john

As a finished song you would be better posting to the showcase board or Music Lounge. On a bright note, I added your song to the Alt-ish playlist on the Independent Music Stage on Spotify (please like and share the playlist!).

Hey It has been busier, but it has recently begun to turn around. I have no doubt it will get busier again. It happens to even the busiest of communities from time to time. We have quite a broad cross-section of members in terms of experience and areas of interest. It’s not genre lead, which I like. It means there’s a broad range of music on-site. I’m looking forward to hearing your music! Cheers John

Hi Rarignac, welcome to Songstuff!

Hooks don’t need to be repeated, though they often are. Hooks simply grab and hold onto listeners (or viewers for hooks in visual media). Repetition places emphasis on the hook, strengthening it. As does particular placement. I wrote an article about hooks a few years ago. It is still in the site library, though I would like to update it. The Power Of Song Hooks

Hey Every Friday we will start a new topic for posting work in progress from the current week. It doesn’t matter how polished or complete it is. Share your work and get feedback and opinions early on in the writing process. Participation is key. If you don’t post work, please listen and offer comment. Like any forum or community feature, participation makes a huge difference in it’s success… so please take part! New Music Friday topics will be posted each week, to this board. Please post your submissions to that topic. Cheers John This Week’s Topic -> New Music Friday #32

Hi I started a Tiny Tunes Daily Challenge in the Challenge board. Please take part!

@Popthree hey “Something like that”’s a good name! I liked it. Maybe because of the soft staccato vocal at the start, I just picture it with some soft brass accompaniment. The main riff sticks in your head pretty well. The second section melody doesn’t work quite as well as the first imo but I still enjoyed it. There’s one or two changes I less fond of, but I am interested to see what you do with this! Nice one. cheers John

Good to hear Tess progressing with her music Steve!

It’s a nightmare to read as the html is all on display… needs an edit or a bug fix.

Thanks Jim.

Absolutely. My worry is always subliminal influence. You know, you hear something as background music, aren’t even aware you heard it until your mind regurgitates the entire piece as “fresh ideas”. The mind’s ability to do this is staggering. You could reproduce an entire piece with no idea until someone familiar with the piece shouts woah. There’s little you can do about it apart from try to be vigilant and to investigate when someone said they thought something was familiar. I will carry on with it though. If someone identifies something I can maybe adapt at that point.

an interesting direction to take it. I like doing different versions of songs, so maybe a remix version as a collab with @ALOPRODUCTIONZ?

Possible. It’s always possible when we write something, that we accidentally channel something we heard, even as background music. I had a few listens after reading your post to see if I had that feeling too. There’s nothing I can put my finger on, but if. Anything the arpeggiated section feels familiar. I just don’t know if that is from me playing or having previously heard something similar? The fact that I get that feeling from just part of the track rings alarm bells though! On a bright note, hopefully it means I haven’t inadvertently rewritten an entire track… unless the bit you feel is familiar is the chord passages… in which case I am stuffed! Lol

I started this week’s solely because I was first to post… for a change from being late!

Hey Gang As @Steve Mueske stepped back for now I thought I’d start this week’s thread. Next week, first to post theirs can start the thread. This week I thought I’d post a solo piano piece that’s been rattling around in my head. Just recorded with my phone mic.

Hey Liam, great to meet you. Welcome to Songstuff!

Hey Sophie Welcome to Songstuff!

Just in case unclear, these guidelines are specifically for the songwriting board

hey I would encourage members: To enjoy themselves To be adventurous Not to post songs which they are too personally attached to To be clear about their intended use at the time of posting To use this board as a sketch pad To be free with their comments To be open to trying new ideas To be constructive in the interests of mutual improvement To help contribute to the ideas pool for new workshops and of course... to help other members You guys can help shape this board so please feel free to discuss changes to my guidelines in this thread. If something achieves a concensus we can move it into the guidelines (the first post). For example, this area might be better as a complete sandbox. ideas only, no finished work. Songs created or worked on in this board, stay on this board? It is probably the simplest way, but then you might be really annoyed that you can't use a killer line or two that you came up with. Or perhaps only workshop like threads where no-one or everyone owns an idea? Please chime in with your ideas, or support of the ideas of others. We can try and work through most subjects in their own topics as topic specific workshops. If you would prefer to see a different approach, fair enough. Please feel free to post lyrics/songs (not for review, for that please use the review board). I would expect posts to be a mix between lyrical snippets, to fuller songs where you are interested in exploring certain facets of songwriting. Same goes for melodic, rhythmic or chord progression snippets and song forms. Unlike the review board we will delve into specific subjects, work on snippets etc. Ownership of Ideas Work posted on this board, stays on this board (i.e. you cannot use it outside of this board and claim ownership) UNLESS You stipulate your intention to use it outside the board at the time of the original posting OR You obtain permission from those who have contributed to the work individually (no permission, no usage). At this point the thread should be closed and/or a post stating an intent to use the work from that point on. If you post a suggestion for someone else's work (that isn't an extract of your own or someone else's work) and they have stated an intent to use it outwith this board It is deemed you have given the topic starter permission to use your suggestions within that topic without restriction. If you post a suggestion for someone else's work (that isn't an extract of your own or someone else's work) and they have not stated an intent to use it outwith the board Anticipate that the topic starter might want to use your suggestions without restriction. In the interests of good will be prepared to do this. Work posted within a workshop thread stays on this board. If that doesn't happen working out ownership of ideas will be messy. If this means that a few less ideas materialise, so be it, I think that is preferrable to members concerned about posting initial snippets. Snippets are likely to grow into finished lyrics. For this reason I would suggest any claims to the ownership of lines (I'd prefer to completely avoid this) should be made at the time of posting. The emphasis is on you learning, and developing, not getting help complete a specific lyric. If that is your intent I would suggest using the review boards. If for some reason you are wanting to work on a more complete piece with the aim of finishing it within this board, ensure you state your intended purpose when you post it. Please don't be too precious with ideas. This area is intended as a sandbox to try stuff out with the aim of improving understanding of concepts, the usage (or not) of guidelines and the overall development of skills. Overall I hope we exchange ideas freely and with the aim of collective gain in knowledge. Cheers John

Hi Andy, a big welcome to Songstuff!

None Of Us Are Free As draft as it gets. I am sorry about the bad recording and many many errors…

@Popthree I am less fond of loop 1.6.2022, it had some good aspects but it was a bit too wish washy, too ambiguous. but I like a few aspects of Loop 1.27.2022. I like the backing loop and I like some of the lead… but it feels like it shouldn’t be based on the blues pentatonic. For me that clashed, making it a bit too predictable.

@Steve Mueske I love Death piano! One of my favourite recent pieces by you. I just wish it was longer. That said, it’s a mark of something good if it leaves you wanting more. It’s just that it felt it had a lot more to evolve, a lot more to say.

Weirdly, perhaps, I never use them to sound like someone. I pick tracks as reference tracks because of sonic qualities, because of familiarity of how that track sounds on different set ups. When you create a mix of a track, it would be unusual if you didn’t try your mix on different setups to see how that mix held up. Reference tracks help in that process. If I know a recording well, and I know what that track sounds like, then I have an idea how the system is colouring my new mix. I can play my reference track in that system and hear directly how the new listening system affected that reference track. More than that, I know if my new track has a similar frequency balance (as attested to by my ears and a spectrum analyser) then my new track should stand up as well on a bunch of systems as the reference track. That’s why you use reference tracks! As I say, there are a lot of misunderstandings about reference tracks. Imitating anything has nothing to do with it.

Yeah Spotify laid it’s colours out ages ago when they were adding artists. I don’t see them caring until the number of artists starts having an effect on their subscription base. Value wiped off of share value is only important if it is long term and it influences investors. When those investors already agree with your overall strategy? It’s got a long way to fall before Spotify gives a toss. As for virtue signalling? Maybe. It’s hard to tell, and depends how cynical I feel at that point. Celebrities do sometimes care about the issues they telegraph. Not everything is cause based marketing. The same cannot be said about their teams though!