Zson

Good questions and answers. I sometimes think about Lennon and McCartney, It was a real give an take yet one person still had a core idea and the other one would help out with the tweaking...yet since they were there in the room with each other, both could play, sing, etc. that made for a powerful song team. As I read lyric only, I really wonder, how will that work once you add in music? I know I change my lyrics based on the music and then tweak it as needed. How can folk in separate physical places bring the two , the lyric and music together and create a good song. Yet to do all that by text alone? I have a hard time seeing that work out without a lot of extra time and work involved. I just did a collaboration with a female singer / song writer. I was fun and cool, but still very hard. It was a first time collaboration and though it went well it had problems with the final tweaking and she is right here in a nearby town. BTW, we did get a recording done of the song, still needs a bit of work. One of the problems is that is just takes a while to get used to working with a co-writer. There were changes I wanted to make and did, but I didn't run them by the co author first....this was just 'cause I am not used to having a partner in creating a song. Yet I just said sorry and let go of some of the changes that I thought improved it...and it still was a good song. So collaborating, I think, is a very tricky deal. Seems like it would take a long time to get that synergy going that a good writing team needs

David, post your new song mix here....I'd love to have others able to hear what you were able to do ..... James

Let me know how it works out for you....

Another good post Ryan, To chime in my oh two. Yeah I always find the intros and outros last..... I focus on my main riff, and or melody. Then the changes in the melody structure, the main riff groves, I like to set up expectation...what comes next....I'll work on making interest around that and then either meet the prediction or use it to give a pleasant change or twist . Now I've got something to go from. From that point on I then kinda listen and think , is it cool? is it rock or is it boring. Melody > create good changes > a bit of unpredictable > back to grove > a change of pace feeling > back to main grove (yer old friend by now) That's one chain of thought I use. Sometimes the main theme is the intro, its not a bad way to go. I think the best way to learn these structures is to learn to play the cover songs you really like. Start using those songs to help give you ideas of how you want to be creative. Sometimes the hardest problem in your song becomes the best moment in it. I had a problem in a song called TODAY, I couldn't transition into the sections of chorus. Everything I tried...crap. I kept going, I did not give up and now it's a happy transition. it really stands out as the 'wow' moment in the song, you can hear it at this link if you want to give it a listen. https://soundcloud.com/radarpirates So Tom really nailed that, every problem in your songs can be a great opportunity to do something very different. Hang in there brother, James

Glad your ok with it. Mixing fonts, is bad, mm'k. seriously, it just won't work unless you want it to read like a ransom note. Dream like feeling....great...go for it. Did you do something wrong. nope, not at all. Here is what I would do to improve. Search up the following: How to create better text logos, that is what you are creating, its' a brand, a flag, a look , a feel. Award Winning Text Logos, images Those two things should get your look up to the next level. Your end result will really depend on what you are willing to do to deliver what kind of results. You could go with what you have ....and be pretty low end as far as impact, creativity and design. Or you can do a bit of digging and work up some designs that kick ass and engage the viewer. You could make heart stops with the right stuff. Nice eh? Wouldn't that do a lot to promote your goals.? The music bus is very tough, the win goes to those who create impact. Your competition, the pros, work at this and don't settle for less than the best. The reason I say the pros is becasue they are the only one making the dollar. The space to be among those who make a living at this is limited for music, everyone is shouting out...me, me and me again. Just things to keep in mind. I sure have to. I've got music to play to the world. so? so does everyone else. Mine's the frign'n best....yeah, heard that, got the t-shirt. See where this goes. It ain't pretty and it ain't fun, just sheer bloody hard work. As I too am finding out. Take a look at this work group here for better information about how to make your goals work and find your dreams. http://forums.songstuff.com/groups/1-songstuff-music-promo-workgroup/ I've never read or found better stuff than what John is putting up here. Sorry I was so damn long worded.

This one is better, far better. This should be your rough but I can only speak on what I see here. A bit too centered for my taste. Your kerning needs work. The spacing for the letters is not on, little tiny space adjustments really make a logo work or not work. This, text logo, looks pretty poor in terms of a pro level design. This is from my eye. I've been creating art graphics for many many years. one thing to keep in mind. Almost touching vs space. It will give the viewer a better , i.e. easier to read feeling if you either connect all the lettering or give them all a bit of space. When its too inconsistent your eye just goes wrong. Most times folk can't tell you why. Do some image searches for text logos, copy the work that stands out for you. Use those to compare to a feeling you want to give the viewer. I like the name and concept, that is way cool I like the art quite a bit. Your saturation and black and white levels could be better. A hard and very picky critique I know. I hope that you don't mind. J

Thanks John!! I'm so glad you liked the blog!

Thanks just1l! glad you found it.

Ha! Wait no longer Part 3 is up http://forums.songstuff.com/blog/186/entry-1394-how-to-make-your-songs-sound-better-in-3-easy-steps-part-3/

3 Easy Steps to Better Sound - Part 3 - High Frequencies - Control Your High end, - give some sparkle and air This is the third part of three steps to improve your demo recordings. If you have not read the other two, no worries. You can find them here. The Three Steps: click on a link to view that document. Part 1: The Low Pass Filter - Less low noise, -this will clean up your sound and make all the parts sound out clearly Part 2: Sweep - Find the bad sounds and cut those frequencies from your song Part 3: High Frequencies - Control Your High end, - give some sparkle and air There is a lot to know about mixing and being a sound engineer. I am not a sound engineer, nor I am a professional with years of work in the studio. Those professionals are part of what you pay for in the studio work. They are well worth it. The High Shelf Filter What we've done so far We've gone through the steps to control the low end. We then found the bad frequencies and brought those sounds under control. We now want to give back a bit of the high end. A little bit of sparkle and air is how I hear it. It will be different for each ear. Listen carefully to what you hear without it and then with the filter in place. The high shelf filter looks like the screen below. What we are going to do is to boost the signal about +6 db and then move it to the left to increase the range. As we do this we listen to the difference in the sound. When you find what you like stop and roll it back a bit to the right I will do this with a clean EQ, in other words there is no other settings being used for the moment. Why do it this way? I do this so that I can get a feel for how much high end I want to boost. You may have heard that you don't boost you cut. Yes that is true. For the most part you really don't want to boost your signal. However, you can do so, and by the way, the pro's do it all the time. Just keep in mind that those pros are boosting very good recordings. If your recordings are on the thin side you should boost in very small amounts. Somewhere between +1db and +3 db. The numbers that I call out and the screens I show are only rough ideas. Your final settings will depend on what your ears say it the right amount. Stage 2 Now that you have an idea of what your high pass filter will add to your sound its time to use it with the tweaks we have used from parts 1 and 2. The screen below has the low pass filter done. The notches are in that cut out the unwanted frequencies. All we have left to do is to add in our high pass filter. Place your High Shelf filter around 10 k Hz to start. Again your final setting will depend on what you hear as you adjust it's place to the left and right in the frequencies. How much you boost will also depend on what you hear and what you like. My starting place screen below. And where I ended up placing it for this song. I had it a bit more to the left and then I made the effect less by going a bit to the right. That's it. you are done. You can play with this and all the other EQ tricks that I talked about in these three documents. The main idea that I hope you get is to have a basic starting point and then play around. Your ears will be the only real guide for this task. Stay fresh, don't work too long, and enjoy your self. With The High Shelf Disabled, all the other tweaks are on. https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/62908045/Mix%20screens/Hifgh%20Shelf%20Disabled.mp3 And now I've enabled the High Shelf Filter https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/62908045/Mix%20screens/Hifgh%20Shelf%20Enabled.mp3 You can find the full version of this song on my soundcloud Closing Words I wrote these easy steps with the idea that it could help those of you who create great music but found your final product not sounding as good as it could. These documents are just a small beginning of what might happen in a studio. I wanted to keep it very simple and clear. I hope that it will help you all feel that it's not so hard and that you can control your EQ just a bit better. If you have any questions or comments do post them. Send me a pm or two. I'd love to hear from you. James