Recording - November 2013 - 27

Now, pre-production should cover a
lot of themes and business issues that I
will mention briefly, but the primary
focus here is the road from choosing the
right songs to marketing your final product. Keep in mind that this is not a consecutive program; as artists, we know
that the creative process is rarely the
straight and narrow road. However,
these points are categorized and presented in a sequential manner so that
you can guide your creative process,
releasing your best work, in the
best way possible.
Ruthless song selection
This first topic, selecting the
songs to record, is a pre-production issue that should be considered, dealt with and mostly, if not
totally, finalized before going into
the studio. If you’re like many
artists, you have a handful of
songs that you consider “done.”
Beyond that, you have portions: a
verse and a chorus, a bridge perhaps. From there you have riffs, a
drum beat, vocal melodies
scrolling on your iPhone with traffic in the background.
~ Listen to it all.
~ Break it all down.
~ Consider it all.
Do not simply think that
because you have five songs finished, they are the five that need
to be on the EP. More often than
not, they aren’t, and you’ll find
yourself with a product that could
have been much better had you
taken the time to dig into those
voice memos, or even gone for
some advice.
Now, when I say ‘get advice,’ I
don’t mean ask your mom. Stop.
Asking. Your. Mom. Unless your
mom is Diane Warren, just stop.
Find producers in your genre.
Invite other bands in the local
scene over for a drink and have
them listen. Ask engineers, managers, radio show hosts, blog writers,
fans of similar bands. Ask the people
who will be buying tickets to your shows,
and the people who will push your
career.
Once you are creatively satisfied, they
are the ones who matter the most. You must
maintain your creative integrity while creating a platform on which to market it. Pick
the songs that fit that bill. Allow others to
help you pick those songs. Look for the
songs that are continuously mentioned,
and look for the characteristics within them
that are similar. For example, you may
sound really good in a higher register, so
people are choosing those songs. Add a
few more higher-register songs and see
how people feel about those.

Think in terms of singles. Don’t add that
song just because you like the piano
sound—add it because it’s a good song.
There is no room for filler in the current
industry. Re-write, re-work, scrap, add,
chisel, cut, edit, copy, paste. Using DAWs
such as Pro Tools for this process is invaluable, and as we all know, something any
artist can do in their bedroom.
As you work, keep this point in mind:
cohesion. The songs that end up being
your calling card need to fit together in

some way. Even if you don’t plan on
releasing an album, your songs need to
carry a unique stamp that is yours, and
depict a unified sound. In the current
wash of music accessibility, you have to
set yourself apart by creating a brand.
Who are you? Why should we care?
What is it about your music that makes
me want to listen to more?
Basically, as I once asked a musician I
was interviewing: What is the point of
you as an artist? If your music can’t
answer that question, you are not doing a
good job of choosing, or possibly even
writing, songs.
Your niche doesn’t have to be as small
as say, Carminho, the Portuguese Fado
singer, but you do need to consider how

your songs work together. In my band, for
example, we have a couple of songs that
sound different from the rest, not least of
all a gospel-style track that finishes out the
album. This was a deliberate choice. It
fills out the album by sealing the theme
we wanted to present. The emotional,
“Gotta Move On” lyrical content, combined with the gospel style, clearly unusual for a hard rock album, created the perfect ending to our piece. It was not outside of the cohesive nature of the album,
but instead, an integral part of it.
Speaking of albums, this next
point goes hand in hand with the
first. The type of release you choose
depends on what songs you have
available to you. However, the type
of release you’re aiming for will
dictate which songs you decide to
work on and, in particular, how
you work on them.
These days, it’s no secret that
albums aren’t selling like they used
to. I see this as both a positive and
a negative. It’s of course a shame
that some great albums fall completely below the radar of music
fans, simply because the market is
changing. However, swimming
against the tidal wave of diminishing album sales won’t get you to a
golden or platinum shore.
Independent artists in particular
have to not only get creative with
their releases, but also get realistically business-minded.
Bands have to be more conscious of how they write and what
they write. You can’t just throw a
“filler” in between hit songs, knowing that it will go unnoticed and the
album will sell anyway. Fans can,
do and will choose to not buy the
album if they don’t like all the
songs; instead, they’ll pick and buy
a few favorite songs. In other
words, don’t put out an album just
to put out an album. If you have
four or five songs that are great,
plus another six or seven that are
OK, put out an EP. It’s better to be the
band with the phenomenal EP rather than
yet another band in a sea of mediocre
bands with a mediocre album release.
In the past few years, another format
has gained popularity amongst independent and signed bands alike. It’s called
Record And Release. Here are a couple
of examples.
In late 2010, The Flaming Lips decided
that when they went back into the studio to
record, they would not record an album,
but a series of songs that would then be
released one at a time, each month of the
year. Cancer Killing Gemini decided in
2011 that they would release one new
free song a month... forever. After that, the
song would be “backlogged” and become
RECORDING November 2013

Recording - November 2013

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