Latest Posts

“Powerless” is out!

My new song “Powerless” is available everywhere. This whole thing is a link. Click it to check it out.

ISJ

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Use loops to get started

I’ve been teaching my students how to use soundtrap.com. Some of my students found the pre-made loops that the website includes and put a few of them together to make a song. Those songs sounded pretty good.

So if you’re looking to get into music production, you can get a pretty good start by putting together different loops.

Listen to how they sound together. Test them out. Delete them if you don’t like them. Try some different loops. See how those sound.

It’ll give you a good idea of how different larger pieces of music sound together. And you don’t have to learn how to create those specific pieces of music just yet. You can start from the bigger picture; the end product of having a song. Then hone in on smaller details within the loops that you’re creating. Even go farther and get into making specific sounds with whatever synths you may be using.

I suggest starting with free tools to get your feet wet and learn the basics. Then upgrade your tools when you know how to use them and when they’re necessary.

ISJ

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Analyze genres differently

The things that are valued and commonly used in one genre won’t necessarily carry over to other genres.

We can see this in the differences between classical music and popular music. They are completely different ways of creating music and creating sounds. Trying to analyze them the same way won’t be very helpful.

The most obvious example of this is how many people conclude that popular music isn’t worth analysis because it can’t be analyzed in the same way as classical music.

But what if we flip that mentality?

Let’s try to analyze classical music in terms of music production and sonics. It seems to be that we can’t. The music production in classical music, when present, is minimal. Sometimes there isn’t any music production at all because the music is played at concerts with no electronics whatsoever. I guess classical music isn’t worth analysis then. There’s not much to analyze in terms of music production for Beethoven’s or Brahms’s symphonies. So I guess we should just completely write off classical music and refuse to analyze it.

… But hold on.

That doesn’t make sense, does it?

Writing off a whole genre because it can’t be analyzed in the same way as a genre that has completely different origins, values, and common practices, let alone technology?

I guess we have to develop an analysis that is specific to that genre; a type of analysis that analyzes that music on it’s own and within it’s own boundaries and practices, values, and origins. It might be related, but it needs to analyze how that genre of music works in and of itself; rather than ascribing values and common practices to it that aren’t used.

For example for popular music it’d have to take into account that computers have been used to create the music. Music production is a big part of popular music, and it’s hardly a part of classical music at all. Popular music is also written to be experienced in a different way than classical music. Classical music was meant to be performed with acoustic instruments in a concert hall. Popular music is often written to be experienced through the radio or through headphones or in a concert. It’s often written to be experienced through a speaker or headphones; electronically.

So then we need to look at it differently and analyze it differently.

ISJ

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Start theorizing about music

I just watched this video by 12Tone and if you haven’t seen their videos they’re definitely worth checking out.

This specific one is about becoming a music theorist. And one thing that they say is that if you want to become a music theorist then start theorizing about music. They then explain that it’s useful to know what people have theorized about music before, but in order to become a music theorist you need to theorize about music.

They also mention a few specific ideas in classical music theory that were useful to learn about, but not necessarily applicable in writing the music that they wanted to write, which in their case was heavy metal and rock music.

So. Theorize about music. If you want to write about music start writing about, then start writing about music.

The first times you do it might not be great, but the only way to get good at it is to do it.

ISJ

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Repeated listening helps all music

Repeated listening is just a fancy way of saying “listening multiple times.”

But the point of this quick post is that all music can be appreciated in more detail after having listened to it multiple times. And yes I truly do mean this to apply to all genres of music.

After hearing a song once, even if you’re listening closely, you won’t pick up on anything. Even the most well practiced and experienced musicians won’t pick up absolutely everything in a song after just one listen.

So then you listen again. You’ll hear more details and different details. The next listening will help you hear even more details and so on. There’s probably a dimishing return the more you listen to one specific recording, but the point still stands; the more you listen to a song the more you’ll notice details within that song.

And this helps with all types of music.

I recently watched a video about “art music” by 12Tone and one thing he mentioned was the use of the term “repeated listenings” when looking at definitions of “art music.” And he pointed out the same thing that this post is about; all music can be appreciated more deeply after multiple listenings.

There are often lots of details within a specific piece of music that can’t be noticed the first time, especially if it’s an unfamiliar genre of music. So then listen again. You’ll notice more details.

I often try to notice as many details as I can the first time and I still find new things to pay attention to after repeated listenings.

Some things you can listen for are the instruments. How do they interact? What specific instruments are there? Are there any synths? How are those songs created?

You can also listen to the lyrics. What story is being told? What is the main message of the lyrics? Are there any examples of text painting?

You can listen for emotion. What specific emotion is being conveyed? What aspects of the music help this emotion be conveyed? What aspects of the lyrics (if applicable)?

ISJ

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Listen for form

Form is the different sections in a piece of music and how those specific sections are organized in a piece of music.

The form of a song can be lots of different things, but the main thing you’re listening for is repeated sections.

Questions to ask yourself:

• Are any sections repeated?
• Do any musical ideas come back?
• Do any musical ideas repeat?

Songs are often structured in a few different ways with different verses and choruses and maybe a bridge. One common form for songs is this:

Verse 1 – Chorus – Verse 2 – Chorus – Bridge – Chorus – Chorus

In shorthand this can be written like this:

V C V C B C C

Verses often have the same musical materials and melodies, but different lyrics.

Choruses mostly have the same musical materials, melodies, and lyrics.

Bridges are often used as contrast from verses and choruses.

There are a bunch of different forms so it’s an interesting aspect of music to listen for. So much of form changes depending on the specific style and common practices within that style.

ISJ

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How to make your songs sound more professional (Video)

Taylor Swift is incredibly skilled

I listened to Love Story (Taylor’s Version) recently and then checked out the original recording. It’s spooky. If you adjust for the volume differences they sound almost exactly the same. The arrangement is the same. The performances on all instruments are the same. The mix is the same. The mastering is the same. Basically everything is the same except the new version sounds a little more mature and polished and hi-tech. It sounds like it was recorded with newer equipment. But basically everything about it is the same.

That got me thinking about how I’d go about doing that myself. If I’d recorded myself playing a song on guitar or piano about 13 years ago and tried to recreate it today, how would that go?

I don’t know if I’d be able to do that and get it as close to the original as the new Taylor Swift recordings are to the originals.

It’s incredibly difficult to do.

Not only do you need to arrange everything the same way, you need to know exactly how everything was performed and recreate it. Almost every vocal inflection is the same. It’s hard enough to record two takes that sound almost exactly the same, but going back to a song that’s 13 years old and doing that? That’s even more impressive.

You need to be able to listen close enough to hear all of the different inflections and then you need to be skilled enough as a singer to remember how it sounds and recreate it. It takes a lot of attention to detail and a lot of skill to do. Lots of practice singing with detailed inflections and lots of listening to inflections in singing.

On top of that each instrument needs to be performed as close to the original as possible. And the song needs to be mixed almost exactly the same way and mastered the same way.

If this were a new song and they were creating it new it’d be easier in my opinion. Making something up and trying to match it immediately after is easier than taking a song (even one you’ve written) from 13 years ago and trying to recreate it in a way that’s as close to the original as possible.

It’s impressive. Even recording yourself saying something the exact same way twice is difficult. This level of detail is incredibly impressive.

Take a listen to the new recordings. They’ll blow your mind with how close to the originals they are.

That’s what I’m geeking out about currently.

ISJ

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If it’s difficult to play, it should be intentional and necessary

Sometimes when writing music we want to write something that’s difficult to play just for the sake of writing something that’s difficult to play. But what’s the point of that? Writing difficult music, in all honesty, is pretty easy. Make it really fast and a strange shape for that instrument. Or make the rhythm weird and the notes far apart and unrelated to common musical patterns. Writing music that’s difficult to play is often easier than it is to play difficult music.

So make sure it’s intentional and necessary when you do write music that’s difficult to play.

I’ve seen this in music from composition students. Writing music that’s hard to play simply for the sake of knowing they did. And that’s fine if it’s an academic exercise, but if real people have to play the music then don’t do it.

It’ll create problems in rehearsals because it gives the musicians more work to do, and is often frustrating to play because writing music that’s hard to play for the sake of writing music that’s hard to play often doesn’t create music that’s interesting. It’s only interesting in it’s difficulty and difficult music isn’t anything new.

So think of the effect you want to create when writing music. Can that affect be achieved by writing music that’s fairly easy to play? Or does it require specific techniques that may be more difficult to perform?

I’d err on the side of writing music that’s easy to perform. It’ll often be more satisfying for the players and it’ll result in a better recording and performance. It’ll also lower levels of anxiety and stress related to performing and rehearsing the piece well. It also allows you to work on the more musical and interpretative aspects of a piece of music, rather than just focusing on technique.

And if you do decide that you need to write something that’s difficult to perform, make it intentional and necessary.

ISJ

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Make the music easier than you think you need to

I’m arranging a few songs for my youth orchestra and the title of this post “Make the music easier than you think you need to” is one thing I try to remind myself of.

My orchestra is mostly made up of middle schoolers who’ve been playing their instruments for about 3 to 4 years. They know a lot about music and can play pretty well, but most well known classical symphonies would still be too difficult for them. They’re at an interesting stage in their musical development.

So when arranging music for them I need to remember that the level needs to be appropriate.

Because of the pandemic I’ve been putting together videos as their “concerts” which means they need to be able to play the piece well enough to be able to record them. That adds another layer to it because it then needs to be even easier for them to learn.

That shortens the timeline a little, and adds the layer of recording to it, and if they’re not comfortable playing the piece it’ll be too difficult for them to comfortably record and send to me to edit.

All this means I need to make the parts easier than I think they need to be.

ISJ

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