Using the word steps might be pushing it a bit. I would actually like to think of these as more of guidelines or tips to writing a good song. There is no right or wrong when it comes to songwriting so you can’t fail either way.
- First find a mood - Try and imagine the mood you are trying to set. This will have a effect on tempo, instrument choice, and many other factors so it doesn’t hurt to have a vision to start off with.
- Determine a basic structure – Example: intro-verse-chorus-verse-bridge-chorus-outro. You don’t have to go by that at all it’s just a basic structure to start with. Mix it up and blur the lines.
- Insert Drums- Use your multi tracking program and either record a drum track or make a digital drum track that fits your basic structure. Some examples of multi tracking programs would be Cubase, Protools, or Adobe Audition. The drums don’t have to be complete at this point, we’ll add to them later.
- Insert lead instrument - Guitar, bass, piano, saxophone, tuba, whatever you want. This will carry the mood and add the most excitement to your song.
- Insert instrument 2 - This would be more typically a bass, bass synth, or a simple piano. This second instrument adds more color to the song.
- Redo the drums – Go back and either re-record or add too your drum track now. This will make it a lot tighter with you instruments you just added.
- Add a dronesynth part – This is a optional step as not all forms of music are going to want a drone or synth part to be added. I feel it can be a nice addition to any song though.
- Insert vocals - Write and record a vocal track. If this sounds challenging read some books and read around online for tips on how to record a great vocal track.
- Digital Patchwork – If it’s necessary, use a multitrack program such as Cubase to E.Q. your tracks and add any extra effects you had in mind. Once you have all of your tracks recorded and ready to go you can do a “mixdown” of those tracks which will basically combine them all into one track.
And your done! Sell it, burn it, or put it on Myspace. It’s all up to you. Let me know if you have any questions on this article by posting a comment below.
Click here for my article on how to build your own home studio.
Good categorised steps, easy to remember while preparing for singing.
You would have given some good softwares too, for making modifications.
But overall very good article.
Worthy of 8.5/10
That’s a very good tutorial. Do you know any other software that can help you in the instrument components. But once again nice tutorial!
[...] Write a Song in 9 Steps [...]
Well done “Cliff’s NOtes” version of the basics of writing a song. THanks for putting this out there.
Hiya, if you still check back here: When you say to write one instrument first, do you mean the whole songs worth of that instrument before moving onto the next, or in smaller chunks? If you know what I mean.
Thanks.