by Andrea Stolpe.
The approach to writing songs can look vastly different from person to person. Some of us jam with the band for inspiration, while others sit down at our DAW with parts already defined in our minds. For others, we prefer a quiet space, a guitar, and a few hours to drum up a groove and melody or lyric.
In the past few decades, the line between songwriter and producer has blurred. The affordability and usability of the modern DAW (Digital Audio Workstation) has made it possible for anyone with a song in their heart to play with musical ideas, regardless of technical understanding or musical fluency. Ideas and experimentation are now free to roam, untethered to a foundation of music theory or instrumental skill. Where the practiced musician navigates to Rome by map, the novice musician arrives by inspiration and awe. As someone with a music degree and decades of hair-pulling experience in the craft of songwriting, I’d prefer to wind up in Rome with equal amounts of both.
Regardless of how we approach songwriting, we all end up asking the same question when it comes to recording, “What production does this song need?” Instead of elevating the song, many of us songwriters see the production phase as a rat's nest of decisions that either neutralize or fail to capture the mystery we felt flow out of us during the writing phase. Even writers who start on their DAW often find their tracks more to their liking than their lyric or melodic ideas. With all approaches, bringing all the elements together is the grand regatta that keeps us sailing toward the horizon.
Production is an art form all to itself. And at the same time, critical listening can make a developing producer out of any one of us. We just need to learn what to listen for, and take every opportunity to practice applying what we’re learning to each new song situation.
I’m a firm believer that we know more about songwriting, and production, than we give ourselves credit for. When we lay down bar chords and a firm strumming pattern, we carry that feeling into the story we write. Instead of a song of uncertainty or grief, we write about ambition, determination, or injustice. That same sense for emotion traveling through music and lyric translates to production - if we let it.
One of the first questions any producer should ask themselves when staring down the barrel of an acoustic demo is “what inspired this song?” Within the answer to this question is the song’s character and emotional state. It is the job of the producer to further express that character, giving life to the words, chords, melody, and rhythms. As songwriters, we can let the options of production overwhelm us, imagining there is one ‘right way’ to accomplish this ultimate goal. But pizzicato strings aren’t the only way to signal danger lurking down the basement stairs. Sound carries emotion, depending on how we play or sing it.
This is where play is so important to the art of production. It’s the haphazard expression, guided by inspiration and unknowing that leads us to new and undiscovered territory. If our intent is to explore the various instrumentation we can use to express a song, we won’t be limited by sounds and choices we expect suit the genre or commercial expectation. At the same time, coloring completely outside the lines can launch our listener into interstellar space without a tether. Critical listening teaches us how to keep one foot within the familiar and relatable, and one foot in novelty.
Next time you’re listening to a mixed and mastered tune, pause and reflect on why the particular instrumentation was chosen to represent it. What you feel, not what you think, is what is important here. Why the verse remains sparse while the chorus explodes is a choice in production, one that much modern commercial music takes for granted. What the lyric expresses that results in the decision to keep the verse sparse and catalyze an explosive chorus is what brings the song to life. A song is a whole, living extension of the artist who embodies it, and every measure an opportunity to become more potently themselves.
If we’re wondering where to start in terms of production, simply start with ‘why.’ Why start with an intro, why omit it, why change key in the bridge, why bump the tempo up slightly, why slow it down, why change chords where we did and sing the high note we sang? Test choices you make by trying out their opposites: Make the intro too short or too long, test a tempo you believe to be too slow, resist the urge to sing up high. Anyone can add to a song unnecessarily. Production is the art of removing what is unnecessary. Hone your instincts by stepping out of the middle ground of musical and lyrical expression where your inner voice can be heard more loudly.
Big things are accomplished in small bits. Listen critically to a song a day from an artist you enjoy, pausing the recording frequently to support or counter the production choices you hear. Over time, you’ll find yourself more informed, and opinionated, and bursting with ideas around how to elevate your own songs with production.
Stay creative,
Andera Stolpe
This article is brought to you by Andrea Stolpe, a renowned, multi-platinum creative consultant whose methodology for songwriters and music artists has been taught worldwide.
Interested in learning more from Andrea? Download her free guide: The 5 Songwriting Tools the Change Everything