With his final piece, I think Stefano achieved a really amazing vibrancy and power. The way it climbs the register increases the tension and emotional pull. The monophonic transitions create urgency and more power. And the different treatments of the different sections create a lot of interest and variation. Overall, he created a beautiful piece!” — Ian (Soundfly Mentor)
The smartest thing I’ve done as a musician has been to keep an open mind. That’s lead me to learning music technology—an essential tool for any modern musician—and also to gaining valuable insights into other worlds of instruments, such as horns, various string instruments, percussion instruments, piano, and others, so that I can communicate a vision much more effectively with players of those instruments, as well as compose for them.
Even though the music industry is littered with cautionary tales of legendary songwriters who signed away their rights, it still exists as an option for songwriters with a back catalog of valuable songs. Songwriters in need of quick cash can contact companies like Royalty Exchange who will auction off some or all of their songs to the highest bidder. Publishing companies also often purchase portions or entire catalogs from writers for large sums of money.
2000s hip hop songs
In a perfect world, your numbers year to year should be pretty consistent, which will put them at ease. Unfortunately, that’s rarely the case with 1099 contractors (especially artists, songwriters, etc.). There’s great years, good years, and bad years. That’s just the way it is.
Start by copying down the kick MIDI, or try playing your bass sound like it’s a kick drum. After all, it should mirror your kick, maybe even exactly. As an example, here’s the bass line from Future’s “First Off.”
If things went according to plan, you probably made new friends and fans over the course of the tour. Now that you’re home, you’re noticing a bump in your social following and you have new people asking when you’re coming back to their town.
So starting with my big vision (Garner, I’m coming for you!), I know I’m going to have to work on my stride playing and block chords a bit. That’s still pretty vague though, so I think I’ll start by trying to figure out the left hand part of “Stompin’ at the Savoy.” Suddenly, that’s totally something I can figure out in a few sessions and I’ll be a little bit closer to my overall goal.
All of our mentored online courses come with six weeks of 1-on-1 professional mentorship, guidance, and feedback on your work. It’s like having a personal trainer, but for music! Whether you’re interested to dive deep into a production-related topic like Songwriting for Producers, The Art of Hip-Hop Production, Beat Making in Ableton Live, or Making Music in Logic Pro X, or just to work with a Soundfly Mentor directly to achieve a musical goal specific to you, we can help you get started!
How to write grants for nonprofits
+ This article comes directly from Soundfly’s brand new mentored online course, Songwriting for Producers. If you’re producing music at home, you need to check out this course to learn the techniques and strategies of pro songwriters, master an efficient and productive workflow, and bone up on how simple music theory can improve your storytelling arc. Free preview here.
Student-Artist: Chris Bassaline
All of our mentored online courses come with six weeks of 1-on-1 professional coaching and feedback on your work. It’s like having a personal trainer, but for music! Share your goals with us and we’ll find a course for you, or create a custom mentorship session with a pro musician, engineer, educator, or music industry veteran, to help you achieve them.
+ Pursue your dreams faster with a Soundfly Mentor! Share your musical goals with us and we’ll pair you up with a professional musician, engineer, educator, or music industry veteran who will help you achieve them in a customized four-week session.
As we just saw, one musical principle that has reverberated throughout time and across continents and cultures is theme and variation. To revisit that classic example, here’s the theme from Beethoven’s “Symphony No. 5” and the first variation of it, displayed in Ableton Live’s piano roll. The simple shifting of the notes downward is very effective.