How to make the most out of remote collaboration
Have you been working on a song for a while and just can’t seem to get it across the finish line? Whether you’ve gotten a premade track, or have created something from scratch, we all know that getting a song to the point of a finished product can be a daunting task. It can be even harder to know WHAT a song needs in order to get it across the finish line. In this article we’ll break down a few questions that can help you identify areas that need to be improved, and some ways that the AirGigs platform can help you make those tweaks (be sure to read to the end for a special promo offer exclusively for Rocket Songs members).
Use coupon code rocketsongs for 10% off your first order
Songwriting
The songwriting stage includes nailing down lyrics, melody, and song structure.
Questions to ask yourself:
Do the lyrics hit the mark? You should feel comfortable singing your lyrics, meaning they should feel effortless to sing, fit together thematically, and fit your identity as an artist. If your lyrics are hard to sing, feel disingenuous, or don’t all reinforce a clear theme, you probably need to tweak your lyrics.
Does the melody fit your voice? The melody, similar to the lyrics should feel and sound good with the singer’s voice. If the melody isn’t in the vocalists range, or doesn’t fit the mood of the song, it might be worth tweaking.
Does the song structure take you on a sonic journey? A good song has a good balance between repetition and variation – you don’t want to be too repetitive, or to introduce new material every bar. Many beginning songwriters struggle to write songs that are succinct. A good rule of thumb is the 3:30 mark. If your song is a minute long, you should ask yourself if it has enough different elements to it. If it’s extending beyond the 4-minute mark, you need to make sure you aren’t boring your listener. These aren’t hard and fast rules, just helpful guidelines to keep in mind.
AirGigs has lots of songwriters that can help you hone your lyrics, melody, and song structure if you can’t seem to get them where you want.
Instrumentation
Using the right instrumentation on a song is critical for making it effective. If the guitar solo in “Stairway to Heaven” was played on a euphonium, it would be a whole different song, and the solo would probably need to be written differently to fit a different instrument.
Questions to ask yourself:
Do the instruments fit the style of the song? Experimentation and originality are just as important as convention and genre. Kacey Musgraves won a Grammy making country music with vocoders – she understood the genre she was in, and her identity as an artist, and how to be creative within those boundaries. If you find that your song is sticking too closely to the script of the genre, it might be good to change the instrumentation to something less predictable. If you find that your song is feeling disjointed, or that one instrument is weakening the song’s delivery or not adding to it, different instrumentation could also fix that.
Is the performance all that it could be? Maybe the instrument is great, but the performance is lacking something. A guitar will sound much different in the hands of Tommy Emmanuel, The Edge, and your neighbor’s son that just started taking lessons.
AirGigs has lots of instrumentalists (drums, keys, bass, guitar, strings, brass, pedal steel, percussion, and more) that can easily add parts to your song or reinterpret any existing part.
AirGigs also has lots of engineers that can edit vocals or instrument timing if certain parts feel out of tune or out of time.
Mixing and Mastering
Even with great songwriting, instrumentation, and performance, mixing and mastering will make or break your song. Mixing engineers and mastering engineers have dedicated their career to developing their ears and giving each song the custom processing it needs.
Questions you should ask yourself:
Does your song have the sonic texture of other similar songs? Again, the goal isn’t to make everything sound the same, but every artist has artists that influence them and songs that inspire them. Before you release your song, find a song or two that has a similar sound to yours and compare the mixes. Is your song as loud as your reference songs? Is it as clear? Is it as full, and compelling? If not, you may need to work on your mix, or find a great mix engineer to help you get there.
AirGigs has mixing engineers and mastering engineers that have worked with some of the biggest names in the music industry that can help you achieve radio level sound quality in your songs.
Special Offer
We are excited to partner with our friends at rocketsongs to offer a discount on your first order. Got a song you need to finish? Hire a professional studio musician or engineer and get 10% off your first order with coupon code rocketsongs – only on airgigs.com. Valid through November 30th.
Use coupon code rocketsongs for 10% off your first order
Conclusion
As musicians, it’s important that we are always trying to get our music to the next level. If your song isn’t inspiring you, don’t worry, don’t settle, and don’t give up, you may just need to enlist the help of the right musicians to get it to where it needs to be. In a world of home recording and DIY music, it can be easy to feel like you have to play every instrument and be an amazing songwriter, producer, mix engineer, mastering engineer, and song promoter.
Thanks to online marketplaces like AirGigs, that is not the case. You can easily connect with and hire world class musicians easier than ever to customize your songs and make them all they can be.