Basic Pointers to Follow
by Ivan Valles
Even though, generally speaking, it is impossible to tell whether or not a song will become a hit, there are a lot of pointers that will help us understand why "Sweet Home Alabama," "Like a Rolling Stone, ""Hey Jude," "Stand by Me" and many others are to this day some people's all-time favorites. Regardless of an artist's musical genre (rock, country, hip-hop, etc.), it is extremely important that he or she has at least a handful of what I like to call radio-friendly songs on a CD. Similar to reading a well-written book, a good song will reach out to people's hearts and emotions, and its message will remain in its listeners long after the song is over. So let us talk about several aspects of a song that will help you make your music more appealing to potential listeners.
Keep It Short
First of all, it is wise to keep your song within four minutes, at the most. To begin with, radio stations normally don't like anything past three and a half or four minutes. The reason is that the more time they have for commercials, the better. Also, unless you can manage to keep your listener engaged for a longer time, most times it is wiser to finish your story by minute 3 or 4. Keep in mind that music has an entertaining as well as an artistic element to it. Similar to watching a three-hour movie, it is difficult to listen to a considerably long song without losing interest. So unless you have another "Bohemian Rhapsody" or "Stairway to Heaven," keep it short.
Structure It
Most music has at least a verse and a chorus. Additionally, some songs have pre-choruses and bridges. It is very important to differentiate each section, whether you change up the melody, harmony, feel, etc. A teacher I had used to say that the verse is where you tell the story, and the chorus is where you show it. Therefore, choruses tend to be more repetitive and are normally the catchy part of the song; in other words, what people will remember even when they're not listening to the song. Verses, on the other hand, give you more space to actually tell and develop the details of the story. This applies to rap verses as well. A bridge will help you as a contrasting or complementary part of your story, while a pre-chorus can help you transition more smoothly between a verse and a chorus.
The Story: Get Into Details
When you are telling a story, it is important to include as many details as possible. Therefore, in a song, how things feel, taste, smell and look to you are important to the listener. It's important to try to keep away from generic stories. For example: I loved you, but you left me, now I'm heartbroken. Even though there's nothing really wrong with this, people normally find more sincerity in a story in which they hear the details of how you felt when your heart was broken, how coffee tasted, how flowers smelled, etc. In my opinion, details will enhance the listening experience by helping to recreate the story. Furthermore, try to avoid common and overused rhymes like, for example, you broke my heart, now I'm torn apart. Once again, nothing technically wrong, but some of these phrases have been used in so many different songs that it might be smarter investing some time in finding other ways to tell your story and make it more unique.
Make It Catchy
Even though music has few rules written and carved in stone, it is a good idea for your chorus to happen around or before the first minute of the song. The reason for this is that you typically want the catchy part of the song to happen as early as possible. This will give you the opportunity to repeat a chorus several times, so that the listener can have several chances of remembering it. Some songs even start off with the chorus or hook. I, for one, have never been with a record executive that listens to more than a couple of minutes of a song. If it doesn't catch his attention in the first few minutes, chances are it never will.
Arrange Wisely
When recording a song, have in mind that instrumentation plays a key role in setting the right mood for the story to be told. If, for example, you want people to stand up and dance to the song, you are going to need the right rhythm tracks to invite people to do this. Some songs are benefited by a lot of instruments and vocals, while some others need only a well-executed piano and vocal.
Look for Feedback
Finally, when you are starting to write songs, it's important to listen to other people's impressions, preferably those of people that don't know you enough to care you wrote it. Look at their reactions and be ready to accept criticism; it will pay off later on. If you're planning on shopping your music around, remember that making a good first impression is key to putting your foot inside the music industry, so be patient and wait until you have something good to show.
Ivan Valles works as an independent producer and mix engineer through his own company (www.ivmmusic.com). He graduated with honors from Berklee College of Music. Ivan is originally from Mexico, but currently resides in Miami, Florida. He has worked on several projects, which have been ranked as Billboard Bestsellers.
