If you want to write songs for a living, watch this.
Summary
TLDRIn this video, music producer Adam Slagger and fellow producer Josh discuss the art of songwriting and collaboration. Adam shares the story of Brock Barry Hill's transition to country music and emphasizes the importance of consistently writing songs to hone one's craft. They advise aspiring songwriters to create music without waiting for external cues and to share their work to open doors in the industry. The conversation also covers overcoming the challenge of turning loops into full arrangements and the practical aspects of charging clients for music production services, advocating for clear communication and flexible payment strategies.
Takeaways
- 🎼 Collaborating with others is essential for songwriting and getting into professional songwriting camps.
- 🌐 Networking is crucial; knowing people in the industry can lead to more opportunities, as illustrated by Brock Barry Hill's transition to country music.
- 🔄 Consistent creation is key; Brock Barry Hill wrote numerous songs without being asked, building a portfolio and reputation.
- 🎧 The importance of sharing your work and not keeping it private to attract interest and open doors in the industry.
- 🎹 Songwriting should be an active process, not waiting for opportunities but creating them through continuous work.
- 🎤 Developing an artist or being an artist that writes their own songs can help establish credibility and get your foot in the door.
- 📈 Having a diverse catalog and being open to writing different styles can increase the chances of your songs being used.
- 🛠️ The speaker emphasizes the importance of understanding song structure and using it as a foundation for songwriting.
- 💡 Creativity in songwriting involves experimenting with different chord progressions and structures to avoid repetition.
- 💰 Charging clients typically involves a deposit upfront, with the remainder paid upon project completion or satisfaction.
- 📝 Clear communication about payment terms is vital to avoid misunderstandings and ensure smooth project execution.
Q & A
What was the main topic of the discussion in the video script?
-The main topic of the discussion was about the process of songwriting, collaborating with others, and getting into professional songwriting.
Who is Brock Barry Hill and what is his current role in the music industry?
-Brock Barry Hill is a music producer who transitioned from producing rock music to writing country songs in Nashville. He is currently successful, producing hit songs in the country music genre.
What did Brock do to improve his songwriting skills in country music?
-Brock started writing country songs every week, collaborated with other songwriters, and created a large SoundCloud playlist of his songs, which he shared with others to showcase his work.
What advice was given for aspiring songwriters to get their foot in the door?
-Aspiring songwriters should be actively writing songs without waiting for opportunities, proving their ability by launching an artist or developing their own songs, and sharing their work to meet people who might be interested in using their songs.
Why is it important for songwriters to not keep their song ideas too private?
-It's important for songwriters to share their ideas because it can lead to meeting people who want to use those songs, opening different doors and pathways in the music industry.
What is the typical payment structure for music production services?
-The typical payment structure involves a deposit, usually half upfront, with the remainder paid upon completion of the project or in stages as the project progresses.
What is the importance of having clear financial expectations in a music production project?
-Clear financial expectations ensure that both parties understand the costs involved, reducing awkwardness and potential misunderstandings, and facilitating smoother project execution.
What is the role of Adam Slagger in the music industry?
-Adam Slagger is a music producer who works with various singers, songwriters, and clients, and also creates content related to music production.
How did the discussion on songwriting relate to the journey of becoming a full-time songwriter?
-The discussion highlighted the importance of continuous practice, experimentation, and the development of a unique songwriting style, as well as the need to prove one's ability to write appealing songs.
What advice was given to help overcome the issue of creating loops but not developing full song arrangements?
-The advice included creating a simple version of the song first, understanding song structures, and experimenting with different chord progressions to avoid getting stuck on a single loop.
Outlines
🎼 The Journey of Songwriting and Networking
The speaker, Adam Slagger, a music producer, discusses the importance of collaboration in songwriting and how it can lead to professional opportunities. He shares the story of his friend Brock, who transitioned from rock production to writing country songs, emphasizing the value of proactively creating and sharing music. Adam also touches on the idea of launching an artist to prove songwriting capabilities and the necessity of sharing ideas to meet potential collaborators. He encourages aspiring songwriters to write songs without waiting for external cues and to participate in songwriting sessions without the pressure of immediate commercial success.
🔄 Overcoming Creative Loops and Expanding Musical Horizons
In addressing Poppy Labuche's issue with creating loops but not developing full songs, the speaker shares personal experiences and offers advice on how to move from loop creation to full song arrangements. He talks about the exploratory phase of songwriting, the acceptance that not all ideas will become songs, and the importance of understanding song structures. The speaker also suggests experimenting with different chord progressions and styles to avoid getting stuck on a single loop. He highlights the importance of not buying too many plugins and instead focusing on creating full arrangements, especially for sync music which requires variety and distinct sections.
💼 Payment Strategies for Music Production Services
The conversation turns to the business side of music production, discussing various payment strategies for services rendered. The speaker suggests a common approach of taking a deposit upfront, typically half of the total payment, to ensure commitment from the client. He also mentions alternative payment schedules, such as paying as work progresses or upon completion, and emphasizes the importance of flexibility based on trust and the specific situation. The speaker shares anecdotes about clients not understanding payment protocols and stresses the importance of clear communication about financial expectations to avoid awkward situations and ensure smooth project execution.
📘 Providing Clarity and Transparency in Business Practices
The final paragraph focuses on the importance of being upfront and clear about business policies, especially regarding payments for services. The speaker advises setting clear expectations about payment terms to avoid confusion and ensure a professional business relationship. He also mentions a side project of creating a planner for music producers and offers a downloadable template for those interested. The speaker concludes by encouraging viewers to be transparent about their payment expectations, likening it to knowing the cost of a cheeseburger before purchasing, and hints at upcoming content for the next video.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Songwriting
💡Toplining
💡Collaboration
💡SoundCloud
💡Country Music
💡Music Production
💡Sync
💡Artist Development
💡Song Structure
💡Plugin
💡Deposit
Highlights
Daman inquires about the process of collaborating with others in songwriting and toplining to enter professional songwriting.
Brock Barry Hill's transition from rock producer to successful country songwriter through consistent writing and creating a SoundCloud playlist.
The importance of writing songs consistently without waiting for opportunities, as demonstrated by Brock's initiative.
Adam Slagger and Josh's introduction as music producers with experience in various aspects of music production.
The suggestion that writing songs for an artist or developing an artist can be a way to break into professional songwriting.
The advice against keeping song ideas private and the importance of sharing them to meet people and open opportunities.
The recommendation to engage in songwriting sessions without a specific purpose to build a catalog and network.
Poppy Labuche's struggle with creating full song arrangements from loops and the provided advice on overcoming this issue.
The idea that not every musical idea needs to be turned into a full song and the importance of letting go of some.
The process of understanding song structure as a key to writing complete songs.
The encouragement to experiment with songwriting and not adhere strictly to a formula.
Josh's approach to creating full arrangements for sync music, emphasizing the need for variety in every eight bars.
The method of creating a basic structure for a song before adding layers and details.
The discussion on charging clients, with common practices being a deposit upfront and the remainder upon project completion.
The importance of clear communication regarding payment expectations to avoid awkward situations.
The mention of a music producer planner book in development, offering a template for interested individuals.
Transcripts
so Daman wants to know how collaborating
with others works with regards to
songwriting toplining and camps to try
to get into professional songwriting and
that is a great question so a buddy of
mine Brock he actually produced the
first band I ever played in Brock Barry
Hill you know you know Brock right yeah
I know him from a while ago and he is
now in Nashville writing like smash he
killing it killing it he's doing big
stuff in Country and I remember when we
were working together
like 8 10 12 years ago at this point he
was literally telling me hey I'm going
to start writing country songs and I
knew him as a rock producer so you knew
him before he did the country I knew him
before he wrote a single country S I
knew him when I did he did started to do
country okay right and he literally told
me I'm writing country songs every week
I am working together with other people
that I know write songs and I'm putting
together the biggest SoundCloud playlist
that's private or public I think he
might have made it public honestly at
one point he was sending it to people
but he was writing I kid you not like
Banger after Banger just all the time
and he sent me the SoundCloud Link at
one point and it had like 50 coites in
it and the thing is no one asked him to
do this no one hired him to do it he was
not waiting for some
opportunity like he was just doing it in
his free time and making it happen he
had it down to a science when I met him
like when I met him it was literally to
a point of like he had all everything
set perfectly it was like a preset he's
like insert this guitar sound that drum
sound boom boom boom he could write a
song in like an hour like it was it was
really cool to watch by the way if you
don't know my name is Adam slagger I'm a
music producer I do a lot of production
for syn and all types of singers
songwriters and clients around me Josh
here is a producer and mixer yeah I do a
little bit of everything I work with a
platinum um producer and I do stuff on
my own and I also have a channel if you
like music production videos can
subscribe to both our channels and come
back to learn more about music
production to answer the question
writing songs becoming a songwriter like
you have to just be doing it without
waiting for a cue from anybody now I
think from what I've gathered and a lot
of people I work with who are
professional songwriters full-time I
mean I'm I'm producing I'm not trying to
be a full-time songwriter but it seems
like another way to get your foot in the
door there is to launch an artist like
if you want to write songs for other
people you need to prove that you have
good songs and that you can write songs
that people like and if you're trying to
get strangers to cut your songs all the
time yeah it's going to be tough but if
you work with an artist or develop an
artist or are an artist that's writing
your own songs it's like Martin Johnson
Boys Like Girls gets here okay and then
people hear his songs and he's like I
want interesting reference but then he's
like I want to write songs for Chris doy
who's here is that what he went from you
know what I mean so it's like as an
artist you're going to cut your own
songs totally or someone you're
developing and then you can go from
there and grow that thing as much as you
can that gives you a foot in the door
elsewhere and that's a long process I
think to touch on that too it's also
important to not keep it so private I
think a lot of people I meet tend to not
I don't know they it's like they hoard
all these song ideas or they they're
afraid to show people or they just
whatever it may be but it's it's truly
you kind of have to let go of it like
you really have to share it show it and
that's how you'll meet people that want
to use those songs and then it just
opens different doors and Pathways 100%
100% And also sessions with other people
without a purpose I think are big like
hey do you want to write well do you
know an artist that would cut the song
do you have a connect in sync whatever
people say no to the session before they
do it because they're like well if it's
not going to go somewhere I don't want
to waste my time doing it and it's like
okay well that's not the attitude of
somebody who loves writing songs and is
is trying to build a catalog yeah like
it I've talked to a lot of people who
are like I'm not going to do a session
if there's no artist that's going to cut
the song Show Me the Money and it's like
well what are you doing instead
and they're like oh I was going to
play on my phone you know what I mean
it's like what are you doing instead so
do the session that's my opinion so
poppy labuche asks great name I know one
of my biggest issues with music
production is I create a decent loop I
get excited and listen to it for hours
and never create an arrangement for the
song and it collects dust on the hard
drive and then I repeat this process
essentially I spent thousands of dollars
to make a four bar Loop that the world
may never see I want to fix that issue
well poppy labuche we're here to help
you with that I actually recently just
spent a few hundred doar on plugins for
probably no reason I probably don't need
any more plugins to make songs but it
actually inspired me to start another
loop that the world may never hear but I
think ultimately that's part of you know
the journey that is getting past that
when I was a teenager I literally spent
2 years I was virtual schooled and I
just spent 2 years every day I would
just go downstairs open up My Little Mac
computer and I would just write
basically a part of a song every day
like it sometimes was just a verse
sometimes it was a random chorus a cool
viby thing and and occasionally I would
turn out a song and I would wonder well
how did I do that how did I actually
achieve the full song and it's kind of a
few things you know it's a little bit of
just letting yourself explore it but
also you know sometimes it's letting
yourself realize that not every idea
will get turned into a song I mean you
know you can force yourself to sit there
and push it out but it doesn't
necessarily have to be like that I mean
it's really just kind of riding and
riding until it starts to come together
it's kind of like riding a bike you got
to keep pedaling and you might wobble
and fall and do all this stuff but
eventually you get to the point where
you're just biking you know you're just
cycling and writing a song becomes a lot
easier to you because you already
understand what a structure is I mean
that's something I had to learn like
what is a song structure what is a verse
what is a chorus what do people tend to
do with all of that and honestly the
anwers usually pretty similar for like
pop music I mean it's you know Verse
Chorus Verse Chorus Bridge chorus done
you know you could just take that
structure and write a bunch of songs
Just based off of that alone but you
know it's all just part of experimenting
you know some songs aren't like that
some songs are really weird that's where
you start to listen to different music
and get inspiration and start to kind of
develop your style of songwriting cuz it
doesn't have to be this you know machine
process this Factory you know cookie
cutter thing that we all think it is
it's you know it's artist you know
you're still an artist you know you're
painting a picture you're doing you know
whatever it is to just create you know
something more than a loop and you know
some people Loops are actually songs
that's what I find funny I mean there's
a style of music that is just I think
Loop based you know I I think it's a
journey that you'll figure out but you
just have to keep doing it you just have
to keep trying new
things try not to buy so many plugins
cuz I have done that already and I'll
tell you what I've just I literally you
know I did last night was I realized I
bought the same plugin twice oh no Josh
I bought a uad version of the plugin
apparently a while ago and I've just now
realized that I already bought it from
plugin the lines so happens to the best
of us it happens it happens as far as um
I agree with everything you said like
it's okay to make loops that's how you
learn stuff and not everyone's making
full arrangements if you really are just
like I have to start making full
arrangements what I do and for sync
music you have you cannot do loops for
syn because every eight bars has to be
different so like because
it's if they're editing your song into a
show and they need a loop they'll take
the eight bars they want and they'll
Loop it Loop it okay so if I turned in a
song that was just not really an
arrangement they would reject it cuz
they need like an impact section they
need a verse they need a bridge they
need an outro all of everything's
different cuz they'll Loop it themselves
so what I do is I just go and I lay out
my little Loop and I get it to the point
where you can listen to it it and you're
like that's a loop and then I don't
listen to it again and I do all the rest
of the drums so I do a chorus drum beat
a verse two drum beat a bridge whatever
it is and then I go all right if the
court progression for the verse was like
a major chord progression yeah what is
the relative minor I'm starting the
chorus on that so like let's say you're
doing d a b minor G well now I'm like
okay well I know B minor is a good
minor chord so I'm going to write a
chorus that starts with that and I'll
come up with a second chord progression
as quickly as I can and it might not be
that same formula it might be different
chords but get a second chord
progression into your song as quickly as
you can yeah because if you get so used
to One Core progression over and over
again you're never going to have ideas
for anything else because you're just
going to hear that core progression
forever so come up with two or three
core progressions that work for your
song immediately because now you know
okay that's the chorus chords that's the
bridge chords before I make this Loop
sound good I already have the full drum
Arrangement and I have the core
progressions for the rest of the song
and then whatever you add onto that Loop
will usually apply to the rest of the
song too so like the tambourine you put
in the verse will still work in the
chorus so you can really like make the
shell before you make the first part
pretty it sounds like yeah you have to
almost create a simple version first cuz
then you end up with 50 layers if you
just keep looping one part like you kind
of have to attempt to just get the
basics and then you can go crazy cuz
once you have the full structure it's
fun cuz then you literally can Loop the
whole song and just embellish it you
know instead of just one part over and
over again 100% so maybe that helps you
hopefully uh $110,000 pyramid wants to
know how you go about charging clients
all up front half now half later or all
after it's
done there's a couple ways you can
answer that yeah so there's a usually to
me the usual is a deposit of usually
half up front I think that's a universal
acceptable thing and then some people do
it differently some people do half up
front to book it and then some people
want the rest when you show up is kind
of like a proof of like you're serious
cuz some people I'll be honest some
people will screw you some people have
been screwed heard some crazy stories I
could tell some crazy stories you could
I'm not going to yeah it's weird to talk
about cuz you don't want to you know
everyone's got a weird situation but I
think in general half upfront is always
safe cuz you need some sort of
commitment you need something that says
hey I'm serious I'm going to pay you I
mean I think a lot of services like a
tattoo they want something to say hey I
know you're actually going to show up
right cuz I'm I'm taking a block out of
my day like I could book someone else
that will pay I can go to the beach I
can go to the beach you know but you
need something and then I mean it
depends for me I kind of get charge at
the end you know once the project yeah
delivered once you're happy with it I
get the rest of my money and you get
your final files and then we're we're
all happy you know but I mean what do
you do is that well so that's typically
what I do I also try to be aware that
like everyone's situation is different
and if being flexible gets the ball
rolling sooner sometimes I will say Okay
half up front
sure maybe it's a quarter upfront
whatever it is sometimes if it's like
it's a casual thing it's going to take
two days it's just like just bring the
money yeah on day one that's true but I
try to do not payment plans necessarily
but like let's say I'm doing a five song
project and I track it all on whatever
days it is then it's like okay as I go
through each one and finalize them just
pay me for those as we go yeah so it's
like okay if it's going to be $5,000
let's split it up into 2500 and then you
know pay me 500 bucks every time I do
this that or the other instead of having
them having to come up with all this
money all at once or if it's like hey
let's start and then next time you get
paid for something just pay me book more
sessions as we go but like I need
something to start the project I'm not
going to start the project for $0 it
sounds like you there's some flexibility
I think it depends on trust 100% trust
who you're working with do they trust
you because it's a big thing I mean some
people you have to make sure that they
can trust you it's a it's a equal
process but it sounds to me like there's
a flexible way to go about it and then
there's a more kind of you know business
way but I do like your idea of the whole
song thing because I've had stuff like
that where maybe over the course of a
year I just consistently do songs with
someone I'm not going to charge them the
full price for them over you know for
one years's in advance basic basically
of like hey I know we're going to do
this all in a year but pay me now it's
like that's that's hard to really convey
but and if you get hit by a bus yeah I
they just spent 10 grand to I definitely
prefer to have it where it's like what
are we about to do and let's get that
settled and then you know as it goes on
but I think it's a lot easier than it
you know it doesn't have to be
complicated yeah now the tricky thing
for a lot of people is actually having
the conversation in the first place I
hate talking about Mone I know everyone
does but I'll say this projects go a lot
easier when everyone knows what's expect
of them financially and it's awkward to
be sitting in a session and being like
at the end of this session are they
going to ask me if they should give me
some money or am I going to ask them so
I just tell people hey bring this much
the iPad with the tip things oh my gosh
ask a couple questions but I've been in
sessions when I first started out where
no one tells you any of this stuff so
I'm literally like come book studio time
and then I tell them the price and then
at the end we're like so that was fun
huh yeah anyway hey did you bring any of
that money and then they're like oh yeah
I wasn't sure if you were going to ask
here's the money and it's like just tell
people hey here's my policy bring this
much I take this that and the other on
your I'll invoice you if you want
whatever it is be up front you know and
I think it's part of what we do is being
a business it's like you know that's
what businesses do you know they they're
clear they're concise they tell you what
you're going to get you know you if I'm
going to pay for a cheeseburger I want
to know I'm getting a cheeseburger and
what it cost before I pay for that
cheeseburger so that I know I like I
want that you know give me I want a
cheeseburger right now it's besides the
point so yeah just be clear I don't know
charge people charge people get money up
front though get something even if it's
50 bucks just it's 50 bucks to hold the
slot Yeah just something oh and by the
way uh this video is not sponsored but
I'm working on this book this planner
for music producers
specifically and I've got the to-do list
section nailed down pretty good so if
you want to download the template and
make your own book before the real one
comes out you can do that at the link in
the description I'll email you the
template so go ahead and get that and
then I'll see you next week for next
week's video
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