Jeff Heiniger knew the importance of a professional production–so he turned to Studio Pros when he didn’t want to settle for anything less.
Jeff Heiniger has known what goes into a professional production for a long time. In 1987, he won a national songwriting competition in the UK that was put together by Rolling Stones bassist Bill Wyman. The prize: a chance to record in the Stones’ state-of-the-art mobile recording studio with top producers Mick McKenna and Terry Taylor. “It was brilliant to work with actual professionals,” Heiniger remembers. “They turned our demo into something that was fantastic.”
Heiniger first started taking music lessons after getting a piano when he was 13. He also started listening to all sorts of pop music, from Electric Light Orchestra to Depeche Mode, ABBA to The Beatles. Since winning the competition he has put together a Pro Tools-equipped home studio, but soon realized that without a professional producer behind the board he wasn’t going to achieve the same sort of radio-ready product he got with is winning song. “The problem is that I’m not an engineer, so I didn’t have anybody to record my stuff,” he explains. “What I found was really good about Studio Pros was that the production was sort of taken out of my hands in a way.”
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
When he found the Studio Pros website, Heiniger was actually looking for session vocalists on the web. “I couldn’t find anyone locally who was any good,” he says. “It’s quite laborious, taking your music to a recording studio and finding an engineer who will record a session singer who you may not like. It seemed quite a lengthy process, and one that may not yield results at the end of the day.” He found himself intrigued by the Studio Pros website. “The site itself looked very professional. Professionalism and price were important.”
With Studio Pros, Heiniger was able to focus on writing a song on piano, then letting our team of world-class studio musicians build the rest from the ground up. Along the way, he would provide input and feedback to make sure everything came together how he wanted it. In order to make it easier, Heiniger would provide reference tracks with other music that matched the vibe he was going for with each song.
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
Technology can be a great tool. It can help you come up with your next masterpiece, and it can give you the means of recording your latest creation. And I don’t know about you, but it sure does make me feel warm and fuzzy inside when I buy a shiny new piece of gear for my home studio.
That is, until I plug it in. You see, technology is something of a double-edged sword. Even though buying new gear is really fun, it also means you have to invest a ton of time into learning how to use it well. That’s why the fuzzy feeling starts fading as soon as my new piece of gear is out of the box. I’m faced with the daunting task of the dreaded musical equipment learning curve, something I may have time to get the hang of, but rarely have the time to master.
And there’s the real kicker–even when you get used to using new gear, it still takes a lot of time, experience, trial and error to be able to use it to its maximum potential the way a top professional would. While it would certainly be nice to get to that point eventually, I don’t want to sacrifice the quality of the recording I’m doing now to work towards the goal of great recordings later.
It’s because of this that technology, while seemingly freeing initially, can really put unnecessary limits on your song’s production and ruin your creative process! Talk about a catch-22… Every minute you spend figuring out how to maximize your gear’s potential is taken away from time you could have spent composing, creating, and expanding your artistic horizons.
There is, of course, the obvious solution to this dilemma: put your music in the hands of a professional who already knows what they’re doing with today’s best technology. But that sure sounds easier said than done–it’s not like you can just hand your stuff over to a Grammy-nominated engineer who will mix and master it to radio broadcast standards without forking over your life savings, right?
Happily, I can tell you that you really can do that–and for a lot less money than you’d expect. Studio Pros gets your music into the able hands of Grammy-nominated engineers for a very affordable price, and you get results quickly. In fact, it costs less than most high-end audio gear, so you’re saving money and time for a product you probably wouldn’t get on your own in the first place.
Think about your musical goals. If you want to have a great sounding album of your own, you should do what the top artists do: they don’t buy another keyboard or a new software title. In fact, some of the most successful artists in the world may have never touched professional music gear in their entire lives! They simply hire the best session players, engineers and producers they can find. You can do that too, with the help of Studio Pros. Call today to get started on the album you’ve always dreamed of recording.
We used to think that the best thing about Studio Pros was our roster of world-class session musicians. In fact, I recently wrote a post about how to get the most out of our players and explained why they are such an amazing resource to musicians and songwriters all over the world.
But they’re not actually the thing that musicians like best about our service.
When we asked some of our artists why they love Studio Pros, most of them told us that it was because they don’t need to invest a lot of time when they use us to record their albums.
A lot of Studio Pros artists, like many aspiring musicians and songwriters, have a lot on their plate–families, day jobs, all sorts of obligations that make it really hard to devote a huge chunk of their time to pursuing their musical dreams. All you need to do is read about some of our featured Studio Pros artists to see that most of them don’t start out as professional, full-time musicians. But luckily, none of them let that get in the way of recording the album they’ve always dreamed of making.
Instead of saying, “I just don’t have time to record an album, I have a job and a family so I should just give up on the dream,” these artists said, “I don’t have much time to record an album, so I’m gonna find a way to do it without taking away from paying the bills or spending time with my family.”
And boy are they glad they said that. Because they were proactive, they found Studio Pros and got done what they never thought they could. If these artists had kept saying that they’d never have time to record an album, they’d still be wondering if their music career would ever get a chance.
Some of our clients have been clever about how they fit Studio Pros into their schedules. We’ve even heard stories of some of them working on their production while they were at work–so I guess that means they were technically getting paid to make music! We’re always glad to be a part of that!
If a lack of time is your biggest excuse for not making a great production from your songs, I’m here to tell you that it’s no longer an excuse you have to make. Studio Pros can bring your dreams to reality on your own schedule, without cutting into family time. Call us today to start recording a professional album you’ll be proud of.
A music bridge is a new section of a song that differs from the verses and choruses. A great bridge can really take your song to the next level, but sometimes we’re so focused on the verses and the choruses that we forget how powerful an amazing bridge can be.
A memorable song bridge can break up the monotony of simply switching back and forth between verses and choruses. It can be a great place to bring the dynamic level up or down in the song. It can fit nicely along with the feel of the verses and choruses, or it can throw the listener into unexpected new territory. There’s no one way to write a bridge, but here are some opportunities that you might want to capitalize on when it comes to writing the third section of your next song.
Introduce a new chord progression
A bridge allows you to bring a new chord progression into your song that hasn’t been heard before. Since the verses and choruses should generally stay consistent with each other, a bridge allows you the freedom to introduce something new. You might draw inspiration from (or use chords from) other sections of the song, or you could go the daring route and try something completely different. The sky’s the limit! A good example is ”Pretty Woman” by Roy Orbison
Change keys
Sometimes artists will modulate to a different key for their bridge. This can really make the section stand out from the rest of the song, and it keeps the listener interested in hearing more of the song. After you change keys, you have the option of getting back to the original key when the bridge ends, or simply staying in the new key for the rest of the song. An example of a key-changing bridge is “Summer of 69” by Bryan Adams.
If you’re hoping for success in this industry, you might want to take part in a little musical espionage:
If you want to pitch one of your songs to a TV commercial, study the music in every commercial on TV right now and learn it all by heart.
If you want to pitch a song to films, buy the soundtracks for ten films in the genre you’re interested in.
If you want to be at the top of the charts, listen to the top 50 songs every single week. Know the charts so well that if I came to your house and woke you up in the middle of the night, you could tell me what was in the top ten that week. You might try subscribing to this Billboard Hot 100 – Top 50 Songs channel on YouTube–it will provide you with weekly updates on the top songs.
It’s not about copying — it’s about being aware
Knowing what other musicians are doing doesn’t mean you should be ripping off their material. All it means is that you’re doing your best to be completely aware of what’s already out there and, more importantly, what each industry is looking for.
Knowing that today’s action movies like including rockin’ metal songs with heavy guitar riffs is being aware. Knowing that most of the top songs on the charts have auto-tuned vocals is being aware. Once you’re aware of the trends and desires of the music industry, you can tailor your work to fit the scene.
This doesn’t mean you have to comform.
It definitely doesn’t mean you should just copy other artists.
It just means you can incorporate essential elements of today’s music into your own ideas–elements of the music that makes up the current standard for people who are making a living from making music. That’s what we all want, right? The end goal is to make music our careers. And that goal is within your grasp, but only if you keep up with the trends.
So many talented songwriters and composers love melodies and harmonies so much that they layer as many into their song as they possibly can. They want the best music productions for their songs, but think that adding more and more instruments and parts will make their production sound great.
Unfortunately, it won’t!
Less is more
Have you ever noticed that some of the biggest hits of all time only have three or four instruments on them? Lots of classic Beatles songs just have a couple simple guitar parts, bass, drums and vocals. Nirvana and Green Day have had monumental hit songs, and neither group is more than a power trio. Even “Billie Jean,” one of Michael Jackson’s biggest hits, is a simple production with few instruments.
If you have too many parts, melodies and counter-melodies, it can prevent your song from being catchy and memorable. If you try singing two melodies that are played together in a song, it’s pretty much impossible… And if you can’t do it, neither can your potential fans.
Don’t let too many parts get in the way of your song’s catchy melody
You should try to limit yourself to one main instrument that will be featured in your production–or at most a lead vocal with a unique melody along with one instrument playing a simple melody that compliments it. If you do more than this, it could distract from the part of the song that you most want people to listen to. Just think back to my post on how minimalist music production can make for maximum hit song potential.
If you’re not sure what parts of your song are essential and what parts are expendable, Studio Pros can help. Call today for a free music project consultation, and one of our producers will give you professional feedback for your songs!
A seasoned songwriter and poet, Rich Marcello teamed up with Studio Pros to give his productions the professional edge he needed, and keeps on coming back for more.
Boston based songwriter Rich Marcello is no novice when it comes to getting out the ink and jotting it down. With over 30 songs professionally produced with Studio Pros, he’s gotten the continual experience of producing his tracks online, and is regularly bringing Studio Pros more material to produce. “I’ve been writing for around 20 years,” says Marcello. “At first I did a lot of the production myself but several years ago I decided to get them professionally produced, which was one of the best decisions I ever made.”
Marcello came across Studio Pros (which was at the time DrumsForYou.com) through an online search and decided to give it a try. Starting with just a drum track, he heard the quality of Studio Pros’ production team and decided to try it out for a full production. “By letting other really talented musicians work on my material it really took my work to a much better place. I knew I found a great partner in music and I’ve felt that on every song Studio Pros has done for me. I think Studio Pros is the best in the business–I won’t ever use anyone else,” Marcello stated.
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
I always love it when I’m listening to a song and I suddenly notice when a tasty bass groove kicks in. Even though bass guitar tends to be a background instrument, every once in a while a bassist will bust into a part so awesome you have to take notice and say, “Who is that bass player??” I’d guess that a lot of people might not even realize how important the bass is–until, that is, you take it away!
A good bass line is essential to a great song, and a good bass performance is key to a great recording. When it comes time to lay down some funky grooves, here are a few tips to keep in mind.
Amplified or direct?
There are some wonderful sounding bass amps out there that can help you get the exact sound you are looking for. But one of the advantages of bass is that you don’t have to play through an amp at all! Bass guitar is one of the few instruments that you can get a good sound from while plugging straight into a direct box and into your recording console. This can be very convenient, especially if you’re recording at home and your downstairs neighbors wouldn’t appreciate their kitchenware rattling with each thumping eighth note.
But sometimes you just need that certain sound that only a bass amp can provide. In this case, you’ll need to record the classic way: an amplifier and a microphone (or more than one mic). Which amp and mic you use is entirely up to you–there are many options that make for many sounds, so it all comes down to what sounds best to your ear. For some more specific miking techniques, take a look at my post on recording great-sounding guitar.
We’d all love to get played on the radio. I grew up dreaming of hearing my songs on the airwaves, knowing that thousands of people were also listening.
Have you ever wondered why your songs aren’t on the radio? Most of us probably tell ourselves the same excuses–radio doesn’t care about my music, I need to be on a major label to have any hope of radio airplay, and no one listens to the radio anymore, anyway. But if you think this way, you’re selling yourself short. If you remember a recent post I wrote, that’s a self-defeating attitude that will get you nowhere!
The fact is, you could be on the radio. But there are a few things you should know before you start mailing CDs to every station in town.
Unsigned doesn’t necessarily mean un-played
Most of the bands you hear on your local radio station are signed, that much is true. But that doesn’t mean you have to be signed to get played on the air. Most radio stations have a time set aside each week to feature local artists–your best bet is to target these shows first. Find out from the station’s website what their policy is for submitting music, or find the contact information of the DJ that hosts the local show.
A friend of mine recently sent me a video compilation of words of wisdom spoken by Will Smith. You might not initially think that a guy like Will Smith–an actor who’s made his name starring in big-budget action blockbuster films such as Independence Day and Men In Black–has a lot of philosophical things to say. And you would be forgiven for assuming any advice he might have to offer would apply to actors much more than musicians (although Mr. Smith is no stranger to the Billboard charts himself, with hits like “Gettin’ Jiggy Wit It” under his belt).
But this video proves that Will has quite a bit of interesting, practical and inspirational advice.
He says that work ethic goes much further than talent when it comes to making it in the entertainment business. He also believes there is greatness in all of us, and we need to focus on small tasks one at a time in order to complete a seemingly impossible goal–much like laying individual bricks to build a large wall. Smith believes we need to work hard every day toward our dreams in order to get ahead, and that we should all strive to be a positive influence in the world.
But my favorite bit of advice has to do with Smith’s take on the so-called “real world…”
Jeff Heiniger knew the importance of a professional production–so he turned to Studio Pros when he didn’t want to settle for anything less.
