Songwriting Archive - Nadine de Macedo

Understanding song structures

Nadine — Tue, 27 Feb 2024 19:10:41 +0000

When I chit-chat with musicians, we talk a lot about melodies, lyrics and instruments, but we don’t talk about song structures. This is even more essential to keep the listener to the end or intentionally kick them out of their comfort zone. I wrote this article to explain some well-known structures and offer options for new ones. Song parts and their functions Listening to modern music, you may figure out that each song is constructed by repeating parts. Analyse the lyrics and chord progressions to figure out which part comes when. I grew up with electronic club music of 8 minutes length, where the length of every part has been divided by 32 or 16. In pop and rock music the structure of 8 or 16 bars is quite common, whereas blues is mostly in 12 bars or 16 bars. It’s an unwritten rule, that feels best to most listeners, musicians and DJs, but you can also try different things as long as the same parts have the same length and sound consistent. Let me introduce you do the most common song parts and their function. Intro (I) There is only one intro in a song, and it’s right in the beginning. The intro consists of atmospheric sounds, a foreshadowing of the chorus, or something completely disconnected to the song. My rule of thumb: the longer the song, the longer the intro. However, the intro shouldn’t exceed one third of a song. The function of an intro is creating an atmosphere and rises the tension. A good example of my discography is the progressive metal song “Truth” starting with ticking clocks and synthesizers. Outro or coda (O) Opposed to the intro, but following the same rules, the outro occurs once at the very end of the song. It creates an atmosphere and releases the tension. Most of the time, intros and outros are connected, but it is not a must. If you see a song as a journey, the outro could have a completely different mood. Some people also call the outro coda – but for me, a coda is a special type of outro that is directly connected to the chorus. For example, on “Fit Right In” we repeated the last half of the chorus followed by a ritardando (slow down). Believe it or not – Even the final chord could be an outro, if you’re technically precise. Verse (V) The verse is one of the main elements of a song. Usually, all verses have the same metric and melody. The main function of a verse is telling a story. Neglecting the chorus, you can read a song as a poem! A usual pop song has two verses, sometimes three. In very old songs and folk ballads, the whole song can consist of verses. The lyrics and instrumentation may change, but the harmonies and metric are the same. Chorus (C) The chorus is the catchy sing-along part that occurs at least twice in a song. It usually has a different melody and chord progression than the verse. The chorusses usually have the same lyrics, but it is not a must. There is an example below, where we used the same metric and melody for a different lyric. Solo (S) Most rock and metal songs have at least one solo. That soaring, uplifting, complex lead guitar everybody waits for, close to the end of the song. It’s often played on the same chords of the chorus, but some people prefer writing a completely different chord progression. Be careful with jazz and blues music, though lots of musicians play solos, not every part is a solo. If the vocalist and soloist have a conversation, we’re probably not in a solo part. Bridge or middle 8 (B) To avoid too many repetitions of the verse-chorus-structure, many songwriters insert a bridge (or middle 8 – standing for 8 bars) in the middle or last third of the song. Its melody and chord progression differs from the chorus and verse and creates tension. Lyrically, the bridge is characterized as the turning point of the story. In pop music – especially ballads – bridge are often used to change the key (modulation). The bridge of “Going My Way” starts with “I wanna scream out” creates a big tension by changing the rhythm. Post-Chorus (PostC) / Interlude It’s a kind of simple, catchy interlude that is intentionally after the chorus. If you listen to electronic dance music, you’ll know this sing-along synthesizer that plays nearly the same melody as the chorus. But it’s also used in other genres. Most of the time, the post-chorus is instrumental or filled with a very striking rhythm and simple lyrics. One of the most striking post-chorus I wrote is the reoccurring guitar solo on “Where does it end?”. This part is also called interlude, especially when it’s followed by the next verse. Pre-Chorus (PreC) / Mini Bridge Most pop songwriters connect verse and chorus with a pre-chorus. This section, which is sometimes also called mini bridge, usually consists of 2-8 bars and is a good place to do a modulation on key or tempo before the chorus kicks right in. “Don’t tell me if it hurts” has a very strong and pop-rock typical pre-chorus. It’s the part around “Does your heart skip a beat…”. In contrast to a verse, the pre-chorus leaves a virtual question mark at the end, that is resolved by the chorus. Drop (D) / Break Down A breakdown is a special kind of post-chorus or bridge, where a song changes completely its mood. It can be an intentional anti-climax of some bars… or a sudden drop. My former trance productions all have break downs, but I think the one of “The Awakening” is quite striking, it’s where the orchestra kicks in. It was pretty unusual in handmade music, but nowadays most metalcore songs also have break downs or even drops. The difference between these two is only the length and intensity. Drops are shorter and heavier. Usual schemes Verse Chorus in Pop Music I call myself a songwriter for pop music, because I mostly stick to the pop scheme. The combination of verse, chorus and solo is known to most listeners, easy to handle and results in a handy song of 3-4 minutes of lengths. You may notice that not every pop song has an intro and an outro, but all have the verse followed by a chorus and sometimes a pre-chorus in between. Some variations: The classical rondo The word rondo sounds like round, and this is what it’s all about. It’s a song structure from the middle ages, classical and baroque music where one part occurs more often. Some usual structures look like this: If you call A a chorus and B, C, D verses, you will get: So yes, there are some pop and rock songs in rondo form! Quitting the schemes The pop scheme is user-friendly, but boring. When you don’t care much about writing a chart topping song, you can experiment or arrange the parts in a way that it feels consistent with the message. Here are some example of my exotic arrangements. Sleepless – Open end with a solo Let’s start with an easy example, how to screw up listener’s expectations. “Sleepless” roughly follows a typical pop scheme, BUT (a) there’s a drop inside the verse, (b) the chorus sounds like a pre-chorus and (c) It ends with a solo. Everybody waits for another chorus, that doesn’t come. I decided to go this way, because the lyrics start with self-pity and then, he just lets go. This guy found some sleep, cause this song’s ending is positive. The structure is:I – V – C – PostC – V – C – B – S – O Hero – Multiple key changes and a two-part chorus Though following a rough verse-chorus pop scheme, we completely mess up people’s expectations on melodies and keys. The verse is in F-major, so the obvious pop chorus should start with a C-chord. Instead, we start with a D major chord, applying modal shifts and borrow chord weirdness. If you listen closely you will also notice that the chorus consists of two parts. Another interesting aspect is the very short intro (one chord!) and outro (part of the chorus). It was important to follow a quite usual scheme, otherwise the song would have been too complex.I – V – C1 – C2 – V – C1 – C2 – B – S – C1 – C2 – O September – Two different choruses “September” is telling a story from beginning to end. The whole song is based on 4-5 chords, but we have multiple verses and chorus with the same chord structure and metric. The lyrics tell a story, so there is no reoccuring part unless you consider the metric. Another interesting aspect is a variation on the chorus (C2) that occurs twice. The song structure is:I – V1 – C1 – PostC1 – V2 – PostC2 – C1 – C2 – S – B – C1 – C2 – O Truth – Chapters as a concept One of the weirdest song structures I created has been for our multi collab “Truth”. It has neither verse nor chorus, but reoccurring musical themes. Listen carefully to the piano theme in the intro. You will find the same theme in a different key, as flute, in another different key and the intro in the very end. This song tells a story with no way back, so why should there be a chorus?! It’s hard for me to write down the song structure, maybe something like:I1 – I2 – C1 – Interlude – V1 – Interlude2 – D1 – Interlude3 – V2 – V3 – S1 – S2 – D2 – S3 – V4 – D3 – C1 – S4 – Interlude2 – C2 – O Play around with the structure If you’re new to songwriting, using one of the usual schemes is a good way to go. But if you got stuck in a rut, play around with the structure. There are no rules in art, only best practises. The worst thing that could happen is that your audience is confused and quits the song after 30 seconds. Others may love a monumental work of progressive rock. If you recorded and documented everything neatly, you can still change the structure of a song after recording.

This post Understanding song structures was published at Nadine de Macedo.

AI in music production – A statement.

Nadine — Thu, 15 Feb 2024 17:45:00 +0000

It’s time to talk about something serious: artificial intelligence in music. I made up my mind, to which extent I would use, tolerate or deny the use of machine learning algorithms in composition and music production. A deep dive into the future of music. How I see artificial intelligence in music After first lawsuits and social media hypes, the music scene is debating over the future of the music business. I am sure that the rise of AI is such a big and tremendous step, like moving from a 4-track recorder to a digital audio workstation. Young producer take the chance “working” with the vocalist of their choice, creating new beat types or circumventing creativity blocks by generating parts. On the other hand, well-known artists fear being copied or being put into the wrong context. I understand both views and made up my mind, where I see artificial intelligence as chance or threat. I could profit from: I am against: A clear statement All music on my social media channels will be performed, recorded, edited and mixed by humans. I may use software for sound design and drum programming, check my mixes with algorithms, but I won’t generate content with artificial intelligence. As a composer it is important to me to write my own music, so I don’t use sample libraries for songparts, chord sequences or melodies. The same applies for artificial intelligence. I don’t mind flaws and imperfections, cause my working ethics is about sharing creativity and supporting small independent artists. Human recorded stems will *always* be prioritized! However, it feels wrong for me to support people or collaborate with people who use AI to generate creative content. Of course, generating interesting prompts and optimizing parameters needs certain diligence and knowledge, but it’s not comparable to the creativity and craft of conventional art. I am happy that you find a way to express your creativity in this novel way, but please don’t ask me to comment, repost or buy AI generated content. It’s good practise to credit everything properly, so people can decide on their own. Why is AI a threat and chance to music? Technical knowledge becomes obsolete I’ve spent twenty years of my life learning how to compose, analyse, arrange, structure and mix music. I have a deep knowledge about instrumental ranges, playing techniques, vocal techniques, frequency ranges. My studies helped to understand the mathematics and physics beyond the knobs of your compressor, spectrometers and reverb machines. Most of my knowledge and will become obsolete, if I let algorithms generate melodies, or decide about dynamics and instrumental choices. What is the point in learning all this if you could train an algorithm to generate an AC/DC guitar riff from scratch; turn your lousy vocal performance into Freddie Mercury or mix your song like Steve Albini? We’re standing on the shoulders of giants instead of understanding WHY their work is so valuable. We are not able to do everything with one knob, but it’s just a question of time. I have a problem with this mindset! You could argue, that using virtual instruments, step sequencers, sound presets, rhyme dictionaries samples or musical function theory do the same – but I see them as low-level helpers. These tools help us to learn and grow, and they give us the freedom to create new things when we understood how they work. You cannot program a realistic drum groove if you haven’t tried to play drums yourself or at least watched months of video footage. If I buy MIDI or drum samples, I could draft a song pretty well, but I skip a big part of the learning process, and thus forget to appreciate all the people who learned to play drums. Lack of transparency and explainability The type of machine learning algorithms that are used to create ready-to-use content and deep fakes do not require knowledge of physics, music theory or instruments. They also do not show us how they came to the result. These are nothing else but calculation of probabilities and similarities in multidimensional spaces with the big risk, that we don’t even know where the input data comes from and which parameters are tweaked. Further, machine learning algorithms can be biased or skewed, which means, that they have a higher probability for certain outcomes than others. We will have a hard time figuring out if AI technology has been used to create music, so the market will be flooded with fakes, bootlegs and interpolations. How would you feel, if you hear a song sounding exactly like you, but you never wrote, sang or performed it? How would you feel if somebody else gets the payment for using your voice? I have a problem with that – especially with no given consent or post-mortem. There is no copyright for voices or styles. The courts will have a lot of lawsuits concerning interpolations and trademarks. This is not about cover versions and tribute bands. Music becomes replaceable Music is endangered to become replaceable, arbitrary and fast changing – and thus, decrease in importance. Well-trained musician ears are still able to hear artefacts, but the algorithms will become better and flood the market with superb audio quality and mediocre songwriting. Soon, everybody will be able to generate a 2-minute piece of AI music that sounds exactly like the stuff in the radio. I bet that some people will embrace it, while others visit live concerts to support human performed music. I am very concerned about bedroom producers and songwriters, who learned everything from scratch, don’t perform live and have to compete against a mass of music. Optimizing workflows and sound quality I am not against AI, I just have to make a distinction between generative and analytical tools. Working with novel amp simulations or synthesizers can simplify the workflow. What about using one effect pedal instead of a dozen? Getting rid of noise or artefacts in a ten year old recording? Finding issues in the mixing, when your ears are tired? These are the only chances that I recently see in using artificial intelligence in music. Side effects on cover artwork and music videos You may have noticed a huge increase of AI generated music videos and cover images. I understand that some musicians don’t have the means to shoot them on their own, but I have to point out that most tools are not using training data that has been approved by artists. Due to ethical problems, I will avoid or even reject these tools. I love to draw and design, so I want to support photographers and illustrators. I have *absolutely no* understanding for well known bands who work with these algorithms since they were able to afford graphical artists. I don’t want small and middle sized freelancers to shut down their business. Wrap Up As you can clearly see from the length of this article, artificial intelligence in music is a topic that bothers me as a composer, producer, artist and scientist. The AI revolution cannot be stopped, but we have to discuss regulations and crediting before the music market is saturated. I am all in for a transparent, trustworthy and fair use. I don’t support generated content, but I support use within impulse response and analytics.

This post AI in music production – A statement. was published at Nadine de Macedo.

How to get stuff done and get rid of creative debt

Nadine — Tue, 02 Jan 2024 11:00:00 +0000

People often ask me, how I manage multiple collaborations and projects at the same time and finish so many musical projects. There’s no easy answer, but I try to give some tips and tricks how I handle reoccurring issues and get stuff done. Creative debt Technical debt happens when you implement your solution as quickly or easy as possible without thinking about long-term consequences. It’s a term from software development that describes the huge amount of work to fix a problem that is rooted in a decision you took many months and years ago. This concept can be applied to many fields of work, including creativity. Creative debt most often occurs, when you start a new project without finishing your previous ones. To get rid of creative debt, it’s best to accumulate as less as possible, which means (a) have a great concept and (b) evaluate it and (c) maintain and check your running projects and (d) document everything well. Creativity may be untamable, but if you’re interested in getting stuff done, there are a few rules to stick. Biggest impediments and distractions Look, there’s a squirrel! It can be so tempting to turn that spontaneous guitar riff into a new song. If you don’t jot down the idea from beginning to end, you may forget about it next week. So you record a guitar riff or loop. After a few months, you have a dozen great guitar riffs and 8-bar loops, but no song. Listening to your old drafts some months later, you may not be able to reconstruct the emotion or reason you recorded it. You jam along for half an hour, but you cannot find a verse to an existing chorus. Later, you may come up with the idea of merging multiple loops into a song, but they won’t sound consistent. You’re stuck. Worst of all, you cannot delete your 8-bar loops and guitar riffs, because each of them sounds like a potential hit. Take a look into your archives. How many of these 8-bar songs did you turn into a full song? I bet you’re better off recording a dirty one-take draft of the whole song instead of a perfect recording of the riff. Don’t forget to write down the chord progressions, tabs or lyrics. In case you want to rerecord this draft neatly, it will be much easier to remember the emotion and learn the song. Neglecting your needs Most creatives get super inspired and hyper when they’re asked to collab, so they say yes to everybody. They may be hyper focussed and get the first two songs recorded. Suddenly the big pile of promises feels like a heavy weight. You may get some stuff done if you turn your nights into days or force yourself to draft. You may feel guilty of promising things you cannot keep. It’s impolite to cancel three months after your commitment, so you try to postpone in hope that you find more time or inspiration someday soon. After a few weeks or months, your collab partners may get nervous or angry because they wait for your part. Be honest. You have burnt the candle on both ends. Decide if you (a) step out and burn bridges or (b) keep your promise with a massive delay while avoid writing new songs. In the long run, keep track of your capacity and needs. Learn to say “no” when you’re full. In the worst case, cancelling projects before somebody wrote, recorded or adapted anything for you is even better than letting your band wait for months and years. The band might still have a chance to find a new person and tailor it to their needs. Piling up too many projects Not everybody is made for multitasking. I am multitasking for years, because I cannot work on a sad ballad when I’m angry. I usually have two, but sometimes also five completely different projects in parallel. Being highly dependent on other people’s recordings, I can use my waiting time for working on other projects or preparing social media posts. Multitasking is fine, if documentation is your secret superpower. You need a lot of self-discipline to focus and finish things even if you’re not fully in the mood to master a ballad. However, most people work on many different songs as an excuse to look busy. They’re procrastinating because they’re scared of finishing or scared of admitting that they’re stuck and need help. Having too many projects at once can lead to decision paralysis and information loss due to context switching. Which song do I do next? What was missing in this song, again? If you find yourself switching between many things without finishing anything, you may have hit your capacity limit or a creative block. More below. I have a big spreadsheet with ALL running projects with status and to do’s. I know who is working on which song and what I have to do. This won’t help you, if you’re a rather chaotic and spontaneous person. You should try to set a maximum amount of parallel projects, get them done as soon as possible and learn to say “no”. Trap of perfectionism Talking to fellow songwriters, I often hear something like “I cannot finish this song. We need a great solo, but it’s not good enough”. It’s OK to be stuck here and there. But sometimes, we have to take a decision if we want to get the best possible solo (and put this song on hiatus for years) or perform an average solo to get the song done. Even if you decide to get the best possible solo, it doesn’t mean that YOU have to record or write it. If you’re stuck for too long – ask your best friend for a collab. They might come with an idea you never thought of. Perfectionism is a trap. Most people won’t bother if that solo has been played by an organ or guitar, if it suits the song. Nobody is able to read your mind and listen to your original idea. Circumventing the critical path When I write songs, I think about them as projects. My role as songwriter, arranger and producer is related to project management. I have a clear goal (release a full recorded song), a deadline (release date), a product vision (for example a hard rock song about driving down the Route 66) and a team (band members). I can break it down into milestones (draft, recording, mixing) and subtasks (record guitars), that can be assigned to different people. If you’re deep into project management, you may be heard of a critical path. It’s the longest chain of tasks that cannot be completed without the previous. This may result in massive delays or cancellation. The critical path points out, that you cannot parallelize everything. Same in songwriting – It’s pointless to record the vocals in parallel to the backing track. The vocalist won’t be able to jump into the groove of the rhythm section or circumvent the lead guitar. Most likely, one of them has to rerecord. This will end up in fights. Try to find your critical path and force people to stick to it. If they don’t, your bandmates may not be the right people to work on a multi-collab or musical chain letter with many dependencies. You can still have fun with them in a jam session or in a two-way collab. Otherwise, you may have to take hard decisions like: cancel, restaff or postpone. Nobody will be happy about them! Out of fuel Are you completely out of ideas? Or busy working on twenty projects in parallel? Sometimes it’s better to stop and get things done. There’s nothing wrong about a creative hiatus if you communicate it to your collab partners and bands. You don’t have to be there 24/7 and write 365 songs a year. Writing too much can lead to creative debt, too. Take a break and decide which songs are worth finishing. Are there some you can achieve on your own? Some that may need a little help from your friends? Is it better to cancel or archive some? Don’t start new projects while you’re sitting on a pile of unfinished songs. Otherwise, your creative debt will grow bigger and bigger. It won’t help you to refuel. How can I get rid of creative debt?

This post How to get stuff done and get rid of creative debt was published at Nadine de Macedo.

My roles in music

Nadine — Wed, 17 May 2023 14:00:00 +0000

In the past months, I receive a lot of requests from talented musicians all over the world. Most of them result in awesome musical collaborations, but sometimes people seem to misunderstand my roles in music. I decided to write this blog post to explain what I do and what I don’t. You will notice that nearly all of my songs credit me as composer, arranger and producer. I write songs for full bands and search for vocalists and instrumentalists to record them. All songs start as a rough programmed demo with fake instruments, and will be adapted to individual preferences and ranges. Sometimes I intentionally leave some parts of the song open, that can be filled with an own solo or lyric. I also co-write with songwriters and composers, where different people write different parts or add new instruments to existing backing tracks. Things I can offer Things I don’t do I hope that this blogpost helped you to understand my roles in music. In a nutshell: composition, arrangement, production, lyrics – and sometimes helping instruments.

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Dust – Leaving things behind

Nadine — Fri, 06 Jan 2023 11:00:00 +0000

“Dust” is a song about leaving things behind to enforce personal growth. It’s one of the fewer songs with a personal meaning, so I am very happy that a European team turned it into an awesome pop rock song. I am very thankful to have learned the basic concepts of audio production in my electronic music days. After a few years, producing electronic music felt like a habit. Something I was great at, but couldn’t enjoy any more. I suddenly had the strong urge to write pop and rock songs, but I couldn’t finish most of them. I always felt like an ingredient was missing, but I never knew what. It took me years to realize, that I didn’t lack of talent or skill. I grew as a person, but stuck on old habits and concepts. My old songs became nostalgic and unachievable, but I there was no growth without leaving my well-worn path. This is exactly the feeling, “Dust” is talking about. Pondering about your past, you can become blind to your present and the growth in between. This emotional dust has to be blown off the surface. Accept, that your previous decisions have been made from your former self with limited wisdom and possibilities. You cannot turn back time or use today’s experience to fix problems from yesterday. We decided to upload our song around New Year’s Eve, because we’re used to putting ourselves under pressure by resolutions that result from old behaviour. Though written in an afternoon, “Dust” took nearly a year from draft to mastering. The song has been completely rearranged and turned out much more alternative rock than my initial draft. As usual, you can listen to the song on SoundCloud and YouTube. Thank you Seppo, Johnny, Berni and intoyourlight to be part of the project. You rock!

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