Who here writes lyrics? Who here works with lyricists? If so, you might have experienced the difference between functional lyrics and poetic lyrics. Functional lyrics tick all the boxes – they make sense, they rhyme in all the right places, they tell the story, etc. But somehow they’re boring. They don’t move you. They’re not [...]
Preproduction: Rehearsals
by Kim Lajoie on December 13, 2010
Practice. Seriously. Do it. You wouldn’t believe the number of times an artist has brought in an unrehearsed musician to a recording session. It’s a time-waster to be sitting in the studio with a bunch of people waiting around while the guitarist figures out what chords to play. Ditto for singers: Know how to look [...]
Preproduction: Enhancing expression
by Kim Lajoie on December 6, 2010
Music is expression. It is a way of expressing ideas, aesthetics, and emotions. There are things that can be expressed through music that cannot be translated to any other medium (including written language). When I speak with an artist about expressive range, I’m referring to the range of variance in a particular aspect of the sound. [...]
Preproduction: Clarifying creative direction
by Kim Lajoie on November 29, 2010
Creative direction can be a real ‘gotcha’ when working as a producer with an artist. First of all, it’s absolutely critical to be clear who is the creative director for the project. As a producer, my projects roughly fall into two categories: The artist is the creative director. For these projects, the artist has a [...]
Preproduction: Tightening structure
by Kim Lajoie on November 22, 2010
Another important aspect to consider in preproduction is the structure of the song. For vocal songs, this is often addressed when working on the lyrics. Sometimes this is enough, sometimes it isn’t. Approaching structure separately is often necessary when there is a strong instrumental component to the song. This includes vocal songs that have distinctive [...]
Preproduction: Polishing lyrics
by Kim Lajoie on November 15, 2010
Last week’s post mentioned polishing lyrics as one aspect of preproduction. Typically, an artist will present a song to the producer, and the producer will work with the artist to improve the lyrics. Often artists get precious about their lyrics – and for good reason – because they’ve worked long and hard to come up [...]
About preproduction
by Kim Lajoie on November 8, 2010
Preproduction is an interesting topic. If you’re a solo composer/producer, you might never have encountered it. If you’re a singer/songwriter about to record in a studio, you might be wondering what it is and whether you need it. If you’re a producer working with an artist, either you know this or you need to know [...]
How to practice effectively
by Kim Lajoie on October 25, 2010
Every skill requires practice. No matter what it is you do – composing, performing, producing, engineering… you need to practice in order to get better at it. Whether you’re learning how to play an instrument or learning how to use reverb, there are four things that you must do in order to practice effectively: Practice [...]
Don’t make better mixes. Make better music.
by Kim Lajoie on August 23, 2010
Stop it. No really, stop it. Stop focussing on the mix. There are more important things to focus on. Your mix is fine anyway. Newsflash: The mix isn’t really that important. Sure, a good mix helps the listener understand and enjoy the song. But a good song is still a good song regardless of the [...]