Music Production

3 Ways to Make Your Song Memorable

3 Ways to Make Your Song Memorable-2.jpg

Everyone has heard a song that sticks with you no matter what. The music is so powerful and full of depth and passion that it brings up an enormous amount of emotions within you.

Can you think of a song you have listened to and wondered what made you so attached to it?

I know I have!

This blog covers three ways that artists and producers have helped their listeners connect to songs at a personal level. 

 

Layering Music

When I listen to a song with great passion, the first thing I personally discovered was the way the artist manipulates layering to realize the artist's vision.

A blog by Kevin Tran available on Medium speaks more in detail about music layering techniques.

These layers invoke in the song, a range of emotions such as drama, suspense, passion, pain, sorrow, hope and more.

Some songs have instrumentals that can just speak for themselves, with beat drops, transitions or fade-outs that can be an adventure to listen to. Electronic music singers/producers such as Grimes, Daft Punk or Gesaffelstein have mastered this art through the use of production to express their feelings. 

On the other hand, these music production techniques are even more amplified when it includes lyrics with a story and meaning. Stories make up another layer that embodies the meaning of a song and touches anyone listening. Artists like Frank Ocean perfected this styling and connected with so many listeners.  

Frank Ocean- Nights

Producers Ocean Thornalley Uzowuru Ross 

 

Harmonies and melodies

Almost every song that I love includes harmonies and melodies that make up the structural part of a track as well as so catchy and smooth to listen to. With technology, artists are able to be more creative. 

Many respected artists in the industry such as Bjork utilized MIDI technologies to turn their visions into reality. A blog by Scott Wilson on Factmag outlines how Bjork uses technology such as Melodyne to build her harmonies with her voice.

Kanye West has also been famously known throughout his career to incorporate samples from gospel choirs which gives a whole sense of meaning and emotion into his songs. In a blog written by Desire Thompson in Vibe outlines Kanye’s West Gospel samples in his recent album “Jesus is King”. 

Ultralight Beam- Kanye West

Producers- Kanye West, Mike Dean, Chance the Rapper, Swizz Beatz

 

Instrumental solos

Instrumental solos, especially during a bridge, is one of the best ways to express emotions, especially sorrow and heartbreak. 

An article that can be found at Inverse explains how artists and producers utilize solos to tell their story. There are so many songs that incorporate solos in a way that heals you by letting you fully experience all your feelings.

For example, many songs by Beach House include instrumental solos to convey melancholy emotions with so many layers and music editings that are very complex.

Beat it- Michael Jackson

Produced by Michael Jackson and Quincy Jones 

Conclusion

Music has so many components that anyone will appreciate when carefully listened to. 

These components are the reason why people from all over the world (no matter the language) fell in love with music as there is always something that connects with you.

These are the reasons why people fall in love with songs that they find solace in.

What are your favourite aspects of music and what resonates with you the most? Let us know below in the comments!

If you need further help creating your own music, we offer audio production services that will help you elevate your sound and bring your song to life!

We look forward to being a part of your success.

Contact us here to get started.

 

How to Collaborate on Music Remotely

How to Collaborate on Music Remotely-2.jpg

Collaborating musically can be an extremely effective creative and promotional tool for an upcoming musician. Not only does it force you to think outside the box and compare tips and tricks with another creative musician, but it's also a great way to get your name out there within the community. There’s nothing better than collaborating with another artist and sharing the reward of a fantastic single with tons of views, audiences will mingle and all of a sudden you got another ally, rooting for your success. 

Of course, a successful collaboration must go both ways, you’re only going to get support with your support right back so communication is the key to it all. 

In the age of the pandemic, communication has gotten all that much more difficult. For many people, taking a trip to another studio is not a possibility anymore, therefore most collaboration must be done online. 

For all those musicians eager to get back into the community and start collaborating again, here are some tips for collaborating and communication virtually. 

 

How to start the collab

Getting started with collabs isn’t about messaging any artist you can find online with a basic pitch, doing that will get you ignored at best and blacklisted at worst. Collaborations, and most partnerships within the music industry, is all about building relationships. 

As stated, a good collaboration is a two-way street where both artists trust each-other, communicate well and are honest about their goals. We’ll get to establishing goals and timelines later, but it's important to remember this fact. Not only will this bring more successful collaborations, but it also has the potential to get you new fans and supporters, even if the collaboration doesn’t end up working out.

Creating relationships as opposed to cold sales also serves another hidden purpose behind the scenes. Unless you have been following the artist for a long time, it's impossible to know if they even are the sort of artist you would want to associate with! Creating a dialogue beforehand lets you get the chance to know them better, what their strengths and weaknesses are as a creator and what their long term goals are. Speaking of goals...

 

Establishing goals and timelines

vidar-nordli-mathisen-szmET3Kja8s-unsplash-2.jpg

Once you have created an artistic relationship, you could start just by exchanging production tips and long term plans. For example, ask yourself and them,  what are you trying to accomplish with this collaboration? And how does the other artist factor in? Furthermore, are you intending on making a single together, a joint release? A cover? Or perhaps just a feature on the second verse. 

There are countless directions a co-produced song could take so making this clear and coming to an agreement beforehand is essential to ensure a good relationship down the road. 

This concept extends to the schedule as well. The last thing you want is to pour countless golden hours into a project just to wait months for your partner to get his section just right. Make sure everyone knows just what it is you are making, how the project will be released and when it needs to be completed.

 

Collaboration tools

Now, this is where remoteness gets tricky. Without pandemic woes, just getting in the same room as them to start jamming is often the best way to get the creative juices flowing, unfortunately, that just isn’t possible anymore (for most people). Making this work remotely might be unfamiliar, but there is plenty of file sharing and music collaboration software out there to help you along. Each of these platforms works slightly differently, from a full cloud-based Digital Audio Workstation to simple online file sharing. During the planning phase, this is another key step that needs to be worked out, but we’ll detail them here in order of intricateness.

 

1. Email

This one might be obvious, but without any other options, you can always just send your samples via email. Obviously this works best for a feature or guest appearance, where one artist puts the majority of the track together (with feedback of course). Furthermore, most email has a pretty low file size limit (for example Gmail limits the entire message and encoded attachment to 25mb) therefore sending extremely high quality or large samples will be an issue. If file sizes are a problem however, it's almost as easy to move to the second option!

 

2. File sharing services

File sharing services like Dropbox, Google Drive or WeTransfer will allow you to share much bigger files and keep everyone up to date with the latest versions. Without losing so much quality like with emailing, this would allow you to trade audio back and forth for more genuine collaboration however generally you will not be able to send the project file itself. If you’re looking for a better way to compare the music and provide detailed feedback, you might want to try one of these dedicated music sharing services. 

 

3. Music file-sharing services

Pibox Music, Splice and Sound Cloud will all allow you to share your music files and let collaborators comment directly wherever on the track for even more specific feedback. As stated, communication is key to a successful collaboration, and providing clear feedback is definitely a part of that. 

These services are generally similar to the aforementioned file sharing services but allow you and whomever you share with to see the waveform and listen to it while it is still hosted online. Soundcloud is the simplest of the bunch and may already be familiar to you. All it takes is to upload privately, then share with your partner. 

Pibox takes it a step further in that it allows for live and/or video chats, screen sharing and a record of mix version history along with time-stamped commenting like SoundCloud. This service is available for 2 collaborators and 1gb of files for free so it should take you through your first few projects, but for larger ones, you’ll have to become a subscriber. 

Finally, Splice is renowned for its extensive library of user-generated sounds, but it can also be used as a DAW-based music collaboration platform! 

If the limitations of single audio files just aren’t enough for you, Splice will allow you to back up entire project files from programs like Logic, Ableton Live, FL Studio and more meaning truly getting each-others input on a track is fully possible! All it takes is an account to get started making this one of the most enticing music collaboration platforms out there currently. 

 

4. Cloud-based music-making apps

Music-making apps that allow for collaboration will force you out of your preferred daw but allow for even more hands-on collaborative beat making. Trackd, Soundtrap and Soundstorming are three such apps which allow you to record or track directly into their interface and upload in real-time. 

The first, Trackd, is a full-service app (only available for IOS) which makes writing, recording, multi-tracking and even mixing all possible under one roof. 

Soundtrap (by Spotify) on the other hand is the most simple and great for beginners. Under the free version, you get access to 5 projects, 900 loops, and 210 sounds and instruments to play with. The other unique thing about Soundtrap is that its browser-based making it especially easy to invite your collaborator and get to creating! 

Soundstorming is the last, and most unique of the apps featured here. First off, it markets itself as a “social music app” and works much more like Splice’s sample library than either of the previous two. Essentially, record your musical idea into the app and upload it to a global community of musicians for brainstorming, critiques and feedback. This app has capabilities more reminiscent of a music community than a collaboration tool, but it can be still used for the latter purpose. 

 

Following through

Now that the introductions, goals, timelines and tools have all been established there is nothing stopping you from making that killer song! Making great music and finding inspiration is a whole other challenge, and a topic for another blog, but in my experience, I’ve found that just being able to bounce ideas off of another capable musician has been extremely effective. 

It’s important to remember everything you’ve talked about throughout this process. Most importantly the importance of good communication. Making sure everyone is happy throughout the collaboration will undoubtedly produce something great, even if it's just for the memories. 

 

Conclusion

Collaborating artistically can be one of the most fulfilling activities an artist can take. I know that some of my best works have been made this way and the same goes for countless amazing artists for all time. 

Music aside, it's also another incredible way to promote yourself and be a part of the musician community online, from some of our previous blogs, you can never discount how important that is. 

Hopefully, these collaboration tips will set you right on your way but if you’re looking to give that collaboration something extra special, check out our website for the mixing and mastering services we can provide to take your song to the next level. 

What are some of your best and worst collab stories? And what have you learned from it? Let us know in the comments below.

- By Erik Steiner

 
 

Where to Find The Best EDM Vocals

Where to Find the Best EDM Vocals.jpg

Are you making your own music? Are you trying to find vocals to add to your remix? There are many amazing resources for vocals, especially edm vocals. Most of these vocals cater specifically for original music or remixes.

In this blog, we will go over where to find the best vocal samples for your music.      

 

Where to get the best EDM vocals - Original Music  

There are many amazing places to find EDM vocals, that you can use for your tracks and we're here to help! 

Here is our list for the best places to find edm vocals:

 

Looperman.com is a good resource for vocals. On this website you are able to find many vocals uploaded by artists from all over the world. But one downside is everyone is able to upload on the website so vocal quality is not the best. So in order to find good vocals you're going to need to do some digging. Additionally, the singers who upload acapella keep all rights over their creation. So you are able to use acapellas for non commercial projects but if you're creating something else you have to contact the artist. This means the vocals can  be downloaded for free, but they could not be free.     

 
 
 

 On this website you are able to license edm vocals right from the artist, it is also the only website when you can do this. Artists create and upload toplines, acapellas and vocals that they can license to you for your own use. The amazing thing about volclio is creators are able to brown and purchase edm vocals non-exclusively and exclusively.

Being able to buy vocals exclusively is a huge advantage over other edm vocal websites because other websites focus mostly on providing vocal samples - which can be bought by thousands of producers. With voclio, one can ensure they get an unique and original vocal.

Additionally, you are able to find vocals from real artists- like mickey shiloh (who has written for Britney Spears, Jason Derulo, Janet Jackson and many more).      

 

If you are someone who has been producing music for a while now you most likely know of Splice. This is a monthly subscription, that gives you thousands of samples and free loops. You can also find thousands of royalty free vocals, in their samples.

But there are not many full acapellas on Splice. This means the majority of the vocals are one shots, vocal chops, or phrases that can make it difficult to piece together the vocals into a song. But, that being said you can still find high quality edm vocals on Splice.  

 

If you use Splice then you most likely have used some Producerloop samples. They provide many contrasting sample packs for different edm genres. Additionally, they have a wide selection of sample packs that can be purchased, these sample packs have amazing vocals in them.      

 
 
 

Function loop has some breathtaking vocal sample packs. Most of them have amazing one shots, acapella and vocal chops to choose from. The acapellas are of great quality and even include some talented vocalists.  

 

Where to get the best EDM vocals - Remixes  

Looking for edm vocals for remixes? Check out our list below. 

 

Wavo is also a great place for remix competitions. They don’t offer as many competitions but do offer more famous songs for remixing. Recently they have had competitions with songs from artists like Seeb, Tritional, Galantis and many more!   

 

Spinnin’ Records competitions are known as one of the most desired remix competitions especially for producers. Many people say a release on Spinnin’ Records can kick start your career. Because of this reputation, they have very strict competitions. Even if you're not trying to win, they have a great selection of tracks that are available for remixing.

That being said there aren’t many tracks available at once, but the patience is definitely worth it as you will find some great tracks for remixing. Also, if your remix is good enough you could even get signed by Spinnin’ Records!  

 

Skio Music is a great place for vocal stems specifically for remixes. They tend to have a variety of remix competitions that anyone can enter, also vocals are available for purchase through credit. The songs they have to use for remixing are usually high quality but lesser known.   

 
 
 

This website is an amazing resource for dj’s. They have a section where one can buy vocals and also stems from a wide selection of tracks. Additionally, you can buy stems and that too for only a couple of dollars. But many of the stems accessible are not “famous” songs, but the tracks available are amazing!   

 
 
 

Kreasound.com is a website where it really depends on your luck. You could either find some great tracks for remixing or not find anything at all. But, you should check out the website every so often because they do have some great vocals.

 

Conclusion

This blog provides you with the best places to find vocals for remixes and original music. There is a wide range of options to help enhance your music.

If you’re still unsure of which vocals suit you best or if you’d like to create some, contact Jony Studios to get our expert opinion/use our professional skills.

-

If you need further help creating your own music, we offer audio production services that will help you elevate your sound and bring your song to life!

We look forward to being a part of your success.

Contact us here to get started.