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IntroHave you ever wanted to be ahead of the curve? Well as a music producer it’s incredibly important to keep an ear to the ground for the latest sounds and at least be aware of them.
Secretly I kind of wish to be a Music Supervisor, through all the ups & downs I’ve had musically, finding new songs to listen to and excite me has always been a passion. This skill (especially finding the “right” stuff) is really important to be a modern producer, creating commercial quality work. With the release cycle of music and the marketing that needs to be done before a launch, you need to be ahead of the curve for your artists as it will give them longevity. By being ahead of the curve your artists will come across as trendy and garner attention from Publishers, Bloggers, Radio DJs and general
With the release cycle of music and the marketing that needs to be done before a launch, you need to be ahead of the curve for your artists as it will give them longevity. By being ahead of the curve your artists will come across as trendy and garner attention from Publishers, Bloggers, Radio DJs and general trend setters.
Critical listening
To really get the best out of this you need to build up your critical listening skills, not just enjoy the music you’re listening to. In fact, I sometimes don’t enjoy this music. About 5 or 6 years ago I never listened to radio 1, or anything pop, my search for music was much more underground and in genres I loved. By ‘critical listening’ I mean you need to pull apart the tracks asking-
- What instrumentation is being used and how?
- What sounds are chosen for those instruments?
- What’s the tempo?
- What effects are they using and how?
- How have things been arranged?
The better you get the more detail you will pick up, after a while you can start to pick up on what types of guitars and amps are being used, what type of piano, what room it’s recorded in, what compressor, how an EQ has been used etc.
When you start to analyse music like this it really can ruin it for you, so this is partially why I leave the genres I love alone as much as possible with this kind of thinking. Any musician knows once you learn an instrument to a certain level you will constantly be analysing the playing of that instrument in a song. This is exactly the same but the Producer version, as you get better this will just start to happen through osmosis and you won’t realise you are doing it.
Up & coming trends in the mainstream
Trying to follow the trends as they are happening in mainstream radio plays and youtube shares is great, but if you want to stay ahead of the curve you should really try listening to the up and coming trends.
The sound of…
As I write this we are only 2 days away from the announcement of the shortlist for the BBCs sound of 2017 and it actually excites me. Since 2003 the BBC has run the ‘Sound of 20–‘ competition and in those 13 years it has crowned and short listed a lot of great Talent.
Jack Garratt won last year, Nao came 3rd and WSTRN came 5th. In past years winners have been Sam Smith, Adele, Ellie Goulding, Haim, Years & Years and Jack Garratt. Now that list has had serious effects on both the UK and US music industry. Wouldn’t you have loved to have heard them when they were up & coming and given yourself a few months head start? Go Check out the long list this Monday!
Mercury Prize
The Mercury Prize is also a great one to watch, winners in the last few years have been The XX, Alt-J, James Blake and Skepta. Keep an eye on any other ‘sound of/who will be big next year lists’. Bear in mind some of these online lists can be written by biased sources and don’t get independently judged by a panel of experts so be careful but certainly dont rule them out. I named these two also because they are almost self-fulfilling prophecies. The attention that is given to an underground or up & coming artist even by being shortlisted propels them onto every music journalists radar and will instantly change their career.
I named these two also because they are almost self-fulfilling prophecies. The attention that is given to an underground or up & coming artist even by being shortlisted propels them onto every music journalists radar and will instantly change their career.
Radio 1 introducing
Make some time each week to listen to the Radio 1 introducing show or playlist. Why Radio 1 and not a local show? Well, it’s much harder to get on the radio 1 show it’s gone through so many steps of filtering and channeling by the time it’s played you know it has potential, even if it is not necesarily your thing. Radio 1 wants to be able to help say they discovered these artists so they tend to do a great job in the research. Since its Launch in 2007 its helped launch the careers of Florence and the Machine, The Temper Trap, Two Door Cinema Club,
Radio 1 wants to be able to help say they discovered these artists so they tend to do a great job in the research. Since its Launch in 2007 its helped launch the careers of Florence and the Machine, The Temper Trap, Two Door Cinema Club, The 1975, Rizzle Kicks, Everything Everything, Dry the River, Gabrielle Aplin, George Ezra, Jacob Collier, The Joy Formidable, MGMT, Twin Atlantic etc. They must be doing something right, and these acts have really now had an effect on the UK scene.
Youtube
Currently, the number 1 place to consume music is Youtube, so also try looking at what’s trending and the specific youtube music channel page just to see what’s changed or new. When it’s a daily habit it helps you stay ahead of the game that bit more as you’ll notice the new additions that day.
Being that little bit more Nerdy
By reading this far you are obviously not adverse to lots of reading, so why not try following some music blogs. It can take a little bit more time than the above, but it can help you follow the trends better and get a bit further ahead of the curve as this is where quite a few mainstream sources are looking for their “up and coming” segments. An advantage to getting to know blogs is that if you build up a good relationship with them and your music sounds similar there is a good chance they will give it a listen and blog about it. Cold calling, for anything in this industry, works so much better when it’s done with research and a love/appreciation of what that person does. So expect to be reasonably successful if you’ve read their work and can write a nice email showing that.
Further advantages
An advantage to getting to know blogs is that if you build up a good relationship with them and your music sounds similar there is a good chance they will give it a listen and blog about it. Cold calling, for anything in this industry, works so much better when it’s done with research and a love/appreciation of what that person does. So expect to be reasonably successful if you’ve read their work and can write a nice email showing that.
Obviously find the Blogs specific to the genres you like but here are some of my personal favorites (in no particular order) Stamp the Wax, Drowned in Sound, Pitchfork, The Blue Walrus, The Line of Best Fit, Certified UK, Pop Justice, We Plug GOOD Music
Look up at the greats
There are maybe 10 songwriters who massively shape modern pop music:-
- Max Martin
- Ryan Tedder
- Dr Luke
- Benny Blanco
- Sia Furler
- Ester Dean
- Bonnie McKee
- Jeff Bhaskar
- Stargate
- The Cataracs
Max Martin
The one held in highest regard is Max Martin, purely for his longevity in the industry, and eye-watering list of credits.
If you have time watch this chronological video of every one of his hits, from 1995-2016 and see how his sound has evolved. It is clear he has helped shape modern pop music quite heavily so he really is someone to pay attention to. Trust me if you listen with a critical ear you’ll hear some common threads that are invaluable lessons as a producer.
If you look up the last couple of releases that Max Martin has written you will see a masterclass in current trends, your productions will definitely sound better for it and up to date for a good year or so if you follow his current sound. As you can see from the video, skipping by more than a couple of years, a lot changes, so you can listen to older references but I wouldn’t venture back further than a year or two at the most to sound current.
1989
Taylor Swift took this ‘how to predict a trend’ business really seriously, after not winning album of the year at the Grammys with RED she decided to bring on Max Martin to Executive Produce 1989 with her which was the first time he had helped sculpt an entire album before and look at the results! If you’d like to learn more about that you really should check out this interview/listening session.
The 20-30 year rule
Strangely things always seem to come back around into fashion in cycles, and that cycle tends to be 20-30 years. In the previous decade, the 00’s a lot of artists emerged with 70s-esque qualities and currently in the 2010’s we have quite a few homages to the 80s.
In the past few months in the mainstream, there have been a few 90s sounding songs, (24k magic – Bruno mars in 90s pop/funk style, Nao shows some 90s R&B/Funk Influences and some massive attack influences are coming into the mainstream) I personally think we are on the cusp of the 90s coming back in. It may be a bit too soon to nail exactly which elements though but I think writers are experimenting, maybe so should you…
That’s all good but…
You may be asking ‘if these are things you do constantly why aren’t you producing hit after hit?’ Well in an independent world of self-funding the artist is king and I purely serve my artists, I’m not serving a record label who are paying me and funding the project to be a success. Of course, I offer advice and the first hour of a session with me or a pre-production session is discussing your musical likes and ambitions, allowing me to analyse how they are produced and arranged and offer my own reference ideas and modern ideas.
Difference between production and music
At the end of the day I want to produce what my artists want and have envisaged, I love seeing that look when I’ve realised the sound an artist has had in their head. A client recently burst into tears next to me as I had finally realised a track for him that he’d been imagining since the 80s. It may not be commercially mainstream but at that moment it was worth more to me than I can put into words. What’s in my head helps me keep the engineering and the production methods modern and you need to realise the difference between production trends and musical trends and use it to your advantage. If you analyse the production trends and apply it to your unique sound it can help keep you sounding modern but in your own unique way.
Stars aligning
When I am given an element of free reign by co-writing as well as producing then sometimes I can hit the nail on the head. This song was written and produced over two and a half years ago, in a one-day session when the artist and I were both completely on the same page and the stars aligned. In comparison to some modern Rihanna, James Blake etc I think it definitely holds its own and in the last year, it has caught the attention of a couple of music supervisors for some American network sci-fi TV shows…
Keep an eye out for Pt2 soon.