5 Key Tips for Music Composition in the Studio
If you’ve written a song and want to record it in a studio or produce it professionally, the first step will always be to carry out a musical pre-production of the song to prepare it in the best way and maximize its potential before its final musical production.
From our experience producing for songwriters and artists in our online recording studio, we’ve created this article where you’ll find information and ideas on 5 key aspects that will help you finalize your musical composition, focus the song’s pre-production, and discover the best way to prepare it for the different stages of studio production and recording.
Here are the 5 key aspects we detail below for a perfect musical pre-production (or Demo):
- Improve the harmony and melody
- Define the key
- Decide the definitive tempo (bpm)
- Review the structure and duration
- Visualize the style and musical direction
1- Improve the harmony and melody of your song
Record yourself performing the song with an instrument and voice. You can do this easily with your phone’s voice memo app or recording software. While listening, ask yourself the following questions: Do you think the harmony and melody you’ve used are interesting enough throughout the song? Is there any part that becomes too repetitive? Does the chorus achieve a climax or distinguish itself from the verses?
Identify the weakest parts, and consider modifying a chord, varying the rhythm, or changing the melody. Ensure the song maintains interest and that the choruses surprise the listener and evoke the desired emotion. You can also create a melodic part or instrumental riff that’s easy to remember (a hook).
You have time to finalize the melody and lyrics until the studio voice recording (done after arranging or instrumentation), but keep in mind that if any changes lead to altering the chord progression, it might be too late since the instruments may already be recorded. Anticipate and make these changes from the base of the musical composition.
Ideas: You can make variations in the chords or vocal melody during the second verse. You can also replace a chord in the final repetition of the chorus.
2- Define the key or tonality of the musical composition
When starting the pre-production of your song, make sure to decide in which key it will be recorded. Again, changing this decision after the instrumentation is done may require re-recording finalized tracks or editing them with processes like “time stretching” and “pitch” that degrade audio quality.
Use a capo with the guitar or the “transpose” function on a MIDI controller keyboard or virtual instrument to shift the key and test vocal ranges. If you compose with a piano or other acoustic instrument, try singing the piece while only marking the bass notes (lowest note of each chord) before shifting all chords to the final key.
When singing, pay attention to whether any parts feel too high or forced, or too low and relaxed, unless that’s the effect you’re going for. Try different keys and decide which works best by listening objectively, for example, the next day.
Tip: Be cautious when deciding a song’s key while seated in your room, as you’ll end up singing it in a soundproof studio, wearing studio headphones, standing, and projecting more voice. Try singing at the same volume and position as you will when recording in the studio.
3- Decide the final tempo (bpm) of the composition during musical pre-production
BPM (beats per minute) in music measures the tempo of a musical composition. It usually measures the value of a quarter note as a rhythmic figure, which, practically speaking, is what we tap with our foot while following the song’s rhythm.
Use a metronome app or activate the click track in your recording software. You can also use an online metronome. Play the song at different speeds and find the tempo that works best. Notice the feeling each speed evokes and observe the vocal phrasing. Analyze whether it feels too rushed or too relaxed. When you find it, try small variations, one or two bpm up or down, to finalize the song’s tempo.
Starting production with a basic recording made with a click track will greatly simplify the initial work and avoid leaving the tempo definition to the producer.
If your composition has tempo changes (parts where the bpm changes), you can use the metronome as a guide for the initial tempo and record without a click. Later, the producer can create a “tempo map” in their recording software. Be cautious with this decision since it’s often about doubling or subdividing rhythms while maintaining the same “beat.” You can verify this if you manage to follow a calmer or more intense part of the song while keeping the metronome at the same bpm.
Info: In the following link, you can see the most common BPMs in different musical genres.
4- Review the structure and duration of your song
Learn about the most common structures in pop, rock, or the style you are composing in. Research, analyze, and, most importantly, experiment. Change the order or duration of sections, add a new section, or remove unnecessary repetitions. Modifying the structure later isn’t a big deal since it’s often just a matter of cutting and pasting, but ideally, start producing with a proposal that works well with just an instrument and voice.
Observe how long your song is. Again, your phone’s voice recorder can be your best ally, or always keep a microphone for home studio on hand to quickly record your voice on your computer. The typical duration of a pop or rock song is around 2:40 to 4:30 minutes. If your composition is longer, consider shortening some parts or removing repetitions. If it’s shorter, you can add a new section, like a bridge (or part C), an instrumental solo, or a final coda. In this creative phase, it’s the perfect time to create several demos of the song with different structures and analyze how they feel.
There’s no exact formula for any aspect of composition. For instance, in this case, some songs have achieved massive success with durations as short as two minutes (Song 2 – Blur) or over seven (Hey Jude – The Beatles). It also depends on the style you’re working in. Long tracks are common in electronic music, remixes, and variations of classic or instrumental rock. Other styles, like jingles or advertising music, are usually about 30 seconds long. Check out this link for all the information about the parts of a song and ways to arrange its structure.
5- Musical pre-production: visualize the style and musical direction of the production
Use references from other artists’ songs. Look for and analyze one or two tracks that can serve as examples or inspiration regarding musical direction, arrangements, or structure for your composition. While we advise you to avoid plagiarism, they can definitely serve as a starting point for writing songs or give you ideas for defining the path to follow in subsequent recording sessions.
Try to objectively see the natural direction of your song. The final production might feel a bit forced if we try to take our song in a direction where it doesn’t fit well.
Provide a detailed explanation of the aspects you like about each reference track. This can be very useful for the producer to better understand the sound you want to achieve in the instrumentation phase and other technical processes like mixing or mastering.
At GuitarRec, we request these reference tracks at the start of every musical pre-production as a starting point for all our online music production projects. As they say, a picture is worth a thousand words.
Create, experiment, and enjoy!
You might find this useful: a tutorial with the stages of a professional music production.
Tutorial created by Vicen Martínez (music producer, guitarist, and founder of GuitarRec.com). Follow on Instagram | LinkedIn.
Image for the article by Bas van Daalen.
