So many of us have unfinished songs and ideas that we wish were fully arranged and finished recordings, but without the tools to finish them they can sometimes remain unfinished. No matter what stage of the process you’re up to or how much support you need, whether it’s a passion project or a professional pursuit, Services for Songwriters is designed to get you across the finish line.
Whether you’ve roughly recorded an idea on your phone, created a full demo of your own, or you just need an attentive engineer to mix your song, this service could be exactly what you’re looking for. From virtuoso instrumentalists to occasional ivory tinklers, every ability is catered for.
By working through 4 key steps of record production we can pick up from wherever you left off and see your song through to a finished record. I work closely with every songwriter because I believe that all stages of record production should be treated with genuine care. I also love what I do and the people I get to work with. Because of this, you can rest assured that every idea and motivation will be given my creative input and the personal focus it deserves.
Step 1
Song Development
Song development can cover a range of activities, but here are a few possible situations that I can help you with:
- You’ve written lyrics, and maybe a melody too, but need someone to help you put music to it.
- You’ve written a riff, or section of a song, but can’t quite bring it together into a fully formed song.
- You’ve written a song and on paper it should be finished, but it feels like it’s missing something.
Step 2
Arrangement
Once the core of a song has been written, be it piano & vocal or something similar, your song may call for some additional instruments.
- FULL ARRANGEMENT:
For songs that only exist in their most basic form, this is the point at which extra parts can be created to support and add to the existing form. This could be the addition of an understated backline such as drums, bass and keys to an acoustic & vocal song. Or, if your song needs to be taken in a slightly different direction we can add orchestral parts, synthesisers, electric guitars and so on.
- EXPANDED ARRANGEMENT:
If the bare bones of your song already sit in the genre and feel that you want the finished version to be in, or your demo feels like an good representation of the overall sound you’re aiming for, it may be that only a few additions and tweaks are needed to finish off the arrangement. This could include development of existing parts to help glue the arrangement together, or the creation of some new parts that compliment the work you’ve already done.
Step 3
Recording
- VOCAL RECORDING:
This can either be a continuation from the previous steps, or if you’ve already recorded your own instrumental track and need to put vocals down. With this you not only get the benefit of recording with professional recording equipment but also the value of a producer guiding you through the recording of each take, keeping perspective on how different ideas and techniques will work with and enhance your song.
- INSTRUMENT RECORDING:
If you’d like to record performances of you playing live instruments on your songs, or need someone else to perform a part you’ve written yourself (or with me), I can engineer these recordings. In addition, as a musician myself (guitar, drums, keys, bass, vocals) I can also act as a session musician on your recordings.
Step 4
Mixing
- Mixing is where your recordings can really come to life, and I'm a firm believer that it should be a collaborative process rather than an inbox transaction. You may have a particular sound or feel in mind for your music that goes beyond simply providing a reference track. For this reason, whether we’ve worked on the song together or not, I feel it’s important to have an open discussion about your aspirations for the track(s) before beginning a mixing project.
- Mastering can also be included in any project upon request. In a nutshell, mastering is the process of finalising your mixed music so that it’s ready to be distributed across a variety of platforms.
Example 1 Alt pop
In this song, Sleep, we wanted to keep the overall tone of the track quite mellow, so I approached the arrangement with some atmospheric percussion and gentle piano – playing to the overriding theme of sleep as it rocks the listener back and forth.
One core element of the song that wasn’t yet formed in the demo was the bridge. The artist sent me a separate voice recording of this section without any music. Feeling that both the lyrics and melody in this section contrasted the rest of the song, the chords and instrumentation that I subsequently added create a release of energy that’s been gently building up throughout the song.
Example 2 Folk/Pop
‘Anything You Wanna Get’ was initially written on acoustic guitar, however during our initial conversations about the song Katie shared that she felt we could incorporate some 70s influences (Fleetwood Mac et al.) while still maintaining a relatively modern sound. At the same time we wanted to keep the acoustic guitar as a key element within the arrangement and highlight the singer-songwriter nature of the song when balancing the mix.
Example 3 Upbeat Retro
‘Better Late Than Never’ began as a vocal only demo. Although Shaun had fleshed out all of the lyrics and the majority of the structure, there were no chords or arrangement supporting it. After discussing his ideal direction for the music (upbeat retro/70s pop with a prominent hook) I went about developing a suitable musical bed the song. Once the chords were in place and a few melodic and structural changes had been agreed, I then wrote and recorded the arrangement that makes up the entirety of the song.
Example 4 Acoustic Pop
Hey there began as an acoustic & vocal demo, and we agreed that the song didn’t need to be taken too far from this original form. Rather than reanimate the song in a new form, after some minor adjustments to the structure we instead chose to create the sound of a band performing around and acoustic and vocal song. From here I then added some extra elements, including a guitar solo over the instrumental and some subtle call & response parts within the arrangement to enhance the ‘band’ feeling of the track.
Example 5 Synth Pop
‘Holy Water’ was always intended to be a synth-based track, so my main role with the production was to translate the idea captured on the acoustic demo into the correct form. As well as providing a number of related reference tracks, Chris requested we hit some key elements of the genre including heavily processed electronic drum sounds, glitchy sounds and effects, and arpeggiated guitar lines.
Once some minor changes were made to the chord sequence to bring it closer to the expected sound of this genre, the arrangement was developed using a combination of drum machines holding down the rhythm, alongside a selection of Juno 106 synth sounds to keep the 80’s feel he wanted from the song.
Example 6 Alternative
‘Shot in the Dark’ shifts into a much larger sound by the end of the song, but the bulk is based around an acoustic and vocal centred arrangement. Chris wanted there to be a clear shift in feel between the two sections but we needed to do so without creating a flat dynamic for the acoustic led section. To achieve this we used a much more lofi sounding drum kti for Section A and avoided adding too many intrusive or distracting layers. In doing so the vocal is given space to shine without being overwhelmed, but we could still enhance the moody feeling with backing vocals and a soft synth which sits quite far back in the mix.
Example 7 Acoustic
The song ‘To You Be Grace’ was initially presented as part of an EP mixing project, however Tom was keen to see if we could add some lift in the arrangement, particularly when it reaches it’s peak in the clip shown here. By adding some simple percussive elements (boomy kick, cross stick snare, shaker) we were able to emphasise the momentum of the song at this point. Bringing forward the backing vocals, and recording a new response line then created another clear step up in the overall size of the arrangement during this penultimate section.
Contact
If you’d like to discuss your project or just say hi, please get in touch below.
Alternatively you can call me on 07891745750.
