Songwriter Advisor Blog

With all the daily stress going on in our lives, it’s terribly easy to lose focus on our songwriting.  This can sometimes result in gradually losing interest for our love of the craft of songwriting.  It seems like many aspiring songwriters become intensely interested in songwriting only to lose interest after learning the basics and putting in a great amount of effort, saying they just don’t have the time or the energy because of prior commitments, rehearsals, studio work, etc., and, hey, our drummer is our songwriter, so we’re perfectly okay with that! 

I don’t care what anybody says, if you’re someone struggling to pay the rent or mortgage, barely staying afloat, eating nothing but peanut butter and jelly sandwiches 4 days before payday, you’re eventually going to hit a wall!  But, hey! Many of us have been there!  I know I have.  I know what it’s like to wonder how to make it through another few days without starving, losing my shelter, and/or going berserk.

If you’re someone who needs a little push right now to get you back on track for whatever reason or to simply get you started in songwriting, understand the following:

1.  Songwriting can actually be a spiritual process in which your original creations can actually lift your spirits up higher than almost anything on this planet.  If you don’t believe me, ask a local musician how he felt after writing a certain song you enjoyed at his last show or set. 

2.  Songwriting is one of the most inexpensive musical roads anyone can take.  It usually requires your mind, a good songwriting book, a pencil, and a pad to get you started.  Average start-up cost = 20.00 (this doesn’t include your mind-that’s priceless of course!)

3.  I’m a fellow songwriter and I’m counting on you to continue developing as a songwriter just as I have always try to do, so that we can all be a strong link in a worldwide chain of songwriters for the betterment of this beautiful craft of songwriting throughout the world. 

No excuses.  Do it for yourself.  Do it for the love of songwriting.  Do it for all of mankind.  The world needs songwriters and that includes you!  Without songwriters the only melody we would hear is a monotonic middle “C” note on a piano hanging onto the airwaves!  Because of us, people can actually enjoy a flurry of melodically masterful notes dancing through the airwaves!

We all need each other. Let’s go!!!

An excellent way to expand your songwriting horizons is to dabble in music production.  The new breed of songwriters in the music industry definitely is more geared to writing and recording the songs themselves because of the following reasons:

1.  Good music production equipment has sharply decreased in price to the point where it’s conceivable for a songwriter to learn music production and consistently create hits in their homes in certain genres like Dance music.   Many industry pros believe the price of quality recording equipment will keep falling  as the technology gets better.

2.   It rarely makes sense these days to give away (US)1000.00 on a three-song demo when you can invest that money into creating a pretty darn good little home recording studio and eventually record it yourself.

3.   No one has a better idea of how a song should sound than the actual songwriter, and music production gives you the leeway to experiment and get the most out of your song.

Most independent artists are actually recording their CD’s in their home studios to save on costs and because many swear they love the artistic freedom they have that’s impossible to achieve in a “time-is-money,” constricted major studio.  The result is usually a more dynamic CD in terms of performance even though the sound quality is slightly inferior.   Even then, after a CD is mastered, only a highly-trained sound engineer, music producer, or other industry pro can sometimes tell the difference in the slight quality loss. 

Even major label producers and engineers record some tracks in their home studios and they save the more important tracks such as vocals and other live instruments for the studio work.  This cuts down on costs tremendously when you figure they’re recording at (US)250. to 500. an hour!

So why not give it a shot?

Music production is something you can learn rather quickly but it does take some time to master.  At the very least, you can probably start recording quality vocal/piano or guitar tracks in a few days once you apply the right information.