Should I Self-Produce my Album?

A couple of months ago I wrote about what impact a producer can have on your recording, from selecting and arranging songs, overseeing sessions and sometimes engineering and mixing the recordings and even helping write the material. Whether you're indy or on a major label, the producer takes on the stress of time and budget constraints and navigates all aspects of the business, from marketing, budgeting to technical etc.

On the question of whether you should Self-Produce your album (or EP, whatever), there are a few key questions you should ask yourself:

Do you know anything about marketing?

Do you have experience in recording?

Have you worked with session musos before?

Can you speak the speak with engineers?

Is saving money the only reason you're thinking about self-producing?

Even if you answered yes to all of these, it doesn't mean you're ready to make the plunge. You also need to consider that you are doing this for an artist with their money and their reputation – and that artist is you and you may not be the best judge of your own work.



Some general tips:

Be brutal – you may have to make some tough decisions that compromise your artistic vision – don't be precious, do what is best for your budget/sound/sanity. Don't be afraid to ask for help – in fact, where the budget allows it, hire the best. Their guidance will make you better at what you do. Compare your work with the best – whether it's mixing, mastering or artwork, you will benefit from having high standards and direct comparison and being brutal with your critique should make up for what you lack in experience.



Figure out your market
This is the first thing you need to do. For marketing purposes, you need to know who your fans are. For creating a sound you need to know, not only who to sell to, but how to position your sound and what the expectations of that style are. You can't do too much research on this.



Some Common Pitfalls
Thinking that marketing is some kind of yelling from the mountain-top to make people buy your product/go to your show:

“Hey Guys – We wanted to thank you all for coming out to our last show. We appreciated you guys being there and hope you can make it out to our next show at…”

See your fans as one person that you do it all for – it will help you understand their story and how it intersects with yours.

Over/under-estimating the value of your art

Not knowing the strategies that other artists use – whether they are similar to you or not, you should be able to pull apart Beyonces marketing campaign and why it works if you're to understand how to market your folk band.

Record the music
This is the aspect that you'll automatically concentrate on but each aspect relies on the good execution of the others to function. You need to be objective when listening to your own songs, accept any criticism from others and improve your songs without being precious. Some engineering and mixing knowledge is essential whether you are doing it yourself or just working with a professional.

Some Common Pitfalls
Making everything BIG!!! If you listen to hits from any era, you may find that there'll be three or so instruments or elements that are fat, bright, loud while other instruments are supporting these 'stars'.

Leaving decisions until later – partly to blame is the modern recording studio with computers that can save it all whereas tape limited you and forced you to have a plan. Vocals - Vocal production is probably the most important aspect - that's the bit that people relate to the most, and understanding the various techniques and sounds that aren't necessarily apparent when listening to other peoples music.

You're not the best judge of your work!

Cover Design
This isn't just a pretty picture, in fact the picture probably shouldn't be pretty – what's more important - people seeing your mug on the cover (although it is good for your ego) or to instantly understand what your music will do for them and to want to listen to it. The artwork lets potential customers know what to expect from your music – so start with broad strokes – metal albums don't generally have flowers and a pony on the cover. Check out what big brands think when trying to sell you cereal you don't need, colour/font/message are factors in these decisions.

Some Common Pitfalls
Typos – yep, something that shouldn't ever happen but does, a lot. Not print ready art – between bled edge, CMYK and DPI this is a minefield for the uninitiated.

Getting a friend who hasn't dealt with a printer before – see above - you're better off getting a rush job from a pro than laborious work from someone inexperienced.

Manufacturing/Pressing
Do you know the difference between replication and duplication? Replication is a professional process that creates a CD by molding the disk to be an exact copy of the original master. Data cannot be added or changed in this case. Duplication, on the other hand, refers to burning data to a disk, as is done in home computing. Replication is cheaper and more reliable for larger runs as burned CDs can still have errors that older players have trouble playing. As for Digital Downloads as an alternative to physical copies, sure you potentially reach a larger audience but now we're into the streaming vs download debate – streaming generates (next to) no income, but people may not already be aware of your music enough to want to buy it. Before you say YouTube, they are heading in the same direction as Spotify...

Some Common Pitfalls
"I can just burn this at home, right?"

If, after all of this scare-mongering, you're still keen to produce your own music, go for it.

Interview with Stuart Stuart (Sheppards Producer)

He started out like many musicians, gigging and messing around with a 4-track recorder; he produced the early recordings of The Veronicas, which lead to a US deal with Warner Music and international success; and now his work with Sheppard has garnered an Aria nomination for ‘Let Me Down Easy’ and across the board airplay for their latest single, ‘Geronimo’.

Early Days

Stuart Stuart is known around Brisbane as producer with a real passion for all styles of music. He has been playing guitar since age nine, started working with computer sequencers at age fourteen and by the end of high school was recording with a four-track. While pursuing a career in advertising, he was gigging as part of a duo and by necessity, learned about sequencing midi tracks with 1 sequencer and 1 keyboard the hard way. By 22 he was a full-time musician and progressed to having his own studio on the Northside of Brisbane where many interstate artists travel to record.

A veteran user of Cubase, Stuart also isn’t a massive gearhead, preferring to really know the few items he does use, like the Joe Meek preamp that takes pride of place in his minimalist rack. His microphone collection is similarly tidy with a strong preference for Rode, with the NT2 usually working well for female voices and Classic for male voices. He also loves the sound of the UAD cards from Universal Audio and Waves plugins as he mixes his productions ‘in the box’.

His deal with Mushroom Records producing dance music eventually lead him to collaborating with other artists and later using his keen ear and multi-instrumental ability to produce other artists. Using these skills, he worked with The Veronicas from the ages of 15 or 16 and was instrumental (pun intended) in their rise to fame and subsequent work with renowned international hit-makers, Max Martin and Dr Luke.

Talking about his wide taste in music and artists he works with, he says “I’m always just trying to surprise myself… my approach is that I can’t stand still and keep doing the same thing.” It is this ethos that saw him start working with Sheppard in 2011.

Shepparding in a new era

Sheppard is a 6 piece ‘alternative pop’ group from Brisbane, Managed by industry heavyweight Michael Chugg. Made up of three siblings – George, Amy and Emma Sheppard, and three friends – Jason Bovino, Michael Butler, and Dean Gordon. Their sounds that are reminiscent of a beach party have visited South Africa, the UK, India, Bali, and the US twice.

Platinum selling and Aria Best Independent Release nominated Let Me Down Easy, has been blasted on commercial radio and TV, and as George describes it, features ‘emotional , heartfelt lyrics of a man who has just had his heart broken, but it’s being sung to an incredibly catchy, happy sounding melody!’

Prior to working with Stuart, the band had a bad experience with a previous producer and had to scrap an entire album. This turns out to be a smart move, as Stuart explains, “Pretty much from the first song I realized that this was the best thing I’d worked on in ages…”. The disparate influences of each of the production team of Jay, George and Amy with Stuart combine to make records that take it from the hipster to the suburbs - commercial indy that features group vocals, acoustic guitars, hand claps and infectious electronic rhythms.

Early on, a typical workflow for production on a song would take a day, whereas now the perfectionist nature of the team can mean that they spend ten days and up to three versions of song that doesn’t even make the final cut.

The team worked on Let Me Down Easy in mid 2012 and made some pretty radical decisions early on – they banned snare drums in the production and only used hand-claps to contribute to the signature sound of acoustic guitars and group vocal lines. They used a fairly typical workflow by starting with the demo and recorded the drum track (sans snare) to build the rest of the track upon.

Geronimo

The upcoming album is being whittled down from an initial list of 40 songs and is more detailed in it’s production, as can be heard in the new single currently being played across the board on B105. Stuart broke it down for me and shared what each of the 150 tracks added to the sound of the most requested song.

“We really had a surplus of ideas…” as he explained the process, starting with the kick and acoustic guitar and continuing the layering with a surprising sound added to the rhythm of the acoustic guitar - knee slaps recorded by Jay and George. The acoustic guitars were recorded with one of his favourite techniques, a spaced stereo pair of NT2s while a number of the electric guitar parts had multiple effects including delay to give a spacey ambient sound.

A major difference with this song is that the band played the song live on tour before they had finished recording, whereas the songs are normally finished before the rest of the band come in and work out how they are going to replicate it live. And for that reason the electronic drums that were already laid down, were then augmented with live drums at the end and then mixed with predominantly room mics and the occasional spot mic blended in for the snare.

The vocals were recorded in the vocal booth with the Rode Classic, while the group vocals and other hooks were recorded in various rooms for different sounds. One of these is the “bombs away” hook that particularly impressed Stuart. The amount of layering and craft in these sessions is astounding and the end result is a catchy pop recording that contains enough subtlety and surprises to withstand multiple listens and is obviously proving popular across commercial radio, both here and overseas.

What does a producer actually do?

Play this list of songs while you read the article:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLxGIdtIy1AEvjTJIQylBWuaIb0IQQFgBj

Ok, it’s time for that question that even some seasoned pros will sometimes ask...

What does a producer actually do?

Phil Ek describing his role as "the person who creatively guides or directs the process of making a record, like a director would a movie. The engineer would be more the cameraman of the movie."

In fact, the role has changed over time, so it will also vary from producer to producer and even project to project. Once upon a time (1950’s and earlier), the various jobs of the recording and marketing process had been carried out by different professionals within the industry: · A&R (artist and repertoire) managers found potential new artists and signed them to their labels; · professional songwriters created new material; · publishing agents sold these songs to the A&R people; · staff engineers carried out the task of making the recordings in company-owned studios.

Producers now typically carry out most or all of the various production tasks themselves, including selecting and arranging songs, overseeing sessions (and sometimes also engineering the recordings) and even writing the material, although it became a common practice for producers to claim a writing credit even if they did not actually contribute to the song.

Working with a producer

One of the most overlooked aspects of the producers job is focusing the artistic vision. Whether it’s a fledgling artist who needs guidance in developing a mature sound or finding a core audience; a ‘personality artist’ who has none of their own songs; an artist who writes songs, plays on them and has an idea of their market and direction; or even an RnB artist who needs a fully formed track to add their lyrics and/or melody on top of; they are all guided by the producer to allow the audience to connect with the song.

Often they will act as an intermediary between the artistic and technical worlds – straddle the artsy side (I need a more ‘orange’ sound [remind me to tell you that story one day] ) with, for example, the sound engineer (which microphones to use, ‘try the Neumann U87 on this piccolo’).

Logistics – a session doesn’t just happen – someone needs to book the engineer (and choose the right one), book studio time (at one with all the necessary tools for the session and the right budget), book and pay session players (musicians that are appropriate for the style, how long to spend on the project.. etc. And you guessed it – the producer does that too.

So, how does this help me?

Well, now you’re more in the know about what they do, you also need to hear the effect the right producer can have on the music.

Pioneers

You’ve undoubtedly heard of Sir George Martin – he pioneered new rock arrangement and recording techniques with The Beatles. Phil Spector is famous for his unique ‘wall of sound’ found on countlesss records from Ike and Tina Turner to The Beatles (Listen to Let It Be and the ‘Let It Be - naked sessions’ to hear his influence and the bare recordings without his input for a perfect comparison).

Hitmakers

Dr. Luke (Lukasz Gottwald), Max Martin (Karl Martin Sandberg), Benny Blanco (Benjamin Levin), Shellback (Karl Johan Schuster) and RedOne (Nadir Khayat) can all be lumped together as the guys (singly and collaboratively) who regularly create the modern pop sound that hits number one on the charts regularly. Love it or hate it, these guys have serious craft that keep their work rolling in.

‘That’Sound

Some producers have an instantly identifiable sound that cuts through regardless of the artist or genre. Listen to the work of Mutt Lange (Robert John Lange) (particularly compare the Lady Gaga song ‘You and I’ with any of the releases by his then wife, Shania Twain). You could also look at another sound palette he works with by comparing Def Leppard albums such as High 'n' Dry, Pyromania, Hysteria and Adrenalize with Acca Daccas Back in Black. John Shanks produced both ‘The Climb’ by Miley Cyrus and ‘All I Want To Do’ by Sheryl Crow – see if you can spot his signature sounds. One producer was put on the map by working with Taylor Swift in the early days – he originally was doing her demos before the ‘real’ producers would come in and re-record the songs. In a commendable act of artistic integrity, Swifty insisted that he be the one to record her album and then the 3 subsequent albums - Nathan Chapman. Also listen to the ‘Two Worlds Collide’ album by The McClymonts for more of the same.

‘No’ Sound





Joe Chiccarelli and Rick Rubin are actually each well known for their transparent sound, that is, they don’t bring any pre-conceived ideas or techniques in the each production but rather work out what they need for each artist. Check out Boy and Bear/ and Johnny Cash’s last album, American Recordings/Red Hot Chili Peppers’ Blood Sugar Sex Magik, respectively.

Teams

The Glam Rock movement wouldn’t be the same with out the Chinnichap (Nicky Chinn, Mike Chapman) formula. The Smeezingtons (Ari Levine, Philip Lawrence, Bruno Mars [Peter Gene Hernandez]) aren’t well known, but you’ve definitely heard their work...

Multiple Producers

Sometimes an artist may need to straddle two camps to reach their target audience. For example, Michael Buble released his 2009 album, Crazy Love with individual contributions from David Foster, Bob Rock and Humberto Gatica – each of them bringing their own sound and arrangements.

I hope this has given you an idea of what the role is, as well as some interesting listening homework. Until next time...

How to improve your songs BEFORE you record.

Welcome back to another installment of Sonic Boom – exploring all things musical (not like Cats the musical, that was terrible). Some of the topics I approach in this months dribble will use some of the ideas explored in previous articles about songs forms and catchiness, so feel free to read through previous issues.

Let’s set the scene – you’ve written a song, you love it, your mother loves it and you want to immortalize it. I know it sounds silly but how well do you actually know the song? Have you made conscious decisions about the song, to the point that you know why you’ve chosen this chord instead of that chord, why the title is memorable or all other phrasing options for the melody?

Now when I say that you should have your song polished before you record, I’m talking about the final recording. Demo recordings are the easiest way of workshopping ideas, reflecting on them and comparing them to the style of song you want it to sound like. Whether it’s Jazz songs in a similar feel, Country songs by an artist you admire or Pop songs that lasted the test of time this is a tried and true method of working out how it fits in the genre.

Some of the work you can do that is normally done by a producer, includes looking at the chord progression and it’s relationship to the melody to determine whether is supports the emotion and lyrics. For example, using minor chords will give your song a melancholy sound whereas major chords may sound happy. Similarly, if you’re aiming for a more aggressive sound you might use chords that put the melody in the fifth (like, say a D melody note over a G chord). A love song might sound better if you use third relationships (for example, a D melody note over a Bb chord). Some songs capture the wonderment of endless possibilities by actually using chords that don’t contain the melody note - a D melody note over an F chord would achieve this. For more of this, listen to A Whole New World from Aladin (I know, I know, but the writers used seriously good craft in this song). Harmonic Rhythm is another factor in how the song comes across to the listener. This is simply how fast the chords change, so sometimes you can experiment with new chords in the second half of the bar with the original chords. (And keep in my mind that sometimes you’ve picked the right chords the first time around, but there’s no harm in experimenting).

One of the most elusive factors in writing a song is the phrasing of the melody – where the main meaningful words of the lyrics line up with key notes in the melody and how long they are held for. Of course, speaking the words as you would normally say them in a conversation will give you the most natural phrasing. That doesn’t always mean that it’s the sound you are after. Experiment! Another thing you can try in most popular styles is the interplay between vowel and consonant sounds. Classical training and conventional wisdom dictates that you sing the vowel sound (A E I O U) long and start and end it with a short consonant – Looooooong. Contrast that with a Jazz approach that has crept into Rock and Pop occasionally, whereby you swap that idea, so that now you have a long consonant (the ones that work best are F, L, M, N, S, SH, and V) and a short vowel – Ssssssssshort.

Practice incessantly… Try different options with the above ideas and other concepts that change the mood and feeling of a song to find the perfect combination that says what you are trying to say. Especially in the lead up to recording the final version. If you have at least tried all the ideas you can think of, you will find it easier working with a Producer and you will definitely move quicker.

What makes a song catchy?

What makes a song catchy?

This article is both a continuation and departure from the last series of articles where we studied the different popular song forms. Now, I want to focus on common themes and practices in songs. Let us first define 'catchiness': how easy it is for someone to remember a song, tune or phrase. This is most easily measured by its commercial viability and particularly by looking at songs that are extremely popular.

Let's look at some of the common features of a song that sells well (presumably because it is indeed catchy and not because the evil music industry has used subliminal messages to trigger us like hypnotized zombie slaves). Typically it has some common characteristics, like when things happen: the length of a song (between 3:30 and 4 minutes) lets us focus on the main hook or 'catchy bit' and not lose interest and forget it before the end of a song; the title of a song will occur before a minute has passed and then repeat anywhere from 3 to 30 times throughout; the vocals often start after a 13 second intro (interestingly enough, this is regardless of the tempo or speed of the song). The tempo is usually mid-tempo to fast, and the correllation between how long a song is in the charts and the tempo is shown by how fast a ballad can shoot up the charts, but then not stay up there as long as a medium speed hit.

The lyrical content is a huge factor, in fact 74% of all earworms (the psychoacoustic phenomenon whereby a song is stuck in your head, also known as ‘smurfing’. See? I got you, right…) are songs with lyrics, with jingles (15 percent) and instrumental songs only accounting for 11%. Pop songs take advantage of this and often use well known sayings as their title. Ooh la la, Va Va Voom, Kiss and Tell, the list goes on, just listen to the radio for more. The prominent position of the title is the difference between you trying to hum a song to a Dj at 2am and being able to find it in the record store first time. Essentially the tried and true method is to start or finish the chorus with this word or phrase and not bury it in the middle of a line.

Perhaps the most important aspect is the part that gets stuck in your head and you find yourself singing in the shower – the melody. Sure the chord progression sets the mood for the lyrics to say what you’ve always wanted to say, well timed changes in a song can capture your interest but the melody will embed itself in your brain. Singability is a common rule for songwriters, including having a range that’s practical for the entire audience to join in with to fill the stadium, however this rule can be broken if it’s memorable enough, just think of the Mariah Carey songs that are butchered at karaoke bars because it requires a special talent (and 3 octave range) to pull it off. There is also a trend to add a lyricless hook to a pop song, such as in Katy Perrys ‘Roar’ or ‘Moves Like Jagger’ by Maroon 5 (coincidentally, both produced and co-written by the same pool of producers).

I’ll leave you with a question. Does an artist (or producer) make the fans like a song or do they produce something that contains enough familiar elements? And instead of giving you more to ponder, here are earworms, some of which should get stuck in your head regardless of your vintage or taste in music: Achy Breaky Heart, Macarena, Who let the dogs out, Barbra Streisand, Tequila, Popcorn, Telstar and Axel F/Crazy Frog.

7 Mockumentaries you must watch

One of the cool things about music is that you can learn about it in so many different ways – formal education, experience or even film. Here are my picks and the things I learned about music from mockumentaries:

Waynes World

Everybody knows the scene where Wayne and Garth sing along to Queens’ Bohemian Rhapsody in the back of the car. But what can you take away from this one? A lot of references to pop culture and puerile humour, but specifically, the impact that music has on its fans. Never underestimate the part your music plays in your fans lives.

Walk Hard

This is a clever parody of almost every music doco ever made. From the same actors portraying the characters from age 14 to 70, to the trials they face and the demons that haunt the main character, Dewey Cox. Much like the real artists they are poking fun at, reinvention and adaptation are essential to longevity in the music industry.

My fave quote:

Sam: “And you never once paid for drugs. Not once!”



School Of Rock

While you probably don’t want a hungover washed-up muso living vicariously through your kids, you gotta love Jack Blacks enthusiasm for sharing music with these kids, inspiring a new generation of musicians.

Airheads

Ok, it’s a stupid movie but I watched this one when I was a teenager, so it probably cemented a few stereotypes about Guitarists, Bassplayers and Drummers. They hijack a radio station to get the DJ to play their demo.

Moral of the story:

Think outside the box to promote your music (but don’t break the law).

Get Him To The Greek

The hero of this film isn’t the rocker, but Aaron Green the guy in charge of getting Aldous Snow to the Greek Theatre in LA.

What I took away from this one:

Any relationship can result in a gig.

Boytown This Aussie film explores the ‘where are they now’ angle on a fictional 80’s boy band that try reform their group but find their fans have gotten older.

Know your target audience.

And, of course:

Spinal Tap

The mother of all mockumentaries about David St. Hubbins, Derek Smalls and Nigel Tufnel - Spinal Tap. If you haven't seen this one, don't play another chord - go and watch it now. Just the fact that musicians like Eddie Van Halen failed to see the humour in the film as "…everything in that movie had happened to me!" makes it a must see.

The moment that stands out:

Marty DiBergi: Why don't you just make ten louder and make ten be the top number and make that a little louder?

Nigel Tufnel: ...these go to eleven.

Here are some serious music documentaries that I recommend to round out your viewing experience:

Sound City

Buena Vista Social Club

Standing In The Shadows of Motown

The Last Waltz

Walk The Line

Ray

Song Forms 3

Welcome to the third and final article on song forms. So far, we’ve looked at the first four of the six common forms found in popular music. Click here to go back to the beginning.

To recap; second, third and fourth forms use the familiar verse/chorus idea with either the simplest version of this, alternating the verse with the chorus, or with an added lift (pre-chorus), bridge or both. First form is the only other one we have covered that doesn’t use this concept with the simplest repetition of the same section throughout the whole song.

Now to look at Fifth form, First form was the same refrain (or A section) this one is a particular pattern of two section, AABA. This is a common form in musicals of the 20th Century and therefore a good chunk of the Jazz standard repertoire. Essentially, the majority of the song is made up of the A section with some relief in the form of the B section or Bridge. Usually each section is eight measures in length, making thirty two measures in total. The thing to keep in mind is that neither of these is a verse or a chorus, rather one or both usually contain the title. A common way of extending this form is to repeat the B and last A section, giving you AABABA, found a lot in Jazz ballads. In faster tempi, Jazz songs will usually repeat the AABA chord progression after the melody for solos before returning to the melody at the end.

Some instances where AABA is used to great effect – Brown Eyed Girl by Van Morrison and All The Things You Are by Jerome Kern.

Sixth form is a variation on the old verse/Chorus concept, yet is different because it hits you with the Chorus right from the start. It is interesting to note that this form can shoot up the charts very quickly but don’t sit up there as long as Third and Fourth forms. This is probably due to the catchy hook and title is right up front, but it can get worn out fairly quickly. There seems to be a lot more flexibility in this form, with some songs like Blake Shelton’s record of “Who Are You When I’m Not Looking” (chorus, verse, chorus, verse, verse, chorus) and Jason Aldean’s record of “Dirt Road Anthem” (chorus, four short verses, chorus, three short verses, chorus repeating) taking a few liberties. What ever works!

Steve Holy’s recording of “Good Morning Beautiful” and “Marry You” by Bruno Mars (Bruno Mars, Philip Lawrence, Ari Levine) are some popular songs that use Sixth form.

That’s it. I’ve given you an outline of the six commonly used forms: · First Form (AAA (repeat as you need)) · Second Form (Verse (Verse Optional), Chorus, Verse, Chorus, Instrumental, Chorus) · Third Form (Verse (Verse Optional), Chorus, Verse, Chorus, (Bridge) Chorus (with an instrumental before or after the chorus) · Fourth Form (Verse, Lift, Chorus, Verse, Lift, Chorus, (Bridge Optional) Lift, Chorus, Outro) · Fifth Form (AABA) · Sixth Form (Chorus, Verse, Chorus, Instrumental, Bridge, Chorus, Outro).

I hope this has shed some light on what is on the radio and given you some ideas for your own songs.