In my prior blog called Create Your Own Style, Your Own Sound, I suggested that you stay creative and consistent and essentially "brand" your music. Well, I want to continue encouraging you to think outside the box!
Because the music industry is changing and there are more indie artists and indie labels than ever, you as an indie artist/songwriter can now find recording artists who will record your genre of music. Yes, your genre! Did you know that besides the main genres of music (country, pop, rock 'n roll, R & B, Hip Hop, jazz, Punk, Hardcore/Heavy Metal), that there are HUNDREDS of different genres of music! New genres are being created all the time! Genres are also being fused together all the time: Wikipedia has a long list of music genres that is listed from A to Z. Every letter of the alphabet on that list has more than one genre, even Q! There's even a genre called Mushroom Jazz!
So songwriters, you can find a genre that fits your style of music, or you can be like Ray Charles and make your own sound! In fact, Ray Charles was the pioneer of soul music because he was the first to secularize gospel music and add blues lyrics to it. Thus, he created his own sound and we are still singing his songs today! Ray Charles defied genre labels by being popular with pop, R & B, country, and jazz fans alike. He had hits in all four genres. So again just be creative, and create your own sound, or your own genre, whichever you like!
Thedy B, Attorney/Songwriter
Hits A Million, LLC
http://myspace.com/hitsamillionllc
Showing posts with label sound. Show all posts
Showing posts with label sound. Show all posts
Friday, March 7, 2008
Monday, March 3, 2008
Create Your Own Style, Your Own Sound!
During dinner, I was recounting to a multi-Grammy-award winning producer the other day that another engineer/singer/friend was advising me not to use a lot of harmonies in the R & B songs that I write for other artists. This singer-friend was telling me the R & B song I wrote was "wrong" because I was using a lot of harmonies and according to this singer-friend, R & B doesn't use a lot of harmonies, only gospel. According to this singer-friend, R & B uses mostly octaves. And while some of what the singer-friend was saying had some truth in it, my multi-Grammy-Award winning producer friend disagreed. The producer then started naming off groups such as Boys II Men as an example of an R & B group who are known for their rich harmonies. So he said that what the singer-friend was saying wasn't true for all R & B.
And then this multi-Grammy award winning producer (I like saying that and I'm sure this producer liked getting them) said, "Thedy, find your own sound and stick to it! It's YOUR sound. It makes you, you. It makes people recognize YOUR songs and YOUR style from others. So if the songs you write have lots of harmonies, do you!" And when I thought about it, he's so right!
Think about it: Any fan of a particular person's music can almost immediately recognize their favorite producer or songwriter's style. For example, fans of Quincy Jones, Babyface, Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis can recognize them as producers of a song. A fan of Timbaland's music will know when the beat or music they hear is a Timbaland beat, a Swizz Beat beat, a Dark Child track, or a Jazzy Pha track. Same is true for Bryan-Michael Cox, the Clutch, and many other producers/songwriters. Why? Because not only have those producers/songwriters built their brand using their name, but they've built their brand using their sound! Sometimes even during the intro or the outro of the track, some producers will even put their "name imprint" into the track so that listeners will know this is their track. And because these producers have built their sound and name up and been successful hitmakers, recording artists who like that producer's particular sound will call these producers when they are ready to record their next project. It's that simple: the artist like the sound and style, and they used that producer or production team.
So regardless of the advice that I or any other "professional" give you, do you! Be you! Create your own style of music! Create your own sound! And stick to the sound that you love and that hits home with YOUR fans! While there are some fundamentals to making a hit song, some rules, and even some do's, (and that's what I am attempting to help songwriters see in this blog), there are also a lot of creative things you can do with your music and still be "right."
Thedy B, Attorney/Songwriter
Hits A Million, LLC
http://myspace.com/hitsamillionllc
And then this multi-Grammy award winning producer (I like saying that and I'm sure this producer liked getting them) said, "Thedy, find your own sound and stick to it! It's YOUR sound. It makes you, you. It makes people recognize YOUR songs and YOUR style from others. So if the songs you write have lots of harmonies, do you!" And when I thought about it, he's so right!
Think about it: Any fan of a particular person's music can almost immediately recognize their favorite producer or songwriter's style. For example, fans of Quincy Jones, Babyface, Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis can recognize them as producers of a song. A fan of Timbaland's music will know when the beat or music they hear is a Timbaland beat, a Swizz Beat beat, a Dark Child track, or a Jazzy Pha track. Same is true for Bryan-Michael Cox, the Clutch, and many other producers/songwriters. Why? Because not only have those producers/songwriters built their brand using their name, but they've built their brand using their sound! Sometimes even during the intro or the outro of the track, some producers will even put their "name imprint" into the track so that listeners will know this is their track. And because these producers have built their sound and name up and been successful hitmakers, recording artists who like that producer's particular sound will call these producers when they are ready to record their next project. It's that simple: the artist like the sound and style, and they used that producer or production team.
So regardless of the advice that I or any other "professional" give you, do you! Be you! Create your own style of music! Create your own sound! And stick to the sound that you love and that hits home with YOUR fans! While there are some fundamentals to making a hit song, some rules, and even some do's, (and that's what I am attempting to help songwriters see in this blog), there are also a lot of creative things you can do with your music and still be "right."
Thedy B, Attorney/Songwriter
Hits A Million, LLC
http://myspace.com/hitsamillionllc
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