Tuesday, October 16, 2012

Making Original Songs

In this day and age when pop music has ruled the scene for decades, it's a bit hard to create a new one without being compared to old classics that have stood the test of time.
What is the formula then, for making new music in a very populated library of songs and tunes?

1. Find your Idol. Then find their style, the sound that makes them distinct. From there, you create your own flavor that may in some ways, mirror your idol's quirks and techniques. Beatles first idolized the old rhythm and blues and Elvis Presley, eventually creating their own sound on succeeding hit albums.

2. Avoid over-saturating your sound with too much effects (bells and whistles). It's like wearing the latest fashion in clothes, sometimes in a year or so, they end up as rags, or  closed up in your trunk, gathering dust.
find the right sound that you know will endure decades.

3. Make innovations in sound. Not simply by using effects, but how you phrase your song/tune. Find that magic that somehow makes the listener go and say, "Wow! I haven't heard a riff like that!"

4. Make new chord patterns. The grunge scene did make their own style, and for a time there was a rebirth in creating music that aren't grounded in songs that have been overplayed in radio stations. Find the right chords that are pleasant to your ears. Your first audience is always yourself.

5.Find a good collaborator/s. Sometimes two heads are better than one. Either you are the one who creates the melodies while the other is a lyrical genius, or vice-versa.

6. Get honest opinion. And accept constructive criticism. Most friends will say your song rocks, real friends will say the god honest painful truth.

These are some of the pointers that I think will help you in molding songs that will sound original than what you normally hear on the radio.

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