Bruce Springsteen

Ideas For Changing How Loud Your Song Sounds

If you’re a player in a band, you’ve got lots of options for controlling the dynamics (loudness) of your music. Other than, of course, simply turning things up, you can add instruments to the mix to get the louder sounds you’re looking for, and/or subtract them to make your music more transparent. Trying to get […]

Countermelody: A Nice Alternative to Simple Backing Vocals

When you listen to verse 2 of Simon & Garfunkel’s “Scarborough Fair/Canticle, you’re hearing the main melody, but you’re also hearing, in addition to some simple backing vocals,  a secondary melody in the background. Do you find that writing a great melody is your biggest challenge? In great songs, it’s not just about the tune […]

Beach Boys - Vocals

Creating Good Backing Vocals For Your Song Recordings

Backing vocals, when they’re done well, can give your song a professional sheen. When they’re done poorly — out of tune, or not well written — no one wants to hear that. It’s not really possible to solve the problem of writing or performing good backing vocals (BVs) in one blog post, so I’ll do […]

Pumped Up Audience

6 Songwriting Tips for Energizing a Chorus

Your song’s chorus is often going to be the most energetic part of your song, with the possible exception of a bridge that might really take things to new levels. But even in songs where the bridge is energetic, you’ll find that the return to the chorus afterward is all the more dynamic and lively. In […]

Improving Your Song With Good Vocal Harmonies

Download “The Essential Secrets of Songwriting” 6 E-book Bundle, and become a TOP-LEVEL SONGWRITER! ______________ One of the things I’m working on right now is a manual to help musicians write good vocal harmonies. It’s an important part of making your song sound polished and professional. Good backing vocals can bump your son up a […]