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Melody alchemy toolbox
There is one program on the market that says it has the ability to write a melody for you.
Let me just say this once:
If you´re serious about your songwriting don´t use tools that claims to do the job for you.
That´s just my opinion. Try the program you find, if you like, but it will be a waste of your money. You might have fun with it but it will prove useless if your aim is to publish something to the world.
Don´t use it as a tool if you:
Want to get published
Looking for a record deal
Want to publish your own record
May be fun if:
You like videogames and want to play around for a couple of hours.
I´m not even reviewing these kinds of software at the moment.
A melody is to complex to be made by a computer alone, at least for serious songwriters.
BUT
And this is a rather big but...
Use computers in conjunction with your own brain. The results can be amazing and for a low cost.
I know some people are purists when it comes to songwriting. Songwriting should be done with an instrument and your voice a piece of paper and lots of inspiration.
To some extent I agree to som extent I don´t.
Let me explain that.
Making a song with only an instrument your voice and a piece of paper makes sense because you focus on the essentials.
Melody
And
Lyrics
That´s not bad at all.
But
It also makes sense to use your computer as an instrument these days.
I am not going to avoid this subject because I know that topwriters around the world work with computers. They may sketch the song the oldfashioned way but soner than later they turn to their computer. Load a template with a generic arrangement for the genre and finish the song of computer style.
The song may be finished in the computer, bounced to a mp3 file and ready for the world.
I´m not sying it´s an easy process though.
Songwriting is a craft and a skill in itself. You then add the skill of mastering a computer program and the skill to use interesting instrumentation acording to genre.
Producing demos as a songwriter doesn´t necessary have to be as complicated as working as a full time music producer.
The key is just to make justice to the songs you write. When you then present the song, you get a feeling of “wow”. This sounds nice.
Ok, I am not going to cover this completely right here.
If you´re interesting n reading more about the demo stage of songwriting check this out.
LINK TO COMPUTER RECORDING SOFTWRE.
I am going to mention some programs that I use or have been using as songwriting software.
Songwriting software you can use to compose your songs in and make presentations aswell.
I use both Mac and PC. I´ll state if the software is mac only or else you can asyme the program will work for both plattforms.
These are the biggest players:
Logic studio 8 ( mac only)
Light version available as garageband
Pro Tools 7
Light and full versions available
Cubase 4
Light and full versions available
Ableton Live 7
Cakewalk
Light and full versions available
Reason 4
These are the big players and the different flavours avaliable for pro songwriters.
The learning curve is rather steep but you can get great results from them all.
They have slightly different workflow, but logic, cubase,pro tools and cakewalk are quite similar.
Live and reason has their own unique workflow.
Live started as a software used by musicians using their computer live on stage but has got a wide aknowledgement worldwide to be an accomlished tool for songwriting.
You can´t record live instruments in the reason environment so this is amied for electronic music. Reason works great in conjunction with logic, cubase pro tools and cakewalk though.
Read more about the software righ here:
LINK TO COMPUTER RECORDING SOFTWARE
So, why all this talk about computer programs when the subject is songwriting software.
Well, becasue songwriting software and computer recording software live their lifes side by side today.
Depending on genre you have to use them to some extent.
The programs I just mentioned above can be used as instruments.
You load them with the instrument you need:
Drums
Basses
Guitars
Pianos
Synths
Effects
This will affect the way you write a song and it´s important to be aware of that.
But I would say that if you try to write a hip-hop song without a beat to it. You´re pretty much out playing around in the dark.
It´s definately possible to write good songs without computers and songwriting software but I recommend them because they will simplify your life as a songwriter, a lot.
LINK TO HOME RECORDING STUDIO SETUP
So what would the conclusion of all this be.
I recommend a set of tools for creating good lyrics.
Check out the “songwriting alchemy - lyrics”
I also recommend a computer setup. “Songwriting Alchemy - home recording”
Check out this link for details about this.
LINK TO HOME RECORDING STUDIO SETUP
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