Contemporary??? Whats is it really??

[admin]

Everything old is new again, but with a twist.
So, on my next birthday I'll get younger...
I'm so excited

That's a fantasy, not a twist. And getting better looking would fall under the fantasy category too!

[mojobone]

Contemporary is a coin with two sides; the more contemporary you are now, the more dated you'll sound in five years. This is why I decided (long ago) to concentrate on roots music, it never goes out of style completely. In some ways, I can't help but be contemporary; I might be more than a little retro, but I didn't grow up in the thirties. No matter how much I love Buck Owens or BB King, I can never be Buck nor BB. (I'm jes glad I don't have to be Bieber to make a living; I'd probably throw somethin' outta joint if I had to dance like that)

When this sort of thing is up for discussion, I often think about drum sounds, cuz rock records of a certain era are often built from the drums up. If I hear something that sounds like one ribbon mic ten feet above the drumset, I think early sixties, add a snare mic (maybe also a kick drum mic) with spring or chamber reverb, and it's late sixties. In the seventies, they'd mic every kitpiece, and if they used overheads, they got thrown out at mixdown, they muffled the kick and taped maxi pads to all the toms and deadened every surface that could possibly reflect sound in an attempt to eliminate bleed, so as to give the mix engineer more control over the drum mix (as if the drummer didn't have any, go figure) Prime example is Don Henley's snare on the Eagles' The Long Run; I have an Oceanway snare sample that sounds exactly like it, a 'tearing paper' sound with no ring whatsoever) In the eighties, that all gave way to digital reverb, used two ways, on hair metal ballads you'd have a big ol' honkin' hall reverb on just about everything, the whole record would be swimming in it, OR for power pop, you'd have triggered gates on the reverb return for most of the kitpieces. (Phil Collins, can you hear me now?) That takes us up to Nirvana and Metallica, which I couldn't tell you much about, since I don't do any nineties music. (yet) I can tell you they started going for more natural sounds in larger and livelier rooms and miking the front and back of the kick, top and bottom of the snare. They could do this, because with digital recording, they could easily deal with any phase problems caused by multi-miking.

In fact, a lot of this stuff has been technology-driven, which brings me to my point: (finally) real soon now, obvious autotuning will be the kiss of death; hopelessly dated. I can hardly wait.

[gtrmann]

So I need to take all my verbs off the hall settings to sound more contemporary, that's easy enough....Should I be using more plate sounds....???

[mojobone]

Hmmm, you might try losing the reverb entirely, if you consider your genre to be classic rock; it's all the rage these days, started with Jeff Lynne and Tom Petty, Tchad Blake and Mitchell Froom do a lot of that, too, as does Elvis Costello, since he worked with them and T-Bone Burnette. Using no reverb really sharpens up the mixing chops. Plates, I tend to associate with Phil Spector and his ilk; it's a classic sound you'd hear on a Sinatra, Johnny Mathis, Little Willie John type record; vintage ribbon mic, tube limiter, analog tape and plate reverb is a great recipe that still works, but maybe not the most modern, unless you're doing neo-soul. Try setting up your reverb on a bus so you can get your guitars in the same room as the vocals and drums, is my advice.

[cardell]

Everything old is new again, but with a twist.

Yes that's true. That's what I loved about T-Rex. Holy cow...how old am I now...

...anyway, Glam Rock is trying very hard to come back now: look at Lady Ga Ga & Adam Lambert.

Stuart

[Kolstad]

Contemporary is a coin with two sides; the more contemporary you are now, the more dated you'll sound in five years. This is why I decided (long ago) to concentrate on roots music, it never goes out of style completely. In some ways, I can't help but be contemporary; I might be more than a little retro, but I didn't grow up in the thirties. No matter how much I love Buck Owens or BB King, I can never be Buck nor BB. (I'm jes glad I don't have to be Bieber to make a living; I'd probably throw somethin' outta joint if I had to dance like that)

When this sort of thing is up for discussion, I often think about drum sounds, cuz rock records of a certain era are often built from the drums up. If I hear something that sounds like one ribbon mic ten feet above the drumset, I think early sixties, add a snare mic (maybe also a kick drum mic) with spring or chamber reverb, and it's late sixties. In the seventies, they'd mic every kitpiece, and if they used overheads, they got thrown out at mixdown, they muffled the kick and taped maxi pads to all the toms and deadened every surface that could possibly reflect sound in an attempt to eliminate bleed, so as to give the mix engineer more control over the drum mix (as if the drummer didn't have any, go figure) Prime example is Don Henley's snare on the Eagles' The Long Run; I have an Oceanway snare sample that sounds exactly like it, a 'tearing paper' sound with no ring whatsoever) In the eighties, that all gave way to digital reverb, used two ways, on hair metal ballads you'd have a big ol' honkin' hall reverb on just about everything, the whole record would be swimming in it, OR for power pop, you'd have triggered gates on the reverb return for most of the kitpieces. (Phil Collins, can you hear me now?) That takes us up to Nirvana and Metallica, which I couldn't tell you much about, since I don't do any nineties music. (yet) I can tell you they started going for more natural sounds in larger and livelier rooms and miking the front and back of the kick, top and bottom of the snare. They could do this, because with digital recording, they could easily deal with any phase problems caused by multi-miking.

In fact, a lot of this stuff has been technology-driven, which brings me to my point: (finally) real soon now, obvious autotuning will be the kiss of death; hopelessly dated. I can hardly wait.

Awesome post with great insight!!!

[thokus]

Man Did I open a cool can of worms.. Love it
So from what Ive been reading hear ,Especially what micheal said .. Theres no right or wrong answer...

When we understand what makes it fresh, new and exciting, then we understand what contemporary means. When we learn how to harness what makes it fresh, new and exciting, we are creating something contemporary!

Just do what we do but make it newer than the last guy.. I guess after all this I'm still gonna just keep on doing what I like because its the best stuff I do .. Mazz was right , I cant stop doing this becaise I didnt get forwarded.. Its just too much fun creating music.. I'm my biggest fan , I listen to my tunes and often think "how did I do that ".. not that its great ,fantastic playing but that I amaze myself that I could even do this .. You guys should all be jillonaires with all the great tunes and songs you put out but , alas its all due to marketing, who ya know , who they know . Taxi is a great wndow for this. Get that first foor in the door.. Ive never gotten a forward , maybe never will, but just making music and putting it out there for even just the few of you that listen to it, is More fun than anything I can think of (I need to get out more)..
"I LOVE THIS TOWN"
Tom

[Casey H]

Tom
Yes, there is one overriding theme in our decisions as to how to make our music. If you don't really enjoy something, find it tedious and non-satisfying, you won't do it or won't do it well.

When I answer the question on "what is contemporary?", I give my Taxi listing answer-- what works best in the 80/20 (or maybe 90/10) rule as far as getting a forward?

For example, if I wrote mainly instrumentals and spent a a few years perfecting my home studio setup and skills I might be able to have many more forwards and placements. But it doesn't float my boat. If it's not enjoyable, what's the point? Fun matters!

Songwriting for me will always be 90% about emotional expression, primarily in my lyrics. I do enjoy trying to get better at the lyrical side-- the challenge of getting my emotions out with clarity that others can relate to is something I enjoy (even if I don't always get it right!)...

Like you and many, I tend to write what I write. Influences creep in and as an old fart, there is a lot of retro in my head. But I do make a point of listening to some more modern music to try and get some infiltrates there too.

When I get songs produced, since I'm a non-performer, I TRY to give the producer some 'a la' ideas. This doesn't stiffle my writing creativity. However, sometimes you can't fit a square plug in a round hole and not everything you write can be re-styled at production time. Chord patterns, phrasing, lyrical styles, etc all matter.

Also, as I mentioned earlier, not every successful library song is contemporary or 'a la'. Yes, odds are better that way, but lyrical themes (such as a hooky chorus with a very universal tag line), general mood, etc have a big place out there. I think, in a very general way, the "A" libraries with higher end markets are more selective on the contemporary side but the "B+" libraries (not a negative term on them at all!) that do things like cable background are less so.

And getting music commerically placed is NOT the only reason to write music!

So, write, write, write... and have fun!

Casey

[2lane]

Hey peeps, here's maybe an easy fix. If contemporary means current, just call it current and be done with it. Plus, it's less letters to have to print
I lived in Miami for many years, and had a good friend's mother that was in charge of all the concession stands in the Convention Center where they held all the car and boat shows and stuff, so she always got us into all the shows. I clearly remember seeing these really cool new model cars (not the concept cars), just the new models for upcoming years, and they usually said "this contemporary design" or such, on the signs for 'em, yet they were nothing like the "current" stuff, other than four wheels and a gas pedal. I always associated the term as meaning new, fresh, modern, but I seem to be wrong......or not?
I think "radio ready hits" and "current sounding" are way less confusing !
Whateevah I guess
Steve

[dynamicalan]

Hello,

I am writing a contemporary pop song for radio and I noticed that the chorus I wrote, doesn't have that R&B vibe of todays music on the radio. Rather is uses a rhythm guitar 16 note strumming pattern. When I listen to pop choruses it sounds like it's really just drums with some light synth that plays a one bar repetitive pattern, and sometimes only one chord is used in the chorus. I question of this Is this what contemporary pop needs to be. I notice the vocals in the chorus will repeat certain words or phrases a lot.