Songwriting Basics in Very Practical Terms

Songwriting Basics

Videos I made for Higher Hz covering the basics of Songwriting, Composing, and Mixing. There are a lot of other videos on the Higher Hz YouTube as well, mostly product reviews, but with a lot of training embedded.

Songwriting:

Basics of Harmony – music theory

Article: What are chord progressions? Music theory simplified (higherhz.com)

Arranging a Song – helping the story to shine

Article: Song structure: Verse, chorus, and other parts – Higher Hz

Putting it all together – music bed to release

Mixing:

Article: What is reverb in music? – Higher Hz

Mastering – How It Works & Why We Do It

Article: n/a

Releasing a Song – How to Build Fans

Article: n/a

Levels In Music

Article: Levels in mixing and mastering

High-Pass – Better Bass & Clarity

Noise in Music

Tone Over Time – The Large Rule That Matters

Understanding EQ

Article: n/a

Parallel Processing

Bit & Sample Rates

Adding Excitement

Singing

Singing is the “money shot” part of a song. It is what makes or breaks a recording more than anything else. Yes more than anything else. The music can be a bit duff, the mixing barely there, and the song can still sell itself if the singing is really good. Good is defined as what connects one person to another (see the demos below).

The problem that most aspiring singers/songwriters fail to overcome is that they are not willing/able to sing in their authentic voice. They worry and try to cover that by singing with someone else’s voice. That can only ever ring false – the listener feels that they are being lied to and bail. This is sad because an honest “true voice” performance, despite any flaws, will always outperform a fake voice performance. Fear kills. Honesty opens people up.

Finding your true voice (which is there all along dying to be let out) makes singing easier, more fun, easier to record & mix, and more effective with those who want to be your fan.

Victoria is fabulously nutty but clearly knows what she’s doing.
This is the kind of vocal coach that a developing Rock/Pop singer needs.

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