Recording - December 2015 - 53

DECEMBER 2015
TAXI Road Rally 2014

Making Hit Records With Rock Mafia, Part 4
Michael Laskow, Moderator

Are you guys in the audience ready for some
questions?

Antonina: About three
weeks ago Britney Spears
called me at my house,
and she said, "I'm in
Vegas and I want you to
write blah-blah-blah,"
which was really sweet,
and I talked to her for
like 20 minutes. And I
hung up - and to your
question - I thought
what kind of chorus would
be a hit for her? I think it's
important-like what
you said-when you
are... Sometimes we just
write songs that we feel
like writing and then we Antonina Armato and Tim James stand up to enjoy a well-deserved standing ovation at the end of
their interview.
try to cast them. And
ing for, and who their DNA is. It's always great to
most of the time the great songs...
be able to spend some time, hang out, talk, jam,
Tim: My favorite is when the artists just come over whatever, because that's really where the inspiration
comes from.
and we hang out and we write together. That's my
thing.
A: But if you find a great concept that says someA: That's really good. But to answer your question, thing really cool, everybody's gonna want to sing it.
it's like concept. Now more than ever, what's a great
Which of you two handles rejection better? Or are
way of saying something that everyone feels? Like
you at a point where you just don't give a damn
this new song, "The Heart Wants What It Wants"
anymore?
for Selena [Gomez]. That hasn't been said before,
A: We feel bad about different things. Like somebut we all feel that. We are all compelled by our
thing
might really bother me and he won't care.
hearts to do stuff. Like I could say, "Don't go with
And then some things bother him a lot. You get
that guy-he's terrible." But then you would do it
anyway, because you're compelled to do it. So I think rejected all the time. I know this sounds corny, but I
really believe it's true. I'm always doing the whole
it's finding a concept that resonates with that artist
you're thinking about. What does that person want lemons to lemonade thing. Like, oh, this got dropped
here because it's meant to be here.
to say right now in their lives?

Audience member, Robert: I'm a songwriter
based here in Los Angeles. Thanks for spending
your day off with us. Question: A major artist
comes to you looking for a single for their upcoming album. You guys are writing the song. What
tools or tricks do you apply to try to insure a hit
chorus, where the chorus itself is really landing as a
hit song?

T: Yeah, I think that's really important. And also
there's another part too, to be inspired, catch inspiration. When somebody asks me, "Why don't you
take any breaks?" It's like I'm trying to learn to live
to always be inspired no matter where I'm at. It's a
discipline and I fail all the time, but I just get back
up and go on until I'm at that place. You need to
give that type of attention to who it is you're writ-

Let's talk about hooks. I'm going to take some audience questions in a couple of minutes, so start
thinking about them [audience members]. I'm not
going to get to everybody, but I do want you to
have the opportunity to talk to you guys.
Hooks. It used to be back in the day that you would
write a good intro, a verse that made sense, a
cogent lyric, and then a lift into a chorus, and the
chorus was the hook. And that was enough. And
now you better have some sort of hook-whether
it's rhythmic, melodic, even an instrument sound,
whatever it is-something that is ear candy in the
intro and in the verse. Every section of the song has
to have a "hook" in today's market. Do you guys go
through a process where you fine-tune? You know,
once you've got the basic song down and you're
working on production stuff, do you go back and
say, "This is boring; we need to throw a little hook
in there"?
Tim: Sometimes, yeah. It's kind of like you want
your ear to always be excited and engaged. Sometimes it comes down to a great bass line that can do
that, you know? That's why you should always look
at the simple elements. In "Happy," Pharrell is such
a genius, where he puts the open high hat. That
effect on your mind... that makes you happy. I
mean, that high hat's on an awkward beat! I don't
know where he got that from, but he used it and it
was so effective. So start there. Get your basic elements into something that feels like what's in your
mind, and then go to crazy places, like whistles or
whatever.

T: Or, I went down this path, and had I not gone
down that path, then this or that wouldn't have
happened. So you have to see it as a chain of events
in your life and see it as a...
A: You have to, because there are too many shitty
things that happen for you not too. Seriously.
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