How Do You Know When to Save Something for Later?

[Razor7Music]

Hey Folks--

I've always had this question and this is the first group where I feel like I will get a relevant answer.

I've started doing Pop again after many years of not. I'm trying to juggle pulling the listener in and not being too repetitious.

In my old life, I might save a harmony for the 2nd verse or even second chorus in some cases. Then there are those times when I want to hook the listener in right away and I throw everything at them from the start.

I know it depends on the song and is subjective--I've been listening to top 40 and I hear both being used. What do you do? Vocal harmonies was only one example. How do you know if you should save a little something in the production for the middle or near the end of the track--or hit them at 80 miles an hour from beat 1?

Appreciate any input

[Russell Landwehr]

Heya, Stephen.

David Penn, (A taxi member http://forums.taxi.com/member173.html ) has this site: http://www.hitsongsdeconstructed.com/

For a subscription (and you can do a free-trial last I remember) you can look at the hit songs totally ripped apart and analyzed and graphed and... well... deconstructed.

What is cool is it answers a lot of those kind of questions in light of what is charting now.

But then I think yer gonna find out that the "TRUE" answer is... "It Depends."

[Len911]

I think some of the things you mention aren't production, they're songwriting, pulling the listener in, hooking the listener, being too repetitious. And polishing something that is shiny to begin with is much easier than polishing something dull, gritty and less refined.

[Razor7Music]

Heya, Stephen.

David Penn, (A taxi member http://forums.taxi.com/member173.html ) has this site: http://www.hitsongsdeconstructed.com/

For a subscription (and you can do a free-trial last I remember) you can look at the hit songs totally ripped apart and analyzed and graphed and... well... deconstructed.

What is cool is it answers a lot of those kind of questions in light of what is charting now.

But then I think yer gonna find out that the "TRUE" answer is... "It Depends."

I've been checking out the anatomy of the hits on Robin Frederick's site too. Still reading her Shortcuts to Hits book and finding it very valuable.

[hummingbird]

Ralph Murphy deconstructs the country hits, check him out.
http://murphyslawsofsongwriting.com/

example - interesting stats for 2011 hits
http://murphyslawsofsongwriting.com/ind ... it-and-how

[Len911]

If all the statistical analysis could be fashioned into algorithms, I could see a "Hit-In-The-Box" software on the horizon.

[Razor7Music]

If all the statistical analysis could be fashioned into algorithms, I could see a "Hit-In-The-Box" software on the horizon.

He he. That fact that there are so many similarities with Pop music tells me something fresh has got to be on the horizon. I keep thinking that I better get one of my Pop songs placed here pretty soon or what I'm doing may already be out of style.