Collecting and creating ideas

If you’re in the middle of creating a song and a section doesn’t seem to fit, save that melody, hook, bridge, or whatever for another song instead of just tossing it away. You never know where it could end up, or how it could inspire you later down the line. This is why it’s important to collect and save ideas.

With technology and simple recording programs like Garage Band, it’s easy to track, save, and keep your inspirations. Or if creativity strikes and you don’t know the notes, just hum the tune into your microphone, or you can even save it as a voice memo on your smartphone.

Collect ideas, riffs, melodies, rhythms, or whatever, and name the files accordingly. Don’t just save these bits of inspiration as “track 094.” Think about what you did, name them with clear filenames, and keep a spreadsheet to use like a palette of colors you can visit when you’re writing a song. For example, Figure 5-1 reflects the track name, the track length, and other pertinent info.

You can go further into detail, if you like. Make the info in the spreadsheet easy to reference so you can find what you’re looking for when you need it.

For example, say you have 15 hooks that don’t have homes or songs, and you’re working on a piece that has everything except for the hook. You can access your spreadsheet, check out your options, listen to the most appropriate in your collection, and see if there’s a sound you like.

Sometimes just composing pieces can help build up your database of ideas when you are working on full songs. Consider some writing sessions where you’re only coming up with a single section or one idea, instead of trying to create a whole song.

For every formula that this person or that person touts to make hit songs, there are millions of songs that followed that same formula and failed, just as there are many songs that have followed completely different formulas and became hits. Don’t get yourself caught up in the “I must pen a hit” mentality. It will strip you of your creativity.

Writing alone or with others

Do you feel better about writing alone, or do you prefer to have a writing partner, lyricist, arranger, or producer to write with? There are pros and cons to both; it comes down to your personal style, taste, and preference, as much as knowing your strengths and weaknesses.

For example, imagine you have written an amazing song that showcases your composition, arranging, and production abilities, but you have terrible lyrics. If you bring in a lyricist to pen your ideas, however, you showcase the quality of the song across the board.

Performing your material

After a song is written exactly as you want it, you can test the waters and explore your performance options. Think not only as the writer, but also as the arranger, producer, and even musical director. These are discussed in Chapter 3, where you can learn more about these and other music business careers.

How do you envision your piece being performed? Do you hear specific instrumentation? Does this song lend itself to a male or female voice? What kind of dynamics do you hear in your head? There are plenty of questions you can ask whether you or another musician is performing your work.

Remember that if you have someone else perform your song, they are going to put their touch on it. It’s very rare that you find an artist who will do exactly as you ask them to.

By now, you’ve probably played your song faster, slower, in different keys, with different accents and dynamics, and whatever other ideas you’ve had. The more you explore your music, the better idea you’ll have when you bring that song onto a live stage or in to the recording studio.

Always have a good idea of how you want your music to sound before you go into the studio. A great deal of studio time and money is wasted because the artist hasn’t explored different ways of playing their music. The early stages of performing a song should be considered as part of the writing process. At this point, it leans more toward the arrangement, production, and performance aspects, but it’s still writing and composition. Give your songs a couple of good test drives on a couple of different tracks and in a couple of different races to decide where you want the finish line. This can save you time and money when you get into the studio.

When you record it, you can record it again in a different genre, style, tempo, or feel. Sting’s “Every Little Thing She Does is Magic” was written and initially recorded as a very slow and soft guitar ballad, before it turned into the Police hit that had a wild, up-tempo pop-reggae feel.

Using others peoples’ music

Tread carefully when choosing to perform and record other peoples’ songs. It’s key to get all the permissions in place before you record or add other peoples’ music to yours.

Many have the mindset that it’s simply covering a song, or it won’t sell all that much, but if you get caught using other peoples’ copyrighted music without their permission, you go directly to jail, don’t pass go, and don’t collect $200. Ok, it’s not Monopoly, but the fines can be severe, and it’s not unusual to get caught. More about copyrights and permissions are covered more in depth in Chapter 9.

When covering a song, it’s crucial to find out who holds the publishing for that song so you receive a mechanical license (a license that gives you the right to cover and sell that cover). This enables you to play, interpret, or create an alternative version of the song while still paying a percentage to the copyright holder.

You may also come across publishing companies and estates that are kind and give you permission to use older music for little to no cost. Still, never assume, never second-guess, and never try to pull one over and think someone won’t find out you’ve used others peoples’ music without getting permission.

Always double-check to see if a song is in public domain. Some older songs that are listed as public domain allow artists to play, record, and distribute, but some of those songs now have owners. Also, just because you have verbal permission from an artist to use their material, make sure you run it through both the copyright holder of the song and the person or company that owns the publishing for that song. More about this in Chapter 9. There are artists who think they can give you permission for songs that they don’t have control over, even though they wrote them.

Covering someone else’s music

A great deal of artists cover songs on YouTube and other video channels. Although there’s a bit of a gray area in the legalities of it, if you’re not profiting from the performance and have no kind of ad revenue on the uploaded video, it can be a great way to cross-market your version of a cover and use the name of the song, the name of the artist, and the fact it’s your version to market online. As an extra precaution, tell people where they can find your website for more music and for more information, rather than saying that your music is for sale. Technically, that’s selling — and that can get you into trouble.

Do your due diligence and research before you cover another songwriter’s song. The best option is to avoid covers or having to spend extra time and money to use others peoples music.

The less complex you can make your career, the more revenues you can maintain. Leave the covers and other peoples’ music off the products that have your music on them, and you never have to share or offer up additional profits that should be yours.

Don’t dirty the profit waters. From an EP to an album to a digital release, make it your music or the music of people you are working with. It makes all the numbers cleaner and allows for more profits.

If you’re not a songwriter and working with other peoples’ music, try to connect with a single writer or writing team to reduce too many percentages going to too many people and leaving you with very little or next to nothing.

Rehearsing for results

The following is a list of techniques for rehearsing your songs for arrangement, production, and performance to achieve the best sounds in the fastest ways. There’s no right or wrong way to rehearse; find the method that works best for you.

• Metronome rehearsing: Practice your music with a metronome. Can you stay in time, or do certain sections fluctuate too much? It’s not about being a robot; it’s about defining the time, tempo, and groove that’s going to work best for the song.
• Heavy dynamics: Try playing across the spectrum of loud! Sometimes the loudest parts can mask and cover issues that need to be addressed to make your music sound that much better.
• A little faster and a little slower tempos: If you have a locked-in tempo for your song, rehearse it a little slower and a little faster than the tempo you have set for it. By practicing on each side of the tempo, you’re able to have a better sense of when something is rushing or when it’s dragging. It also gives you a better sense of the pocket of the song and exactly where you want it to be played.
• Much faster tempos: Whether you know the exact tempo of a song, or you’re just dialing what feels right, rehearse your songs at considerably faster tempos. By rehearsing at a much faster tempo, you can check the technical ability of the band to run through the melody, rhythmic hits, chord changes, and transitions of a song.
• Much slower tempos: By slowing down the song and rehearsing it as slow as possible (with a metronome to keep you in check), you can identify a variety of problems that might come from skipping over an issue that isn’t being caught because of its normal speed. Think about the lick that you know how to play when you play it at a normal tempo, but when it’s slowed down, you trip all over it because there’s more space for things to go wrong.
• Different keys or modulations: Test the waters of different keys or modulating inside of the key to bring a different flavor, but also to see how the song sounds and how you can perform it with another set of notes. Trying different keys can also introduce creative ideas on soloing, or show where you might choose to add a modulation to the key you have for the song. Again, it builds up the strength of the performance and the musicality, too.
• Different time signatures: This is a great one to get your rhythmic and melodic phrasing in check but also to create new approaches and options to a song. Add a beat or subtract a beat from the time signature of a song and see how you phrase ideas with a beat missing or an extra beat added.
• Switch genres: If you have a song with more of a grunge feel, try it as a jazz piece. If you have something that’s more hard rock and punchy, try it with a reggae touch. Experiment with a genre change to reinforce the feel or genre the song is in and give you additional ideas on small nuances and embellishments that you can bring in from one genre to another.
• Minus-one rehearsing: Make the vocals go away, or take out the drums, bass, or even guitar in a song and see how it feels to rehearse it that way. Sometimes certain instruments become a crutch for other player’s ears, and those players might not have their specific parts down solid.

• Invisible or blind rehearsing: I like this one for musicians who are going into the studio as well as rehearsing for live shows. Turn around so you can’t see each other or literally put on the blindfolds. (Bandanas, ties, and T-shirts work fine, too.) Think Luke Skywalker and Star Wars. You may not feel the force, but can you feel the tune, the changes, and the transitions without eye contact from the other musicians?

  In the studio, eye contact might be blocked and you may even be recording a part at a completely different time than the musician you need to lock into. On stage, if the lights are in your eyes, or if the stage is large, you might not have visibility there as well.

• Backward order of the song: Do you know your song front to back? How about back to front? I’m not saying you should practice the song in complete reverse, but by playing each section from the end back to the beginning, you can get a different perspective on transitions and changes that can help when you record or perform the song from the beginning to end in the right order. Even if the song is a simple verse/chorus–verse/chorus type of format, practicing backwards for the dynamics and singing the last verses first can help you see if energy or endurance might be an issue that should be worked on by the singer.
• Looping sections: An offspring from the play-it-backward idea is to loop sections, and play just those sections over and over and over to tighten them up and lock them in. For example, play the bridge — just the bridge and only the bridge — section of a song from start to finish. As you get to the end, start over again at the top of the bridge. (Rinse and repeat!)
• Playing it front to back: And last but not least, practice the song the way you want to record it or perform it.

From slowing down your songs to slowing down the different exercises that you work on when practicing your instrument alone, get out of the mindset of trying to do everything as fast as you can and get into the mindset to play it as well in the faster tempos as you can in the slower. The better the understanding of a song, part, solo, exercise, or rudimentary phrase at the slowest tempo, the better you understand the space, mechanics, and motions that are missed when you try to speed through it.

The extra attention to detail and efforts you put into rehearsing, the better your proficiency, musicianship, technique, and overall ability is in your songs and your performances. It also saves so much time and money in the production process from tracking to improvising elements, to making additions, changes, and embellishments.

Rehearsing to arrange

You have your songs where you want them from a foundational and basic arrangement standpoint, but how do you want to arrange additional overdubs, horn lines, backing vocals, and other layering that builds in to the arrangement? Using many of the ideas from the previous list can help you figure out arrangements as well as who you might want to bring into the rehearsal room and potentially include in your recording.

After you find something you like, test it out with everyone playing together. By playing around with arrangement ideas and embellishments in rehearsals, you have more time to explore different sounds without incurring studio-time costs.

As you finalize arrangements and lock in the parts you want for a live band or the studio, make sure to make charts. Having charts for the song (the roadmap for your songs; charts are covered in Chapter 6) and the arrangement can help session players knock it out instantly in the studio. This also makes it easier when you have to hire a backup or sub player to play these parts live. Get all of your songs charted and have them converted to simple PDFs that you can email to anyone who needs them. It’s that much easier to get that track recorded when everyone is on the same page.

Rehearsing to record

Using the previously mentioned techniques while rehearsing for recording helps make the studio experience go that much better and take much less time.

If you have a producer, talk to him or her about the production plan (discussed in more detail in Chapter 6) and the tracking order to get an idea of what’s going to be recorded when. The more prepared and in the zone you can be for the recording sessions, the better.

See if you can book a rehearsal session in the recording studio where you plan to track. Ask if the studio has any open dates or if you can wrangle a deal to have the final rehearsal in the studio.

The best rehearsing in preparation to record boils down to communication and planning. The more you know about what to expect when you enter the studio, the less surprised and the more effective you’ll be.

If you hire top-notch session players, you won’t have to rehearse as much. Still, adding a little to a rehearsal budget, or booking the studio for a possible rehearsal prior to getting everything set up and going, can get you that much more dialed in with your musicians.

Rehearsing to perform

How do you play on little sleep, little energy, and little drive? Probably not as well as you would if you were well rested, had plenty of energy, and had a full night’s sleep. Still, many bands lose the endurance and energy toward the end of a show and the performance can become weaker.

When performers are tired, a live performance can lose energy. From the heat of the lights to a little too much alcohol, the volume on the stage and everything else, can begin to have an effect on the songs later in the performance.

People talk about how much you have to rehearse to have the best live show. One great way to build up your endurance is to rehearse full sets of full shows when everyone lacks sleep and energy. If you’re in a place where you can rehearse at any hour, try getting everyone in to play and record at two o’clock the morning.

Practice your song transitions, and track them with different set lists. How do you end one song and go into the next? During certain rehearsals, focus on the end of songs and how they segue into the next. There can be magic in a moment of silence or transition. Rehearse the moves between the songs to help the motion of the songs and the sets as a whole.

To see how you look while playing, take video recordings of rehearsals and shows to review later. Take a look at you and your band. Seeing yourself on video can help you determine if you like how you look while performing. Maybe you need to make better eye contact with the audience; maybe you need to move around the stage more. Or maybe you need to move less. A video tells the truth about your appearance while you perform.

From working on projecting your energy when you have none, to how one songs flows into the next, to how you present yourself while playing live, rehearsals that focus on performances can help your live show become more memorable.

Rehearsing communication

Outside of the music, communication is the biggest element that ties everyone together. Good communication is rare in all businesses and artistic forms. Musicians who can connect, resonate, react, supplement, complement, and have a fundamental awareness of the person, the sound, the song, the dynamic, and the motion trumps the best technician or virtuoso type player tenfold.

Intended information and the agreed upon visual cues to the melodic, harmonic, and rhythmic hints and messages that can be shared are great, but also that internal connection is important. Understanding the personalities, the confusion, and the clarity among musicians is key.

Some are dominant communicators; others are submissive communicators. ’Sound weird? I’m not talking about “Fifty Shade of Gray” type of stuff. It’s simple — different people have different personalities that affect how they communicate, how they perform, and how they react to others. It’s about how you feel most comfortable communicating, engaging, reacting, and resonating with different people.

From more dominant personalities both in communication and in technique to the technical and softer styles of others that might musically enjoy someone else to take the lead, it’s all about communicating in a way that works for different people with different needs that present different styles of communication.

It’s not about getting everyone on the same page in a way where musically and creatively everyone agrees. It’s about getting different people, like different notes, to resonate and create harmonies. If everyone agrees on the same points and communicates the same way, then all you have is unison and uniformity. When people are able to work with their differences, similarities, and dissonance of how they play and communicate, that communication, performance, and connection can be so amazing.

Most of the elements of communication and rehearsing come from the foundation of connecting with others when not playing. The better you can connect with other musicians the more practical, creative, and inspirational your connection and communication can be.

Preparing For Performance

All the smallest pieces put together the right way allow for the best results. Just like a chef in the kitchen who knows how to add the smallest splash of this or the lightest touch of that to completely transform a dish, the same can be said for the preparation that goes into a performance.

A great deal of performance prep comes down to preventative maintenance and advanced problem solving. Make sure your musical instrument is ready to for a performance. If you’re a drummer, make certain you have backup drum heads. And if you’re a guitarist, don’t forget those backup strings — and maybe a backup guitar.

Have extras, backups, and the tools to repair the small and large issues that can occur. Invest in the right cases to allow for the safest transport of your equipment because taking care of the gear that enables you to perform your best is some of the best preparation possible.

Your body needs preparation, too. From simple stretching before and after a show from the drummers hands to the vocalists vocal chords, to the exercising and making sure the muscles you use the most often are in shape and able to support you. It might seem obvious, but enough sleep and even a nap before shows can help you stay energized. It’s also important to eat the right types of foods to keep you energized and not weigh you down or tire you out while you’re on stage.

Take care of your main instrument, which is you! Do everything you can to keep your energy up and keep you on top of your game and performance.

Your sound on stage and the sound check

What your music sounds like on stage and what it sounds like in the audience are two very different things. Every room, every stage, every sound person, and sound system is different. You might know exactly what you want to hear, and you think you know what’s being heard out front; however, in most cases, you don’t have a clue And generally speaking, the distance between what you think is being heard and what is actually being heard are worlds apart.

Ask the soundperson what they need from you, and tell them the basics of what are important to your sound. Put together a basic stage plot and input list that outlines the location of the instruments and the usual microphone setups for that configuration. (Stage plot and input list examples are available online.)

The more advanced notice a venue or sound person can have with your setup, the better the sound they can give to the front of the house and on stage.

The sound person works for the venue and is paid for by the venue. They don’t work for you. Being rude to the soundperson that is working to get the best sound for you and helping with your monitors is a bad way to go. Ask nicely instead of telling them what you need. Don’t bark orders or come off as rude. More than likely, you’d rather not go that extra mile to help someone who’s yelling at you. Your sound person is no different.

Even if you’re dealing with an incompetent or inexperienced sound person, work with and talk to them about your ideas with which you’ve had success, or that you’ve seen others do successfully.

Getting the best sound on stage and in the room comes from keeping everything you can in check and running smoothly. In the following sections, I tell you seven things to keep in mind to get the best sound on stage as well as out in the audience.

Setting up and breaking down

As crazy at it might sound, practicing and rehearsing your gear setup and breakdown can actually help your career. Setting up and breaking down is more than just the pain-in-the-butt part of any show; it’s something that can help you stand out with producers, venues, managers, other bands, and music business professionals.

Your ability to expedite the fastest setup and get going as well as your proficiency to break down, get off the stage, and out of the way, all while protecting and securing your gear showcases a professionalism to the venue and other bands that is more and more rare these days.

Of course you want everything set just right to allow you to have the best performance and that at-home feel vibe of just sitting down to everything in perfect order, but the reality is that with every recording session and every show you have to break it down from wherever the gear is, load it into where-ever you’re playing, set it up so that’s exactly as you like it, break it down again, load it out, and then load it back into your house or rehearsal space to be set up yet again.

I always used to tell people, I work from the same desk; I just switch offices every day.

Still, the key issue breaks down to these core elements:

• The fastest load-in and load-out
• The fastest setup
• The fastest breakdown
• All while being prompt, professional, and courteous

Set lists, set times, getting set!

Focusing on the format and the reactions of a set list can give a whole new and positive edge and effect of a show.

When noticing that certain songs seem to keep the energy of the audience going that much stronger while those same songs in a different order don’t seem to have the same impact, take note and consideration for the order of the set.

Pay attention to how opening with a certain number of songs in one order, bring the people closer to the stage sooner, as opposed to those same songs in a different order. Keeping that awareness of what draws people in and what makes people seem dull can help you lock in much more effective, energetic, and engaging set lists and order.

Set lists can be tricky, and if you don’t track your different set lists and the audience reactions to them, you’re losing out on priceless information that can help you develop the best sets to create the most audience engagement.

Keep every set list you create and break it out into a spreadsheet with specific pieces of information, as shown in Figure 5-2.

Keeping track of a couple simple pieces of information can help the formation of your set list as well as enable you to know when to make a change or adjustment.

Print out the set lists well before your performance and make sure everyone is on the same page (no pun intended) when playing. You’ll look that much more professional when you’re not calling out song titles throughout the night.

You can add extra notes as helpful reminders between songs. Because sometimes musicians get carried away in the moment, many forget to say the name of their band or promote the latest album or product. Have prompts scattered across the set list to mention the name, the website URL and the social media pages, as well as point out the merchandise table. This helps you market yourself while the spotlight is on.

Organizing and changing up the set lists as you track the reactions helps you create better shows with a better order of songs in them. By adding notes regarding marketing plugs to saying something about the venue, the city, or the place that you are in, you connect that much more with the audience. Let your set list be like a map to a successful night as it leads you through a great show.