a creative team to fill the roles you can’t.

Here are some key elements to creating a good, commercial song and where the creative responsibility lies for each.

1. Rhyme Scheme - Songwriter

2. Song Structure – Songwriter/Producer  (You should have the basic structure down, but be flexible in case musicians or producer come up with some creative modifications in the studio that you had not thought of.)

3. Attitude – Songwriter/Producer (Production should enhance it, but you should know what attitude you are going for before you get into the studio.  If you cannot express it, use other commercial songs as examples to illustrate this to musicians, vocalists, producer, etc.)

4. Emotion – Songwriter/Producer (Though production should enhance and showcase the emotional impact of the song, it is the writer’s responsibility to create the emotion in the lyric and melody.)

5. Range – Songwriter/Producer (You should have the range of the melody written to showcase the lyrical emotion. The producer and/or singer may embellish it somewhat to match the musical track.)

6. Phrasing – Producer/Songwriter (Though you should have the melodic and lyrical phrasing written into your song, you should also give the musicians, producer and vocalist some latitude with them to allow the song to evolve in the creative process of recording it.)

7. Melody ad lib – Producer/Vocalist/Songwriter (Whether you are singing your own demo or hiring a professional demo singer, be open to exploring ad libs that can enhance the emotional impact of your song.)

8. Instrumentation (chord voicings) – Producer/Musicians/ Songwriter (You may have chord voicings that work great with one guitar, but not with a full band.  Sustained chords, sevenths, etc should be used as coloring.  Trust the producer to find the compromise that brings out the flavoring you like without letting it interfere with the vocal and musical theme of your song.)

9. Musical signature lick, groove, arrangement, vocal harmonies and background vocals, vocal and musical phrasing – Producer/Songwriter/Musicians (You may have a signature lick written into your song, If so, let the producer build it into the full production to fit the groove and attitude of your song.  If you have ideas on harmony and background vocals, that is great.  But if you don’t hear these things, the producer will.  This is not something that you have to provide as the songwriter.   All of this falls under the umbrella of production.  Your producer should work with you to incorporate your ideas into the big picture in the way that best serves your song and your goals for the recording.)

Whether or not you are a great musician, singer, or linguist, your responsibility as a songwriter is to present your idea in a clear way that the audience can easily follow and be drawn into, and to move the listener emotionally.   Few of us can do it all.  Focus on the elements that you can do well and seek out others to help with the rest.  By learning where to put your energy to good use and where not to waste it, you can relax and focus and make better use of your creative time and energy.

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Singers/Bands: How Many Hats Can You Wear Well?

How Many Hats Can You Wear Well?

By Kim Copeland 

(email)

We live in a wonderful age for creativity.  We also live in a time that can be overwhelming for the creative soul.  Should you buy your own home recording gear and save studio costs?  Should you play all of the instruments on your recordings and save musicians costs?  You could also sing all of the background and harmony parts and save on the expense of extra vocalists, and do your own mixing and mastering.  Think of the money you could save.

Kim Copeland
Music Producer

Now think of the time you would have to spend to: become really good at the technical side of engineering, learn the skill set for mastering, develop the chops for playing multi instruments at the level you want for your album, develop the ear and range for elaborate vocal parts.  Oh, yes, and also act as your own project manager -keeping the time and costs in balance while creating a project that you are sure you can market.

It is not impossible, but it is very rarely the most fun, logical or professional way to approach recording.  You can do anything; but can you do everything well?

I work with so many indie artists and singer/songwriters who express such relief at having me to think about and handle parts of the project that they were not aware of or equipped to handle. 

Usually, there are some elements of recording a project that they did not want to deal with and others that they did not know how to deal with.  But during the process of recording together, they also become aware of aspects of singing, playing, interacting with musicians, exploring and arranging the songs, or even dealing with the coordination and marketing of finished product, that they had not given a thought to going in; Things that make a huge difference on the recording experience and the quality of the final product.

Unless you particularly enjoy creating in a vacuum, my advice is to do what you love to do and hire someone else to do what you are less passionate about and/or less qualified at. 

If you enjoy exploring and experimenting in the studio, spend some money on gear.  It’s a great time to get high quality gear at affordable prices.  But don’t get so focused on becoming an engineer that you set yourself back on being an artist.

If you have a limited amount of time and money to spend on your music, recording in a studio would be more efficient, though you can still use your home recording gear for working out parts, writing songs, experimenting with arrangements and sounds, etc.  This can save you money when you are on the clock in an outside studio.

Here are some things to ponder as you mull over your options for recording your next project.

Recording music at home:

Pros: 

>Experimenting without watching the clock. 

>Learning about ProTools or similar equipment. 

>Developing songwriting instincts.  

>Removing performance anxiety.

Cons:

>Working in a vacuum. 

>Spending your creative time and energy reading technical books and playing with a mouse instead of your guitar.  

>Limited to your own skill set and experience level.

>No creative interaction to grow your skills, expand your knowledge or discover new elements of your songs and artistry.

Recording vocals at home:

Pros:

>Time to explore arrangements and techniques without watching clock. 

>Time to arrange and perfect bgv’s.

> Experimenting with EQ and effects to see what you like on your voice and what you are capable of with and without digital help.

Cons:

>Working in a vacuum. No one’s voice sounds the same to their own ear and is does to others.  Assuming you want others to buy your album, it is good to have someone other than yourself pointing out your strengths and weaknesses and help you discover your uniqueness and commercial potential.

Mixing at home: 

(Even if you choose to record at home, mix elsewhere.  Get a new set of ears on it, perhaps some with more experience, different gear options, an ear for the current market; etc.)

Pros:

>Trial and error.  You can spend as much time as you want playing with effects and dialing in that sound you hear in your head.

Cons:

>You can spend as much time as you like….and NEVER finish!

>That sound you hear in your head may not be viable in the commercial marketplace.

>It may take you 10 times longer to find that sound than an experienced engineer with 10 times the plug ins and outboard gear you have at home.

Mastering at home:

(Don’t do it! Master elsewhere.  Again, another set of ears will pick up on things you may miss and also offer new insight into the strengths and weaknesses of your work.)

Pros:

>The experience.

Cons:

>Sound and quality.  Use a different set of ears for mastering than for mixing.  Otherwise you have no feel for whether what you are doing resonates with anyone else or competes with other albums your audience is buying. 

If you are recording purely for pleasure, home recording is great fun.  However, if you are investing in expensive gear and spending copious amounts of time to achieve commercial success, you may be handicapping yourself. 

Ninety nine percent of successful artists have a recording team to help them capture their vision and leave them free to focus on what they do best.  Why? Maybe it’s because there are very few creative geniuses that are good at every aspect of creating and recording a music project. And even those who are know that stretching themselves to thin makes their creativity and productivity suffer.

My advice is to do that thing you do so well and let others help you look good by allowing them to do what they do well.   Perhaps the real genius is in bringing out the best in those around you so that you look your best.

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Songwriters: Productive Co-Writing

Productive Co-Writing

By Kim Copeland

I love to co-write.  I still write by myself often because I enjoy that process too.  But sometimes writing in a vacuum can be frustrating, even painful, whereas co-writing is usually fun because you have someone to bounce ideas off of, say stupid things until the profound ones pop out, share the

Kim Copeland
Music Producer

frustration and celebrate the victories with.

Co-writing is very popular in Nashville.  There are a few great reasons to co-write songs.  One is that it typically builds catalog faster.  Another is that it multiplies the potential exposure for the finished song.  (Presumably all writers involved in the song will use their connections to get it heard, pitched, recorded and released. The royalties are divided, but the marketing efforts are multiplied.)  Also, the costs of recording a demo and/or hiring a song plugger are diminished when there is more than one writer.

Some writers are very self-contained.  They are good musicians, lyricists and vocalists.   Most are not.  Most of us are stronger in one area - lyrics, music or melody - than in another and can benefit from writing with others whos strengths play to our weaknesses.

If you struggle with lyrics, but are a great musician, look for a lyricist that could benefit from your musical talent.  You will both write stronger songs by combining your talents.  You will likely both enjoy the process as well as the success more.  If you write strong grooves and lyrics, but are weak on melody, you might look for an artist who has a natural ear for melody, but has little interest or talent for music and/or lyrics.

A good place to find co-writers is at shows.  If you have a local songwriters night, or even a band performance venue, go and listen.  When you hear someone displaying a talent that you lack and that could enhance your songwriting, approach them and ask to try co-writing.  If you are a member of a songwriting group, look for co-writers within your group, but do not limit yourself to them.  With email, Skype, etc., it is easy to co-write long distance.  

If you are a triple threat songwriter, you may enjoy co-writing because it brings your new perspectives and new ideas.  There are many, many examples of great co-writing teams with both similar talents and complimenting, but different talents.  

Deciding when, where and how to co-write can be as challenging as the actual process of co-creating a song.  If you are good at melody, music and lyric, you should always write by yourself.  But that does not mean that you should not co-write as well.  Sometimes we can all benefit from another point of view on a topic or another's way of saying the same thing differently than ourselves. 

The trick is in knowing when to co-write; which ideas to offer up for co-writing.  Productivity is not just quantity, it is also quality.  Co-writing can help you write more songs and stronger songs if both writers are focused on the same goals.

When you have a topic that is near and dear to you - a therapeutic song; you should give it a try solo first.  It may be that the writing process is more important than the finished product in some cases; i.e., the commercial outcome of the song may be enhanced by bringing in another set of eyes and ears, but the satisfaction might not be as strong.

If, on the other hand, you are not as emotionally connected to an idea, it can be very enlightening and fun to see how someone else approaches the idea differently than you.  (A different payoff to the story; angle for the character; tempo; groove, etc.)

Co-writing can not only bring in other ideas from the other people in the room with you; it can also inspire you to new ideas that you would not otherwise have found on your own.  Creative energy is a powerful force and sometimes it is magnified when two or more writers are batting ideas around and reacting to each other.

Another secret of productive co-writing is to find a couple of writers whom you feel comfortable bringing anything to; whom you know will be honest with you, but also willing to follow you down any rabbit trail, and stick with them.  Have regular writing appointments and set goals for yourself as a team.  Challenge and encourage each other and share in each others successes.  You will grow together and find opportunities are multiplied by your co-writing relationship as you cross pollinate your audiences and resources.

I once had two co-writers who I wrote with every week.  We began many sessions with golf clubs before we picked up guitars.  9 holes of golf almost always produced a germ of a song idea for us to chase in the writing room.  It made us more productive than sitting, staring at walls would have.  It relaxed us physically and creatively.

One secret to productive co-writing is to “get naked”.  To be a good co-writer, you must be willing to bare your souls with each other; to explore without inhibitions whatever the subject matter is.  That is the only way you can write honestly with another person in the room.

This doesn't necessarily mean that you have to share all of your very personal experiences with the other person, but you have to be able to get into character in front of them and share whatever honest emotion drives the song you are writing.  

Productivity comes from practice.  The more you co-write, the more access to ideas you have and the more help you have writing those ideas to completion.  

When you become a good co-writer, you will also become a better solo writer. 

Better writers write more songs because they spend less time in angst over what is good and what is trivial.  They understand the craft of songwriting better and things that may once have been stumbling blocks are now second nature.

Most often, productive co-writing is also fun co-writing.  

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