Anatomy of A Song - The Process, From Idea To Finished Product

Today’s show is going to be a little different as I focus on the process that goes into producing my songs. It is my hope that you will all find the episode very insightful and entertaining, more so if you are an artist. The song I’ll be analyzing is Drill Down. Drill Down is a song featured in my Geography of the Soul album, which I released in 2014. How I draft my songs. Having been blessed with creative songwriting skills, I usually try to focus on including at least 10-15 songs per album. The album featured songs are as a result of more incomplete songs that I draft over a long period of time. I love the process of not trying to finish a song on the first go. Songs featured in the Geography of the soul album, for example, are a result of 50-70 mostly incomplete riffs, ideas, poetry, titles, and ideas. I feel that it’s important to grace the music writing process with time. The more time you give yourself to draft a song, the better the final version. I go over the rough version of my songs over and over again, up until I feel that the final content is mature enough to be produced. Titles are very important at the start of the writing process. You can start off from a great title and build your song around it. For example, the title Drill Down inspired my chorus in the song. The pre-chorus and chorus are about building a relationship based on genuine and open communication about who you are trying to uncover. Demos are also very vital when producing. Personally, I love seeking help through honest communication with my colleagues and producers. I trust them to provide me with authentic and trustworthy comments about what they think of my lyrics and performance. Even more important when performing your demos, remember to give it your very best in the studio. As a matter of fact, don’t ever produce a demo unless you’re on your A-game on that particular day. Because once you’ve produced a great demo, then you’ll most definitely produce an even better song. Timestamps 01:20 Working with Libsyn and Amazon 03:03 How I draft my album songs 06:12 Song titles 07:35 Analysing the Drill Down chorus 08:43 How I perform my demos 12:21 Listen to the demo version of Drill Down. 17:07 Preparing your files for the producer. 18:33 Comments about “Drill Down”. 21:53 Teamwork during production 22:36 Why .wav files are better than .mp3 files 26:06 Listen to Drill Down Selected links and mentions. Libsyn Amazon Reverbnation Kim Copeland Mike White Presents Steven Tyler Drill Down by James Kevin O’Connor