Transcripts
1. Introduction: Hello everyone. Thank
you so much for taking the songwriting
lesson with me, amir. We will be diving
deep into some of the concepts that are used
to write my own songs. So we're going to
start with identifying what are the key
elements of a song. The key elements of a song
are the intro to birth, the chorus, and the bridge. Think of the intro as a start of a film or the start of the
song that you really like. The main purpose behind
the intro is to introduce the song to the listener and also to catch the
listener's attention.
2. Write the Intro: So we're going to start
with writing the intro. Here I have my
project window open. I'm just going to walk
through what these drugs are and how we can begin
writing the intro. I like to have these
rhythm guitars panned hard right and hard
left because they give a stereo image of whatever sound that
we're going to record them. Then we have a bass track, then we have another additional
rhythm guitar tracks that we will be using in the
later sections of the song. Then we have a drum track, then we have a cleanly track, then we have another
cleanly track. So you gotta have an intro
line which I had come up with, and this is what I have
to develop into a sudden, I'm gonna play the roof
again with the metronome on, just so you know that how I have tractor riff in time
with the current song. So what I have done here, I have, I have Genki
faded these tracks in. I usually like to feed my
tracks in for the intro, because for me it's a matter
of personal preference. I want the sound to
be introduced as a warm blanket so I make sure
that my tracks are eased. And the way to do that is
by feeding the tracks. So I have duplicated this
one riff four times, and here is what the
intro sounds like. I think I'm very happy with
keeping the intro very simple and just introducing
it with one guitar riff. So as you can hear, the two guitar tracks have
different Amazon them, which gives the guitar riff a different flavor and a
different sound profile. But when you play them together, that is when the magic happens. There is a company
called neural DSP that makes a whole bunch
of these presets. And I will leave the links in the resources section for
you to check them out. Of course, having these presets is definitely not essential. There are tons of free
presets that are available, but I choose to use this because they give me the dynamic and the tonal range of
whatever that I am looking for in my guitar
and in particular, the kinds of songs
that I want to make. So that's the reason
why I use this, but it's not a hard
and fast rule that you must have these to
create your own songs. So I think now we're good to go to the next part of the song. I'm very happy with the
intro that I have tracked. It eases into the listeners. You're getting our segue into the next part,
which is the worst.
3. Write the Verse: Now we come to the next section of the song, which is the worse. Think of the worst as an
opportunity to tell a story. Since all of my songs
are instrumental, I combine some of the
elements of the intro, add additional
Gedaliah's piano layers, or even changed the drumbeat to make the worst sound
a little bit unique. The idea behind using
some of the elements of the intro is to ensure the
cohesiveness of the song. This makes sure
that the song flows effortlessly into the next part of the cell, which
is the chorus. For the worst part,
I'm just going to duplicate these lines. So what I did was I just
duplicated this guitar lines for an additional four bars to have a base that I can build
off of the word sweet. So now I'm going to add
additional guitar layers and then pick a drumbeat
to complete the bus. Now that we have
duplicated apart, I have my guitar plugged in, as we know already, the verse is where you want
to tell a story. So what I like to
do is I like to add additional guitar
layers that compliments the existing layers
from the intro and make the voice sound a
little bit more different, but also introduce a little bit more
complexity in the song. You're also doing that I
have picked for adding an additional guitar
line in diverse. So let's go ahead and record this guitar line and
see how it sounds. So what I'm gonna do
now is I'm making sure that this guitar line
is tracked in time. And then I'm just
going to duplicate it. Now that I have recorded a guitar line that
is panned hard left, let's go ahead and record another guitar line
that is piled hard, right, to give it
that stereo image. Now that I have tried, both
left and right guitars, I'm just going to
duplicate them. So let's see how
the voice sounds with all these Natalia is added. I think I'm very happy with
the way I have tractors. So I'm going to move on
to picking the drumbeat. So now that we have tracked
all the guitar lines, I like to pick a drumbeat from
a drum library that I use. The links to the drum
libraries that I use can be found in the resources
section of the video. Since I don't have
access to live drums, you can program these drums
and have these group packs that are available from
multiple different sources. I'll link a few in
the resources section and I would urge you
to check them out. So my idea of getting a drumbeat for the worse is to keep things slow moving yet have like a
nice and relaxed field to it. The worse is the first part that the listener is hearing.
After the intro. I wanted to intro to have a nice and casual beat that
introduces the tempo of the song yet does not become too intense or too mellow
at the same time. So let's go ahead
and pick a drumbeat. I really liked this drumbeat. I'm just going to take this
loop and place it here. I can just go ahead and
duplicate this part, since it is the same
part of the worst. Now let's hear the song
with the drumbeat. So a couple of things to
keep in mind would be if you don't have access to
all of these instruments, VST plugins, virtual
instruments are very popular. We do not need to have any expertise and actually
playing these instruments. I will leave the links to all of these Jump Box and all of these libraries that you can access in the resources
section of the video. I think it sounds really nice. Now it's time to put
some baselines on this. So let's hear how
the word sounds like with all the
elements into it. So I'm very happy with
how the sounding. So now I'm going to move on to the next part of the song,
which is the cookies.
4. Write the Chorus: Now we come to the most
important part of the song, which is the chorus. The chorus can be described
as a culmination of the best ideas that you
have in one part of a song. This is the strongest
part of the song. And I usually find myself coming up with cool ideas first. And then I move on to
working for the bridge on the intro and all the
other sections of the song. This may not be the
case with your songs. Remember, the most
important thing is that you can work on
all of these elements separately and then still combine them to make
them sound cohesive. You want to go to is
to really drive home. You want the code is to really stick in the listener's head. So the way I like to start
is I like to pick a riff or a guitar line from the previous section
and just duplicate it. I'm just going to duplicate
this for four bars. I really liked the
sound of this line. This line should be there. I think this guitar line should be there in
the next section, even though it may not be heard. All that audibly in the final
version of the code is, I think this is a
good starting point. So that's the way I start. The next step that I take is to really find a drumbeat that can waste this message of this is the goddess of the song. So I'm gonna go look
for the drumbeat similar to what I did
in the worst section. And again, all the links to
the drum grooves that I'm using can be found in the resources section
of this video. So although this groove
sounds very good, I think it is very similar
to the last section. So that's the reason why I'm
not going to select this. One thing to keep
in mind would be this process can take
however long it can. It may seem rushed
when I'm doing it, but that is because I am
recording this lesson. Usually, I like to take my own time with this part
and this is something that I am really consuming and really looking for those
minute differences. So really take your time, really identify and isolate where you think
the song is going, how you want your
code has to sound and then try to make a
choice of the drumbeat. I think that's it.
That's the group that I want to select. So I'm just going to drag
and drop this groove. I think I only liked the
first part of this group, so I'm just going
to keep that part. I think that sounds very good. So what I'm gonna do
is I'm just going to duplicate this part again
all the way through. So now we have the
drumbeat selected, which is going to
be the drumbeat for the coldest
part of the salt. Let's go add some more layers. So now I'm going to put some more layers
into the chorus of the song to go with the drumbeat that we just selected
for this song. I think I knew how I want
my guitar sound like. I'm just going to select
the rhythm guitar preset that I have. And I'm going to straight away
record. This code is part. As always, we can just cut this part and then
have it duplicated. And let's see how that sounds. So what I'm doing now is
just making sure that my tics and my guitar playing
aligns with the grid. And that makes sure that
the song really sounds on time and the song is really tight and all of my takes are in time with the BPM that we
have picked for the song. So I'm very happy
with the guitar. So now we will track the base. Now that we have
our base plugin, Let's go ahead and record the base for the coolest
part of the song. Couple of things
to keep in line. If you don't have
an actual base, there are several VST plugins
that can be used with your digital audio
workstation to program the bass
parts for any song. I'll put the links to all of these in the resources section, which you can feel free
to check them out. And if you don't
have a natural base, it should not stop you from
writing your own self. So what we're gonna do
is just duplicate that. And now we have
the bass part for the entire code section. At this point, I think
this goddess is getting too long for bars is
going to be too long. So I'm going to just create
a chart to like toolbars. What I think is
happening now is we do have a very good
base of a goddess. We do have that part which essentially is driving forward, but it's lacking that
one signature element that will catch
the listeners you are and have that aha moment. So now I'm going to think about a melody that can
be added on top of this so that we can come up with an effective goddess that, uh, pieces to the listener and make sure that
they remember it. So now that I have
my guitar plugin, I'm going to find a lead line that will go with the chorus. Let's select an M. I already have one
selected here. We've used this preset
in the previous, in one of the previous sections. As you can see here. I don't mind. Let's see
what let's see what we get. If you want, we can
change it later, but I think it should be okay. So what I want is I'm looking
for more delays to come, come out of the guitar
so that the ring. And then they stay in the
codas and that sort of obesity the listener and then mix
the parts on more cohesive. Okay, That sounds really good. Let's see how that sounds
in context of the chorus. And go ahead and record it. A couple of pointers
while thinking about the coldest line would be
identify the scale of the song. This song is going to be
in the scale of C major. So all the shapes and all the elements
that are going to be played in the salt
are going to have to confirm to the key of C major. Once you identify
the key of the song, it is very easy to figure out what nodes
that you want to play and what would be the
nodes that would go well with any part of the song. Once you have the
key of the song, definitely improvise a lot. Go ahead and spend
some time listening to what the pod demand and then
come up with lead lines. Go with the flow of the song, or come up with an emotion. Try and come up
with Lee lens that convey the emotion of the
song that you are thinking. One tip would be to hammer out the lines and
think with your head and sing those lines
out rather than trying to figure out
lines on your instrument. We tend to think
very technically, when we tried to think with
our hands on an instrument, keep playing and keep repeating and keep listening
to one part over and over again and humming the lines that you think are
going to sound nice. And then you can translate
that into an instrument. It always works for me and
I use this all the time. This is how the code is sounds with all the elements completed. So that completes the
code section of the song. Now, we're gonna move
on to write the bridge, to see you in the next video.
5. Write the Bridge : The final section of the
song is called the bridge. The bridge section is where the piece of the song
changes slightly. Now for the duration
of this course, I am going to achieve this by changing the
chord progression. But feel free to experiment with different
elements of the song. Like you can change
the time signature, you can change the
drumbeat, et cetera. So definitely like try and make sure all
of your creativity goes into getting a bridge that sounds a little bit different
from the whole song, but also gives a nice segue into the next concluding
chorus of the song. So now that we know what
the bridge is about, let's go and see what we can replicate on what
we can use from the previous section into this bridge and then
build off of that. I really liked this lead line that I played in the chorus. So I think I would
like to keep that consistent in the bridge. So I have duplicated that. The way I'm going to
approach this bridge is I'm going to change the chord
progression of the song. But as I've mentioned before, feel free to be as creative as possible and experiment
with different techniques. You can change the drumbeat, you can change the baseline, you can change the
chord progression, but the main part of
the bridge is to break the monotony of the song that
has been created till now. The way to break out of that monotony is by
making the bridge. The bridge will sound like
a breath of fresh air. And we want to make it
sound as different, but still a part
of the same song. This is where a lot
of people and I found myself struggling during
the initial few days. The way I approach it is to
change the chord progression, but still keep the
cards in the same key. By doing that, you can give a
fresh new look to the song. It still sounds cohesive. It still sounds like
a part of the song. It gives the listener a
fresh new perspective. We can bring back the code
is right after the bridge, and then that is how we get
the song to completion. So let's compose the bridge
and then get back the chorus, and then complete the song
and give the listener that aha moment that I've heard this codas before and
I can relate to it, but this bridge has given
me a fresh new perspective. And now when I heard the chorus, I'm even more invested
into the song. So I've got my
guitar plugged in. I know what track
I'm going to use. I know what preset
I'm going to use, and I'm going to change
the chord progression. So let's see how that goes. So what I've done is I've
reduced the level of disbarred because we do not want that part to
overshadow the bridge. The bridge is supposed to be, remember, a breath of fresh air. So what we're doing now is
we have practice guitar. You can increase the
volume just a little bit. What I think is coming out of a very heavy and a
very driving codas. I think this bridge will
not have any drums. I'm going to leave
the drums blank. I'm going to put some
bass track on it. And I might put another guitar earlier just to make things
sound more cohesive, but also a little bit different than the
existing sections. So let's see how that goes. I think I know what I'm going to play over the bridge line. So let's go ahead and track it. So we've tracked our line. I think it's a little bit off, so I'm just going to
quickly fix that. And let's see how our grid cells in order to give
this more depth. But I'm going to do now is I'm just going to copy,
disagree with them. Guitar that I have tracked, which is the back-end chords. I'm just going to copy
this and paste them here. Another one and paste it here. Since these two channels
are panned right and left, I would have to paste them individually into
different channels. So what I'm gonna do with this rhythm guitar is I'm
just going to duplicate it. And then this one will
go left, go right. So I'm going to pan
them left and right. This is right. So we don't need that. This is left. So we
will pan that left. This is right. So we'll
pan that right. Let's see. Yeah, that sounds I think that instantly sounds
so much more better. Now let's see how it sounds with all the other elements that we have tracked for the bridge. So now that we have
a base plugged in, I'm just going to
track the base for this part of the song and then we will get to what the
complete breath sounds like. So now that we have completed tracking the base for the song, let's see how the
bird sounds like.
6. Class Project : The class project will be
your writing something that consists of the four basic
elements of any Tom. An intro, works, a bridge. And of course, this
project follows the exact same
methodology that I personally used to
write my own songs. One useful tip would
be that you can reuse some existing elements to create all the four basic building
blocks of a complete sound. I would also encourage
you to share your progress
through the class in the class project gallery
so I can give you feedback as you are progressing
through the lesson. Intermediate level of
proficiency in working with digital audio workstations
that Cubase and logic is recommended
for taking this course. I can't wait to show all of
your ideas and share with you some useful tips and tricks that will help you in
creating your own songs. So let's get started.
7. Final Thoughts, Tips and Tricks! : So number one would be you have fun while you're
creating your song. Your songs are the most
honest representation of your creativity. So make sure you have fun. I really enjoy making my songs. And when I have a
spare dime from book, I know I come back here
and I work on myself. Take them part by part, but also try and take
your time with it and definitely express as much
creativity as you can. A lot of times you don't need
to make things complicated. Sometimes keeping things
simple also help. For example, a
bridge can just be a silent part where
there is no drums, no bass, and just a guitar
line playing a new melody. Sometimes it sounds
like a breath of fresh air and it really
gives the listener a break. So try to include as many of
these tips and tricks into your workflow and make your songs on unique
as much as possible. If you feel stuck,
take time off, there is no harm
in letting us all go and then coming back
to it after a while. What I usually like to do, if I finished working on
one part of the song, I export it and then make sure it's on my
phone, on my watch. I usually listen to this
part over and over again. That gives me a
lot of new ideas. And those ideas, or I make
notes about it in my phone. And when I get back
and get back on my computer and try
all these things up, it may not always work this way, but when you give
it enough times and then you try enough times, something definitely dy dx. If you decide to
work on the project, as you're moving to the lesson, please upload your videos to the project section
of this lesson. I can give you feedback
on all of your projects. I answer any questions that may arise while you are
taking this left foot. You can also do is
see if this bulk flow as a template for
future use so that you can keep making songs and
you don't have to start from scratch every time we
want to work on a new song. I hope you've learned something valuable from this lesson. I have thoroughly enjoyed sharing all the
knowledge that I have, engineering, all of these
tips and tricks with you. I hope all of you go and
publish your own songs. I'll leave my email in
the description below. If you want to get in
touch with me directly, if you want to follow my work, I have a link to the
YouTube channel, link in the project
description of this video. Thank you and see you soon.
Ameyaxoxo, Musician, Songwriter, Engineer!
