For research into pop music composition for this project I have been reading about the techniques of contemporary writer/producers. Ryan Tedder (sing of One Republic) is one of the most prolific writers in the current pop music market. He has written hits with Adele, Beyonce, Ed Sheeran etc.

“When you’re sitting at dinner with a bunch of people, and someone says: “What was that song from ninth grade?” they’ll always sing something like “da da daa-da, da da daaaa“. They don’t remember what the lyric is, but they remember the melody. What was the song? Solsbury Hill.” – Ryan Tedder, 2014

Interesting for me because lyrical content has always been as strong as melody with my own music. Obviously pop music relies heavily on the vocal melody, and not scrutinising lyrics as heavily will be a different experience for me. I will put more time into composing stronger melodies, which will most definitely be beneficial for me throughout this project.

“Hand claps, always. Why? Church.” – Ryan Tedder, 2014

Hand claps feature throughout most pop music and always will be a staple.

“In the modern era, you need a natural conclusion. The way people digest music now, they want a beginning, middle and an end. It’s hard to explain – maybe it’s Fast Food Nation, they just want it in a neat little package.”

An interesting philosophy for myself, but after listening to my listening list at the start of the project I am struggling to find a song that fades out. This music be a current thread amongst my music for this project.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-26848897

This week I have researched about Max Martin and how he constructs pop music. Max Martin is currently the songwriter with the 3rd most #1s on the US Billboard – behind Paul McCartney & John Lennon. He is also currently the producer with the 2nd most #1s – behind George Martin.

During an interiew with NME, Max Martin revealed what he considered to be important information when writing pop music. His general rules are listed in full below – but he sticks to 3 main principles. Don’t overwhelm the listener, make the most familiar and most importantly, the vocal is what is important. These are teachings that I will apply to my own compositions in writing familiar pop music.

“Another theory is that you can also sing the chorus melody as a verse. For instance, take ‘I Wanna Be Your Lover’ with Prince. The verse and chorus of that song are exactly the same. But as a listener, you don’t really notice since the energy of the chorus is completely different compared to the verse” – (Max Martin, 2017)

“Singing involves a great deal of psychology. If the artist isn’t having a great day or finds it all boring, my role becomes that of a coach. Getting the very best out of the artist. Helping them perform at their very best when it’s game time. One way to get them there is to bring them out of their comfort zones. To coach them a little, get them to try new stuff” (Max Martin, 2017)

“If you’ve got a verse with a lot of rhythm, you want to pair it with something that doesn’t. Longer notes. Something that might not start at the same beat. As I say this, I’m afraid it might sound like I’ve got a whole concept figured out…But it’s not like that. The most crucial thing is always how it feels. But the theories are great to have on hand when you get stuck. ’We can’t think of anything, is there anything we could do?’ In those cases, you can bring it in as a tool. If you listen to ‘Shake It Off’ with Taylor Swift (he hums the verse melody). After that segment, you need a few longer notes in order to take it all in, otherwise it’s simply too much information. If there would have been as many rhythm elements in the part right before the chorus.” (Max Martin, 2017)

“The level of attention he puts into the song, no stone unturned and really finds the best lyric, melody etc. He puts a lot of focus on the vocal – he treats it as an instrument. If the melody is great, he focuses on the melody as well. I call him earworms. He’s amazing at making earworms.” (Justin Timberlake, 2016)

The world’s biggest songwriter has revealed the secrets to penning a hit

This week I have studied the 2015 hit ‘Centuries’ by American Pop Punk band Fall Out Boy. This single was produced by J.R Rotem, traditionally a more hip hop producer having previously worked with artists such as Flo Rida and Nicole Scherzinger. The video that is linked explains JR Rotem’s influence over the track with Lead Vocalist Patrick Stump. As Rotem explains, the single’s composition started with the Suzanne Vega sample of “Tom’s Diner” which he had been playing around with for a while. Using samples is a lot less common in the “rock” genre and more in step with “hip hop”, however the move in pop music during the 00s has been towards more hip hop pop. He created the original hook and gave it to Fall Out Boy to create their own spin on it. The track uses a mixture of real instrumentation and plug ins to simulate instrumentation. JR Rotem as a pianist describes VSTs having come so far that “There really is no point recording a real piano unless you have time to set it up with correct mic positioning in the right room. These days the plug ins are so good it’s hard to tell the difference”. 10:50 shows the creation of vocal harmonies to pull out the hook in the track. The production also adds a bit more reverb or delay to lift up the sections and give them power. These elements will be implemented into my own production.

Tracks used
Real drums
Claps
Bass (Real)
Sub Bass (Fake)
Strings (Fake)
Horns (Fake)
Guitars (Real)
Vocals (Stacked)

The track maintains a very strong pop music mentality. Every beat is perfectly in time and ever vocal is in tune and been autotuned/melodyned (as seen in the video at 11:40). As this is a staple in contemporary pop music, it is paramount that I use this in my own work. J.R Rotem explains the creation as him “making beats” to start the creative process off then using soft/hard synths and horns to build up dynamics up to the chorus here the “drop” or “hook” are. The creative process of this song has been described as a “back & forth” of creation between Patrick Stump and J.R Rotem. This is a luxury that unfortunately I won’t be able to capitalise on as I will be doing the majority of the project solo. This will be the most challenging aspect of the project due to J.R Rotem using Top Line writers etc as well to utilise.