Five Ways to Bigger Chorus – Arranging Arranging is super important part of making music. Still many skip this part all together, which is kind of crazy if you think about it. In this video you learn five arranging ways to make your chorus both stand out and sound bigger. Hopefully you found this […]
Tracking Rhythm Guitars – How Many Tracks to Record? Tracking distorted rhythm guitars – how many tracks to record? Should you double, triple or even quadruple all the guitars? This is a topic that divides opinions for sure. In this video I demonstrate with a few examples – what I think works and sounds […]
What Is Half-time and Double-time? How to Use Them in Songs? What is half time and double time? How to use half time and double time? In this video you learn what they are and how to use them. Includes two example songs. Hopefully you found this post helpful. If there’s anything you want […]
How to Make Full Songs Instead of Short Demos How to take your short idea and take them to a full song? It’s frustrating to create only short demos. This way of composing has helped me a lot – hopefully it will be useful for you too. Hopefully you found this post helpful. If […]
The Most Underrated and Powerful Mixing Tool One tool especially is at the same time so underrated and so powerful. It has the power to improve a mix within seconds, but still people seem to use it far too rarely. So many mixes would benefit from it. What am I talking about? Watch the video […]
Ad Libs – Huge Impact and Build up Towards the End of a Song Ad libs are a great way to build up momentum towards the end of a song, usually in the final chorus. They’re these short spontaneous vocal melodies based on key words of the song, that the lead singer improvises […]
Bigger Chorus with Doubled Backing Vocals Chorus differs from other parts of the song not only by the hooky melodies, but with the size. It tends to be the biggest part of the song. Sounds rational and even self-evident, but when it comes to doing it yourself, things can get complicated. How to […]
Songwriting Tips:Do This for More Impactful Chorus Today it’s critical to keep the attention of the listener alive during the entire song. The song has to be interesting from start to finish. Usually the hook of the song is the chorus melody and therefore choruses are super important. You want the first chorus to […]
Bigger Synths by Stacking Preset Sounds Can you make preset synths sounding great and suitable for your songs? I’d say you can. If you haven’t got the time, the skills or the interest to start crafting own sounds from the start – then you can do this instead. In this video I’m showing […]
Save Processing Power During Songwriting Disk too slow, CPU error, system overload.. Does these messages ring a bell? When you’re writing a song or arranging it, and you need to have a lot of tracks playing simultaneously, the chances are your computer will slow down. Even though computers today can take a lot, the […]
Instant Energy Lift Trick In this video you’ll find a way to instantly boost your track with a simple and effective trick. While there’s a chance you may already be familiar with the trick itself, the execution is probably something entirely new. Check out the video to learn the instant energy lift trick. […]
Creating More Interesting Metal Intros In this video, you’ll find three steps to create more interesting metal intros. While some of them might be more obvious ones, others are somewhat sneakier. Watch the video to find out what you could do to boost your introductions to be more engaging. Did the intro get […]
Using Midi Synth Bass in Metal Music? This is a quick video about using midi synth bass in metal / aggressive rock. Have you ever thought about using one in such a genre? I don’t mean in an effect-kind-of-way, but INSTEAD of real instrument bass? Well, I use it in one of my […]
Faster Songwriting with Songwriting Template I’m excited to share you my songwriting template, because it has made my songwriting – and just putting ideas together – so much faster. In this video I’m going through the template and showing you how I use it whenever there’s an idea to work on. Hopefully this […]
5 Steps to Spice Up Chord Progressions When you’re in the process of writing a song, you might have an acoustic demo, simply chord progressions marked down or something in between. As you start to arrange the song, you might want to spice up the original chord progressions, making them more unique. In this […]
Arrangement Trick to Highlight the Hooks In this video you’ll find a cool arrangement trick – or rather a move – to spice up the hooks of your song. As an example I’m using one of my own songs that I’ve been working on. Let’s dive right in: Did you hear how those […]
How to Plan a Song and Why? I talk about planning on every turn – in several different posts. Why is that? Is planning a song really necessary? Isn’t it just a bunch of hooey? Believe it or not – planning makes songwriting so much faster and it’s essential for the outcome. It’s not a […]
Ways to Write an Intro for a Song How do you start a song? What is an intro in music? How long is an intro for a song? How to write a good intro for a song? What different options are there for intros? These are all valid and common questions that are about to […]
How to Make Second Verse Different Than Verse One Imagine listening to a song that you like. It flows smoothly from one section to another. The song takes you to a journey and you just love every bit of it. Nothing bothers you, or comes across as dull. That’s a characteristic of a great song. […]
More Powerful Chorus with Arrangement Have you ever listened back to your mix and asked yourself “Oh man.. How can I get more power into the chorus?” I sure have. For a long time my choruses were okay sounding, but I never got them to hit as hard as they did in my favourite records. […]
How to Set Up a Project for Mixing? Let’s assume you’re working on a new song. Imagine that you just finished the recording phase. How does your project look like? If you’re anything like I used to be, it looks awful. Multiple tracks of vocals with the same name, poorly organized synth and guitar tracks. […]
The Recipe of a Pro Mix (Most Skip 3-4 Out of 6 Crucial Steps) What actually is the recipe of a pro mix? Is there such a recipe? What are the steps to go from demo to pro? You’re about to find out. Watching the “behind the scenes” and studio diaries of your favourite bands […]
What to Do After the Second Chorus? What to do after the second chorus? Have you ever stumbled upon this very question? I know, I have too. How does it always seem so difficult? You get everything else together with a decent amount of work, but the part that comes after the second chorus, man […]
Three Song Structures to Learn From There are certainly many different ways to structure a song, but the main ideas stay the same. Usually songs have two (or more) verses and a couple of choruses, but not a pre-chorus or an intro nearly as frequently as you might think. Here are three songs and three […]
Arrangement – I Overlooked This Part of Composing for Years What is it that keeps a listener interested from the very first sound to the last chord? Without it the song doesn’t even exist. However, it is one of the things, you and I tend to overlook while getting stuck on it more often […]
Do You Make or Break Your Songs? If you think about it – what makes a great song? Amazing studios filled with expensive gear and instruments? A great mix? A well-known singer or player? There are probably as many answers as there are people, but it is the music itself that we tend to focus […]
