Writing a song and producing a record are different jobs, but most producers do both at once - and that is both a strength and a trap. This chapter is about moving a composition from idea to finished production without losing what made the idea good.
Capture first, perfect later
Ideas are fragile. Capture them in the fastest way possible - a voice memo, a rough MIDI sketch, a loop - before you start making them sound good. The moment you open a synth to design the perfect sound, you have stopped writing.
Many producers keep a separate template or project for sketches: a piano, a basic drum kit, a bass, nothing more.
Writing at an instrument versus in the DAW
- At an instrument - guitar, piano - the song comes first. Chords, melody and structure are worked out with no production decisions. These songs tend to have strong bones.
- In the DAW - the sound comes first. A loop, a sample, a synth patch inspires the song. These tracks tend to have strong character but can stall at eight bars.
Use both. If you write in the DAW, test your idea at a piano: does it still work stripped bare? If you write at an instrument, try producing it in a style you would not normally choose.
The demo
A demo is a recording that shows what the song is: structure, chords, melody, lyric and feel. It does not need to sound finished. Its job is to let you - and anyone you work with - hear the whole song from start to finish.
Finish the demo before you start polishing any one section. A perfect chorus with no verse is not a song.
References
Choose two or three commercial tracks that capture the sound, energy and arrangement you are aiming for. Load them into your project and compare often: tempo, structure, how many parts play in each section, how loud and bright the mix is.
References keep your ears honest. After hours on one track, everything starts to sound normal.
Arrangement decisions
Composition decisions keep happening during production:
- Key and tempo - set them for the singer and the genre, not just for the original sketch.
- Instrumentation - which instruments carry the chords, the rhythm, the hook?
- Density by section - what drops out of the verse to make the chorus bigger?
- Transitions - how does each section lead into the next?
- The intro and the ending - often the last things written, and the first and last things a listener hears.
Finishing
Most unfinished tracks stall at the same point: a great loop that never becomes a song. To get past it:
- Arrange early. Drag the loop out across the full length of the song, then start removing things to create sections.
- Set deadlines. Finish a version - any version - by a set date.
- Make decisions and commit. Bounce MIDI to audio, choose one of three synth sounds, and move on.
- Finish rough, then improve. A finished rough track teaches you more than an unfinished perfect one.
Organisation
- Name and colour your tracks. Group related parts.
- Save new versions with numbers rather than overwriting.
- Keep notes of key, tempo, chords and lyrics in the project.
- Bounce stems at the end of each major stage.
Do this now
- Take your C major project and finish a complete demo - intro to outro - even if some sections are rough.
- Load two reference tracks and compare your arrangement section by section.
- Play your song stripped down on piano or guitar. Does it still work? What would you change?