#md5313

for todays session we got given another brief. our brief was to get into groups and write a song for another artists which is a song pitch so we are writing a song specifically for a recording artist (artist must have been in uk/us top 10 chart in the last 5 years).

for this task, we were put into groups and i was with brandan, tyler and ellie. we went into a practise room and then listed our skills. we had me and brandan on lyrics, toppling and vocal harmony and then ellie and tyler worked on the instrumental which was piano and bass. with our skills put together, the artist we decided to write for is lewis capaldi. he usually has slow pop ballads in a verse, prechorus, chorus, verse, prechorus, chorus, bridge, chorus structure. the piano part is usually quite understated with the main vocals the focus. his lyrics are normally based around love or being left alone.

me and brandan used the shared note feature again to collaborate and write our lyrics. we started by deciding the theme of the song which was someone not loving us when we want them to. we both had pre made lyrics which fit this theme so we merged and shuffled them around to fit into a song! this process was fast and enjoyable; me and brandan work well together!

lyrics: when was it that you fell out of love w me was it the last time you walked down my street

maybe if you were honest in the first place you would be stood right here next to me

i couldn’t see a chance of change wanted to clear my name & do it all over again i now have myself to blame

i don’t know how do you always know when it’s finally time to let go

was the love you gave me real? was it only just for show?

i couldn’t see a chance of change wanted to clear my name & do it all over again i now have myself to blame

so can you tell me? did you get me? did you see me? did you love me?

(final chorus) i couldn’t see a chance of change wanted to clear my name & do it all again i now have myself to blame that you don’t feel the same

while we were doing that, ellie and tyler were coming up with some chords. we needed to fit that timing together but after we had that sorted, me and brandan got to work thinking of a melody. funnily enough and and brandan sang the same melody at the same time without even singing it beforehand to each other which made us laugh but made the melody writing easy. at the end of the first session, we had the lyrics, chords and verse melody down, we just needed to work on the prechorus, chorus and bridge!

we then came into our next rehearsal ellie was ill so couldn’t make it in! we got the chords that she had created but felt like it didn’t fit to the song so i went into the piano and came up with new chords! the new chords are: verse: bm, d, g x2 prechorus: bm, d ,bm, a, d, g, bm, a chorus: bm, a, d, g x2 bridge: g,bm, a

the new chords meant the chorus needed an extra 3 lines to it in order for to to fit better so brandan quickly added this! couldn’t see a chance of change wanted to clear my name & do it all over again i now have myself to blame no longer feel the same i think i’m going insane

with the new chords, i got to work trying to come up with a melody.  i struggled to play and sing at the same time and also the chorus didn’t seem to fit so we asked josh to be a session musician for us. he happily said yes and when he got into the room i managed to have the melody sorted so it was all about putting it together and running it through. after running it through a couple of times, we decided to have 2 rounds of the bridge slow and then have the next 2 bigger which gave the song more depth.

overall, this song isn’t my favourite song i have written but there are elements to it that i love and has taught me a lot. i have learnt how to work effectively within a group and how to overcome challenges when things don’t come to plan. i learnt to step up and push myself out of my comfort zone by playing the piano. i also learnt its okay to ask for help with certain things such as asking for josh to play the piano for me. i personally love the chorus and bridge part of the song, i think it definitely captures a pop feel to it. while this song doesn’t appear to be tailored to lewis capaldi, it has given more of a shawn mendes vibe which still fits the brief. after listening to some of shawn’s songs, we came to the realisation he structures his bridges similarly to ours! he often repeats the bridge 4 times with the last two louder which is what we did here!

if i could do anything differently, i would change the melody of the verses. i don’t think they were developed enough and in the recording i was out of tune due to the fact it was out of my range. while the song is in the range for a male singer, i couldn’t sing it properly which makes the demo sound off! however, i am proud that i was pushed out of my comfort zone and helped my group push through when things didn’t go to plan.

https://soundcloud.com/anya-smith-458839725/song-for-an-artist-song-final/s-F5KG2FwMJck?si=37592e70e6614a14a24ab31e95a86041 

This weeks session was hosted by Gemma Farrington who is a Sync Manager at Sentric Music. The brief we were given was for an electric bike advert. The bike brand were looking for a song for their very first advert campaign. They were looking down two potential routes. Me and daisy chose route two and had to create a demo song.

What the song for route 2 needed to include:

Exploring HipHop/ contemporary jazz/ jazz rap/ R&B.

Contemporary modernised option

elegance

Instruments such as saxaphone and piano as mentioned in the reference track

This was the reference track that the company gave to us as an example for what they were looking for:

Reference Track: Tessellated- I learnt Some Jazz Today

As the company wanted a more modernised feel, me and Daisy decided on going with the HipHop genre mixed with a modern synth feel. We made sure that the tempo was fast, using a HipHop electric drum kit, to signify the bike moving fast. We also wanted to add the elegance using the strings towards the end of the demo. We felt lyrics wouldnt have gone with the song and that we would have potentially ruined the track. So, we kept it the same and added a synth voice effect instead.

Structure wise, we both wanted the song to have a build up. In the intro we started off with a single track of a synth voice effect and added the hip/hop beat in and then all tracks togther with a bass. This was to try and add anticipation, by layering the track.

When recording for the ‘Song for a Speciality Market’ brief, My group and I decided on making a Christmas song. The people in my group were Daisy and myself on vocals, Aiysha on piano, Cameron on guitar and ollie on guitar. Cameron also was in charge of mixing and mastering and editing the recording. While adding other instruments into the recording to make it more of a christmas song.

The process started with Ollie playing on guitar, coming up with the chords while Cameron adding layers on-top of the chords with his guitar. With the help of having the chords done, me and Ollie started to come up with lyrics ,which we then gave to the chorus. Once we had a repetive riff and melody, we then all started rehearsing and all complimented each other. With the contribution everyone had to the structure and lyrics of the song, we wrote the song very quickly. We also wanted a deeper meaning and story to the song. Its about someone being alone at christmas, as its not a easy time for everyone during this time of year.

When it came to recording the song in the studio, only me and Ollie recorded. The others then added thier own influence onto the track, which we all heard in rehearsal. Cameron then added his mixing and mastering and editing to the track.

lyrics:

My inspiration for writing this song came from the song 'Blue Christmas' by Elvis Presely and any country song that seemed to take influence in this project. Ollie is one of them as he came up with the country genre.

The track:

In this session we were asked to write a song for an artist who has been in the top charts within the past 5 years.

During the process of writing and composing for the ‘Co-write a song for another artist’ brief, individually I started to unpack what musical techniques my artist uses. I chose to make a song for The Weekend who I highly admire and who is known for his 80’s synth musical talent. I used his song ‘Die for You’ as a reference track to help with inspiration. 

I started by breaking the writer’s block by moving out of my comfort zone. I made the driving bassline first and added catchy synth melodic chords layering on top. Once I had the first starting point, I started working on a memorable rhythm vocally as well as lyrics. I made sure to change the rhythm of my singing throughout the verses such as verse one and two. Lyrically I wrote something that The Weekend may have written himself such as the theme of love/heartbreak. This was in the process of me composing. I then added simple classic electronic drums and more layers to the track such as synth pads and piano to give a better effect. 

Lyrics:

Furthermore, I didn’t want to keep the ‘normal’ pop song structure. This is what I used for my structure. Intro, chorus, verse, pre-chorus, chorus, verse, pre-chorus, chorus x2, outro. I was very ambitious working on parts such as, the intro and outro. I wanted something that easily fades in and out. I did this by adding synth slowly into the intro/chorus. I also wanted something dreamy. Once I had this set, I came up with a vocal harmony that I sang, which adds to the dreamy effect. I purposely did this to add a catchy riff to my song using the voice and synth. 

3 Greatest strengths

Creating catchy melody lines

Variations of chord progressions

Choice of instruments

3 Songwriting improvements

Improve mixing and mastering

Writing lyrics

Creating live sounds to use