DON’T JUST BE CONTENT WITH THE WRITING
OF YOUR SONG BUT ALSO PUT IT THROUGH THE
PROCESS OF PREPRODUCTION.
i.e. Trim the parts of the songs that are not
needed (trim the fat). Make sure your transitions
into the choruses ramp up melodically and
musically and out of the choruses are closing
the melodically and musical thought. Try
different ways to accomplish a bridge that
takes the song to the emotional level needed.
Don’t skimp on these things.
THE KEY AND THE TEMPO ARE WAY MORE
IMPORTANT THAN YOU THINK.
I call them the heartbeat of the song.
• Many songs have really low verse melodies
and really high chorus melodies. This means
you have very little margin for error. Try the
neighboring keys no matter what. You may
find them more compelling than you think.
• Make sure you can hear the beat you want
to have played over the tempo. If you can
separate yourself from playing to a click and
play to a shaker or tambourine or a simple
beat, you will find the choice of tempo will
be easier to imagine and the groove will be
locked in better. You have to understand
that every song has a “feel”. The feel is
determined by two things typically. One
of the two is the swing of the 1/8ths or
1/16ths. This is why tracking with a shaker
or tambourine helps because both of those
instruments are played with a feel. You have
to decide the feel before you settle on the
percussion groove.
• The second way a feel is determined is by
the ambience that is set by either chord
choices, the instruments chosen, the room
or reverb chosen and even the microphone
choice can dictate the feel.
As you can see, thinking like a producer is a
very important process to get your songs to the
level that represents them in the best possible.
These processes will get you thinking about
your songs in a different way before you go
into the studio. It will only make your recording
sound more thought out and put together.
Brandon Bee
Brandon has been producing Christian and
Mainstream records for almost 20 years. He also
is a traveling worship leader and artist. He lives in
Tacoma, WA with his wife and 8 kids. They are
currently planting a church called Arrow & Heart for
artists and their families.
July 2020
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