Road Rally Notes

[ragani]

I wish I had more *real* notes to post-- most of my notes are inspirations/ideas that come to me when sitting in a workshop... probably not so relevant to everyone here. Raags

[ciskokidd]

Wow,I have to take better notes! These that Nomi and Raags posted brought back so many insights. I can't believe I missed the HOT AC class, it sounds amazing, but then again so was Steve Memel's class which was at the same time ARGGGH! Hopefully next year!Thanks Nomi and Raags for posting these!Cisco

[ragani]

Yeah, I'm also thankful to read Nomi's notes, as it seems she attended just the ones that I missed and wished I could attend! Who could have asked for more? And now we all have the notes to enjoy-- thanks for starting this post Nomi!! Raags

[bmete]

Thanks Nomi!I tried to take notes but I could write fast enough, there was so much great info going on.I'm printing everything out and in a binder it goes.Thanks again!Bob

[nomiyah]

I'm glad you guys got something from the notes. I was only writing what random ideas caught my interest, not trying to be a journalist.

[nomiyah]

Mark Christian, session guitarist, recording artist. Country hit chorus is like a headline. Hook has shock value.

[nomiyah]

I think that's about it. I didn't take too many notes because I was more focused on absorbing information than recording it. Maybe other people have some notes to add.Nomi

[ragani]

SECRET SAUCE: The Inside Scoop on How TAXI's Screeners & the Industry Really WorkPanel: Michael Laskow (moderator), Pat Luboff (co-author of 101 Songwriting Wrongs and How to Right Them), Meg Hansen (consultant to Universal, Columbia, and Geffen Records), Matt Hirt (created full-time career in film/TV/commercials from TAXI forwards), John Braheny (author, The Craft and Business of Songwriters), Dave Walton (many film/TV placements & credits), Marlice Kraemer (CCM/Country expert)[Note: These are brief, abbreviated notes, as I was not present for part of this presentation]When you write a song for a particular artist, know that the artist wants a song about something they love. Remember-- artists who cut an album will sing those lyrics 100's of times and it must be something they really are a match to. For examples, Garth Brooks is now happily married and does not want to sing songs about divorce, etc. The artists have to LOVE the message of the song-- they want to find a song they'll love. Do your homework-- know what the artists' lives are all about, know what kinds of things the artists love. Also, remember that some artists prefer to always write their own songs, so don't waste time trying to write for them.Artists looking for songs are looking for HITS, not just something to fill up their album. So you have to pitch top top notch songs to get noticed in all the songs they review for possible use.

[matthewhaw]

Alright well, my notes are pretty sporadic as i was paying more attention then writing. But hopefully some of you who couldn't attend might get something out of them.Pete & Pat Luboff's Class on Songwriting-It is important to address the same thing in your lyrics as you would if you were writing a news article. Who? Where? What? When? Why? How? and the Feel of the situation.-within the first 20-30 seconds you should have a simplistic image laid out in order to gain your audience's attention and have them connect to it.-Always pay attention to the tense of the lyric. don't be switching back and forth between the present and past unless its easy for the listener to follow.-First person point of view holds the most impact.don't try and say too much...DIFFERENTIATE BETWEEN CONFUSION AND MYSTERY... (unless you are writing old school Psychedelic tunes )Pat Pattison - Phrasing (awesome class!)basically wanted to add to Nomi's notes here..-Mr. Pattison used Heartbeat city by The Cars as his example. If you listen the whole message that the writer was trying to get through to you were the only lyrics that were front heavy while the rest was all weak bar phrasing. The message was "Oh Jakie"...."I missed you". great stuff.he also suggested John Meyer's song Belief as another good example of this technique.Thats about all i have worth sharing the rest is a garbled mess!... or Nomi already has a better version of mine up here! haha enjoy hopefully somebody gets something out of these.-M.R.H.-

[hummingbird]

Nomi did a great job of taking notes this year - thanks for taking the time to post them!!! This was my 3rd Rally, and altho I had my notebook, I didn't write much down this time. I just kinda soaked it up.But here are some of my scribbles:RALPH MURPHY - re county music writing - especially lyrics:-- humour, irony, detail; the woman is always right; -- 4 to 7 repetitions of title, first use of title within 60 secs;-- the singer is never a loser or over 30FETT - re audio mastering-- mastering means adding finesse, power, clarity, polish, cleaniness to a mix -- it is NOT a fixing processSteps of mastering:1) - completion of the mix process - you get the stems (stereo sub mixes) as well as the final mix, the final mix is two tracks2) a - tone shaping - looking for warmth, crispness - balance the tone & ensure frequencies are shared between low, med & high band -- this should be subtle 2) b - leveling - smoothing out the dynamics of the mix3) - audio repairIf you are mastering an album you want to make the tone of each cut have the same tonal quality -- look for a tonal centre for the album. Also want to have a loudness centre for the albumTED LOWE - re film/tv-- pitch music with updated sounds & great mixes-- tempo matters - groove is more important than melody a lot of the time-- be quirky or distinctiveFILM & TV PITCH PANEL-- uptempo gets used more; start with meat & potatoes-- know what you are pitching for - what would the music be used for, where do you hear it-- if pitching with vocals -- they must be great-- whatever you're doing, strive to do it betterA&R LISTENING PANEL #1-- the listener should feel / have a visual interpretation of the music-- there is a move back to music with heart & soul -- emotion in lyric & voice -- more natural, less midi -- makes a difference to have even one or two organic tracks-- songs must have a really big payoff in the chorusWell, that's the extent of my notes for this year -- at least the ones I can read