I have a family member that has been writing lyrics for the majority of her life. She has not has much luck in placing them though.
At the beginning of my production career, my aunt would bring song lyrics to me and request that I record songs with them. The lyrics were not formatted in any particular way, and they really seemed more like poems.
I could barely work my ASR-10, when my relative begin bringing lyrics in hopes that I could help her record her songs. I agreed and was all ready to start, and I asked her "ok..so how does it go?" The answer was "I don't have a melody yet". So there we were, two non-singers with no melody for her lyrics. No progress was made and the lyrics were just filed.
As a side note: When you are trying to sell your songs, remember that most potential buyers want to buy actual songs, not just the lyrics...so you need to make complete songs as present those.
Before long, this relative began to format her lyrics better, and even began to come to me with melodies in mind.
In regards to formats, you have multiple song formats to choose from, or you can just wing it...there doesn't have to be any rules....but if you want to learn about song formats just google (song formats).
Lyrics......check! Format....check!.......Melodies.....check!...wait a minute..uncheck! My relative pretty much had the same melody for every song, and it was a country western melody....Problem, because I definitely didn't know how to make country western music.
What happened from there is that we could not make a song that sounded like she envisioned. So, she began to recruit people who said they could sing, but most of them had never even recorded before, and even if they could sing, just because a person can sing does not mean that they can write melodies. These experiences made my aunt irritated at me and they made her have a bad taste in her mouth regarding music as a whole....so what can you do to avoid this feeling?
Tip: To be a writer, you do not have to be a singer, but you do need to find or have access to someone who can perform you lyrics.
Some people write their lyrics without music, or they hear the music in their head while they are writing. In those cases, these writers need to find producers who can do custom tracks (you hum what you want and they play it). For the people who write without music, they just have to listen to a variety of instrumentals afterwards and pick the one that matches the feel of their lyrics the best.
I usually go with picking the music and letting the music inspire my lyrics. (You can find inspiring music at www.freshoffabreakup.com) Sometimes I attempt to sing melodies, just for timing guidelines for whoever is going to end up demo-ing the song. I also don't literally write my words down, I record them onto a little tape recorder so that I can make sure that I remember my lyrical pockets.
Next in order, is finding someone to record your song. You need a good or professional singer that is familiar with the genre of music you are seeking to make. What I like to do is ask potential demo singers to sing my song over the instrumental that I have chosen. That way I can determine how well they are at writing melodies. This is important to me because without a good, fast melody writer, the session will be long and there will be a good possibility that it won't turn out the way I want.
What do you do after the recording session is done and you actually like your song? Mixing time..thats what. Most likely, whoever engineered the original session will also be able to mix your record...it will just take a little more time and a little more money. You also need to be able to express to the mixing engineer what you want the end result to sound like. If not, you are taking the risk that the sound engineer may not do what you want him to do, the way you want him to do it.
Lastly, you need to get your song mastered. You can find a mastering engineer, which is kind of expensive, or you can most likely get the mixing engineer to do pretty much the same thing cheaper.
After your hit song is mastered, copyrighted, and registered with ascap, bmi, or sesac, then you are ready to submit!
That's it for now, stay tuned for more helpful advice!
At the beginning of my production career, my aunt would bring song lyrics to me and request that I record songs with them. The lyrics were not formatted in any particular way, and they really seemed more like poems.
I could barely work my ASR-10, when my relative begin bringing lyrics in hopes that I could help her record her songs. I agreed and was all ready to start, and I asked her "ok..so how does it go?" The answer was "I don't have a melody yet". So there we were, two non-singers with no melody for her lyrics. No progress was made and the lyrics were just filed.
As a side note: When you are trying to sell your songs, remember that most potential buyers want to buy actual songs, not just the lyrics...so you need to make complete songs as present those.
Before long, this relative began to format her lyrics better, and even began to come to me with melodies in mind.
In regards to formats, you have multiple song formats to choose from, or you can just wing it...there doesn't have to be any rules....but if you want to learn about song formats just google (song formats).
Lyrics......check! Format....check!.......Melodies.....check!...wait a minute..uncheck! My relative pretty much had the same melody for every song, and it was a country western melody....Problem, because I definitely didn't know how to make country western music.
What happened from there is that we could not make a song that sounded like she envisioned. So, she began to recruit people who said they could sing, but most of them had never even recorded before, and even if they could sing, just because a person can sing does not mean that they can write melodies. These experiences made my aunt irritated at me and they made her have a bad taste in her mouth regarding music as a whole....so what can you do to avoid this feeling?
Tip: To be a writer, you do not have to be a singer, but you do need to find or have access to someone who can perform you lyrics.
Some people write their lyrics without music, or they hear the music in their head while they are writing. In those cases, these writers need to find producers who can do custom tracks (you hum what you want and they play it). For the people who write without music, they just have to listen to a variety of instrumentals afterwards and pick the one that matches the feel of their lyrics the best.
I usually go with picking the music and letting the music inspire my lyrics. (You can find inspiring music at www.freshoffabreakup.com) Sometimes I attempt to sing melodies, just for timing guidelines for whoever is going to end up demo-ing the song. I also don't literally write my words down, I record them onto a little tape recorder so that I can make sure that I remember my lyrical pockets.
Next in order, is finding someone to record your song. You need a good or professional singer that is familiar with the genre of music you are seeking to make. What I like to do is ask potential demo singers to sing my song over the instrumental that I have chosen. That way I can determine how well they are at writing melodies. This is important to me because without a good, fast melody writer, the session will be long and there will be a good possibility that it won't turn out the way I want.
What do you do after the recording session is done and you actually like your song? Mixing time..thats what. Most likely, whoever engineered the original session will also be able to mix your record...it will just take a little more time and a little more money. You also need to be able to express to the mixing engineer what you want the end result to sound like. If not, you are taking the risk that the sound engineer may not do what you want him to do, the way you want him to do it.
Lastly, you need to get your song mastered. You can find a mastering engineer, which is kind of expensive, or you can most likely get the mixing engineer to do pretty much the same thing cheaper.
After your hit song is mastered, copyrighted, and registered with ascap, bmi, or sesac, then you are ready to submit!
That's it for now, stay tuned for more helpful advice!
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