Mark Ronson's BBC Maestro Music Production Course Notes PDF

MARK RONSON MUSIC PRODUCTION “I had no choice but to make music. It was all I wanted to do. COURSE NOTES 1.0 BBC MAESTRO 1 MUSIC PRODUCTION BACK TO CONTENTS  The Lessons PA G E Meet The Collaborators:...

MARK RONSON MUSIC PRODUCTION “I had no choice but to make music. It was all I wanted to do. COURSE NOTES 1.0 BBC MAESTRO 1 MUSIC PRODUCTION BACK TO CONTENTS  The Lessons PA G E Meet The Collaborators: 5 Jon Bellion Niya Norwood Ricky Damian Richard Terrana 1. Introduction 6 2. What Makes A Great Producer? 7 Exercises 3. Sample-Based Production 8 Sampling Drums 9 Sampling A Record 10 4. Serving The Song 10 Breakdown: ‘Like A Feather’ 10 Happy Accidents 11 Texture-Distortion-Tone 12 The Guitar Riff 12 Reflections 12 5. Drums 13 Treating Sound At Source 14 Setting Up 14 Finding The Sound 15 Layering Samples 15 Running Drums Through Tape 15 Re-Amping 16 6. Finding The Right Mic 17 BBC MAESTRO 2 MUSIC PRODUCTION BACK TO CONTENTS  PA G E PA G E 7. The Power Of Knowledge 18 12. Making Space 28 Breakdown: ‘Late Night Feelings’ 18 Start Recording 28 Tempo & Progression 18 Record Everything 29 The Bass Line 18 Building The Idea 29 The Importance Of Tone 19 Refine The Idea 30 Consider Orchestration 19 Take A Break 30 8. Developing Ideas 19 13. Getting It Down 30 Breakdown: ‘ Don’t Leave Me Lonely’ 19 Writing Lyrics 30 Evolution Of The Demo 20 The Chemistry 30 Don’t Give Up 20 Bringing In Talent 30 Finding The Key 31 9. Educate Yourself 21 Layering ‘Stacks’ 32 Soul Of An Instrument 21 Inspiration for ‘Back to Black’ 21 14. Building The Production 33 Learn From The Best 22 Get Creative 33 Do What You Love 22 MIDI & Quantisation 33 Breakdown: ‘Back To Black’ 22 Reinforce The Drums 34 Let The Magic Happen 23 Integrating The 808s 35 Sleep On It 23 Sidechaining 35 Exercises 35 10. Preparing For A Session 24 The Building Blocks: Build A Sample Pack 24 15. ‘Comp-ing’ The Vocal 36 Cool Toys & Equipment 25 Lead Vocal 36 Exercises 25 Stack/Pad Vocal 36 11. Starting The Session 26 16. Extra ‘Ear Candy’ 37 The Jam 27 Additional Extras 37 Developing Structure 27 Experimenting With The Guitar 38 Trust The Room 27 Conclusion 38 Integrating Production Ideas 27 Automation 28 Exercises 28 BBC MAESTRO 3 MUSIC PRODUCTION BACK TO CONTENTS  PA G E 17. Tones, Colours & Textures 39 Electric Piano 39 Acoustic Guitar 39 The Nylon String Guitar 40 Guitars & Amps 40 Fuzz & Distortion 40 Synths 40 18. Summary 41 Production Kit Glossary 42 “ Things To Consider 42 Contents 42 Audio Interfaces 43 Data Storage 43 Digital Audio Workstations (DAW) Headphones 43 44 Making music, making beats, Microphones (i) Dynamic Microphones (or Moving Coil) 44 44 recording singers, interacting (ii) Condenser Microphones 44 with musicians are really the things I love doing most. (iii) Ribbon Microphones 45 Monitoring 45 Musical Instruments 45 Pop Shield 46 Pre-Amplifier (Preamps) 46 Speakers 46 Further Listening, Reading & Viewing 47 Mark Ronson Discography 47 Mark Ronson Selected Produced Albums 47 Books 47 TV Documentaries 47 BBC MAESTRO 4 MUSIC PRODUCTION BACK TO CONTENTS Meet The Collaborators JON BELLION Jon Bellion is a Grammy-winning rapper, singer-songwriter and record producer from New York. He wrote the chorus to The Monster by Eminem feat. Rihanna, and co-wrote and produced Trumpets by Jason Derulo. His debut album The Human Condition was released in 2016 and the lead single went double-platinum. Recently, he’s helped produce and write singles by Maroon 5, Justin Bieber, Selena Gomez and Katy Perry. N I YA N O R W O O D Niya Norwood is a singer and Berklee College of Music graduate. She has recorded live with greats such as Robert Glasper, and performed live with Stevie Wonder, John Legend, Sting, Earth, Wind & Fire and Lauryn Hill. RICKY DAMIAN Ricky Damian is a Grammy-winning engineer, mixer and producer who has worked with artists such as Lady Gaga, Miley Cyrus, YEBBA, Sampha, Jorja Smith and many others. He has been a long term collaborator of Mark throughout the last 8 years. RICHARD TERRANA Richard Terrana is a drummer, writer, arranger and vocalist, best known for The Frightners - a New York reggae band on Daptone Records. BBC MAESTRO 5 MUSIC PRODUCTION BACK TO CONTENTS  1. Introduction Welcome to my Music Production course. I’m inviting you into my studio to show you my entire process as a producer and musician – from making beats, chopping drums and recording vocals, to the song- writing process and the art of collaboration. “ There are no set rules when it comes to making music. These are just my methods and the things that I’ve learned over the past 25 years of making records. I never know what’s going In the first half of the course, I’ll show you the various skills you’ll need to hone to become a top producer – sampling records, mic-ing equipment, finding the hook, to be popular, the only thing and drawing from my experiences working with artists like Miley Cyrus, Lady Gaga, Paul McCartney and Bruno Mars. I can say is, would I be jealous if somebody else made it? The second half builds on and applies that knowledge by creating a song from scratch with a recording artist. In the video lessons, you’ll see me working in the studio with Jon Bellion and Niya Norwood to lay down a track. Here in the course notes, I’ll pull out key learnings from this session and my years of experience to help you plan for and run your own studio sessions. Hopefully you’ll take some of these things I’ve learned and apply them to your process to make some magic of your own. Mark Ronson BBC MAESTRO 6 MUSIC PRODUCTION BACK TO CONTENTS  2. What Makes A Great Producer? Traditionally, the definition of Music Production is the process of creating, developing and refining a piece of recorded music for consumption in the public market. Music production can also include the artistic processes of songwriting, composition and sound design, as well as the mechanical processes of recording, mixing and mastering. Being a great record producer is about being put into any situation and just under- standing what the best decision is for that, musically. That could be making the best track, writing the best song with someone, recording the best vocal – all these things. If you learn all of these tasks, to the best of your ability (and you’re never done learning), there’ll be no situation you can be put in where you won’t be able to do something to make that record better. “ Modern Music Production is more accessible now than it ever has been before. Advances in today’s technology have enabled any musician to get started with extremely affordable digital tools. These developments have led to a whole new breed of producers that are making their names heard within the industry, and hopefully you You should always be will soon be one of these, if you haven’t begun already. ready to move at the Aside from all these technical tools that you’ll learn, the most important thing is to find your own voice. We all have our own heroes. I loved DJ Premier and The Neptunes, speed of inspiration. probably in the beginning of my career I was trying to copy those people in some ways. It was only when I found my own sound and had the confidence to do something that was purely my own, that I really created something that resonated and made a mark. The point of this course is for you to take all these tools and methods we talk about and incorporate them until they become your own thing. BBC MAESTRO 7 MUSIC PRODUCTION BACK TO CONTENTS  3. Sample-Based Production EXERCISES Research your favourite music producers and find out what elements of production Sample-based production is a technique where a section of existing audio is taken, they’ve been involved with recently. If you don’t have a favourite music producer, read edited and processed, to create something entirely new. The original idea of sampling the record sleeves of your favourite albums and look them up. has been around since the early 20th century, with jazz players ‘borrowing’ melodies or phrases from other pieces of music to integrate into their live performances, as For a little inspiration, check out who NME named as the 50 Greatest Producers Ever a way of respecting and admiring that which came before them. (back in 2012). Don’t pay too much attention to the ranking (sorry Prince) but it should keep you busy enough for starters. Then catch up with the latest on Billboard’s 50 With the development of the tape recorder in the 1940s, the principle was more of Greatest Producers of the 21st Century. a sound-art, manipulating pre-recorded sounds to be looped and sped up or slowed “ down to create entirely new sounds. As technology progressed, instruments such as the Chamberlin and the Mellotron essentially utilised a keyboard that would have small reels of tape that could be played at the press of a key, giving the user the ability to trigger ‘samples’ simultaneously. They spent the time singing It was the hip-hop scene in the ‘70s and ‘80s that started using vinyl for break beats it, writing it, why shouldn’t to rap over. Further developments in computer technology at the time created the first I spend the time making them digital samplers and DAWs, but they were very expensive and only accessible to the biggest stars of the time. Stevie Wonder’s 1979 album Journey Through the Secret sound as powerful or magical Life of Plants was one of the first to use this technology. or as great as possible? The dawn of portable digital samplers in the 1980s revolutionised the music scene and allowed artists to create full songs without the need for a recording studio. Akai and E-MU samplers played a major role in numerous hip-hop productions of the time. I love to use my Akai MPC3000, a classic sampler that heroes of mine like Q-Tip and DJ Premier used in the ‘90s. BBC MAESTRO 8 MUSIC PRODUCTION BACK TO CONTENTS “ Today, every modern DAW can perform the same tasks these units were designed for. The process continues to be a constant source of inspiration and discovery when creating new music, as you can see in the video lesson. It’s like a cooking show There are infinite ways to spark the idea for a new song. Using a sampler like the MPC3000 lets you chop up samples and arrange music on these 16 different pads, for beats. getting you out of the normal way of thinking about music. You might just get inspired by the way you hit one sound. As opposed to sitting down at the piano where we might always have the same chords we come to, Hey Jude chords or No Woman, No Cry, this machine can take me any which way. There are plenty of midi controllers you can get for your laptop if you don’t have, or don’t want to use, a machine like this. It breaks you out of a set way of thinking and it’s fun to play with samples. SAMPLING DRUMS Chopping drums and cutting samples of pads will make you think outside of the box when you’re creating. It’s one of the ways that I love because I just find it so inspiring and I love the way these old pieces of vinyl sound. When you chop them they have this grittiness and the sound of the needle. Much like the sample packs you can download, finding and creating your own samples to build from can be a very satisfying process. Here’s how to create a sample:. Find an interesting loop or section of audio, record it into your DAW or sampler. Chop the audio up into individual parts, being mindful of the start and end times of the samples you’d like to use BBC MAESTRO 9 MUSIC PRODUCTION BACK TO CONTENTS  4. Serving The Song. Load your samples into individual triggers (whether pads or keys or MIDI notes) so they can be played back in a new order or rhythm You should always be ready to move at the speed of inspiration. If someone has For drums specifically, think about taking a couple of different velocities of the indi- a great idea in the studio, it’s about not being attached to what you thought you should vidual drums you would like to use. The timbre of the acoustic instrument changes do. Working with Bruno Mars (who is also an excellent producer), he’d come up with the harder you hit it, so having options to play back can give the end product a more something that was essentially better than what I had. You have to learn to recognise realistic feel. Also, really pay attention to how the samples start and end – make and accept the better idea. In some ways, there’s nothing better for the song than being sure you don’t cut off some of the starting transients and that the tail doesn’t feel too wrong when someone else has a better idea in the room. You’re looking to develop aggressively chopped (unless that is the desired feel you’re after). You can really hear that intangible ability to just know what is best for the song and what the piece of music the difference these points make in the video lesson. you’re making is. That only comes from instinct and experience. And that’s what I hope you’ll take away from this course. SAMPLING A RECORD When it comes to sampling a record, think about adjusting the tempo or pitch, or B R E A K D O W N : ‘ L I K E A F E AT H E R ’ using some other form of processing. Also, be mindful if using the given sounds, that Starting out on my MPC3000 was essentially how I learnt to be a producer. I didn’t this may cause issues down the line with clearing these samples, potentially causing know anything about mic-ing a drum kit or recording a vocal. To me, producing meant some legality issues with royalties. this machine – and then I learned about the other stuff later. The joy of sampling direct from vinyl is that there are decades of premade influences The first proper album that I got to work on was by this amazing singer called Nikka you probably still haven’t heard of, waiting for you to find them. The journey and sense Costa. She came from a bit more of a rock’n’roll/blues background and we were trying of discovery in flicking through dusty collections and sourcing these records, then to figure out what our common thread was. It took a year of us making demos before playing them back, can be an untapped well of musical influence and inspiration. we really made something we were excited about. I was bringing this influence from Some of the best sounds you create are happy accidents, like the record starting up the MPC and the DJ Premier-type beats that I was making, and they brought this that I sample in the video lesson. It’s like a dolphin playing the piano. different rock energy. Our best stuff was when all those styles meshed. And I feel like that’s what we’re trying to do with music – all these different styles and influences are like Play-Doh, they’re like different colours to play with and meld together to make your own colour. BBC MAESTRO 10 MUSIC PRODUCTION BACK TO CONTENTS  Like A Feather is the record that I made with Nikka and Justin, the one that broke us out of the box with a blend of all our influences. It started with a beat that I made from the MPC3000. In the video lesson, I play it and deconstruct the individual sounds and beats so you can see how that process works. HAPPY ACCIDENTS I had my headphones on and Nikka was working on an idea on the couch behind me. She started singing over the beat coming out of my headphones and we were all like ‘wow – that’s different’. It was the first time that she’d written something from a beat I’d come up with. We all got very excited in the room. That’s something I’ve come across quite a lot – there are happy accidents in the studio where the magic comes from. Sometimes you can have a great song but there’s something about it that’s not doing it, something missing. The beat or the arrangement might sound too old-school, too played out or traditional to put that kind of melody over that kind of guitar and then – suddenly – you completely switch the beat and it “ does something different. That’s something I got from being a DJ and putting different a capella vocals on different instrumentals my whole life. Really, the only thing that’s sacred about a piece of music is the vocal and the melody. Sometimes there’s nothing That’s the thing we remember when we think of our favourite song, whether that’s better than being wrong, Elvis, Adele or Michael Jackson. Do anything else that you can to the song to make it as great as it can be – switch the drums, switch the instrumentation, switch the genre. because it’s going to make Just changing the sound of the snare or changing from a bass guitar to an 808 can completely change the way that you feel about something and change the way the song better. BBC MAESTRO 11 MUSIC PRODUCTION BACK TO CONTENTS that you react to the vocal. That’s something that happened on the Yebba song, Don’t Leave Me Lonely. We must have tried 80 different beats and keyboards and synths before we found the exact right support for what she was doing. It’s this combination of disparate elements we loved that made this song so fresh, new and exciting. There are a lot of other songs on that record I love and am proud of, TEXTURE – DISTORTION – TONE but that one especially was this wonderfully weird combination of sounds that don’t Getting the right tone, sound and texture at the source can be vital for a song. A softly necessarily belong together. That’s why it’s always important to add different colours sung part won’t necessarily work as well as a pushed and slightly growled delivery, as and textures to the tracks that you’re working on so that it’s not all in one genre. You we saw earlier with Jon’s recording sessions. The same idea is true for any and every always want one weird element because that’s the thing that’s going to set your stuff sound incorporated into the production. apart. For Like A Feather I wanted the guitar to sound distorted, like in The Beatles’ Revolution. REFLECTIONS I’d read that they turned the input up on the desk at Abbey Road to get this effect. Before this record, I was basically a decent clone of DJ Premier. It was only by I didn’t have a fancy desk like Abbey Road, so I just jacked it up all the way going into combining these influences – The Beatles guitar with the Sly & The Family Stone-type Pro Tools. bass - that it really became its own unique thing. It’s great to have your influences, but take them and find your own instrumentation, colours, sonics and melodies to make A lot of the great rappers of this generation, including Denzel Curry, distorted the yourself stand out, and find your own original voice and sound. vocals by accident and ended up sounding effortlessly cool. That’s one of the greatest ways to get distortion, just by turning the input all the way up until it’s in the red. When that record came out, I played Like A Feather at a club in New York and DJ Premier, my hero, came into the DJ booth. I had never met him before so I was both T H E G U I TA R R I F F excited and nervous. When he asked about the track and I told him that I had made the beat, he said, “That shit is hard.” It was an incredible, full-circle moment that We added the distorted Revolver-style guitars for the chorus of Like A Feather, but something I had made, so influenced by my hero, turned into something that he liked we didn’t leave it there. We heard The Beatles had double tracked their guitars. John so much he came into the booth while I was DJing and said that. It was one of the Lennon always double-tracked his vocals – Kevin Parker from Tame Impala does it greatest frickin’ experiences of my production career up to that point. too – to get that signature psychedelic sound. I realised if I double-tracked the guitars I could make myself sound like a bedroom George Harrison. Remember: it’s great to be influenced by our heroes, we’re going to pick up those sounds we love that they do, but you must combine it with your own sounds and other influences to find your own sound. BBC MAESTRO 12 MUSIC PRODUCTION BACK TO CONTENTS  5. Drums There are endless possibilities with recording drums, whether you have a professional drummer or it’s you experimenting and improvising. I want to show you everything I’ve learned and how to make magic on your own recordings. Drums were my first instrument. My parents got me a little kit because I’d air-drum next to the speaker at their parties. I was just so entranced by the beat and I think that’s why my first loves are in that realm of funk, groove and hip-hop – music styles where the drums are prominent. “ There are two elements to what make great drums a feature of the song – the rhythm and the sound of the drums. Melody and vocal performance are important but, for me, nothing can ruin a song like a bad drum sound. That’s why I’ve spent most of my life There’s dynamics with the learning about it. Whenever I’m in the room with great drummers like Homer from the Dap-Kings, I become like a sponge. I look at where they’re putting the mics and why, human voice that are really why they’re taking the head off the front of the drums and how they’re tuning them. And when I’m around a programming master like DJ Premier, I watch out for how he amazing if you can interpret creates those beats – whether he’s using quantisation, the click and correction, or retaining that human feel. Dilla is one of the most celebrated drum programmers of them into rhythms. all time because of his skills in building layers, knowing when to keep the human feel, and when to quantise. G E T T I N G T H E B E AT T H AT ’ S I N YOUR HEAD DOWN ON A TRACK IS AN AMAZING THING. BBC MAESTRO 13 MUSIC PRODUCTION BACK TO CONTENTS T R E AT I N G S O U N D AT S O U R C E The tuning of the drum kit is one of the easiest steps to take when striving for that killer drum sound. It can be time-consuming but the more you do it, the easier it gets. SETTING UP There are specific drum tuning devices (these operate much like a guitar tuner) found In the video lesson, Ricky Damian, a fantastic engineer I’ve been working with since in the market that can dissolve most of the headaches for very little money. Learning Uptown Funk, set up a modern Gretsch kit in the corner of the room. These kits are to tune drums by ear, and through trial and error, can be a really satisfying skill to very useful because they’re new, efficient and tend to be affordable as well. You can master. There are numerous approaches to how toms, kicks and snares can be tuned, morph them into any sound that you’re looking for. and tutorials can be found all over the internet. It’s important to tune the drums to match with the other instruments in your track and the style of your music. All you Ricky removed the resonant heads on the toms and applied MoonGels to the drumheads need is a drum key, an ear and some time. to control the resonance, but you can use towels, gaffer tape, newspaper, there are many techniques that work. Controlling the heads this way allows us to achieve Another great way of influencing the sound of the kit can be through dampening. a punchy, dead sound that doesn’t resonate so much. He also added a wallet on the Gels, tea towels, T-shirts, tote bags and bed sheets can be a great way of deadening snare, some tea towels on the hat and blankets inside the kick drum to get that the unwanted overtone harmonics that a kit may be producing, especially if you are consistent, weighty sound. recording in a particularly ‘live’ room that has a lot of its own natural reverb. Try covering the whole skin or only partially covering it to see the difference it makes to how the kit I tend to use a few microphones to pick up the different sized drums in different rings out. Thicker material will deaden this more. perspectives. If you do this, you can then select or combine which tracks you use, depending on the sound you’re looking for. Listen through your headphones and move A great tip for snares is to add mass to the top skin. You can buy specific snare the mic around while you’re setting up to optimise the source sound – it will probably weights, which reduce the sustain of the drum, but won’t dampen some of the high be different every time. frequencies draping a T-shirt over them might. Often a heavy wallet taped in place will result in a very dry and snappy sound that may prove to sit better in the production and The RCA 77-DX is a great vintage ribbon microphone from the 50s, specifically good be far easier to process later. for a full ‘one-mic’ drum sound, but you might want to add spot mics to catch the detail of each shell, like a Sony C-500 on the kick drum and Beyerdynamic’s M500s or Shure Shoving a couple of hoodies or a duvet in the kick drums can reduce some of the SM57 on the snares. Removing the resonant heads on the toms allows you to add hollowness of the sound. When they’re pressed up against the head where the beater spot mics there to capture their fullness while isolating them from the rest of the kit. hits, you can get a much tighter sound. You’ll see that Ricky also added two overhead mics and a room mic to give even more options when we get to layering the track. BBC MAESTRO 14 MUSIC PRODUCTION BACK TO CONTENTS FINDING THE SOUND It’s worth spending the time experimenting and finding the right sound. Even moving one mic can drastically change the character of the sound. I love the sound of break phase relationship between your microphones to achieve the fullest, biggest, beats with a harsh snare that really cracks – you’ll hear it in James Brown and even most ‘in your face’ sound. Pharrell – and you can get that sound by moving and angling the main mic under the snare drum. Move it a bit lower down from there, so it picks up more of the bass, and L AY E R I N G S A M P L E S you’ll notice a big difference in the colour of the sound. Now let’s look at how you can add to the natural sounds of the drum kit by layering samples on top with drum machines or sample packs. In the video, I use the LinnDrum, In the video, Ricky and I also go through how to get disco, rocksteady, Beatles and one of my favourite drum machines of all time. It was made famous by artists like distorted maximalist styles. You can try some of these combinations, or just keep Prince and Michael Jackson, produces iconic sound, and exists today in sample packs adjusting the mic positioning until you get what you want. You might also want to have and hits like Blinding Lights by The Weeknd. Find samples, packs and plug-ins to play a rogue mic far off – I once fell in love with the sound of a beat captured from a mic with and add to the sound or use a drum machine, like the LinnDrum in the video accidentally left on in the vocal booth! lesson, to trigger more sounds. Keep playing with tuning, EQ, reverb and distortion throughout, and you might just find something magical you’ve never heard before. Play around with compression and EQ to hone the sound, especially when you’re using one mic. I like to use a Pultec to adjust the EQ, but you can use a plug-in to get a similar R U N N I N G D R U M S T H R O U G H TA P E result. And don’t worry about going over the red line. That distorted sound did nothing I learned about using tape machines to get incredible sounds from drums from the bad for The Strokes and if it’s right for you, go for it. While making sure you have Dap-Kings. You can do this at home with a cassette tape deck or reel to reel and you’ll a correct gain staging, don’t hesitate to experiment pushing certain pieces of gear or discover a new character of sound coming through. plugins over the limit. Keep at it until you find something that sounds exciting or you hear what you heard in your head. How high the record level is will affect the sound you get after running it through tape, so it’s a good idea to turn it up towards the red to get a crunchy, compressed sound While experimenting with all the different microphones, remember to always check that will suit a tape characteristic. their phase relationship and make sure they are always in phase. Oftentimes you might be chasing the perfect snare sound while all of a sudden adding one more microphone As you hit play on the computer, press record on the tape deck. Once you find the to the balance seems to make the snare fullness disappear: that means some sound you like and have it recorded on tape, you need to then feed it back into the microphones are out of phase, which effectively means certain sound components computer track, or as we say, ‘print’ it. will cancel out and make your drums sound weaker. Most preamps, and even plugins today, have a polarity switch that allows you to check your phase. Experiment with BBC MAESTRO 15 MUSIC PRODUCTION BACK TO CONTENTS  RE-AMPING The third thing you can do to experiment with drum sounds is re-amping. I did this when working with Paul McCartney on the album, New. We wanted to add more grit to the drum sound, so I ran the drum performance back out into the amp and recorded the live speakers in the air to get the desired sound. You might want to leave it there but layering that on top of the drums you already have will add a nice characteristic. It’s the same for guitar, vocals, synths or drums – re-amping will give a different grit and texture to your recording. “ When you’re doing the thing you love, and you are doing it for the pure joy and the love of the music, you shouldn’t be thinking about commercial expectations. After that you can use your DAW software to play with the tempo, transients, pitch and compression, or turn it into midi to hear all the different ways you can take it. Starting out with a drummer sat playing at a kit, it’s amazing all the different directions you can take the sound in. BBC MAESTRO 16 MUSIC PRODUCTION BACK TO CONTENTS  6. Finding The Right Mic Each microphone has its own personality and distinct sound. When you work with a new vocalist, I’d recommend finding the right mic that will accentuate the characteristics of their voice. When I look at my collection of mics, I actually see the faces of the people I’ve recorded with because they’re so closely bonded in my mind: the CMV captured the breathiness and range of Yebba; the RE16 really suited Rufus Wainwright’s specific tone; and the RCA 77 makes me think of Amy Winehouse as we used it recording Back To Black and it just brought out all the unique characteristics of her voice. The SM7B is a great all-rounder that can be in the room as it’s very directional. “ This is the closest I get to sounding like Barry White. Over lockdown you saw people shoving a microphone in their wardrobe or cupboard with all the pillows and blankets around them, but I’d recommend getting yourself a good reflection filter to help you get a great vocal sound at home. BBC MAESTRO 17 MUSIC PRODUCTION BACK TO CONTENTS 7. The Power Of Knowledge To really grow yourself as a proficient music producer, take time to study your favourite TEMPO & PROGRESSION songs, albums, producers and their methods. Listening to old records was my college When you’re working on a song for the dancefloor, you want to keep that iconic beat – Earth, Wind & Fire, Quincy Jones, Timbaland and The Neptunes are some of the pulsing when you’re freestyling in the studio. things I would study. If you’re aiming for a top 10 hit or a song within a genre of music, study and take influence from the greatest examples. Reusing and reimagining the Experiment with different voicings for the chords, as I learnt from a Stevie Wonder building blocks, rhythms and sounds within your creation will allow you to get much playbook. I don’t even know what those chords are, I just figure it all out by ear. closer to that genre or style. For disco you want the least movement in the chord progression as possible. Studying the great records, even if it’s just to see how they work – that is your university. THE BASS LINE The bass line often mimics the root notes but, in disco especially, you want to find the B R E A K D O W N : ‘ L AT E N I G H T F E E L I N G S ’ ghost notes in-between. I just learned this from listening to a ton of Chic records like One of my all-time favourite forms of music is disco. Coming up in clubs in New York everybody else, they are the bible of disco. in the ‘90s and 2000s, two to three hours of my set would be disco. Especially in New York, we DJs didn’t just play Earth, Wind & Fire and Michael Jackson, the obvious stuff, Remember to get the tone right at source, whether you’re dampening the strings, playing we played The Salsoul Orchestra, GQ, Tom Brown, the deep cuts. with fingers or a pick, or playing with a slap technique, they will have a vast effect on how the part comes across in the production. Flatwound and roundwound strings will I’ve had the honour and privilege of working with Nile Rodgers and some of those also give different sonic results: combine that with the controls for the tone on the people that really wrote the book on disco. But, like anything, you want to take from bass, and you suddenly have quite a lot of variables at your literal fingertips in order to the book on disco and make it your own. You’re never going to make an exact carbon try and start with the sound closest to the finished article. copy of a disco record from 1979, the point is to take some of those lessons from what makes those songs groovy and bring it to what you do. THEN SPEED IT BACK UP SO The title track from my recent record, Late Night Feelings, is heavily influenced by disco. Y O U S O U N D L I K E A W I Z A R D. The feel of the bassline is very Bernard Edwards, finding that space, the chords, the guitar, and then the modern twist comes in with Lykke Li’s vocal and other elements of the production. In the video lesson I go over the building blocks of a good dance/ Similar principle to finding the right pitch for a singer, use tempo functions within the disco track with a breakdown of the track Late Night Feelings. Here are a few key DAW to enable you to be able to put down your performances if necessary, and speed take-aways… it back up later. This can be highly useful for any ‘less than proficient’ musician. BBC MAESTRO 18 MUSIC PRODUCTION BACK TO CONTENTS  8. Developing Ideas T H E I M P O RTA N C E O F T O N E I think part of my obsession with the bass line and it having to be its own hook in the song, is from coming up in the era of hip-hop where you had all these amazing iconic Uptown Funk is an example of one song that took nine months. On the first night, we bass lines. had a jam that left everybody’s hair standing on end. And then every time we tried to get back together to work on it, we never had anything that was quite as magic as that. You do not need a fancy bass – all you need to know is how to make a nice tone. It Me, Bruno and Jeff Bhasker would be bickering. We’d try again in a couple of weeks helps to have a nice one, but honestly, put the foam in to make it super dead and turn once tempers had mellowed, because I just believed in it. There was something in that the treble down with the tone knob to get a really subby, cool, dark tone. Some people first night – that magic feeling I had about it and how excited I was – I just knew it might warn you to never take the treble off before you record because you can do it was worth the work to finish. That’s not to say that every time you will be able to finish with a plug-in later, and that once it’s gone you can’t add it back, but I really believe in it either, there have been songs that I love that I’ve tried to bend and mould and shape getting and committing to the sound that feels best in that moment. By getting any and you just can’t finish them but occasionally there are those songs that you believe $100 dollar bass, adding the foam and turning down the tone, you can get a good in so much that they’re worth fighting for… and Uptown Funk was one of them. sound. B R E A K D O W N : ‘ D O N ’ T L E A V E M E L O N E LY ’ Sometimes, when you’re working on a piece of music, you might have a chord or track C O N S I D E R O R C H E S T R AT I O N or melody that you love but you just can’t seem to make it work. It can be incredibly Pay attention to the instruments used and their place in the arrangement of songs you frustrating, because you know there’s something in this piece of music that’s so excit- admire. Work out how you can implement similar sounds with the tools available to ing, every time you hear it you get a bolt of electricity. It can become quite maddening. you, whether that be a specific pedal you’ve bought, a virtual instrument that’s already Stevie Wonder took a song that he wrote for Tammi Terrell in the late ‘60s and turned on your DAW or one that you’ve sourced from a third-party manufacturer. it into All I Do, a disco classic some 15 years later. It just shows that you can reinvent chords not only over different beats and arrangements but different eras. The important thing is to see that you don’t need a fancy rig to make great sounds. Sure, it’d be great to shred on your dream instruments, but really what’s more important One song that I was working on during my album Record Collection, was this demo as a producer is the sounds that you make. Look for things like cool pedals, plug-ins where I loved the chords so much, I made the whole band play it every time we came and other innovative ways to make a guitar sound like a guitar’s never sounded before to the studio. But every time we tried to make it into a song, it never worked. Then, 10 – or not even sound like a guitar. Those are the things that I find exciting. By messing years later, we were somehow able to transform those chords into the song that around and combining them, what you get is basically a sound that not only has no I wrote with Yebba, Don’t Leave Me Lonely. It is one of my favourite songs on the Late one else ever heard before, but a sound you’ve never even heard yourself. And that’s Night Feelings album, and a song that really started my relationship with Yebba who the thing that makes you want to build a song around a great tone you’ve just discovered. is one of my favourite singers… ever. BBC MAESTRO 19 MUSIC PRODUCTION BACK TO CONTENTS  EVOLUTION OF THE DEMO In the video lesson I play the original demo from 2010, Solar Power, and go through the chords. Music is so subjective, but sometimes an idea is so special, it moves something inside you that makes you persist. I spent the best part of the next 10 years trying to find a place for these simple, haunting, melancholic chords. The day came. When I played them for Yebba at Electric Lady Studios, the first time we met, we jammed to the chords and she freestyled a melody that was so much better than what we’d written for her. One of the most beautiful things about going to the studio is that, it doesn’t matter “ how good your intentions, anything can come out. Sometimes you need to change the energy in the room to find the magic. Those chords that I was fixated on in 2010 evolved from a lo-fi jam called Solar Power and became this song with Yebba called Don’t Leave Me Lonely. It’s worth chasing these golden ideas and seeing them through If there is an idea that makes to the end. your hairs stand up, it’s worth DON’T GIVE UP chasing, it’s worth seeing it Over time, you may have several projects that go unfinished or on pause, creatively. Whether it’s a hook, a chord progression or a chorus, it’s important to keep the faith to the end. and keep coming back to it. Keep trying to breathe life into it with different variations and instruments. Adding new elements and showing it to new artists could just be the next domino in the sequence that allows you to gain new perspectives and get it nearer the finish line. BBC MAESTRO 20 MUSIC PRODUCTION BACK TO CONTENTS  9. Educate Yourself The most important thing you can do as a producer is listen. A prominent example of that from my career would be when I first met Amy Winehouse and asked her the simple question – ‘What do you want your album to sound like?’ It might sound overly simple, but when you’re there to produce a record for someone the best thing you can really do is take their vision and prop it up on steroids by a million. “ SOUL OF AN INSTRUMENT Whatever your strengths are in music production, whether it’s making beats, sampling records, arrangements, or programming chord progressions, when it comes to working in sessions these are an asset. At times we can rely heavily on where we feel most I feel like studying the great confident, but this shouldn’t be the only thing you can bring to the table. Putting yourself out of your zone of comfort and trying processes you’re not proficient in will almost records, even if it’s just to see always improve your skill set. Trying to learn an instrument or practising one that you are unfamiliar with can be a great way of reinterpreting what your role is within a project how they work – that is your and help you walk in the shoes of an artist. What it will allow you to do is find new university. inspirations when it comes to writing melodies or bass lines or chord progressions, through tactile experimentation with the instrument. I N S P I R AT I O N F O R ‘ B A C K T O B L A C K ’ It was experimenting with my piano that sparked the inspiration for Back To Black. When I first met Amy Winehouse in 2006, she told me she wanted to make a record that sounded like the ‘60s girl-group stuff they played at her local. She played me the Shangri-Las, all stuff I was familiar with, but nothing like what I had produced up till then. Amy went back to her hotel and I stayed up all night, buzzing off the energy of meeting her. I wanted to come up with something that would inspire her and encourage her to choose me to work on her record. I sat at my piano and stumbled on a D minor, with the A in the bass. I instantly felt something and for some reason I knew BBC MAESTRO 21 MUSIC PRODUCTION BACK TO CONTENTS what the next chord was. She’d so inspired me with all this music, with drama, that I sat down at a piano and created it. It’s strange how these moments happen but you just have to challenge yourself and welcome these moments when they come. Certainly D O W H AT Y O U LO V E nothing is going to come if you don’t sit down and try. I have this voice in the back of my head, like Amy’s voice, that always reminds me to stay genuine. Sure, you can fake it, you can emulate somebody else’s sound and LEARN FROM THE BEST you might even have a hit doing so. But the people I really admire, the people who do On days where I’m struggling to find inspiration, the thing I do to help unlock those something that resonates on a deeper level, are always chasing their truth. creative impulses is go on YouTube and learn one of my favourite songs. It’s exciting to learn something you love, and you’ll learn something new about inversions and I know that when I’m doing the thing I love, whether 10 people or 10 million people like chords. Some of my favourite chords that I ever learned, that I still use inversions of it, it’s going to be the best version of myself. That’s really the best you can hope for to this day, are from a Stevie Wonder song called Superwoman (Where Were You When when you’re stepping into the studio to create – you want to create the best version of I Needed You). I also love the chords in Joe Jackson’s Steppin’ Out. I later learned from yourself on this three-minute song, or this beat, and that’s what you’re always striving Jeff Bhasker that they’re called extensions, but what I was able to do by playing these for. songs was learn inversions like that. BREAKDOWN: ‘BACK TO BLACK’ I came up in the era of ‘90s hip-hop, when A Tribe Called Quest, Wu-Tang Clan and Last year, I was walking down the street on Amy’s birthday, and I had the urge to come Biggie Smalls were all sampling jazz and soul records from the ‘60s and ‘70s. Now up to this studio, to this room where she sat with her nylon string guitar playing some I love the sound and tone and texture of piano on those blue note records. I’d really songs. I think I wanted to just feel that energy. I ended up renting the space again, six recommend that you look up the samples on songs you love – maybe a Kendrick months into the pandemic when there was no one else around. It’s amazing being Lamar or Kanye song – and learn the sample on the piano. I guarantee it will unlock back. some different ways of playing that will bring you inspiration. For this course and being back in this studio, I’ve unearthed the original demo of Back A lot of dance and house music is rooted in gospel and ‘70s soul, especially that Chicago To Black, which I haven’t heard for 10 years. Watch the video lesson to see the full piano house which seems to get reinvented by every new generation of dance music breakdown of how I went from the piano chords to the demo track that I laid down producers. When I collaborated with Dua Lipa and Diplo on the song Electricity, we and played to Amy. She wrote the lyrics in about an hour then laid down the vocals you were going for that feel and the piano riff reflects that history. These chords I only hear on the video. really learned by going to the well – going to these old records to see how they played it. It’s so useful to get you thinking in different ways and get you excited. Amy loved the texture of an electric Clavinet that I had and she insisted that I put it in the song. I was resistant as I thought all the instruments should sound ‘60s, but guess As someone who wasn’t classically trained, I say go for what feels good. what – she was right. It’s great to work with people who challenge your ideas. BBC MAESTRO 22 MUSIC PRODUCTION BACK TO CONTENTS We all have these rules but we need to push ourselves. It’s always worth trying the ideas, even if it goes against your instincts. There’s nothing better than being wrong if it makes the song better. The same thing happened with Uptown Funk, when I first heard the ‘do do-do, do do-do’ hook, six months into working on the song, I hated it. We’d been working on this song LET THE MAGIC HAPPEN that sounded like a James Brown funk track and suddenly we were adding this ‘80s I was a fan of the Dap-Kings and played their stuff for Amy and we agreed to get them element? I slept on it and decided that, actually, it was brilliant and the main hook that in for the track. I was terrified because I hadn’t produced a whole band before and they glued the rest of the song together. were so cool. Their musicianship and their playing really did take the track to the next level. But I go back and forth with this because sometimes there’s magic in the demo So anytime anyone adds an idea or changes the sonic in a way that’s dramatically that’s hard to recreate. It’s not always the case that perfecting something will make different, it’s always good to sleep on it. Your knee-jerk reaction is not always the right a better recording. It’s just what works best for the song. one. “ The orchestra was the bells and whistles it needed and I only had the idea because it was in all the records Amy was playing me. She was adamant she didn’t want strings added but I just had a feeling she was going to like them if they did them the right way. It’s funny to think that if So, I went ahead and did it without asking her, which is never something I would usually do in the recording process, especially with someone I trust like Amy. But 1% of the time you have this sixth sense that you should do it and they’ll love it when you play it for them. I learnt a lot about orchestration, arrangement and harmony, from Chris we had comped the vocals Elliott, the arranger of Back To Black. Listen, and you’ll hear that the orchestra is either weaving in and out of or harmonising with Amy’s vocal. You’re only ever trying to find slightly different to Rehab what best supports the song and lifts the vocal up. it would be a different song. SLEEP ON IT Tom Elmhirst mixed Back To Black at Metropolis Studios in London and made the record sound more modern. I had a knee jerk reaction – I wanted to change it – but it was the best thing that happened because it kept Back To Black from being a museum piece. You always have to be open to these contributions. BBC MAESTRO 23 MUSIC PRODUCTION BACK TO CONTENTS  10. Preparing For A Session So, you’ve got an artist coming in for a session. Some people really like to work on “ the fly, which oftentimes leads to incredibly unexpected and magical results. There is always a place and time to let inspiration be the guiding light, letting the energy and the excitement dictate the flow. As the producer however, I’d always recommend preparing for all of your sessions, especially if you have an artist coming in to collaborate You’re looking for these with. Consider the following: great nuances in the. What are their personal tastes in music? What influences do you share?. Which artists do they cite as inspiration? performances you just. How do they like to work, what’s inspiring for them and what makes them know are really special.. comfortable and creative? Do they have any music currently out? T H E B U I L D I N G B L O C K S : B U I L D A S A M P L E PA C K Spontaneity is a key element in the studio and as a producer you should always make sure nothing gets in the way of it, by arriving prepared. One thing that can help kickstart collaboration and pinpoint the vibe the artist is going for is having a folder of loops and samples ready to work with. Even if you’re working by yourself, having a bunch of loops to play around can be a great starting point. It’s like a painter preparing his colour palette, you are getting your basic tools and foundations ready for the job. If you are working with an artist, do some research and present them with ideas and sounds that are more aligned to their vibe. You can do that by curating your options based on tempo and mood – you just really can’t predict how they’re going to feel but you can help them get in the mood and promote creativity. BBC MAESTRO 24 MUSIC PRODUCTION BACK TO CONTENTS You should also be ready to start completely from scratch. Sometimes I’ll work with an artist and play them the loops I’ve prepped – and they’re not feeling any of them. That can be terrifying when you’re scrambling to get a loop right in the moment, but COOL TOYS & EQUIPMENT it’s good to push yourself and ride that adrenaline. Any musical instruments and equipment you have or can borrow should be set up in advance, all ready to go. They may remain untouched or they might just be the thing Nowadays, most softwares come with numerous loops and samples though there are that sparks a moment of magic and an original idea for your track. Just think: if The sources online that provide highly stylised and specialist products should you have Troggs hadn’t had an ocarina around in 1966, Wild Thing might have sounded pretty a specific direction in mind:. sounds.splice.com different. In fact, the original version recorded by Jordan Christopher and the Wild. producerloops.com Ones the year before had a whistling break – and who remembers that version?. loopmasters.com Stopping in the middle of an idea in order to figure out how to plug in an instrument or trying to locate a cool sound on that hard drive can put a serious speed bump in the Make sure any samples you use are royalty-free. Trying to clear a sample from a known creative process, to the point where sometimes, criminally, the idea gets lost. Never record can be a major headache and I’d advise you to avoid it. let technology get in the way of creativity. EXERCISES MY DAW OF CHOICE IS PRO TOOLS B U T F E E L F R E E T O U S E W H AT E V E R. Browse your DAW or Virtual Instruments for loops and sounds you can use YO U ’ R E C O M F O RTA B L E W IT H. S E E. Set up a folder of loops, sorted by genre, tempo, key (name and label them well) THE PRODUCTION KIT APPENDIX. Try combining loops, playing with speed and pitch, and see what interesting sound mixes you can come up with F O R M O R E O N D A W S ( D I G I TA L A U D I O W O R K S TAT I O N S ). BBC MAESTRO 25 MUSIC PRODUCTION BACK TO CONTENTS  11. Starting The Session As with any meeting, it’s important to make a good first impression. Be welcoming, warm and ready. Friendliness and authenticity will lead to a much more comfortable environment, socially and creatively. Make the space welcoming and have everything “ set up ready, ahead of your collaborator’s arrival. When they show up, ask the artist how they like to work and references for what they’ve been listening to. As well as laying foundations for your day’s work, this also cuts through any potential awkward chat about the weather or whatever. Sometimes being a producer is terrifying... but it’s good Start off by playing the loops from your sample pack that fit their preference and allow them plenty of time and replays to decide what they like. Every artist is different to push yourself, use that and will all have their own preferred ways of working, so consider their thoughts and preferences and try to incorporate that into the workflow. It’ll help them to feel more adrenaline. artistically involved with the project as it develops. Remember the research you did into the artist and use those insights to help you at the start. THE JAM As you get to know them better, you’ll be able to adapt how you work to suit your collaborator. Take note of things like when they need a break, when they might be finding the process frustrating and need a change of pace or focus, or when they’re on a creative roll. Be upfront from the start so they are free to do that too – when I tell Jon to be brutally honest, I mean it! We are there to assist in the creation of their music, they need to feel it too. Keep checking in with the artist about how they like to work. Do your best to earn their trust and understand that you’re both being vulnerable by sharing your ideas, as they’re really an extension of how you’re feeling. BBC MAESTRO 26 MUSIC PRODUCTION BACK TO CONTENTS Give the artist space to be creative and work out the idea. Keep the beat, bassline and chords going for them to vibe over. I N T E G R AT I N G P R O D U C T I O N I D E A S DEVELOPING STRUCTURE Ideas can come out of the blue and it’s best to jump on them straight away. If it doesn’t It’s easy to jam out for hours so it’s important to establish a structure and where work to halt the flow, put down a marker to remind yourself of your intention. you’re going next. Agree how and when you’re going to start solidifying those ideas and getting stuff down. As an idea progresses, you can use a plug-in or audio processor to apply an idea without getting bogged down in controls and losing momentum. In the session with Once you have some building blocks in place you may want to let ideas flow naturally Jon, I use a filtering plug-in (One Knob Filter by Waves) on the drum sound. by jamming over an infinitely repeating loop, like I did with Jon. When you’re playing or singing along to a track in your session, instinct might tell you TRUST THE ROOM that it’s in the wrong tempo, so change it on the fly. You can do this with your software Listen to everything the artist is doing. They need to drive the session, so if they say in a way that allows you to revert to the original if you need, so be bold and try out any something important that’s going to change the song, you need to stop the music and ideas. In my recording session with Jon, it’s this idea he has of speeding up the tempo pay attention. that takes the song in a new direction and leads to vamping up the keys too. This all comes from a collaborative environment in the studio. Start arranging the track and structure of the song. Keeping organised can really help you retrieve great moments you get down in this creative stage. You could colour code your tracks (e.g., drums=blue, vocals=yellow) to help you keep a hold on different YOUTUBE TUTORIALS ARE tracks and clips. You’ll also want to save different versions as you’re going and give A G R E AT WAY TO G E T TO them clear file names to save you hassle figuring out what they are later. And lastly, as GRIPS WITH YOUR SPECIFIC you’ll see in the lesson, I use markers for the chorus and bridge, for example, though D A W. you can use them to leave yourself any kind of note. This will make it easier to navigate the different sections of the track as we continue to work on it. It can take hours to find the right chord or moment, even for a few seconds in the song, but it can raise the tension or be a vital moment – so it’s always worth taking the time to get it right. BBC MAESTRO 27 MUSIC PRODUCTION BACK TO CONTENTS  12. Making Space A U T O M AT I O N Automation is available inside your DAW and is an incredibly powerful tool in music production. It allows parameters, such as volume, pan, and mute, to be changed over S TA RT R E C O R D I N G time: you can make a guitar go from the left ear to the right ear in the headphones; Your set-up should look something like this: a synthesiser pad fade out over time; or raise the reverb effect on a vocal at the end of Vocalist > Pop Shield > Microphone > Pre-Amplifier > Audio Interface > DAW a line to make it sound like it’s flooding the space. You’ll find out more about each of these in the production kit glossary at the end of While working with Jon, I use a filtering plug-in on the overall drum sound on the these notes but, essentially, you’ll want a unidirectional mic to pick up the vocals. pre-chorus, but the filter is removed completely when the chorus hits. You can do this Preparation for me is paramount. In the session, I dialled the reverb, the delay and by automating the filter sweep to open at this point or to bypass the plug-in altogether. harmoniser effect in on the mic to aid the vibe of the recording process. You should This simple bit of automation creates an impactful sonic difference between each have this set up in advance so you don’t have to stop in the middle of the creative section and keeps the repeating part interesting throughout. process to build this into the recording and monitoring chain. Then you can just tweak as you go. The artist will need the right headphone mix too. It’ll act as a cue and make The possibilities with automation are almost endless, virtually every control in every them sound good so they can give their best performance. Every artist is different, but plug-in on your system can be manipulated in this way. Experiment with your software, here are some things you should consider: feel comfortable with manipulating them and getting used to the results, so that when B A L A N C E : Put melodic parts higher in the mix to help your vocalist stay in you’re next in a recording session, should the inspiration arise, manipulating what you tune. Hearing themselves too loudly or quietly may cause pitching issues too, and need to won’t grind progress to a halt. some singers prefer to have one ear of the headphones off to nail their performance. C L I C K T R A C K : A metronome or click track can be generated in your DAW and may be helpful for artists to nail intricate rhythms. EXERCISES R E V E R B E R A T I O N : This is one of the most common effects used in recording. Explore your DAW for organisation tools like markers and colour coding vocals, and it makes it feel like you’re singing in a room with amazing acoustics, rather. than dry into the mic. Spending time trying different reverb plug-ins can really help Practise playing with tempo and pitch and seeing the effect it has your artist find the right tone and perform that killer take.. Learn how to use the plug-ins that come with your DAW D E L A Y : Although it can sound good, time-based effects can cause a distraction. Try out the automation processes available in your chosen software against their own performance, so use with care. P I T C H E F F E C T S : Software like Autotune by Antares, Nectar by iZotope or Waves Tune by Waves can help vocalists deliver on ideas without straining to absolutely nail the pitch. BBC MAESTRO 28 MUSIC PRODUCTION BACK TO CONTENTS  RECORD EVERYTHING Save all the takes that your artist does because, even at this early stage, there might “ be one magic ad lib or something that they do that you might want to use later on. Most software comes with recording technology features that can make the recording process go smoothly. Play around with them and learn how each can be used in a recording session: In the collaborative process. L O O P R E C O R D I N G – loop or cycle recording is where the artist performs over a repeating section of the song. you always have to be. C O M P O S I T E T A K E S can be made from recording multiple takes over malleable. the same sections. They’re virtually stacked on top of another, as you see in the next video lesson ‘Comp-ing the vocal’. I’m personally not a fan of looping the same sound for too long, but a lot of singers enjoy it and almost get into a trance state that sparks ideas. Setting up a loop record function is a great way to organise the takes while allowing the artist to continue freestyling without having to stop and start. BUILDING THE IDEA Jon’s gone through an outpouring of potential melody ideas so what we both need to do now is go through them and make some decisions. That’s what producing is all about – a series of decisions. There is no right, there is no wrong. Sometimes there’s so much to choose from that it can end up being about personal taste and what works best for the song. Keep your takes and tracks organised so you can go through them more easily and efficiently. I use different colours to represent the different takes that Jon’s done so I always remember what and where they are later. BBC MAESTRO 29 MUSIC PRODUCTION BACK TO CONTENTS  13. Getting It Down REFINE THE IDEA So we have a melody and structure that Jon and I are comfortable with... Jon’s got a verse and a chorus he feels like he can work with, and following on from that, Jon W R I T I N G LY R I C S added a little swing motif on the keyboard which I thought brought in this extra action Jon Bellion made some insightful points in the video lesson that will help you if you to the song.. want to write lyrics yourself or collaborate with a songwriter. Remember that visceral feeling from life situations like your first break up. At this point, you can do more takes to refine the idea in the performer’s mind. What If you tap into it, you can almost relive the feelings and write from that place. I love about working with great artists is just how focused they are, how much hard This can be a little tiring, like actors who immerse themselves in a role. work they put into a session. They want to make the song better, the melody stronger, whatever they can do.. Look for universal truths that people can relate to and resonate with. That’s a great place to be in a session, you can feel the energy in the air and a clear and THE CHEMISTRY defined goal on the horizon. Always try to keep your sessions fun while being aware In the creation process there should always be a freedom of ideas being shared in that you’re working to an end result: it is your job as a producer to keep the whole thing order to allow the art to form. The idea may initially be from one person, but the end on the rails. song is more important than its component parts/creators. Striving to do what’s best for the song at all times can mean letting go of control and allowing a change of TA K E A B R E A K perspective. It’s important to take breaks during a session. Make sure you give your artist space if there’s additional writing that needs to take B R I N G I N G I N TA L E N T place, whether it’s a solo guitar part, a groove between players that needs to be locked When it comes to developing ideas further, it can often be useful to bring in another in, or as with Jon, time to zone into the progress so far and be left to create lyrics in party to continue to a fresh perspective. There may be an artist or performer that you their own process. Communication is essential here. trust the skills of or who has what you need to bring in for a particular part in a song, whether that’s a synth solo, rhythm guitarist who has great chops, or particularly skilful Of course you should always consider the time constraints, like the rental of the studio vocalist, like Niya, who can spark an idea and take the collaboration to the next level. for example, but the flow should first and foremost suit the artist’s comfort. This can be an extremely useful tactic especially if you have been sitting on a project As with any creative process, fatigue can kick in, so be sure to take regular breaks to eat, for a particularly long time. Their performance or ideas can totally reinvigorate the drink, get some air and give each other space. Fresh ears after a break can give a more passion and drive to push through and finish the song. objective perspective and help prevent stress and fatigue, both physically and mentally. BBC MAESTRO 30 MUSIC PRODUCTION BACK TO CONTENTS  Being personable and skilled at your own processes will naturally open you up to new and interesting artists over time. See every new interaction as a potential connection for the future. Bringing the right people into projects that suit them most is also a desirable quality for a music producer. FINDING THE KEY When you’re writing a song, experiment with moving the pitch up or down. The key of a song should always accommodate the singer to get the best performance out of them, even a semitone can make a huge difference. Make sure the key makes them comfortable and sits within their range. It’s very important to make sure you settle on the song key before you record your final vocals as you don’t want to find yourself discovering the chorus melody is too high for your singer half way through a session and having to start again. The technology within DAWs allows for easy pitch and key changes. Earlier in creating “ the foundations, we played around with the tempo until we landed on the right beat. Here, we’re going to do the same to find the correct key or pitch of the track. Using temporary pitching functions within your software should allow you to bring the Create for the love of creating. entire key of the production up or down to accommodate the performer. By pitching everything down or up we can make singers more comfortable, in turn increasing their confidence in their own performance. This same process would also allow us to record them where they are most confident within their range (as the correct performance is paramount). BBC MAESTRO 31 MUSIC PRODUCTION BACK TO CONTENTS You can also change the key of the song and record vocals or instruments in a different key as a creative effect. Back in the analogue days, Varispeed was used to change the speed (and therefore the pitch) of analogue tape with the turn of a dial. Several artists With backing vocals, it’s often very beneficial to get numerous layers to fill out the stereo from The Beatles to Prince have exploited this creative artefact to their advantage spectrum. Double and triple tracking parts can really convey density and thickness by recording at different pitches and, when the tape was eventually brought back to its to the parts, especially when different harmonies are also given the same treatment. original speed, the recording would have a very unique and peculiar sound due to the effect of pitch shifting (formant shifting). At the end of your session, playback some highlights to the artist. Have them leave the session feeling great; put all the vocals up, EQ it, add reverb and compression so Today, in the digital domain, we have the luxury to replicate that and change the pitch they hear how amazing they sound. Even the biggest pop stars in the world need with the click of a button, or even use plugins and tools that compensate for the typical reinforcement, so emphasise the positive when your vocalist nails it. artefacts of varispeed (formant shifting and “chipmunk” type of sound), so you can change the pitch of vocals and instruments seamlessly and transparently. “ L AY E R I N G ‘ S TA C K S ’ Stacking is the process of layering vocals up with various takes and harmonies to We can edit ourselves so much fill out the stereo spectrum and in turn give the whole song a much richer colour and texture. This is a real opportunity to create organically on