Vocal Demo Melodies
Lesson 8 from: Music Production 101: Producing + Songwriting for BeginnersTomas George
Vocal Demo Melodies
Lesson 8 from: Music Production 101: Producing + Songwriting for BeginnersTomas George
Lessons
Introduction and What you're going to Learn
00:20 2Writing a Chord Progression
11:37 3Writing a Bass Part
10:19 4Building a Drum Beat
08:57 5Writing a Melody
17:15 6Arrangement - Part 1
14:23 7Arrangement - Part 2
19:06 8Vocal Demo Melodies
04:31Lesson Info
Vocal Demo Melodies
Hello and welcome to this lecture where we're going to be looking at lyrics. So previously, we actually arranged our song. So we have a bit more of a structure now for the chorus. I really wanted some vocals. I warn you. Now, I'm not really a singer, but I have sung in some vocals just for this example. So also on the right here, we have the lyrics for the chorus. So lyrics about really flying up into the sky with someone and being together, I think of any kind of lyrics you want to tell a story and this is kind of the main hook of the story is flying together with someone and being together. Love songs are one of the most, if not the most popular genre. So just for this example, I just wanted to make a kind of a love song. Also, I worked out the notes that I wanted to sing on the piano. But unfortunately, because I'm not a singer, I couldn't actually hit the higher notes that I wanted this vocal melody for, but I've got them there just in case. So if I was to release the song, if I wa...
s to record this properly. I would actually get a singer to sing this in for me because I can't sing the high notes in the register. It is important when you're singing, not to try and stretch yourself, not to try and go for those really high notes. If you can't hit them, just try and sing in your range, it's better to sing a few notes in range than lots of different notes really out of range and really out of pitch. So I'm going to play now, the vocal melody that I wrote on the keyboard and then I'll show you the recording. One more thing to note is when you're thinking of a vocal melody, you want to have different patterns and different shapes similar to when we looked at melodies previously, but obviously sing with your voice. And just before I play this melody back, I'm going to mute the audio recording and also the lead part on the chorus because I'm singing a slight different melody. Now, I'll either have to adjust the melody on the synth or only have this melody where there are no vocals. But for now I'm just going to mute this and let's have a listen to the piano melody. So that's the kind of melody I wanted for the vocals. I think it's a good idea to write out the kind of thing you want and then you can sing along and improvise as long as you're playing similar notes and they fit in the chord, then it should sound fine. You might have noticed that around here. It gets quite high. So, in my head, that's what I want the singer to sing. But unfortunately I can't sing that high. So I'm just going to mute the piano melody now and we'll have a listen to what I sung in. Obviously, it's not a very good uh vocal performance. I'm not a singer at all. Um But it's still a good idea. If you do want to record any vocals to sing it in yourself, get some ideas down and then you can always find a professional singer to sing it in later on. Or if you have a decent voice, sing it in yourself and you can always mix that later on. Another thing I'm going to do is I'm actually going to unmute the synth parts and wherever the vocal melody is, I'm not going to have the synth part playing. And whenever I don't have the vocal melody there, I'm going to have the synth part playing. So, for this last chorus here, the first time, I'm going to have the vocals the second time I'm going to have the synth melody. And for this chorus before I'm going to have the vocal melody and the first chorus here, I'm going to have the vocal melody and the introduction at the start, I'm going to have the seventh part and I'm just going to now mute the simple part when I have this vocal melody. So when you're recording vocals, I do recommend using an external microphone and an audio interface. You can record ideas on the built in mic on your Macbook or computer. But if you do want to record anything professionally or at least for a demo, you will want to use an external microphone. But even if you're not a singer like me, it's still a good idea to sing your ideas in. Then if you present your work to a singer, they understand the kind of thing you want, they get an idea of the thing you have in your mind. Hope you find this lecture useful and I'll see you in the next one.
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